blog.djstead.net

The world is a toilet. So begins my latest philosophical journey, and ends in a line from the latest Avengers movie. It’s [(was) ~Ed.] late, so I’ll try and keep this brief - but if you know anything about my blogs by now - it is that they are almost painfully not brief… The discussion starts with the concept of humanity as a selfish self-propagating species that has not contributed anything to the planet that isn’t a means to an end. Arguably you could say that about every other species that has roamed the earth - but as I am lacking in direct primary evidence of that fact, I will restrict my viewpoint to the whole of human history for now. Yes, everyday, there are good deeds done, and uplifting news to be read, and generally positive things - as we see them - do in fact happen. But for who’s benefit - either our own as a species; or - more likely - the benefit of the privileged few? And yet what else are we supposed to do? If the world...

It is often difficult to put into words what you feel when you listen to music. Certainly when it comes to music like Simon and Garfunkel. Or Dark Sanctuary. Or Darude - Sandstorm . Part of me wants to use words like ‘melancholy’ and ‘wistful’ and ‘longing’, but there is an upbeat quality as well. And I think the very best music can make you feel all the things, sometimes in the same song - but usually over the course of a classic album. Or over a particular artist’s career. I have often resorted to listening to music when my otherwise emotional experience of life has been limited. Which is quite the opposite of what my life has been in recent months. There hasn’t been a need to ‘fill the void’ with musical entertainment - I have been extremely lucky to have had quite a speedy tour de force in the realms of emotional engagement [though evidently the Smooth Talking module is missing in action]. And so during the Simon and Garfunkel Story at Leeds College of Music this evening, I experie...

In the creative world, there are two individuals whose influence on my own life towers above the rest. One of those was the late, great, Douglas Adams; who’s Hitchhikers Guide is the single piece of work that has the biggest impact on my view of life, the universe and everything. The other, was that man you see above this text: Terry Pratchett. The photo was taken in the now-just-a-coffee-shop-but-back-then Peak Books in Chesterfield; it was Autumn 2005 and I had been in town since about 2pm, which meant I was once of the first in line to meet Terry - and, on the promise of ‘no flash’, I got to take this picture, after he signed my copy of the book ‘Thud’, addressed to me, with the word ‘Diamond’ above his signature. [Diamond being, as it turns out, the name of the King of the Trolls - a shining example (literally) of the living rock.] I remember briefly talking to Terry (back then he was renowned for staying through to the end of book signing...

Now those of you familiar with the irrefutable laws of the universe will know that it is impossible to do nothing but change, but I’m being a bit more narrative than that. The other week I was reading a blog from a few years ago*; in which I reflected on my accident a year on , and what had changed. And what I remarked on at the time was how there was no overwhelming feeling of ‘OMG MY LIFE HAS CHANGED’: In many ways, it was not a life-changing event. Not that I took what happened lightly; there were no long-lasting effects - either physically (thankfully!) or otherwise. What did start to change were my emotional faculties. Around the same time, I went through an experience akin to falling in love, which questioned my logical approach to - well - everything. And therein lies the roots of my change. - Let’s back-track a bit: Around age 14 I had begun to question everything, and establish ideas centrally to my philosophy. Whilst at the time this was a fun and exc...

Without wishing to delve into the murky waters of social analysis about the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, and other fall-out from this event; a lot of what has gone on has been (inevitably) dragging up a key philosophical point of discussion in my mind. So I’m taking this opportunity to follow that trail of thought and see where the breadcrumbs take me… Who’s with me? - Well you can’t be with me unless you know what I stand for, right? And yes, whilst there was an undoubted majority of the people declaring #jesuischarlie in the simple condemnation of the actions of the individual perpetrators; there have been undoubted use of this stance to solidify misguided ideas about ‘all Muslims’; or to say 'I don’t know what this Charlie Hebdo magazine is all about, but I defend their right to say whatever it is they said’. Both present fairly obvious dangers in their logic; obvious to me - perhaps obvious to you - but not to everyone. Not to everyone who adopted th...

There’s one of those catchy song snippets that keeps popping up in TV trails (I think it’s for Strictly, but I could be wrong), where the phrase “let’s skip to the good bit”, before something sound remarkably like the riff from EMF’s Unbelievable kicks in. And whilst that sentiment is all very well, female-songstress; it isn’t entirely practical. What I was intending on talking about in my previous blog was the knowledge/experience gaps that are making themselves known to me in my life. Instead I ended up talking about how everyone changes in their personality/outlook/etc. as time advances forward – and how relationships wax and wane between people, depending on where your shared interests (or increasing lack of) take you. - This blog is more about figuring out how to fill in the ‘blanks’ in my life; because despite the aforementioned aphorism – you can’t just skip to the good bit. Yes there are shortcuts that can be bought, or uncovered via the internet –...

Well it seems to be one of those weird days-in-between-days between Christmas and New Year; I’m back home after visiting the parents, but after a few days at work I’m off again for New Year-related shenanigans. So apologies if these thoughts are a little unstructured - but I’d like to throw them out there before I’m distracted again. - I think everyone has an idea of what their complete life looks like. Wait that’s a terrible statement. More accurately, anyone who has filled out an online dating profile starts to get an idea of what they might actually be looking for in terms of a partner, and perhaps what they might want to do and where they might want to go in life (sure, why not, geographically and also metaphysically). Even more accurately - I’ve started to figure out what I might want. Which is a very weird thing to say; seeing as though for a long time in my life I’d decided I knew very much the reality of the universe, and the complete philosophical...