Blogs

Requiem for failure

When stars burn out the whole world shines the light We drink and moourn Dave Bowie's spaceship flight We got to Southgate Cemetqry and cry For Amy who died young and flew so high But what about us slobs us losers Drunks, dolies even drug abusers Who gives a toss, not the doctors or the bosees We are scripted off as pure dead losses Social workers cry into the gin About the the damaged souls like Ellie Flynn Who Od'ed when just thirteen in an...

The Witch Farm, BBC 4, BBC Sounds, written and presented by Danny Robbins, Directed by Simon Barnard.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001d6yr https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001ddg1 I listened and was intrigued by The Battersea Poltergeist . Danny Robbins has assembled the same team to tackle another caseload, he terms ‘the most haunted house in Britain’. He’s repeating himself. But I wouldn’t want to stay within spitting distance. Or to put it another way, no way would I stay anywhere near that place. I’m not sure if I believe in ghosts...

Gladys Aylward was scared on her first visit to the Missions in Africa

Gladys was only 13 when she first heard orders from the heavenly host to go and work in the missions in Africa. She had been working a very long shift glass collecting and washing up and mopping the floor in the Hop Bine where her mum and dad held regular lock-ins. The poor lass collapsed in a dead faint. When she came to she heard 'last orders to serve or I'll kick the lot of you out on yer 'arris' Being a pure soul she heard the words 'these...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

There have been so many great pieces on ABCTales this week, especially prose - thank you so much to all our wonderful writers for sharing them! Two very different choices today. Story of the Week goes to csquirrel (and this is the first thing he's posted on the site since 2009!!) for the brilliantly surreal 'Our Second Core Belief is Loyalty-Based Leadership'. Our Poem of the week is Catherine Poarch's 'Down Pigsty Hill' which reminds us of the...

Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next? BBC 1 Scotland, BBC 3, BBC iPlayer, presented by Jess Davies.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001c1mt/deepfake-porn-could-you-b... Mariam-Webster [online] dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deepfake deepfake noun plural deepfakes Definition of deepfake : an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said Two artists and an advertising company created a deepfake of...

Gladys Aylward - also a major folklorist

Hey there. Some of your you may be forgiven for thinking that Gladys was simply a boozy old biddy who got into Christianity. Ok she travelled with the missions in China and outer mongolia, going as far as Ulan Bator. Yes she was from a basic family and there were plenty of them, bless them all. She liked helping people and our Gladys also had a mildly mischievious sense of humour...

Charity shop sale - West London

TOO MUCH £1 sale!! Notices smotherrhe Large Cancer Research Charity Shop window. I join thethrong of customers, mainly middle aged to elderly women. One or two brave mums shove their double buggies inside, ignoring the wrath of the staff and other customers whose only aim is to be first and get the most cheap stuff. Our faces are set hard against frustration, disappointment, a life's experience of rip-offs, cheap knock offs and of being sold...

Angie Thomas (2017) The Hate U Give.

A remarkable debut novel. Often we conflate the narrator with the writer. Starr is sixteen. A black girl that goes to a school outside her district and ghetto. A coming-of-age drama. A love story. Inside and outside. Stories told in black and white. Class and entitlement, the embodiment of The American Dream and its flipside in the hood. The Hate U Give seemed familiar. Biblical. The Hate You Give is the Hate You Get. Eye for an eye. Old...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point 21 October 2022

Posted by Ewan on Fri, 21 Oct 2022 As usual it’s very difficult to single pieces out, because, as always there is a great deal of excellent material to choose from. Story of the Week Celticman’s Ugly Puggly continues to entertain and shock in equal measure. Check out the latest – at the time of writing – here . The '70s Look And The Battle For My Soul , Lou Blodgett’s account of a 70’s childhood in the US, and its effect on him is wryly funny...

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point 21 October 2022

As chosen by Ewan As usual it’s very difficult to single pieces out, because, as always there is a great deal of excellent material to choose from. Story of the Week Celticman’s Ugly Puggly continues to entertain and shock in equal measure. Check out the latest – at the time of writing – here . The '70s Look And The Battle For My Soul , Lou Blodgett’s account of a 70’s childhood in the US, and its effect on him is wryly funny. However, the Story...

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