This is the universe. Big, isn’t it.

Look at these amazing pics on the Telegraph website, here

I love the one of the ‘Soap Bubble Nebula’ which is so beautiful, it happens when a star dies which is sad in a silly way /

Carnivale

I have recently been watching and become a little obsessed with Carnivale which was a series that was on HBO in 2003-2005. It was planned for 6 seasons but cancelled after two. Set in 1930’s America during the Dust Bowl and Depression, which is depicted magnificently, through the cinematography which is superb, as are the locations, set designs, costumes and music.

There are two main plots running together, one of which is about a guy who joins a travelling carnival, and I absolutely relish the way the carnival is portrayed and the surreal air hanging over the series. The two main characters are acted superbly by Nick Stahl and Clancey Brown both of which seem perfectly cast for their roles. Stahl beautifully portraying his character without the need for many words. I also loved the portrayal of Iris Crowe by Amy Madigan, she is enthralling

The series does an exemplarly job of the the good vs evil and free will vs destiny thing, and the mythology and many other themes that run through it. I love the spell binding weirdness of the series and  that it demands a lot from the viewer.

I cant believe this passed me by when it was released in 2003, and am certainly disappointed that the series was pulled after two seasons, although perhaps this was a good way for it to finish, when there wasn’t a lot of pressure which might have ruined what went before.

The most amazing present…

…my sister and brother in law have got me a 1st edition of Dracula. I can’t thank them enough, such a special gift. It is absolutely amazing, you can feel and smell the people that have read it, the pages  are absolutely extroadinary to touch. It’s so precious, I love it. I would love to know how many people have read it (this particular copy), who they were etc etc. They have definitely looked after it. I can see the potential damages and also advantages of e-books, but the notion of the death of books is so sad. Just to hold this incredible book, of the amazing creation that Dracula is, is such a priviledge

Not quite sure how….

….but i won a runner up prize in the Sefton Writing Competition 2009 I have no idea how this happened, as the entry that was mistakenly sent off was a first draft. I was so excited when I received a letter saying I had been short listed, and then the following week that I had won a prize, I am very pleased about this…

Physics… complex and tantalizing

The tweets from CERN about the Large Hadron Colider on Twitter today have been so exciting. As the largest physics experiment ever comes back online in its hunt for the Higgs Boson.

Their Tweets such as:
@ CERN Beam 1 has made more than 500 turns of the LHC. The beam orbit is improving fast

@CERN Teams are working to improve beam quality before injecting in the anticlockwise direction. Beam 1 has made several turns around the LHC.

…have been getting the physics juices flowing this evening, it must be an amazing feeling for those working a CERN

The Higgs Boson is the last particle missing from the Standard Model yet to be observed, as proposed by physicists Peter Higgs, Francois Englert and Robert Brout in 1964.

To me physics is the most beautiful discipline of academia and is never ending, it questions more than it qualifies, and covers the most amazing subjects, the wonderful matter of the phases of matter, exotic matter, antimatter, dark matter, strange matter.

There is so much to learn accross the field, the Theory of Everything, String Theory, Chaos.

There is so much still to discover, what is dark matter? Are there addistional dimensions? The proton spin crisis.

Aiming to understand the behaviour of everything with the thrill of catastrophe’s, forces, currents, collisions, constants, law’s and paradoxes in the architecture of space

The subject is complex and tantalizing, pushing rationality to the realms of reality where you can embrace and probe the laws of the universe, to question the fundamentals of your world.

I am vampire snob

I am a late starter when it comes to Stephanie Meyer’s renowned vampire themed Twilight series. First discovering the phenomenon when I saw a trailer for the film, I wasn’t interested, thinking it was something I would absolutely hate, and so avoided it, and the books.

Being a lover of classic gothic fiction and horror, I thought Meyer’s creations would rub harshly against my favourites Edgar Allan Poe, Daphne du Maurier, Stoker and Straub, so stayed away from anything Twilight related. And anyway, it’s not cool to be into anything mainstream, right?

Running late for a train a couple of months later and hastily looking for something to read in the station shop, I crumbled, picking up Twilight from the shelf (the cover looked good)

I didn’t stop reading until it was finished. I absolutely loved it, completely taken aback by Meyer’s amazing ability to tell a story and seize concentration. I loved the desire, the relatable characters, forbidden love, and so on.

I understand the books are no literary masterpieces, the dialogue isn’t great,  and of course there are flaws, particularly Bella’s dependency on Edward and her brattish behaviour but really, does it matter? When the stories are loved by people of all ages, and re-read over and over.

The books are certainly more of a girly thing, I appreciate that men may find it a bit offensive to their taste, but Twilight contains a lot of features and characters that gothic fiction classically holds, villains, Byronic Heroes, werewolves (shape shifters are close enough), femmes fatales, supernatural, gothic scenery.

Perhaps the success of these novels will draw readers, to try other works in the gothic genre, and more people will come to appreciate the classics.

A Guardian article earlier in the year showed fans of the Twilight series have been buying copies of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights in huge numbers. A new edition released in May this year had sold over 10,000 by August, sending it to the top of the classics bestseller lists.

And a note on that Byronic Hero, Meyer’s creation Edward Cullen, the handsome, heroic, charming modern day Rochester or Darcy. Much has been written criticising Meyer for giving women false hopes for their own relationships, suggesting that Edward Cullen is the perfect gentleman and a real man would never replicate his behaviour in real life. Edward’s devotion and infidelity don’t ring true to many, but doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.

I urge the vampire snobs like me to give it a go!