Alright guys, this is it: I'm done. Bytes Media is over.
I know, I know. This is sudden. But I'm tired. Not of writing for you guys, the exact opposite in fact. I'm tired of not being able to write much. Over the last year or so everything that I have done for this website has been sort of formulaeic. Now I feel like there's only one format I can apply here (humour) and it's just not enough.
I can't upload fiction to the internet: I need to sell it for my living. I can't find time to write many reviews. Nothing else fits.
That's why I've decided to leave and find a new slice of internet to dwell in. Don't worry, it will still feature the occaisional review, joke and observation; but it will also have other stuff: writing advice, literary criticism, anything I can turn my hand to.
So come on over.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Oh gee, a blog post!
I was going to Vlog this because I genuinely don't have too much time for the website these days, and everyone knows that speaking takes less time than writing. (Only a little if you're me, but that's besides the point). Unfortunatley, today was the day that my camera decided to lag like a motherfucker, so I've been forced to do this. That and my throat hurts like a bitch after drinking on saturday.
Anyway, I figured that I should probably go through my seasonal (Christmas and New Year) check-list and tell you what happened to some of the things I promised. Excuses are in bold.
Anyway, I figured that I should probably go through my seasonal (Christmas and New Year) check-list and tell you what happened to some of the things I promised. Excuses are in bold.
- A special, festive review or two. - Done.
- An audio commentary for a film. - My microphone decided to kill itself over the holiday. This and a lack of time meant that the project went unstarted. I've been promising this for a while now, so I'll look into it when I get the chance.
- Some new fiction. - No time/no motivation/'I was working on my novel' excuse.
- A completed essay. - I honestly had no idea what to write about.
- A 'best of the decade' list. - It got started; I will attempt to find the time to finish it in the next few days.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Fuck Tumblr. Blogger's where it's at.
As a few of you may have noticed, I tried Tumblr yesterday. It's shit.
So, now back on my beloved Blogger I've decided to fill you guys in on what to expect over the christmas period. I'm going to be brutally honest and say that until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't even thought about it. And as if to rub salt into your metaphorical wounds, my initial thought when I actually remembered the festive season was literally: 'my public can go fuck themselves'.
But I've come round to thinking that this website is still slightly important and as such, you can expect the following:
So, now back on my beloved Blogger I've decided to fill you guys in on what to expect over the christmas period. I'm going to be brutally honest and say that until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't even thought about it. And as if to rub salt into your metaphorical wounds, my initial thought when I actually remembered the festive season was literally: 'my public can go fuck themselves'.
But I've come round to thinking that this website is still slightly important and as such, you can expect the following:
- A special, festive review or two.
- An audio commentary for a film.
- Some new fiction.
- A completed essay.
- A 'best of the decade' list.
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Blog Post Number Fuck Off
It's 3:27am here in Newcastle, England. Doesn't really mean anything.
A few of you may have noticed that my Tweets have been becoming increasingly emo over the last few days. Don't worry, I'll live . I suppose that anyone reading my work could tell that I get depressed quite a lot - I don't care who knows. Just ignore the Tweet posts when they're depressed and they'll go away. If you were a really nice person you could send me an e-card?
I'm not going to explain why I get depressed or any inciting incidents to you guys. Not now, not ever. No, this information is only to get you to understand why some of the updates I promised haven't been available. I know that I promised an essay and two reviews (of which I have done one!) by now, and I apologise: I've had the weepys.
As such, don't expect much from me until I perk up. And, as I can't promise when that'll be (otherwise why would I be sad?), I'm afraid that means that there will be NO PROMISED UPDATES for a while. Until I'm back up on my feet I genuinely don't want to run the risk of disapointing any of you - making it safer to just give up.
A few of you may have noticed that my Tweets have been becoming increasingly emo over the last few days. Don't worry, I'll live . I suppose that anyone reading my work could tell that I get depressed quite a lot - I don't care who knows. Just ignore the Tweet posts when they're depressed and they'll go away. If you were a really nice person you could send me an e-card?
I'm not going to explain why I get depressed or any inciting incidents to you guys. Not now, not ever. No, this information is only to get you to understand why some of the updates I promised haven't been available. I know that I promised an essay and two reviews (of which I have done one!) by now, and I apologise: I've had the weepys.
As such, don't expect much from me until I perk up. And, as I can't promise when that'll be (otherwise why would I be sad?), I'm afraid that means that there will be NO PROMISED UPDATES for a while. Until I'm back up on my feet I genuinely don't want to run the risk of disapointing any of you - making it safer to just give up.
