Jason Webb Japanese Style

The Price of Stones - A Poem by Jason Webb

2012-01-21T22:23:00.000Z

Nothing in life is quite asbland

As those who fight over bitsof land.

They think the World istheir's to own,

So they put a price on everystone.

They take it when they planttheir flag.

Possession marked withnational tag.

Let he who's strongest takeit all,

And protect it with an ironwall.

Those who are weak will see itlost,

And shed tears when they seethe cost

Of nations starved, reducedto bones,

'Cause they can't afford theprice of stones.

The Brightest Star - A Poem by Jason Webb

2011-12-24T15:27:00.000Z

Purer than the whitest snow,

Sweeter than the dew

Of all the things innature’s world,

The greatest thing is you.

The strength to move amountain,

The eye to paint a rose,

But even flowers can’t stealthe light

When you stand up next tothose.

As caring as a lioness

As graceful as a bird

You have the power toinspire great thought

With every spoken word.

The spirit of the heavens

And loyalty so strong.

The wisdom of the ages

To keep the right fromwrong.

Your soul it shines sobrightly,

It illuminates the sun.

Your smile it lights thedarkest dawn,

To show the day’s begun.

If I could reach thebrightest stars

And pluck them from theskies,

They’d never match thebeauty

of the stars within youreyes.

BLIND: A Nuclear Future for Tokyo?

2011-09-04T11:42:00.001+01:00

What would life in Tokyo be like after a nuclear accident? How would something as simple as a journey to work be affected?

This short film, BLIND, follows a typical Japanese salary-man as his commuter trip to work in a nuclear Tokyo takes on a surreal turn.

BLIND is a movie project that I supported via Kickstarter, so I'm very happy to see the finished article. It's very well made and looks just amazing. It's great work by all involved. BLIND doesn't just look good though, it also carries an important message that, due to the Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear accident, has probably become more relevant this year than it's been for a long time.

BLIND: A short film about life in Tokyo after a nuclear disaster

Check out BLIND for yourself, and see how it makes you think and feel.

Jason

Amanda Lee EP Release

2011-04-09T12:05:00.011+01:00

A few months ago, I told you about the campaign that singer and songwriter Amanda Lee was running on Pledge Music to fund her first ever EP. Well, today is the official launch party for that CD, with the inspiring title track "Go".

I've supported a few other projects on Pledge Music, but Amanda's got me particularly excited as it was my first opportunity to help an artist create their first ever professionally recorded CD, something that will hopefully be the first step on a life-changing journey.

"Go" - The Debut EP from Amanda Lee

As a backer of Amanda's project, I was lucky enough to receive some copies of her debut EP "Go" yesterday along with some other nice goodies, so I thought I'd share some photos of them with you.

A nice poster, handmade lyric book, and a great EP from Amanda Lee

In Amanda's own words, the story behind the title track of her debut EP "Go"

I must say that I really love the job that's been done with the EP. I, like thousands of others, have heard Amanda's songs on YouTube, but there's nothing like hearing them with professional studio production.

I really do hope that this EP is the start of great things for her, and that a full-length Amanda Lee album won't be too far in the future.

The official EP release show for "Go" is from 6:30pm tonight, Saturday 9th April 2011, at this address:-

Habatat Galleries
8020 Towers Crescent Dr. Suite 125
Tysons Corner, VA
USA

To find out more about Amanda Lee's music and get your own copy of her debut EP "Go", either as a physical CD or a digital download, then please check out the following links:

http://www.amandaleemusic.com/

http://twitter.com/amandaleemusic

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amanda-Lee-Music/115135551874632

http://www.youtube.com/amandaleemusic

Thanks

Jason

Japan - A Terrible Parallel

2011-03-13T14:13:00.002Z

A few weeks ago, I was reading Masuji Ibuse's novel Black Rain. To those of you not familiar with the book, it's a story about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 that's based on the true journals and memories of those who lived through that terrible event.

However, Black Rain isn't really about the dropping of the bomb itself, it's more to do with the survivors in the aftermath as they try to comprehend and cope with what has happened. It was those images that came to my mind on Saturday morning as I watched footage of desolated towns and people desperately scanning noticeboards in evacuation centres in the hope of finding details of family and friends who they'd lost contact with during the earthquake and tsunami.

Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse
A novel about survivors coping with the Hiroshima atomic bomb

Japan, and the World for that matter, might be a more technologically advanced place today than it was in 1945, but that meant nothing when power and communication systems were destroyed. Just like in Hiroshima, the people of Sendai and other disaster hit areas had no option but to head to evacuation centres and read names hastily written on boards in the hope of finding some news of their missing loved ones. By some cruel twist of fate, there is even the risk of nuclear radiation again as the nuclear power plants at Fukushima struggle to cope with damage they sustained during the earthquake and tsunami.

It really is a terrible parallel, and one that was acknowledged by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan when he said that this is the worst disaster to hit Japan since the war.

In addition to the fact that I have friends who live in Japan, I think it is Ibuse's characters in my mind that have made this disaster hit me extra hard. Television news footage can sometimes make you feel a little detached from events, but as I watch those people desperately searching their shattered home town, I feel I understand (at least in some very small way) how they must be feeling.

Despite the parallels between the two events, there is one very important thing that we have to remember: One event was a natural disaster of such a scale that nobody could have predicted or prevented it. The other was an event caused by "civilised" human beings in a deliberate attempt to cause maximum destruction and suffering to others.

I know that getting all preachy and moralistic really isn't going to help anybody at the moment, so I'll try not to say any more about it after this, but I think it's worth considering whether some of that money spent on military build-up couldn't be better spent on disaster prevention.

The rebuilding of north-eastern Japan is going to require a lot of money and resources, so perhaps now is a good time to reconsider what we humans class as our top priority.

It's just a thought.

Jason

Fly with hope to the people of Japan

2011-03-12T14:31:00.004Z

I want to send my best wishes to everybody in Japan who has been affected by the earthquake and the tsunami disaster of Friday 11th March 2011.

"Fly with hope to the people of Japan."
Best wishes to all those affected by the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami of Friday 11th March 2011

"Fly with hope to the people of Japan."

Jason

Japanese Earthquake 11th March 2011

2011-03-11T11:08:00.003Z

I woke up this morning to news of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in North-Eastern Japan, which affected areas including Tokyo. Earthquakes are not uncommon in Japan, but this one was particularly big.

Firstly, I want to say that I hope everybody in the affected areas is safe and well. It's now Friday night out there and, due to the suspension of public transport services, many people are still trying to make it home to their loved ones. I hope they get to see them soon.

I myself have friends in Tokyo, so I'm still waiting to hear that they're okay. I hope I receive that news soon.

I don't want to become too preachy at this time, but this latest natural disaster in the world has brought something to mind that I always think when these sort of things happen: Why do we humans insist on fighting amongst ourselves over relatively pointless things, when nature itself has the power to destroy us all? Wouldn't we be better off working together so that we can all live safely and happily?

Jason

The Bigger Man - A Poem

2011-02-18T15:07:00.000Z

Stand face to face,
to see who is the bigger man.
When we're all lying in the ground,
who is the bigger man?

Jason Webb - 2011

Wasted Time - A Poem

2011-02-12T13:10:00.001Z

Time spent scowling, could be spent smiling.
Time spent hating, could be spent loving.
Time is too precious to waste
On the negativity of life.

Jason Webb - 2011

That Monday Morning Feeling

2011-01-23T11:09:00.001Z

If you hate getting up on a cold, dark Monday morning to go to a job that you hate, ask yourself this simple question before going to sleep on Sunday night:

"What have I done this weekend to help make it so I don't have to get up early on cold, dark Monday mornings to go to a job I hate?"

If the answer to that question is "Nothing", then you only have yourself to blame.

Sure, it's nice to relax, unwind, watch TV, or go to the pub for a few pints at the weekend, but just remember that if that's all you do with your spare time then come Monday morning, you'll set off on another week of stress again.

At least you can always vow to try harder next weekend. However, whether you actually do try harder or not is entirely up to you, so don't complain on Monday morning if you've done nothing all weekend to try to change the situation. The solution is highly unlikely to just be handed to you, and the odds of winning the lottery are very low.

Think about it... then do something about it.

Jason

Creative New Year Resolutions

2011-01-15T12:04:00.000Z

It's now a couple of weeks into 2011, so I thought I'd best just get down in words what I have planned for the year.

In 2010, I completed my first novel, CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs, & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo, and in 2011, I intend to complete my second novel, which will also be set in Tokyo (I write about places and things that excite me. That's what helps keep me motivated).

I also need to keep on learning Japanese with my Rosetta Stone course, so that if the opportunity to live in Japan does crop up, I'm not totally lost with the language. I also have Hiragana and Katakana flashcards from White Rabbit Press that are helping with the reading and writing part of it.

I'm sure that during the course of the year, other creative ideas might pop into my head (I'd still like to progress with my animation and music projects), but for now, the second novel is the task to focus on.

Regards

Jason

Help Anna Zoe Make New Music

2010-12-18T14:29:00.008Z

It's that time again when I want to reach out to you and ask you to help make some great new music happen.

Following my previous blog post, I'm pleased to say that Amanda Lee reached the target for her Pledge Music campaign and is now in the studio recording her first EP (though you can still pledge on her project). Well, now I want to spread the word about another talented lady who is seeking funding on Kickstarter for her new music project.

New Jersey based singer and songwriter Anna Zoe is seeking funding to record her first full-length album of her songs and she is looking for our help in achieving her goal.

Anna plans to release her album as an eco-friendly digi-pak. That means no wasteful plastic shrink wrap covering the album, all paper inserts made of recycled materials, everything printed with vegetarian ink, and the plastic tray that holds the CD will be made of recycled plastic bottles.

Please check out Anna Zoe's Kickstarter project and give her your support if you can. She has just over a week to meet her target, so now is a good time to show your support for fresh new artists making fresh new music.

Thanks

Jason

Help Amanda Lee make her EP

2010-11-02T09:51:00.009Z

The other night, I was watching the documentary movie "I Need That Record: The death (or possible survival) of the independent record store" and it highlighted how the loss of such stores and the ever-growing commercialism of radio stations has made it hard for new bands and musicians to reach an audience. With this in mind, and with a certain sense of guilt that I now find myself lured by Amazon and its low, low prices, I headed over to PledgeMusic.com to see what new, independent music I could discover.

If you're not familiar with Pledge Music then be sure to check it out. Basically, independent artists raise money to fund their new album, tour, promotion etc. by offering exclusives such as signed CDs, VIP backstage passes, or special "plegders-only" gigs to supporters in return for their donations. In addition, the artist chooses a charity to support and a percentage of money raised goes to help that good cause.

There's a target amount to be raised and a certain time to do it in. Nobody gets charged anything until 100% of the target is met. The down side is that if the time limit expires before 100% is reached then all pledges are void, the artist gets no money, and the World misses out on some great new music. That's what I want to talk about today.

One of the artists who really caught my eye (and ear) over at Pledge Music was Amanda Lee. Amanda has been posting her own songs on her YouTube channel for the last few years and has always got good reviews about both the performance and the songwriting (and over 25000 views on some of them), so it's really great to see that she's finally going to put some of them out as an EP.

So far, Amanda has reached 60% of her total pledge amount and there are still 21 days left until the deadline, so now is a great time to head over to her Pledge Music page and give her your support. In return, you can get a signed copy of the CD, your name in the album credits, even a personal concert by Amanda in your own home, along with lots of other great goodies.

Just in case you need more convincing, here are a couple of Amanda's songs. Remember, these are just recorded in a room in front of a video camera, so imagine how they'll sound professionally recorded on CD and blasting out of your speakers.

Amanda Lee - "Hold On"

Amanda Lee - "Beauty of Failing"

I really, really, really want to see Amanda's record get made, so please head over to Pledge Music and help her do it. Even if her songs aren't particularly your taste, you'll get a warm glow from knowing that you've helped new music be made outside of the corporate stranglehold of the record industry. That's got to be worth something to any true music fan. If I may quote a fact from "I Need That Record", more than 50% of all music written has never made it onto CD. Make sure that this music does.

Thank You

Jason

Micro Poetry: Capitalism

2010-10-29T15:08:00.004+01:00

Here's a little micro poem inspired by watching Michael Moore's documentary movie "Capitalism: A Love Story".

Capitalism

First comes need

then comes jobs

then through greed

the wealthy robs

Short and not so sweet, but something to think about.

Jason

New Music Video: Just the Bullet

2010-10-24T21:52:00.000+01:00

Hey All

I just wanted to present to you the music video for my new song, Just the Bullet, that I've just uploaded to YouTube. Enjoy!

If you want to find out a bit more about it and maybe have some of your questions answered, head over to http://www.jason-webb.com/music.html

Thanks

Jason

Micro Poetry 1

2010-10-22T11:08:00.001+01:00

As I was browsing the Twitter page of Labi Siffre last night, I spotted that he'd been partaking in the art of "Micro Poetry". Basically, it involves writing short poems that fit within the confines of a 140-character Twitter tweet (unless I've missed some other Haiku-style rules).

Having just 140 characters to play with might not seem a lot, especially when you also add a #micropoetry "hashtag" to the post, but it can be good fun to try to convey an image in so few characters.

Anyway, I just wanted to capture two of my own micropoetry compositions here on my blog before they get lost in the depths of Twitter for ever. See, what you think.

Jeremy Kyle Viewers

They look down their nose

as they sit in their chairs

watching shows about those

with lives just like theirs.

Emotion of War

For old Harriers we weep

For new carriers we cheer

Let us all celebrate

that war is still here!

Both poems are UK specific so I should probably just explain a little bit about them for those readers from abroad.

The first is about the Jerry Springer-style freak show that's on daytime TV here in the UK, and the second is an ironic comment on the recent defence cuts announced by the UK government.

I'll post any other micro-poems that I come up with in the future that I think you might like.

Jason

Atomic Bomb Investigation

2010-10-02T14:19:00.003+01:00

I had intended to keep this blog a bit more upbeat in 2010, but I just wanted to get this rather unpleasant subject off my chest... again. Sorry.

I just watched a rather shocking programme on the English-language Japanese channel NHK World. The programme was about investigations carried about by the Japanese into the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More specifically though, they investigated the effects of the nuclear bombs on the victims.

Even before World War 2 ended, the Japanese had started examining victims and survivors to try to discover what the atomic bomb had done to them. When US forces occupied Japan after the end of the war and started carrying out their own investigations into the effects, the Japanese handed over these reports to them as a "good will" gesture.

In total, in the years following the end of WW2, over 180 volumes of reports prepared by the Japanese were handed over to the US forces and translated into English. When the reports were prepared and handed over, the Japanese had hoped that they would be used to reveal to the World the horrors that nuclear weapons cause. Instead, they were classified and many of their findings were not revealed to the public.

One of the reports contained a "mortality graph" that showed how distance from the hypo-centre of the blast affected the chances of death. The graph was created from data based on 17000 child victims of the Hiroshima bomb. Rather than being shocked or disturbed by this data and instantly deeming nuclear weapons too horrific to ever use again, the US military used the graph to determine how many nuclear weapons would have to be used on various cities in the USSR in order to obtain the death-rate that they wanted. They concluded that 6 Hiroshima-sized nuclear weapons would need to be used on Moscow in order to achieve their desired results.

There's been lots said by major governments about the global banning of landmines and cluster bombs because they are indiscriminate in their killing and can still cause deaths long after the conflict has ended. So, why aren't the same arguments being applied to an instant banning of nuclear weapons?

Some people who entered parts of Hiroshima five days after the bomb was dropped suffered radiation sickness similar to the victims who were there on the day and many developed cancer and other terminal illnesses in later life because of it. Even some medical professionals who went there in an attempt to help the victims became victims themselves. I'm not really up-to-date on the rules of war, but I'm pretty sure that targeting medical teams with your weapons is frowned upon.

More than half a century after the atomic blast itself, people are still dying from it. Some of them weren't even born when the war ended, but, due to either being exposed to radiation in their mother's womb or through genetic deformities passed down from an irradiated relative, they are still being killed by it.

So, how can politicians still claim that there's any case at all for keeping a single nuclear weapon in their arsenal "just in case"? If you want to ban landmines and cluster bombs, but you still have nuclear weapons then I'm sorry, but you're just being a hypocrite.

Okay, there's the old argument that nuclear weapons are being kept as a deterrent, but what are you actually going to do with them? If a crazy dictator or a terrorist group detonates a nuclear device in your country, are you then going to retaliate and kill maybe a million or more innocent civilians in their country, who had absolutely no control over the actions of the guilty parties, as a form of payback? The whole situation is just ludicrous and impossible to defend.

A single nuclear warhead of the type still held by the US has the equivalent destructive power of around 25 Hiroshima bombs, and remember that the US military's own simulation concluded that only 6 Hiroshima bombs would be required to wipe out Moscow. Well, the US still has over 1000 of these warheads, "just in case". This means that they still hold a nuclear arsenal with enough combined destructive power to kill the populations of 4000 cities the size of Moscow. I'd hardly say that you could defend those numbers by calling them a deterrent.

"Little Boy" - The Hiroshima bomb. Imagine 25 of these exploding simultaneously over your city.

Somebody needs to stand up, be the big man, and lead by example here by getting rid of all their nuclear weapons. This isn't some sort of action movie. The "you put your gun down first", "no, you put your gun down first" stand-off is a dangerous game to play, and often somebody ends up being shot.

