<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d11376922\x26blogName\x3dLots+of+Big+Ideas\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dSILVER\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://lotsofbigideas.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_GB\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://lotsofbigideas.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-264911458873623575', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Tag

Monday, February 27, 2006
I've been tagged by the lovely Molara.

I now have to answer some annoying questions and then tag four other bloggers. So, here goes...

1. Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies?
** Doesn't matter, as long as they're good. I saw Good Night, and Good Luck last night and, besides being a rather good film, it worked very well in new black-and white.

2. What is the one single subject that bores you to near-death?
** Hmmm...tricky... I can get interested in most things. I'm a bit of a geek like that...

3. MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music?
** Last year, an iPod saved my lfe...

4. You are handed one first class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and ten million dollars cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going … Ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run?
** Not if I couldn't take the people I love along with me.

5. Seriously, what do you consider the world’s most pressing issue now?
** Freedom of speech and expression. That means for everyone. Without conditions. It's the only way to get real debate on all the things that need to change. We're in danger of entering another era of McCarthyism. Go and see Good Night, and Good Luck if you don't know what I mean.

6. How would you rectify the world’s most pressing issue?
** Make George Clooney president? Seriously, I'd encourage people to speak out. Don't be afraid to tell your story.

7. You are given the chance to go back and change one thing in your life; what would that be?
** I wish I'd kept dancing. I wish I'd said 'yes' more often to more things, even when I was really scared. But regretting the things you got wrong or didn't do is a way of stretching out your mistakes. I'm so lucky to be here. I'd rather look forward and make the most of it.

8. You are given the chance to go back and change one event in world history, what would that be?
** See above. I'd rather get on with Now. Let's all be as kind to one another as we can. Starting from...NOW...

9. A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole’ Opry – Which do you choose?
** Neither appeals all that much. What about a night with my friends and a big pan of garlicky spaghetti?

10. What is the one great unsolved crime of all time you’d like to solve?
** Men wearing ties. I mean, what's that all about?

11. One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal?
** Too many to choose from. James Joyce? Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Charlotte Bronte? (I wore her dress once.) Dorothy Parker? Elizabeth Bishop? Preferably someone alive such as the poet, Sharon Olds. We'd eat our words...

12. You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky — what’s the first immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact?
** I don't believe in heaven and hell, anyway, so this wouldn't change a thing for me.

OK, now I have to choose four other unsuspecting souls to inflct these questions upon. But that's good because I get the opportunity to urge you to read them. They're all brilliant:

The Edit Barn

Eyes for Hearts

Editor:Myself

Black Looks

New writing

Friday, February 24, 2006
Our wiki is growing with new stories and poems by inspiratonal writers now being added. Take a look at this novel extract by talented Iranian writer, Mark Hill.