In case anyone gets the wrong idea: I am not shutting down the website. Just making it easier on myself.Thanks for the concern guys; I'll try to update properly soon, and you'll still get poetry.
Friday, 23 October 2009
A rare, but duely short, update.
Just thought I may as well update the ol' blog to give you guys a brief overview of where things are around here at the moment. I realise that thus far I have only updated with a single review for October. You can expect a review of Zombieland in the next couple of days, and possibly a review of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnasuss following that. A couple of (very lovely) people sent me emails suggesting that I simply review the text's that I have to read for university instead of films for a while. I admire the enthusiasm, but I'm not going to do it for these reasons:
On the bright side there will be some fresh creative content up soon. My essay The Great Global Community is nearly finished and all ten pages will be available to download for free in the next two weeks. Aside from this, I'm making fairly regular poetry updates, and I'm hoping to get some more short fiction done soon (as I'm taking a break from Avarice for -mental- health reasons).
I'm going to let you have a rare glimpse into my social life for once. It can be summed up in this quote rather brilliantly:
- I have to apply different methods of close reading when analysing a text for the purposes of an essay than I would when reading a text to review it. This means that I wouldn't actually save much time at all.
- I still have to write the fucking reviews. I know some may not seem that structured but, believe me, they are.
- Somehow, and stop me if I'm wrong, reviewing things like Oroonoko and Paradise Lost might somewhat lessen my appeal as my critic. I know I've never exactly doubted the intelligence of my readers - but I don't assume it either.
On the bright side there will be some fresh creative content up soon. My essay The Great Global Community is nearly finished and all ten pages will be available to download for free in the next two weeks. Aside from this, I'm making fairly regular poetry updates, and I'm hoping to get some more short fiction done soon (as I'm taking a break from Avarice for -mental- health reasons).
I'm going to let you have a rare glimpse into my social life for once. It can be summed up in this quote rather brilliantly:
'A little less love; a little more common decency.' - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Something has to give
Just a short blog to tell you that I'm revising my work schedule for this website a bit. Although I would love to continue to release 4 reviews, and 20 Twitter reviews a month, for you guys it's impossible if I want to keep working on my novel, pass my university course, and - you know - sleep.
So, basically what that entails is this: two full length reviews, and five Twitter reviews a month. That way I'll be able to continue with my life, as well as this website.
So, basically what that entails is this: two full length reviews, and five Twitter reviews a month. That way I'll be able to continue with my life, as well as this website.
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Holy mother of God
Anyone following my Twitter will notice that yesterday I posted a message saying that I have a stomach bug. I eventually decided against posting a second message which ran: "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I DON'T WANNA DIE!" I thought that might alarm some people.
As it transpires, I have stopped being violently ill now. However, as I threw up roughly a third of my body mass yesterday and actually lost weight (not much, but any amount is worrying), I will not be posting a review this week. Nor will I be posting any poetry, short fiction or essays. This blog will have to suffice.
So, what to talk about? Well, first I think I'll mention that I start university next week (apt timing for a stomach bug) and I'm quite terrified. Not of meeting new people, or losing old friends, or even finding my way around campus. Nope, I'm scared because of one thing and one thing only: MONEY!
Far be it from me to question the wisdom of capitalism in any way, but does it not seem slightly insane that the first time I'm expected to have to deal with any large some of money debt is unavoidable? Admittedly I could work for several years in order to pay my own way through university, but by that point I'll have wasted a large number of my life's years on something I don't want to do. Moreover, I'm a writer. What use am I to anyone?
A lot of my friends have begun personal blogs about their own lives, I figure that now is as good a time as any to re-evaluate my stance on this. I still hold the belief that any information about yourself or the people around you should be with-held from the world around. Granted it can be claimed that when I write fiction, or essays, I reveal a lot about my views and experiences to my readers, and to a certain extent I agree. When you read fiction written by anyone you learn a lot about certain aspects of them, like what they think of relegion or murder. Similarily, when you read an essay, it deals only with certain aspects of a person. When you read a blog post you find out every single mundane thought that crosses in their consciousness.
This obviously leads to insanely boring, and specific material. There is no way that anyone who doesn't know the author of the blog personally will understand what has been written (unless said blogger has been established for well over a year), or care. Sooner or later, everyone realises that deep down they're extremely boring. When this happens I've seen blogs go in one of two directions, the first gives a result similar to what you see here where the blogger attempts to produce some sort of content such as reviews, fiction, or poetry. This is fine.