Sorry for the reality check. Enjoy your day.

Jason

Winter is coming!

2010-09-21T10:38:00.000+01:00

The British summer wasn't exactly the best ever, but I think it's safe to say that it's over. This morning there was fog and a dew that indicates that autumn is here and it won't be long before winter's icy fingers are also poking us.

The Morning Dew on a spider's web

The morning dew on a spider's web

Take it easy!

Jason

Which genre is Crystal Buddha?

2010-09-04T14:39:00.000+01:00

Since I completed writing my novel, CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo, I've been trying hard about which genres or categories it fits into.

Unfortunately, nowadays, it's not enough to just write a book and let people read it. There are so many new books coming out every month, that online book stores like Amazon have to subdivide them into the most minute category or sub-genre possible in order to provide the easiest shopping experience for their customers.

So, I've been doing some research and a little bit of thinking to see if I can pin my book down to the most suitable genre, and try to identify which readers it would most appeal to.

An urban fiction book? - Is it an urban fiction book? When I started writing it, I didn't know that I was going to be writing something that might fall into the urban fiction genre. All I knew was that I was writing a story about everyday, down-to-earth people that takes place in realistic locations in the city of Tokyo, Japan.

A contemporary realistic fiction book? - Is it a contemporary realistic novel? It's certainly contemporary fiction, that's for sure. Is it realistic fiction though? It's certainly a realistic setting, as I travelled to Tokyo to research some of the locations, so I suppose that does make it a realistic novel.

A novel about Japan? - There's certainly no doubt that it's a novel about Japan. It's a Tokyo story, but it's a Tokyo story from an English perspective. It's the story of five people who aren't residents of Japan trying their best to cope with their first trip to Tokyo. Unfortunately, this story of Tokyo life also provides a glimpse of Japanese crime.

A martial arts novel? - The lead character, Jack Dempsey, is a former amateur boxer turned rock singer who now only does kickboxing for pleasure, fitness, and to calm his mind. His adventures in Tokyo take him to a mixed martial arts event and also involve him in an altercation at a gym, a street fight, and a battle with some tough guys from Tokyo's criminal underworld. So, it's safe to say that there are martial arts in this novel.

Obviously, the best way to determine the genre or category of a book is to let the readers decide. So, why not take a look at CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo yourself and see where you think it fits.

Jason

The Death of Satoshi Kon

2010-08-26T15:26:00.003+01:00

I was sad to hear this week about the death of Japanese anime movie director Satoshi Kon of Studio Madhouse.

To be totally honest with you, I hadn't been familiar with Kon or his work for that long. I actually only became acquainted with his work two weeks ago when I watched Tokyo Godfathers for the first time after buying the DVD on Amazon. I didn't buy it because I knew of the film or of Satoshi Kon, I bought it because other customers had recommended it. As soon as I watched the movie though, I said to myself, "this is the sort of animation that I'd like to make." In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I felt obliged to tweet about it afterwards.

It's because I'd only just discovered Kon's work, that news of his death came as such a blow to me. Death in itself is obviously a sad affair, but it's also sad to discover a person whose work you admire, whether it be film, music, literature, or any other creative art-form, and then discover that they'll no longer be producing anything new (though Kon's final work, The Dream Machine, is apparently due for release next year). The only compensation for me (if you can call it that), is that there are still several of his movies that I've never seen, so there'll still be that opportunity to feel the joy of seeing something "new" from Kon, even if it's only new to me.

I think the best way to close this post is with this final statement from the man himself:

"With feelings of gratitude for all that is good in this world, I put down my pen. Well, I'll be leaving now." - Satoshi Kon 1963-2010

Jason

Anime Test Video

2010-08-19T21:25:00.001+01:00

After my post the other day about my anime adventures with Anime Studio Pro, I just wanted to post this very short video of it in action.

The video was really just to test a few concepts out, such as the rain effect, so I kept it short to save on rendering time. There's no sound on it, by the way.

The two main characters are based on the Ryoko character that I was creating in my previous post. The background was also created by me, as was the rain, and the splashes on the ground. The uploading process seems to have made the video a bit darker than it should be though.

Anyway, as my first attempt at anime, I don't think it's too bad.

Jason

Anime Adventure

2010-08-16T17:28:00.000+01:00

After I published Crystal Buddha at the start of July, my plan had been to push on with the writing of my next novel. However, after getting about 20000 words into it, I realised that the inspiration wasn't coming. I think the pressure to push Crystal Buddha up from 60000 words to 80000 burnt my writing brain out a bit. Anyway, as a change of pace and perspective, I decided to dabble with animation.

I'm interested in the Japanese anime style of animation and have the Anime Studio Pro software, so I thought that perhaps if I turn some scenes from my next novel into an anime movie then that might help me better visualise the story and get some of my writing motivation back. I must admit though that I've never really done much animation before, so both background and character design is all new to me. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.

The first thing I wanted to achieve was to create some characters in the anime style, so, using a character that came with the software as a basic template, I set about turning my girl character, Ryoko, into anime-form. Here's a scan of my original paper sketch of how I though she'd look:

And here's Ryoko in anime character form:

At the moment, I only have the artwork for Ryoko done. Tomorrow, I have to add "bones" to her so that she can be easily animated. It's a start though, and I'm pleased that I was able to get her looking on the screen how I thought she'd look. I did make a few minor colour changes and changed her shoes into something more sturdy than sandals, but that was more for the purpose of the story.

Anyway, stay tuned for more.

Jason

Crystal Buddha now on Amazon Kindle

2010-08-11T14:05:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to give you an update to let you know that Crystal Buddha: Sake, Drugs & Rock'nRoll in Tokyo is now available to download for the Amazon Kindle e-reader device. Apparently, you can also read Kindle versions of books on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone (with the Kindle software).

Here are the links:

Amazon.com US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YUCCKY

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003YUCCKY

For those writers out there who are wondering how easy it is to create a Kindle version, let me tell you that it's not hard at all. Basically, if you have a print-ready Word document then it's just a case of converting that to HTML. I did find that I had to replace a non-standard font that I was using first though, as that gave better results than letting Kindle substitute it. Also I needed to remove the dropped capitals that I was using to start the first paragraph of each chapter. Apart from that, it wasn't too difficult at all and took maybe two hours to get the file ready for uploading. After 48 hours, my Kindle version was for sale on Amazon in both the US and UK.

Thanks

Jason

Amazon Listings for Crystal Buddha

2010-08-02T09:29:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to say that the Amazon listings for CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo are now up.

Amazon.com has the best listing and includes "search inside the book". Check it out here: CRYSTAL BUDDHA on Amazon.com

For all you UK fans, Amazon.co.uk also has a listing here: CRYSTAL BUDDHA on Amazon UK

And, if you happen to be in Tokyo yourself (or anywhere in Japan, for the matter), you can also find CRYSTAL BUDDHA on Amazon Japan: CRYSTAL BUDDHA on Amazon Japan

PS: People in Canada, France, and Germany can also find CRYSTAL BUDDHA on your local Amazon site. Just do a search.

Thanks

Jason

20% Discount on Crystal Buddha

2010-07-27T14:20:00.000+01:00

As if last week's 15% discount wasn't generous enough, those kind folks at Lulu are now offering you a 20% discount on anything on the site, including my novel CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo.

Follow this link, then enter the promo code: TWIST on the checkout page.

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/crystal-buddha-sake-drugs-rocknroll-in-tokyo/11611541

You'd best hurry though, as the offer only lasts until 1st August 2010.

Enjoy

Jason

15% Discount on CRYSTAL BUDDHA

2010-07-21T22:49:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to let you know that you can now get a 15% discount on my novel, CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo, at Lulu.com for a limited time.

Just click the link below:

http://www.lulu.com/product/11611541?cid=071810_en_email_BEACHREAD305

If, when you come to check out, just enter the promo code BEACHREAD305 in the appropriate box. If you use the link above then it will probably have been filled in for you anyway.

Enjoy!

Jason

Story Timelines

2010-07-17T14:19:00.001+01:00

I just want to share with you something that I've found very useful in writing, story timelines.

It's nothing too complicated. What I do is create a spreadsheet where I list every scene together with its day of the week and time of day. If my scenes all occur close together in time, then I don't usually need to bother giving them specific dates (although it is useful to know the month that your story takes place in for weather reasons etc.). However, if the scenes in your story are more spread out, then it may be useful to give each one a specific date and month as well.

Our conversations are filled with references to time such as "in a few hours" or "last week" or "on Tuesday" or "the other day", so being able to add these references into your dialogue will make it seem more natural. Knowing the exact chronological relationship between scenes can also eliminate potential awkward dialogue. For example, a character probably wouldn't wistfully say, "Remember that day we went to the beach?" if it was only two days ago. They'd be more likely to say, "Remember on Sunday, when we went to the Beach?".

Try creating a timeline for your story and see how the references to time and days brings your characters' dialogue alive.

Jason

New Book and Word Quota

2010-07-16T16:47:00.000+01:00

Hello

This week has been a strange one for me. Despite only recently completing my first novel CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo, I decided to push ahead with the writing of the next one, which I'd been planning since Christmas. However, to keep myself motivated, I decided to do something that I've never done before; I imposed a daily word quota on myself.

I calculated that if I write 2000 words a day, 5 days a week (I treated myself to Saturday and Sunday off), then I'll hit the 80000 word first draft target in 8 weeks. Now, that sounds all very well and good, but I hadn't realised how difficult it could be to force myself to write 2000 words a day.

To be fair to myself, I've not made it easy this week. I rushed into the writing before I'd completed all the planning, so I've found myself staring at scenes without really having a clear idea what's supposed to be happening. In many cases, this has led to a bit of free-form writing (a smart way of saying I made it up as I went along), but it hasn't made the job of meeting the 2000 word a day quota any easier.

Despite all that, I only fell short of my quota one day this week and on the other days I wrote slightly more, so I've ended the first week on 11552 words. Next week's going to be harder though. As I've already filled in much of the framework, I'm going to have to start coming up with the details. Therefore, rather than completely escaping from the story this weekend, I'm going to have to spend the time doing some more planning so that, come Monday morning, the next 2000 words are ready to flood out.

Jason

Did you think I made it up?

2010-07-13T23:06:00.000+01:00

Have you been wondering where the story came from for my novel CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo? Well, sometimes life is stranger than fiction...

Remember, go to www.jason-webb.com for more.

Jason

New Novel? What's the Story?

2010-07-07T19:10:00.003+01:00

Ok, I've been writing a lot of promotional stuff this week concerning my new novel, CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo, but I haven't really said what the book's about. Well, now I'm going to rectify that.

Here's the official blurb from my website. It should tell you what you want to know:-

In the summer of 2009, Jack Dempsey took his band, Crystal Buddha, to Tokyo, Japan to record an album and play some gigs. The trip was supposed to have been the start of big things for the four London rockers. The kids in Tokyo loved British bands and he was sure that Crystal Buddha would win them over.

What Jack hadn't bargained on was attracting the attention of some of Tokyo's criminal element. However, before long, he'd discovered just how persistent these underworld operators could be when there was something they wanted.

The incidents that followed would threaten not only the the future of Crystal Buddha and the album, but also the safety of the band members themselves.

So, if you like Tokyo, Japan, Japanese culture, music, martial arts, or just a damn good story, then you'll like CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo. Pick yourself up a copy today and rock your life. Don't just take my word for it though. Look at what these fine people had to say:-

"Tells it how it really happened" - Jack Dempsey - Crystal Buddha

"A good lesson for all bands" - Yoyogi Park Rangers

"Crystal Buddha rock!" - Shinji Ibuka

"Have you seen my rucksack?" - Kari Lacey - Crystal Buddha

If you'd like to get your hands on a copy of CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo, then you can buy it here as a paperback edition.

Thank You

Jason Webb

Received Print Copy

2010-07-06T18:14:00.000+01:00

Today was an exciting day as I received the first print copy of my new novel, Crystal Buddha: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo. It was really a proof copy so that I could check everything was okay before going "full-on" with the distribution.

I'm self-publishing the book through Lulu.com while I hunt for a traditional publisher and/or literary agent. I've used Lulu before and find them very good for getting my books out to the World quickly and cheaply. The distribution service that they offer is good and it'll get my book listed on Amazon in the UK, US, Japan, and Germany (amongst others), as well as on Barnes & Noble. I believe that their service also allows buyers to go into their traditional "bricks and mortar" book shop and order of copy of the book.

Anyway, here are a couple of shots of the book in all its glory:

See you soon

Jason

Crystal Buddha Promo Video

2010-07-05T19:16:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to share this little promo video that I put together for my new novel, Crystal Buddha: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo.

It's nothing fancy really, just a way to explore online viral marketing methods.

Cheers

Jason

My First Novel is Finished

2010-07-05T12:01:00.001+01:00

After many months of work and many nights of head-scratching, my first ever novel, CRYSTAL BUDDHA: Sake, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll in Tokyo, is finally complete and available to the World.

I must admit that it's pretty exciting for me to finally have this one out the way. It's a story that I've been wanting to tell for a few years, so I'm glad that it can finally reach a wider audience.

At the moment it's only available from Lulu.com, but it is available as both a physical paperback book and an electronic e-book download in PDF format. Here are the links:

Paperback Book: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/crystal-buddha-sake-drugs-rocknroll-in-tokyo/11611541

Digital E-Book Download: http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/crystal-buddha-sake-drugs-rocknroll-in-tokyo/11611542

I'll be adding more retailers over the coming weeks to offer more buying options for people all over the World.

I hope you'll check it out and I especially hope that you enjoy it.

Jason

Novels and the Damn Word Count

2010-06-17T14:07:00.001+01:00

I have blogged for a little while as I hit a bit of a snag with the novel that I’m writing and it required my full attention.

In the past, I’ve written articles, non-fiction books, and even the odd movie screenplay. However, this is my first attempt at writing a full-blown novel so I must admit on not being too familiar with the intricacies of the art when I started out. I did know from writing screenplays that there were particular rules associated with different types of professional writing, especially with regards to the length of the finished manuscript.

With movie screenplays, there’s a “Hollywood rule” that they should be 120 pages in length as one page of standard font size and formatting equals about one minute of screen time. Anything screenplay that’s significantly longer or significantly shorter than 120 pages will be rejected immediately (unless you’re already a big-name screenwriter with a lot of clout). However, my British colleagues in particular should be aware that those 120 pages are US Letter size. You should have seen the trouble I got into when I wrote a screenplay that was 120 of good old A4 because that’s what my printer at home happened to be filled with. When I changed it to US Letter for sending to the US, the page count went up and more editing was needed to bring it back down. So, with this lesson in mind, when I started work on my novel, I decided to check if any such rules applied.

The first thing to know about novels is that they’re not really measured in pages since differences in font sizes, typefaces, and even the size of the paper that they’re printed on will affect that. Instead, the word count is the key. You only need to compare the thickness of the novels on the shelves of your local bookshop to see that there are some wild variations, so I didn’t expect the rules to be as hard and fast as for Hollywood screenplays. After a little bit of searching, I discovered that, “officially”, a novel starts at around 55000 words and anything less than that is considered a short-novel or novella (I put the word officially in quotes as there even seems to be some controversy over that figure). With that in mind, and not wanting to be over ambitious with my first novel, I set a target for myself of 60000 words.

For the next few months, I worked away towards my final target of 60000 words. After editing and tweaking to get my acts balanced and to make sure that my midpoint was more or less in the middle, I had around 66000 words. Not bad, I thought. However, when I started looking on Amazon at the page count of books on similar sized paper, they were always so much higher. Something was clearly wrong So, I started investigating the dreaded “official” word count standards again.

Word counts are a difficult thing to investigate on the internet as so many people have an opinion or claim to be “in the know” that’s it’s hard to know who to trust. Many people drag out the books of big-name authors, blissfully unaware that what a publisher will let them get away with is not the same as what they’ll let an unknown author get away with. The main argument seemed to be from people who’d written 150000 to 200000 word epics and were now upset that they were being told that a publisher will never touch them.

The problem with the long books appeared to be the cost of paper. A 200000 word book will require more paper, and therefore be more expensive to produce, than a 100000 word one. If you’re a World-class author with a guaranteed market for your next book then a publisher will probably take the gamble on the high word count, provided that their spreadsheet tells them that they can profit from it. However, if you’re a total unknown or have a tiny following then publishers just won’t risk it. Their spreadsheet will show them in bright red numbers that, barring a massive break-out hit, they’re guaranteed to make a loss.

So, after all this research, the general consensus (if you can call it that) appeared to be that the target word count for an unknown writer working on a modern literary novel (as some genres do have different word counts) is… 80000!

This discovery meant that my book was 14000 words short, which wasn’t a nice feeling when I thought I had it all set out and paced so perfectly. It took the wind out of my sails and for a few days, I lost the will to write. To tell the truth, I didn’t know what to write. Should I pad out all my scenes with fluff to push up the word count or should I add new scenes to increase the length of the book without screwing up my existing, carefully paced ones? It looks like I’ll probably end up doing a bit of both.

This mistake of mine did lead me to ponder whether it’s better for a novelist to discover that they have too few words or too many though. In some ways I thought that having too many would probably have been easier as deleting stuff seems easier that writing new stuff. However, I know from editing some of my scenes to get them paced correctly that’s it’s sometimes difficult to take things out, even just a paragraph, and still keep all the important elements in your story. Imagine having to delete whole scenes without losing anything vital to the plot. I certainly don’t envy the people with the 150000 or 200000 word epics who have to attempt to get them down to 80000 words to stand a chance of being published. As somebody on a forum pointed out to one of them though, perhaps there’s actually two or three books contained in those words rather than just one.

