Scott Pixello's Blog, page 2
March 22, 2014
A rather pathetic sense of pride
I'm currently at ranking 653 out of 24 million in the never-ending book quiz & this makes me happy. Why? Partly, that I can recall more of what I've read than I thought. Partly just the fun of testing myself. But partly in an absurdly competitive way, I feel slightly proud of nearly 7000 correct answers. It's not very logical- just remembering facts about a story doesn't mean you REALLY understand it or can analyse it in any measure more than recalling plot details. However, the pathetically competitive element in me finds it strangely satisfying. I think I must have a gambling streak in me but luckily there's no money at stake here as I would definitely blow it all. Hopefully, I've gained more from reading books than just a modicum of success at what is essentially a parlour game. But what?
March 21, 2014
Resurrection II: The Sequel
As if I needed any more evidence for my career resurrection theory after Bowie's BRIT award, Kate Bush has just announced her first tour since 1979. An enigmatic figure, Kate Bush withdrew from making public statements and has produced very little new music for the last 35 years. Prior to that, one of her greatest hits and the song which brought her to worldwide prominence was based on Emily Bronte's classic novel, Wuthering Heights. John Foxx is making some of the most innovative electronic music ever as he approaches his mid-60s.
What's made me think about all this? There is the cliche about things ageing like fine wine but in music and literature,I'm not sure that's been true. Until quite recently. And I have absolutely no idea why this appears to be happening, apart from the idea of the Net and nothing being lost, which I've mentioned before.
I don't think my writing will suddenly burst into life in 10 years' time, so basically get it now. I've got a sneaky feeling that I'll be more widely read/appreciated after my death.
What's made me think about all this? There is the cliche about things ageing like fine wine but in music and literature,I'm not sure that's been true. Until quite recently. And I have absolutely no idea why this appears to be happening, apart from the idea of the Net and nothing being lost, which I've mentioned before.
I don't think my writing will suddenly burst into life in 10 years' time, so basically get it now. I've got a sneaky feeling that I'll be more widely read/appreciated after my death.
March 19, 2014
It's hard out there for Lily Allen
On one level, Lily Allen's song 'Hard Out Here' is clearly a sassy reposte to intellectuals like Robin Thicke (see post from long ago) who think it's OK to sing about women as adoring sex objects.
However, the problem for me is that while you could argue women using the word 'bitch' is empowering and reclaiming the language, just like rappers using the n-word, the problem here is that she is surrounded by scantily-clad women shaking their bits. Can you protest against sexual objectification while using the same methods to sell records? I'm not sure and so in the spirit of research, I'll just have to watch it again. And again. And again. At least half of those YouTube clicks are mine.
However, the problem for me is that while you could argue women using the word 'bitch' is empowering and reclaiming the language, just like rappers using the n-word, the problem here is that she is surrounded by scantily-clad women shaking their bits. Can you protest against sexual objectification while using the same methods to sell records? I'm not sure and so in the spirit of research, I'll just have to watch it again. And again. And again. At least half of those YouTube clicks are mine.
March 17, 2014
Conspiracy theories & cream buns
Conspiracy theories are like the cream buns of intelligent thinking. We all know we shouldn't but they're just too damn tempting.
They also happen to be one of my many pet peeves. I've posted about this a little before but the Malaysian aircraft mystery/fiasco (take-your-pick) just underlines this for me. Just as evil thrives when good men do nothing, so conspiracy theories thrive in inverse proportion to the amount of verifiable information available. Cut off or starve the information flow as the authorities have done here, and what fills the vacuum- conspiracy theories.
At some point in the future, the plane will be found but until it is, all the wacko ideas in the world come out to play. Yes, in some small measure it's creative but it's also a principle of bad writing at work here- if anything is possible, there's no real jeopardy. Think about it- Superman or Spiderman? A hero who has no real weaknesses (the stuff about Kryptonite comes & goes) or a figure with real and consistent flaws. It may seem a bit of a leap from plane disappearance to Superman but for me, they illustate the same issue, one real one fictional- reasoned debate and imaginative fiction work best when creative logic is applied not the idea that 'anything is possible'. Because it isn't.
