blue horse

New blog, computer games, poetry, stories …

bluehorsepoetry — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:06:06 +0000

Just wanted to direct some traffic to my new blog. I’m not sure entirely how blogging works, but I get the feeling I’m meant to self promote – something that never seems to work. Anyway, my new blog is more poetry-centred, but more than that, it’s a place for ideas. I currently have a piece on an old computer game idea I was going to make, once upon a time, which you can read here. Please do come and say hi.

http://matthewhaighpoetry.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/the-dead-city-and-the-giant-crocodile/

Thanks!

Rewind-Couture

bluehorsepoetry — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:35:08 +0000

Just to drop a little note in here about the clothing business for which I flitter stuff around like a big mechanical bat. Rewind-Couture have been going for about 5 months now, selling a range of vintage, gothic, Victorian, Steampunk and Rockabilly clothing online via a top notch ebay shop. You can visit the shop here. We sell polka dot 50s dresses, gothic mini skirts, corsets, quirky shoes from Iron Fist, wallets, handbags, petticoats, jackets, jeans, and more. Our service is first class (all handled by me personally). So please check out the store and see what you think, or leave comments, or anything you like! Much appreciated.

Etcetera

bluehorsepoetry — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:54:36 +0000

Might as well keep this blog updated too with poetry news, for the time being at least while the new blog is finding its virtual feet! I’ve been fortunate enough to have a poem published at Etcetera, which is a lovely blog. Although I had another acceptence back in March, this is the first of my poems to materialize physically (well, virtually) in 2011, which would suggest I’m slowing down. But I’ve been writing loads, honest! Just takes ages to perfect these things (and even then they’re never perfect).

New Blog!

bluehorsepoetry — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:07:13 +0000

Sort of like a time capsule, blue horse has become cluttered with throw backs to 80s cartoons, cyber trash video games of the late 90s, splatterpunk, B-Movie horror, and all sorts of other tokens not associated with writing – the very thing I set up the blog to talk about in the first place. So, I’ve created a new blog specifically for my poetry and prose, which you can find here.

As for this place, I may post the occasional ditty, or nostalgic post regarding a toy or television programme as I’m prone to do, but nothing is set in stone. Enjoy the new blog, and thanks for reading!

http://matthewhaighpoetry.wordpress.com/

Matt Haigh.

Rewind-Couture

bluehorsepoetry — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:20:04 +0000

It’s been all quiet on the western front for a bit, writing wise. I am writing, honest.

But I have a new job, which has finally put my graphic design degree and years of art school to use. I work for Rewind-Couture, up-and-coming vintage clothing specialists embroiled in a cornucopia of 20s and 50s polka dot and Rockabilly dresses, prom dresses, gothic and emo dresses, and all sorts of steampunk jackets and riot grrl skirts and tutus and petticoats and everything in between. We distribute everything via our ebay shop at seriously affordable prices. Our service is first class, our clothes are top quality, and our dedication to the world of vintage couture is second to none.

The photographs and various art work flourishes have all been designed by yours truly, so everything you see at our About Me page, and the main layout of each individual listing. Likewise, I’ve designed the Rewind-Couture blog, where we post updates of new items in stock and any other tidbits we feel worth mentioning. I’ve recently designed flyers, business cards, and also a special tote bag to be included with more expensive orders – which is quite exciting, considering these bags with my design on will be shipped worldwide!

So, if you’re curious, why not pop over to our ebay shop for a look around, and check out the blog and add it to your favourites to keep up to date with all our activities. We’re expanding our range all the time, so be sure to visit the site regularly and be the first to snap up those amazing bargains!

“The Sniper and I” published in Word Riot

bluehorsepoetry — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:37:44 +0000

Everything comes at once. Which is why I also have a short story/ prose poem published today over at Word Riot. I wrote this simply because it came into my head, thought I might as well send it off, and they said yes, which is great! Feel free to read and leave comments. Thanks!

Fuselit “Jack”

bluehorsepoetry — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:07:09 +0000

Something I wrote has just been published in the latest edition of Fuselit magazine, with the sub-title of “Jack”. My entry is a sort of flash-fiction poem thing (this is about as accurate as I get to describing anything). It arrived today all nicely packaged and looking so crisp I wanted to eat it, but instead settled for reading it. The issue is full of good stuff, and will soon be available here. In the meantime, here are some photos of Jack:

What’s on my TV?

bluehorsepoetry — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:05:40 +0000

As a rule, I’ve never been one for watching telly. Or films. It’s odd, but I’ve always found it such a hassle to just sit still. As it happens, I don’t watch much actual TV now – the following is a list of things I’ve purchased on DVD in order to re-live the glory of my youth, as I seem to be doing a lot these days. For whatever reason, these shows sprang into my head, and I’ve been compulsivley addicted to them for the past couple of months. Here’s why I love them:

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Sabrina is just one of those shows you can curl up to and feel warm and fuzzy over because everything is lighthearted and safe, and you know whatever problems there are will be neatly wrapped up by the end of the episode. A lot of the episodes are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, and there are some great characters like Salem the cat with dreams of world domination, and Sabrina’s aunts, Zelda and Hilda. The show reaches its peak rather early though, at season 3, and while season 4 is pretty solid, the show takes quite a downturn in quality when Sabrina leaves for college.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

This show used to scare me quite a lot as a child. To be honest, a lot of it is even quite frightening now, especially the episode featuring a clown’s vengeful ghost, the tale of a boy under the spell of an evil wood nymph, and the story that sees Nosferatu stepping out of the cinema screen into reality. It has its fair share of fairly disturbing, Lovecraft-esque tales, too, including an episode with some reality-distorting spectacles, and the top floor of an apartment that becomes home to a gaggle of blank-faced aliens. Another reason why I adore the 90s.

Batman the animated series

With its art nouveau style Gotham city populated with demented characters, the animated series of Batman is really top class children’s viewing. It works for adults too. Highlights include Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy breaking out on a Thelma and Louisde-style joyride, and a warped funeral held by the Joker that sees a coffin tipped into a vat of acid while Harley plays a mournful death waltz on the kazoo.

Dungeons & Dragons

Everybody remembers this, surely? Friday afternoons after school, a sausage bap, cup of tea, Dungeons and Dragons. That was the routine. I’m not sure if this was late 80s or 90s; either way, it’s become compelling viewing for me. Do the children ever get back home? If they’re trapped in a fantasy world forever, what do they do? Get jobs? Start families? Or spend forever looking for a way out? There’s potential for a poem there somewhere.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I’ve only just started with Buffy. Watched the trashy day-glo-soaked film a while back, and then remembered all those 6pm showings of Buffy on a Wednesday I’d only ever half-watched. As with X-Files, this is a show you need to be following properly. The first series is corny and silly, but I think that’s why I’ve ended up enjoying it so much. I’m still not entirely converted yet, but time will tell …

What’s on your TV right now? Are there any brilliant shows I should be getting into, preferably from the 90s? Let me know …

What ever happened to Hexadecimal?

bluehorsepoetry — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:30:12 +0000

Or Reboot, for that matter.

This is part of my campaign to asuage people that the 90s were in fact the better decade, over the much-hyped and now incredibly trendy 80s. While that decade may have been fun for trash and kitsch appeal, the 90s were an altogether different collection of beasts. Sort of like the 80s’ darker twin. There were still awful, trashy films and songs being churned out, but this decade would also see the germination of many a now-legendary franchise.

I’ll be covering things in more depth soon, but first: children’s television. The 80s may have held the trump card in terms of cartoons like Dungeons and Dragons and She-Ra, but kid TV kind of grew up in the 90s. You had the brilliantly Art-Nouveau-styled Batman animated series, the often quite involved and complex X-Men, and a crop of scary television drama on Saturday mornings, plus Ghost Train, which marked a new kind of horror-themed Saturday morning breakfast show.

And then there was Reboot, a product of CITV I believe. Granted, you could probably create this show on your home computer now, such are the simplistic, dated graphics. But at the time, this was edgy stuff. Surreal 3D worlds populated with weird block people and green and purple-skinned humanoids, sort of like a Philip K. Dick rendition of The Simpsons. I remember a few episodes in detail; one involving a Mortal Kombat-style arena fight in which Enzo had to defeat a kind of cyborg demon with fire wings; and the episode in which evil brother/ sister duo Hexadecimal and Mega-Byte “merge”. This may have been the same episode where they’re infected by a kind of black gunk that turns everyone to sleek, black metal, which looked very cool to my child eyes.

Yes, Hexadecimal. A favourite baddie of the time. Elegant, spidery, completely insane, with her classical porcelain masks which she constantly switched and swapped around to reflect her mood. I viewed this as a kind of play on the princess from Return to Oz who owns several heads. Hex had a mask for sorrow, a mask for laughter, and a mask for total mania. The latter involved radioactive green eyes and a terrifying set of teeth.

It’s hard to encapsulate the excitement I experienced at watching this show, such was its creativity and absolute unique appeal. But suffice to say, it was something I rushed home from school for every afternoon.

The Delinquent

bluehorsepoetry — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:15:41 +0000

Ahoy maties! Another publication, this time in the wonderfully creative and open-minded (hint hint other magazines) Delinquent. Two of my poems feature in this issue, which can be downloaded for as little as 89p! You can find issue 11 here.

If anyone does get the magazine, I’d love to know what you think of my work; leave a note in the comments box!