Just a short update on how the writing of my book is coming along, because I feel a compelling urge to hassle people about it.
So far I've developed all the characters I've created to the point where I could talk about them as if they were real people, drafted three whole chapters including a prologue and I'm currently drafting a fourth chapter.
The prologue leaves a lot to be desired, I think, and quite honestly I might just scrap it and write it again or expel it all together, tweak the first chapter slightly and jump straight into the main story, but we'll see how things go.
As for chapter one, two and three they're at a stage now where I'm happy with them but not willing to call them done. They can still be worked on and I'm thinking of going through them all and just editing bits here and there where I feel is appropriate (and trust me when I say it really is in places) but on the whole they're not bad I don't think, mediocre is a good word. So far all they've managed to do is introduce the main characters to a certain extent, describe present day London and give a small insight into the city's atmosphere. So not a lot has happened really. But don't lose faith, the forth chapter is going to be a lot more "hands-on" if you like.
I'm thinking of posting the opening chapter on here pretty soon,a demo if you will. Perhaps later this week.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Bias Film Reviews (3)
What I've been watching this week
Seven (18+)
Seven (18+)
I'd been waiting to watch Seven for an awful long time until just the other day. I had heard various gleaming reviews and countless amounts of good things said about it. And of course, I naturally had high expectations already set for two of my favorite actors of recent times, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.
The film is basically, cutting it down it's most base form, a police drama. It is the story of two very different policemen (as is usual with films involving the police force), Freeman as the role of William Somerset, an aging murder investigator on his last case before retirement and Pitt as the role David Mills, a young, new-to-the-station detective. The narrative focuses on the hunt for an illusive serial killer who is using the seven deadly sins to map out a series of murders.
Everything in the plot slots together rather well and although Freeman and Pitt aren't exactly a screen match made in heaven, in my opinion, the duo works. Everything one character says is an anecdote to the other, Mills rushed style of surveillance and Somerset's reserved approach to absolutely everything, he even eats dinner while holding his gun (and that's before anything has really even happened).
I have to say that the film, on a whole, more than lived up to my expectations, it was everything I wanted really. The acting was superb throughout, even when it started getting slightly cheesy and even more slightly unbelievable it knew exactly when to cut back to serious acting at just the right points to keep me laughing as well as keeping me in a serious state of mind. The murders were inventive (a lot more than can be said for most police/murder drama these days) and most importantly, unpredictable. Which to be honest you wouldn't imagine given the fact that you know exactly what each of the seven murders are going to be themed on, in what order they'll happen and even in some cases where they're going to happen. But of course that is part of the beauty of this film, it allows enough thinking room for the viewer to speculate about the murders and let your imagination run wild while also telling you just enough facts to keep you on the edge of your seat!
Overall I'd say that as far as police dramas go, and I am a fan, this is one of the better one's that I've seen. For some obvious reasons and for some not-so-obvious reasons. Obvious would be things like, I loved the cast and thought the acting was brilliant all the way through, not so obvious would probably be something like, I thought the camera work left a lot to be desired in some places. But this still didn't really detract from the brilliance of the film. Having said that, I really didn't like the ending. I won't spoil it, but I will say that even though I can see why they did it, I still didn't think it quite slotted into place as well as it should have done. Oh well never mind, better luck next time I suppose.
The film is basically, cutting it down it's most base form, a police drama. It is the story of two very different policemen (as is usual with films involving the police force), Freeman as the role of William Somerset, an aging murder investigator on his last case before retirement and Pitt as the role David Mills, a young, new-to-the-station detective. The narrative focuses on the hunt for an illusive serial killer who is using the seven deadly sins to map out a series of murders.
Everything in the plot slots together rather well and although Freeman and Pitt aren't exactly a screen match made in heaven, in my opinion, the duo works. Everything one character says is an anecdote to the other, Mills rushed style of surveillance and Somerset's reserved approach to absolutely everything, he even eats dinner while holding his gun (and that's before anything has really even happened).
I have to say that the film, on a whole, more than lived up to my expectations, it was everything I wanted really. The acting was superb throughout, even when it started getting slightly cheesy and even more slightly unbelievable it knew exactly when to cut back to serious acting at just the right points to keep me laughing as well as keeping me in a serious state of mind. The murders were inventive (a lot more than can be said for most police/murder drama these days) and most importantly, unpredictable. Which to be honest you wouldn't imagine given the fact that you know exactly what each of the seven murders are going to be themed on, in what order they'll happen and even in some cases where they're going to happen. But of course that is part of the beauty of this film, it allows enough thinking room for the viewer to speculate about the murders and let your imagination run wild while also telling you just enough facts to keep you on the edge of your seat!
