I love the comedy-drama series Green Wing.

Rather than try and explain the plot, I’ve decided to simply link to Wikipedia entry for it.

Here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Wing

And here are some samples of its humour:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/green-wing/4od#2921927

There’s a great box set of ALL of the episodes and extras available here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Wing-Complete-Collection-DVD/dp/B000T2MZ48/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1257207037&sr=1-1

It’s a fantastically funny series. If you like Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Flight of the Conchords, Black Books, The Comic Strip Presents…, Extras, The Office, then you’ll like Green Wing.

www.rjdent.com

Hubert Selby Jr. (July 23, 1928 – April 26, 2004) was a 20th century American writer.

Hubert Selby Jr.

His novels include:

Last Exit to Brooklyn (novel, 1964)

The Room (novel, 1971)

The Demon (novel, 1976)

Requiem for a Dream (novel, 1978)

Song of the Silent Snow (short stories, 1986)

The Willow Tree (novel, 1998)

Waiting Period (novel, 2002)

Hubert Selby’s writing is challenging and confrontational. It deals with some of life’s harsh realities. If you like your fiction gentle and well-mannered, avoid Hubert Selby Jr. If however, you enjoy the writing of Anthony Burgess, William S. Burroughs, Angela Carter, Jean Genet, J.G. Ballard, or even Richard Brautigan, then you’ll probably like Selby’s work.

According to Selby, he began writing after an illness:

I was sitting at home and had a profound experience. I experienced, in all of my Being, that someday I was going to die, and it wouldn’t be like it had been happening, almost dying but somehow staying alive, but I would just die! And two things would happen right before I died: I would regret my entire life; I would want to live it over again. This terrified me. The thought that I would live my entire life, look at it and realize I blew it forced me to do something with my life.

In style, Selby differs from other writers. He is not concerned with proper grammar, punctuation, or diction, although Selby’s work is internally consistent; he uses the same unorthodox techniques in most of his works. He indents his paragraphs with alternating lengths, often by simply dropping down one line when he is finished with a paragraph. Like Jack Kerouac’s “spontaneous prose”, Selby’s writing was often completed in a fast, stream-of-consciousness style, and to facilitate this he replaces his apostrophes (’) with forward slashes (/) due to their closer proximity on his typewriter, thus allowing uninterrupted typing. He does not use quotation marks, and his dialogue might consist of a complete paragraph, with no denotation among alternating speakers. His prose is stripped down, bare and blunt.

Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964)

Selby’s experience with longshoremen, the homeless, thugs, pimps, transvestites, queers, addicts and the overall poverty-stricken community, is best expressed in his most praised work, Last Exit to Brooklyn. The novel was accepted and published in 1964 by Grove Press, which had already released works by William S. Burroughs. The novel was praised by many, including Allen Ginsberg, who predicted that it would “explode like a rusty hellish bombshell over America and still be eagerly read in a hundred years”. But as with any controversial work, not everyone was happy. Because of the detailed depictions of homosexuality and drug addiction, as well as gang rape and other forms of human brutality and cruelty in the novel, it was prosecuted for obscenity in Great Britain in 1967. However, it was made into a brilliantly powerful film directed by Uli Edel in 1989.

The screenplay is by by Desmond Nakano. The movie starred Stephen Lang as Harry Black, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Tralala, Burt Young as Big Joe, Peter Dobson as Vinnie, Jerry Orbach as Boyce, as well as Stephen Baldwin, Rutanya Alda and Sam Rockwell in small roles.

The Room (1971)

The Room (1971) is a story about a nameless psychopath awaiting trial, suffering from a boil, and fantasizing sadistic revenge dreams of rape and hatred. Shelby exposes readers to the inner mind of his violent and tortured character: “Well, anyway, time has to pass. But sometimes its so goddam long. And hang on you like a monkey. Like its going to suck the blood out of you. Or squeeze your guts out. And sometimes it flies. Just flies. And is gone somewhere, somehow, before you know it was even here. As if time is only here to make you miserable.” The Room received positive reviews. Selby himself described The Room as “the most disturbing book ever written”, and he noted that he could not read it for decades after writing it. Selby described the critical reception of the book as “the greatest reviews I’ve ever read in my life”, although in reality it was not well-received.

The Demon (1976)

The Demon (1976) is another story of a man possessed by lust and violence. Harry, the protagonist, is a young businessman. He has everything in his life but he chooses his own destruction: “We all cause everything that happens to us, whether we recognize it or not. That’s a cosmic law, which I also know from my own experience. I know from my own experience that when I send out hate, my life is filled with hate. There’s only one source of energy for my hate and that’s me. And there’s only one ultimate destination for my hate and that’s me.” (Selby in the Review of Contemporary Fiction, Summer 1981)

Requiem for a Dream (1978)

Requiem for a Dream (1978) depicts drug addiction and a search for happiness. The central characters are Harry Goldfarb, his girlfriend Marion, Harry’s widowed mother Sara and his buddy Tyrone, who all are living in a nightmare but dreaming of a happy tomorrow.

