In Praise of Bad Communication.

I really love these guys. Hiroki lives in the same City as my wife, Tokushima ad Andrew lives in Osaka where my wife used to live. Alex is cool, check out his Twitter account at @Kxela & Youtube account: Subtokyo It is my hope to one day appear with them in person & or on youtubw. Here is my tribute to them.



Check on Twitter @hmatsuuchi @ahawkins82 @BadCommPodcast

BAE Protest March in Hull Video

On Being Able to Fight Against the Cuts

I had never done this sort of thing before, not really. With the exception of a short rally after September 11th 2001, and an Anti-Mubarak rally I literally stumbled into in Oxford, I had never been on march, rally or demonstration – call it what you will in the name of anything. It was not through apathy or lack of understanding that I had not done so, rather it was my disability.

I have cerebral palsy and whilst a keen Labour supporter have always felt intimidated by marches, all those people, striding with purpose and apparent certainty, both in the physical and moral sense that I always used to worry that my body, was not up to the task of marching. I was honestly worried that since I have trouble walking I would be literally ran over by the person behind me, or bump into the person in front of me, or that my disability would simply prevent me from being able to walk. How foolish it may seem these were my fears.



So at about quarter to twelve midday on the eighth of October 2011 I was surprised to find myself at the Cenotaph in Hull City Centre. I was not there by accident; my local MP had told me by email that this rally was going to take place, I had got up early showered, dressed in my best, and yet as I approached the Memorial I thought ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I wanted to be there, the issue was important, jobs, particularly BAE jobs in the nearby town of Brough were under threat, if they were to go it could be as devastating as the end of shipping in Hull or mining in Rotherham. I really wanted to be there, and yet part of me still thought at a quarter to twelve –fifteen minutes before the beginning of march ‘your leg won’t hold out'.

I saw my MP and some old friends, which reassured me. The actual march began, to begin with I was still uncertain but by a quarter of the way round I was in my stride, at ease and feeling quite stupid that I had worried.

Of course, Hull is not London in terms of size, although I’d like to think that any rally counts. I just wanted to wish all those that attended that rally good luck and thanks.

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French Names & Japanese Philosophy

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Whatever Happened To The Short Story?

Whatever Happened To The Short Story?

I recently rewatched some of the TV series Sex and the City a few days ago, and in the middle of the third episode or thereabouts, I realised something odd, out of place. I realised that episodes were only about twenty something minutes long. Nowadays TV programmes be they factual, dramatic or comedic are usually about forty-five minutes to an hour long, soap opera being an exception. I also noticed that there were less ‘extras’, and few there were on the DVD were called ‘featurettes’, which made feel rather nostalgic when compared to 2011 standards of there being numerous episode commentaries, outtakes, deleted scenes, interviews with the actors, writers, directors, producers and the producer’s pet cat. Whatever happened to just telling a good story, and that a pre-requisite for being ‘a good story’ did not include being long.

Do not mistake me, I am not against long programmes or extras, as a big fan of House M.D. and Doctor Who, dramas that deserve their forty odd minutes and do offer good extras, I enjoy them, but the presumption these days that there must be extras and that it must be so long does infuriate me. I imagine that there must be many good stories, especially in science fiction that would be great to see filmed, but just don’t need that much time to be told. If Saki or Franz Kafka or Carl Sagan were writing today, they wouldn’t have prayer.

There are still some programmes that have not fallen victim to the need for length, Peep Show being a prime example. I only hope others will follow their example before we get The Only Way Is Essex: The Movie, all three hours fifteen minutes of it.