Part of the Different Minds One Scotland initiative I was involved with a few years back involved the issues of social interaction for Autistic peeps so I thought what better time to reshare the sorry tale of one of the probably only two occasions I've ever been drunk - I mean really, really drunk - in my entire life. Because there aren't enough reasons to take the absolute piss out of me as it is. Take yourself back, if you will, to the heady days of 1995...a pre-DX me has planned a Clockwork Orange themed night out for my 26th birthday to - hopefully - cap off a fairly eventful albeit slightly shitey year where a massive group of us Droogs (well 6 of us) were going to spend the nochy out for a slap-up pischa-fest followed by much drinking with a wee bit of dancing thrown in. No Synthmesc or Drencrom tho' as I was booked in to work the next day. This may be important later.   I must just add tho' that anyone expecting a drunken tale of ultra-violence ending w...

    So s eeing as  World Autism Acceptance (2026)  week starts today I thought I'd rehash (sorry repost) a quick introduction type thing I've put together for occasions just like this. So if you make it thru' this and return on a regular basis expect rambles, rants and vaguely amusing tales of an Autistic nature that may contain cult movie mentions and pictures of dodgy haircuts mixed in with me mostly shouting angrily about Autistic provision (or lack of), moving house or me getting excited about work projects. You have been warned.....     But not mine obviously.   And what better way to start than with some quite interesting facts taken from (partly) an interview I did for an academic paper on Autistic parenting and bits of the interview process I went thru in regard to the Chris Packham fronted BBC project Inside Our Autistic Minds that was broadcast a couple of years back. Doesn't time fly? Bizarrely I was way too excitable and chatt...

...to World Autism Acceptance Week, which bizarrely is probably the most confusing time in the Autistic calendar.       You see Autism Acceptance Week runs from 30th March till 6th April which seems fair enough until you realise that Autism Acceptance Day is actually on 2nd April (obviously making it the 1st would be taking the piss) and that signals the start of Autism Acceptance Month which is separate from previous week and usually made up of fairly vague corporate stuff and kinda peters out when folk get bored.   This is how most folk see us the rest of the year.   So to add to this mass of confusion from Monday 30th March get ready for 7 days of rambles, rants and vaguely amusing tales of an Ash-based Autistic nature that may contain embarrassing cult movie mentions and pictures of dodgy haircuts but mainly old stuff repurposed for those new to my blog but with a wee bit of newness too....work/life permitting.   So the same as usual really a...

Finally got to see what should be our new house today....Autistic stress levels were off the scale - for me obviously, the girls and Cass (especially seeing as he doesn't want to move) did brilliantly   Luckily the house seems perfect so it's a go!    Girls loved it and Cass didn't run away (which is a win) - it needs a load of work done so looks like we've got around a month to get fully packed and moved which is good!    Not too sure who this Captain Howdy that Embeth was talking to in the bathroom is tho'....    

As regular readers will know (I've excitedly written about them before here and here ), I absolutely adore Soft Cell and Marc and Dave in general. They are quite literally my most favourite band ever. Fact. As I've mentioned previously, being the awkward Autistic artsy teen constantly picked on in school, obsessed with horror films, sci-fi and Warhol, Marc and Dave were a lifeline and Soft Cell's dark electropop perfectly encapsulated everything I felt...and everything that terrified me too.... They also seemed to like the same things as I did - it was Marc and Dave introduced me to Truman Capote, Scott Walker, neon lighting and electronica among many other things and in one way or another have sound tracked the best (and worst) parts of my life. Whenever I've needed them or whenever my life has gone mad Marc and Dave have been there for me. Flash forward to this morning, we're still in limbo as far as the move is concerned - we've been told it's per...

A distinct lack of meaningful posts of late seeing as we're in the middle of packing up the house for our move as Cassidy frantically tries to unpack everything whilst shouting "FIX IT!" in an ever higher voice. The mad thing is when you take into account that so far we've only had 4 half days to do it (girls are at college 3 days which we have to take them/fetch them from plus my 2 day hospital appointments couple with dance performances and stuff like cooking, laundry, shopping etc)  we've actually done not too bad. 40 boxes packed and a skip half filled and no major breakdowns, tho' Cass is getting there and I'm not far behind. Our house right now.   Anyway we've decided to take the girls out of college this week so we can try and fire thru' the rest of the job and finally attempt to clear the terrifying cupboard in their room. A job I'm dreading and excited about at the same time. As an exciting aside it looks like we may finally get to see...

