Friday 31 October 2008

Fairy Names, the Ten Best

10) TOMMY RAWHEAD - Far more user friendly than Rawheadandbloodybones whilst retaining an evocative nastiness.
9) BOGGART - Good and contemptuous sounding.
8) PUCK - Too the point and rude sounding. If lad's magazines carried more articles on fairies you would see this name used in headlines A LOT.
7) RUMPLESTILTSKIN - Face it, if your name was this cool you'd sing about it too.
6) HOBGOBLIN - A very sonically satisfying word with some strong brand associations (Pub Chain and associated yummy ale, Folk Music chain store, Spiderman villains, etc.)
5) BLIX - See earlier post for lowdown on Blix's full majesty. Fresh insight into fact that he shares a syllable with 'Pixie' and 'Nixie'.
4) ROBIN GOODFELLOW - Undeniable literary classic.
3) NIXIE - Opted for over 'Pixie' because of it's relative obscurity. Used with an awkward degree of tweeness on Julian Cope's otherwise splendid epic "Psychedelic Odin".
2) CLAPPERNAPPER - Internal rhymes are always great for fairy names.
1) FLIBBERTIGIBBET - Without peer, as frightening and amusing as a good tune by the Fall. Earns extra points for the slight mysogynisitic undertone that many mythological beasts seem to earn (Gorgon, Harridan, Termagant, etc...)

Thursday 30 October 2008

Campaign Against Crap Hallowe'en Costumes

Please help the cause by displaying the following notice on your front door.

KIDS ARE WELCOME TO TRICK OR TREAT HERE IF THEY HAVE MADE AN EFFORT WITH THEIR COSTUMES.

IF, HOWEVER, YOU ARE A BUNCH OF TEENAGERS IN TRACKSUITS WITH ONE RUBBER SKELETON MASK BETWEEN FOUR OF YOU, DON'T BLOODY BOTHER.

THANK YOU.

Bit of a bugbear I suppose, but when I were a kid we used to make a proper effort (well, our parents did), spend ages on our very own Flibbertigibbet outfit, construct our own dolmen to commune with the spirits of Samhain*, chop our own heads off, things like that, I used to love nostalgia, etc...


* Please note: If you use a different spelling of this word, one that you feel more accurately expresses an ancient celtic tongue, good for you. However, please don't lecture me on using the spelling I chose. I know there are different spellings and that some experts don't like the one that seems to be the spelling opted on by the gestalt. That's cool, but can I just use the spelling most people use so that there might be a vague chance someone might get what I'm on about? Ta.