The Mismaze

This blog is the third of three which have been written over the course of approximately one year. The others are Yellow Fever Pages & Mutant Butoh Dancer (see side panel).

miércoles, noviembre 01, 2006

upon departure

The oddest thing about departure is the knowing that there is no knowing if you will return; and if you shall not return. I still recollect ...

on what we choose to write

It may be that the blog has been created for a new generation of people/ writers. Those who do not choose at all. Who merely are/ write. Who...

on pain and misunderstanding

The blog has in no way alleviated pain or reduced misunderstandings. If anything, on many occasions, it has exacerbated them. At times it ma...

on bloggers

It may be that it order to discover whether one is innately a blogger or not, it is necessary to desist for a while. As with all the other t...

on trilogies

Perhaps it is a judeo-christian thing, perhaps it is not, but there is something curiously satisfying about trilogies.

on the mismaze

Just because I choose to cease documenting the contrails of the mismaze, does not mean to say that I have left it, or can ever hope to leave...

on bloggging

Will it come to be seen in years to come that one is either a blogger or one is not? In much the same way as one either takes exercise, read...

martes, octubre 24, 2006

life on mars

An extract from Shooting Stars , a comedy, written 2004 ---- Erica: Sometimes I wake up and I think that maybe I’m not actually human. I lo...

lunes, octubre 23, 2006

secret shoreditch garden

email

Was sent the following last week, with the message that it's "very fletcherian". Judge for yourself. Just Once - Anne Sexton J...

sábado, octubre 21, 2006

encircled

In Rotherhithe station you hear water as you wait. Dripping. Seeping. Projecting a self. You cannot See it. You peer into the tunnel, suspen...

anaesthetic

These days, my friend informs me, they’re reluctant to give you a general anaesthetic. He knows someone who had their eyeball removed under ...

jueves, octubre 19, 2006

jose mourinho is a miserable icon

Mourinho has a job, a good job. He manages a football team. They’re doing well, very well. Everywhere he goes, he does well. He’s a very suc...

so what exactly is the strategy?

" The strategy is to win. " Tony Snow, White House press secretary, quoted Guardian

miércoles, octubre 18, 2006

the nigerian and the uruguayan

The Nigerian works in a factory in Harlseden. I met him in a pub in Peckham. He doesn't support any particular team but he knows his foo...

martes, octubre 17, 2006

burnley road

It was 1995, towards the end of. The whole year had been rootless. Moving along the 2 bus route, from Tulse Hill to Crystal Palace to Brixto...

lunes, octubre 16, 2006

autumn

Strange how two people can magnetise for so long despite being so different. Does one reed bend to the other’s breeze or is it the other way...

2 suns set in green park

overheard at frieze art fair

Man ( Enquiring about large scale black and white picture ) How much is that one over there? Woman ( Manning stall ) How much is it? Man Mor...

rare televisual immersion

The TV and I have fewer and fewer encounters nowadays. This is all down to circumstances, no doubt. Tonight, at Alice's house, we sit do...

martes, octubre 10, 2006

ljubljana

untitled

As though to affirm the destruction of the concept the neighbour on the other side has begun to play play music with a repetitive beat ever...

friends

Every now and again you realise that the only thing that keeps you sane is the communication offered you by your friends. Their insistence o...

texan panhandle

Reading Cormac McCarthy, Micah P in the background, feeling some kind of evil stab, in the bath.

jueves, octubre 05, 2006

micah p

Micah P wears a solid looking baseball hat low over his eyes. He wields his guitar like a chainsaw. He smokes as he plays, fingers never lea...

miércoles, octubre 04, 2006

luddite(s)

First the Lumiere went, the prettiest interior in London, a graceful low-slung cieling shielding a massive screen which played films that Le...

the asssessor

I'm standing in the bath and the phone rings. But that's 45 minutes later. The assessor arrives. He looks like someone's idea of...

martes, octubre 03, 2006

lula

The first time Lula and I came across one another he was campaigning for the presidency (again) and I was in Asuncion. Staying in a hotel wi...

lunes, octubre 02, 2006

the raincoat man

When H and I were looking for a place to live after Chelsham Road we trawled around South London, the areas we knew best. In the end we were...

sábado, setiembre 30, 2006

disgrace

Zidane prowls the grass. The filmaker consciously captures him as a creature of the veldt, feet picking at the turf like an antelope. At the...

london flip sides

In the British library, I fail to locate the Freeze catalogue, 1988, on their system. Stymied, I approach the bookish man on the desk and sh...

viernes, setiembre 29, 2006

the poor soul of st cross

the crown jewels of st cross

jueves, setiembre 28, 2006

snippets

Someone who is perenially surprised that depravity exists, who continues to feel disillusioned (even incredulous) when confronted with what ...

late summer in yorkshire

Another thing I remember is standing in the old red phone box at the bottom of the road in Dunnington. It was surrounded by fields on three ...

