Scott Pixello's Blog, page 3
March 3, 2014
Drone strike
Westminster has denied reports that an unarmed drone has been sent to the Ukraine. A spokesman added that the voice of Foreign Secretary Hague might be nasal, monotonous and annoying but as yet there are no plans to unleash it on Mr Putin.
And the surprise was...
There were no surprises, were there really? Good films won (mostly), some missed out, some interesting frocks were worn and some of the host's jokes were memorable. Twitter crashed, Ellen did well and, Gravity was constantly denigrated as winning so-called 'technical' categories. BUT Jared won as my magic ball predicted & no juggernaut Titanic/Avatar vehicle swept the board. Films seemed thoughtful & serious (good) and lighter films with comic elements Wall Street & American Hustle, were excluded(not so good).
See ya, same time, next year.
See ya, same time, next year.
March 1, 2014
And the winner is.....
As someone who writes what might be described as 'thoughtful comedy', it is a continual annoyance to me how little status comedy has in literature, film and art in general. It seems to me that those genres which evoke a visceral response (comedy, horror, weepies) have a correspondingly low critical status as if those responses were somehow easy to provoke. They are not. An original story/film that makes you cry, laugh or really scares the s**t out of you, is actually really hard to create.
I don't expect any of these genres to be represented amongst the Oscar winners.
I don't expect any of these genres to be represented amongst the Oscar winners.
February 27, 2014
Actors who sing/Singers who can act
OK, so I was thinking about this because of Jared Leto's Oscar nomination as best supporting actor in Dallas Buyers' Club. The number of individuals who excel at both singing and acting is relatively small. Several singers have made passable films (Sinatra, Elvis, Bratpack era guys) but nowadays, who does both well? Madonna? Don't think so, if you've ever seen Who's That Girl? Evita or the one on an island (title long forgotten). A League of Their Own is good but what is she playing? Ah, yes, a gum-chewing , promiscuous rebel- really had to dig deep for that one.
Even if 30 Seconds to Mars is not your thing, Mr Leto is a VERY good actor. Look again at his performance in Panic Room- a fairly minor role but funny, ridiculous, edgy all at once.
Good Luck Jared for Sunday.
Even if 30 Seconds to Mars is not your thing, Mr Leto is a VERY good actor. Look again at his performance in Panic Room- a fairly minor role but funny, ridiculous, edgy all at once.
Good Luck Jared for Sunday.
February 25, 2014
Cliffhangers?
Do readers actually like cliffhangers or do they just get annoyed by them? It's a bit confusing. I've read many posts where readers bemoan cliffhangers and feel a sense of dissatisfaction, possibly even that they've been cheated in some way. On the other hand, I've also seen posts describing the sense of anticipation they create and that when reading a series, this is part of the pleasure.
I think this is the point- cliffhangers are OK when there is another book available to satisfy the anticipation. The problem is if you're writing books which take months/years to write, the gap between books can be larger than readers want. My solution? I've tried to hold back on my first series so that I can release books relatively close together. Not simultaneously but about 6-8 weeks apart. That won't keep going forever- I plan to release the first three, then have a break, write something else & return to to the series later in the year. We'll see if I end up pleasing anyone. I'm sure readers will let me know.
I think this is the point- cliffhangers are OK when there is another book available to satisfy the anticipation. The problem is if you're writing books which take months/years to write, the gap between books can be larger than readers want. My solution? I've tried to hold back on my first series so that I can release books relatively close together. Not simultaneously but about 6-8 weeks apart. That won't keep going forever- I plan to release the first three, then have a break, write something else & return to to the series later in the year. We'll see if I end up pleasing anyone. I'm sure readers will let me know.
February 23, 2014
Reality Bites
Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov said that literature does not tell the truth, it makes it up. Obvious perhaps but important to remember when writing narratives based on ‘real’ events. I’m writing a series at present set around AD 60 at the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. That outline would seem to place the stories firmly in the realm of historical fiction but I don’t want to produce just a run-of-the-mill toga-and-sandal adventure, so my characters speak in a deliberately modern idiom.
I mention this because yesterday’s post about art reminded me of a project I’ve had on the back-burner for years- that of Munch’s The Scream. I have parts of it written but the problem I have is the same with any biographical narrative of a lengthy/interesting life. How can you condense reality into a fictional form? Very few auto/biographies or bio-pics do this well, it seems to me. Narrative interest is a hostage to imperical fact- what parts of a life do you dramatise & what do you leave out? The problem is an old one but very much still with us. In my Keith Ramsbottom series it is only a small part of the project because my avowed attempt is humour, not serious non-fiction. When I get round to finishing Munch’s story, it might not be quite so funny. I have a similar issue with another passion of mine- the life & works of Leni Riefenstahl. Something tells me that’s not going to work in a tone of flippant humour either.
