A Decade of The Glass Walking-Stick!

...or Ten Years On The Blog...

Holy Guacamole! It's hard to believe I've been ( sort of ) working on this 'ere blog for a whole ten years. Well, I say "hard to believe" but when I actually look back at my various, random drivellings over the years, it does kind of hit me how long it's been since that first rookie post...

At the start I wasn't quite sure what I was doing ( as in life, so in blogging ), treating the blog as a kind of journal and even worrying when I wasn't posting regularly. Imagine that! Over the years my output here has sloooooowed down to a kind of backwards crawl but I still enjoy doing it when the mood takes me. I did say to James the other day that maybe I should call a halt to TGW-S after this 10th anniversary post but he convinced me to keep on keepin' on. If anything, it's a good exercise in keeping the old grey matter ticking over, probably needed more than ever now I'm in my fifties  -  I was only 41 when I started the blog! A spring chicken! A youngster...

Although not as young as in the photo above. This is me and my much-missed dog Buxton ( aka Buck, aka Bucko, aka "where's that bloody dog gone this time" etc. ), some time in the late 1980s. I know you're more used to cat photos here, Dear Hypothetical Reader, but as I'm getting all nostalgic today I thought it would be good to give a canine the spotlight for a change.
( I am kind of hopping around from one subject to another here, but stick with it, I'll only have this tenth anniversary the one time. Can't imagine I'll be doing this in another 10 years. Or will I?... )

Anyway, back to the history of the blog ( Don't you find it fascinating? Hello? Anyone? )  -  I began to suss out the things I enjoyed writing about  -  movies, music, Doctor Who, comics, all that stuff, with the occasional post about things my family and I were up to in the real world. I particularly enjoyed writing some semi-regular series of posts like Favourite Gig Fridays and Steranko Saturdays which gave the blog some kind of structure and also gave me deadlines, without which I'm pretty useless.
Of course, one of the greatest joys of blogging has been talking to fellow, like-minded ( or not ) bloggers, reading their often far superior posts and generally feeling like part of a community. That feeling has sadly waned over the years as so many blogs and bloggers have fallen by the wayside. Some retired from the scene and happily gave their friends and Followers a chance to say au revoir, some just disappeared from the Blogosphere without warning. I have to admit I really miss some of those guys... so, if any of the following are still out there, why not leave a comment?
Mickey Glitter, Wiec?, The Igloo Keeper, Momo, Richard Bensam, Mandra   -  it would be great to hear from you.
Luckily, there are still the faithful few ( and I do mean "few"! ) who still drop by, so here's a big TGW-S THANK YOU to anyone who finds themselves reading this drivel when they should really be doing something less boring instead. You know who you are...

( No, not those two, obviously... but some lovely people who are almost as cool... )
Oh, you want me to name names? Alrighty then. Many thanks to these wonderful folks for supporting this 'ere blog over the years: Tom Wiggins, Joe Bloke, Pete Doree, Steve W, Kid Robson, MD Jackson, Karen 'n' Doug, The Groovy Agent, John Pitt, Joanne Casey, Paul McScotty, Matthew Killorin...
and, of course, my Canadian brother from another mother, the mighty Calvin Heighton!

Aaand that's enough back-slapping for now. I wouldn't want anyone to get big-headed. So, while I start to think about what the hell I'm going to do with this blog after this millstone ( er, "milestone" )      ( answers on a postcard? ) I'll leave you with some random pics from the Visual Vaults of The Glass Walking-Stick.

Peace and Love  -  cerebus660 ( Simon )

Doctor Who: Series 7 Catch-up

If anyone out there is still reading the ludicrously infrequent postings on this 'ere blog, they'll have noticed that I'm waaaay behind with my Doctor Who reviews.
( As well as everything else, to be fair. ) It's not that I'm losing interest in the show or, indeed, the reviewing process but I've been very short on energy recently, due to my recent return to work. I'm only working half-days at the moment but even that is sapping all my strength  -  so much so that I tend to come home in the afternoons and go straight to bed. Not much time for blogging, then! Hopefully this will improve as I make a fuller return to what we laughingly call "real life"...but it may take some time. I also have some film and gig reviews to post on here too when I can get sorted. But, for now, just a few thoughts on some recent Doctor Who episodes, ahead of tonight's series finale, and presented ( in my usual, annoying manner ) in reverse order...

