It's My Birthday

Soundtrack of my day:

Blind Guardian - Another Stranger Me : single
The Eagles - Hotel California
Curved Air - Phantasmagoria
Caravan - For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night
Cradle of Filth - Nymphetamine (Live)

and Morris Dancing from Border Morris




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The Living Roof

CREATE - Bristol

City Farms H/quarters - Bristol

@Bristol - Bristol

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Mad as a Hatter

Mad hatter

Found outside the @Bristol exhibition in Bristol.

rustle



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The Strange Incident of the...

I attended Chemical Incident training the other day. I got to put on the big yellow suit with breathing filter and set up the emergency decontamination shower! At the same time, the fire alarm went off so we got a massive audience. Also got to play around with a Geiger counter.

Just have to hope the mad world doesn't require its use!



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One Daffodil

One Daffodil Can Make a Difference

Visiting the Centre for Alternative Technology has been like opening the door to a Wonderland. I've been reading the Crazy Idealists? The CAT Story and everything just resonates.

During my visit there were two things that really struck me. At the beginning, the intro video playing at the site which stated that if the rest of the world behaves like we have done in the West, we'll require something like two more earths in addition to this one to support it! From then on it was if the door had been opened, I'd passed over the threshold and I'd come home. Just before I left I saw the daffodil growing on the living roof of a building and I thought, that's what I want.

CAT was set up in 1974 - I was 14. It's taken a long time for me to reach this point and I've been on many journeys but the biggest one begins now. We are planning our sustainable house, a not so Grand Design but oh, so great for the environment.


I'm at the last chapter of Ballard's 1973 novel Concrete Island - another 'must read'. This is the third of his books I've just read and every one of them is socially pertinent to today and tomorrow. I'm finding they dovetail with what CAT are saying - he is the Oracle of Shepperton.


rustle
(Just watched the Bioshock teaser over on Eurogamer - WoW!)


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Shepperton's Oracle

J.G. Ballard: Shepperton's Oracle a film by French filmmaker Thomas Cazals on Ballard. There's a 10 minute preview available on The Ballardian and Postcardsfromthefuture (Cazals blog). It's scheduled for an April film/website release.


rustle



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Marillion tickets...

Tickets for Marillion's gig at the Colston Hall in Bristol arrived today :-)

The tour is the 'Somewhere Else' tour also the name of the new album which is due for release on 9th April.


rustle



Copyright © 2007 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Centre for Alternative Technology

Visited the Centre for Alternative Technology (C.A.T.).

It's in Wales and is a beacon for sustainability in everyday life. It is situated in an old Welsh slate mine and was set up in 1974. The place itself is a beautiful haven but as you thread your way around the site, you discover its buildings and ideas and its inspirational effect is captivating. You can make a difference.

on a hill

In reading about the history of the place and people, I found out that Peter Harper (he coined the term 'Alternative Technology') a founding member of CAT was influenced by Bestall's Rupert!

This place is important!

Centre for Alternative Technology
Machynlleth
Powys
SY20 9AZ
UK.

http://www.cat.org.uk/index.tmpl



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Blurred Vision

Blurred Vision

Just finished my first two nights in A&E. An eerily quiet couple of evenings punctuated by moments of frenetic activity. In charge of the Observation Unit, sat in the faded night glow and listening to people's broken, mumbled sleep is comforting in a Ballardian sort of way. As I trained, a variety of emotions swelled and receded throughout the three years and I couldn't see how it would be - I had blurred vision. I couldn't imagine how it would feel, if I ever passed and got a job. I now can - it feels right.



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Batman & Mario

Bandaged Batman

Bleached Mario

I finished reading High-Rise by JG Ballard what a story! Once again, it is as though you have really existed through this story. Written in 1975 but as fresh today as ever - Alsatian never tasted so good...

Walked at Avebury and photographed

Stone

My PIN came through so now I'm a registered nurse.



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Passed my Degree and got a job!

