see nerd) log

state of the canard address

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:04:00 +0000

Family press releases happen. This time, I got my revenge in first. State of the Canard Address - an annual press release from - Dylan Harris (ok, so there's no canard, but you get the drift) I beg

collection?

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:25:06 +0000

I’ve decided, finally, to look at my poetry to see if I can throw a collection together, one that might interest a publisher. There are complications, such as that this site will stay up, and the poe

Westvleteren

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:57:32 +0000

My Christmas treat has been in my fridge since February, complements of my last job. My boss presented me with three bottles of Westvleteren, often acknowledged as the best beer in the world. I'm spen

busy busy busy

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:41:36 +0000

I’ve a poetry recital coming up on Wednesday 17th at Wurm im Apfel. I have to prepare my set, including, for the first time, some seen, heard) poetry videocasts. I’ve Europe, a chapbook, to launch at

Domestic Incidental

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:39:46 +0000

My kitties came back from the vet slightly lighter on Tuesday. Were they human, they'd be candidates for the original Sistine Chapel choir, should schoolboy myths be true. After the first evening, wh

Dress Codes

Sun, 9 Nov 2008 08:38:06 +0000

I went along to the Dublin munch last night, and it was thoroughly sociable if a wee bit underattended. My only potential problem is that it’s deeply connected with a club event, and that club event

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 17:10:05 +0000

I've not found a place to belong. Ireland's as flawed as the UK for me; at least blighty has London's hurricane, all of an artform isn’t much the same. I wanted France, when I was spotty. I think I’l

Insecure Social

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 10:55:10 +0000

I need to develop some social life here, I think, to gain me a little bit of an anchor, to reduce the alien loneliness I feel towards this alien city. I’m going along to language classes, but whilst t

Other companies I won’t use again

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 21:44:31 +0000

There are some other companies I will never use again. MFI* are just incompetent. That they still survive, presuming they do, has to be because there aren’t enough IKEA stores around. I once ordered

Companies I won’t use again: PC World

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 21:44:28 +0000

PC World, the near-monopoly UK computing superstore, have a policy of deliberately insulting customers who use certain banks. I use the Co-op in the UK. If I try and use my Co-op debit card at PC Worl

Companies I won’t use again: Vodafone

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 21:18:10 +0000

I had a contract with Vodafone in the UK many years ago. I’d been paying it to standard terms, e.g. within 28 days of the bill being issued. I’d almost cancelled it, because I couldn’t afford it, but

Europe: a chapbook

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 06:36:15 +0000

As part of my reading at Wurm im Apfel on December 17th, I’ve a chapbook coming out. I hope to offer copies for sale here. All the poems are on my site; I dislike artificial scarcity. But there’s not

Why are Word Processors crap?

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 10:58:31 +0000

Every few months, I get deeply annoyed with those software products that call themselves Word Processors. Not one of the damn things processes words. It’s so f***ing annoying. They just don’t seem to

Wurm im Apfel

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:34:25 +0100

Myself and my fellow fenland refugee are organising small readings here in gloried Dublin. Actually, I’m hardly doing anything, but will bark in the shadow for cake. We’ve chosen the name for Reinhar

more french

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:51:10 +0100

I went along to some evening classes in French over summer, and found by the end of the four months I’d lost confidence in my ability to use what I was learning. That’s no good; a language is there to

more dutch

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:43:41 +0100

I’m restarting my Dutch evening classes, even though I’m unlikely to return to a Dutch speaking country. I’d completed a year and a little in Belgium before I left for the Republic. I don’t like leavi

devon on hold

Sun, 5 Oct 2008 20:20:31 +0100

I’ve just posted devon garde’s final two videocasts. I want to see the reaction, if any, to the forthcoming album before I make more music. Without music, it’s a little difficult to make music videoca

the perfect podcast episode

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 07:36:13 +0100

Go listen to Stephen Fry’s “Compliance Defiance”, his latest podgram. It’s an absolutely wonderful rant, the perfect Mr. Angry, the classic exploding English toff. The subject’s perfect, the expressio

needing a social change

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:30:59 +0100

I’ve been happily living alone for decades, but now I find I want a woman about. It’s rather like spending decades growing flowers, and suddenly discovering the joy of concrete. Recent events have lef

still stockhausen

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:34:45 +0100

I’ve been listening across the electronic genres, mostly the popular stuff, to make sure I know what’s going on. As good as some of it is, and some is very good, none can touch Stockhausen’s electroni

the four horsemen

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:50:07 +0100

Me and my friend lilly nipped out to see The Four Horsemen, performed by the dance group Volcano, in the Dublin fringe, last night. For me, it was an interesting follow up to the Bergen electronic li

electronic literature and new media

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:04:10 +0100

I've a mention in the draft ELECTRONIC LITERATURE AND NEW MEDIA authoring software page. Ignore me, go there to explore many other poets works.

