Scott Pixello's Blog, page 8

And the Michael Bay Award for Improvisation Goes To...

Back again. A few pounds heavier.

I'd always thought it was just me who loathed the 'things-explode-for-no-reason' school of filmmaking but it appears I'm not alone.
Check out Michael Bay's cringeworthy performance at the Consumer Electronics Show in LA (it's all over the Net). The idea that this guy has the nerve to audition actors when he can't improvise his way out of a paper bag- it would be laughable if it weren't true.

Yuletide break

I'll be taking a break from the blog over Chrimbo but you have 77 crackling posts to look at over the last 77 days. A feast for sore eyes. Enjoy.

Mandela

So, a week on after the funeral and a couple of thoughts strike me about the whole issue of televising funerals. On the one hand, it allows more people to 'participate' but it inevitably leads to the media fixating on certain minor scandals/issues that detract from the dignity of the occasion. Hopefully, the sheer magnitude of Mandela will obliterate column inches about Obama's selfie, an unofficial/amateurish sign language interpreter, 'that'
handshake with Castro and the booing of Zuma. However, it might take a while. It felt like whoever was directing the TV coverage was like a small child at a wedding, constantly on the look-out for something more interesting than a dead man in a box.
Maybe the distinction between funerals and weddings, especially of famous people, has been eroded beyond redemption but probably one of the least illustrious chapters in Mandela's life was one unfortunately over which he had no control.
Still, it wasn't half as embarrassing as when he 'met' The Spice Girls.

I’m ready for my close-up now, Mr G.

I suppose one of the biggest problems I have with people who not only believe there is an afterlife but that they already have a seat booked there, just reserved for them, is that it can lead to, how shall I put it, a certain complacency in this life. There’s not quite the incentive to sort out the messes in the here and now if you believe in the great Cinema of Life, you don’t need to pay full attention to the main feature because there’ll be a sequel along right after it with a starring role just for you- a role hand-picked by the great Casting Director in the sky due to the drop-dead talent he’s seen down here. You could, of course be perfectly right. Death is a bit like a Justin Bieber concert (indeed some would say they’re much the same thing) in that you can only understand its full horrors or delights by putting yourself through the experience. A bit like the original version of The Vanishing (not the Kiefer Sutherland remake)in which a woman disappears and the only way her husband can find her is to submit himself to the same dangers. We'll all find out in the end. But I bet I'm right.

The Hungry Games

Yesterday, the star of The Hunger Games (Miss Lawrence) said that it should be illegal to use the word 'fat' in public about another person.
I'm not saying that she doesn't have a point but such an open statement ties in with something I've been working on.
It's a long-term project of mine, a serious-minded dystopian thriller, provisionally-titled Fatworld, and this quote is definitely going to appear in my preface because it really signposts the way western culture is heading. By 2030, I can see coffee going the way of cigarettes and any mention of a person's weight causing scandal and possible jail-time. Look at how the views stopped for this blog as soon as I included a reference about weight. We might be in denial but it's arguably the major cultural change of our times.

The New Beatles?

The release of some previously-unheard versions of Beatles’ songs got me thinking about who the real musical talents of our era are. Who will people be holding up in 50 years time as models of perfection and say, “Ah yes, 2013- now that was a year of great music!” Miley Cyrus? I think not.
Without seeming hideously nostalgic, what strikes me is the number of artists from the 80s who are still alive and very much kicking- Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Pete Murphy, Thomas Dolby, David Sylvian all still have patches of brilliance. Maybe their stars don’t shine quite so brightly but they’re still capable of great things. Case in point- Johnny Marr, guitar genius behind The Smiths had a new album out this year (‘The Messenger’) which is just incredible for its musicianship and melodic beauty. Maybe his singing is not as good as his work on the old geeetar but it’s passable. And even Morrissey, is still touring, in fits and starts.
I just hope I’m not edging towards one day when I turn on the radio and a sentence like ‘Oh that Elton John song- it’s not bad’ finds its way out of my mouth. If that happens, just shoot me.

Deutsch + English = Denglish

Germans love to use English and they've really embraced the American term 'sh*tstorm' for when a controversy arises online provoking a wave of protest mails.
Unfortunately they also tend to overuse it slightly so what we have at the moment is a slightly bizarre 'sh*tstorm' about 'sh*tstorm'.

Moon Landing II

What are the chances of a confused Chinese scientist mistakenly having used a Jessica Rabbit device rather than a Jaden Rabbit one? It might have an impressive battery life but could be a bit more friendly than intended towards any alien species it may encounter.

Moon Landing

One of the more interesting consequences of the Chinese 'Jade Rabbit' probe landing on the moon is it should be able to verify that there was an original US landing back in 1969, putting to rest years of dull speculation about it all being faked. Unless the conspiracy theorists then think the Chinese are in on it too...

The Hobbit or The Tardis?

If The Hobbit is such a short book, how come it is being made into three full-length feature films?

Mark Kermode has a bit of a nerdy joke about this on the BBC News Website but I think it's still a valid question.

Tolkein fans will point at the additional material from appendices that director Peter Jackson is using but it is still tempting to think he is trying to draw a parallel with the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which is adapted from a massively longer series of books. Exploitation? The Weinsteins certainly think so since they've been cut out of the profits from the second two instalments of The Hobbit.
Perhaps this is just an interesting development in adaptation in which a minute of screen-time no longer roughly corresponds to a page of text or perhaps we have found a new cultural Tardis-style phenomenon- the book that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.