Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Koala Bears and Other Small Creatures Indigenous to Oz

The Modern Alternative Zoological Encyclopaedia Australica (Selected Excerpts (in No Particular Order))

“A Kangaroo!”
- Exclamation of drunken Scotsman who’s fallen bodily and become impossibly entangled therein.

Koala Bears
- Enormous aquatic mammals often seen performing at SeaWorld. Beware splash zone.

Dingo
- Reclusive invitee.

Box Spider
- Thin and stringy pubic hair growth.

Stingray!
- Stingray! Duh-duh le-luh le-luh!

Steve Irwin
- Manchester United left back of the 1990s. Not a fancy player, not a scorer of goals, but a firm hand on the tiller, Irwin earned the respect of the fans for his solid performances and his long tenure at the club. That’s Denis, isn’t it?

Ned Kelly
- Prototype robot, badly designed. Not even as good as C-3PO, who is Shit.

Big Crocodiles
- Seriously big ones. DON’T FUCK WITH THEM. If you put an elastic band over their jaws they won’t be able to open them, but there’ll probably be others nearby who will croc you to death. Not to be confused with a cockodile.

Billabong
- Fairly popular clothing brand. Clothes often strangely damp. It is believed that this is due to the ghosts of angry aborigines haunting the garments with their ghostpiss.

Australian Football
- Ludicrous joke taken to extravagant extremes.

Fosters Lager
- Export only: DO NOT DRINK!  message found on Fosters cans (translated form the Australian).

Julia Gillard
- She seems good, and she is an atheist. Well done Oz.

Desert Frogs
- Eddie Guerrero’s distant relatives, who are better adapted to living in the sand than their Hispanic sibling. They show little intention of following in their kinsman’s pro-wrestling frogsteps.

The Laughing Kookaburra
- Very silly creature. Has little regard for propriety or for the feelings of those nearby. Most often seen around old folks what have done a falling over.

Duck-billed Platypus
- Feline that is frequently charged for the purchase and consumption of mallard meat served on a particular kind of tray.

Oystercatcher
- Bird. Catches oysters.

Cassowary
- Dinosaur-looking turkey-thing.

Moths
- Foul creatures.

Seadragons
- Like seahorses, but several thousand percent more awesome. Seadragons of Oz have been known to have battles on a grand scale with the Skydragons of Zeal. The SeaDs launch themselves from the water, steam coruscating as it hisses around them. They tense their long bodies to points, so as they hit the SkyDs they are utterly skewered, sending hot jets of bahlood all over the ocean. It is a cool thing to watch.

Fairy Penguin
- Benders. Ben-duuuuhs!

Great White Shark
- Evolved form of the Rubbish Beige Shark. Pants.

Sugar Glider
- Little flying squirrel/mouse-looking thing which glides through the air super cool. They are marsupials, which means they like soup from Mars. It is very expensive to ship it in, so they have signed up for Amazon Prime. This is not related to Optimus Prime, who is a Transformer, and not a megalithic online shopping source. Optimus wouldn’t involve himself in such an industry.

Bandicoot
- Popularised by Crash, who was a cartoon one of these. I liked the mask that went “ooga booga!” when you collected it. Ahhhh, those halcyon days; no worries, no concerns. Where did those days go? Now they are lost, forever and irretrievably lost. I am locked in the joyless world of adult life and I cannot escape from my responsibilities. They weigh me down like an albatross around my neck, pain me like a radio in my anus. Why must we live in a world which requires such seriousness? Can we not mess around a little more? Why not dick around? You can’t stop me from dicking around! Who do you think you are, you joyless Jerry Joyce. Heaven above and Tutankamun Almighty! I need to lie down and stop for awhile.

*****

Koala bears and other small animals indigenous to Oz.


I couldn't be any less prepared to write about this somewhat criminal subject. Here's what i know: Koala bears eat eucalyptus leaves because they enjoy smelling bad.


That's not even true. Not to all of them anyway.


Yes my knowledge of the original tree hugging hippie that is the flat nosed bastard of an Australian bear is very limited. And as you read that sentence again you can probably tell that i am not in a mood to write about it.


Australia is a strange place for it's animals because next to the passive bark dweller; the koala, Australia is also home to the most deadly spider, Vicious snakes and the late Steve Irwin. Quite the variety isn't it?


My favorite animal from that region is a certain Tasmanian devil. No not the kind that spins wildly and eats fridges with ease. No, the Tasmanian devil im talking about is Hugh Tasmanian Devil, his father. He has an awesome voice and his love for "O J" (juice, not alleged killer) tickles me.


But that is not under the criteria of the title. Oz is not the name of the continent. Oz means Australia the country so Tasmania and New Zealand don't count so i cant even talk about the kiwi.


So im literally literarily stumped, which is a better term for writers block, though much harder to say.


But wait! Hang on there just a second. How can i be stumped when there's such an abundance of brilliantly named animals in that place! Dingo, Wallaby, DUCK BILLED PLATYPUS! Why couldn't popular culture have better names for it's animals? My theory is that we take things too seriously. Or rather; things that are considered and named using the english language are taken too seriously.


A dingo, wallaby and DUCK BILLED PLATYPUS would've been named: Dog, Deer-rabbit and DUCK-SEAL. If it wasn't for it's linguistically playful aboriginal origins. That's just my theory based on my knowledge/ignorance of Australia's cheerfully named critters.


Although im thrilled to hear and read the names of these animals I still know a mites worth of knowledge on the subject. Nor do I care enough to tell you what i think about them.


Other than their sooooo cutey-wutey they make me want to slay humankind... ... .


Then they can prosper and little wallabies can have little wallaby homes that the wombats can build because they are the kings of construction in the Ausimal society. Their construction company is called "Wombat in a hard hat" and they pay all their taxes. The dingo's own the casinos and they run the streets in their Mafia-esq family style, hunting in packs. Dingos are the main concern of the Kangaroo Government. The Emu police will enforce the law but a few bad eggs hatch and end up in the pocked of the dingos which slow down the performance of the force.

The platypus are often victim to discrimination and are rarely seen outside of the rivers. The bandicoot's are tycoons of the fashion industry, opening successful shops mainly selling torn denim jeans. The kookaburra's and the budgerigars are having not turf but tree wars because both are selling dangerously addictive narcotic seeds to all paying animals. They need trees to avoid the emu police. The Kangaroos who run parliament, setting strict rules through sophisticated debating and bare knuckle boxing rely on the saltwater crocodiles to run the courts as they are the only animal that no other would laugh at while they wore stupid wigs.

Everything is perfect in Ausimal society.


Like i said, i don't care that much.


*****
Adam Gilder
Dafydd Evans

Sunday, 29 January 2012

A Portrait of Ezekiel 'Pebbledash' Grimfonte

Taken from the biographical sagas of Chief Cunt-Stubble Schlong-Bonk, Bellendium Cunt-Stabulary.

“…and then the rusty looking gentleman went running down the street.”

Schlong-Bonk looked the woman up and down, an incredulous look on his face. He had never seen this woman in his life and could not understand why she would burst into his office unannounced…and midsentence.