the year i ran away for xmas

It was 1987. I was due to spend christmas up north, for the first time. I don't know why this was the plan. Things were so difficult tha...

domingo, setiembre 24, 2006

two by two

It had been forty days and forty nights. They had grown sick to the back teeth of water. The animals were playing up, especially the orang u...

snippet

On a day he had wept, the master did not sing. Confucius

sábado, setiembre 23, 2006

ciphers

A friend of mine tells me about a play he acted in a few years ago. He says he didn’t enjoy it. He didn’t have much of a part in it, and, mo...

viernes, setiembre 22, 2006

the world hanging by a thread

jueves, setiembre 21, 2006

another hallmark moment

The moment I realised was at London Bridge Station. I’d been rushing to get my act together, get to Shoreditch, deal with life. Then I reali...

viernes, setiembre 15, 2006

sometimes people do things and you've just got to take your hat off to them

You'll find this man's work sprinkled around Hoxton. You'll find it on a wall in Gower Street. It might still exist in Palestine...

jueves, setiembre 14, 2006

8 questions

Q: What makes bacon and eggs taste even better? A: Cooking them in the open air. Q: If there was a international boules championship of Peck...

lunes, setiembre 11, 2006

isle of wight

jueves, setiembre 07, 2006

back lot

Through the lens of a camera's painted toe You discover the colour your garden grows. Green as a river, blue as a peg, dull white As a g...

miércoles, setiembre 06, 2006

out of date listing

Slightly self indulgent but I figured that there may be amongst my billions of readers one or two who would find the following authentic lis...

martes, setiembre 05, 2006

storage

[verbatim in a King's Cross cafe-restaurant] I’ve got a friend who used to be an artist until he had some kind of breakdown about ten ye...

jueves, agosto 31, 2006

qualities of the mismaze

Someone at the weekend, on having the mismaze described to them, said, what's the point of a maze where you can see where you're goi...

lunes, agosto 28, 2006

ingredients

drinking game #2

na m es Someone says a name – eg Orson Welles. The next person seated clockwise must come up with another name using the first letter of the...

drinking game #1

2 1 A group is seated around a table/ on sofas, somewhere comfortable. In the first stage of this game someone begins to count, starting at ...

viernes, agosto 25, 2006

football

[With reference to occasional postings on Yellow Fever Pages] I know my role when I play football. It seems god given. The stoic defender. T...

domingo, agosto 20, 2006

london bridges

viernes, agosto 18, 2006

method in madness

I was sitting in the white cube yesterday morning, gazing out over Hoxton Square like an art god. They gave us the DVD player to play with a...

never know what these things mean

But they bring the tears back to my eyes, at 12.30 in the morning, just pottering around, doing my chores.

jueves, agosto 17, 2006

at the national

My friend seems to know everyone in the audience. We've come to see the lens grinder do his stuff on stage. Friend can't stop noddin...

miércoles, agosto 16, 2006

in khartoum

My sister sleeps outside at night, in the wind. She writes: The last few nights there have been clouds, sometimes stars. It's calm, as ...

martes, agosto 15, 2006

Phil: Anyone else having fun out there ?

The Guardian knows the precise location of the camps where the group has been monitored in the Lake District, but cannot disclose it. The g...

lunes, agosto 14, 2006

connections

A year ago to the day, I began the Yellow Fever Pages. A year ago to the day, the Yellow Fever Pages inform me, I visited Stanleys. As I did...

domingo, agosto 13, 2006

parties

Strange isn't it the way the parties seem to have dried up altogether of late...

viernes, agosto 11, 2006

who's that in the background?

every moment it is changing

Abdul Muneem Patel’s date of birth is given as 17th April 1989, according to the BBC. Which makes him just seventeen years old. Whether he w...

martes, agosto 08, 2006

frogs in the rye

It's 10.30 in the evening and there's a knock at the door. I tell my brother I have to eat my takeaway (such is the descent), he ans...

lunes, agosto 07, 2006

on aggression

I learnt a lot about aggression from Mr C. He was skilful in his usage of it. At first it worked on me, but then I realised how cynically he...

domingo, agosto 06, 2006

on the march

sábado, agosto 05, 2006

asymmetric warfare (nod to blackbox)

Extract from The Focus Group (1998) +++ Mick: (TURNS TO CASS) Would you say that we have any kind of - how should I phrase this - inviolable...

jueves, agosto 03, 2006

workshop

Four kids in a hall in Bow, off the Roman Road. One of them born here, one in Somalia, two in Dubai. Three of them brothers. None of them kn...

miércoles, agosto 02, 2006

tear

Like the desperate fool que soy I strafe the internet for a translation it refutes me. Lloras. Si. Evidamente. Correct my spelling. Busco th...

sábado, julio 29, 2006

in reykjavik (or california)

I’m the Simon Le Bon of the Pasadena chess scene? No way. You're the Nick Rhodes. I'm Simon Lebon.

