Seeing is believing. Or is it? Is what we see real, or is there a worrying gap between perception and reality? Philosophers have been arguing about this for centuries. One thing is certain: optical illusions and hallucinations exist so, at least in those cases, our perceptions must lead us astray. In most everyday situations, though,…Read more Perception
Album
Knats
Playing jazz with a funky groove An Internet search for 'Knats' produces information about those pesky little flying insects, gnats. We don't suffer from gnats in our house, although we do sometimes have ants in our kitchen. I can tell when the ants are roaming because I can hear Mrs Crotchety muttering to them. Sometimes…Read more Knats
Dark Sky Reservation
Stargazing in New Zealand My autograph collection became a lot more valuable on Tuesday. It cost me a pair of concert tickets, a CD and a tram ride, but that's nothing compared with the signature of the UK's poet laureate, Simon Armitage. Simon Armitage's signature on my copy of the Dark Sky Reservation CD. That…Read more Dark Sky Reservation
Stick Jam
Careful, guys, steps ahead ... How many ways can you think of to use a stick? You might throw it for your dog to fetch. If it's a nice straight stick, you might use it to keep your runner beans upright. Or you might drop it off a bridge in a game of Pooh sticks.…Read more Stick Jam
The Gathering
A nighttime gathering. Dancing at a rave in the woods, perhaps? A review of Mark Wingfield's Elemental album on the Cirdecsongs blog prompted another expedition into unknown regions of cyberspace. The burning question was "Who is that guy?". It turns out that Mark Wingfield is an English jazz guitarist with strong connections to some of…Read more The Gathering
The Fellowship
Tolkien's good guys The Lord of the Rings: You've probably seen the films. You may have read the books. But, unless you were quick off the mark, you won't have listened to Dave Brons' musical interpretation of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic story. The first instalment of his Celtic prog rock trilogy was only released…Read more The Fellowship
Topography of Mind
The Lost Map of the Mind Wanderers My friends have organised an exotic Camel ride so that we can explore the Topography of Mind, and I hope you will join us. We will be following in the footsteps of recent prog rock explorers and guided by a map supplied by the Israeli band, Telegraph. They…Read more Topography of Mind
Holy Books and Credit Cards
Holy Moses, Batman! I'm on a credit card!! It seems you can have any picture you like on your credit card ... if you own the card company. So, I suppose you could have a picture of holy books, if you wanted. But I don't think Also Eden had that in mind when they made…Read more Holy Books and Credit Cards
Yellow Fields
Wheatfield with a reaper by Vincent van Gogh Seen through the eyes of Vincent van Gogh, wheat is a vibrant yellow. More often, though, when we see yellow fields, we are looking at the flowering heads of canola, the plant whose seeds are the third-largest source of vegetable oil in the world according to Wikipedia.…Read more Yellow Fields
Dream Machine
The dreamer's roundabout and his untethered hot-air balloon The time has come, the blogger said, to write of many tunes ...Of songs and gongs and streaming sites. Of roundabouts and moons.And why the sand is shocking pink, and what's beneath those dunes.With apologies to Lewis Carroll Zoungla is a progressive psychedelic rock project led by…Read more Dream Machine
Crotchety Man 