“Who in the name of Django the Fierce are you? And what’s all this about a rusty looking gentleman? Why don’t you sit down and start from the very beginning.” That’s where the Cunt-Stubble liked his stories to start. They seemed to make more sense that way.

The woman sat down on the chair across from him. She was dripping wet and rather distraught. It was evidently raining outside, or inside as was prone to happening during Bellendium’s freak storm season.

“I’m so sorry. I should have knocked first. My name is Eliza Tankwater Grimfonte. I came because I have witnessed a crime and I didn’t know where else to go.” She began to well up so Schlong-Bonk handed her a towel. A tissue would have been hopeless as she was still drenched. And his interest had been peaked. He’d heard that surname before.

“Grimfonte you say? The Grimfonte’s of Belltrim Manor? You people are world famous. Didn’t your Great Grandfather invent some kind of house coating? Like breadcrumbs but for buildings.”

“You seem to talk a lot for someone who asks so many questions. If I had said no to your first line of questioning you would have subsequently wasted a lot of time. Luckily for you I am who you think I am. And yes, my Great Grandfather was the inventor of PebbledashTM and that is how we made our fortune…overseas. Now, can we get back to the crime?”

Schlong-Bonk grinned. He liked this girl. She had spunk. He liked spunk. He also liked justice. Hard justice.

“Tell me about the crime. How many people were murdered? Was there blood everywhere? Gosh, this sounds like a hard case already. Where’s my whiskey”

“No, it’s nothing like that. There was a burglary at the manor and the culprit took something very important. It was a large portrait of my grandfather, Ezekiel Pebbledash Grimfonte. You have to help me get it back.”

“You want me to get a picture back? That’s it? No murder, no blood, no entrails hanging from lampshades. All sound a bit boring really. But I suppose since it’s a Sunday and I have nothing better to do I’ll help. Now what did he look like?”

She looked at him puzzled. “Well, kind of like me really. Only older and a man. Oh, he was starting to fade slightly on the left side of his face…”

“I didn’t mean your grandfather. I meant the burglar. Did you see his face? How tall was he? I need descriptions you dumb broad.” He honestly couldn’t believe someone could be that thick.

“He was long and gangly. He was incredibly pale too. I thought at first that it was the light in the room but when he turned and looked at me I saw that it was his skin. He had the complexion of Scotts Porridge Oats. It was all lumpy and deformed. He also left a horrible orange stain on the carpet. That’s why I was referring to him as the rusty man at the start of this story.” She looks out as if to an audience and smiles. Then she continues, “And he smelled awful. Like a rancid flannel used for cleaning decrepit lady gardens. Do you think we’ll find him?”

“I’m sure of it. From what you’ve told me there is only one person it could be. Oddwich Sandjob. A mental bastard of a man who loves stealing shit that no one else cares about. He’s dangerous and ginger. And I know where to find him.”

“Where?” She felt worried. Why had a crazy ginger person stolen the only picture of her grandfather. What could he possibly want with it?

“Just leave it to me. I want you to take a carriage out of town and stay away for a few weeks. It won’t be safe to go back to the manor until this is all over. Understand?”

She looked at his the way someone would look upon a hero. “I will. Be careful.” She leaned over the table and kissed him on the cheek. Then she turned and walked out the door. From the window, Schlong-Bonk watched her get into a carriage and as the horses pulled around the corner he sat back down in his seat.

He looked at the calendar on his desk. “Three days until retirement,” he thought to himself. “Like fuck am I chasing after a painting of the worst exterior decorator in the world. I’m moving to Clitoria where the weather is warm and the drinks are always flowing.”

He grabbed his coat and hat, dowsed the lamp and opened his office door. He glimpsed his name on the door. ‘Chief Cunt-Stubble Schlong-Bonk’ it read. He had always meant to take that hyphen out. He smiles to himself and walked out into a now dark Bellendium.


*****


Ezekiel "Pebbledash" Grimfonte was a man of unfortunate proportions and unnatural speed. Born with his left leg twenty four inches shorter than his right, he came to be recognised by his distinctive unicycle, which he wore strapped to the runtling limb.


The son of a minister, he would forever be haunted by the shame of his mother, who had knowledge of his father's favourite horse. It is believed that this massive trauma is what caused the horrendous malformation of Ezekiel's hind leg. His forelegs were shaped in such a manner as to be taken at first glance as arms, although his hands were suspiciously hoof like, albeit hooves with the inner glow of religion.


At the age of fourteen, Ezekiel developed a taste for strong liquor and artificially coloured foods, which, coupled with his fragile stomach, resulted in the nickname "Pebbledash".


His teenage years were tragic ones, due largely to the discovery that he was not granted super powers by Earth's yellow sun. He would spent his days wheeling around the country, often heard to be muttering "dun duru dunturun, dun duru dunturun, dun duruduuun dun dun dun!" This was invariably followed by a failed attempt at one such super power or another. It is reputed that he once glared at a candle for three days before resorting to matches. After numerous failed treatments, his father twated him with a Bible, and brought him to his senses.


For years following the twat about the skull, he was only able to speak with a faux Japanese accent, which many mistook for racism. It wasn't. It was brain damage.


At the age of twenty five, he fused the unicycle to his freakishly short goat leg, becoming the world's first true cyborg, resulting in a dependency on WD40, from which he would never recover, hating, as he did, the squeak if an ungreased wheel.


As a result of this cyber enhancement, he was able to walk at super sonic speeds, but only if he was in the mood, and providing the weather was right.


Perhaps it is worthy to note that his eyes were a peculiar shade of green, enabling him to feed using photosynthesis, a skill which aided him greatly during his years spent imitating a shrub.


His death was a tragic one. He had, in his last few days, taken to growing blue fur all over his body, strapping carving knives to his hands and screaming "I AM an xman!".


Of course, he was not, and the lack of a mutant healing factor eventually killed him, after he fell off a cliff.


Grimfonte currently spends his time in the afterlife, where he drinks gin with Amitabah Buddha and bullies the living Christ.


About the author:

Lord Professor Vivian Smartie-John is a world class Expert. Don't argue.


*****


This is an excerpt of Jon Eseikiel Pebbledash Grimfonte's eulogy, delivered by is oldest friend Medi Hydref Jones.


I had many nicknames for Jon. My best and oldest friend. I remember the first day we met in the Super Nintendo games isle in Woolworths. We both went to pick up the same copy of Earthworm Jim 2 AT THE SAME TIME! Coincidence? Yes, and an important one to us it was too.


I suppose it's not very often that you saw a young girl pick up a copy of such a cool game but when he saw me, the first things he did was push me over. I cried and cried and kicked him in the shins and cried some more. I think Jon forgave the shin kicking but he always says that his mother came to stop him from reacting to that. He gave me the copy of the game and then sulked to his mam and walked off.


He was still sulking on the bus on the way home. I was surprised to see him on my route. He was quiet but i've never seen him on my bus. And then he got off at my stop! What was this? Was he new? I had to know! "Oi, boy." I said. I know, i was nuts wasn't i. I could tell he heard me, even though the bus was pulling off. Stupid bus. "Where do you live? I live just up the road by the old park that's now a nothing. It's like a slab of tarmac."