The novel was adapted for screen in 2001 (dir. by Darren Aronofsky) and contrasted heroin addiction to ordinary daydreams of success and fame.

Song of the Silent Snow (1986)

Song of the Silent Snow (1986) is a collection of 15 of Selby’s short stories, spanning several decades of work – the highlights include the titular story, ‘Liebesnacht’, ‘Hi Champ’, and the lyrically breathtaking ‘Of Whales and Dreams’. “For Mr. Selby, panic seems to be the prevailing emotion of contemporary life, the nexus of blurred identity and sexual violence.” (Robert Atwan in the New York Times, September 21, 1986)

The Willow Tree (1998)

The Willow Tree (1998) is about a young African American boy, Bobby. He is nearly beaten to death in a gang fight. An old man, survivor of the holocaust, gives him shelter, and teaches him forgiveness.

Waiting Period (2002)

Waiting Period (2002) is a David and Goliath story of a man who first plans to kill himself but then turns his violence against bureaucracy. “The book delivers a buttonholing monologue in which the florid prose of Henry Miller fuses with the urban paranoia of Taxi Driver.” (The Independent, 18 May 2002)

For the last 20 years of his life, Selby taught creative writing as an adjunct professor in the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. Selby often wryly noted that The New York Times would not review his books when they were published, but he predicted that they’d print his obituary.

Major works by Hubert Selby Jr. are:

Last Exit to Brooklyn (novel, 1964)

The Room (novel, 1971)

The Demon (novel, 1976)

Requiem for a Dream (novel, 1978)

Song of the Silent Snow (short stories, 1986)

The Willow Tree (novel, 1998)

Waiting Period (novel, 2002)

Try any of them, particularly the first four books. You won’t be bored.

www.rjdent.com

Salvador Dali

Here are some paintings by Salvador Dalí – an artist whose work I admire very much.

Soft Construction With Boiled Beans

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres.

Reflections of Elephants

Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work.

The Hallucinogenic Toreador

His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters.

Cannibalism in Autumn

His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931.

The Persistance of Memory

Dalí’s expansive artistic repertoire includes film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media.

Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory

Dalí attributed his ‘love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes’ to a self-styled ‘Arab lineage’ claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors.

The Madonna of Port Lligat

Dalí was highly imaginative, and also had an affinity for partaking in unusual and grandiose behaviour, in order to draw attention to himself.

The Last Supper

His eccentric manner sometimes drew more public attention than his artwork.

Tentation

Dalí’s artwork is highly original, technically brilliant and wonderfully surreal.

Woman at the Window

If you enjoy Dalí’s art as much as I do…

Young Girl Auto-Sodomized by Her Own Chastity

then here’s a link to some of his art:

http://www.dali-gallery.com/posters/index.htm

Enjoy.

www.rjdent.com

The Garden of Earthly Delights (or The Millennium) is a triptych painted by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516). The painting has been housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Dating between 1503 and 1504, when Bosch was about 50 years old, it is his best-known and most ambitious work.

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch

The triptych is painted in oil and comprises a square middle panel flanked by two rectangular wings that can close over the centre as shutters. The three scenes of the triptych are probably intended to be read chronologically from left to right.

The left panel depicts God presenting to Adam the newly created Eve:

The Garden of Earthly Delights (left panel)

The central panel is a broad panorama of sexually engaged nude figures, fantastical animals, oversized fruit and hybrid stone formations:

The Garden of Earthly Delights (centre panel)

The right panel is a hellscape and portrays the torments of damnation:

The Garden of Earthly Delights (right panel)

Art historians and critics frequently interpret the painting as a didactic warning on the perils of life’s temptations. However the intricacy of its symbolism, particularly that of the central panel, has led to a wide range of scholarly interpretations over the centuries. 20th and 21st-century art historians are divided as to whether the triptych’s central panel is a moral warning or a panorama of paradise lost.

www.rjdent.com

The Day Mr Green Died is a short urban horror story written in February 2009.

It is a story in which identity, fidelity, deceit, perversion, appearances and lies collide, resulting in death and dishonour.

The story was first published in Writer’s Muse. WARNING: This story is not for the faint-hearted or anyone easily offended.

If you think you’d like to read The Day Mr Green Died then please click on the link below:

http://authspot.com/short-stories/the-day-mr-green-died/

Other examples of R J Dent’s short stories can be read at:

http://www.rjdent.com/shortstories.htm

Enjoy.

www.rjdent.com

The Quantum Physicist’s Revenge is a humorous short story written in February 2009.

