Going Commando

I’m away from my desk for the next four days and only keeping in touch via the odd twitter (@MiddleManLost) update and Facebook detail.

I’m away down south on my brother’s stag do, which involves several hours running around woodland in khaki green and shooting each other with paint balls in displays of manliness. There will be much in the way of grunting and the scratching of hairy chests and balls as we revert to primal instincts. If you’ve ever met me you will know that me taking part in such an activity is either hilarious or down right scary.

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I’ve been in research mode looking into ‘stuff’ for the follow up to “Juvie,” as well as several other things I have going on in my head at the moment which includes the comic book, a TV show idea and a work of non-fiction. Hopefully at least one of them will get off the ground. I’ve been using Evernote to store stuff ‘on the cloud.’ It’s okay but I’m having trouble linking stuff the way I want it. If anyone has any experience of using it drop me a note on the web link.

Right, I’m off to sharpen my hip knife, check the tension on my choke wire and prime my grenades for action. I leave you with a book review.

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Stephen Smith is a reporter for News Night and his detailed analysis of the world he sees around him often slips into the writing of ‘Underground London.’ This non-fiction work looks at some of the oddities that exist underneath the capital and, whilst in no way is it exhaustive, it does visit some of the better known attractions. At times he does seem to spend an inordinate amount of time above ground and only really descends into the sewers, tube network and the odd basement. He also has a habit of going off at a bit of a tangent but it’s an interesting, thoughtful work with the odd moment of humour.

Read this week:

Underground London by Stephen Smith

More Underground Links

Just a load of links for underground exploration:

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008_02_20/more-hidden-tunnels-under-london/

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=393bf2bd-4fce-4714-8ba7-c18a2e46723e&fg=rss&from=34

http://www.nyclondon.com/blog/archives/2004/09/19/churchills_secret_underground_bunker_paddock.blog

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2005/mar/30/pollution.g2

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/london-topological.html

http://siologen.net/pbase/thumbnails.php?album=9

A Load of Links

Things are progressing...slowly. They're getting there but everything takes so much time. 'The Missing' is now a few weeks into its edit under the guiding hand of Maureen and DarkFather has been printed off and had its first read through by an audience (of one, by the name of Madame Vin).

I've been doing a bit of surfing recently and found all sorts of lovely things online. Use the links below to explore:

A great little static film in photos from Jonathan Glancey (architecture journalist of the Guardian) on the watery London of tomorrow with a special guest appearance by the hidden Fleet river: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2008/jun/30/architecture

This seems to be a collective artists site with some beautiful and funny films: http://zune-arts.net/

An article about Central Park at night, which makes me think that my comic book script 'The Park' still has legs. I'll probably go on and have a rewrite of it soon: http://www.forteantimes.com/features/fortean_traveller/1188/central-park-in-the-dark.html

And a load of website dedicated to places underground which I'll put here so that I can find them again next time I'm looking:
http://www.undercity.org/intro.htm
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/09/28/top/a06092804_01.txt
http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/rails/disused.underground.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3925259
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/ground_pentrating_radar.htm

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Currently in the middle of Alan Campbell's new work but last week I read Stella Muller-Madej's account of being a Jewish child during World War II. She ended up in the Warsaw ghetto and then a concentration camp before being saved by ending up on a work detail at one of Oskar Schindler's factories. I was expecting a harrowing account of life during that period but instead found that the violence and death was almost glossed over as another event in the daily grind of life. This is because the Holocaust is seen through the eyes of child, a child who did not fully understand what was going on, allowing her to ask the questions we all want to know, which is the why and how something like that was ever allowed to happen.
The book is written as a memoir many years after the events, and Stella's use of English is shaky which helps to add to the child like quality of the events. It's a hard going book with casual violence and death part of the daily regime but also a reminder of the horror's human can perpetrate against each other.

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Finally I'm looking forward to the end of Dr Who this weekend and a 'possible' new Doctor. Because Who won't return until 2010 I'll have to put up with a new Batman film instead:



Read this week:
A Girl from Schindler's List by Stella Muller-Madej