"I've just moved near there." He told me.

"Okay, then. So do you want to come over mine and play Earthworm Jim 2? We can go life each or something." I said. Our mother's smiled at each other. I don't know why, but they did.

"Oh. Ok then. Can i go after dinner, mum?" Yeah, he called her mum. That meant he wasn't from here. We say "Mam" down here in South Wales. This boy was interesting.

"My name's Medi Hydref Jones." I said.

"Im Jon" he said with a frankness that never left him.


The first nickname i gave his was Earthworm Jon and he liked that I think. He played along and went to hit me with a snot string which was gross but also the funniest thing i've ever seen, ever.


We were close ever since, and i've called him everything I could think of, often depending on his mood. Zeek when he was in a fun and helpful mood. Pebbles during his dimmer moments. I called him Grim often during his adolescence because he was capable of being a stropy-bottom.


I grew to depend on Jon. I remember the day i lost Stupidface my pet cockateel. Stupidface was a sprightly bird and evaded my grasp when i was cleaning his toes. I remember the tears spewing out of my eyes and nose when i told Jon who simply said "Stop crying. I'll get him. Do you want him alive or dead?". My face must have looked like a confused walnut when he said that, but it stopped me from crying. He knew me.

I didn't see him for 2 hours. To this day i don't know how he did it but he brought Stupidface back to me in one piece. It honestly was the same bird, I know because his toes were clean. That day his nickname was "Huntsman Care-hands".


I remember the day I fell in love with Jon. I suppose it was the the day i realised i was in love with him. We were always close. Gosh, we were attached. While we were at university, he studied what he loved; Women. And history. He'd come to my room every night he could to tell me about both. He got attached to his lecture Mrs Shallnotbenamed and they were doing things that i probably shouldn't be talking about at his funeral, so i wont. Needless to say, he needed me, and i needed to say that. This was the first time i was needed by him. He was always my knight and i, his damsel. But as the round table turned i found my self, not only caring about his feelings but i wanted to show him that i could fulfill them, like he had fulfilled mine.


The night i told him, bared my feelings, i was overjoyed to find that they were reciprocated. I dubbed him "Lancealittle" and he smiled before proceeding to show me that his new nickname was inaccurate. We made sweet, passionate sex and he died of unknown causes.


I've never felt such sorrow as im feeling today. I love you Zeek. You shall forever remain in the little loving heart of Medi Hydref Jones.


-Later Mrs Grimfonte slapped Medi in the face and a fight broke out between former best friends Mrs Grimfonte and Mrs Jones. It was a pretty awkward wake.-


*****


Ezekiel Grimfonte Jr, son of a fruiterer and a maniac, achieved more than could have been expected of him. Born in the early hours of a misty Wednesday morning sometime long ago he came writhing and screaming into the world, covered in his birthing gore and as unseemly as that would imply. His father, a fruiterer, remembered that it was on a Wednesday because when the babe was finally quieted, the bin men came to pick up the bins. Ezekiel Grimfonte Sr, also known as Le Grand Zeke for his astounding rise to be the head fruiterer in all the land, was a man who put great store in the bins, specifically their removal. Unfortunately for Zeke Jr, he put far less interest into his son.


Ickle Zeke, as he came to be known by some, could have been doomed from an early age, for while his father cared not a jot for him, he was drowned in the affection of his psycho-, socio-, telepathic mother, Imelda Staunton Grimfonte, nee Miles Davis. She was a maniac, and often threw her baby boy down things: stairs, mineshafts, matter transporter tubes, straws, throats, gutters, the gaping maws of long-dead stegosauruses and the like. He was quite fortunate not to be killed, or badly grazed. Fortune smiled on young Zeke, however, for on his fourth birthday his mother was caught in the beam of a Cosmic Ray, which had asplode from the sun and she evaporated INSTANTANEOUSLY into a poof of potpourri. Ezekiel Sr was unconcerned, having long ago wearied of his wife, and quickly and pragmatically arranged for a tutor and carer for his son.


His father selected Salvador Dali for the task, and the Spaniard, his queer moustache dancing merrily in the antici…pation set about his task with aplomb. Realisation that one single plomb would not be sufficient, El Salva ordered in an entire bunch of plombs to undertake the care of his new charge. Perhaps unsurprisingly Salvador Dali's tutoring revolved mainly around art and facial hair maintenance, although he also had an unexpectedly nifty talent for shooting a man's left nut with an air rifle from any angle. He could even accomplish this with one hand restrained behind his back and with a slender lady rubbing her thumb and forefinger together in front of his face and making repeated flicking noises with her tongue. Ickle Zeke never mastered the air rifle to that extent, but he was a dab hand at the old art. Ol' Sally was proper pleased when Zeke started to flail a paintbrush, and rewarded him with unwanted sexual attention.


Zeke Sr was not a man who like art, it transpired, and he had hired Salvador Dali purposefully in order to come to hate his son. At 17, Zeke Jr broke Salvador Dali's heart by emigrating to Papua New Guinea in order to escape his father's ire. At least, that's what he told them he was doing. In reality, he was going to the moon!


He didn't have the means to do so though, so he only got as far as the top of a nearby hill, and jumping ineffectually there he lost enthusiasm and went home.


He returned to his father's manse to find Salvador Dali's emulsified corpse dangling from a balustrade. He was an odd man, even in suicide. Zeke Jr quickly left the house again, weeping thick matte tears of deepest lavender, as Salvador would have wanted.


In order to fill the gap Zeke sought out Pablo Picasso, who had eloped from his native land with a dusky Romany beauty named Masskkerrinne le Guaravadiere. He had taken to referring to himself as Portmanteau Zippedeedoodahday le Guaravadiere, and he grabbed Ickle Zeke by the ear at the mention of Dali, and forced him to run barefoot across a stony beach. It was at this point that Picasso, drunk from chasing both the dragon and the green fairy, began referring to Ickle Zeke as 'Pebbledash'.


Ezekiel Grimfonte was fucking pissed off with that, and got his revenge years later when he invented the technique of pebbledashing, and for his first public demonstration of it, decided to pebbledash Picasso. Picasso was less than pleased, but he was a bit of a dick, so fuck it.


Later, Pebbledash invented the internet, apple crumble,and quicksand, as well as winning the Boer and Vietnam wars double-handedly and then he died, of fog.


The End.


*****


Luke Sampson

Gethin Down

Dafydd Evans

Adam Gilder

Thursday, 29 December 2011

The Morality of Serial Killing through the Ages

Suffice to say that the morality of serial killing hasn't changed too drastically through the ages. It is bad. It is a very bad thing to do. However, the scope of what counts as serial killing has certainly changed over the course of many thousands of years, and there continues to be a discrepancy even from place to place geographically in one time frame.

According to Wikipedia:

A serial killer is typically defined as an individual who has murdered three or more people[1][2] over a period of more than a month, with down time (a "cooling off period") between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification.

This definition is, of course, nonsense. If this definition were accurate then you or I might be considered serial killers, which is clearly unworkable, because we are not bad people. I certainly am not.

