In many ways, Eula-Beulah prepare me for literary criticism. After having a two-hundred pound babysitter fart on your face and yell Pow!, The Village Voice holds few terrors.
~ Stephen King, On Writing, Page 8
eula-beulah
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Category Archives: writing
impressed with wall flowers
I was so stoked to have ‘my say’ published in The Big Issue today. It really made my day.
Here’s the original article I am talking about. TBI: please don’t sue 
the big glossy issue
I look forward to every second Monday because it means I get to buy a new edition of The Big Issue off my street vendor Greg. I’ve been reading it for a while now so I was surprised on Monday when I opened it up and immediately realised that something was different; it was glossy, like a new iMac.
The Big Issue 310
I was a big fan of the old matte print. It was easy to read and didn’t have the same print feel as a lot of the other magazines available in Australia which are typically high gloss, possibly designed that way to attract the attention of consumers when sitting for sale on newsagents stands. Most vendors I see selling TBI use a glossy clear plastic sleeve anyway, so why the need for gloss?
I looked through the magazine trying to find some mention of this new print style but I couldn’t seem to find anything. I could only find that the paper is still 20% recycled. The only place I could find any mention of the new printing style was three quarters through Editor Alan Attwood’s vendor’s introduction speech in Melbourne on YouTube. Thankfully he says they’re making some changes to the printing style and that it may not be permanent and could change again soon.
I just hope that the new glossy paper is not radioactive.
the big issue is 300
It sounds strange, but I really look forward to every second Monday. Not because pay day is imminent, but rather a new issue of The Big Issue comes out. I was surprised then to see a new issue on sale in Brisbane today: the 300th issue.
I think it’s the best magazine you can buy for five six bucks. It’s actually my favourite magazine at any price. There’s something about it.
I’ve spent time reading the last few issues trying to figure out what that something is. It’s hard to pinpoint, but I think I worked it out: it’s not pretentious. I originally thought that pretentiousness was about money but it’s not. A free magazine can be pretentious, the Big Issue is not.
Keep up the good work The Big Issue. Keep it real and unpretentious.
on writing
“He comments on how amazing it is that everything in the universe can be described by the twenty-six written characters with which they have been working.”
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
the big issue
I am a big fan of The Big Issue. It is a very enjoyable read plus it helps whose who sell it.
The cover price has been $4 for the last couple of years. This has been a good price, as it is easy to give the seller a fiver and not ask for change. This means the seller gets $3 for selling the issue instead of $2.
I noticed in the latest issue that the price will soon rise to $5. This means I can’t easily tip without awkwardly giving an extra coin. I was thinking of paying with three $2 coins, but this means saving up the three coins before going to buy an issue, wheareas most of the time I have a fiver in my pocket.
the language report
I have borrowed and I am reading ‘the language report‘ by Susie Dent. I have put together a list of my favourite words so far:
bolotics: a combination of nonsense and political correctness (= bollocks and politics) page. 18
gratters: a colloquial term at school and university for ‘congratulations’. (originally from 1903) page. 7
divvy: extremely pleasant, ‘divine’, ‘heavenly’. This word derives from the first syllable of divine. (again from 1903) page. 7
to text: to send a text message. This is an example of a recent ‘verbed noun’. page. 19
shopgrifting: the practice of buying an item, using it, and then returning it for a full refund. page. 27
ham: a piece of legitimate email that was wrongly filtered as spam by an anti-spam programme.
haiku on a monday
Heavy metal birds,
loaded with eager beings.
Touchdown and lose hope.