It is about a quantum physicist who ‘discovers’ proof that God is dead. This annoys one particular deity very much – and He decides to do something about it. The story was first published in Writer’s Muse.

If you’d like to read The Quantum Physicist’s Revenge, then please click on the link below:

http://authspot.com/short-stories/the-quantum-physicists-revenge/

Other examples of R J Dent’s short  stories can be read at:

http://www.rjdent.com/shortstories.htm

Enjoy.

www.rjdent.com

I like the works of Clive Barker very much. I love The Books of Blood, Cabal, Weaveworld, The Great and Secret Show, Imajica, and Sacrament. I also like Clive’s films – and even his art and photography.

I’m a bit worried though. Clive doesn’t look well. Has anyone else noticed the dramatic change in Clive Barker’s appearance?

Here’s a picture of Clive in the 1990s:

And here’s a picture of him in 2002:

Here’s one of him in 2005:

Here’s one of him in 2006:

And here’s one of him in 2007:

Here’s one of him in 2007 or 2008:

And here’s one of him in 2008:

Now here’s one of him in 2009:

And here’s another one of him in 2009:

And here’s another one of him in 2009:

In my opinion – and therefore this is not fact – Clive Barker has the HIV virus and it is taking its toll on him. Just to repeat – this is simply my own personal opinion and it is not an actual fact.

I know that Clive has had a throat operation and has given up the cigars at long last, and of course he has aged nearly 20 years since 1990, but he’s only 57 – no one looks that old and ill at 57 – unless there’s something seriously wrong.

If my opinion proves to be true, then I will be very sad, upset and unhappy. Clive Barker has made a difference to my life with his writing and I want him to continue to create for as many years as he wants to.

I don’t want the HIV virus to deprive me – or the rest of the world – of a very talented writer. For once, I’d like to be wrong – but I don’t think I am.

www.rjdent.com

Is There One Particular Subconscious Memory You Wish To Have Made Conscious? is a short story first published in Writer’s Muse. I wrote it at the beginning of 2009. It is about a man who confronts his harrowing childhood memories in an attempt to reduce their impact on his adult life.

Is There One Particular Subconscious Memory You Wish To Have Made Conscious?

Despite my seriousness of intention and the sombre tone of the story, I had a lot of fun writing it. If you click on the link below, you can read Is There One Particular Subconscious Memory You Wish To Have Made Conscious?

http://authspot.com/short-stories/is-there-one-particular-subconscious-memory-you-wish-to-have-made-conscious/

Constructive criticism is – of course – always welcome.

www.rjdent.com

Nea Kameni is a small uninhabited Greek island of volcanic origin located within the flooded caldera of Santorini. Nea Kameni (New Burnt) and the neighbouring small island Palea Kameni (Old Burnt) have been formed over the past two millennia by repeated eruptions of dacite lava and ash. Major eruptions over the past 300 years took place in 1707-1712, 1866-1870, 1925-1928, and 1939-1941. The last small eruption happened in 1950, and involved lava dome extrusion.

Nea Kameni is nearly round and has a diameter of approximately 2 kilometers and an area of 3.4 square km. Nea Kameni is monitored closely by scientists from the Institute for the Study and Monitoring of the Santorini Volcano (ISMOSAV), and is a protected scientific site.

The nearly barren island is visited daily by dozens of tourist boats throughout the summer. The visitors take a well maintained gravel path to the 130-meter-high volcanic crater, from which wisps of a sulfurous steam rise, transforming the environment in places into a wasteland.

Recent archaeological findings, along with connected factual findings on the Island of Crete, have led some to propose that the island of Santorini may be the fabled Lost City of Atlantis. As described by Plato in his writing, an advanced trading civilization lived on this island. The area that now surrounds this island as water was once all land.

The civilization was literally destroyed overnight. Archaeological findings indicate that this culture had trade with the Egyptians, mainland Europe, and the Middle East. They had running water in individual homes, complete with baths and rudimentary but functional toilets, a full thousand years before Romans.

The island is arid but there is a carpet of red grassy succulents on the thin soil in summer.

www.rjdent.com

Zdzisław Beksiński

He is best known now as a fantasy artist.

Beksiński executed his paintings and drawings either in what he called a ‘Baroque’ or a ‘Gothic’ manner.

Zdzisław Beksiński’s first artistic style was dominated by representation.

The best-known examples of this style come from his ‘fantastic realism’ period.

This was when he painted disturbing images of a surrealistic, post-apocalyptic environment.

Beksiński’s  style is abstract, being dominated by form, as is typified by his later paintings.

Zdzisław Beksiński was murdered in 2005.

www.rjdent.com