Anyway, writing this blog has distracted me from my novel for an hour so I’d best get back to it. It’s a struggle but I’m up to 72000 words. I’ll just make sure that on my next novel I don’t make the same mistake. It’s a painful lesson to learn.

Writing Update

2010-05-29T10:45:00.001+01:00

Good Morning!

It's May Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK and it's raining! Well, we don't expect anything different.

I thought it was probably about time that I gave you a little update on my writing. Work is still continuing on my first novel. At the moment, I'm about halfway through the first editing pass where I'm fine-tuning things scene by scene. This tends to create a desk covered in paper, as you can see in this photo:-

The thing that I'm finding during this editing process is that some of the scenes are badly paced. What I mean is that there's not a balanced beginning, middle, and end to them so they either seem to start really slowly then suddenly cut short or get bogged down with long, drawn-out middle sections then suddenly end almost without warning. Because the fatter sections of the scenes contain vital information, I'm finding that I'm having to flesh-out other areas to make them balanced.

This is a problem that I could probably have solved through better planning when writing the first draft. I knew what I wanted to happen in each scene but never identified a clear beginning, middle, and end for each one. On my next book, that's something that I'll have to pay more attention to.

On another note, my understanding of written Japanese is improving. Thanks to the brilliant Kana Flashcards from White Rabbit Press, I'm now able to read Hiragana and Katakana characters with only a slight bit of thinking time. I was very pleased when I looked at a photo on my wall (see below) of a Shinjuku back-street and was able to read the word "Yakitori" off a sign, even though it was written in Hiragana. See if you can spot it (clue: Yakitori is chicken on skewers)...

Until next time... keep smiling!

Jason

Hiroshima Photos

2010-05-11T15:58:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to let you know that I've added three new pages of Hiroshima photos to my Cool Japanese Culture site. Follow the links below to directly access these pages:-

Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

All three of them are very poignant places to visit and I hope that my photos can in some way reflect that.

Thanks for looking.

Jason

Fraulein Revoltech Yoko Figure

2010-05-06T14:34:00.002+01:00

Following on from yesterday's posting about the Gift Yoko Littner figure, I’ve now also added details and photos of the Fraulein Revoltech Yoko figure that I bought in Akihabara, Tokyo to my Cool Japanese Culture site.

If you’re not familiar with Yoko Littner then let me tell you that she’s a sniper from the Japanese anime series Gurren Laggan. Incidentally, this particular figure is based on the Gurren Lagann movie version of Yoko. This 150mm tall Yoko figure made by Kaiyodo is fully poseable using their Revoltech joint system. For more photos like the one below, just visit Cool Japanese Culture.

Jason

Gift Yoko Figure

2010-05-05T14:49:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to quickly let you know that I’ve added details and photos of the Gift Yoko figure that I bought in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan to my Cool Japanese Culture site.

If you’re not familiar with Yoko Littner then let me tell you that she’s a sniper from the Japanese anime series Gurren Laggan. This 1/5 scale figure from Gift is brilliantly sculpted and looks great. For more photos like the one below, just visit Cool Japanese Culture.

Jason

Japanese Cute

2010-05-04T11:33:00.001+01:00

If you go to Japan or even think about Japan then one word that will surely come to mind is “cute”. The Japanese people seem to enjoy cute things. Obviously, many girls like to dress in cute fashions but it goes much further than that. If you walk down the shopping streets of a major Japanese city then you’ll most probably numerous bright, colourful signs, often featuring pictures or cartoon style graphics. The subject might be something quite ordinary but the way that it’s presented is eye-catching and, ultimately, cute.

Here in the UK, we seem to be afraid of cute. Many businesses feel that their signs must be all stuffy and formal in order to be taken seriously. Even on main shopping streets, the shops give the image of, “we’d like you to come and shop with us but we don’t really want to distract you too much!”

The British people seem to struggle with the concept of cute. Granted, young girls might like wearing “cute” clothes but by the time they get to their senior school years or to college age, it seems to have been totally beaten out of them by society. You’re highly unlikely to find a 20-year-old girl walking down the high street in Birmingham dressed in a Sweet Lolita outfit.

Sadly, the British attitude generally seems to be the anti-cute. We grow up in an air of cynicism, paranoia, and aggression. We’re taught to believe that everyone is out to get us if we don’t get them first so there’s no room in our life for cute. Instead, people dressed in tribal football shirts scowl and spit their way through life with such a bleak outlook that fights in the supermarket over positions in the check-out queue seems as critical to survival as cavemen fighting over an animal carcass.

Of course, there are people in Britain who try their best to embrace cute. However, they tend to be viewed as the freaks and the weirdos by the rest of society, which is some ways is ironic as those “freaks” are probably the true visionaries who are smart enough not to let their lives be limited by the narrow views of others.

I really do wish that the concept of Japanese cute could be adopted by Britain as it would make the country a much happier place to live in. However, I can’t see it ever happening as too many people here seem to get their pleasures in life from wallowing in the misery and aggression.

Jason

Japanese Train Schedules

2010-04-24T20:35:00.000+01:00

I was watching NHK World today and their “Professionals” programme featured a scheduler for a Japanese railway company in Tokyo. Whilst that may be enough to make most people switch the channel instantly, the programme actually raised some interesting points about how the Japanese train network compares with ours in the UK.

I’ve always known that Japanese trains were efficient, but I’d never realised quite how seriously the train companies in Japan take that efficiency. The train scheduler in question was considering changing the time of a particular train on the timetable by 15 seconds in order to help relieve congestion. That would seem pretty impressive by itself but then it was revealed that the trains are actually timed to the nearest 5 seconds. In fact, so precise are the timings of Japanese trains that there’s actually a thing called the “winter clothes effect”, which is where rush hour trains are delayed slightly in the winter as it takes longer for people to squeeze onto crowded trains when they’re wearing big winter coats.

In the UK, we tend to consider ourselves lucky if our train arrives within 5 minutes of its scheduled time, let alone within 5 seconds. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a Catch 22 situation for us. Japanese train companies know that many commuters rely on their service as they have no other transport option. For that reason, the train companies do all they can to deliver the best service to their customers. Here in the UK, people would rather use their cars than trains and so the train companies don’t seem to feel the need to provide a regular, efficient train service. Unfortunately, if getting a train to work means getting up an hour earlier and standing on a draughty platform for 30 minutes, most commuters are unlikely to be lured away from their cars.

Jason

Punkspring 2010 Tokyo

2010-04-16T10:45:00.000+01:00

On Sunday 4th April, I caught the train from Shinjuku out to Kaihin Makuhari to rock out at the Punkspring festival at the Makuhari Messe centre. Here are a few photos from that day (well, those that the security guards would let me get away with anyway):-

Coldrain were on the Blue Stage when I arrived. For those not brave enough to get in the mosh pit near the front of the Red and Blue stages, the big screen offered a good view.

Secret7Line on the Green Stage.

You Me at Six on the Blue Stage.

The first Japanese band that I saw at Punkspring were knotlamp on the Green Stage. The crowd really seemed to be getting into them and were happily singing along to many of the songs. I was so impressed that a few days later I went out and bought a knotlamp live DVD and a couple of albums.

The next Japanese band that I saw were Low IQ & the Beat Breaker on the Blue Stage.

Low IQ & the Beat Breaker seemed to be very popular with the Japanese crowd and got them going, despite being a modest two-piece band.

Despite living in the UK for the last 38 years, I've never seen The Stranglers play live so this was quite a treat for me. Obviously, Hugh Cornwell hasn't been in the band for ages and Jet Black wasn't on drums due to health problems preventing him from travelling but it was good to see JJ Burnel and Dave Greenfield at least.

The Stranglers live in Tokyo at Punkspring 2010. This could be one of the last opportunites to see them live as even JJ Burnel himself admits that they're not getting any younger.

Apparently, Jet Black's health problems won't allow him any long periods of travelling, and the 12-14 hour flight from the UK to Japan is definitely a long one. Therefore, his drum tech stands in for gigs that are a long way from home. He did a very good job though.

Baz Warne did guitar duties and sung the vocal parts on the songs that were originally sung by Hugh Cornwell. I must admit that he did a very good job of it. I know that Cornwell left The Stranglers years and years ago, but I grew up with the original line-up so it's hard to shake that image of the band.

Throughout The Stranglers set, I'd gradually been moving towards the front to get better pictures. Unfortunately, shortly after taking this photo of JJ Burnel, I finally got nabbed by security and had to put my camera away.

By the time Set Your Goals appeared on the Green Stage, it was still only 5pm but the dark, enclosed hall made it seem like it was much later.

New Found Glory on the Red Stage attracted one of the biggest crowds of the day.

I've not seen or heard much of Zebrahead before but the crowd seemed to be into them and they did a good job of audience interaction by getting us all to sit down on the floor and jump up on cue.

Impressed by the performances by Low IQ and knotlamp that I saw at Punkspring, I went to Tower Records a few days later and stocked up on some CDs and DVDs.

Jason

Japan 2010 - Hiroshima

2010-04-10T10:50:00.012+01:00

One thing that I really wanted to do on this trip to Japan was visit Hiroshima. I know that to some people, visiting Hiroshima is a tourist cliche like visiting the pyramids in Egypt but to other people, including me, it has some deeper meaning.

Here's a view photos and details from my trip. Be warned though, what happened at Hiroshima is a horrific thing and some of the details can be hard to bear:

This is what the city of Hiroshima looked like just before the atomic bomb was dropped on it. The building to the left of the river with the green roof is the building that became known as the A-bomb Dome.

This is what the city of Hiroshima looked like after the A-Bomb had been dropped... total devastation. Thousands of lives were wiped out in seconds.

The red ball marks the spot were the A-bomb exploded, 600 metres above the ground. Almost directly underneath it, next to the white marker, you can see the A-bomb Dome.

The dark mark on these bank steps is a shadow created by a man who was sitting there when the a-bomb detonated. The rays from the blast bleached the steps but left a shadow where the man's body blocked them. The man would have been killed instantly from massive burns.

This is probably one of the saddest facts about the atomic bomb, and nuclear weapons in general. Even after the war is over and "peace" has apparently returned to the World, peoples' lives are still being ruined by the bomb. Many of them people who weren't even born until after peace was declared.

Since 1968, every time there's been a nuclear weapons test somewhere in the world, the mayor of Hiroshima has sent a telegram of protest. These telegrams are sent to the country conducting the test and each telegram expresses the hope that it will be the last such one that will ever need to be sent. There were as many as this again on the other side of the wall.

The Peace Memorial Monument, Flame of Peace and A-Bomb Dome.

This is the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound that apparently holds the ashes of 70000 victims of the bomb.

The Bell of Peace - "May it ring to all corners of the Earth, to meet the ear of every man, for in it throb and palpitate the hearts of its peace-loving donors."

The year's new cherry blossoms add a sense of hope to the Hiroshima A-Bomb Dome.

The Peace Memorial Museum at Hiroshima shows some horrific details about what the atomic bomb did to the people there (and in Nagasaki). However, the focus of the museum, the Peace Memorial Park, and, indeed, the whole city is peace. The city of Hiroshima as a whole has dedicated itself to spreading the word of peace thoughout the World so that no other city has to endure what it did.

As I wrote in the visitors' book at the Peace Memorial Museum, it's almost impossible to go to Hiroshima and not be changed by what you've seen. If any person in a position of power goes to Hiroshima and comes away thinking that there's still a place for nuclear weapons in the World then they're a dangerous fool who shouldn't be in any position of responsibility, especially not one that actually gives them the power to use nuclear weapons.

Jason

Japan 2010 - Kyoto

2010-04-10T10:37:00.000+01:00

Rather than just staying in the busy, high-tech areas of Japan such as Tokyo, I wanted to experience more of the traditional side of Japan. Therefore, I caught the shinkansen (bullet train) down to Kyoto to explore some of the temples and shrines.

Here are a few photos from my day out in Kyoto. I won't get too bogged down in descriptions or writing. Just enjoy the views.

One of the most surprising things about the temples and shrines in Kyoto was that many of them are in built up areas and surrounded by roads and buildings rather than amongst sprawling fields and forests as I'd imagined. Apparently, there are other temples further out from the city centre that are probably in more secluded surroundings but I didn't get to visit any of those.

One of my biggest regrets about my trip to Kyoto was that I only did it as a day's stop-off on the way to Hiroshima. That meant that I was carrying all my luggage around with me and, after four hours of walking, it was starting to play havoc with my shoulder. In the end, I had to cut my trip short as I needed to get back on the shinkansen and get my bag off. However, it was still a very fulfilling trip.

Jason

New Japanese Music CDs & DVDs

2010-04-09T14:33:00.000+01:00

Since I was going to be out in Japan, I figured it was a good idea to experience their homegrown music while I was there. So, I picked up a nice selection of CDs and DVDs to bring back with me.

Here's a run-down of the CDs and DVDs that I bought:-

DVDs

Shakalabbits - Riddle Glide Soundsystem
Knotlamp - Live Against the Stream
Low IQ 01 - Master of Music
Midori - 初体験 (First Taste of - First Sexual Experience)

CDs

NOFX - Cokie the Clown EP (okay, not Japanese but still cheaper to buy in Japan than buying US import in UK)
Shakalabbits - Shakalabbits
Shakalabbits - 嘘を混ぜ込んだ真実のスープ (Mixed Soup of Truth and Lies)
Shakalabbits - Clutch
Shakalabbits - Burning Cylinder
Midori - あらためまして、はじめまして、ミドリです。
Midori - 清水 (Pure Water)
The Brilliant Green - Like Yesterday - single
Knotlamp - Blind Side
Knotlamp - Sing Against the Stream
SCANDAL - Best SCANDAL
SCANDAL - 瞬間センチメンタル (Sentimental Moment) - single
Low IQ 01 - The Very Best of 01
Tommy Heavenly6 - Gothic Melting Ice Cream's Darkness Nightmare
Guitar Wolf - Dead Rock
10-FEET - Life is Sweet

As you can see, I have a lot of listening and viewing to do. It should be a lot of fun.

Jason

Japan 2010 - Shinjuku, Yokohama & Harajuku

2010-04-09T12:53:00.067+01:00

NOTE: For details on getting to Harajuku by train or on how to walk from Shinjuku to Harajuku or from Shibuya to Harajuku, see the first comment at the bottom of the page.

I arrived back in the UK last night after my trip to Japan. I had hoped to post some updates and photos on this blog while I was out there but just never found the time. Therefore, I thought I'd best do a quick update now of some of things that I saw and post of view photos of my highlights.

I arrived at my hotel in Shibuya, Tokyo at around 11:30pm so just went straight to bed. The long flight had given me a bit of headache and the airline food hadn't done my stomach any favours.

My first proper morning in Japan was a very wet and rainy one but I decided to walk with my bags from Shibuya to Shinjuku, where I'd be checking into the Park Hyatt for a night. My room in the Park Hyatt was on the 44th floor but I mostly had a view of clouds.

That afternoon, I caught the free shuttle bus from the Park Hyatt to Shinjuku Station to meet my friend Aya Miyahara who was going to show me some of the area.

After a lovely Japanese lunch and a bit of shopping followed by dinner, we headed to a rock bar called Rock Inn Current to have a few drinks and check out the music.

One of the first things I noticed in the bar was how desensitised the UK smoking ban has made my nose to cigarettes. The cigarette smell in Japanese bars and restaurants hits you instantly if you're a non-smoker. Still, it was great bar with good music, friendly staff, and I had a fabulous time.

When I got back to my hotel room that night, the rain and clouds had gone so I had the opportunity to get a good view of the city lit up at night. I attached my camera to a tripod and decided to take a photo out the window with a 15 second exposure. The result was very satisfying.

The next morning, I had to check out of the Park Hyatt and head off down to Yokohama for the weekend.

The weather while I was in Yokohama couldn't have been better. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the cherry blossoms on the trees were starting to bloom.

I'd hoped to see some cherry blossoms while I was in Japan, so it seems that I'd timed it just right. I had feared that the recent cold weather might have delayed the blooming a bit but luckily this wasn't the case.

Yokohama is home to Japan's tallest building, Landmark Tower so I went up to the observation deck on the 69th floor (around 275 metres up) for a look around. The view was quite spectacular and I could see for miles.

On the Sunday, I went back to Shibuya, Tokyo and dropped my luggage off at my hotel before heading off to the fashionable streets of Harajuku. It definitely was a good idea that I dropped my holdall off first as the crowds were unbelievable. There were so many people that it was actually difficult to get out of the traffic flow to go into a shop.

When I finally got out of the crowds, I headed over to the area near the entrance to the Meiji Shrine where all the fantastically dressed people hang out. I'd come here in 2005 when it was a bit warmer so this cool March afternoon wasn't quite so busy. However, there were still a few interesting people around to see.

The following Tuesday, I caught the shinkansen (bullet train) down to Kyoto to explore the temples and shrines. On the train journey, I was luckily enough to get some brilliant views of Mount Fuji in the clear morning sun.

Stayed tuned for Part 2 - Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Kure

Jason

Return to Japan

2010-03-20T10:42:00.002Z

On Tuesday, I shall be flying out to Japan for my first return visit since 2005. I must tell you that I’m really excited about going back there.