I mention this because yesterday’s post about art reminded me of a project I’ve had on the back-burner for years- that of Munch’s The Scream. I have parts of it written but the problem I have is the same with any biographical narrative of a lengthy/interesting life. How can you condense reality into a fictional form? Very few auto/biographies or bio-pics do this well, it seems to me. Narrative interest is a hostage to imperical fact- what parts of a life do you dramatise & what do you leave out? The problem is an old one but very much still with us. In my Keith Ramsbottom series it is only a small part of the project because my avowed attempt is humour, not serious non-fiction. When I get round to finishing Munch’s story, it might not be quite so funny. I have a similar issue with another passion of mine- the life & works of Leni Riefenstahl. Something tells me that’s not going to work in a tone of flippant humour either.
February 22, 2014
Art vandalism
Copies of the diary of Anne Frank were mysteriously vandalised at a Tokyo library this week. I’m not going to speculate about the micro-motives here and whether it suggests a rise in anti-semitism. That requires more time & investigation. My interest is that it happened the same week that someone smashed a reproduction Han Dynasty vase by Chinese artist Ai We-Wei in Miami.
The act of defacing or destroying art is not new and has a long history as part of repressive regimes, such as Nazi campaigns in the 1930s against so-called ‘degenerate art’. What is slightly newer is viewing a work of art as a pseudo-celebrity, something globally recognisible, that can be the conduit to fame and notoriety not through an act of creation but an act of destruction. Rather than stalking and shooting a celebrity, finding an artwork is relatively easy and the penalties less severe.
As with the persistent thefts of various versions of Munch’s The Scream, this has consequences for galleries and museums which increasingly may be so wary of attacks that they’re forced to introduce intrusive layers of security or not display items at all.
Art would then be less about its potential meaning as a form of expression but about its cultural value as a social commodity. This has always been true to an extent but will become ever more so as astronomical sums are paid in high-profile auctions. I fear the Anne Frank may not be the last.
The act of defacing or destroying art is not new and has a long history as part of repressive regimes, such as Nazi campaigns in the 1930s against so-called ‘degenerate art’. What is slightly newer is viewing a work of art as a pseudo-celebrity, something globally recognisible, that can be the conduit to fame and notoriety not through an act of creation but an act of destruction. Rather than stalking and shooting a celebrity, finding an artwork is relatively easy and the penalties less severe.
As with the persistent thefts of various versions of Munch’s The Scream, this has consequences for galleries and museums which increasingly may be so wary of attacks that they’re forced to introduce intrusive layers of security or not display items at all.
Art would then be less about its potential meaning as a form of expression but about its cultural value as a social commodity. This has always been true to an extent but will become ever more so as astronomical sums are paid in high-profile auctions. I fear the Anne Frank may not be the last.
February 21, 2014
Setting the record straight
This taps into a Facebook post I made, so don't tell me I'm repeating myself but I think the message is important enough.
Whatever The Daily Mail/Express tells you on a daily basis,demonising particular groups in society, immigrants are NET CONTRIBUTORS to society. Not every single one sure but overall they bring money to invest, they employ people, they pay taxes & consider this: how much drive & energy do you think it takes to leave everything you know, travel to another country and try to make a living? Lots. Immigrants on average produce more wealth-creating entrepreneurs than indigenous folk (some of whom have paid very little into the system yet expect it to subsidize them). Immigrants are often (again not always) better qualified, harder working & prepared to do low-pay, low status jobs that indigenous workers are not.
Check out Hollie McNish's poem 'Mathematics' on YouTube.
Whatever The Daily Mail/Express tells you on a daily basis,demonising particular groups in society, immigrants are NET CONTRIBUTORS to society. Not every single one sure but overall they bring money to invest, they employ people, they pay taxes & consider this: how much drive & energy do you think it takes to leave everything you know, travel to another country and try to make a living? Lots. Immigrants on average produce more wealth-creating entrepreneurs than indigenous folk (some of whom have paid very little into the system yet expect it to subsidize them). Immigrants are often (again not always) better qualified, harder working & prepared to do low-pay, low status jobs that indigenous workers are not.
