Posts

Stranger Things - stringing it all together.

Writer’s often love to allegorize when creating their work; often key names or places provide clues to the plot, give us key insight into idiosyncrasies of a character or quite simply describe the ‘function’ of the place or character. So are the writers of Stranger things giving us clues to what Stranger things is all about or are the things I point out below just simply coincidental? Clue 1: It’s all in the name. Let’s take a look at the name first – Stranger Things – yes, things are very strange in Hawkins, but looks at the words. STR anger th   ING s   - right there in the title you can see STRING. Clue 2: Really? Hawkins? OK so perhaps a bit of a stretch, or not? Stephen William Hawking – perhaps the most widely known theoretical physicist and cosmotologist in the world today – Hawkins, Hawking – very close, and surely a homage to this great man. Of course Professor Hawking might know a thing or two about STRING theory. Clue 3: Will Byers Will Myers is argua

The wonder and danger of social media.

We've all heard of Gangnam Style. It was (or still is) a really upbeat song by Psy that became a viral success with nearly three billion views on Youtube. However, it is no longer King of Youtube. The song See You Again by Charlie Buth, which is a haunting tribute to actor Paul Walker has surpassed Gangnam Style. What is truly amazing is that if you believe these figures, nearly half the population of the world has viewed these videos - it's an amazing thought that social media has really opened up our world, but it's also a very scary thought that a few companies are beginning to control what we consume. Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and a few others are beginning to monopolize the online world and as such are gaining a huge amount of power. These companies, with their mass appeal, have the ability to literally change the world - they can sway or topple governments, they can force corporations to change policies, they can feed us and make us believe 'f

Collusion

Four  hours, forty seven minutes of grueling, top level back and forth - no I'm not talking about the apparent collusion between the Trump Camp and the Russians, I'm talking about an epic Wimbledon tennis match between two warriors (Nadal and Muller). It often amazes me how men like this can continue to compete at this level for so long; I get breathless just walking upstairs - not only did they leave everything on the court, these two men metaphorically showed that two sides can battle hard, give no quarter, but still have a huge amount of respect for each other. It's sad there has to be a loser, but that is life. Wouldn't it be great if US politics was like that. Two sides give their all for an election; both fight hard but fair, both side respect each other. At the end of the tumultuous contest, one side has to win, the other congratulates - not only that, they actually do nothing else but commend each other for the battle and show a huge amount of respect! W

A new horizon?

I've been writing on the web for 20 years but have never really found a niche; I've tried to write about photography, about writing and about 'stuff' but I've never gained any traction, and to be honest I've never really put my hear into any of my blogs. I've found that trying to force myself into a niche is a bit like trying to get a Republican and Democrat agree on.... well on anything. It's seemingly impossible! I've come to the conclusion that I should simply forget about trying to force a niche and simply write - boldly go where no SimeyC has gone before! So I've created another new blog 'A gray bit of the moon' - it'll be a place where I'll moan, rant and complain - but hopefully I can add a little bit of my quirky humor into the mix. Think about a cross between Terry Pratchet, Douglas Adams and Eoin Colfer - but with a hell of a lot less talent - and you'll probably find me! So there it is - my first post - there&