a case of the Blues & Robert Johnson.

I've recently gotten into blues. A lot.



And I've been trying to explore the origins of

1930s Blues. You need to check this out.

Legend has it that he did not know anything about playing the guitar, then one night he went out into the dark woods with his six-stringed instrument, met the Devil, sold his soul and became one of the greatest blues musicians ever. In fact he has a song called 'Me and the Devil Blues'... The one I am sharing here is personally one of my favourites, and the video captures the feeling perfectly. I would suggest listening to 'Crossroad Blues' as well.

If you like him, check out Skip James. This song is called 'Devil Got my Woman'. He also played in the 1930s and did not get much recognition, thankfully some young blues enthusiasts in the 60s rediscovered him and he started touring again.

Robert Johnson (one of the few photos ever taken)

Midnight in paris

I have just finished watching Midnight in Paris, recommended by my friend (Check out her awesome blog here . I am writing it about it here to recommend it to you as well.

Midnight in Paris, directed by Woody Allen (2011), has gained critical acclaim since its release and has been one of the films I have enjoyed most this year. This may be for a variety of reasons:
a) I love Paris - who doesn't?
b) I love writing - and this story explores the struggle of a writer.
c) You get to meet all your favourite authors/painters from the 1920s ranging from Picasso, Hemingway, Fitzgerald and many more.

Overall this film is romantic, magical, existentialist and a film that is perhaps needed in this time where people seem to easily forget about the struggles of the past which has brought us here. This does not mean we must live in the past. By appreciating the past, we appreciate what has made us, but by living in the present we form ourselves. We are often surrounded by several oppurtunities we let slip by, either because we are living in the past or the future. We must make sure our eyes are open to these opportunities, these 'chance meetings'...

This film explores the concpet of the 'Golden Age' - which time period is best to live in? Is time as linear as we assume? I certainly think not. I believe it is often good to be reminded of this, especially if we are trying to be creative. Creativity is certainly not linear, and shouldn't be.

Zite - Personalised iPad magazine

Since I have been ill for the past week with tonsillitis and currently with a bad cough, I have been spending quite a lot of time reading, watching films and discovering more about my iPad. For those iPad users out there I want to talk about the app 'Zite'.

Zite is a free personalised iPad magazine which posts articles from all around the web in an easy to use, eloquent looking digitalised magazine. You can share articles on social networking sites such as twitter and facebook, and the more articles you 'like', the more personalised the magazine will start to become. You can choose from a range of topics ranging from history, pop culture, cooking, theology, science...and eliminate the ones you are not interested in.

I thought I would share the fact that this magazine has provided me with hours of interesting articles and has been one of my favourite apps to use on the iPad. Truly a great experience.

Quote of the Day

"To live a creative life, we must lose the fear of being wrong." - Joseph Chilton Pearce

A Candle in the Dark

This is an image I had whilst dreaming...but I quite like the idea.

Imagine a room – An enormous room, almost unimaginably enormous (the ceiling and the walls are so far apart you cannot touch a single wall if you walk for days.)

Now imagine the Universe – or ‘Existence’ IS the room.

The room is pitch black and full of objects/paintings/furniture.

All you have is a small candle and you are in the middle of this room.

All you can discover and see are small parts of the room at a time.

By walking around you can try and piece together, through your perception,
what you believe the reality of the room is.

But you cannot see the room in its entirety (unless you find a light switch – which is nearly impossible, by the mere size of the room as well as the fact that the switch could be anywhere – and most probably somewhere you cannot reach.)

You can make assumptions about what the room is like, or what it is made of, but you cannot KNOW for certain.

Even if you were to find the light switch you would see a small section of the room from a subjective viewpoint.

You might spend your whole life walking around this room trying to discover the ‘secret’ of the universe or your existence.

Now imagine further that this room is part of a larger house still and you firmly believe that only the room you are in is the one that exists.

When you 'see' you may come to 'believe' that everything around you is the only truth/reality (but you still cannot know). When you 'believe' it is more than everything around you, you may 'see' reality in a different way but again not know...

I feel this is one way that could also be used to describe the plight of believing or not believing in a God (or a Creator) of the Universe/Existence..


Science fumbles around with one candle, religion with another, philosophy with another, and individuals with another...