Now, just over three months ago I killed a ticket inspector on a train, because I didn't have a ticket. Clearly, this was an action based not in psychological gratification, but in simple practicality. Ticket prices nowadays are ludicrously expensive, and I felt utterly justified in killing the man. In fact, I consider his checking me for a ticket an act of suicide.

A few weeks later, I was watching a national-level sporting event in a public house, and was distressed to discover that I had been surrounded by other viewers who were far more demonstratively approaching the game than was I. One fellow shouted at a sportsman in quite an alarming way, and I, not expecting the yell, was quite startled. Well, of course it is quite rude to startle a gentleman who you are watching the game with, and so I was quite forced to mash his fizzog into a mushed pulp of skinflakes, bone fragments and gore. Thankfully, his yelling quickly abated. I can be uncharacteristically merciless in the doling of justice. It is just rude to shout out; be quiet for goodness' sake.



For another fortnight I saw no wrong in the world that needed my direct intervention. Just as I crested the event horizon of that fortnight, I was confronted with what I must consider the nadir of human decorum. Having travelled to the Capital of the fair nation which has the honour of housing me, I entered a restaurant, nothing too fancy, just some common place where the common people may go to partake of their common fare. I sauntered up to the bar, for there is no waiting staff in these types of places, no one comes to take your order, you have to go up and actually order it yourself. It's a clever system. The very fabric of the place is designed to erode your dignity. Hungry as I was, I forced myself to the bar, hence my sauntering, and locked the serving wench with the iron glare of an angry eagle who has spotted something annoying and is trying to stare it out because he is an hard bastard. The wench, a veteran of this workplace, was unfazed, and spat right in my eye. I was impressed, and suddenly I felt all my anxiety melt away. The spittle, sinking in the cleft between my eye and my nose, ploughed by endless years of sleep deprivation, tricked my body into believing I was crying, and as such things always do, this belief cyclically perpetuated itself, and I began to weep. The serving wench, regaining her balance after her colossal spit, knew exactly what I was about. With a cry of "Blood alive, man! To a seat with you!" she swandived over the counter and, driving her head into the very top of my skull with the entire weight of her body behind her, we crumpled to the floor in a fallen mess. I was a little disturbed by this, but not knowing the ways of the peasant folk I kept schtum so as not to conduct any undesirable faux pas.



Groggily regaining my feet, I whipped around to face the also recovering wench, and landed a solid haymaker on her collarbone. Hearing it snap and pop, I smiled, and she led me to a nearby table and promised me that a plate of cod and chips, with mushy peas, would arrive within 10 minutes. It did, and it was piping hot and looked all set to be delicious. I arose from my chair to peruse the condiments, and alongside the vinegar, the salt, mayo and tartare sauce stood an overlarge bowl that was almost sarcastically empty. It might not be normal to have with fish dishes, but I need tomato sauce. I fucking lost it at that point. Leaping onto a nearby table, I lashed my foot out in a vicious 180° arc which caught three diners; one in the nose, another in the ear, and the third was entirely decapitated, spraying viscous red fluid into the empty tomato sauce bowl, the irony of which enraged me further. Rising unsteady on his or her feet, the diner that I'd punted in the ear made a clumsy attempt at my legs, which I'd foolishly left on top of the table; a rather perilous position. Due to my acrobatic background, I was able to avoid such a clumsy attempt with complete ease. Slipping nimbly off the table, I planted myself firmly and pushed against my clueless combatant. The force of my push sent the diner careening limply into the air, where an acquaintance was made with an adjoining window, but was short-lived. With this troublesome individual dispatched, I turned to the fellow I'd kicked in the nose. Looking down upon his crumpled remains, I discovered I'd killed him with the blow. I can be very deadly when I've been wronged.



Bracing myself back a step, I made a quick dash and with an effortless handspring, leapt into a series of cartwheels and somersaults which took me across the length of the room, the last of which raised me high into the air and, sailing over the bar, my legs, acting as fleshy javelins, speared the barmaid, with precision, through the sternum. My fish and chips remained uneaten.



I'm in jail now, because I've been "caught", apparently. What I did wrong I'll never know. One man's anecdote is another man's horrendous crime. The occasion on which I was detained involved self-defence on my part. My flatmate was trying his level best to watch a program I believe is called 'The Goblin People Argue over their Goblin Children', and for the entire half hour of the show I found it necessary to dry my hair using the most powerful setting on my hair drier. Of course, he complained because he couldn't hear the show, which was the entire reason I did it. I hadn't even been in the shower, or moistened my hair even slightly. He came at me with his fists, but using my deft fingers I was able to unzip his jeans, forcibly insert the blow drier where the dry does not blow, which caused him some measure of discomfort, and eventually butchered him thoroughly, due to a power malfunction with the device.



The police have no sense of humour, which is why they end up in fights so often.



*****

When I was told to write about the morality of serial killing through the ages i thought "Well i am far too humble to only offer my opinion to something as deep and complex as this." So i did some interviewing. I interviewed two very high profile celebrities. My first interview took place in heaven with a being called God. My second interview took place in the universe with a planet called the Earth. I hope you enjoy our conversations.

"What?" Quizzed God. "What's my view on serial killing?" God reflected. "Well, I'll tell you shall I? Yes. While I was growing up i went through a serial killing phase. Nothing i could help, i assure you. It was my hormones running wild, like when you see an elk rape a she elk; It is rape but it's also natural. That's how the species grows.
You see, when i was young there was this girl. I made her in my image, but with tits and an inward penis. (That's not true at all, really. I just told some people that as a joke and it's sort of snowballed). This girl grew into a woman who ended up bringing more men into the world. And this continued. There was at least, I would say millions of these humans on this earth and i got jealous of them. They got to play with the whole of the Earth, and there was plenty of it to go around, but they sort of, just had sex and kept to themselves. So all these boring people were being boring in a very fascinating place while i was stuck in an itchy cloud.
So to make my complex TV seem more entertaining i got drunk. I opened a my first can, declared aloud; "ENJOY THE SHOW WITH A CAN OF BOW" and drank.
A couple of minutes passed which is the equivalent of 300 earth years and i got "MEGA SHIT-FACED" I think some humans call it.
Well i learned a valuable lesson that night. When i get drunk and have a good time, i paint the world red. With the blood of people. And animals.
Now i've got some mathematics to explain why it's gone on for so long. Now, a couple of minutes in heaven is like 300 years on earth. I drunk constantly for 2 weeks straight. (Don't try that at home, I can handle it because i am God and you aren't.)
I suppose it was a little irresponsible because all that killing is a bit immoral, but people were very boring, you see. What i didn't realise was that i sort of solved my problem. I wanted more drama and curiosity and I achieved it all with a holy can of cider.
However. Since i have seen more and more people on this earth there is a huge variety of channels on my complicated television. I can watch the adventures of all the explorers of your planet. I can watch some people bickering in a supermarket. You humans have done very well for yourselves haven't you. I find it a terrible shame that these brilliant TV shows can be canceled by a stupid serial killer. And to think i used to award my best ones at one time. I was hammered then, honest.
So here's my answer to your question. The morality of serial killing has always been constant. It is immoral. But. In my eyes it was necessary which is an unpopular opinion."