Overall I'd say that as far as police dramas go, and I am a fan, this is one of the better one's that I've seen. For some obvious reasons and for some not-so-obvious reasons. Obvious would be things like, I loved the cast and thought the acting was brilliant all the way through, not so obvious would probably be something like, I thought the camera work left a lot to be desired in some places. But this still didn't really detract from the brilliance of the film. Having said that, I really didn't like the ending. I won't spoil it, but I will say that even though I can see why they did it, I still didn't think it quite slotted into place as well as it should have done. Oh well never mind, better luck next time I suppose.
7.5/10
Monday, 22 June 2009
A Work In Progress
Have you ever wanted to create something timeless on paper, only to find that this may be harder, more time consuming or simply beyond your capabilities as a person? I think to a certain extent most people have, although I might be wrong. In any case, something everyone will do from a very young age is read, no matter what it is, in the western world it's just a fact that you'll sooner be a fluent reader before your too old, everyone remembers their first books, it's just another thing that stays with you throughout your life. Chip has a ball, Chip likes Mary, Mary likes Chip and so on and so forth until they become the short stories that we all came to adore.
Now, if you will, fast forward your life from the early days in the classroom to present day life. You are probably around my age or older, eighteen, nineteen, whatever, you've now read thousands, nay, millions of letter, words, texts, books, poetry and anything else that encompasses the written word, it's needles to say that you're somewhat familiar with the workings of the English language, presuming you're out of that stage where you drop letters that aren't necessarily needed to create the correct pronunciation for a word or "TXT language" as it's known on the 'streets', but for arguments sake I'm just going to guess that you are. Anyway, you've got the language you call your own down to a fine tuned point.
By now, you've probably written a lot yourself, but who has read all that you have ever written? A handful of teachers, bound only by a universal grading program? Maybe your parents when you were younger, humoring your new found skills? Or perhaps a handful of people on the Internet, possibly that you don't even know. Think again of all those books you've read, but really think, include every text, not just one's of fiction or fact but everything. Needless to say, it's a phenomenal feat, but personally, do you know one author? One solitary person who has ever had the pleasure to say that they have contributed something of note to the world of literature? If you do you are a luckier man than I.
Because of these somewhat pessimistic thoughts I've decided to turn this into a positive and write something I can be proud of. Not just something that I can post on a meaningless blog on the Internet or show
my parents but instead, just something to let me be humble in the knowledge that I at least gave it a go. And at the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about? I can't imagine Howard Lovecraft just sat down one day without any practice and wrote some of the worlds most inspired horror stories or when John Tolkien came to writing the Lord Of The Rings books he hadn't sat down years before and devised his stories piece by piece, little by little.
Having said this, I think I should mention that I'm not claiming that whatever I do end up spewing out will be anywhere near the level of genius that either of these authors have displayed, but it'll be my attempt at novel writing.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not entering into this with nothing, I've been conducting a small bit of research to help me along my merry way. I'd heard of an organization in the past that devised something called "national novel writing month" and that they have an active website, with advice about writing your first novel, everything from help with ideas and opinions right down to how many words I should be aiming for so that I don't send myself cynically insane. According to the website, if you dig deep enough, 50,000 words is an average for a first go. Why not, hey? 50,000 words, that's only about 200 pages. I can do that.
As well as this I've got some rough story ideas floating around the page, I don;t mind sharing these since first off they're pretty lame and second off they are almost bound to change by the time I actually get into this thing.
To start with, we have the general plot (I'm told this is something that I should have before anything I write can be considered a novel), so here goes;
Story
The story is about a lonely car salesman and a sadistic bookstore owner who are friends of convenience. Three years ago both of them were the prime witnesses in a murder connected to the city's biggest organised crime syndicate and have been moved together in a relocation program by the government. It starts in a large city, close to where present day London is situated, somewhere in an undisclosed future.
The earth is now set several miles below sea level due to the after effects of global warming finally taking hold on the environment. In a last ditch attempt to save humanity from certain doom the worlds superpowers joined together into a single communist government and began to encase the worlds most wealthy city's in huge, watertight dome's so they would not be destroyed by the rising oceans. Due to this a large portion of the worlds population was wiped out, anybody not fortunate enough to already be living in these city's or wealthy enough to afford a place in one of the overcrowded slums were drowned, left to starve on boats or killed by pirates.