My visit there in 2005 was a bit of a mixed affair. I was working as a civilian for the US Army (I am British though) and, although they were responsible to sending me on a paid working trip to Japan for two months, I didn’t feel entirely comfortable with it. I spent the whole time staying at US military camps, which shattered the whole Japanese atmosphere. I was also shocked when I walked into the town outside the gates of the camp to see the number of “Japanese Only” signs outside bars. It was pretty clear that the locals didn’t particularly want the US personnel there, and I felt more than a bit unhappy at being part of the same group.

This time is different though. This is my chance to really get out and explore the real Japan. I want to breathe in the atmosphere and experience the culture. I also want to act like a true guest in the country rather than somebody who they can’t keep out because of military or political agreements that were put in place 65 years ago.

I’m very excited about this trip and will hopefully post updates and photos to this blog when I can.

Arigatou Gozaimasu

Jason

Looking AT the Next Big Thing

2010-03-13T12:55:00.002Z

What’s the big thing in the movie business at the moment? Well, apparently, it’s 3D. It doesn’t matter what the story’s about, as long as there are things flying at the audience in the 3rd dimension then people are going to flock to see it.

It’s not a new concept. Back in the early 1980’s, film-makers dabbled with 3D in a spate of specially shot films and TV Times magazine even gave away 3D glasses so that we could watch a special experimental 3D programme on our own TVs at home. However, the films were poor efforts like Jaws 3-D, Friday the 13th Part 3, and Amityville 3-D. The 3D effect worked technically but the novelty of seeing a shark or a boat-hook thrusting out of the screen soon wore off when people realised that the actual plot of the film (arguably the most important part) was poor.

Fast-forward a few decades and we now find ourselves in the middle of the great 3D experiment again. This time, the 3D effects are better but are they a gimmick or are they really going to offer something of value to the films? When “talkies” and colour hit the cinema screens, movie-goers were offered a more life-like realisation of the World in which the story took place. When CGI took off, they were offered more life-like realisations of Worlds that didn’t actually exist. This again acted as a tool for film-makers to better communicate their story and its setting. Does 3D actually add anything to the realisation of the story though?

The problem with 3D is that in order for it to work to maximum effect, scenes have to be set up in a particular way. Just like with Jaws 3-D twenty-seven years ago, the director has to make things fly out of the screen or the audience will feel short-changed. Just take a look at trailers for some of the upcoming 3D films to see how the set-pieces are being put in just to satisfy the 3D audience. “Oh, look at Shrek as he spins around the chandelier. It looks just like he’s flying out of the screen.”

Like all major movie developments, people now want to experience the same thing on their home cinemas (or televisions as we used to call them). However, what is the next big thing to buy?

It wasn’t so long ago that all subscribers to the Sky satellite TV service here in the UK were being told that they really must upgrade their old Sky receivers to new Sky+ boxes that would also record their favourite programmes for them. That seemed fair enough. It was a useful tool. However, now they’re all being told that they really must upgrade their old Sky+ boxes to new High Definition receivers in order to view all the great HD programmes that Sky are offering. Of course, in order to view these new HD programmes, you have to pay extra to subscribe to the special HD version of the channel, even if you’re already paying for the non-HD version.

So, you’ve bought your HD television ,and you have your HD receiver, and you subscribe to your HD satellite channels so that you can watch the “thrills” of a 0-0 draw football match in perfect HD. Life is perfect isn’t it? Well, it would seem so until you look at what major electronics companies like Sony in Japan and Samsung in South Korea are doing. They already have 3D televisions in production and the desire for home viewers to enjoy all the new 3D movies in the same glory as they would in the cinema will surely drive sales of these 3D TVs.

However, fancy TVs are only good if the programmes are available in the correct format to make them work to maximum effect. I remember when I bought my 16:9 aspect ratio widescreen TV many years ago then found myself somewhat disappointed because the majority of TV programmes appeared as 4:3 aspect ratio in the middle of the screen with blank spaces either side. Basically, my TV was ahead of how the programmes were being made. Even today, older programmes or channels with lower budgets are still not widescreen on my TV. So, are the programmes there for people to really take advantage of their HD TVs? More importantly, how many years will it be before the people who pay out thousands of pounds for their 3D TVs can actually enjoy a full schedule of 3D programmes?

What are we to do then? Do we splash out now on new high-definition televisions along with HD satellite receivers and additional HD channel subscriptions or do we wait to see what 3D TV has to offer? Bearing in mind the cost of top specification televisions, it seems like a good idea to know what’s just around the corner before making such an expensive purchase. I certainly don’t want to pay £3000 for a TV just for the pleasure of seeing Shrek sneeze at me out of the screen in 3D. That’s just not enough to justify an upgrade.

Jason

Natural Disasters, Human Foolishness

2010-02-27T18:01:00.000Z

I know that I’ve vowed to keep my blog a bit more upbeat and cheerful in 2010 but I just wanted to get this one off my chest. Sorry, I won’t keep you long.

News is now quite widespread about the earthquake off the coast of Chile that, as I write this, has killed at least 122 people. That’s not the end of it though. Now, there’s the danger of a tsunami (giant wave) sweeping across the Pacific Ocean and causing devastation in other countries. If there is a tsunami then it could be up to 20 hours before it reaches the coast of countries such as Japan and China. It’s a matter of waiting and watching.

Last night (UK time), there was also a smaller earthquake off the coast of the Japanese island of Okinawa that sparked fears of a tsunami there. Fortunately, that never happened and the alert was lifted. Then the Chile quake struck.

Earthquakes seem to be in the news a lot at the moment, not least because of recent events in Haiti. In the UK, we’re lucky to be pretty safe from earthquakes but we’re aware of the devastation that they can cause and our recent spate of floods has shown that the force of nature can be sudden and deadly.

When you see the full force of nature in action, it brings it home to you just how vulnerable we humans are. We might think that we’re at the top of the tree but nature can quite easily swipe us down to the ground again. The fact that we are so vulnerable to nature makes me wonder again (as if I needed another reason) why we humans are so intent on fighting amongst ourselves. It’s a bit like two men standing on the deck of the Titanic as it sinks, fighting over the last piece of cake. It’s a foolish and pointless exercise.

Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is spent Worldwide every year on building weapons and fighting wars (often against the taxpayers’ wishes), but when a natural disaster strikes, we still seem to have dig into our pockets to help the victims rebuild their lives. How about taking some of that money that would be spent on weapons and spending it on helping people living in areas prone to natural disasters to better prepare themselves? Poor construction of buildings and poor emergency facilities is often blamed for the increased fatality rate in these events so why not invest some money in improving them instead of fitting anti-missile lasers to the front of planes?

We all feel sad when we look at the TV and see pictures of natural disaster victims standing next to piles of rubble that used to be their homes yet we seem happy to use our weapons to do exactly the same thing to other peoples’ homes. Are we hypocrites? Are we foolish? Or are we both?

Jason

Recommended Writing Books

2010-02-27T15:43:00.003Z

As a writer, I'm always keen to improve my story-telling and general writing skills. Of course, the best way to do this is by reading books on the subject and so I want to recommend to you some books on writing that I've found to be particularly helpful or insightful. These are all books that I've read myself (hence the photos taken on my lounge carpet) so I'm talking from experience.

The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell

The Art of War for Writers is a nifty little reference book (I say "little" but it's actually 260 pages) that's based on that ancient classic, Sun Tzu's Art of War. The book is a collection of bite-size tips and tactics split into 3 sections: Reconnaissance, Tactics, and Strategy. By keeping each tip or tactic relatively short (normally around 3 to 5 pages), the book's easy to dip into when you have a spare five minutes on your hands, though I often find that the "just one more" urge overtakes me and I end up reading several tactics.

The tips and tactics themselves are very useful and are often things that, in other books, might be lost amongst a large chapter. By addressing these points individually and in such an easily digestible format, you can really take them onboard then ponder them as you go about your daily business.

Even if you're currently reading another book, I can highly recommend The Art of War for Writers to fill those spare minutes when a full reading session isn't convenient.

Make a Scene by Jordan E. Rosenfeld

Make a Scene is an interesting and highly valuable book for novel writers as it addresses a point that's often overlooked by people writing stories... a story is a collection of scenes and each one of those scenes must have its own purpose and stand up on its own merits.

I actually started writing movie screenplays before I started writing novels so I was familiar with working on a scene-by-scene basis. However, when working on a novel, it's easy to get drawn into thinking by chapter, often resulting in some weak scenes that don't really work. Make a Scene forces you to address this problem by taking each scene from your story and establishing a clear purpose for it as well as a distinct beginning, middle, and end so that each scene flows into the next and maintains the momentum and interest of the overall story.

Another plus point of Make a Scene is that it addresses the specialist requirements of different types of scenes. An action scene must be written in a different way to a dialogue scene, just as a contemplative scene must be written in a different way to a climatic scene.

If you've never thought about novel writing in this way before then Make a Scene will make a difference to you. It may even be of use if you struggle to "flesh out" your story, as breaking it down into scenes relieves the pressure of the "big picture" and makes it easy to focus on small sections.

Your Writing Coach by Jurgen Wolff

Your Writing Coach is, as the name suggests, a complete companion book for writers. Rather than just focussing on the physical process of writing a book, it also covers the related aspects such as finding the right writing environment, brainstorming ideas, and even overcoming your own self-doubt. That said, the sections on the actual technical process of writing are also very good and offer good advice and tips.

This isn't really a book to sit and read from cover to cover. Instead, like a proper writing coach, it should only be referred to as and when the need arises. For example, if you're still brainstorming your book idea then the chapters on the technical side of writing are better left alone until you're ready for them, just as the section on selling your book isn't really needed until after you've finished your manuscript (or at least have a first draft completed).

This is a great book and is highly recommended, especially if you're a new writer, keen to write your first book but unsure if you can do it. With this book in your arsenal, you'll definitely be on the right track.

Jason

Individuality and Creativity

2010-02-19T12:39:00.000Z

As I was walking in the rain through the dreary streets to my day job this week, I found my mind searching for escapism in the colourful and exciting street images of Japan. In particular, I started thinking about the numerous collections of Japanese street fashion photographs that are so popular on the net. One of the things that keeps these photo collections so fresh and popular is that there seems to be no end of different looks and styles displayed by the ordinary youths on the street so I couldn’t help wondering whether there are deeper implications to this.

One thing young Japanese people don’t seem to be afraid of is being different. There doesn’t seem to be a fear of standing out in a crowd and other young Japanese people seem to be accepting of people who look different rather than prejudging them based on appearance, even if they happen to be dressed as their favourite video game or anime character. It’s not just in fashion that ordinary Japanese people seem uninhibited though, it’s also in other aspects of life. There doesn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary or strange about a man in a business suit reading a manga comic on a train or collecting dolls of anime girls in his spare time. It’s just another way of self-expression, and generally, Japanese society doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

It makes me wonder whether that’s why the Japanese seem to be able to come up with so many innovative inventions and ideas. If you learn during your formative teen years that thinking outside the norm is okay then surely your adult mind will be more likely to “think outside the box” when it comes to creating new ideas. You won’t have that fear of somebody turning round and saying to you “you’re just being stupid.” Conversely, could the fact that Western youths seem so keen to adopt rigid fashion trends mean that in later life they find it hard to come up with ground-breaking innovations?

It’s true that in the UK, there are a mix of different fashion styles from punk to hip-hop but each one of them almost seems to follow a strict code in a “fashion by numbers” style. The way you show your allegiance to your particular fashion group is by looking like everybody else in your fashion group with none of the individual touches and flourishes that somebody in Japan might add. It seems critical to wear the right brand of trainers or hoodie if you don’t want to be an outcast, and your trousers must be low enough to reveal exactly the right amount of your underpants above your waistband.

When I was a young and impressionable pre-teen at school, the trend was to have patches of our favourite bands sewn onto the back of our jackets. The back of my jacket featured two of my favourite bands from the time, The Police and Madness. I was pretty proud of that and it seemed good to me. Then, one day, an older boy noticed the patches on my jacket and said “you can’t like The Police AND Madness…” This was a total shock to me. Somehow I’d apparently broken some unwritten code by liking both of those bands. As far as I was concerned, they both played good songs, but it appeared I’d broken some critical trend law.

As you can tell, that experience has stuck with me and I’m sure that it’s affected my thinking for many years. I’m sure that I’m not the only impressionable child who had that sort of experience either, and it probably explains why so many of them were so desperate to have exactly the same trainers as their friends. I remember an embarrassing experience at a young teens’ disco I went to where myself and at least two of my friends turned up wearing identical lemon yellow jumpers (pastel colours were the trend at the time).

So, have all these trend following youngsters grown up into adulthood with no sense of individuality or creativity? Well, if you consider the section of the population who consider an England football shirt (or one belonging to their favourite league team) to be a fashion item then the answer would have to be yes. However, I also find it disturbing that people in business are so obsessed with the perfect suit and tie combination. Once again, any individualism is hammered out in favour of creating an army of clones. It’s no accident that the armed forces are so obsessed with uniforms. Everybody of equal rank must wear equal uniforms. Nobody is an individual and nobody can stand out.

If we want to keep innovating as a species then I think that people should be allowed to express their own individuality. As a writer, I often read books on the art of writing and one of the main points that always crops up is that you should create your own inspirational space for writing in. If you write at a desk then that desk or the walls around it should be decorated with images or objects that inspire you. This environment will then trigger the creative parts of your brain. So, what will working at a bland plywood desk surrounded by blank walls and clones in identical suits do for your creative brain? If that’s the future of UK business then don’t be surprised that the good ideas have stopped coming.

Jason

Jobs and Location

2010-02-14T13:05:00.001Z

Many people talk about wanting to live in another country, just as I say that I’d like to live in Japan, but the main thing holding them back is always work. Sure, you can sometimes get a short-term work permit for another country that will allow you to work there for a while but if you’re serious about staying then you really need to build a proper career there. Most countries will be a lot more welcoming to you if they know that you’re bringing career skills that are of genuine use to them rather than just doing cheap, unskilled labour.

When I left school, I chose a career in shipbuilding, which made quite a lot of sense as I lived on the coast near a major port and shipyard. However, in choosing shipbuilding, I also created a rod for my own back as a declining British shipbuilding industry meant that the choice of work locations was very limited. It was that situation that recently led to me having to take a 280 mile flight from Southampton to Newcastle every Monday morning and back again every Friday evening for 9 months just to do my job. It’s also as a result of this situation that I’ve spent the last few years trying to turn writing into my full-time career.

Writing gives me a freedom that I’ve never had in my career before. I don’t have to be in a particular town or even country in order to do it. If I’m writing a novel set in Tokyo, like I currently am, then there’s nothing really to stop me going to Tokyo to get the full atmosphere as I write it, which I’m doing next month. However, if in the future I decided to write a book on penguins of the South Pole, then I can also do that from the warmth of my home in the New Forest in the UK. Writing doesn’t place any locational restrictions on me but allows me to follow a career that I love, no matter where in the World I choose to do it.

I could never live in Japan and follow a career in shipbuilding as my Japanese language skills are just not good enough for such a technically demanding profession. However, I could theoretically live in Japan and write books. The only thing that’s holding me back is turning writing into my full-time career, and I can only do that through hard work, dedication, and having the courage to break away from the shipbuilding career that currently eats up so much of my time and energy.

Jason

Japanese Couple Busters

2010-02-14T11:02:00.000Z

I read a story on a Japanese news website yesterday about a man who was on trial for murder after falling in love with a woman and then murdering her. While that’s obviously a very sad story, it may not seem that extraordinary. However, the story does take on a new twist when you discover that the man on trial was actually a “couple buster”, a man paid to seduce a wife so that her husband can start divorce proceedings against her and get the lion’s share of the money. He was an employee at a detective agency that offered couple busting services and had been hired to perform his seductive service on the woman who he ultimately fell in love with and murdered.

It’s a sad story of doomed love, especially for Valentines Day, but what I found most surprising was that couple busters are apparently so popular in Japan that detective agencies offer it as a service. Perhaps I have an old-fashioned and romantic view of Japan and the Japanese belief in honour, but I still find it hard to believe that Japanese men would attempt to entrap their wives in such a way. It wouldn’t surprise me to read about it happening in the UK or the USA but I thought better of Japan. I don’t know exactly which laws a husband breaks by hiring a couple buster to entrap his wife, but I’m sure that it can’t be legal.

Of course, we don’t know both sides of the story. Perhaps the man’s wife had a history of affairs or perhaps she herself was planning to run away with one of her lovers with a share of the man’s money, leaving him with no other option. We just don’t know all the facts so it’s not fair to cast blame on either party. However, what does still remain sad is that their marriage ended up in such a sad way.

Jason

A Japanese Music Weekend

2010-02-07T22:13:00.000Z

I’m very pleased to say that the musical theme for this weekend has been Japanese bands. Recently, I’ve been trying to find some good Japanese rock bands so that I can buy their CDs when I go over there next month. I mentioned this to my good friend Aya Miyahara, a music writer and radio/TV presenter in Tokyo, and she was kind enough to give me a few suggestions to check out.

Her first suggestion was Zazen Boys so I did a search on YouTube to check them out. I must admit that I’m not quite sure to make of them at first listen. They seem to have quite a mix of styles so perhaps it would be better if I listened to a whole album rather than just selected tracks on the internet.

The next suggestion was Midori, a female-fronted band. This band took me totally by surprise with their energy and intensity. I could only find audio tracks on YouTube so I don’t know what they look like when they perform but I can imagine that there’s a lot of power and mayhem on stage. I did a search on Amazon Japan and found that Midori also have a DVD available so I will try to pick that up as well as an album when I’m in Tokyo.