----------

"Serial killing?" Pondered the Earth whilst gently rotating. "The taking of a single life performed on multiple occasions." Continued the Earth. "And you want my opinion of it's morality? Im afraid that's a complicated issue. Does the serial killing of different species count? I mean you are still extinguishing a being that i myself nourished from birth through life."

"No, just humans on humans for today, please the Earth." I explained.

"Ah. Ok. So. You wan't me; The Earth to comment on the morality of serial killing, specifically amid the human kind." The Earth ensured whilst orbiting the sun.

"Yes" I confirmed.

"Ok then I will." declared the Earth.

"Thank you. You may begin." I instructed whilst trying my very best not to let go of my humility.

"Well I was only telling the Moon about this last millennium. WASN'T I THE MOON"

"YES" howled the Moon. "YOU WERE TELLING BE ABOUT HOW.."

"I'LL TELL THEM THANK YOU, THE MOON. Sorry about that. Once we get into it, the Moon and I can chat for decades. As i was saying. The morality of serial killing. Here we go. Are you going to write this down?"

"I certainly am the Earth."

"Ok. Well on one hand i don't like it. It's a complete waste of that which i have given you. I think that humans have something wrong in their DNA, Which I discovered, thank you. Yes, serial killing is an awful thing.
On the other hand it tickles my surface when you bury them".

*****
Adam Gilder
Dafydd Evans

Monday, 28 November 2011

Nudity

Nudity

So in conclusion, I don’t think it’s a good idea to hold your breath and open your eyes when you’re swimming in treacle. Welcome once again faithful readers to another edition of the most confusing blog on the net. I am glad to see that you have returned for more, like little Oliver Twists of literature, begging for one more ladle of brain food. Alas, you will find no fish here. Or maybe you will as this month we delve into the recesses of the human form and take a look at nudity.
As we all know, people are naked. Fact. There is no arguing against the case that somewhere at this exact moment, people are naked. Nude, bare, unclothed, whatever you call it, it happens to us all at some point whether willing or under duress, whether we are proud of it or embarrassed. It is the natural form of all living things. We are not born with clothes on (except for that unfortunate fellow that was born with blue plastic gloves) so why do we deem it necessary to enter the world socially fully dressed? Why is it frowned upon in modern society to be starkers in public? It is not so in untouched civilizations, where people live in the forest and are blissfully ignorant to the price tag that we have put on our modesty. For we do not simply cover up as our ancestors did, in the skins of animals or the roughly crafted cottons weaved by parents and grandparents. No, indeed we pay through the nose for poor quality clothing with socially renowned names such as Hollister (who have a lot to answer for) and River Island (who think that tea stained vests are appropriate garments for public use). I know that social scientists and psychologists all have varying theories on why we wear clothing, be it to keep us warm, to distinguish ourselves from rival groups or clans (tartans are an example of this and it is good to see that the Burberry clan is still going strong) and also for mating rituals although some would call my Rudolph Posing Pouch more an accessory than an actual article of clothing (for what it carries I would call it a hold-all).
Many of you know this already but I am an avid fan of the Adult Interest Video Industry and due to this past time I have noticed a thing or two about clothing, and the lack there of. Firstly I would like to say, for those who are unaware, that it is not essential to be completely nude while having sex. Indeed it is not at all necessary to remove even a single item of clothing in order to perform. I have learned through my, ahem, research that most items of clothing can be merely moved to one side so as not to obstruct certain features of the human anatomy. But still, in 90% of cases, most of the clothes worn by the brave combatants are taken out of play. Why would this be the case when it is evident that these individuals are in something of a rush to gain entry? It got me thinking and I have a possible answer that ties in nicely with the time of year. The naked body is something to behold, perfectly precise and beautifully designed, they have been the inspiration behind many a sports car with their sleek curves (and lack of back seat or boot space). If, however, we were to see it continuously it would hold no allure anymore and we, the human race, would be at a deficit of one of our most valuable tools for attracting a mate and would be forced to use other features such as personality leaving some of us with no chance at all. Instead, we keep it wrapped up like a special gift because when a present is wrapped, even if we know what it is, we become more excited for it. Think about Christmas morning when you see all your presents. Even though you know collectively what is there, because you asked for most of it, you do not know what exactly is under each piece of wrapping. The same applies to the clothed form. You may well know that the woman that you are de-robing has two breasts that are of a certain size and a vagina that is properly maintained but with clothes on you can’t be certain what they look like in the flesh, so to speak. If you lined up a hundred women with the exact same measurements and stripped them off, you would likely not get any two the same. The excitement is in the discovery (an archaeologist doesn’t say ‘Fuck it, I’ve found one T-Rex skeleton. The rest will probably look the same). That’s not to say that you would not be grateful if you were given a gift that was not wrapped. I know a lot of people who would prefer it that way. But it would be a boring process, courting someone, if the whole time you knew exactly what was coming. And much like Christmas you may be of the mind to indulge in a sneak peek, just to keep your interest in the prize you so desperately covet.
To close, I believe all naked bodies should come with the following care tag:
The birthday suit, like all other good suits, is a special dress that has a time and a place. It is to be worn on special occasions, when the dress code calls for such an outfit. It must be kept clean and when not in use, it must be stored properly. It should not be allowed to get damp and it is preferable for it not to become moth eaten. As the suit becomes older, more care should be taken to protect its shape as seams will become loose and elbows/knees will become worn. The suit may be prone to creasing if left unused for long periods of time. To not tumble dry or steam iron.

*****

've had massive trouble with this topic. I can't remember who suggested it but i can say he's stumped me. I've done all sorts of things to whip my mind into shape to write this one. The only conclusion i've reached is that i should spend more time whipping my body into shape, as opposed to my mind.

I've seen the penis of each writer of this blog and they have each seen mine in return. It wasn't an accord we struck to level up our friendship, by any means. We've all just spent a lot of time together.

One writer revealed himself to me (and the rest of the house, visitors included) just by sitting in next to nothing whilst playing his playstation 3. Quite content in his own world which was called Tamriel, i think.

Another writer was under very emotional distress when i saw his winky. He was only nineteen at the time, I believe, and his hormones were as riled as his feelings. He is a very popular soul and had friends to console him. We sat him down on the bed and told him to punch his mattress instead of the plaster cast wall. The only way to calm him down it seemed to us was to make him hysterical. Draw out a laugh and reboot the system. Then, a perfect opportunity poked out and said hello. He was only wearing his dressing gown which clumsily opened to reveal his todger. So I said "Look, i know this isn't the time but i can see your willy, but." Which seemed to do the trick. He got dressed and went about his day.

The third writer has been completely naked in the same room as me and four other men. It was a Wales rugby international day and we were playing drinking games all night. If i remember it rightly, My friend and I were a little more reserved than the outright rugby fanaticss and we kept our trousers on for a little while longer. Until the words "Daf. I think it's about time you got naked" were exclaimed. So I did. And it was a Great fucking night.