A continual war wages under the waves between the government forces and democratic rebels, promising a better life under the water.
When the two main characters find out they they are possibly part of a government conspiracy with just as many pros as con's they're forced to choose a side to fight for.
Characters
So far, I ain't got much in the way of character ideas. I've got the two main characters down to perfection and ideas for the leaders of the government and the rebels, but that's it. Anyway, here goes;
Name: Seth Ryan
Occupation: Car dealer
Character traits: Intent on the surface, but aggressive underneath.
Short bio: This guy puts you in mind of a rabid dog. He has almond-shaped black eyes. His thick, scruffy, coffee-colored hair is neck-length and is worn in an unkempt style. He's got a small mustache. He is very short and has a graceful build. His skin is nut-brown. He has a low forehead. His wardrobe is plain, with lots of gray and brown tones.
Name: Elroy grimes
Occupation: Bookstore owner
Character traits: Antisocial and humble.
Short bio: This gentleman reminds you of a raging river. He has beady brown eyes that are like two bronze coins. His fine, straight, sand-colored hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a pile of leaves. He has a broad-shouldered build. His skin is pale. He has large hands. His wardrobe is plain and severe, with a lot of green.
More ideas and characters pretty soon, but that's what I've got so far, so it's not gold, but for a first try I don't think it's too awful. Feel free to comment etc.
And just in case you can't envision the city, I'll help you with some Bioshock artwork, which is where I got a lot of inspiration for the idea in the first place*
*The original idea was to have the city's raised above the ocean on huge floating platforms, but my brother told me that this would simply make the story "unbelievable", which I found rather ironic.
Now, if you will, fast forward your life from the early days in the classroom to present day life. You are probably around my age or older, eighteen, nineteen, whatever, you've now read thousands, nay, millions of letter, words, texts, books, poetry and anything else that encompasses the written word, it's needles to say that you're somewhat familiar with the workings of the English language, presuming you're out of that stage where you drop letters that aren't necessarily needed to create the correct pronunciation for a word or "TXT language" as it's known on the 'streets', but for arguments sake I'm just going to guess that you are. Anyway, you've got the language you call your own down to a fine tuned point.
By now, you've probably written a lot yourself, but who has read all that you have ever written? A handful of teachers, bound only by a universal grading program? Maybe your parents when you were younger, humoring your new found skills? Or perhaps a handful of people on the Internet, possibly that you don't even know. Think again of all those books you've read, but really think, include every text, not just one's of fiction or fact but everything. Needless to say, it's a phenomenal feat, but personally, do you know one author? One solitary person who has ever had the pleasure to say that they have contributed something of note to the world of literature? If you do you are a luckier man than I.
Because of these somewhat pessimistic thoughts I've decided to turn this into a positive and write something I can be proud of. Not just something that I can post on a meaningless blog on the Internet or show
my parents but instead, just something to let me be humble in the knowledge that I at least gave it a go. And at the end of the day, isn't that what it's all about? I can't imagine Howard Lovecraft just sat down one day without any practice and wrote some of the worlds most inspired horror stories or when John Tolkien came to writing the Lord Of The Rings books he hadn't sat down years before and devised his stories piece by piece, little by little.Having said this, I think I should mention that I'm not claiming that whatever I do end up spewing out will be anywhere near the level of genius that either of these authors have displayed, but it'll be my attempt at novel writing.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not entering into this with nothing, I've been conducting a small bit of research to help me along my merry way. I'd heard of an organization in the past that devised something called "national novel writing month" and that they have an active website, with advice about writing your first novel, everything from help with ideas and opinions right down to how many words I should be aiming for so that I don't send myself cynically insane. According to the website, if you dig deep enough, 50,000 words is an average for a first go. Why not, hey? 50,000 words, that's only about 200 pages. I can do that.
As well as this I've got some rough story ideas floating around the page, I don;t mind sharing these since first off they're pretty lame and second off they are almost bound to change by the time I actually get into this thing.
To start with, we have the general plot (I'm told this is something that I should have before anything I write can be considered a novel), so here goes;
Story
The story is about a lonely car salesman and a sadistic bookstore owner who are friends of convenience. Three years ago both of them were the prime witnesses in a murder connected to the city's biggest organised crime syndicate and have been moved together in a relocation program by the government. It starts in a large city, close to where present day London is situated, somewhere in an undisclosed future.