They also happen to be one of my many pet peeves. I've posted about this a little before but the Malaysian aircraft mystery/fiasco (take-your-pick) just underlines this for me. Just as evil thrives when good men do nothing, so conspiracy theories thrive in inverse proportion to the amount of verifiable information available. Cut off or starve the information flow as the authorities have done here, and what fills the vacuum- conspiracy theories.
At some point in the future, the plane will be found but until it is, all the wacko ideas in the world come out to play. Yes, in some small measure it's creative but it's also a principle of bad writing at work here- if anything is possible, there's no real jeopardy. Think about it- Superman or Spiderman? A hero who has no real weaknesses (the stuff about Kryptonite comes & goes) or a figure with real and consistent flaws. It may seem a bit of a leap from plane disappearance to Superman but for me, they illustate the same issue, one real one fictional- reasoned debate and imaginative fiction work best when creative logic is applied not the idea that 'anything is possible'. Because it isn't.
March 16, 2014
Buried treasure
Been thinking about the nature of the Net recently. It seems to me that for all the difficulties of 'visibility' for an artist (musical, literary or any other) that over time, despite the presence of short-term hype and gossip/hoax froth, quality artistic expression rises to the surface. It may take years but eventually because in this digital age almost nothing is lost, books, films, music that has any lasting quality will be discovered sooner or later. It's heartening to see quite young kids discovering music from 20, 30, 40 years ago via YouTube, that would never have happened in my youth. Maybe the record and bookshops have gone and there is plenty of terrible art (music & books) but there always has been. I'm quite positive that given time, folk will discover what is really valuable- treasure will be discovered.
March 15, 2014
Career Resurrection
I've posted about this before but I'm constantly fascinated by individuals who have a gift, appear to lose it but get it back. It seems to me right at this moment we are surrounded by people who have reinvented themselves, not in terms of a new Madonna-style image, but found inspiration thought forever lost. Hearts & Knives from Visage, 30 years in the making with purposely anachronistic synths, The Messenger by Johnny Marr & most of all Splinter (Songs From a Broken Mind) by Gary Numan, are each in their own way, works of genius.
I'm a huge Numan fan and his tribulations, musical and personal, are played out in this album. Re-awoken musically by Depeche Mode in the 90s and NIN a decade later, he has now surpassed them both. He still has plenty of people who hate his stuff but I firmly believe history will look back on a whole collection of artists of which Numan is one & realise that we were blessed with real musical genius.
I'm a huge Numan fan and his tribulations, musical and personal, are played out in this album. Re-awoken musically by Depeche Mode in the 90s and NIN a decade later, he has now surpassed them both. He still has plenty of people who hate his stuff but I firmly believe history will look back on a whole collection of artists of which Numan is one & realise that we were blessed with real musical genius.
March 11, 2014
Is reading dying as a vibrant activity?
According to a new report, from charity Booktrust of 15000 adults, England is developing into a literary apartheid of better-off readers and less-well-off watchers (of TV, DVD, computer screens). It might seem logical that those with greater means might spend them in this way but is this how most people feel the world around them is going? One in four of the poorest socio-economic backgrounds said they never read anything. It makes for quite bleak reading- 64% of 18-30-year-olds believe physical books will become obsolete in the next 20 years and 56% of the same age range would rather surf the Net or use social media than read.
With such a negative view of books, does reading have a future? Is this just an English issue?
About three-quarters of those surveyed said they thought reading improved their quality of life but if this attitude is so affected by social class, this might be related as much to personal wealth as to the value of reading.
Viv Bird, chief executive of Booktrust, said: "there is a worrying cultural divide linked to deprivation. There will never be a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to social mobility, but reading plays an important role - more action is needed to support families."
With such a negative view of books, does reading have a future? Is this just an English issue?
About three-quarters of those surveyed said they thought reading improved their quality of life but if this attitude is so affected by social class, this might be related as much to personal wealth as to the value of reading.
Viv Bird, chief executive of Booktrust, said: "there is a worrying cultural divide linked to deprivation. There will never be a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to social mobility, but reading plays an important role - more action is needed to support families."
March 9, 2014
Summer 2014
I write so much that bizarrely I forget things that I've written (including projects from not that long ago).
