The British Esperantist

This is Issue 6 of The British Esperantist, the 'mix tape of books' that I have been working on since I left The Island a year ago. It's been pretty successful and, now I have returned, I would like to suggest that you purchase a copy if you can as it is not only very entertaining, it is also informative and really cheap. This issue's contents include: Hawkwind; Ben Weber, International Ventriloquist; William Blake's horoscope; trouser trends and lots, lots more.

More details here --

The British Esperantist 6 

Don't linger, though, they generally aren't around for very long. Thank you for your attention.

Oddments

Crash

I love J.G Ballard, and I read and re-read his books almost all the time. Even though he was a genius, he was also very prolific and, occasionally, his typewriter ran away with him a bit and you end up with the odd daft line. In this new, (very) occasional, series, I will be mercilessly highlighting the occasional Ballard balls up and why not, as, after all, I have approximately one thousandth of his talent (I'm being generous), so I might as well take the piss.

Right, let's start off with a line that leapt out at me as I read it in the bath -

'In a sense all fish are images of ourselves seen in the sea's mirror'.

From 'Deep End', written in 1961 but collected in 'The Terminal Beach'  (1964). It's an interesting story about an Earth in terminal decline because its natural resources have been stripped to enable the colonisation of other planets. As a result, the atmosphere has been depleted, the temperature greatly increased, and the seas and oceans reduced to strips and pools of brackish water. Two men find a fish, perhaps the last fish on Earth, but before they can rescue it some kids kill it with a brick.  

That's all. For now.

Credit Union

  

A faded but nonetheless wonderful title sequence from the days when the Encyclopaedia Britannica used to make fascinating television documentaries, not to mention actual Encyclopedias (instead of just having an online presence). Title sequences are great, aren't they? Well, the good ones are. The great ones are amazing.

Portrait Of A People

002: A speccy swot swots up.

The Book Of The Film