Nightmare In Silver:
Neil Gaiman's much-anticipated follow-up to the multi-award-winning The Doctor's Wife turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag. It was certainly good to see the Cybermen return as a far more credible threat than they've been in recent years  -  their pathetic appearance in Closing Time probably being their all-time low point. The sleek, new design was a definite success, harking back to some classic 1960s Cyber-looks while boasting some cool new elements  -  the built-in gun, the exposed steel spine. However, they weren't on screen enough for my liking, being reduced to tin soldiers while the Doctor played mind-games with the Cyber-Planner infesting his consciousness. And... weren't they supposed to be silent killers in this story? After all the pre-show talking-up of that point it was disappointing to hear the old pneumatic hiss and stomping of the Cybus model return.
There were some genuinely successful elements to this story: the Cybermen emerging from their tomb, Matt Smith's turning-on-a-sixpence acting as he flipped between dual roles, the well-realised dilapidated theme park setting. But that was almost balanced out by the virtually-pointless inclusion of Clara's two young charges, the lack of suspense and the criminal misuse of the guest cast... except for Warwick Davis who was quietly affecting as Porridge. I'll give this...

Three 1/2 Out Of Five Bow Ties ( or discarded Cybermites )




The Crimson Horror:
Mark Gatiss' second script this series and the one presumably closest to his heart as it features some very League Of Gentlemen-style black humour as well as Victorian grotesqueries reminiscent of his Lucifer Box novels. This episode was just pure fun, from the incongruities of Strax and co, to the Carry On Screaming vibe of the Crimson Horror itself, from Matt Smith's Frankenstein Monster impression, to the icky revelation of Mr. Sweet's true nature. The cast gave it their all with Smith's "Northern" accent being a delight and the overly-cheerful mortuary attendant standing out amongst the guest actors. The episode belonged, of course, to mother and daughter duo Diana Rigg and Rachel Stirling as insane factory-owner Mrs. Gillyflower and her blind, unloved daughter. They were clearly having a ball playing these characters and that was communicated to the audience.
( On a purely personal note I was interested to see one of the characters was called Mr. Thursday. Possibly a reference to this blog's "patron saint" GK Chesterton and his Victorian fantasy/horror novel The Man Who Was Thursday? I'm sure Mr. Gatiss would be aware of Mr. Thursday... )

Four Out Of Five Bow Ties ( or prehistoric blood-slugs )



Journey To The Centre Of The Tardis:
TBH I was concerned when I realised this episode was written by Stephen Thompson, the man behind Series 6's damp pirate story The Curse Of The Black Spot. He has also worked with The Moff on Sherlock, writing last season's The Reichenbach Fall, which was, by contrast, an intricately-plotted, shocking cliffhanger. Could he replicate that success for Nu Who? Unfortunately, no...

This tale of the Doctor and an unscrupulous gang of outer-space salvage merchants hunting through the disabled Tardis for a missing Clara should have been so much better. As it was, we endured interminable wanderings through corridors ( which didn't really have any Time Lord uniqueness about them ) with only the occasional view at anything more interesting within the Tardis' depths. A quick view of a swimming-pool here... a few seconds in a library there. The chance to finally see more of the modern day Tardis than just the console room should really have been a magical trip into the underworld. Instead it was more like a trudge through a muddy underpass. The revelation of the Eye Of Harmony and the exploding Tardis engines were fine moments, but they weren't enough. If only we could have seen something like the MC Esher inspired poster above...
There were some lovely moments between Matt and Jenna Louise which certainly helped ease the pain, and the "time zombies" lurking in the Tardis were very creepy, if poorly-rationalised. Just don't start me on the intergalactic rag 'n' bone men... old man Steptoe must be turning in his grave...
"Haaaarooold!!"

Two 1/2  Out Of Five Bow Ties ( or Plot Reset Buttons )

So, that's almost it for an alarmingly patchy second half of the series. Here's hoping tonight's finale The Name Of The Doctor can live up to its hype...

Happy St. George's Day!

St. George he was for England

And before he killed the dragon

He drank a pint of English ale

Out of an English flagon.

For though he fast right readily

In hair shirt or in mail,

It isn't safe to give him cakes

Unless you give him ale.