Aya’s final suggestion was another female-fronted band but one that’s a bit different to Midori. Shakalabbits (or Shakarabbits, if you want a corrected English spelling) have more of a ska-punk or funky feel to their music. They’re certainly more easily accessible than Midori with some great songs. I’ve added two Shakalabbits albums to my shopping list as well as a DVD that I’m hoping I’ll be able to get from HMV somewhere in Tokyo.

During my own searching I came across the upcoming single “Like Yesterday” from The Brilliant Green. I discovered them whilst searching for lead singer Tomoko Kawase’s other incarnation TommyHeavenly6 after hearing her song “Hey My Friend” at the end of the film Kamikaze Girls. The Brilliant Green may verge more on the side of pop-rock but I still find them quite pleasing to my British ear so I’ll perhaps also pick up one of their CDs.

My shopping list for Tokyo certainly seems to be growing. If I go to HMV or Tower Records early on in my trip, I’m going to have to be careful not to spend too much money, otherwise I might have to go without eating for the rest of the time!

If you’d like to follow Aya’s music news then you can find her on Twitter as miya_ayacom or you can find her blog at http://blog.miyaaya.com

Bye for now…

Jason

A Sunny 2010

2010-02-06T14:37:00.000Z

Since we’re now into February, I figured that it was time to do a bit of an update for the new year. So, here goes…

For most of last year, I was working on my socio-political book and was therefore in full cynical moaning mode. While I still think that it’s important to write about things that I see wrong with the World, it’s often not a pleasant road to go down. While it would be nice if all the bad things and people in the World went away and left us in peace, that’s never likely to happen. However, forcing myself to focus on them for the sake of a book isn’t exactly the most joyful thing to do. Therefore, a change of direction is required.

The socio-political book will still happen one day. It’s been an ongoing project since 2006 and I will continue to add new content to it when the mood takes me. However, for my primary writing projects, including this blog, I want to focus on more uplifting things. While the World’s problems aren’t going to go away, I can do my best to add a bit of fun and happiness to my life and hopefully to the lives of other people too so that perhaps we can overcome those problems with a smile on our faces and a positive frame of mind.

I plan to make 2010 a year of more joy and happiness so please keep an eye on this blog and accompany me on this happy journey.

Wishing you peace, joy, and happiness…

Jason

Socio-Political Research Questions for New Book

2009-11-20T12:28:00.000Z

Here’s the deal…

I’m currently working on my new book that tackles various socio-political issues both on a global and a local scale. As part of my research, I’d like to invite people to give their thoughts and opinions on some of the subjects.

I’ve listed some questions below to get your thoughts and opinions flowing. Feel free to answer as few or as many as you wish. You can post your thoughts as a comment to this post (anonymously if you wish) or if you want to submit a more detailed response then you can always contact me via Twitter (www.twitter.com/jasonwebb71) and I’ll give you a contact address.

The comments you post will only be for my own research. I won’t be reproducing any of them directly in the book. However, if you make a particularly good point then I may refer to it in my book. I will maintain your anonymity though.

NOTE: I’ve written these questions from a UK perspective. However, many of the questions are still applicable to people from other nations so everyone is free to answer.

WARNING: These are socio-political questions and some of them may seem controversial in nature. If you’re easily offended then perhaps you’d best not read them. You have been warned! However, if you’re the sort of person who can respond to controversial subjects with constructive argument then please feel free to read on and respond.

DISCLAIMER: These questions do not necessarily reflect my own personal views. These questions have been worded in such a way as to promote the most emotional response from readers, not to reflect my stance on the subject. So, no abuse please, just constructive comments and opinions.

Now, here are the questions:-

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Topic 1 – Voting and Political Parties

When you vote (if you vote), do you really feel that you're voting for the most suitable person for the job or are you just voting for the least unsuitable person for the job?

Do you genuinely feel that any of the candidates offer real solutions to the problems that confront them?

Do you honestly choose the candidate who offers the best solutions or is your choice based on party bias?

Would you favour a candidate who solely addresses solutions to problems or one who smears and puts down fellow candidates? Does the smearing of competitors make you like a candidate more or make you dislike them more?

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Topic 2 – War and your Neighbourhood

What concerns you most, wars in other countries or crime in your own town?

Do you think that wars cause local issues (crime, selfishness) or vice versa? If everybody lived in happiness in peaceful neighbourhoods, would the desire to wage war fade? Conversely, if there were no wars in the World, would the desire to commit crimes and other hurtful acts against your neighbours fade?

Do you believe that Iraq and Afghanistan have become safer and more stable countries since the forced introduction of democracy?

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Topic 3 – Population Growth and Birth-rates

Birth-rates are increasing every year whilst the availability of jobs decreases. In these circumstances, do you think that something should be done to control the ever increasing birth-rate?

If the country is struggling to support the increasing population, is it wise to offer people financial incentives for every child that they have?

Bearing in mind that the birth-rate is having a larger effect on population growth than immigration, shouldn't that situation be treated as seriously by those campaigning to keep immigrants out of the country?

Reducing energy consumption and the amount of waste produced is a major focus, therefore, isn't an uncontrolled population growth counter productive to the eco-friendly target?

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Topic 4 – World Green Policies

Is it hypocritical of capitalist super-powers to stunt the growth of developing nations due to "eco" concerns? If we prevent developing nations from using fossil fuels in favour of more sustainable power sources, aren't we preventing them from ever catching up with our countries that were built on the power of fossil fuels?

Do you feel that the governments of successful capitalist nations are deliberately using “eco” pressure as a way to maintain their position at the top of the tree and keep emerging competitors down?

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Topic 5 – Jobs and Education

With a lack of professional jobs around for many university and college graduates, should we still be encouraging school-leavers to train for jobs that just don't exist?

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That’s all the questions. Now, get writing!

Thank You

Jason

All Aboard the Sunshine Bus

2009-10-02T21:12:00.001+01:00

We’ve been being told for years now how cars are evil, are destroying the planet, and how we should all be using public transport. Of course, many people are up in arms about this and give every excuse under the (ice cap-melting) sun why public transport just won’t work for them. One of the main excuses is that public transport timetables are not convenient and can’t get them to work on time. In some ways, I can see their point.

Personally, I don’t have an option. I don’t own a car. I’ve never owned a car. In fact, I’ve never taken a single driving lesson. So, for most of the 21 years of my working life, I’ve relied on public transport, cycle power, and my own two feet. Don’t for a single minute think that I’m a lover of public transport though. To be honest, I despise it.

Fair enough, the public transport companies have done their best to make the buses and trains run on time and to make those times as convenient as possible for commuters. However, the biggest problem with public transport is one that the bus and train companies are going to find very hard to fix. Passengers!

I got on the train at about 6.30 the other evening and found that many of the seating areas were littered with coffee cups left by people who were obviously determined enough to buy a drink for the journey but not determined enough to carry their cup to a rubbish bin when they’d finished. As the train accelerated away from the station, one such cup tipped over onto my foot and I realised that apparently its previous owner wasn’t even determined enough to finish drinking it. Now, some might say that it’s the train company’s responsibility to clean the train when it reaches it’s destination, and they’re right, but that doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility to clean up after ourselves. If these people use the toilet on the train, do they look around the cubicle for a button to call the guard to wipe their backside for them when they’ve finished?

Buses aren’t much better. The saving grace of trains is that they’re quite expensive and so tend to attract more working commuters. On buses though, it’s pretty much a free for all. I got the bus home from town at 8pm last night and the hour long journey was pretty much a non-stop nightmare. At the bus stop before the bus had even arrived I was subjected to a tinny rendition of what sounded like “100 Hip-Hop Tunes on Maracas” courtesy of some 12-year-old-looking chavs who seemed to think that listening to music played on a mobile phone speaker is in some way a pleasurable experience. It was a “pleasure” that I also had to endure for most of the journey once the bus did finally arrive. The silly thing is that if I’d knocked their stupid chav caps off their heads and stamped on their phones then it’d probably be me who got thrown off the bus. Where’s the justice?

It wasn’t just the music of the ching-ching chavs that made the journey an unpleasant experience though. There was also the giggling of the two “young ladies” sat behind me who smelt like they’d spent most of the afternoon in the pub. However, they seemed quite acceptable compared to the surly looking bloke who got on a few stops later carrying a can of Carlsberg lager that he preceded to drink for the whole journey. I thought the people who can’t go on a train journey without a cup of coffee were bad enough, but what can you say about a man who needs a can of beer for a bus journey, at 8 o’clock in the evening!

The sad thing is that there was nothing extraordinary about this journey. Every week it’s the same thing. This week it was 12-year-old chavs with crap music on their mobiles, the week before it was 12-year-old slappers-in-the-making with crap music on their mobiles screaming about who they wanted to shag at school. I’d just worked a 10 hour day, was tired, and really could have done with being left alone with my thoughts. That is why, unless they absolutely, positively, have no other option, people aren’t going to leave their cars at home in favour of public transport. Saving the planet is important, but so is saving your sanity!

The Crazy Case of Gary McKinnon

2009-08-07T15:55:00.003+01:00

One thing that’s really irritated me over the past few weeks is the case of hacker Gary McKinnon. I’ve tried and tried to keep quiet and not court abuse by commenting on the matter but it’s just got too much for me so I need to speak out.

Probably the biggest annoyance about this whole affair is that it’s now being campaigned under the slogan “Free Gary”! What exactly happened here? He admits that he committed the crime that he’s being accused of, albeit supposedly for innocent reasons. Nevertheless, hacking into military computer networks is still a crime. So, how come he’s now being made out to be some kind of innocent martyr who should be given a pardon and sent on his merry way? The issue was supposed to be whether he was tried for his crimes in the US or the UK, not whether the charges should be dropped and he should be set free.

Hang on though; McKinnon has a mental illness called Asperger Syndrome. Well, that must make it okay then. Let’s drop all charges right now and have a parade for him in the streets!

While I accept that his mental illness might mean that he wasn’t aware of the implications of his actions, it doesn’t mean that there was no harm done and that there’s not a case to answer. He caused a lot of damage and he supposedly even left a message on a US Government computer stating, “US foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism these days? It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand-down on September 11 last year...I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels.”

Does that sound like the words of a man who didn’t understand the implications of his “harmless” actions? Does that sound like the words of a man who should be set free without having to answer to the people he attacked? I would’ve thought that the fact that he stated that he would “continue to disrupt at the highest levels” is a pretty good reason why he shouldn’t be set free to go about his business unsupervised.

McKinnon claims that he was merely hunting for information on UFOs and that there was no political, military, or malicious motive behind his actions. So, why do his so-called “supporters” insist on bringing political and military issues into the campaign? Well, the sad truth is that Gary McKinnon, through his supposedly naïve actions, has become just another stick for people to beat the government and the US with. Truth be told, many of them probably couldn’t give a damn about McKinnon’s welfare, just as long as they get fuel with which to attack Gordon Brown and his cronies. Many of them are probably secretly glad that his extradition wasn’t blocked, as if it had been then they would have one less thing to get angry at the government about.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly no fan of Gordon Brown or his labour government and I’m certainly no fan of the warmongering ways of the US government under George Bush. However, I don’t believe in jumping on the bandwagon of every cause that goes by just for the opportunity to take a pop at them. The problem with people who do that is that they’re normally only fair-weather friends. Once their political agenda has been satisfied, they’ll drop the cause quicker than a red-hot coal.

Clearly, there are two sides to this story. Unfortunately, thanks to the “Free Gary” campaigners (including his mum Janis Sharp), celebrity supporters, and even a charity record, we’re only hearing one side of it. On Twitter, there appears to be what I can only describe as a spam offensive coming from an account called Tweet4Gary that seems to be creating a wall of noise to drown out any rational discussion on the subject. Therefore, the only way that we’re ever going to get to the truth of the matter is to have the court case that everybody seems so afraid of. If Gary McKinnon gets cleared then well done to him, but let’s at least approach this matter like a civilised society and not like we’re voting on a Big Brother eviction!

Give me a house or the baby gets it!

2009-08-01T14:03:00.005+01:00

WARNING: This post contains material that might be controversial and provocative to some people. So, if you are easily offended or don't like your view of the World being questioned then please don't read it. You have been warned!

**********
A couple of months back, I arrived at the airport, ready for my flight home after working away for the week, only to discover that it had been delayed for an hour and a half. Since I’d got to the airport early anyway, I now had a three hour wait ahead of me. So, I trotted off to the WH Smith bookshop to find something to occupy me. The book that I decided on was Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

I’m not going for a full book review here, but what it basically boils down to is an examination of statistical data to provide answers to questions about everyday things such as whether schoolteachers tamper with students’ tests to make themselves, or their school, look better and whether estate agents really get you the best possible price for your house. Granted, these don’t seem like groundbreaking revelations and probably just do more to prove what most people probably suspected anyway, but they do demonstrate the power of analysing statistical data.

The chapter that really caught my attention though was on the subject of crime, or rather the lack of it. In the US (the authors are US-based so the book tends to focus more on US issues), crime levels across the country fell significantly during the 1990’s. So called “experts” gave many explanations for this from better gun control and increased numbers of police and prisons to a change in the national age demographic and the bursting of the “crack bubble”. Certainly, some of those factors could be statistically proven to contribute to a reduction in crimes rates, but even those combined contributions couldn’t account for the majority of the decrease. According to the data analysed and presented in the book, the main reason for the reduction in US crime figures during the 1990’s was… abortion!

On the 22nd January 1973, a landmark US Supreme Court ruling allowed legalised abortions throughout the country. What this meant was that women who for social, financial, or medical reasons were not in a position to raise a child were no longer forced to have a baby that they couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to care for. Now, it’s not exactly controversial to point out that children without a stable upbringing are more likely to develop social problems, and criminal tendencies are probably one of the most common social problems that these children might develop as they grow. So, it actually makes pretty good sense when Freakonomics claims that the decrease in crime during the 1990’s occurred because the new wave of criminals, who would have been coming into their late teens by then, had never been born due to legalised abortion.

This got me thinking about our own current social situation here in the UK. We seem to be facing the exact opposite of what the US had in the 90’s. Instead of a reduction in crime, we’re constantly being told about increases in crime, drugs, and gang culture. If the media is to be believed, we’re being overrun by gangs of teen “hoodies” hanging out on every street corner and in every shopping centre. So, I wonder if we can reverse-engineer the link between birth and crime presented by Freakonomics and apply it to the UK situation?

If a reduction in birth rates, in the disadvantaged sector at least, led to a significant reduction in crime then perhaps our current increase in crime points to an increase in birth rates in the same sector. The UK birth rate is at the highest it’s been since the early 1970’s and between 1980 and 1990 there was a significant increase in the number of single mothers with children, a trend that has continued.

Now, I’m not saying that all children born to single mothers are criminals in the making; children born to married couples can fall into bad ways too just as children born to single parents can grow up to achieve great success. However, there’s no arguing that the number of children born to single mothers has increased and that they make up a large proportion of the “disadvantaged” sector of society that I mentioned earlier. Those disadvantaged children born during the early 1990’s are now in their teens and many of them will have fallen into bad ways. So, what happened? What caused the increase in birth rates?

I believe that the root of the problem lies with our society’s new caring, sharing attitude that attempts to help everybody. Certainly, that attitude seems very honourable but is it misplaced and is it actually helping? It was an admirable idea to give parents a little bit of extra money to help them support their child or to put a roof over their heads if they couldn’t afford one but the plan has backfired.

Many countries introduced child support payments as a way to promote people to have children and boost the population after the losses of the first and second world wars. However, despite an over-populated country, nobody has seen fit to turn off the tap and stem the flow, so the babies just keep on coming. Teenage girls see a child as their ticket to a free house and a weekly income. It’s certainly easier than getting a job, especially if they never tried too hard at school. After all, it worked for mum!

Whereas traditionally most parents would carefully weigh up the pros and cons of having a child before going through with it, now there’s no need as there’s a multitude of handouts waiting, courtesy of the taxpayers. The attitude now seems to be, “just have the baby and let somebody else work out how to support it and, if money does get a bit tight, just have another one and up your income!”

The decision to have a baby should be one of the biggest decisions that people ever make in life, yet some of these teenage girls seem to put more thought into which mobile phone to have than in their decision whether or not to have a baby. To many of them, deciding to have a child is a bit like buying a new handbag; they see another girl with one and think, “She looks gud wiv a baybee. I fink I’d look gud wiv a baybee too!”

Everyday we’re being told how our country is becoming overloaded. We’re being told that there aren’t enough jobs; there aren’t enough houses; we’re all creating too much rubbish and too much carbon. So, why do we keep rewarding people for adding to the over-population problem?

We’re constantly being given the sob story about all the poor children living below the poverty line and we’re taken on a guilt-trip until we cough up some money to help them. However, wouldn’t it be better if those children weren’t born below the poverty line in the first place?

China has attempted to tackle its population boom with its Family Planning Policy limiting parents to one child. From its implementation in 1979 until 2000, it’s estimated that the policy prevented around 250 million births and, despite some strong criticisms, a survey showed that over 75% of Chinese people support the policy.

I’m sure that hordes of people in the UK would be up in arms if poor parents (both financially and otherwise) were told that, for welfare reasons, they weren’t allowed to have children; There’d probably be campaigners on the street chanting about every woman’s “right” to bear children. However, look what happens when a case like the “Baby P” affair crops up.