The earth is now set several miles below sea level due to the after effects of global warming finally taking hold on the environment. In a last ditch attempt to save humanity from certain doom the worlds superpowers joined together into a single communist government and began to encase the worlds most wealthy city's in huge, watertight dome's so they would not be destroyed by the rising oceans. Due to this a large portion of the worlds population was wiped out, anybody not fortunate enough to already be living in these city's or wealthy enough to afford a place in one of the overcrowded slums were drowned, left to starve on boats or killed by pirates.
A continual war wages under the waves between the government forces and democratic rebels, promising a better life under the water.
When the two main characters find out they they are possibly part of a government conspiracy with just as many pros as con's they're forced to choose a side to fight for.
Characters
So far, I ain't got much in the way of character ideas. I've got the two main characters down to perfection and ideas for the leaders of the government and the rebels, but that's it. Anyway, here goes;
Name: Seth Ryan
Occupation: Car dealer
Character traits: Intent on the surface, but aggressive underneath.
Short bio: This guy puts you in mind of a rabid dog. He has almond-shaped black eyes. His thick, scruffy, coffee-colored hair is neck-length and is worn in an unkempt style. He's got a small mustache. He is very short and has a graceful build. His skin is nut-brown. He has a low forehead. His wardrobe is plain, with lots of gray and brown tones.
Name: Elroy grimes
Occupation: Bookstore owner
Character traits: Antisocial and humble.
Short bio: This gentleman reminds you of a raging river. He has beady brown eyes that are like two bronze coins. His fine, straight, sand-colored hair is worn in a style that reminds you of a pile of leaves. He has a broad-shouldered build. His skin is pale. He has large hands. His wardrobe is plain and severe, with a lot of green.
More ideas and characters pretty soon, but that's what I've got so far, so it's not gold, but for a first try I don't think it's too awful. Feel free to comment etc.
And just in case you can't envision the city, I'll help you with some Bioshock artwork, which is where I got a lot of inspiration for the idea in the first place*
*The original idea was to have the city's raised above the ocean on huge floating platforms, but my brother told me that this would simply make the story "unbelievable", which I found rather ironic.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Books Of Blood: The Coming Of Tan
Jedi Mind Tricks - Books of Blood.
I love rap when it makes you think and addresses issues other than shooting people, taking drugs, making money and scoring girls.
Unfortunately, this song doesn't actually have a video and I'm not even sure if the picture* used in this video comes of from anything connected to the band, but it's still an awesome song.
"We are all books of blood, for once we are open, we are red"
If you think that's not bad I recommend checking out more 'Jedi Mind Tricks', a couple of good album's to look out for are 'Violent by Design' and 'Legacy of Blood' although I recommend all of thier stuff, especially the older work.
Here's an example of something from way back when, probably one of my favorite songs as well;
*If you were wondering the picture is an ashtray engraved with the iconic free masons emblem, the ashtray is full of shotgun shells and is rested on an open bible. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.
I love rap when it makes you think and addresses issues other than shooting people, taking drugs, making money and scoring girls.
Unfortunately, this song doesn't actually have a video and I'm not even sure if the picture* used in this video comes of from anything connected to the band, but it's still an awesome song.
"We are all books of blood, for once we are open, we are red"
If you think that's not bad I recommend checking out more 'Jedi Mind Tricks', a couple of good album's to look out for are 'Violent by Design' and 'Legacy of Blood' although I recommend all of thier stuff, especially the older work.
Here's an example of something from way back when, probably one of my favorite songs as well;
*If you were wondering the picture is an ashtray engraved with the iconic free masons emblem, the ashtray is full of shotgun shells and is rested on an open bible. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Underground Vs. Mainstream
Underground music is cool until it's popularized by the sort of people that wear purple American Apparel hoodies and those neon shades that Kanye West wore that time.
These bands usually make a couple of chart bothering singles then the same kids that brought them into power decide that they don't like 'their flavor' anymore and move onto the next cool band to ruin.
While all this is happening bands that were created with the soul purpose of making it big (not mentioning any names here), they stay on top to a certain degree for most of their professional career, sometimes shadowed by the newest obscure R&B or commercial house track that Kiss FM decide is what people should be listening to that week/day/hour, until eventually the bass player dies in a horrific rock climbing/sky diving/extreme yachting accident and the band decide that he was so much of a creative force that they can't go on anymore and disband.
