Writer, etc.
I read today that Albert Finney died (7 Feb 2019; yes, I wrote this a month ago). Finney was a brilliant actor. I won’t list his credits (it’s a long list); suffice to say that the first movie I ever saw him in was the 1974 version of Murder on the Orient Express…
As I’ve mentioned before, my favorite art gallery in the world is the National Portrait Gallery in London. I like it because it’s full of faces…
I made a map. But before I tell you about it, let me explain why I made a map… in one sentence: Writers like to procrastinate. If you’re a writer, you know that sentence well. You probably even have it printed on a t-shirt. You probably even took the time out to design and hand-make the t-shirt. I know this well. I have spent many happy hours designing t-shirt ideas: catchy, writerly phrases. Juxtapositions of images and words…
I’m too old to play in a sandpit anymore with my toy cars, toy gorilla, and action man. And if I did, people would think it odd; at best, eccentric. Some might even alert the authorities…
I read recently in a newspaper about a study into the range of emotions human beings can feel. The study turned up 27 of them. And this was a study undertaken by the University of California Berkeley, and not some random list drawn up by two men in a pub over a pint…
A friend sent me a link to an article in The Atlantic. It’s about how writers run. Maybe she was suggesting something. I’m a writer, but I don’t run…
Picture this: A large, empty, cavernous movie theater auditorium in the depths of winter. I’m in a jacket and scarf, and my breath is visible. It’s a matinee screening and no one else came. The lights go down and the ruby red curtains part. A soulful saxophone echoes: a four a.m. version of Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade of Pale. Up on the screen, a man sits in profile in a darkened sitting room and smokes a cigarette. He’s contemplating the universe, or he’s about to face a firing squad…
Writing a book or a short story is like a relationship. You meet a pretty girl (you think of a cool idea for a plot). You discover the girl is super smart and intelligent (the idea has depth and resonance, and is compelling), and you become even more attracted to her. You start on page one (you ask her out), and there begins your relationship in earnest…
J.G. Ballard’s novel High-Rise had been on my radar to read for many years, and I finally did so over the last month when I learnt it had been made into a movie by a film director whose movies I tend to seek out and watch (more on that in a moment)…
