Dan Smith's Blog, page 26

Culture Magazine April 2010

Just a quick one – it's easter 'n' all that, and I should be gorging on chocolate. Anyway, I spotted this on-line today. I thought it was out next week, but no, 'tis out already. Seems like I've missed out on the actual magazine, but here's a snippet from the on-line version.

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Book Launch Monday 26th April

It's official!  There will be a book launch for DRY SEASON on Monday 26th April at 6:30 pm. It's going to be in Gallery North at the University of Northumbria. Penny Smith (course leader of the Creative Writing MA) and Claire Malcolm (director of New Writing North) have, rather brilliantly, organised the event for me. There will be a glass of wine – or two – and I will be interviewed by Claire Malcolm. Books will, of course, be available and I'll even sign them if you want me to!   Admission ...

Lost in Lost

John Locke as a Sontaran

Dunno about anyone else, but I'm beginning to think that Lost is … well, lost. Time travel, smoke monsters (they even say it with a straight face), other others, alternate timelines, magic mirrors, resurrection, temples – oh, and Sawyer as a cop? I watched the most recent episode last night and it just seems to be going round in cirlces, digging itself deeper and deeper. All those questions it threw up at the beginning were always going to be a hard act to follow, but ...

A Different Perspective

I'd make a pretty crap salesperson, I reckon. I could never be one of those window salesmen who won't leave your house. Yeah, you know who you are, you people with your ill-fitting suits and dodgy shoes and your 'I'll ring my boss' malarky. We had a bloke like that come to our house once and I thought I was going to have to kick him out on his arse because he wouldn't leave. Anyway, I'd find it hard to sell something to someone if I thought they had even the tiniest doubt in their mind. And I...

Culture Magazine

Gonna be in Culture magazine next month.  A photographer came round last week to take a few pics  – I know, I know – and there was a short email interview. I think I was more comfortable with the email than I was with the pictures, and it'll be interesting to see how it all comes out. When it's family photograph time I normally get dirty looks and harsh words for not behaving or for having my eyes closed. Apparently that's what the professionals call a 'blinker'. Yup, I'm a blinker. Ah...

24 things I've learned from watching 24

1. Everywhere in the world is within 15 mins drive/flight of CTU Headquarters.

2. The best analysts always have personal issues which they can't talk about.

3.Jack Bauer is indestructible. Stabbing him, shooting him or electrocuting him just makes him speak above a whisper and he will allow you to continue until he's ready to fight back. Then he will knock you out with one punch.

4.CTU Human Resouces Dept will never check your background before employing you.

Pray he's not coming for you

...

How to kill Jack Bauer …

Don't be ridiculous, you can't kill Jack Bauer. Killing him doesn't make him dead, it just makes him angry.

Actually, I'm a fan of 24 but it does stretch the boundaries a bit, dontcha think? Fiction has to operate within the laws of its own universe – Star Wars has to abide by its own rules, just as Twilight or Aliens or Zombieland does – but 24 seems to have slipped over the line this series. Or maybe I just never noticed it before.

Come and have a go if you think your'e hard enough

In one of ...

A clown, an otter, my brother and me

The Beautiful Araguaia river

A not-so-beautiful piranha

Speaking to my brother always brings back a few memories . I was talking to him yesterday and, inevitably, we ended up reminiscing about our adventures in Brazil. It's hard not to. The names of some of the colourful characters have faded a little over time, but the experiences are still fresh, etched as if in stone.

We lived on a plantation, 25km or so from a small frontier town called Santa Terezinha, and there wasn't really very much to d...

Publication Day

Good day yesterday. DRY SEASON has finally been released into the wild, so now it's there for all to see. I hope that everyone who reads it is entertained by it and finds something in it that they like. It's going to be great to hear what people think – I hope. My brother treated us to lunch – always nice – and it was good to catch up. He was my constant partner in my overseas adventures (most of them, anyway) and it's always a regret that he now lives so far away. There were a few absences a...

If…

I watched a 'Cutting Edge' documentary last night about parents sending their 8yr old children to boarding school. Mainly, they focussed on separation issues and homesickness, but the prep school they went to looked very comfortable. Almost like a holiday camp. The teachers were very understanding (on camera, anyway) and were always on hand to offer sympathy and support. The school nurse was particularly good, and the other children were great at looking after their homesick friends. Some of ...