Category: Arts
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Sweetness, I was only joking when I said…
The Smiths are 30 today. I know… some of you are going to do the default reaction and go on about ‘how depressing they are…’ Really, just get over it and actually listen to them, to the music. Even without Morrisey’s lyrics, Johnny Marr’s guitar parts are incredible. And I defy you not to crack…
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Doing Unspeakable Things On Our Behalf – Pirates as Necessary Psychic Safety Valves
Been doing some interesting reading around Jungian psycho-analysis. In particular, I was struck by a couple of passages in which he uses the language of ‘blockage’ – which connects with the terminology I have been using to describe piratic acts. In Modern Man in Search of a Soul he writes this: ‘As long as all goes…
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There Is No Original | 3D Printing | Object Piracy
Occasionally an article catches one’s eye that genuinely opens a raft of interesting new thoughts. That happened to the other day when I read this Guardian piece about a new area of Pirate Bay that offers templates for 3D printers to clone figures for Games Workshop’s Warhammer and Lord of the Rings table-top games. Up…
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Religion for Atheists | Atheism for the Religious…
I’ve not yet read the full book that Alain de Botton has been promoting recently, but I’ve read a number of interviews and heard him speak, and browsed his website: religionforatheists.com and I wanted to post a couple of first-thoughts about his thesis. Firstly, he’s being unashamed to say that he is ‘picking and mixing’…
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Was it Always Thus:Thoughts on Writing and Depression [2]
Good to see the comments on the previous post, in which I was trying to open up a bit about the prevalence of depression among writers. I’ve been mulling on that a bit, and thinking about why teachers (curses – I’m that too) also rank as professionals with some of the highest rates of depression.…
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Was it Always Thus? // Writing and the Black Dog
I’ve been wondering about writing something on this for a while, but haven’t been sure how much to say, or what might be wise. But I thought it might be helpful to others to open the door just a crack and see if there’s some light that could get in on what’s a terrifically difficult…