The other direction that blogs tend to lean towards is vile. It consists of relating everything happening in their friends lives and moaning about it for nothing more than an ego boost. I've heard literally thousands of excuses for this form of internet penis waving (or vagina waving) but essentially it all comes back to one thing: "it gets all my feelings out". So does a fucking journal.
The one argument that I've heard in favour of personal blogging which has even been remotely credible put forward that a blog is not unlike an auto-biograhpy. I contemplated this idea for several hours before dismissing it using the following logic: An auto-biography is written retrospectively, therefore it can deal with emotions in a more mature manner. A blog is written when emotions are fresh, it cannot be dealt with by anything more than a gut reaction. Gut reactions are often wrong. I would also like to say that I don't really approve of auto-biographies.
Even if you can get past everything I've just said and still make that next blog post as full of venom as the last, consider this. What are you achieving? If you're posting your personal feelings on the internet the chances are that you have no-one to talk to in real life. You're obviously attempting to compensate for a lack of social fullfillment by doing the most narcissistic thing possible. Try growing up, and using whatever writing talent you may have gained properly.
I realise that this may all come across as slightly egotistical when we consider that I spent the entire first three paragraphs moaning about the mundanities of my life. Grant me this though, at least I had something interesting to talk about later on. If you don't agree then fuck it, I'm a hypocrite. What're you gonna do? Shoot me?
As it transpires, I have stopped being violently ill now. However, as I threw up roughly a third of my body mass yesterday and actually lost weight (not much, but any amount is worrying), I will not be posting a review this week. Nor will I be posting any poetry, short fiction or essays. This blog will have to suffice.
So, what to talk about? Well, first I think I'll mention that I start university next week (apt timing for a stomach bug) and I'm quite terrified. Not of meeting new people, or losing old friends, or even finding my way around campus. Nope, I'm scared because of one thing and one thing only: MONEY!
Far be it from me to question the wisdom of capitalism in any way, but does it not seem slightly insane that the first time I'm expected to have to deal with any large some of money debt is unavoidable? Admittedly I could work for several years in order to pay my own way through university, but by that point I'll have wasted a large number of my life's years on something I don't want to do. Moreover, I'm a writer. What use am I to anyone?
A lot of my friends have begun personal blogs about their own lives, I figure that now is as good a time as any to re-evaluate my stance on this. I still hold the belief that any information about yourself or the people around you should be with-held from the world around. Granted it can be claimed that when I write fiction, or essays, I reveal a lot about my views and experiences to my readers, and to a certain extent I agree. When you read fiction written by anyone you learn a lot about certain aspects of them, like what they think of relegion or murder. Similarily, when you read an essay, it deals only with certain aspects of a person. When you read a blog post you find out every single mundane thought that crosses in their consciousness.
This obviously leads to insanely boring, and specific material. There is no way that anyone who doesn't know the author of the blog personally will understand what has been written (unless said blogger has been established for well over a year), or care. Sooner or later, everyone realises that deep down they're extremely boring. When this happens I've seen blogs go in one of two directions, the first gives a result similar to what you see here where the blogger attempts to produce some sort of content such as reviews, fiction, or poetry. This is fine.
The other direction that blogs tend to lean towards is vile. It consists of relating everything happening in their friends lives and moaning about it for nothing more than an ego boost. I've heard literally thousands of excuses for this form of internet penis waving (or vagina waving) but essentially it all comes back to one thing: "it gets all my feelings out". So does a fucking journal.
The one argument that I've heard in favour of personal blogging which has even been remotely credible put forward that a blog is not unlike an auto-biograhpy. I contemplated this idea for several hours before dismissing it using the following logic: An auto-biography is written retrospectively, therefore it can deal with emotions in a more mature manner. A blog is written when emotions are fresh, it cannot be dealt with by anything more than a gut reaction. Gut reactions are often wrong. I would also like to say that I don't really approve of auto-biographies.
Even if you can get past everything I've just said and still make that next blog post as full of venom as the last, consider this. What are you achieving? If you're posting your personal feelings on the internet the chances are that you have no-one to talk to in real life. You're obviously attempting to compensate for a lack of social fullfillment by doing the most narcissistic thing possible. Try growing up, and using whatever writing talent you may have gained properly.
I realise that this may all come across as slightly egotistical when we consider that I spent the entire first three paragraphs moaning about the mundanities of my life. Grant me this though, at least I had something interesting to talk about later on. If you don't agree then fuck it, I'm a hypocrite. What're you gonna do? Shoot me?
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