Theme Thursday, Microfiction Monday & ABC Wednesday
With Thursday Thirteen news & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!
BLOGGER BARD
Welcome to my weekly magazine post. Watch
it grow thru the week. You can opt to read the essay,
current affairs, themed mini mag with fiction & poetry, or just
read the lot. Here’s hoping you enjoy your visit. Plenty
for everyone here so do call again next week.
MICROFICTION
Fiction: She was naked but for a sheet. She
remembered the bottle. Picked it up. Knew it
was it’s fault. But her clothes were not inside.
ZZZZZ
The title is usually found in a cartoon bubble and represents sleep. I
use it to point out that western culture is asleep. The great music,
literature and art is all from the past. The ideas in politics and
philosophy are inane. Business has become empire building and the
pursuit of profit alone. Advancement is through pointless celebrity.
Work occurs in a technologically regulated mediocracy. Eccentricity,
daring and inspiration are shunned as anomalous or dangerous. I am
quite sure that if ET approached us today, he will see a planet as a
cartoon parody of its yesterdays, with the moon like a balloon, with
neon lighted ‘ZZZZZ’ flashing, saying, ‘nothing to see here’. I hope
we wake up before I die.
HELP
Help is good. It is human to be helped and want
to help. Yet if help tells us anything, it is that we
are not the individuals we think we are. We thrive
only when together, with help being the means of
our survival and progress.
Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime
HEALTH NEWS: Study says home
births are riskier than in hospital, though
better for the mother. Mindst you, advice always
follows fads.
BRIT NEWS: Ministers told departments to prepare for 40%
cuts. They’re making it sound worse than it is so when it isn’t
we’ll like them.
EDUC NEWS: BBC Panorama learns only 18 Brit teachers struck off for
incompetence in 40 yrs. That few? Ridiculous and bad for education.
CULTURE NEWS: Lee Siegel says time of great novelists is passed.
I don’t think its gone; merely that publishers are not looking
for them. Only interested in quick sales.
BRIT NEWS: Plan is for Referendum on Alternative Vote in May
2011. I guess there’s no alternative to it. We don’t need
to change constitution. Parties are problem.
BRIT NEWS: Brit Chamber of Commerce says economy
growing but there’s dangers. Yes, with cuts now
ongoing, look out for double-dip Recession.
CRIME NEWS: Brit courts are owed £1.3bn in
unpaid fines. Now, call me stupid, but
wouldn’t those fined be the most
obvious not to pay? So why
aren’t they chasing them?
RATTLER’S TALE
A Voyage of the Imagination
One Single Impression
Sunday Scribblings – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday
PREPONDERANCE
Lots of ideas come my way,
A preponderance, you could say,
Take out ‘pre’ and take out ‘ance’,
Leaves lots to ponder, when the world I glance,
But they all come from my condition, or is that ‘ance’?
Preconditioned ponderings mean it’s not down to chance;
Lots of ideas come my way,
My mind melds with world, you could say
FLASH 55 – THE POP SINGER
Fiction: They went mad as he sang, screaming and gyrating in their
tens of thousands. Many said he was the greatest pop singer ever. A
global phenomenon, many followed in his path, bringing fame to a
whole new generation. Arguments that he was retro were ignored. And
after every gig, the kids would shout: ‘Thanks, Pops.’
TREASURE
Diamonds, gold, precious stones,
Compacted elements, wealthy zone;
Such things are treasured more than life,
Sometimes more than kids and wife,
Yet why are treasures always rare?
Can anything beat a breath of air?
THE GENTLE WAY
Fiction(?): It was to be a gentle revolution, Mr Bigbiz knew. Praise
would come from high up – especially in the way he managed to make
the vulgar the norm. It began with democracy – personal
empowerment – ‘cos that would inevitably lead to mass consumerism.
Then they all had fun – continually shopping, continually partying,
continually grasping for more. And such benefits – counselors, therapy,
crime, rehab, prison – plenty of work for everyone. And don’t forget
the pension plans, perfectly balanced by fast food to kill ‘em off before
they receive. Yes, as Mr Bigbiz picked up his Trident, he knew the
pursuit of happiness would be Hell.
SONG FOR MOM
Always there when needs are great,
Constant guardian of my fate,
Her image strong within the mind,
Always waiting for me to find,
Memories flood whenever I delve,
Though she died when I was twelve
BRIT NEWS: The Queen
has addressed the UN and
visited Ground Zero. UN Sec Gen
said she was an anchor for our age. So
very true. Her links with the past are vital for
us to remember from where we came.
WAR NEWS: Brit Army to hand control of Sangin, Afghanistan,
to US. Since 2006 nearly 100 Brit troops have been killed here. We
were simply spread too thinly.
CRIME NEWS: The second spree shooter in the north of England in a
month is dead. Cornered, he shot himself after 6 hr negotiation. It
always ends like this – it’s a form of suicide.
WORLD NEWS: So Russia and US have swapped their spies. Some
from each side want to settle in UK, including Anna Chapman,
it seems. Her ex-husband already has publicist. A ‘star’ in
the making?
BRIT NEWS: Speaker of House of Commons wants to
abolish bad behaviour during PM’s Questions. Don’t
be ridiculous! If politics isn’t confrontational we
don’t thoroughly debate, and law is deficient.
GREEN NEWS: Climate unit in East Anglia has
been criticised for lack of openness. An
important point. If scientists are
secretive they do damage to
understanding of climate
change.
© Anthony North, July 2010
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