I passed my Degree but had no prospects of a job at the hospital I had been working for the past 31/2 years. But then, out of the blue I had an interview, got a job and was placed in A and E and started, all within the space of 5 days! I'm awaiting my PIN (Personal Insanity Number) so I'm an unregistered Staff Nurse at the moment. I get to wear scrubs - suddenly everything is very real but very cool.

It's been an up & down time and everything seems to have been on hold but I'm back with a vengeance. I've written two new short stories; Footfall and Scaredy Cat, both horror stories after HP Lovecraft. I've also started chapter 7 of Tales...

Marillion have a new album coming out on 9 April 2007 called Somewhere Else and are playing Bristol Colston Hall on 8 June 2007 (£20).


Blind Guardian are playing Bloodstock open air festival in Derbyshire on 7 July 2007 (Day Pass £36)

I finally bought Tales from Topographic Oceans - Yes

2007 is shaping up nicely :-)



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THE GREEN ORCHARD website updated

A new GREEN ORCHARD

rustle



Copyright © 2007 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Dead Days

Cut mistletoe lay withered off the bough
Holly, crown-fallen, no more king now
Discarded Christmas tree thrown against the wall
Needleless, left to languish 'gainst the squall
The rain runs, off pavement, into gutter
Only seen by faint light cowering behind window shutter
These are dead days
Into which is born a new year.


rustle



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New Year has started well...

The soundtrack of my day?

• Black Sabbath - Paranoid. Soooo many good tracks on one album; War Pigs, Paranoid (duh), Planet Caravan, Iron man, Electric Funeral, Hand Of Doom, Rat Salad, Fairies Wear Boots. That's all of 'em!

• Caravan - For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night. Has C'thlu Thlu as Track 4, a 1973 H.P. Lovecraft reference!

A website re-vamp underway (I'll post when it goes live)

Morello is developing 'Love Above' (working title). A Stop Motion film as part of her MA Media (Animation). It's all concept and sketches at the moment but it's shaping up!

Bargain of the century? Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for £2.99! From WH Smith! They don't even sell Gamecube games do they?!!!


rustle



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Happy New year

Welcome to 2007

(I got this in Derbyshire in 2006)

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2006: The Best and the Worst

2006 has been a year of survival. Surviving a move of house, surviving the final year of my degree, surviving a year long placement and surviving and surviving on a lack of money. But it has also been a year of amazing things as well including music, books, games and writing. There are many but here is a stab at the best and the worst of 2006



THE BEST OF 2006

MUSIC
The year I saw Blind Guardian in Concert
Seeing Blind Guardian live at KoKo in London was an ambition fulfilled. It was their first tour to Britain and it was amazing. Valhala and The Bard's Song (In The Forest) stand out as memorable forever!

my Permalink


The year I bought some more Albums

• Blind Guardian's 'A Twist in the Myth' came out. Brilliant artwork, excellent songs, a nod to a more commercial offering but memorable anthems and they work well live.
• Mastodon - 'Blood Mountain', heavy, playable heavy, play it!
• Dragonforce - 'Inhuman Rampage' Not normally what I regularly listen to and not what I expected but I keep coming back to it. I love the speed and the flourishes of humour.
• My most played album this year was Blind Guardian's 'Live'. Coupled with the DVD, the hairs still stand out on the back of my neck.

The year I actually finished watching an opera on TV

• Mozart's 'Cosi Fan Tuti'. I actually watched all this and it was sooo funny!

BOOKS
The year I discovered JG Ballard
JG Ballard's 'Kingdom Come' is his latest book, the first I've read by him and the most excellent book I've read! Ever! Closely followed by 'The Drowned World', his nth book. Hauntingly good, and poignant for today's global worries. Both books work on your mind long after reading. I cannot praise Ballard enough! Check the website - The Ballardian.

The year I read Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams - 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy', 'Life, the universe and everything' and 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' all inspired me to get my writing off the ground earlier than I had planned.

The year I built a Rupert the Bear book collection
'You have to see Bestall's endpapers!'

