Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 330

Has The Shard Shafted London?

An article in The Guardian highlights what a lot of Londoners have been feeling about their city lately – that when good buildings are constructed they’re taken to the residents’ hearts, and when bad ones appear they’re reviled. The Gherkin, which replaced the ugly, bombed-out Baltic Exchange, turned out to be a beautiful addition to [...]

The Potency Of Cheap Movies

My publisher has asked me to help source movie posters for the cover of’Film Freak’, specificallyfilms mentioned in my book , and I’ve realised just how many really third-rate films I’ve seen in my life. Cheap films are just as powerful as expensive ones, of course, and I think many appeal to writers because often [...]

iTunes: Nothing Here For The Cineaste

Now that the dust is beginning to settle from the electronic revolution that’s changing the way we read and view entertainment, the agenda has become apparent. The plan has long been to get rid of physical objects; DVD sales flatlined because there were too many other ways of getting the same mainstream entertainment. ‘Mainstream’, because [...]

Me & The Producers

We form strange relationships with the key films in our lives, and they change as we revisit them. In ‘Paperboy’ I talked about my strange journey with a film from my childhood, ‘It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’, which took me to Los Angeles, to the Republican candidate attempting to locate its missing footage [...]

In Which Admin Plans A Tour Of Graveyards

And so it begins again…

Today I’m ready to start the new Bryant & May novel, ‘Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart’. The outline is locked, and the research beckons. I start by heading to (of course) Bleeding Heart Yard, where I first got the idea for the book. Then I start visiting London’s graveyards. [...]

Twelve Ways To Tell If You’re Creative

Recently a mate who plans Powerpoint presentations for corporations said to me; ‘You know what it’s like, you’re creative as well, aren’t you?’ and I rather meanly thought ‘Yes, but you’re not.’ A lot of jobs seem to dangle the promise of ‘creativity’ as some kind of career sop to counterbalance the boringness of the [...]

The End Of The Special Relationship?

I get back to find the city is fifty shades of grey and, if not exactly flooded, certainly heavily puddled, with an effulgent sky fitted tightly across the city like a dustbin lid. There are three new floors on the building opposite me (after four days away) – a reminder that cold wet countries tend [...]

How To Build A Bookshop

Bookstores in London seem to be doing a healthy trade these days, but obviously not all are, and in other countries many are struggling to make ends meet. Posted on Hackernews were ideas for saving some US independent bookshops suggested by readers. They included some of the ones below, to which I’ve added further ideas;

Lease [...]

More Strange Shops

LP Hartley said, ‘The past is another country; they do things differently there.’ No, Spain is another country, and they do things very differently. Having just undermined the ruling party by splitting their Catalonia succession vote across two radically opposed parties who’ll now be forced to form a coalition government, they can get back to [...]

Feeling A Bit Funny

It used to annoy me that I couldn’t watch BBC iPlayer when I was abroad, but frankly, with the improved quality of Youtube, who needs iPlayer? Knowing that thanks to storms, my flight home is likely to be delayed, I’m starting the week with a few laughs. First up, is this too good to be [...]