St. George he was for England

And right gallantly set free

The lady left for dragon's meat

And tied up to a tree;

But since he stood for England

And knew what England means,

Unless you give him bacon

You mustn't give him beans.

St. George he is for England

And shall wear the shield he wore

When we go out in armour

With battle-cross before.

But though he is jolly company

And very pleased to dine,

It isn't safe to give him nuts

Unless you give him wine.

This witty insight into the English character, heroic or not, comes courtesy of this blog's patron "saint", the mighty GK Chesterton, author of The Glass Walking-Stick ( the original, that is ), The Man Who Was Thursday, The Flying Inn and many, many more works of wonder.

Oh, and the painting is St. George Slays The Dragon by Fortunino Matania from the cover of a 1962 issue of that fondly-remembered magazine, Look & Learn...

A word from our sponsor

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow."

~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Post no. 500

Where it all began.....

So I had to think up a name for my blog. I had no real plan of what I was even going to write about. I didn't want to cover just one subject ( like knitting or opera or football ) so the title would have to be non-specific but potentially interesting.....

I just gazed around the room and saw my 1955 edition of assorted GK Chesterton writings and thought "that'll do!" and then I wrote:

"OK, first ever blog. Breathe deeply, focus etc. So, why The Glass Walking-Stick? ( Why the long face? ) I got the title from a collection of essays by G.K. Chesterton, that sadly-neglected ex-titan of English literature. A crusty old bugger who could, and did, write wittily and deeply on any subject under the sun, G.K. is responsible for one of my favourite novels, The Man Who Was Thursday. He rocks! Well, he did: he died in 1936.

"In one of these essays, Chesterton bashes the rich for their snobbish attitudes and defends the poor: "The cultivated people go in for what is beautiful; but the un-cultivated for what is interesting.....One man had a walking-stick made of glass and filled with sweets. If there were children in the house, the preservation of that glass stick has something of the insane sublimity of a religion." It wouldn't last long in our house anyway.

"Glass walking-stick equals something interesting but bonkers? pointless? fun? It could be a metaphor for blogging or I could be talking out of my a***e. ( That's a** if you're American. )

"Anyway, the plan is to witter on about any old random rubbish, whenever I can get my act together. As you can see above."

...but I still haven't written anything about knitting. Or opera. Or football.

( Probably won't start now, to be honest. )

GK Chesterton

A word from our founder:

Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget;

For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet.

( From "The Secret People" by GK Chesterton, 29th May 1874 - 14th June 1936 )

Are you listening David Cameron?

St. George's Day

And now, a word from our sponsor:

"I am informed on fairly good authority that the day upon which I write these words is St. George's Day. It is very characteristic of our country that we make far more fuss about St. Patrick's Day than we do about St. George's. It is a part of that curious elephantine modesty of the English in some matters: a modesty so heavy and helpless that foreigners mistake it for pride.....

I do not know why it is, but the English really have got a certain kind of embarrassment and dislike of show....."

GK Chesterton, from "St. George For England", 1906.

Published in "The Glass Walking-Stick And Other Essays." ( Good title for a blog... )

OK, first ever blog. Breathe deeply, focus etc. So, why The Glass Walking-Stick? ( Why the long face? ) I got the title from a collection of essays by G.K. Chesterton, that sadly-neglected ex-titan of English literature. A crusty old bugger who could, and did, write wittily and deeply on any subject under the sun, G.K. is responsible for one of my favourite novels, The Man Who Was Thursday. He rocks! Well, he did: he died in 1936.

In one of these essays, Chesterton bashes the rich for their snobbish attitudes and defends the poor: "The cultivated people go in for what is beautiful; but the un-cultivated for what is interesting.....One man had a walking-stick made of glass and filled with sweets. If there were children in the house, the preservation of that glass stick has something of the insane sublimity of a religion." It wouldn't last long in our house anyway.

Glass walking-stick equals something interesting but bonkers? pointless? fun? It could be a metaphor for blogging or I could be talking out of my a***e. ( That's a** if you're American. )

Anyway, the plan is to witter on about any old random rubbish, whenever I can get my act together. As you can see above. Endblog 1.

Soundtrack: Born In The USA, Bruce Springsteen. Go Obama!