2012: The Start of a Brand New Year

We've all done it - gone off on a rant to which there is no real response. I chose to indulge in mine on January 1st, after the fireworks were long since over and the wine bottles had been emptied.

It was a proper whinge. I told my friend all about Panda, Suite101, the patronising gits at the job centre, deafness, lack of time and stress, all of the burn out things that had been plaguing my life. I moved onto the fact that I used to be so good, so in control, back when I knew myself too well and the world was great.

He let me get it out of my system, then finally gave me his take on the matter. He played That was the River, This is the Sea by the Waterboys and grinned at me.



Perfect answer, Eric. Now let's get on with this 2012 malarkey.

As we kick off into the new year, I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading and commenting so far. It would be a lonely place here, if I didn't know that you were along for the ride.

So far, it's been me blogging about whatever occurs to me at the time. This is bucking the trend of all those experts who say that you should find a niche and stick to it. People don't come anywhere for a mish-mash of subjects, as they like them gift-wrapped in expectation. Is that true? Is anyone annoyed by the fact I leap from computer software to ancient history to modern politics without blinking?

I'd also like to ask what individual blog entries and series you have enjoyed most last year. Naturally this feedback will help me decide what to write about this year. You have influence!

I look forward to hearing your replies.

Grace Petrie Interview and 'Farewell to Welfare'

Novie Grooves Anime Style in 'Funk 3'

Novie is one of the nicest celebrities that you will ever encounter. She is a singer, with a new track called 'Funk 3' out right now; but Novie is perhaps better known as an actress. Canadian fans know her best of all. She is the voice of LeShawna in the 'Total Drama' series; and Jackie in 'Cyberchase'. But before I tell you how I know she's a lovely person, let me show you that new single.

The one and only Novie with 'Funk 3'!



Over on MangaBullet, a friend and I had just been given joint custody of a Mello and Matt/Death Note related club, while the previous owner discovered she had a life. We didn't, so it all worked out. LOL Xizarx and I kicked around ideas about what we could bring to the party. We decided that we would try to track down one of the original Death Note voice actors and interview him/her. Top of the list were David Hurwitz (Mello) and Drew Nelson (Matt) for obvious reasons.

The trouble was that no amount of running their names through search engines brought us anywhere close to either gentleman's contact details. There was no way we could beg an interview, if we couldn't even find them.

But there was one lady out there who knew precisely where to locate Drew Nelson. After working with him on two shows, Novie Edwards was a close friend. During our hunt, I undercovered a YouTube video, where Novie had interviewed him herself. I ventured a PM to her and the response came back within just a few hours. She was happy to put us in touch.

Novie came through! The interview with Drew Nelson happened and, not only our club, but the entire of MangaBullet were involved. We were featured on the front page! Exciting times. Novie read it and PMed me again to congratulate us on a great interview. She's an extremely down to Earth and enthusiastic person, who was even kind enough to nip onto Drew's Facebook page and comment on his posting of the link there. The 'Total Drama' fans were in raptures.

Therefore, I'm only too happy to oblige in letting all of my friends know about 'Funk 3'. She PMed me to tell me that it was out and that sounds like a blog entry to me!

I hope you enjoyed it.

Creating My Blog

I want a job that makes me leap out of bed with joy in the morning. I want my waking moments filled with excitement that what I call 'work' actually pays the bills. I want to pirouette on the carpet, batting away the little bluebirds and other woodland creatures, that apparently always gather in times of great happiness. (Unless the cartoons lied to us.) In short, I want to be a writer and get paid for it!

So I have my blog. I hummed and arred over the title. This is the semi-professional blog. The one where I write about interesting things, but I'm also free to do with without the formal tone of, say, my articles on Suite101. Jo speaks of formality to me. It would be better to skip to one of my other names.



I've had several nicknames in my time. I think the largest number of people call me Matilda Mother (or Matti) after the Syd Barrett song; either that or Merch Gwyar, my Runescape pseudonym. But the former might give the impression that I write stories in less than sober conditions; while the latter already has a large blog attached.

At University, there were a lot of people called Jo. It's a very common name. I hadn't even heard any Syd Barrett at the time, so Matilda Mother was not yet the alternative. But the Waterboys had recorded 'A Girl Called Johnny' and Jo is short for Joanne (male form: John). There are many people who still call me Johnny, including myself sometimes.



The very first thing that confronts me is that, though blogs are all about writing, you need to be an artist before anything else. I can write great walls of text (and frequently do), but if the look of the page is wrong, then only really good friends and my parents might linger to read it. Then there's the lay-out, stuff like that.

I sighed. I played in the design screen. I silently wept.