• 'The life and works of Alfred Bestall illustrator of Rupert Bear' - Caroline G. Bott.
• A tatty 'A Bear's Life' - George Perry with Alfred bestall
• Rupert Annual 1961
• Rupert Annual 1969
• Rupert Facsimile Annuals 1955, 1957 & 1958
• Plus others...
  

Rupert The Bear shop


The year I discovered Rackham
'The French roleplaying company, not Arthur'

• Cadwallon The Free City - Player's Handbook
  

Rackham website



GAMES
The year I got into games

Nintendo DS Lite - cool piece of technology with great games

• New Super Mario Bros.
• Animal Crossing: Wild World
• Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
• Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

____________ (space where Nintendo Wii should be)

• The legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess - for Wii (no Wii yet though!)
• Metroid Prime 2 - Echoes for Gamecube (I'll play it on my Wii when I get one)

Game On exhibition. See my Permalink



COMICS
The year I got back into comics games

• Mnemovore - Vertigo [review]
• Army of Darkness - Dynamite Entertainment
• Wonderland - SLG Publishing Disney
• Fear Agent - Image
  

WRITING
The year I wrote a Short Story or three!

• The Old House
• Dead Manse
• Bedlam

And started a Novel

• Tales of Magistery and Confabulation

And wrote more Poems

• Dark Wonderland
• The Dark Tide
• Rust Hut
• The Mission

WEB
The year I developed the website and started a blog and found cool stuff

Wonderland- games related, has to be checked every day, cool, games-related stuff from around the world
Rackham- tabletop roleplaying from France, amazing graphics
Nintendo- the best
UK Gamespot, Pocket Gamer Blog, Eurogamer, British Gaming Blog, Joystiq, SPOnG - all for game news
Firefox - where would I be without it? Thanks Mozilla
THE GREEN ORCHARD, Tales of Magistery... and A Green Orchard (this blog!) ;-)



FILMS
'Cinema, DVD, TV etc.'

• Howl's Moving Castle - saw this at The Watershed in Bristol - Wow!
  
• Night Watch - Author - Book - Film - DVD: BBC review
• Doctor Who Up Close exhibition (for my birthday :-))
• Dracula & The Ruby in the Smoke - my permalink

PLACES
The year we discovered Dorset

• Lyme Regis - the best restaurants with a cool old bookshop
• Bridport - the best place with a cool old bookshop
• Dorchester - the best teashop and a cool old bookshop
• Castleton, Derbyshire - was great at Christmas and a cool old bookshop

THE WORST OF 2006

MOVING HOUSE
Had to be done but it was the most traumatic episode I ever had to go through!

DEGREE
Struggling through this final year of my BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing degree, working, being on placement, no money and having to write a dissertation made this DIFF-I-CULT beyond belief!

FINANCES
What finances?

Wii
Should have been the best thing of 2006 but didn't manage to get one! >>> best of 2007 :-)

WARS
Wars, all wars, no exceptions!


rustle



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Herge on Tintin on TV

Tintin and Me on BBC4 tonight
Really enjoyed this. There is always political controversy when Herge is mentioned but his body of iconic work speaks for itself - just really cool drawings...


rustle



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Christmas Hols...

An unexpected Christmas Holiday. My name, pulled rabbit-like from a hospital hat!
And I spent the time Oh, so wisely. I managed to get hold of a copy of Super Mario Advance 4 AKA Super Mario Bros. 3 for Gameboy Advance to play on my DS Lite :-)

rustle



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Ruby and Dracula!

Ah, it's Christmas and TV has amazed me by being so good!

The Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman's novel (from The Sally Lockhart quartet) adapted for TV turned out to be excellent. Billie Piper played a good part (better than in Doctor Who) in what was a Victorian drama that captured the period really well.

Dracula - Bram Stoker's novel adapted for TV was awsome! Oh, the Gothic...

Both BBC dramas showing they can still do stuff well...


rustle



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It's Boxing Day

rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
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