Helluvablog

Not much to say today, feeling sick and bad so I’ve stuffed myself full of garlic and chillis – a great cure for colds, try it. just cook something with lots of both in. Anyway going to bed. *whinge, whine, bitch*

Why is Dido so famous? Why does she sell so many albums? Why is it that whenever you turn on a radio there she is, leaking that tepid, passionless whine into the airwaves. She sounds like fucking John Major. I love female vocalists. Strong female vocalists. Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Ani DiFranco, even Alanis Morissette will do on a wet afternoon when the pubs are shut. But Dido??? Why? I can’t remember that last time I heard a woman with such a dreary, characterless voice.

There’s a grand tradition in the music industry, a kind of fashion, for people to be “discovered” when some manager or another walked past and heard them singing in a launderette or something. I think Dido should become the first of a new fashion, for a new century, and be the first famous person to be dumped back into a launderette.

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Some books I’ve read that you should….

Tonight – Sci-fi corner.

Neal Stephenson – Snow Crash

Mental sci-fi with characters with names like Hiro Protagonist, Yours Truly and Vitaly Chernobyl. The plot revolves around The Metaverse – a future version of the internet – ancient Sumerian language and religion and mass media. Oh, and an Eskimo with a nuclear bomb. Read it.

Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials Trilogy

Comprising The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass this trilogy shows more than anything else why the Harry Potter books should be left on the shelves. Writing for children (or “teens”) this book, rather than being a rehash of all that has come before it or a reeking affirmation of middle-class triteness, asks questions about religion, blind faith, the existence of the soul, love, duty and sacrifice. And all of it in a truly page-turning story that never once gets sanctimonious. Exciting, beautiful and surprising.

J R R Tolkien – Unfinished Tales (of Numenor and Middle Earth)

Tolkien wasn’t just about fluffy footed farmers having high jinx with other people’s jewelry – the Lord of The Rings sits on the shoulders of an entire creation myth and history created by the mad South-African Brummie Oxfordian. Much of this history is based on and follows the style of ancient Norse and Old-English mythology. Hence this collection of ‘historically’ linked stories (along with the Book of Lost Tales parts 1 & 2) contains some of the darkest and saddest tales you’ll ever read. Betrayal, incest, misfortune, murder, revenge, mistrust and genocide are the order of the day here. In fact, if you look in the dictionary for the word tragedy, it will probably say read the Narn i Hin Hurin, one of the tales in this book.

That’ll do you for now. Come back to me when you’ve read them and submit your report…

Rush – Moving Pictures

The helium-fueled Canadian prog rockers, talked about as much for their cover art as their music, seem to have been going since Victorian times. Haven’t bought an album for several years (since “Roll the Bones”) but their vintage stuff is still amazing.

Rush – A Farewell to Kings

Yes, more from Toronto’s finest. Quite early stuff here (circa 1977) with several classics on this disc – Xanadu, Closer to the Heart and Cygnus X-1, the first part of what would become Hemispheres blah blah blah blah blah. Rush – you either love them and know everything or you laugh at them and don’t care.

Rush – Permanent Waves

I think this album, along with the single The Spirit of Radio marked the first time that most of the British public had ever heard of Rush. For a brief time it looked llike the band I’d banged on about for years might actually become mainstream. Then everyone forgot. It was like one of those sci-fi memory ray things – I woke up one morning and nobody knew who they were again.

Got that horrible cold that’s going round. Feel like I’ve got somebody else’s head on and my eyes are too big for his sockets. Need somebody to feed me horrid sweet stuff and tell me everything’s going to be alright. Ech.

We are proud to announce the grand opening of The Helluva Forum!

The forum is intended to act as a central repository and portal for all things creative and there should something interesting there for every one. This is the beginning of extensive planned expansion for Helluva.co.uk which should very soon see more pages to the site itself with sections on artists, photographers, musicians and authors including exclusive and original content. Yay!

Haven’t been around for a few days cos I’m working on something.

Soon!!

“I’ve done things I wouldn’t force on a mule… and that includes things that I’ve forced on a mule.”

The world can be a terrible, terrible place. People can be so bad to each other. I was horrified to read about this Disgruntled Ninja’s Silent Rampage