Mine Craft Week 2 (by sarah)

Yep I am still playing and am getting more obsessed!

I built a bedroom and found iron ore in the process so could make shears and go and shear sheep to make myself a bed I didn't like the idea of killing the sheep just for their wool

Then I dug myself a garden with a fence and gate - because of where the stairs are it acts as a one way valve for animals - if I leave the gate open at the top then animals wonder in, jump over the fence and then can't get back out! This was not genius just an accident but a fun one none the less!

But I quickly ended up with too many animals so had to expand - I dug an underground barn for them

I also mined sand and popped it in the furnace to produce glass blokes to use as windows.

I am hoping to collect stuff to make dye for the sheep and I want to put some sort of system in place to divid the sheep, cows, pigs and ducks (apparently they are chickens but they are lodged in my head as ducks!).

I have also been hunting cows and got enough leather to make a full set of leather armour.

And Alaric didn't realise you could put torches on the fences So I taught him something

Mine Craft (by sarah)

There is a new craze in the Snell-Pym household - it is a game called MineCraft and it began with Alaric, now me, Jean, Jean's friends and my Dad all have our own worlds which we are constructing homes and farms and mining in.

Initially I was very bad at it, I could not even work out how to look up let alone move and as for fighting the monsters of this almost eden-esk world - that was impossible. But after being attacked by a spider, a skeleton and a zombie, being stuck in a whole, being suspended in the air and drowning.... I finally seemed to master basic movements.

Being me I skipped the tutorial and refused to play in creative as I like there to be a challenge. Anyway I finally after a week of playing managed to construct a one room house. It started off in mud and then I mined cobble stone which I clad the outside and then mined the mid away from the inside.

The idea is that you mine and farm things and make stuff. I started off by making a crafting table, then a chest to keep things in. I was on the hunt for stuff for torches and a bed - but this proved tricky and so I found myself hiding in a dark corner of my house - it had a door I'd made on the crafting table but no light as I need to make charcoal or find coal.

Fortunately no monsters spawns in there with me - this was why it was all still earth - a monster called a creeper did blow my house up from the out side though which hacked me off! (I may have said a rude word).

Eventually I found the resources to make my torches - I had to build a furnace. So now I have light, food (due to killing poor unsuspecting cows and cooking them in the furnace), shelter, a crafting table and a double sized chest but still no bed! This means I can not sleep during the games nighttime which is annoying.

The game is made of large pixels and I can only play a bit at a time as the motion on the screen gives me motion sickness!

I also keep accidentally hitting the left hand toggle as a button instead, this changes the perspective of the little avatar - not helpful when you are fighting zombies!

I am really enjoying it - even more so as there is a quest to be completed!

Each world is a new generated one - mine is called Gaia, Alaric's is Genesis, Jean's Bob and Dad's one is the un-named My World. If I remember I may post the world seeds (the code that other mine craft players can used to generate the same world though devoid what you have built in it!).

Cheltenham Poetry Festival 2012 (by sarah)

Last week saw the Cheltenham Poetry Festival.

I started off by going to see Domestic Cherry - so funny. It was Michael Scott and Hilda Sheechan in the personas of a Swidon Chav and a hyper kitch Housewife.

The I headed out to dinner with one of the stewards and then onto Slak Bar to see Mab Jones and her Welsh Rare Bits - these guys are amazing! Laughter until tears stream down your face. Unfortunatly I had to leave this event early due to illness.

The next morning saw me up bright and early and sitting in The Muffin Man sipping tea awaiting to share my poetry. I was part of the Poetry Cafe Showcase.

I then stayed on to watch The Stroud Pamphlet Poets.

Then I headed over to Waterstones to watch various poets there

Leeum did like a 20 minute show from memory that had the audience reeling (or in one case wanting to give him a hug).

The next day I had a workshop to run - the Monster Writing Game - it was supposed to be at The Brewery but the weather was just too bad so it was moved to Waterstones.

We stuck around for a Jean to take part in Joy-Amy Wigman's childrens workshop - also on monster

We stayed on for the Childrens Poetry showcase with Francis Axon - Jeany loves her poetry which she had heard at Christmas in the Brewery. The other poet unfortunatly couldn't attend so I ended up performing some of my childrens poems.

The next day saw me back out early for more childrens workshops - this time it was The Poetry Bees and Their Story Tree. My poor Dad had to walk through Cheltenham with a giant papier mache purple tree - only happens to people who know me

I then got ready for Occupy Poetry - the last night poetry party bonanza.

Alaric was once more forced to listen to poetry - but this time he had company

I took arty shots

Then the comedy started with Julie Psycho Jones and Josh plus the performance Poet Ash.

It was a brilliant but exhusting week and I wish I'd gotten to see more.

Monster Creation (by sarah)

I have made a short film about the creation of the Muse Monsters from my Monster Writing Game - they turn out to have a complex belief system - some of which is portrayed in this video. Also I like the effect I got with a bamboo flute I picked up a few years ago.

Video is up under Creative Commons Attribution which means as long as you say where you got the material from you can use it in your own creations

Poetry-Craft etc… (by sarah)

Saturday ie tomorrow I will be doing a quick poetry reading in the Waterstones in Cheltenham with some fantastic other poets (it's a quick one as I'm running away to a family wedding!). This event is organised by the Cheltenham Poetry Festival who have been putting on some fantastic events through out the year. The readings in the Waterstones are going to be the first Saturday of each month 11-2pm.

Another event that they are running is Poetree in the Park - the last one got in the news paper along with a cute picture of Jean holding up a poetry dragon

I'm going to be running an number of workshops and courses mainly for kids for the Festival and the new Center Arts in Cheltenham on top of the craft workshops I do for festivals anyway They are also holding an Exhibition in Braille in September which I hope to have a textural art piece in (made of papier mache of course!).

On top of that I hope to have the poetry book sorted soon and also take the Monster Writing Game to the next level. I do however need more outlets for my art work - I may get an exhibition soon but I need to be in shops and stuff more than doing craft fairs each Sunday. The trouble with that I've been finding is that you have to spend money out in the first place to buy shelf space very few places do it on commission. I would also love as I think I mentioned about three years ago now :/ to become a member of the Gloucester Guild of Craftsmen but again it takes money and I am still only braking even as I am still building up my equipement and stocks at the moment.

I will confess to having gotten carried away with making educational games and designing crafts to help the kids engage in writing workshops but I finially feel I am heading in the right direction here

Oh and also some of my local kids poetry is going to be on display at the village Flower Festival this weekend which is well just lovely