Blogs

When Bridges Collapse: The Genoa Disaster, BBC 2, 9pm, BBC iPlayer, directed by Martin Gorst

Posted by celticman on Tue, 13 Aug 2019

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0007mxm/when-bridges-collapse-the... Forty-three people died, scores more were injured and 600 people lost their home when the Polcevera Bridge in Genoa collapsed on 14th August 2018. One survivor described how the road disappeared before him and it was like being in a cartoon. It was Italy’s worst ever road-bridge disaster. A design fault that allowed water to pool and steel cables to fray was blamed, but...

Nathan Filer (2013) The Shock of the Fall.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 11 Aug 2019

I’ve read this book before, but didn’t remember until I started reading it again. My memories like that, full of wormwood and dark holes. Most folks are that’s why we use terms like short-term and long-term and even working–memory and other types of memory that often doesn’t work. Types I’ve instantly forgotten, but no matter. We usually judge ourselves to be reliable narrators of our own lives, able to judge what is and what is not with...

Making a Voice/Video Recording

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 09 Aug 2019

If you have your own SoundCloud or YouTube account you can link from that (they are easy to open accounts with if you don't), but we also have an ABCTales SoundCloud and YouTube account and if you want to email your file to admin@abctales.com we will happily upload it for you and put a link on your poem or story. For mobile phones you can get apps for the above - also recommended is one called Hi-Q: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=...

The Bleeder, BBC iPlayer, Director Philippe Falardeau.

Posted by celticman on Tue, 06 Aug 2019

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0006wg1/the-bleeder Sometimes you just hit upon a movie you know you’re going to love. Here it is. As surely as any movie written or starring Simon Pegg (or even an actor that looks like Pegg) is going to be a going to be a stinker, The Bleeder is a knock-out. I’m not a big boxing fan. Yeh, sure I remember the Rumble in the Jungle and Ali v’s Frazier. I watched them on BBC in the same way that I later...

Calling All Poets!

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Mon, 05 Aug 2019

I've just been sent this opportunity from Leeds City Museum and thought it might interest someone (also they will pay you £700!!!!). Gooid luck to anyone who enters! https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Leed...

STORY AND POEM OF THE MONTH

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Sun, 04 Aug 2019

Our Story and Poem of the Month for July have been chosen by Mark Say: Story of the month Top story goes to Poking a Snake by amavisti, best described as a slightly sleazy love story. It conveys the way some couples maintain a strong emotional bond and a sense of loyalty to each other despite immoderate behaviour and keeping secrets. I suspect a lot of marriages survive because of the moral in the story. https://www.abctales.com/story/amavisti/...

Happiness is a warm keyboard=I live to and love to write

Posted by Penny4athought on Sun, 04 Aug 2019

Dusk is setting in and the low light of sunset is blanketing the grass with shadows and patches of last light…Day is ending and night is falling and in this moment between light and dark…I sit in quiet contemplation… reflecting on all the issues of my day….but I don’t battle the problems…I let them simmer…pausing to see what answers may come. I have always been a night bird…the pace of morning exhausts me with rush hour and work day demands and...

Karen Armstrong (1993, 1999) A History of God.

Posted by celticman on Sat, 03 Aug 2019

All writing is an act of faith. I come from a long line of dead people and bar-room prophets, all saying the same things. We’re going to hell in a handcart. We’ve had the fall of the Berlin Wall and Francis Fukuyama proposing The End of History . Karen Armstrong posits The Death of God. The time frame is opaque. But in places like Britain it seems more clear-cut, less than fourteen percent of people attend regular worship (Anglican or otherwise...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 02 Aug 2019

Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 02 Aug 2019 What a week for ranting - i'm in a particularly ranty mood myself so took great pleasure in the green calm of Di Hard's delectable and thought-provoking poem https://www.abctales.com/story/dihard/grassjuly - it's our poem of the week. I really enjoyed the discussion of the possible reading of this poem too - it would be wonderful to hear our writers reading their work. I would love to hear Hudson Moon...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point.

Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 02 Aug 2019

What a week for ranting - i'm in a particularly ranty mood myself so took great pleasure in the green calm of Di Hard's delectable and thought-provoking poem https://www.abctales.com/story/dihard/grassjuly - it's our poem of the week. I really enjoyed the discussion of the possible reading of this poem too - it would be wonderful to hear our writers reading their work. I would love to hear Hudson Moon reading his story aloud too: https://www...

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