Autitude Issue 17 - out now!   Illustrated & curated by me and filled with wonderful poetry, reflections and artwork.    Read it here .

Was chatting to a group of 'the young people' (yes I hate that phrase too) t'other week about social interaction/pubs/clubs and the like and how to navigate such things if you're Autistic and it reminded me of one of the probably only two occasions I've ever been drunk - I mean really, really drunk - in my entire life. So obviously I thought I'd share it here 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...

A work type post for a change....Extracts from the Open Museum's response to homelessness in Glasgow featuring the Can You See Me? portrait project and the Glasgow Refugee Project art installation I completed over the last few years.

Readers with long memories (or short hair) may remember a post from a while back regarding the Can You See Me? project I did alongside Glasgow Open Museum and guests of Glasgow City Mission creating 'portraits' focusing on their interests rather than in a traditional style.  You can read about it here .  Well it seems that t he Alasdair Gray archive really liked it so last week I got to spend the day there chatting about art, archives, graphic novels (with a hint of Dudley's own James Whale thrown in) and the idea of taking the project further. Exciting times with more to follow methinks.

Posted this as a thread on 'the Twitter' earlier but thought I'd share it here too. You're welcome. This week Tim Burgess' fantastic online listening party featured Soft Cell's new album Happiness Not Included....As folk who know me can attest, Soft Cell are my favourite band - and Marc Almond is my hero...   Being the awkward autistic artsy teen constantly picked on in school, obsessed with horror films, sci-fi and Warhol, Marc was 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 too (a song about George A Romero? result!) - it was Marc and Dave introduced me to Capote, Scott Walker, neon lighting and electronica among other things and in one way or another have soundtracked the best part of my life   My art school days (and nights) were scored by Mother Fist and Vermine in Ermine....I journeyed out into the big bad world to The Stars We Ar...