“Baby P” was a 17-month-old child who died in August 2007 after suffering 50 injuries in eight months. His mother, her boyfriend, and a second man living with them were all convicted of his death. There was major media outrage, the case was discussed in Parliament, and on Facebook people were signing up to groups such as “Hang the bastards who did this to Baby P”. So, wouldn’t it have been better if his mother had never been allowed to have him in the first place? If you’re not fit to drive a car then you don’t get a license. If you’re not in a position to repay a bank loan then the bank won’t give you one. So, how come anybody is allowed to be responsible for another human being’s life whether they’re fit for the job or not? There’s no exam for being a parent, you just have to know which sexual organs to put where.

The Shannon Matthews case was another such example. There was outrage when it was discovered that her mother had staged the kidnapping and all the stories came out about what an unsuitable mother she was. However, she had somehow been allowed to have seven children without anybody seemingly questioning how she ever intended to support them all. How can that be right in anyone’s eyes?

Karen Matthew’s motivation was clear from the start though; Have another child and your weekly income goes up. You just need to make sure that you spend as little of that money on the child as possible so that you remain in profit. After all, a 60-a-day cigarette habit doesn’t come cheap. Hang on, though. If she could afford to buy 60 fags a day then why didn’t anybody at the DSS say, “If you can afford to buy fags then you clearly don’t need our money”?

Of course, it doesn’t work like that. In our do-gooder society it’s a simple case of “have child, get money”, no questions asked, and people know it! Everybody is afraid to say no to these people in case the poor child suffers so they just keep handing out the cash. The parents might as well be standing there with a gun to the child’s head saying, “give me a house or the baby gets it!”

Wouldn’t it be better for the child and society if somebody turned around and said, “Well, if you can’t afford to support the child then it might be better if you don’t have it”? Is that really such a difficult concept to grasp? If parents realised that they were going to be solely responsible for paying for their children then they might think twice about having them if they can’t afford to. The money saved by the government could then be put towards the genuine cases where child support is needed such as where parents unexpectedly lose their jobs or suffer some other unforeseen mishap. Wouldn’t that make more sense?

Second Life, No Life?

2009-07-18T16:30:00.006+01:00

Today I'd like to post an article that I wrote in December 2007 about the virtual world Second Life. It was originally published in the British Mensa South East Newsletter, the London Mensa News, and in the official British Mensa Magazine.

As it is a year and a half old, I've also written an addendum to bring it up to date. Enjoy!

*****
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Second Life (SL), it’s a virtual 3-dimensional online world similar to the popular video game The Sims. Residents of the SL world have their own avatar (little computer person) that they use to travel around the world and communicate with other residents. Really, it’s like a kind of giant 3D internet chat room, but with some important differences.

I only became aware of Second Life a few weeks ago thanks to a programme on The Business Channel that examined its business aspects for both the SL creators and the residents. Initially I passed it off as just another fad but after a few days, curiosity got the better of me. Having been involved in internet businesses for nearly 10 years, I’ve learnt to be wary of letting “the next big thing” slip by so I decided to sign up and have a look.

After creating your avatar and completing the initial tutorial exercises, Second Life can appear to be just like any other role-playing game that you might have seen. Your first few hours will probably be spent just walking around, looking at things, and maybe saying “Hello” to some other people walking by. You might even customise your avatar to be that gothic hero with flapping dragon wings that you always wanted to be. However, after a while you start to understand what makes Second Life so different.

The first thing you notice is the scale. Second Life is huge! The world contains numerous collections of land and islands, each containing their own houses, shops, nightclubs and more. Luckily, your SL avatar has the ability to fly around and teleport to any point in the world so travelling is easy. The second thing that dawns on you is that SL is a real world, albeit one that’s contained in computer servers. It’s alive 24 hours a day whether you’re there or not.

The Second Life world has its own in-world currency called the Linden Dollar, or Lindens for short. In itself, that’s nothing different to normal role-playing games. However, the SL Linden has its own variable exchange rate with the US Dollar and can actually be both bought and sold for “real” money. This ability to make virtual money in-world then exchange it for actual cash has led to entrepreneurs rushing into the SL world to make their fortunes. There are certainly opportunities in there as everybody is free to build houses, design avatar clothes, rent land, mop virtual floors (honestly!), anything really for a price.

Making your virtual fortune isn’t as easy as it seems though. Firstly, the exchange rate between the Linden and the US$ is very low at around 260 Lindens per Dollar. If you take into account the £/$ exchange rate then it’s around 500 Lindens per Pound. Mopping a virtual floor earns you about 6 Lindens an hour so you’d need to do about 80 hours of mopping to make a Pound! However, some virtual property developers have apparently made thousands of (real) dollars from Second Life land deals.

The other problem with making money in Second Life is market saturation. Just like any real-world economy, the rules of supply and demand apply. The SL world is packed with shops and land for sale. Unfortunately, the ability of avatars to teleport anywhere in the SL world, takes away the local captive market that their real-world equivalents would have and so many of them stand deserted.

Second Life does open up some interesting possibilities with its technology though. Imagine if you own a club in the real world that has live bands playing every Saturday night. With SL, you could build a replica of your club (or even a better version) then have the music from your live gig play to the visitors of your virtual club. Popular singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega has already done a similar thing with her real live concert being performed in the Second Life world by her guitar-playing avatar. Unlike just listening to a normal online concert though, the visitors to your virtual club can chat with each other as they sit and listen to the band.

Once you take away the business aspects from Second Life, it really is just a fancy chat room spread over a large area. Therefore, the question would have to be about longevity. Will the novelty of Second Life eventually wear off and drive people back to the normal text-based chat rooms? Personally, I’ve never got on with chat rooms. I find it hard to make conversation for the sake of it and my mind starts drifting to other things. Second Life offers a nice alternative to this because you can see your fellow residents going about their daily business. You can see a friend in a virtual street and just give a polite “How’s it going?” as you pass rather than getting involved in a long-winded, three hour chat. In a way, it feels more natural. After all, if you regularly see a friend in the supermarket, you don’t feel obliged to have a long conversation every time. You exchange a few pleasantries then go on your way.

For now, I’m going to give Second Life a bit more time before I make a judgement. I’ve built my little virtual shop and put a few things for sale in there so now I’m just waiting to see if anything sells.
*****

Addendum – 18th July 2009

Well, nothing did sell in my little virtual shop so after a couple of months I decided to cut my losses and shut it down. After all, that “virtual” shop was costing me “real” money to rent. The problems were exactly as I’d presumed in my original article, market saturation and location. There were just too many people selling, not enough people buying, and those who were buying weren’t finding my store.

In the documentary mentioned in my original piece, founder Phillip Rosedale boasted how Second Life was “how the internet should have been”. Actually, Second Life is how the internet was… ten years ago. Early adopters managed to cash in and make some good money but as soon as more and more people jumped on the bandwagon, it became apparent that most people would make next to nothing.

As I mentioned in the main article, SL has no “passing trade” as such, so the only way people will come to your store is if they find it in the search listings. This is just like 1999 when the only way to get somebody to your traditional internet store was to get a high ranking in the Alta Vista search engine or to get listed in the old Yahoo directory (before it became a spider search engine). However, the Second Life search engine is an auction, with the highest rankings going to the highest bidders. So, those early adopters have it sewn up, with no way for a newcomer (with no income) to grab a share of the customers without going into debt on promotion costs.

It’s highly likely that a large proportion of Second Life’s paying residents were only there in an attempt to make money. General users would have to think long and hard before paying $9.95 a month just for a fancy chat room. After all, with sites like Facebook and Twitter, they can socialise with friends for free, at work if they wish, and even from the bus via their mobile phones. So, why would they pay to socialise in a 3D world that they can only access from their home PC, that takes up all their system resources to run, and that gets almost unusable due to lag if they go to a popular location anyway?

The statistics would appear to bear this out. According to the statistics presented on Wikipedia (as Linden Labs seem to no longer publish these stats on their own Second Life site), only around 2% of SL residents are actually paying a monthly fee, and that 2% probably consists of mostly business owners. In early 2007 there was around a 30% growth in the number of SL residents who were paying a monthly premium. Now there is generally a 2% drop every month. An exodus of disillusioned shopkeepers?

Another parallel between the SL and the early days of the internet is that sex is driving it. SL is, after all, an over 18’s only world so it was no surprise that it would become a sexual playground. Many of the residents are only there for sexual kicks just as many of the early internet users only used it as an access point for porn (and many still do). However, Linden Labs are now attempting to clean up their town and push the sex trade out of Second Life. Not all the way out though, just to special, limited-access “adult” areas.

The problem with SL’s new policy is that in order to access the adult areas, residents will have to verify their age. Ultimately, this will consist of handing over credit card details or some other form of real-life information, which is probably going to send many of the sex-seekers running.

So, are Linden Labs about to put the final nail in the Second Life coffin? We’ll have to wait and see.

The Adams Connection

2009-06-28T15:41:00.000+01:00

I’m sure that most people will have heard of Canadian rock star Bryan Adams, even if it’s only from being driven mad by the nauseatingly long No.1 run of “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”. Well, that particular song came from an album called “Waking Up The Neighbours”, the title of which appears to be a sign of Adams’ rebellious rock’n’roll nature. If you also consider that his 1984 album “Reckless” contained the song “Kids Wanna Rock” then there appears to be overwhelming evidence of what a wild, down-with-the-kids man Bryan Adams is.

Imagine how surprised I was then when a few years ago I heard a story that Adams had bought a house next to a pub then bought the pub and closed it down because it was too noisy. Artistic hypocrisy?

Waking up the neighbours?

More like shutting up the neighbours.

The kids wanna rock?

“Well, they’d better not do it near me!”

I was reminded of that story recently when talking to a serving tugboat skipper up on the River Tyne. The Tyne used to be a thriving working river with a massive shipbuilding industry and cargo ships constantly going to and fro. However, things went a bit quiet on the Tyne in the tail end of the 20th Century. Shipbuilding died out and cargo movements slowed down. The river became a sorry sight, lined with disused shipyards and crumbling warehouses.

Admirably though, in recent years, a lot of time and money has been invested in the urban renewal of Tyneside and they’ve made a pretty good job of it. As you walk along some areas of Tyneside now you realise that it puts many southern cities to shame. Even the port has been regenerated with modern container, vehicle and coal terminals. It’s certainly not that grim up north anymore.

Inevitably, some of the prime riverside areas have become home to luxury apartment blocks or “yuppie flats” as they would have been called in the late 1980’s and from the number of Mercedes and other luxury cars in the electric-gated car parks, it appears that there’s been no shortage of takers. The story that my friend from the tugs recounted to me concerned one such block of luxury flats on the north bank of the Tyne not far from North Shields Fish Quay, which incidentally is still quite a busy working fish dock.

Apparently, a few years ago, the residents committee of this riverside apartment block raised a petition in an attempt to get all shipping movements on the river stopped at night on the grounds that the sound of the ships was waking them up! Yes, you read that right. They moved alongside one of Britain’s most famous working rivers then complained about the noise of the work on the river. Now do you see the Adams connection?

That sort of thing seems to happen a lot nowadays. Perhaps it’s due to all the home improvement shows that have filled TV schedules in the last decade. Now, rather than buying a house they want to live in, people buy a house they don’t want to live in and instantly set about changing it (and apparently everything else within a 5 mile radius) into one that they do. Change the bathroom suite. Rip out the kitchen. Shut down the river outside the window!

It’s not just in cities that this sort of thing is a problem though. Just last week I read a story from a village just a couple of miles up the road from me on the edge of the New Forest. A local man has been warned by the council because neighbours had complained about the sound of his cockerel crowing every morning in his field! Be sure not to misunderstand this, this isn’t a cockerel in the back garden of a council estate in Gateshead; this is a cockerel in a field in a village on the edge of the New Forest.

Unfortunately, like a lot of villages around this area, the one in question has become a suburb of the city of Southampton and as such has filled with people who think that country life is just a magazine filled with ads for Barbour jackets. Perhaps the estate agent who sold them their house should have explained to them that “this is the country so don’t be surprised to hear animals and things” just as the estate agent who sold those luxury flats on Tyneside should have explained “that blue wobbly thing outside is a river and it carries things called boats!”

Perhaps as part of his charity work, Bryan Adams could start up a commune where all these people can live together in silence so nobody will be waking up the neighbours. Now there’s a thought.

Drugs, Dealers, Users, and You

2009-06-27T15:44:00.001+01:00

Today, I read an article about the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) World Drug Report 2009. In the report, UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa claimed that governments should take the emphasis off punishing drugs users and instead focus on the dealers, importers and drugs cartels. I must admit that I find this to be a strange point of view so I decided to document some of my own thoughts and opinions on the subject.

For the purpose of this article, I’m not even going to touch on the medical and health implications of drug use as I think that most people have heard enough of the “drugs are harmful” speeches by now, and I’m certainly not qualified to add anything new to that argument. Instead, I’m going to focus on drugs from the point of view of economical infrastructure and the effect that drugs have on society.

The UNODC report appears to dismiss the effectiveness of prosecuting drugs users and claims that focusing on the suppliers is the way to go. However, if you punish drug users then you’re taking away the dealers' market:

No market = no profit = no point in dealing.

The rules of supply and demand work in the drugs world just the same as they do in any other world. If users are deterred from buying drugs then there’s nothing to be gained for the dealers by trying to sell them or even from buying their own stocks. The last thing a dealer wants is loads of money tied up in an illegal product that they can’t get rid of. So, in that way, the importers and the growers/manufacturers are also hit.

Taking down dealers but leaving the users out there, screaming for more drugs just creates extra profit for the remaining dealers. It’s like if you went round and burnt down every Tesco store. People wouldn’t stop eating or buying groceries, they’d just find another supplier. Destroying Tesco would just make somebody like Sainsbury’s even busier and even richer.

The police might spend a year’s worth of money and resources to bring down a major drugs trafficker and feel rather proud of themselves for doing it (and rightly so) but unless they simultaneously bring down every other major trafficker, the disruption in the supply chain will only be short-term. Like the liquid-metal robot from Terminator 2, you can shoot the drugs monster full of as many holes as you like but it’ll just heal itself and keep on coming while it has an objective to achieve.

While the demand for drugs exists, there will always be an incentive for people to supply them. If the police take down a major dealer or trafficker then all it does is leave the door open for a “new boy” to get in on the action with a ready-made market just crying out for some product. As quickly as suppliers and dealers are taken down, their places in the market are filled. The only sure way to stop this from happening is to stop the people from buying the drugs. Kill the demand and the supply dies too!

Of course, there are people who think that drugs use doesn’t directly affect them and so they object to extra money and resources being wasted on prosecuting what they see as pot-smoking deadbeats. However, the other crimes that raise money for people to buy drugs most certainly do affect them. If your neighbourhood has seen an increase in burglaries or your local high street has seen an increase in purse snatching, then it’s probably safe to assume that a significant percentage of those criminals are putting their earnings towards drugs. So, again the rules of supply and demand come into play. If you take away the users’ desire to buy drugs then you also take away their need to steal in order to afford them.

Now, you might be one of those people out there who say that they just smoke a bit of weed and don’t do any harm to anybody. You might work hard, earn good money and therefore see your drugs use as nobody’s business but your own. Well, that might be so but your dealer might also be supplying the guy who’s going to steal your car, or break into your house and steal your TV, or hold up your wife or daughter in the street at knifepoint in order to get money for his next fix. How do you feel about that?

Even if your dealer has a very select clientele, the person supplying him, or the person supplying the person that supplies him might not have. There’s a whole supply chain that you’re supporting with your “innocent” drug use and sooner or later, bad people come into the equation. How do you feel about that?

The Pros and Cons of Twitthiking

2009-06-19T15:44:00.000+01:00

It’s been a few weeks now since I opened my Twitter account so I thought I’d take this opportunity to record my impressions of it so far.

I must admit that I wasn’t at all familiar with Twitter before I opened my account. I’d heard about it and I roughly knew the concept behind it but I’d never visited the site. I already had my Facebook account so I was familiar with the use of short status messages to describe my thoughts or what I was up to and I figured that Twitter would be used in the same personal way. After all, 140 characters don’t really offer room for anything deeper, do they?

The truth is, I was pleasantly surprised by Twitter. I actually found the 140 character limit liberating rather than restrictive. I’ve had blogs (like this one) for a number of years and one of the main problems that I’ve always had with them is thinking of subjects that would make suitable articles to post. I’ve always tried to make my blogs a collection of meaningful articles so I’ve never been a fan of just posting short comments. Twitter is different though as short comments are the only way to go. Suddenly, subjects that seemed too small and insignificant for a blog article can be explored and commented upon as a Twitter tweet. Often though, I’ve found that posting a tweet about a subject can actually get the creative juices flowing and a full-blown blog article can emerge from it. So, on that level, Twitter works as a creative sketchpad to throw down ideas and, occasionally, receive comments and feedback on them.

Twitter isn’t just about outputting thoughts and ideas though. Thanks to the ability to follow other peoples’ tweets without the Facebook restriction of having to become friends with them first, you can gain a lot of ideas and inspiration from them. By following news Twitters, you can keep up with current events and by following popular writers that you admire you can gain inspiration and learn how they creatively work within the 140 character per tweet limit. Of course, Twitter isn’t all about being serious either. If you follow some of your favourite comedy writers and performers then you can receive a regular feed of witty, topical tweets to brighten your day.

