We’ve gotta keep going. The words flowed back to me with unexpected fluency; the sound of the song was all it took. I sang word after word, words deep within that I forgot were there, a reminder of how much I loved the song, of how much I listened, and, in this case, of how m...
You get that darkness out your head, yeah
You had it with you from the start
The lightning in your heart
~ Kid, The Revivalists
Last evening – and for the last few days – I have been feeling a little bit down. But music was with me, and helped me see through the grey clouds ...
The eighteenth episode of Wonders of Web Weaving is out:
In Episode 18, I chat with Ava, the author of blog.avas.space about, among other things, data protection and privacy, consent in the context of privacy, the armchair of great blogging, and more.
I hope you enjoy the episode!
Wonders of Web Weaving also has an RSS feed you can use to follow along from wherever you get your podcasts.
Earlier this year I noticed my Artemis reader page (the page that lists posts published by sites to which I am subscribed) was loading slowly. The logic to generate the page encompasses several hundred lines of code, which do everything from retrieving posts from the database...
Earlier this week I was chatting with a friend about the skills I am learning from art history. One of the most influential concepts I have learned is to “look closely”. The idea is to spend time with a single thing – to study it closely – and think about what you see in more...
You can use the web to share your poetry, or photography, or essays, or drawings, or sketches, or music, and everything in between. On a website, you have control over design, layout, and distribution 1. You own your domain, so you own your links.
It feels like so many more ...
rabbits leaping, birds tweeting,
the sun rising, hills welcoming,
breeze blowing, paths winding,
potential painting, colours calming:
skies awakening, day breaking.
six strings
sit still
song soon.
colours shimmering,
sun lowering.
leaves leaving,
seasons deepening.
trees lightening:
branches preparing.
winds cooling,
time wintering.
I wrote this poem with reference to a series of key words in the first edition of Planet Persephone's Go Offline zine. I used "lightening", "time", "shimmer", "colour", "deep", "leaves", "wind", and "winter".
There was no moonlight tonight. Paris was left to dream of soft romantic hues radiating from the far away icy sphere that glows with celestial fervour. She was left to wonder what it would be like for the hopeful trees to be tinged with silver and white and flutter slowly with the cool, ethereal breeze of night. She was left to imagine hours where the near and distant skies were cloudless, where beaming stars gracefully dotted the heavens with eternally flickering, beautiful sights. There was, after all, moonlight – and stars – tonight. The soothing, quiet, gentle glow, was – is – always inside.
This story is written in the "Drabble" form that I first learned from Juhis.
When I last visited the National Museum of Scotland, they had an ~A5 booklet of 10 ideas of things to do in an art gallery. I love the idea of a guide that helps you navigate a gallery space.
Yesterday, I decided to make a zine in a similar vein, except with some of my own t...
This is my second music exchange with V.H. (see our first exchange) in which we each shared songs with each other from which we would pick one to write about. I chose “Bridge Over the Stars” by Keiko Matsui from the options V.H. sent me, and V.H. chose “iPod Touch” by Ninajir...
trees and canopies
shelter for the fisherman
stoic as a river: he is still
in movement
engaged like a painter
watching the moment.
This poem was inspired by Jules-Louis Dupré's "Willows, with a Man Fishing".
Opening the window, a vivid dancing shadow of the trees between the glass and the sun appears the wall, illuminating yesterday’s ideas written across my whiteboard. The shadow is a temporary, moving work of art, detailing the contours of leaves and, when I stand in front, the...
eyes closed, sights
of day — memories —
appear vivid
as trees and paths
paint the skyline
with colour.
Do you remember the moment when you first heard your favourite song performed live? Or a moment when a friend told you that a song you love was a cover and that there were many more versions to hear? Do you remember a particular street performer – a guitarist, a pianist, or e...
My website navigation bar varies on desktop and mobile devices. On desktop devices, the navigation bar appears to the left of the page with a list of links to pages on my website. My website tagline, from ;; james, appears in the sidebar, too. On mobile devices, the navigatio...
After the IndieWeb Zine Pop Up in May, I decided that I wanted to make a zine. I had already made a zine before, Quiet Edinburgh, but the zine was more of a booklet. After the meetup, I started feeling inspired. I wanted to make a tiny paper zine, one that I could fit in my p...
I remember the moment I was standing before four or five of Monet’s Haystack paintings, each depicting a different season. I was in awe of the colour. I could move between each of them and see the same scene from a new perspective, from the warm sunsets of summer to the frost...
Flowers fade into fall. Every day brings us closer to autumn. I walk around for a while, admiring details I have seen a hundred times and yet, each time, find something new to see, and then stand for a moment and watch as people wander in the park, or sit and spend the moment...
This is my contribution to the September 2026 IndieWeb Fiction Carnival on the theme of "Moonlight".
“Fields glisten under the moonlight.” This is what John used to say whenever anybody asked why he liked to walk so late at night. “You can see way more stars if you are outsi...
When you close your eyes and think of moonlight, what do you see? An author typing a story on an antique typewriter while burning the midnight oil? A musician who is perpetually unaware that there is moonlight outside because they are playing in an underground club? A person ...
The seventeenth episode of Wonders of Web Weaving is out:
In Episode 17, Mike interviews James, the author of "with words, wonder" (formerly James' Coffee Blog) about, among other things, identity and personal websites, writing on the web, communicating the potential of personal websites, and more.
I hope you enjoy the episode!
Wonders of Web Weaving also has an RSS feed you can use to follow along from wherever you get your podcasts.
Throughout August I have written a few blog posts about paintings (example). When I have written these posts, I have looked closely at a digital or pained photograph of a painting and written my impressions, sometimes with contextual background that I have researched.
For th...
One of the options for the Blaugust Community Award is to write a guest post for another blogger. Zachary and I wrote guest posts for each other's sites earlier in the month. Today I have the pleasure of Naty publishing a guest post here. The topic is Chinese idioms. Herebelo...
Yellowing leaves blow over the path in front of me, making a sound as they move. Every leaf, a colourful reminder of the coming autumn. Looking up and around and straight ahead, I felt the fresh breeze blow against my face and my hair. The sunlit grass gleamed. Further ahead, the canopy of trees rustled with the wind. With every sound and colour and feeling, I feel alive.
I am sitting with a cup of tea by my side as I have been on many mornings this month. This morning, instead of being precariously balanced on the arm of the chair, the cup rests between the right arm of the chair and my right leg, keeping me warm in a way where the temperatur...
I look out to the trees around and I see a sea of green. The air was warm today; summer is still here. With that said, there are ever more signs that indicate the beginning of the forthcoming season. Every so often, I notice a tree whose leaves are yellowing. This morning, I ...
Thamara and I are doing an art exchange where we each sent the other person an art-related object to analyse. Thamara sent me a copy of “Beneath the Great Wave: Hokusai & Hiroshige”, a book from the art exhibition of the same name being held at the Whitworth in Manchester...
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