Last year, I was feeling weighed down with so much sport on TV and wanted to write a story that had a sports link but was not directly about it. I remembered holidays in the south-west of Engand from when I was a kid and how staying on farms seemed like entering another world. Mix in one of my all-time favourite poems ('Birth of Rainbow' by Ted Hughes) and I came up with Rainbow, a tale about a special cow with the apparent ability to predict football matches. I'd seen so many TV reports about Paul the Octopus and other creatures that zoos were hyping around the times of a World Cup to drum up publicity, I wondered what would happen if something like that happened for real.
The cover looks a bit kiddy perhaps but the text itself has crossover young adult appeal and at the moment it hasn't been widely read. There are parts which contain some of my best writing and I'm really proud of it, even though it's not a series and no-one knows quite what genre to put it in. Maybe it's time will come this summer.
Last year, I was feeling weighed down with so much sport on TV and wanted to write a story that had a sports link but was not directly about it. I remembered holidays in the south-west of Engand from when I was a kid and how staying on farms seemed like entering another world. Mix in one of my all-time favourite poems ('Birth of Rainbow' by Ted Hughes) and I came up with Rainbow, a tale about a special cow with the apparent ability to predict football matches. I'd seen so many TV reports about Paul the Octopus and other creatures that zoos were hyping around the times of a World Cup to drum up publicity, I wondered what would happen if something like that happened for real.
The cover looks a bit kiddy perhaps but the text itself has crossover young adult appeal and at the moment it hasn't been widely read. There are parts which contain some of my best writing and I'm really proud of it, even though it's not a series and no-one knows quite what genre to put it in. Maybe it's time will come this summer.
March 8, 2014
Some quality new fiction
The longlist for the Baileys Women's Prize for fiction (formerly sponsored by Orange) has just been announced and contains some interesting work amongst the 20 nominees. It's a mix of debuts (Carter & Bhutto) & writers with long established careers (Atwood)and those early in their careers but with success already (Catton who won the Booker last year). Shortlist in April; winner announced in June.
The full list looks like this:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah
Margaret Atwood - Maddaddam
Suzanne Berne - The Dogs of Littlefield
Fatima Bhutto - The Shadow of the Crescent Moon
Claire Cameron - The Bear
Lea Carpenter - Eleven Days
MJ Carter - The Strangler Vine
Eleanor Catton - The Luminaries
Deborah Kay Davies - Reasons She Goes to the Woods
Elizabeth Gilbert - The Signature of All Things
Hannah Kent - Burial Rites
Rachel Kushner - The Flamethrowers
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Lowland
Audrey Magee - The Undertaking
Eimear McBride - A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing
Charlotte Mendelson - Almost English
Anna Quindlen - Still Life With Bread Crumbs
Elizabeth Strout - The Burgess Boys
Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch
Evie Wyld - All the Birds, Singing
The full list looks like this:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah
Margaret Atwood - Maddaddam
Suzanne Berne - The Dogs of Littlefield
Fatima Bhutto - The Shadow of the Crescent Moon
Claire Cameron - The Bear
Lea Carpenter - Eleven Days
MJ Carter - The Strangler Vine
Eleanor Catton - The Luminaries
Deborah Kay Davies - Reasons She Goes to the Woods
Elizabeth Gilbert - The Signature of All Things
Hannah Kent - Burial Rites
Rachel Kushner - The Flamethrowers
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Lowland
Audrey Magee - The Undertaking
Eimear McBride - A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing
Charlotte Mendelson - Almost English
Anna Quindlen - Still Life With Bread Crumbs
Elizabeth Strout - The Burgess Boys
Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch
Evie Wyld - All the Birds, Singing
March 7, 2014
Quantity v. Quality
When I started this blog last October, I set out to write something every day and for several months, I managed this. This has become more difficult as I'm aiming to release a new book every three months or so and I've got so many things in my head at present (the next Keith episode, a science fiction story, my first romance, an adult drama about a record company executive facing a mid-life crisis and the long-running Boy Called Juliet project) I'm going to cut back to writing as and when I can. This may still be more than some other blogs but less than others and I want to direct my energies to where they're most productive. As ever, read the books & if you like them, share the book-love.