So there you have three examples of gentlemen who were exposed and the result was happiness, if only for a little while.

I enjoy being nude. When it's warm enough. I don't make a habit of doing it. Especially in public. I think the last time i got naked in company I was told "Even you're arse looks happy". This information cheers me, although i've never looked at a sad looking arse.

I guess where im going with this disjointed post is that nudity is fun. It's innocent, it's empowering and it's free. You can do it anywhere. You always have the option to get naked and it will always make someone laugh, even if it's just yourself. I don't recommend doing it in a public event or near the police. They don't like it and they can do something about it.

Ok, so this blog post is a bit choppy. You're basically getting my thoughts as they travel through my fingers. So what im going to do is neaten it up at the end. Im going to give you a list of ten things you can do whilst being naked that you'll probably enjoy.

1. Exercise: Exercising without clothes is insane. Your body is more free to stretch, you can see your muscles at work and your genitals look hilarious whilst resting on the end of a bike seat. (With women im not so sure there.) Remember to always have a towel at hand.
2. Excretion: This dodgy subject i was made aware of by the show "Scrubs". While you're getting rid of waste, do it naked. It's just better. (It can be inconvenient)
3. Dancing: Yep, dancing. Dancing is one of the more fun things to do in life. It's excitement and energy is augmented by nudity.
4. Bathing/Showering: Now i don't know if you've tried this but cleaning yourself whilst being naked is not only fun but extremely practical. Every nook and cranny is ready and waiting to be cleaned when your in the nude.
5. Recreational drug use: Have you ever wondered why sports teams often increase moral and spirit by drinking heavily and getting naked? This is because drinking whilst naked is the bees knees.
6. Relaxing: Kick off your shoes, socks, overwear and underwear and be naked whilst watching TV or playing a video game. Your relaxation levels increase twofold.
7. Sleeping: Sleeping naked is something I don't do often, but when i do I love it!
8. Cooking: I know that Jamie Oliver is a bit of a twat, albeit, quite the chef. His original show Naked Chef is also slightly crap. But cooking whilst naked is just great.
9. Social Networking: There's nothing better than chatting with your friends, colleagues and peers on the old social networking site while you're naked. Do it and see what i mean. (Im naked right now)
10. Being Creative: I often play guitar naked. I also write stuff naked. I find that my creative ideas are never under par when im naked. My creative performance increases thrice the original, clothed amount. If you've hit a creative wall, get naked.

So there you have ten things that you can try, if you haven't already. I think this blog-post is my favorite last minute effort that i've ever produced. I hope you are well and that you are naked.

******

Put it Away! or How I Know that Bared Human Flesh in an Abomination

Good heavens! Scarcely can I venture from the grounds of my land, nor peep from the upper echelons of my towers without my oracles suffering a cannonade of unfiltered humanity. I cannot bear to see bared flesh, it makes my stomach churn with the violence of a child drowned in a storm. I must apologise for the strength of that analogy, but I feel it is entirely necessary to kindle in you an appreciation for quite how distasteful I find the sight of skin. Grargh!

Humanity developed clothing for a reason. It is because our bodies are hateful to us. The soul within the body is trapped, like a dignified gentleman bedecked in formal regalia forced to travel via a zorb ball of muck, carried aloft on a canal of effluent. It is clear in both examples that we are better than such things, and must strive to rise above of our imperfect transport.

The bodhisattva Siddhartha Gautama knew well this problem, but incorrectly identified that it is life itself that is suffering. Wrong, Siddy, wrong. It is our bodies which are the source of suffering. Look at them for Cruijff's sake! They are loose, sagging, peach hemp sacks holding on for dear life! The Sisyphean effort of the human form to defy gravity is a pathetic reminder of our imperfection and must be summarily ignored. Of course not everybody agrees with me, and those whose conclusions differ from my own are, quite simply, cretinheaded pocks.

There are even such fools as believe the human body is a thing of beauty!!! I have a mouthful of vomit simply considering such an untenable position. Beautiful, they say. Good spirits, I should fucking well say not! The droop of a breast and a willy's wrinkles and not things to be celebrated. They are things to be covered up, as all fundamentalists correctly know. However, they also believe that god created us perfect, which is clear nonsense. No sensible thought had a hand in designing a human being. Should we shit when standing, our excrement would travel down the backs of our legs, which is wholly unpleasant. A further example of the imperfection of humanity are the people who, most perversely of all, enjoy these sorts of things. People who would like nothing more than to have flecks of faecal matter in their eyelashes. Dirty dogs! It is horrifying to think that even if people appear decently dressed, it is still possible they are harbouring essence of dookie in the hair near their eyes, the eyes they are looking at you with. Cack. But I digress.

No, I will digress. Surely we cannot be perfect beings, how perfect can we be when in experiments run by Berrendium University, 98% of sane humans were unable to differentiate between an image of a testicle sack or of an elbow. What caring creator would copy and paste between two such incompatible areas? Not a cowing one! It wouldn't and didn't happen.

I was once so disgusted with my own physicality that I bit a chunk of flesh straight out of my arm, but this only succeeded in upsetting me further.

Cover yourself up!

It just occurred to me that you could be naked reading this, and it revolts me. I'm freezing cold right now and I'm wearing a quarter of a million togs worth of duvet. How cold must you be whilst naked? Very cold indeed, but of course you cannot feel the cold because you are being protected by Diabolus, King of Hell, who loves nudity because he is perversion. Cover yourself up or burn forever in angry sulphur! Get some wool about you for the love of all that is good.

It is an undeniable fact that all bad things happen when at least some part of the skin is clearly visible. The only human who ever successfully lived without sin was Breton Diarckaluuma who was born into a large hessian sack and spent his entire life in there, being fed by his parents who gunged porridge through the side of the sack. The only way they could tell whether he was a girl or a boy was asking him to provide a detailed verbal account of his genitals, which he did with undignified eagerness.

I had sexual intercourse once, and I was so ashamed with both my own body and the body of my accomplice I drowned us both in a vat of dimethylmercury where we both would have died had I not INSISTED that we be clothed in an Iron Maiden of kevlar. I patented this cleansing procedure under the name Nudity-Expunging Baptism. Whenever I masturbate I don't look.

Fashion today is like the worst kind of cooking, tiny proportions and inappropriately ineffective dressing. Just as a sprig of parsley does not cover up a big bowl of oats, so too is vacuum-packing yourself in skimpy garments which do not cover up your skin unsightly.

If my expert evidence has still failed to convince you, consider this, every single person in the history of the world who has ever died at some point had their skin showing. The exception of course is Breton Diarckaluuma, who is alive and well in space, hidden. Be decent and cover up your inane appearance, and you too could live forever.

*****

Luke Sampson
Dafydd Evans
Adam Gilder

Friday, 28 October 2011

The Smell of a Good Book

When I was younger, I was obsessed with maintaining some sort of lifestyle that predated my own. I would refuse to type anything, stating that I preferred to hand write my work (since entering the teaching profession, I have apologised to my old English teacher, having had the experience of marking hand written course work) and that typing is just not as expressive and is too cold a medium.

