Adam and Eve were kicked out of paradise because they’ve eaten from the tree of knowledge, good, and evil. The Renaissance paintings all show lovely, perfect Adams and Eves – with navels – tempted by a snake to eat an apple. Except, it was never an apple. Apples did not exist in Mesopotamia at the…
There’s an old joke that said one better not go skydiving on Easter Friday because nothing opens on Easter Friday. Which is awfully frustrating for a reborn bachelor looking for something to do and way too much screen time behind his name. Finding a place to go and hang out and explore life for a…
I’ve always been a huge fan of comic strips. Well, used to be. It all started when I was barely old enough to read when my father introduced me to the greatest literary work ever written: Peanuts. Charlie Brown and the gang formed the basis of a lifelong love affair with comic strips. I always…
Last week, OpenAI rolled out “Monday”, their snarky, sarcastic, “what the fuck do you want” AI model. I played around with it for a while, and if I’m charitable, it feels like I’ve got a girlfriend again. If I’m not, it feels like I’m talking to my mother when she’s in a particularly nasty mood….
On Wednesday evening, I went to a pub quiz. I played man alone and managed fifth place, narrowly missing out on fourth. The quizmaster gave me a “Special mention” as the lonely guy scored more than half the field. I’m a self-confessed know-it-all all. What element does the symbol St stand for? Tin. From the…
The full title of this piece is actually “Intellectual agnosticism: the freedom from opinions and the lost art of saying ‘I don’t know’.” But it’s too long for the interwebs. Go grab a beer, and join me in today’s Sunday sermon. Have you heard what [person in the news] has done? It’s so [insert opinion…
I was an art student – a pretty crappy one, but still. I loved art. Please note the past tense. Back in my young and idealistic days, art filled the gaps. In the 2011 film, This Must Be the Place, Sean Penn’s character tells David Byrne (playing himself) that the artist is the greatest of…
I want to start off this blog with some sad news. Two weeks ago, I euthanised my dogs. It was, is, to date, the third-worst day of my life. The second was the day Andrea died. The first was the day I needed to tell her she was going to die. My boy doggle, Laszlo,…
When can somebody call themselves ‘well-travelled’? I’m reminded of that old John Denver lyric: “I haven’t quite been around the world, But I’ve been around the block”, and this is how I feel about my travelling life. I’ve not been to many countries — the South African Rand only stretches so far — but I’ve…
As a fiction writer, I get to indulge in many… erm, indulgences. Fiction is magical, and there are several private pleasures when creating something out of thin air. The first pleasure is character building. To create a character, give them a name, a birthday, and define their looks, mannerisms, and styles… It is great fun,…
I am one of those hideously chirpy morning people. During my childhood, while everybody I knew slept in late on weekends and holidays, I was that kid who was up at sunrise. I don’t know why. I was awake, slept out, and well, let the day begin, even if it’s only dawn and the sun…
Those who knew me, know I have a ‘thing’ for beauty. I love beautiful things. And beauty comes in my forms, not just the obvious ones. Beautiful women and beautiful paintings and beautiful sunsets and beautiful cars are just too obvious. Sometimes beauty hits you where you least expect it. Last night it hit in…
I make this point often, but it bears repeating: until the age of 46, I was a drug-virgin. In my youth I used prodigious amounts of beer. And okay, yes, still do. As an art student, getting plastered was what I did on a too-regular basis. My blood group was Smirnoff. But I never did…
It’s not every day I recommend a book. Unless asked for. “Hey, Gerry, do you know a book that will [x]?”. if I do, I’d answer. But unsolicited ‘recommendations’ is not generally something I do. Today is the exception to “generally”. Let’s talk about “hype”. I don’t like hype. Because nine times out of ten,…
When I was a wee lad of eighteen, I had a love affaire with advertising. My first-ever vacation job was at an ad agency, and I loved every second of it. I learned a lot of things at that place. (Including the dubious advice from an ancient copywriter who told me ‘Always treat a whole…
2020 was what could politely be referred to ‘a mess’. Several things went incredibly wrong, and my life has changed permanently after the trails of the last year. (My mother, my godfather, and my wife died within four months of each other–yes, I’m a mess) Least of which was that I had a technical error…