Twitter does also have its curiosities though, mainly due to some of the people that use it. One of the first problems is the fake accounts that are set up pretending to be popular celebrities. It can be frustrating to discover that you’ve been following a fake and reading lots of false tweets from them, but there are sites like Valebrity that weed out the fakes from the real so it’s not a problem that too seriously dampens the Twitter experience. The second curiosity is the way that people try to impose rules on Twitter despite it being an organic site. Let me explain…

I mentioned in a previous post how Twitter’s “Trending Topics” list gives you the ten most popular words or phrases that are appearing in Twitter posts and how these change to reflect breaking news. Well, it appears that some people forget that peoples’ posts drive the trending topics list and not the other way around. They get quite offended if a post doesn’t stick to the exact current context of a particular topic. I certainly don’t agree with people spamming the trending topics by filling an unrelated post with one or more of the top keywords, but people shouldn’t be restricted in how they express their thoughts on a topic.

For example, let’s say that a trending topic is “iPhone” because Apple have released a new version of the operating system that everyone wants to talk about. If somebody then decides that they want to post some jokes about the iPhone then they certainly shouldn’t be pounced on by the “Twit Police” for going off subject and not talking about the new OS. That would be like complaining about a topical, satirical comedy show for not offering serious debate. Twitter is a platform for people to express themselves in any way they wish and if they decide that comedy is their chosen means of expression then they shouldn’t be crucified for it.

So, that’s what Twitter is to me so far. It’s an information feed, a sketchpad, and perhaps to a lesser degree than the other two, a social tool. Mostly though, it’s a platform for personal expression.

Digital Britain and the Telephone Tax

2009-06-16T19:56:00.003+01:00

It was announced today, as part of the Digital Britain report, that all landline owners will be required to pay an extra 50p a month to help upgrade the speed of the telephone network and provide high-speed broadband access to rural areas. Well, I’m afraid that I have a big problem with this.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that upgrading our phone lines to support high-speed broadband is very important, and I also believe that rural areas should also have access to the same services as cities. However, I don’t believe that we should be paying an additional fee on out telephone bills to cover it.

I currently pay £63 a quarter (or £21 a month) to BT for my landline even though I rarely make any calls on it. The calls I do make are actually billed to me by my internet service provider, who happens to be Pipex. So, as my BT bill clearly states, the majority of the bill is a “rental charge” (since they’ve recently changed the wording from “service charge”). Now, regardless of whether they call it a rental charge or a service charge, what I’m actually paying for there is the upkeep, maintenance, and (wait for it) upgrade of my phone line and the associated network infrastructure.

Now, before anybody starts claiming that my BT “rental charge” is only enough to cover the upkeep of the current network and not enough to upgrade it, let me point out that BT make vast amounts of profit every year. To put it in layman’s terms: they have more money coming in than is going out. What that clearly means is that they’re not struggling to make our rental charges cover the network upkeep at all. In fact, they’re keeping the network going and finding themselves with quite a bit of money to spare. So, they’ve probably got more than enough spare 50p’s of mine too cover my contribution to the upgrade already.

It’s not just BT who are the villains in this piece though. The internet service providers (ISPs) are just as bad. Pipex was my first dial-up ISP back in 1998 and I’ve loyally stuck by them ever since then. In 2005, I decided that dial-up was too slow for me so I made the move to broadband, sticking with Pipex because they’d always given me a reliable service and their broadband package seemed reasonable for the price. Imagine my horror then when in 2007 I happened to surf to the Pipex site and discover that new subscribers to Pipex were, for the same monthly fee as me, getting a faster connection and a higher download allowance!

To this day, I don’t know how long I’d been paying over the odds for my broadband service, as Pipex never saw fit to inform me that their packages had changed, but I decided that it was only fair that after 9 years of loyal service, I should at least be getting the same service as new subscribers. So, I set off on my trip along the treacherous upgrade path.

The first obstacle I hit was when I went to the “Online Upgrade” area of their website only to be informed that, “the online upgrade facility is temporarily down for maintenance.”

So, I waited… and waited… and waited… and waited! I waited at least a month for the online upgrade area to return from its “temporary” downtime but it never did. In fact, I don’t believe that it’s ever returned to this day. My only option was to ring the dreaded upgrade phone line.

It took many attempts to get through but eventually I spoke to a real person who took my details about who I was and which package I wanted to upgrade to before informing me that he’d put the request through and that I’d receive the paperwork in the post shortly. It never arrived. It’s now a year and a half later and it’s never arrived! I sent emails trying to chase it up but they the only replies I ever got were telling me that for security reasons they needed more information or that they couldn’t locate my account. They’ve still managed to collect the monthly direct debit from my bank account though.

So, for the best part of two years now I’ve been paying for a substandard service and regularly being charged around £3 a month extra for going over my usage allowance. Once again, I’m sure that this extra money I’ve been paying to Pipex (or Tiscali, or Talk-Talk, or whoever owns them this week) more than covers my contribution to the broadband infrastructure, especially since by the time some rural farmer is checking out his new 20Mbps connection, I’ll probably still be stuck here getting 2.2Mbps for the same money.

ISPs have got their customers over a barrel. They know that most long-standing customers, like me, will have given their email address out to hundreds of different people and used it as their login for lots of different websites and applications such as MSN Messenger so changing ISPs is not a decision that they can take lightly. If they lose their existing ISP-based email address, hours or even days have to be spent changing logins and informing contacts. So, they grin and bear it, and pay over the odds for an outdated service. Surely, the ISPs as well as BT should be reinvesting their profits into the internet infrastructure. After all, they’re the one’s who’ll be able to charge their customers higher prices once the speeds go up!

It's yours so please look after it

2009-06-14T16:53:00.000+01:00

A week ago, I had to visit London for a meeting with a client at their offices. The meeting lasted all day and I finally got out at about 5:30. Luckily, their offices were just across the road from Waterloo Station so I managed to catch the 5:35 express train back down to Southampton. The train was packed and I had to stand between carriages, but I was at Southampton Central Station by 6:45. Not bad really. However, once I left Southampton Station, I then had 25 minutes wait for a bus that cost nearly £5 and took over an hour to do the 14 mile trip to my village on the edge of the New Forest. Not quite so impressive!

Contrast that with the Tyne & Wear Metro that completely encircles Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and runs down to Sunderland. I've been working in Newcastle (North Shields, to be exact) for the best part of the last two years, so I've become pretty familiar with the Metro and its workings. After 6:30 in the evening you can pay around £4 for a "rover" ticket that gives you unlimited journeys anywhere on the network. You can go from the beach at Whitley Bay down to the Stadium of Light in Sunderland via Newcastle Airport or St. James Park, at great speed with no traffic jams, and all for less than a fiver!

It's not just the cost that's impressive though. During the day, you can stand at any Metro station and know that one will be along within 12 minutes. Even in the evenings you only have to wait a maximum of 20 minutes, and that's right up until midnight. I'm sure that other Metro-style mass-transit systems in other cities are similarly efficient, but it just goes to emphasise how poor public transport is in my area, where it costs £15 to get the train from Southampton to Portsmouth.

For this reason, I was particularly struck on Monday morning when, after boarding the Metro at Newcastle Airport, I noticed the amount of vandalism on there. Luckily, it's not to the level of slashed seats, but quite a lot of people have decided that scratching their names or favourite football club into the perspex windows is a good idea. There have also been occasions when the Metro has been suspended due to objects being dumped on the track and even when the overhead power cables have been vandalised!

It staggers me that people would see fit to damage something that works so well but, more importantly, works in their favour! I suppose it's probably safe to say that the majority of the vandals are teenagers or in their early-20's (now I sound like a grumpy old git), so don't they realise what their lives would be like if the Metro wasn't there? Their social lives would certainly take a tumble if they had to get buses everywhere, especially as they wouldn't be able to fare-dodge like they do on the Metro. The fact that I've seen people waiting 12 minutes to catch the Metro to the next station, which they could have walked to in 10, highlights how much they need it. So, why do they attempt to disrupt or destroy it?

I'm guessing that the phrase "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" has never passed through these peoples' brains. Sadly, they're part of that group that believes that society owns them something, no matter how little they do to contribute to or repay it themselves. They believe that a £2 ticket is too much and that they should be entitled to travel at other peoples' expense as a reward for just being alive. They believe that no matter how much damage they cause to the Metro, or any other public facilities for that matter, it should be repaired with other peoples' money and be ready to serve them when they want it.

Sadly, it isn't just public facilities that these people have no respect for. You only have to look at where some of them live. They seem happy to turn their own homes and streets into a tip. I spent my formative teenage years growing up on a council estate, which I considered enough of a social stigma with my friends, so the last thing I wanted to do was play to the stereotype by presenting them with a street or garden full of rubbish when they came to visit. My parents still live in a council house to this day, but they do their best, as a lot of other good people do, to keep it and the street around it tidy and presentable.

However, don't think that I'm just blaming people from council estates for dragging areas down. There are enough well-off people who are just as bad. The sort of people who drive a BMW in an attempt to look sophisticated but will still hurl the remains of their McDonald's Drive-Thru meal out the window when they're done with it... bag, cup and all. The sort of children who will smash up their local bus shelter but then wear the latest trainers or tracksuit in an attempt to look "classy".

The way I see it, if these people want to live in filth, carnage, and chaos, then they should be allowed to. As long as I don't have to pay to support them. If taxpayers build a brand new council estate only for the residents to destroy it and turn it into a dump then tough luck! They should be left to live in the mess that they've created. Sadly, good, honest people are also caught up in the carnage so more work should be done to weed out the good from the bad. If a family destroy their house then don't move them next door to nice, decent people as they'll only do the same thing again and probably attempt to bring down the rest of the neighbourhood in the process.

I know that sounds like promoting a split society, but isn't that what we already have? There's those that contribute to society and there's those that just take from it. What needs to be done is to better distinguish the two. Identify those who can't find work and give them help, but also identify those who don't want to find work and stop supporting them. Once they can longer afford beer, fags and Sky Sports (sorry for the stereotype), they might start taking job-hunting as seriously as everybody else.

Unfortunately, we live in a do-gooder society that seems intent on trying to "save" everybody, even those who are blatantly taking the piss out of it. In this current climate where the cost of living has soared and job security has plunged, we really need to reassess our motives. If people can't, or won't, accept the basic rules of living in a civilised society and accept that they have a moral duty to look after it then that society should stop supporting them. It's only fair, isn't it?

It's National Doughnut Day

2009-06-05T19:20:00.005+01:00

Apparently, in the US, today is National Doughnut Day. That's right... National Doughnut Day!

Now, I must admit that when I first heard about it, I thought the US were doing their bit to honour Gordon Brown on this rather grim day when the local council election results spell the beginning of the end for Brown's government. However, I decided to research it a bit further and discovered that the US really do have a national day dedicated to the calorie-packed treats. Now, I must have been living under a rock all my life because, apparently, the US has been celebrating National Doughnut Day since 1938.

So, what happens on National Doughnut Day? Well, to use the word apparently yet again, doughnut shops all over the country, both independent and large national franchises, give away free doughnuts. Just what the US needs as it struggles against ever-growing obesity. Of course, the doughnut stores are laughing. Give people free doughnuts to feed their sugar addiction and watch how many of them come back tomorrow... and the next day... and the next day...

Coming soon in the US... National Crack Day! Visit your local dealer to pick up your free sample! Try it... you might like it!

Vermin: A Poem by Jason Webb

2009-06-02T11:29:00.002+01:00

The pigeons look down from the rooftop
And say with a cynical coo,
“We’re called vermin cos we clean up the mess that man makes
so we think the real vermin are you!”

And the seagulls, they squawk in agreement.
With a nod from the rats and the foxes.
As they pick up the scraps that are dumped in the street
in McDonalds and KFC boxes.

Copyright (c) 2007 - Jason Webb

The Thing About News...

2009-06-01T13:51:00.012+01:00

I've only recently signed up with Twitter, but one of the interesting things about it is the "Trending Topics" listing that shows you the top ten keywords or phrases that are appearing in people's posts. The good thing about this list is that it allows you to see what real people consider to be the most important issues of the moment, not what the media consider to be the most important.

The list updates in real-time so if you watch it over the course of the day you can see how different topics gain or lose importance with the public. As the UK goes to sleep at night and the US settles down for the evening, you can also see the trending topics change to reflect news priorities in different parts of the World.

Now, just in case you haven't already heard, it's recently been announced that an Air France air liner with 228 people on board has disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic whilst en-route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris. However, this story, or rather the keyword "Atlantic", only ranks as the third most popular on Twitter. Sadly, the second most popular phrase on Twitter as I write this is "Susan Boyle", the Britain's Got Talent loser (in case you were lucky enough not to already know).

Does this mean that the general population of Britain care more about a TV talent contest than they do about a plane crash? Perhaps.

The problem is that until news of the lost plane broke, the most important story in the country seemed to be the fact that Boyle had been admitted to some kind of institution due to stress. This story was so important, in fact, that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown revealed to a worried GMTV audience that he had made calls to Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan to check that she was okay. Well, thank God for that. My mind has been set at rest.

If the media and even our own leader attempt to convince us that this is the most important story in the World then it's hardly surprising that impressionable "normal" folk are going to be taken in by it.

Of course, the irony is that when I made Twitter posts expressing my disgust at the aforementioned facts, they will have counted towards the popularity of the aforementioned S. Boyle in the trending topics list, thus perpetuating the whole affair. I guess you can't beat the system!

Is it really 2 years?

2009-06-01T12:37:00.002+01:00

No, it's actually been over 2 years since I last posted to this blog. Ah, well!

Inspired by Twitter into new realms of literate creativity, I've decided to get back into the swing of this Blogger thing.

Stay tuned, Folks!

Paul Tibbets Dies - A Door on Hiroshima Closes

2007-11-02T15:19:00.000Z

Yesterday, Thursday 1st November, Paul Tibbets died of natural causes aged 92. Now, that might not be particularly big news to you so how about if I told you that on 6th August 1945, US Air Force Colonel Paul Tibbets was at the controls of the B-29 bomber Enola Gay as it dropped the first ever atomic bomb used in anger on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. There, Tibbets has his place in history.

Unfortunately, I've always had a problem with Tibbets, partly because he's never expressed any regret or remorse for the 140000 people that died as a direct result of his actions, but more importantly because he's always revelled in the Hiroshima incident and worn it like a glowing badge of honour.

To be fair, when he dropped the bomb, Tibbets was just following orders and had no idea of the devastation and deaths that it would cause. In fact, not even the scientists who developed the bomb or the politicians who ordered its use did. Hiroshima was a live experiment with real human test subjects. However, Tibbets has never publicly expressed even the slightest feeling of guilt over his actions. Quite the opposite, in fact.

In later life, Tibbets would often appear at airshows in the US and sign autographs and photos for the crowd. Disturbingly, some of those photos, such as the one displayed on this page, were actually of the devastated city of Hiroshima. Apparently, to Tibbets, this was not in bad taste at all. At a Texas airshow in 1976, Tibbets even re-enacted the bombing of Hiroshima, complete with mock mushroom cloud. This stunt brought complaints from Japan and a subsequent apology from the US Government. Tibbets claimed that it wasn't meant as an insult.

Tibbets lack of remorse continued though. In 1995, to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombing, the American Smithsonian Institute (quite rightly) wanted to hold an exhibition of the Enola Gay that put it into context with the suffering that it caused. However, Tibbets called it a "damn big insult". After all, how dare they let the deaths and suffering of over 140000 people overshadow the glory boys in their shiny bomber!

There has, of course, always been the other side to the A-bomb argument. Specifically, that dropping the Hiroshima bomb, and the one dropped on Nagasaki three days later, cut the war in the Pacific short and saved thousands of lives that would have been lost in a full-scale land invasion of Japan. That's very true. There are also those that will say more bluntly that "the Japs deserved it in return for their sneak attack at Pearl Harbor". Hmm, now I'm not so sure.

The fact of the matter, and you can look up the McCollum Memorandum if you don't believe me, was that the US were deliberately provoking Japan into attacking them for over a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The US was worried about Germany and Italy taking control of the North Atlantic and about the spread of Nazi influence into South America. However, US public opinion wouldn't support full-scale US military involvement. So, the US Government saw Japan as their back door into WW2. If they could provoke Japan into making an attack on the US (though apparently "unprovoked" to the US people) then public opinion, and the rules of the Germany-Italy-Japan axis agreement, would mean that the US could officially go to war against Germany in the North Atlantic. Can anybody say 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq and oil?

Japan's attack on US soil was literally counted on by the US government even to the point where important intelligence was ignored for fear of spooking Japan and causing them to abort their plan to attack. The reason why Japan invaded China and occupied Manchuria was because they feared the way that Western powers such as the US, Britain and Holland were sweeping across South East Asia in an attempt to monopolise the raw materials and commodities. Japan just wanted to keep the region under Asian control and not let the West steal it away. Shades of the Middle East and oil again?

So, ultimately, USAF Colonel Paul Tibbets and the crew of the Enola Gay were just pawns in a game being played out above their heads. They were doing what they'd been led to believe was the right thing for their country, their families and for future generations. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. However, that shouldn't prevent feelings of remorse or responsibility for your actions, particularly when the truth about the original situation comes to light and it's revealed that all wasn't as it seemed.