Long story short, I'm writing this on my ipad, which I bought to replace my netbook, which I find rather slow and clunky. Im frustrated because my desktop pc is broken, and my kindle is my portable library. So there we have it, I am a techno fiend (not the music, that's just awful.)

How does this link to the smell of a good book? Well, let's consider books. They're aesthetically very pleasing in all their shapes and sizes, from slim volumes of poetry, to thick novels and huge tomes. They can make a room feel more homely, when they populate it's shelves. And, as an open and avid bibliophile, the smell of a good book is divine; it is ambrosia. But that is the mere object of a book. A book is merely a box full of paper, but what it represents is knowledge, communication.

I love books and I love the way they smell, but we're living in a digital age and the physical object of a book is becoming archaic and, in some cases, obsolete. It has come to a point now, where i have filled almost three rooms with my books, and my collection is
expanding steadily. If it weren't for my Kindle and ipad, then I feel confident in saying that my love of books, coupled with my love of hoarding, would overrun my life.

Perhaps the main reason I find books so homely and so comforting is that they represent journeys. Not always physical journeys, but journeys of learning, of emotional development, of growth. A great book is like a ballet; it doesn't matter whether or not you know whats coming next, it's about the beauty of watching the plot unfold. The smell of a good book is, in my opinion, a psychological side effect to the comfort one takes from the familiar; a mere symptom.

It is a symptom from which I suffer greatly, and yet I am aware of it's nature and I am willing to embrace the future. Really speaking, there's more to a book than what you hold; thats mere aestheticism. I think that people who really love reading will not shy away from the advent of electronic book. Rather, they will embrace it, as it takes us that one step closer to universal inclusion, because books will be even easier to access.

The smell of a good book is a wonderful thing,but it is a mere by-product of that for which a true bibliophile searches: understanding.


*****

It starts in a forest. A vast forest where all kinds of beautiful wildlife lives and dies.

Each tree in this forest is significant for life to thrive. Anything from the smallest mite to the mightiest ape. Each tree gives it's all to not only survive but feed and shelter each living organism that surrounds it.

And the trees are happy to do this. They know that by treating the encompassing life well. By giving a squirrel it's nuts, by giving a woodpecker it's hide-y hole, by giving the possum it's tree sap, it is also giving itself the means to carry on. It has a purpose. It gives life so it's species can carry on.

For every animal it helps, it is one step closer to creating and sowing it's seeds, using the animals around it to spread its life-pellets further and further so it can grow and grow. And grow some more.

This beautifully simple idea, yet delightfully complex action is not only true for the trees in the forest, but every plant and weed.

Then modern man came along with a yearning for information. Information about everything. Any information about any process, any technique, any thing. Anything.

They developed a way to preserve this information. The written word. They also found a way to preserve the written word. They developed papyrus.

This papyrus was made out of the very trees and plants that grew in the vast forest. On this papyrus, they wrote how to make papyrus using the vast forest. And then they wrote all sorts of things, factual or fictitious. All types of information that could be absorbed and used or enjoyed.

Papyrus that was filled with as much information about a topic was bound, and then called a book.

If you are to flick through a book, close to your nose, there's a mysterious and enchanting smell. That smell is the memory of the vast forest and it's truly beautiful. It's filled with the combined wisdom and life of the forest and the scribe of the documenter. It is "The smell of a good book".

The amount of information that was documented grew exponentially which sadly resulted in the decrease of the vast forest. So much so that it was then renamed; the forest.

An attempt to preserve the forest is currently ongoing. A process called recycling is being utilized. The process is also written on papyrus. Recycling is technique which involves cleaning and reusing older materials and it's used for a great variety of materials used today.

In the case of papyrus, the recycling process dilutes the beautiful smell of life and wisdom that's bestowed in by the forest. And that is why books today will never be truly great, for they will never have, The smell of a good book.


*****

Hello and welcome back to the very first episode of Smell That Book. I hope you all enjoyed the ad break, made yourself a cup of tea and put the dog out the back because there will be little opportunity for such things from this point on.
Now, to me, the smell of a good book means nothing. I was never a very strong reader (I’m still not) nor have I had such an amazing moment with a book that its odour has stuck with me. I have such memories with food, especially food that I have painstakingly cooked from scratch but as much as I have loved the recipe book the dish came from I could not tell you what it smelt of (other than grease and flour). I can recall the smell of important people from my life, be it a perfume they wore or the cigars they smoked, but smelling the books they once owned that now reside on my shelves do not conjure up feelings or emotions. Even as I write this, I am nose deep in a tome I have taken from my cupboard trying to gain some insight into the wondrous world of Eau de Novelle but all I can think of is that Silverfish must not suffer from body odour.
So what am I going to write about? (I pause to think, as the question was as much for me as it was for you, the reader). It could be, now that I take a second glance at the title, that I have been getting this all wrong. The phrase is ‘the smell of a GOOD book’. Could it be that what I have been doing is smelling books that are not considered good? How does one judge this? I have always been of the mind that a book is good if the reader has enjoyed it, and that one person may consider a book good while someone else may think the opposite. But perhaps this is not the case. Perhaps a book is put through its paces even before it’s published (picture a little library assault course) to determine where on a scale of 1 to Stephanie Mayer the book should be, 1 being very good and Stephanie Mayer being fucking awful. And perhaps depending on a books position on the scale they are given different scents, immediately altering our perception on a book. Maybe a good book is given an appealing aroma, enticing us to read on, tricking the senses, whereas a bad book would be given a stench designed to force our subconscious into finding problems with the book, such as bad grammar or ridiculous sentence structure, leading us to discard the book. Perhaps this is the origin of ‘That book stinks’, a phrase commonly used by overzealous American book critics.
Does this theory explain why I cannot recall the smell of a single book? No. Although, perhaps at the centre of the scale, where the books are neither good nor bad, they have no added scent, leaving the readers to make their own minds up. It’s a possibility for sure, but I don’t think it would stand up in a court of law. You see, a lot of the books I have read are the same books that my friends have read. Friends that have fond memories of smelling said books for the first time. I have been there and had their copies wafted under my nose, and while they’ve writhed in ecstasy I have sat there, unmoved by the gust of wind rushing up my nostrils.
Here is another theory (I am a scientist after all) which I think fits the scenario a little better. Maybe the term good book is used in the same way as it is when referring to religious texts. To understand this, I had to first think about what makes a religious text ‘good’. Firstly, what do all these books have in common? (That’s right, you clever bastards) They’re all big. So big is good. They are also the most circulated texts in existence with millions of copies made daily. So high sales is also a good thing. Lastly, they all have catchy titles e.g. The Bible, The Torah, The Origin of Species (that’s a joke for all the atheists in the room). So titles that start with ‘The’ are epic good. The other thing with religious texts is that they are appreciated and cared for by the people that read them. So if we now compare these to the books that, hypothetically, are in question. Most of these books are large books, if not in volume then in word count. Most of them are books that are widely read and have huge sales worldwide. They also fit the description of having catchy titles e.g. The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Complete Collection of Conan (the last one is kind of cheating as it’s a descriptive title but it’s the book that most resembles a religious text). My friends take care of their books and really know how to appreciate the prose. Like I said at the start, I was always a weak reader and have lost more books than I’ve actually read.
What I think is happening, if the latter theory is correct, is that I have been cursed with an inability to sniff the scripture. Whoever the divine power is, be it God, Allah or Edgar Allan Poe, they have deemed me unworthy to enjoy the full experience of a good book. Through neglecting the written word in its purest form I have lost my right to its gratifying fragrance. Perhaps, as I write this and expect others to appreciate what I’ve written, I may at some point in the future be gifted a pardon and for once experience that ever elusive book-uet (like bouquet but with books).
Or maybe I’ll never get this Kindle to work properly. Good night.
*****