in scarborough

Five minutes before my play opens I overhear someone sitting at a table in front of me. A white-haired, large headed man, is eulogising The ...

in aleppo

Returning from time away to your city, a sense of alienation returns. There is cricket on the radio, as there always will be; my tuna and sw...

lunes, julio 24, 2006

compañeros

Tunng might be the icing on the cake. They might be the layer of marzipan beneath the icing. There might be, probably are, more layers to th...

viernes, julio 21, 2006

bombardment

We zig zag round the warehouse ways of a Northern town, looking for a takeaway. We get to the Lebanese place just as the shutters are coming...

peckham chess match (knowing your rook from your elbow)

martes, julio 18, 2006

in a spitalfields pub (acknowledgements Angus Fairhurst)

viernes, julio 14, 2006

personality test: do you find this image

a] Cute b] Scary c] Offensive d] Reassuring in a troubled world

of course they're only stories

…I find myself catching bits of these programs and they invariably wind me up. I react to them emotionally. Their narratives have a kind of ...

four ways to circumnavigate the absence of your own bed

Live in a fantasy world. or Never sleep. or Never stay in the same place for more than two nights in a row. or All of the above.

progeny

There are five people in the rehearsal room. The stage manager says little, takes notes. The director gives instructions, suggestions, notes...

coming back

Three days in the North is enough to think that the whole of the South has put on a fedora and sneaked off down a back alley. As it once did...

bill

Today I walked into Mojo's and ordered a lemon chicken ciabatta, asking for a receipt. The Yorkshirewoman behind the bar wrote one out f...

domingo, julio 09, 2006

assuming an attacking formation for the final

i hate this man

Who is standing outside the French House in a loose fitting tailored blue shirt hanging over sawn off knee length shorts with his mop of blo...

viernes, julio 07, 2006

surveyor

A moorhen dipped beneath the canal’s surface, Pat-a-cake feet spiralled through verdigris lace. He wished his mind worked that way, like a c...

martes, julio 04, 2006

hippy contemplation machine

confidence

Is one of those words that no one knows what it means. In my head now confidence looks like the casino at Carrasco. Before development. Conf...

the newbury mancunian

The mancunian is tough as old boots. She’s twenty six and sassier than the average octogenarian. You’re thinking it, she knows it.

jueves, junio 29, 2006

in the gagossian

Flies buzz silently in the severed head Of a curious cow. Three North American Women, one with an ankle strapped like A footballer, wear flo...

miércoles, junio 28, 2006

dean in a white cube

[An extract from the novel Grand Prix, 2003] The next stage will be learning how to reduce consciousness to a state of non-feeling without t...

martes, junio 27, 2006

boxers and bratwurst

When temporary solvency rears its head a man's got to indulge.

lunes, junio 26, 2006

espejo de pared 3

otra vez

domingo, junio 25, 2006

espejo de pared

[stag afterglow] Dawn scrapes the lid off the sky. Having confessed not once not twice But thrice. Another shot of vodka for my pains. Purpl...

martes, junio 20, 2006

spanish word for the day 13

Felicidad Sometimes used as a name. As in - C ome here, Felicidad. Sit down at the table. Be quiet. Why is it that you cannot help imaginin...

advantages of insomnia

It's never all that late.

spanish word for the day 4

Cumpleanos Because it is. ( Though not any more )

spanish word for the day 8

Tonterias Make you giggle like a chapel bell.

king meets prince

There’s a pixie taking a piss. He turns up on the heavenly stage ten minutes later, saying he’s just seen a ghost, knowing his audience shou...

domingo, junio 18, 2006

spanish word for the day 7

Barbaro To be said either in a heavily inflected English accent; or with a sense of delight.

spanish word for the day 5

Desesperado A word that always seems almost out of reach. Until it catches up with you. At which point you will know that you are.

viernes, junio 16, 2006

spanish word for the day 6

Golasso To be screamed with many exclamation marks at either side of your breath.

jueves, junio 15, 2006

spanish word(s) for the day 2

Suspiro & Boludo Two today. One of which makes me laugh, even when I am called it. The other of which always does exactly what it says o...

domingo, junio 11, 2006

quarter past

=== A friend stands outside On the phone. Saying things He could not say inside. People go to bed in the Upstairs warren. A cai Pirinha for ...

on this day

We are provided with the Rumsfeldian notion of ' asymmetric warfare '. There are many ways of interpreting this phrase.

on reading proust

+++ When I was abroad I could down whole pints of Proust, in one go, session by session. Now that I’m back, I can’t even take a sip. +++

sábado, junio 10, 2006

curzon study (courtesy of mr evans)

median

Um, yes, well, they tell me (my mother tells me) that there was thunder and lightning to greet me in the darkness of my small hours arrival....

domingo, junio 04, 2006

censored skiathos journal (part 7)

+++ The wind’s up outside and it’s clouded over a little. Which, after this morning’s heat, is a relief. The clouds were very beautiful on t...

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