Paul Tibbets never did choose to take responsibility for his actions and never attempted to create any positive messages from them. In a 1975 interview he stated, "I sleep clearly every night" and in a March 2005 interview he stated, "If you gave me the same circumstances, hell yeah, I'd do it again."

Even as his own death approached, he still felt no remorse over the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by the atomic bombs, or those that might be lost in the future. A better man might have made a final statement on his gravestone such as, "Let no man ever have to do again what I had to do". Instead, Tibbets stated in his will that he didn't want a headstone as he didn't want his final resting place to become a pilgrimage site for opponents of the use of nuclear weapons.

So, with the death of Paul Tibbets, a door on Hiroshima has closed and Tibbets himself has done his best to bolt and barricade it behind him. Luckily, a massive gate is still very much open for all to see through.

Tags: Paul Tibbets, Hiroshima, Enola Gay, Atomic Bomb, Japan, Nuclear Weapons, WW2, World War 2

eBay Customer Support - How NOT To Do It

2007-01-10T00:19:00.000Z

Ask any successful businessperson (or anybody who knows even the slightest thing about business, for that matter) what the most important part of any business is and they'll more than likely say customer support.

It's quite a well-known statistic that it's easier and cheaper to sell to an existing customer than it is to find a new one so it would make sense to do your best to keep those customers happy. However, it would appear that some businesses are losing sight of this most basic business concept.

Just go to Google and do a search for eBay Customer Support to find thousands of people who are less than happy with the level of support that they've received from one of the largest companies on the internet. How can that be possible though? How can a company that holds a permanent place in internet history have got it so wrong? In my previous post I even praised eBay for leading people to trust the internet again after the original Dot Com Bubble burst, so how come so many people are now unhappy with them?

At first glance, you can see where eBay are coming from. As their customer base grew they realised that their customer support department was constantly answering the same questions. This is obviously a drain on the time of their customer support operators so they decided to add sections answering the most frequently asked questions to the website. There's nothing wrong with that in principle. If people can find instant answers to their questions without having to send an email and wait for a reply then that must increase customer satisfaction... mustn't it?

Yes, it does. Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) sections are common on a lot of websites and are a useful resource. However, what eBay seem to have forgotten is that they're not all-seeing prophets who have looked into their crystal balls and predicted every question that their customers are ever going to have and placed them in the help section of the website. In their rush to grow bigger and rake in the money, they seem to have forgotten that their customers might actually have a question to ask them that isn't on their website.

Any attempt to actually send them an email asking a real question results in what appears to be an automated reply containing exactly the same information that had failed to answer your question when you read it on the website. Even when you do appear to receive an answer from a "real" person, all you actually receive is selected pieces once again copied and pasted from the help section of the website or a cryptic reply that's more like a Zen Buddhist riddle than a definitive reply:

"We cannot deny that the listing is true, but if you are right, then karma's with you!"

If, for example, an eBay customer has paid £1000 for an item that they've not received then it's not unreasonable to assume that they might like to actually speak to a real person about it.

Now, there are those who'll argue that all the answers are on the site and people just can't be bothered to look for them. Does that let eBay off the hook though? If customers aren't finding the answers they want, for whatever reason, then eBay should be identifying that breakdown and adjusting their approach accordingly. They should be adapting to meet their customers' needs. They shouldn't expect their customers to adapt to their way of working.

eBay's terrible customer support is a great example of how a big company can lose sight of the basics. As the company's grown, it's attempted to automate one of the most time consuming parts of business (customer support) but in doing that, it's totally forgotten that people do sometimes need a real human to talk to, not an eBay copy-and-paste monkey.

I had another example of this myself last night whilst trying to find a contact number for my satellite TV supplier (Sky) on their website. Rather than giving you a phone number for the accounts department, you're asked to fill out an online form giving your name, email and phone number then presumably wait for some sort of reply. Well, 24 hours later, I've still not received a reply and don't even know if my question has been received. If I'd had a direct phone number, I would have been able to get an almost instant response. Of course, phone numbers for new customers to instantly subscribe or purchase extra channels are all over the site, while existing customers are made to jump through hoops.

There are two lessons that can be taken away from this. Firstly, however comprehensive a help or FAQ section your business website might have, you still need to give people an email address or telephone number for customer support issues and you need to respond to those issues in a prompt, personal and comprehensive manner.

The second lesson is perhaps more important: however good your site may be, if you neglect your customers then they'll rebel against you, take their custom elsewhere, and spread the bad word to anybody who'll listen.

Tags: ebay, customer support, customer service

So, Saddam Hussein Is Dead

2006-12-31T23:31:00.000Z

On Saturday, the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging. Phew! I'm glad that whole Iraq affair is over. It was getting a little bit tiresome. I expect that even as I write this, the citizens of Baghdad are holding street parties reminiscent of VE Day and rushing from their battered homes to hug Allied soldiers as brass bands play like the liberated French villagers in the final scenes of Kelly's Heroes. George W. Bush is probably arranging another victory party/photo opportunity on the deck of an aircraft carrier with a large banner reading "Saddam is dead!" hanging from the superstructure.

Of course, they're not. Iraqi citizens aren't holding street parties (their bullet-ridden walls would probably collapse under the weight of the bunting), though I wouldn't rule out the aircraft carrier party. The sad truth is that the majority of Iraqi citizens are probably more scared now than they've been for a long time. That's the problem when you tamper with the balance of power; where there was once stability, you create instability.

With Saddam out the way, the door's left wide open for another power-hungry leader to seize control. I'm not talking about the US-approved "government" here though. They'll more than likely be ousted from power in seconds once they lose their US "bodyguards". I'm talking here about the Shias and the Sunnis.

The Shias have wanted Saddam and his Sunnis out of power for years and now see their opportunity to take control of the country. However, with their official leader Saddam out of the picture for good, there's also now the opportunity for an ambitious new Sunni leader to carve out his own regime. The result of this can only be a vicious power struggle with innocent civilians and Allied troops stuck in the middle.

I should probably mention at this point that whenever I mention the US in connection to Iraq, I do of course include the UK in the statement. However, since Blair seems to follow Bush wherever he goes, I felt that it's taken for granted.

A lot has been written in the last few days about the rights and wrongs of Saddam's death sentence itself. Nobody can deny that he's done some very nasty things and many will say that he deserved to die but I'm sure that even those people would have liked to have seen him face a full trial and a guilty verdict for every unlawful act that he performed. Just look at the reaction of people when Fred West killed himself whilst being held on remand in jail. He was accused of murdering 12 young women though it was believed that he was also responsible for 20 or more other murders. However, because he killed himself before the case went to trial he was never officially found guilty of a single one and people were outraged that he'd escaped having to face up to his crimes.

Surely, people would also have liked to have seen Saddam official found guilty for all the thousands of deaths that he caused rather than the 148 that he was executed for. It seems that he got off lightly really. So, why was his execution rushed through so quickly? He'd been in jail for three years so why was there the sudden rush? The trial revealed just enough to justify his execution to the public then, in Godfather-style, he was "silenced" as quickly as possible. Why was that?

Could it be because certain parties didn't want the involvement of the US in Saddam's "crimes" to be revealed? The fact that the US Government supplied him with the chemical weapons that he used to kill his enemies might be a cause for embarrassment. So might the fact that they supplied him with the home addresses of members of the Iraqi Communist Party who were subsequently taken from those homes and murdered along with their families. Of course, that was okay though since they were "Commies" and commies were the enemy of the West.

For Saddam to be tried by a US-approved court for crimes that the US encouraged and helped him to commit would almost be like a police officer handing you a brick to throw through the window of a jewellery store then arresting you once you'd done it. Those sorts of covert operations are never meant to become public knowledge much like the operations that took place in Central America when it was decided that the balance of power needed a US counterweight to tip it in the right direction.

In his defence, Saddam may have argued that the deaths were acceptable as he was only doing what he believed was best for his country with the approval of his US supporters. After all, the US had always believed in "acceptable deaths" (and apparently still does).

When the US dropped their atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, they caused the deaths of around 60,000 people, mainly civilians, in that one single action. Three days later, the second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki killed another 39,000. As well as those killed instantly by the bombs, many more died in the following years from radiation poisoning. To date, the total death tolls stand at around 242,437 for Hiroshima and 137,339 for Nagasaki.

Six days after the Nagasaki bomb, the Japanese government decided that the loss of such huge numbers of civilian lives was unacceptable and subsequently announced their surrender to the Allied powers. Because the Japanese surrendered, the dropping of the atomic bombs were seen by the US as a positive action as they brought forward the end of the war by many months and saved the lives of Allied soldiers that might have been lost during a full-scale invasion of Japan.

So there, a worrying precedent was set stating that it's okay to cause the deaths of nearly half a million enemy civilians if you believe that it'll save the lives of your own people. Therefore, couldn't Saddam have argued that his actions were merely a similar attempt to ensure the safety of his own people? In fact, by executing him, a statement has been made that it's okay to kill others when you believe that you're in the right.

However, trying to justify any kind of action that causes the deaths of others is difficult and to some degree, it comes down to perspective and historical context. If the Japanese hadn't surrendered after the Nagasaki atomic bomb, how many more atomic bombs would have been dropped by the US and what would the final death toll have been? How many people would have to have been killed before the general opinion was that perhaps dropping the bombs wasn't such a good idea? If the Japanese had ultimately won the war then would US President Truman have been put on trial and hung for the atrocities caused by the use of the atomic bombs?

At what point do the actions of a country's government make them a candidate for trial and execution? Was any US president ever hung for ordering the slaughter of Native Americans so that railroads could be built across America? Was any US president ever hung for allowing people to be taken from their native Africa back to the US to be kept in slavery and subjected to floggings, rape and other inhumane treatment?

What about if inaction by a government causes thousands to die? There's evidence to say that George W. Bush knew about the planned terrorist attacks on the US mainland long before 9/11 yet through complacency and possibly egotism, the threat was ignored and no preventative action was taken. Due to this inaction, around 3000 people lost their lives and a chain of events was started that would see thousands more lose theirs.

What about the inaction that leads to many innocent people losing their lives every year through gun-related crime? Any US government could address the constitutional right that keeps guns on American streets but they won't do it, as politically it's not a popular thing to do, so people keep dying. The government might as well be ordering the deaths themselves, as they certainly don't seem to be prepared to take the action required to try to stop them.

I expect there are going to be people who accuse me of being a "Bush-hater" due to my comments. It's true that I do dislike the man but I don't think that labels like that should be used as an excuse for avoiding intelligent debate. Too much exposure to politicians through the media has taught people their "La, La, La. I'm not listening because you're just a insert label here" response to anybody who tries to express an opposing point of view.

Now, I'm not saying for a minute that Saddam wasn't a criminal who deserved to be punished for his crimes, but let's not get caught up in some kind of false celebration here now that he's gone. He's certainly not unique and sadly, there are others just as bad as he was. Many have got away totally free of charge for committing comparable acts or even worse. I saw one comment by a member of the public on a news website that said something along the lines of, "I'll sleep soundly in my bed tonight knowing that the World is a safer place." I think the bubbles from his celebratory champagne must have gone to his head.

So, now that Saddam is gone, who's next on the hit list? Iran? North Korea? Perhaps somebody might actually remember that Osama Bin Laden was wanted for questioning at one point too. Who knows? The only person who can really sleep soundly tonight is Saddam himself. His problems are all behind him now and for the most part, it looks like he got away with it... and so did the American individuals who helped him.

Tags: Saddam Hussein, Saddam, Hussein, Iraq, Iraq War

If we can put a man on the moon...

2006-07-27T16:00:00.001+01:00

There's an advert on tv here in the UK at the moment that makes me chuckle every time I see it. The advertiser is BP (British Petroleum) and the advert is about biofuels.

The basis of this series of adverts is that they're getting the opinions of the everyday "man or woman on the street" about the next generation of environmentally sound fuels. In this particular advert a woman is talking about biofuels and says the classic line, "...if we can put a man on the moon then surely we can build cars that don't make mess."

In itself, that's a fair statement but it always makes me laugh when people bring out the "...if we can put a man on the moon..." argument as regards scientific progress. It's not just related to biofuels. Whenever something doesn't seem to be working quite the way it should do we get that old chestnut.

Well, what people seem to forget about putting a man on the moon is that it was a heavily political act. The US Government poured a lot of money into the space programme so that they could put a man on the moon before their Russian enemies. They didn't care about the scientific side of it, they just wanted to get a man up there to stick the Stars and Stripes in the moondust before the commies. It wasn't called "The Space Race" for nothing.

Just look at how funding for the space programme has declined since then once there was no longer an incentive for the US Government to invest money in it. Reagan showed a bit of interest in the 80's with his "Star Wars" programme but nuclear disarmament and the end of the Cold War put an end to that. Nowadays, astronauts seem to be risking their lives every time they fly into space in a craft that, if it were a car, would've been scrapped years ago.

Sure, the technology to develop biofuels is available but it's certainly not going to receive the sort of financial backing from governments that the space race did. There's just no incentive for them. That's why it's left to companies like BP to try and develop biofuels by themselves.

If Saddam had been trying to corner the World biofuels market then it's probably safe to say that plenty of government money would've been poured into making sure that we can all drive wheatgerm powered cars. Though the twist is that if biofuels were now readily available there probably wouldn't be such an interest in the oil-rich Middle East anyway and we'd be more than happy to let them fight it out amongst themselves safe in the knowledge that they no longer had us over the proverbial (oil) barrel. Of course, without the public reliance on oil, there wouldn't be anything to justify the politically motivated involvement of the US and UK in the Middle East anyway and public support would fall even further.

One day soon, governments will start to show an interest in biofuels. It will probably be right after they decide how to tax them without causing a public uproar. Well, when you consider the tax that's made off petrol and diesel, you don't honestly think that they're going to risk losing all that income by letting biofuels go tax free do you? If they can put a man on the moon then they can tax the hell out of anything!

Tags: biofuels, bio-fuels, bio-diesel, biodiesel, alternative fuels, the moon, the space race, alternative energy

What are the spammers thinking?

2006-07-14T16:14:00.000+01:00

Email spammers have always been a funny bunch. They blast their message all over the internet just trying to hit as many web users as possible. However, the latest series of spam emails that I've been receiving have really made me think about what goes on inside the head of a spammer.

Once or twice a day I receive a batch of between 8 and 11 identical spam emails all sent from different throwaway addresses (normally gmail or some .ru domain). However, what makes these emails different is that they all target different generic mailboxes on one of my domains such as webmaster@..., sales@..., accounts@...

The thing is that most of the mailboxes that they use don't even exist on my domain. The only reason that these emails don't disappear into the internet ether never to be seen again is that I've set that domain so that any mail to non-existent mailboxes is forwarded to me.

This really causes me to question the mentality of the spammer involved. They're sending out email to addresses that they're not even sure exists, which has to be a really ineffective way to send out email, even for spammers.

Now, you'd expect that mail sent out in such a scattergun way would have to appeal to a very broad market otherwise it's very unlikely to bring any sales. Well, welcome to the crazy world of the spammer. Most of the emails I receive from this particular spammer are either for viagra or, most recently, not even containing a link but merely promoting some shares on the stock market (obviously trying to create a buzz and push the price up).

Let's just say for arguments sake that accounts@... was a legitimate mailbox for my accounts department. What's the likelihood of somebody at work in my accounts department reading the email and suddenly thinking "yes, my stock of viagra is getting rather low" or "I'd best get on to my stockbroker now and add this company to my shares portfolio"?

I think this just go to show why these people end up having to spam. They obviously don't have the intelligence to promote a business in a targetted, ethical way.

Don't ever let your own email marketing methods sink to these depths. There are plenty of good resources and products available to teach you how to carry out a legal, ethical, and ultimately more profitable email campaign.

Tags: spam, anti-spam, spam emails, email, spammer, spammers

Fat Camps: Should weight loss be punishment?

2006-07-05T17:22:00.001+01:00

It's around this time of year that many American children head off for that old classic, the summer camp. Unfortunately, some children aren't allowed to go with their friends to summer camp because of the way they look. Instead, they get shipped off to Fat Camp.

Fat camps, or weight loss camps to give them a more acceptable name, are places where overweight youngsters are sent for the summer to try and work off some of their excess flab. While their school friends are at summer camp swimming, canoeing, hiking and (if the movies are to believed) getting off with the opposite sex, these chubby children are sweaty themselves to melting point trying to slim down.

But, is it right that these children are being put through this torturous process? How's it going to affect them in later life if they're left with this image of weight loss as being a horrible punishment that isolates you from your friends and family?

Now don't get me wrong, I think that children who are overweight need to be helped to get themselves back into a more fit and healthy condition. However, I do feel that parents shipping their childen off to weight loss camps are copping out of their own responsibility.

These children didn't get fat overnight. It happened over a long period of time and it happened right under their parents' noses. Their parents had plenty of time to spot the problem and try and turn it around. Instead they do nothing. They let their child put on weight and put on weight then punish them for it by sending them to fat camp away from their friends.

It all seems to be another of society's "quick-fix" solutions. Live in blinkered ignorance until the problem gets too bad, then pay somebody else to fix it for you. Easy, huh? Sadly, it's the children who are left with the opinion that trying to lose weight is something to be ashamed of and something that excludes them from "normal" society.

Perhaps it's the parents that should be banished to "fat camps" for the summer learning how to teach their children proper dietary and exercise habits that will serve them well in later life and prevent them from adding to the obese population.

Tags: fat camps, weight loss camps, weight loss, health, obesity, fitness, childrens health, diet, fat, overweight, obese