Check out Hollie McNish's poem 'Mathematics' on YouTube.
February 20, 2014
BRITs- oops they did it again
Well, that was all a bit strange. David Bowie- Best Male artist. Maybe but too cool to turn up to accept it.
It feels like not just that the lacklustre ceremony has lost its way but the award itself. With such a profusion of music via the Net, I'm not sure how possible it is to throw a blanket over the entire industry and hope to encompass much of it.
Live performances by the likes of Beyonce or Pharrell Williams don't make it distinctive & holding it in the hanger of the 02 Arena doesn't help either.
The problem is that the industry itself is fragmented into so many niches, I doubt a single award really means much, especially if the stauette itself looks like a frisbee.
My vote for 2013: Best album: Hearts & Knives (Visage). Criminally overlooked.
It feels like not just that the lacklustre ceremony has lost its way but the award itself. With such a profusion of music via the Net, I'm not sure how possible it is to throw a blanket over the entire industry and hope to encompass much of it.
Live performances by the likes of Beyonce or Pharrell Williams don't make it distinctive & holding it in the hanger of the 02 Arena doesn't help either.
The problem is that the industry itself is fragmented into so many niches, I doubt a single award really means much, especially if the stauette itself looks like a frisbee.
My vote for 2013: Best album: Hearts & Knives (Visage). Criminally overlooked.
February 18, 2014
Planet Facebook
My 4-week experiment with Facebook has almost come to an end, so what have I learned? Well, a number of things. It may just be the small sample of people with whom I have contact but it seems posts are dominated by:
a) People posting overt promotion for their own books- these people rarely/ever look at your stuff but strangely expect you to ‘like’ their pages & get a bit shirty if you don’t .
b) People posting bumper-sticker wisdom- I’m not averse to thought-provoking aphorisms but after about 10 seconds, I was just screaming ‘write something original yourself’. Even memes are more creative than just posting daily, or in many cases several times a day, a little thought ‘to help you get through the day’. What did we do before such self-help culture took over? Oh yes, I remember, we thought for ourselves.
c) Animal photos- some are funny, some expose cruelty but overall they reflect lifestyles far too closely associated with looking & playing with pets rather than actually doing anything productive.
d) Genuine people, genuinely interested in human interaction, listening to each other & responding to each other without trying to sell each other anything- I was frankly shocked at how few of these there were.
These conclusions undoubtedly reflect my naivety about FB (& possibly human nature) but it cannot be a surprise that there seems to be a falling away of interest in FB, particularly amongst younger folk. The idea of FB as cool cannot survive the huge time suck it becomes due to being weighed down by posts a-c as described above. It’s a habit that’s easily formed & hard to break but the waste of many hours a day, simply looking for something worth responding to, makes FB a huge disappointment. It offers so much & yet delivers relatively little. Does it make people happy? I wonder. Walk down any high street now & try not to bump into people looking at their devices rather than looking their fellow human beings in the eye. I am a techno-Luddite but is this really progress?
a) People posting overt promotion for their own books- these people rarely/ever look at your stuff but strangely expect you to ‘like’ their pages & get a bit shirty if you don’t .
b) People posting bumper-sticker wisdom- I’m not averse to thought-provoking aphorisms but after about 10 seconds, I was just screaming ‘write something original yourself’. Even memes are more creative than just posting daily, or in many cases several times a day, a little thought ‘to help you get through the day’. What did we do before such self-help culture took over? Oh yes, I remember, we thought for ourselves.
c) Animal photos- some are funny, some expose cruelty but overall they reflect lifestyles far too closely associated with looking & playing with pets rather than actually doing anything productive.
d) Genuine people, genuinely interested in human interaction, listening to each other & responding to each other without trying to sell each other anything- I was frankly shocked at how few of these there were.
These conclusions undoubtedly reflect my naivety about FB (& possibly human nature) but it cannot be a surprise that there seems to be a falling away of interest in FB, particularly amongst younger folk. The idea of FB as cool cannot survive the huge time suck it becomes due to being weighed down by posts a-c as described above. It’s a habit that’s easily formed & hard to break but the waste of many hours a day, simply looking for something worth responding to, makes FB a huge disappointment. It offers so much & yet delivers relatively little. Does it make people happy? I wonder. Walk down any high street now & try not to bump into people looking at their devices rather than looking their fellow human beings in the eye. I am a techno-Luddite but is this really progress?