I have a kindle, I like gadgets, and I embrace progressive technology enabling books to be read in a progressive way. As technology improves, books as a medium will evolve. It was noted on Stephen Fry's Planet Word documentary that as handheld e-readers improve we will see books that incorporate video and extensive footnotes, clips of music and similar. There are already books rife with hyperlinks, and it isn't difficult to imagine the benefits of textbooks where the references in the bibliography lead to the actual articles or papers themselves. These improvements would make studying easier and reading more fun.

Already on the kindle it is possible to see sections of text underlined if they have been highlighted by a number of readers. I'm not sure how I feel about that, hopefully it's a feature that can be turned off; I'd like to come to my own conclusions, and how I read a section of text will definitely be affected if I am aware many people felt it noteworthy.

As much as I enjoy e-readers, for me, personally, they are currently missing something. However this is not informed by practicality or sense, rather it is a hipster coolwank pretention. Much like musos who prefer cds to mp3, and the older who prefer cassette to cd, and the older who prefer vinyl to cassette, and the yet older who prefer music boxes to vinyl, I prefer books. I think it's likely a preference which will take longer to shift culturally, for in comparison to these evolving music recording formats which evolved over a comparatively short period the book has existed in a largely unchanged format for a large number of years.

So, in what ways do books differ to e-readers? In every material dimension the variety of books make them artefacts I delight in, and while the all-in-one nature of e-readers is also something that pleases me, books of paper and ink stimulate so many more of my senses. I have a colossal gospel tome of the Lord of the Rings, with tiny print despite its giant size, a long bound bookmark fraying at the edge, bounteous illustrations taking up entire pages. It is a beautiful book. It frustrates me somewhat as its size excludes it from one of my favourite pastimes: reading in the bath, however it makes up for this by sitting unused for months, years, and then upon re-discovery it has amassed a layer of dust, allowing me to blow it off, imagining that this is an ancient text I have discovered in an ancient ruin or storehouse. On the other end of the scale I have books from the Penguin Popular Classics series, which were printed cheaply in order to make them more available. Old plays and novels have in this way been shrunk into tiny, thin volumes that suit my pastime magnificently. In this way old bastions of literature stand pamphlet sized, and are a far more valuable and rewarding than anything committed to a flyer. I'd be more likely to frequent a pizza place or an indian restaurant which posted The Picture of Dorian Gray around the neighbourhood instead of their own tacky lists of food.

As well as their dimensions, the texture of books are also wildly varied. The plastic smoothness of dustsheets, the childish joy of running your hands over raised title text, like finding a shiny Ole Solskjaer in a packet of stickers. The simple pleasure of running your finger down the edge of the body of pages, watching them flick quickly back, enjoying the whirr of the motion and the breeze created. Joy. There is no better way to up the anticipation of a new journey about to begin within the pages.

But of all our senses, the most strangely powerful is smell. The olfactory stimulus can drag us back in time like no other. Perhaps that's slightly exaggerating; a film watched in childhood rewatched much later can warp us as well, and an album or a song repeatedly listened to can warp us back to the time and place when we hear it years later. For example Ghostbusters 2 turns me into a child as I watch it, and Tenacious D's Tribute takes my back to my teenage bedroom, playing Championship Manager 01/02 on an old PC. But from my experience so many more books can achieve this effect.

And regardless of this effect, I fucking love the smell of a good book. Even the smell of a shit one. I was shocked when I smelt a Twilight book, as despite knowing that it was a collection of written parp, I was shocked to discover that it smelt like a real book. Such is the power of smell, it can positively augment a good book, and it can even cover the reek of a poor book and bestow upon it the credibility of paper, glue and ink.

I recently re-read the first R.A. Salvatore book, The Crystal Shard, and as well as being pleased at how well it stood the test of time and very much enjoying it, I was surprised by its smell. 'Oh yes' I thought, 'this is the smell of fantasy'. And I was surprised by how right I was. Perusing the limited stock I have at my disposal, I am right now smelling Weis & Hickman's Dragon Wing (raised golden title text - delicious) and though it is, of course, the smell of paper, ink and glue, it also smells of fantasy. Also at hand I have Raymond E. Feist's Magician, and it smells exactly the same way. Why should this be!? All these books are from different publishers, and yet they smell exactly the same way. It is as though a secret council of fantasy elders convened and decided "this is how we want fantasy to smell", and so it does.

Koushun Takami's Battle Royale has pages which are unusually white. It has a cold smell, slightly sanitise and lacking in personality. Like a hospital ward or a government building. The cover is a deep red, glossy with a dimpled title. It fits the story magnificently. I have a number of Haruki Murakami books, mostly through the Vintage label, and to me the smell of them is the ultimate smell of comfort. It is the nasal equivalent of putting on the comfiest of pyjamas and hibernating deep in bed. Final Fantasy VII is my gaming equivalent of this. Thanks to the portableness of books, and FF7s release on the PSP I can have this sensation whilst actually in comfy pyjamas and in bed, but I daren't risk it lest I slip into an eternal coma of comfort. Or die as it is also known.

The book which has most moved me nasally recently is Richard Dawkins' The Magic of Reality. Ostensibly a book for older children it is, frankly, utterly majestic. Each page is glossy and rich with colour, and smells of recent redecoration. If you like reading and sniffing paint, I would suggest firstly that you stop sniffing paint, but while you're going cold turkey you can work your way intellectually and olfactorily through this tome. With it's dustsheet off it is a pleasing pale yellow, and at the risk of looking like a lunatic I could very easily simply touch it for an entire hour and be pleased. I would argue that e-readers simply aren't a substitute for that.

E-readers are cool and functional, but they simply don't (yet) have the capacity for exciting me fully in the material world. My kindle doesn't smell of anything. Of course, being human beings we are problem solving animals and we, as we have always done, have thought our way around the problem. We have covers for these e-readers. I have three, for reasons which parallel the Goldilocks tale. One came with the device, a cheap black leather case, and was functional but a little loose and it did not please me. The second, which I bought, was a purple latex sheath which attracted dust like a bugger and was therefore unpleasant to the touch. My final purchase, which so far has pleased me, is a brown hemp cover which is delightful to the touch, and also to the nose.

I am sometimes moving with the times, but I hope that it will be awhile yet until the smell of fantasy is eradicated.

*****

Gethin Down
Dafydd Evans
Luke Sampson
Adam Gilder