bergen elit

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:47:11 +0100

Last weekend, there was an eliterature conference in Bergen, at which I presented some of my work. I got some positive reactions, which is always good. I had intended to recite live, but I was unable

black loft

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 18:20:45 +0100

I've only been to one Dublin fringe event, an attempt to auction some art for a play, and then I only went along to meet a Hungarian who shares my reaction to the continent of Ireland. I did my bit;

exploring electronic music

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 12:31:34 +0100

Since I'm generating music, it makes immense sense to listen to what other people are up to. I gave up on non-classical music in about 1981, so I've a great deal of catching up to do. I'm doing this

flock state album

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 12:27:26 +0100

This website has seen heavy traffic growth over the last few months. This is down to three things: (i) an annoying indexing engine that isn't labelling itself as an index engine; normally indexing is

bergen laptop

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 12:24:36 +0100

I've been waiting for the right moment to get myself a new laptop for six months. Then I got an invite to perform at the Bergen eliterature conference, presenting the material I put on my poetry podca

sound eye 2008

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 22:06:09 +0100

I visited the Sound Eye Poetry Conference in Cork last weekend. It was good to hear some challenging poetry again, although I think I should have taken a couple of days off beforehand; I was too tired

kitties

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 19:56:45 +0100

Madam, my old lady cat, died in May. A work colleague’s queen had given birth to a litter of five. Two survived. I’m not sure my house will.

Living in Dublin

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 13:23:01 +0100

Bluntly, Dublin is far too British for me; I won't be staying. There are differences to the UK. An obvious one is political; the main Irish parties openly don't stand for anything in particular, wher

down down

Sat, 24 May 2008 04:27:41 +0100

I’m feeling down. It’s not because my cat died, although that doesn’t help. It’s not because my new job isn’t working out, although that doesn’t help either. I think it’s the country. Ireland’s bee

poetry in andere talen

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 08:56:14 +0100

I’ve often allowed phrases from my other languages to creep into my English poetry. Many poets do so. Now, though, I’ve written a poem in German, I’ve written one in Dutch. Speakers of those language

goodbye hello

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:37:01 +0000

The Belgian national symbol is perhaps the Manneken Pis, the fountain of the boy taking a pee. The boy’s attitude is roughly that of each Belgian community to the other, and, for that matter, most of

essex

Tue, 4 Mar 2008 07:00:03 +0000

In the early 1990s, I took a contract with an Essex based company. They offered me a weekday place in the company B&B, which was convenient given the alternative was 3 hours a day commuting. The

jazz and the prozac factory

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:00:55 +0000

Well, finally I've heard some jazz that doesn't sound like the background music in the Prozac factory. If I'd have heard this in my youth, and it was certainly available in my youth, my musical tastes

deep in grrr mode

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:47:14 +0000

Excuse me; I'm deep in grrrr mode. I went to my second Dutch language exam last night, having done quite badly in the first, on Monday. About half way through the exam, the teacher ermed, then announ

horrid coincidence

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 09:34:10 +0000

I’ve received another set of CDs from Stockhausen Verlag, which, not surprisingly, remains active despite the death of the great composer. I find I really am enjoying these recordings of his late work

Stockhausen

Fri, 7 Dec 2007 18:35:36 +0000

I’ve just heard of the death of Stockhausen. This is very saddening news. I was hoping to get to his 80th birthday concert series next year, having managed to attend a concert in last year’s series.

nowhere to park?

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 06:21:16 +0000

There is a chance I’ll be leaving Belgium for Switzerland next year, swapping one small country full of different tribes that keep arguing with each other for another small country full of different t

change

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:08:35 +0000

I want to give this site a major overhaul. I’ve tried packages such as Apple’s iLife. This blog, and the new ‘casts, are produced by iLife. It creates good looking results that fit neatly into a good

for devon garde

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 10:46:59 +0100

Devon’s been in touch, complaining about my mixes, again. “You’ve got the copyright”, he scuffed, “but you ain’t done ‘em right”. He’s got a point. So I’ve acquired some decent kit, & I’ll be re

classic poetry aloud

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:31:17 +0100

I found an interesting podcast in iTunes: classic poetry aloud. The guy who recites this English language poetry is clear & precise, and sounds the poetic effect very well. I'm not always convinc

recited poetry online

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 07:57:04 +0100

It’s an impressive recital can blast through my workplace. So here’s a nod to Geraldine Monk, who’s startling texture has twice broken me out of some arbeital reverie. I’ve been hoovering Ubu’s sound

drama

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 07:16:06 +0100

There’s some drama coming here. Actually, it’s a short comedy sketch. It’s in Dutch.

poetry podcast images

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 06:49:26 +0100

When I first made poetry podcasts, I used the poem as the image. Now I’m using ‘found’ photographs from my stock, one per poem. I apply different textures as the poem is recited. They’re made using b

restyled

Tue, 9 Oct 2007 08:37:52 +0100

The new look reflects my renewed photography. The original content remains, is still maintained.