Celebrating the birthday of the person who gave me the big push to start drawing seriously again (then years later slagged me off for listening to him when drunk!), the guy who gave my wife and I our 'comic bonding' experience and the co-creator of the character our wee boy-child is named after.   Happy Heavenly birthday to the guv'nor himself, Steve Dillon.  

 From Damian Milton because words matter.  

Me and Cassidy around the same age....who knew cloning technology had come so far?    

A wee aside to break up the monotony of all the moving house horror. One of the most amazing things (to me anyway) about my autistic memory bank is the ability to remember exactly where and when I heard my favourite songs or saw my favourite films for the first time in minute detail.   For example Tears of A Clown, 30 April 1975....followed a news report on the fall of Saigon, I was sitting cross legged in front of our old stereo in the maisonette we lived in in Coseley (or Wallbrook as the area was known then).   Oh yes, and we had this wallpaper (I insisted).       Anyway, enjoy.

Well it looks like we're definitely moving house. We have a skip and a delivery of boxes and are just awaiting a timetable for the actual move so are currently juggling hospital, college and the usual stuff with packing everything away.     The first lot of (packed) boxes are getting picked up for storage tomorrow so  hopefully Cassidy hasn't ripped them up and put everything back by then as that seems to be his way of preventing us going to the new house. As you can probably tell he is not at all happy at the prospect. More later.  

  Here for your listening pleasure is the frankly fantastic Blue Azure's rather marvelous monthly music show this time around featuring (around the halfway mark) the spiritual successor to Colour Me Giallo , my tuneful tribute to the cult sounds of American horror cinema soundtracks.  Ladies and gentlemen I present...     And for anyone interested, here's the tracklist: 1. Goblin - L'Alba Dei Morti Viventi (alternate take). 2. Jay Chattaway - Cry for Mother. 3. Fred Myrow – Phantasm (theme). 4. John Carpenter – The Fog (main theme). 5. Ennio Morricone - Regan's Theme/ Seduction and Magic. 6. Donovan – Season Of The Witch. 7. Rick Wakeman – The Burning (theme). 8. Electric Banana - Cause I'm A Man. 9. John Harrison – The Dead Walk. 10. Pino Donaggio – Telescope. 11. David Hess - Wait for the Rain. 12. Don Gere – Werewolves On Wheels (theme). 13. Goblin - La Caccia. 14. Gus Russo – Basket Case (end theme). 15. John Harrison - The World Inside Your Eyes.  

   Another blatant self publicity alert! Just to let you know that I'll be re-teaming with Blue Azure on Totally Wired Radio on Saturday 14th March (8pm till 10pm) where I'll be unveiling the spiritual successor to Colour Me Giallo , this time featuring the cult sounds of American horror cinema soundtracks.  Ladies and gentlemen prepare for...  

    (Had to repost after seeing Boorman and The Devil!)

Well that's me back and (almost) fully recovered from this years Frightfest and I have to say I needed that! After what must go down as THE shittest week I've ever experienced that culminated in a very public Autistic meltdown (alongside having to cancel my hospital treatment due to how my stress levels had affected my Psoriasis) it was so therapeutic to get to retreat back to my safe place, 2 full days of horror films in a dark cinema where I could lose myself in the sounds and visuals. And seeing my work on a huge screen - as well as emblazoned across folks chest on T-shirts may have helped my sense of worth and belonging.    I got home Sunday morning to see my skin visibly less blotchy and sore and with an (almost) clear head. True our home no longer feels like ours and we still have a few more battles along the way but cinema has empowered me like it always does. And for that I'm grateful.  I'll probably not post much in the way of what's occurring over the next...

Regular readers will no doubt be aware that I talk about cinema a lot and any readers of my other (very NSFW) blog will know that it's mainly in regards to horror cinema. You could say it's my 'special interest' as absolutely no-one outside Autism 'professionals' call it. Anyway, after what will go down as THE shittest week imaginable here - including a fucking awful (and rare) meltdown which almost scuppered my plans Frightfest is finally upon us! The annual film art is complete and online , the guest portraits are done and dusted and I'm about to spend the next 48 hours in my happy place watching a random assortment of movies of which I know nothing about save the synopsis. Not only that tho' because when I take my seat I'll be looking at this...   Autistic horror cinema fan goals achieved.  See you on the other side. 

  Spent the day dealing with housing, the police, social work AND all whilst having to get Amelia and Embeth to and from college (at different times) plus shopping, finishing up artwork and entertaining Cassidy. Bloody hell and it's only Monday. more when I've actually processed this. And I'm less angry obviously.  And here's me thinking things were going well.