Fortunately, I have artist friends! Thank you very much to the lovely Alex Lardar, who arranged things, mixed colours and cut out photos of me to get the aesthetics just right. Of course, there were no adverts when she did that, so it looked even smoother.

All I had to do was waffle on about Grace Petrie and the blog was launched! It was even better when Ms Petrie picked it up and Tweeted it to all of her fans. My first proper blog entry suddenly had a lot of hits.

Hits. Hits are good. Hits are what could potentially turn this blog into a winning line of work. I just had to add adverts. But I'm so terribly British about this. My first insertion of blocks of advertisements were very discreetly placed. Half way down the blocks to the side and coloured in to make it compatible. I was partially hoping that no-one would notice them there.

Then I rushed into Runescape and grabbed a panel of (mostly) teenage male gamers to be my first market research panel. Good blog? Fantastic blog, they reported. Then one lone voice called up. And you're monetising this how precisely? *sigh*

I watched videos on YouTube about how to place my adverts. Better? Yep, I am asking for feedback here. Beyond this, I'll be writing proper blog entries, so this is the moment to speak up; and thank you in advance if you do. :D

Disclaimer: Please do not click on any advertisements unless you are a genuine buyer. Invalid clicks will get me closed down.

Grace Petrie Will Own Your Soul

I unashamedly love Grace Petrie.  It's always nice to hear the thud of something coming through the post that isn't a bill.   But when it's a jiffy envelope with the latest Grace Petrie CD inside, then you know that your day is about to be wonderful.


'Tell Me A Story' comes in a fold around, recycled cardboard cover.  Inside, it informs us that 'no trees were harmed in the making of this CD case'.  LOL  She included a couple of coasters, bearing doodles and the legend:  'Be strong, be resilient, be young, be fucking brilliant'.   It's a refrain that we all know from the last album, as it's belted out in the song, 'Inspector Morse'.   I didn't actually need the physical CD, as I'd already downloaded the electronic version of this album.  But Grace Petrie is going to be huge.  I want the kudos of saying that I bought the CD before anyone had heard of her.

It's not often that you watch the heir apparent to a rock'n'roll legend being handed a touch of the baton.   It may have happened in private already, or in some Leicestershire music venue, but this was the public bestowing.    Glastonbury, Leftfield, 2010.   Grace Petrie's festival debut.

In truth, we were only in there because it was so unbearably hot outside.   This was a marquee.   It had shade and, if you braved a quick dash in the sunshine, a nearby vendor of fine ciders.    Billy Bragg told again his oft-repeated story of attending the Rock Against Racism gig, in London, some time in the Middle Ages to hear him tell it.  He saw the Clash and was politicised by the passion of that great punk orator, Joe Strummer.   To say that Billy Bragg then spent the next few decades being inspirational, to a generation of left wing leaning people, is like implying that the Pope is influential in the world of Catholicism.  

One such fan is Grace Petrie.   She listened to Bragg, in both the music and the politics, and learned to play guitar.   When Bragg turned up to play a gig in her native Leicester, she waylaid him afterwards and handed him a CD of her songs.   He liked them so much that he contacted her and asked her if she would like to play Glastonbury.

Can you imagine that?  How must that have felt?   "Hello, this is your idol on the 'phone.  Would you like to play your own songs at the biggest, most legendary festival of all time?"   I wonder if she actually screamed down the receiver, or managed to keep her decorum until she had hung up.  

I was in the Leftfield, sipping cider in the shade, when Billy Bragg introduced her.   Everyone was sitting on the grass, but one woman stood up, right in front of me and my friend, totally blocking our view.   We raised our eyebrows in silent indignation, but being very British and polite, we held our tongues.   It was nothing that a bit of shuffling across couldn't solve.

(Later on, we had to forgive her.  This turned out to be Molly, Grace's girlfriend, with her face moist with proud tears, standing up there so she could film this momentous occasion.  Molly gave me such a hug afterwards, overwhelmed with it all to the point of trembling.  With the gig and Grace playing; not with the fact she was hugging me, just to be clear here.)

Grace Petrie's set was amazing.   We all paid attention.   As the songs poured out, one after another, we even got up to dance.   There was a familiarity here.   None of us knew her (apart from Molly and the gang from her 'hood, obviously), but she was a fan.  She was an ordinary person, who had got to go up on the stage and she was so gleeful about that.   She took us with her.   It helped that the songs were good.    She was 'our' Gracie by the end of it (Gracie Fields held that fond moniker for way too long).    


She came back to the Leftfield this year.   2011 was a year of mud and sunshine and the crowd was even bigger.  Word was getting around.   Another friend came with us to see what all of the hype was about.   "She's like a female Billy Bragg, isn't she?"   Yeah, she is.   Just like Billy Bragg is a protegy of Joe Strummer.   I saw the baton being passed on.    It was great.