After this they're left with noting other than their millions and millions of useless pounds they've amounted and are left in the rain clutching a handful of soggy broken marriage vows after that super model wife decides that she preferred that guy who won Big Brother after all. At the end of the day, he's more sensitive and wears crocks.
The big bands will keep a few die hard fans that will hug their favorite album to the grave and everyone else will move on loving whatever replaces them.
The same doesn't occur for your underground scene, since when an underground band gets kicked from the charts they manage to keep face, if not for their niche fan base then for their mums who can't bare to see their beloved sons and daughters go to waste after all those guitar lessons that were payed for, largely on granddads inheritance. So instead they slip back into their skinny jeans and sleeveless Blondie t-shirts and tour the country with their radical new album, complete with what they laughingly call 'a new sound'. Because of this many of their hardcore fans absolutely hate the new album since it's all new and scary, most of them are still recovering from the shell shock of their hero's falling from grace, this all just becomes too much. Many of these hardcore fans will often move on to start their own bands to prove that there are kids who can still 'keep it real' without the help of the media but sooner or later follow exactly the same path as their down trodden predecessors.
And thus the cycle continues.
These bands usually make a couple of chart bothering singles then the same kids that brought them into power decide that they don't like 'their flavor' anymore and move onto the next cool band to ruin.
While all this is happening bands that were created with the soul purpose of making it big (not mentioning any names here), they stay on top to a certain degree for most of their professional career, sometimes shadowed by the newest obscure R&B or commercial house track that Kiss FM decide is what people should be listening to that week/day/hour, until eventually the bass player dies in a horrific rock climbing/sky diving/extreme yachting accident and the band decide that he was so much of a creative force that they can't go on anymore and disband.
After this they're left with noting other than their millions and millions of useless pounds they've amounted and are left in the rain clutching a handful of soggy broken marriage vows after that super model wife decides that she preferred that guy who won Big Brother after all. At the end of the day, he's more sensitive and wears crocks.
The big bands will keep a few die hard fans that will hug their favorite album to the grave and everyone else will move on loving whatever replaces them.
The same doesn't occur for your underground scene, since when an underground band gets kicked from the charts they manage to keep face, if not for their niche fan base then for their mums who can't bare to see their beloved sons and daughters go to waste after all those guitar lessons that were payed for, largely on granddads inheritance. So instead they slip back into their skinny jeans and sleeveless Blondie t-shirts and tour the country with their radical new album, complete with what they laughingly call 'a new sound'. Because of this many of their hardcore fans absolutely hate the new album since it's all new and scary, most of them are still recovering from the shell shock of their hero's falling from grace, this all just becomes too much. Many of these hardcore fans will often move on to start their own bands to prove that there are kids who can still 'keep it real' without the help of the media but sooner or later follow exactly the same path as their down trodden predecessors.
And thus the cycle continues.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Photoshop
Check it out, yo! Some recent stuff. I totally ripped the arm design of some clothing companies "summer range" booklet that they quite ironically slipped through my door, on the wettest day of the year so far.
I sketched up the arm, beefed it up a bit, more contours and thicker fore-arm and added the tattoo's. Admittedly I only actually drew the Black Flag logo on the wrist, the rest were pretty much all Google jobs and some stuff I had lying around in my junk picture folder.
It's pretty sloppy, but it took me the best part of an hour, so who cares. Also my tattoo positioning was mega rushed, hence the clutter, but like I said, whatever.
I might turn this into a stencil if I can ever be bothered, might look cool on a t-shirt!
It 'could' just be coincidence
The word "coincidence" is thrown around a lot more today than people seem to realize.
A poor understanding of probability leads many people to put forward supernatural explanation for events that are far more common than they think.
This video attempts to prove that by showing how probability theory is sufficient to explain even the most seemingly remarkable and unexplainable "coincidences". I think it does it rather well.
Everyone should make room for logic like this.
If anyone is interested, here is a link to the narrators channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/QualiaSoup
A lot of his videos are popular misconception and logic breakdowns (from an atheists point of view, scores points with me)
A poor understanding of probability leads many people to put forward supernatural explanation for events that are far more common than they think.
This video attempts to prove that by showing how probability theory is sufficient to explain even the most seemingly remarkable and unexplainable "coincidences". I think it does it rather well.
Everyone should make room for logic like this.
If anyone is interested, here is a link to the narrators channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/QualiaSoup
A lot of his videos are popular misconception and logic breakdowns (from an atheists point of view, scores points with me)
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