Act Write

Kwaidan

2010-08-16T08:00:00.003+01:00

I blame my degree in Postmodernity for my delay in reading Kwaidan. Lafcadio Hearn's translation and retelling of Japanese ghost tales for a Western audience, was to me at the time, an example of 19th century Orientalism- another woodcut landscape of cherry blossoms, bamboo, monks and wandering lovely kimonoed ladies, seen through the spooky mist of a supernatural story.

But what have recent Japanese horror movies shown a global audience? A unique way of generating fear by taking on the mundane. I dare you to watch Dark Water (1999) and not get a chill every time the plughole is clogged. Or rent the DVD of The Ring and not jump if the house phone rings during the movie.

Hearn demonstrates in this engaging book that transforming everyday objects into unlikely conduits for supernatural activity appears to reach far back into Japanese literature and folklore. In Kwaidan, mirrors, bells, wells and even insects are supernaturally suspect; cherry blossoms can be inhabited by spirits of dead mid-wives, a monk encounters a corpse-eating demon that is later revealed to be the troubled spirit of another *monk* and those beautiful kimonoed ladies are really snow demons wandering around in human guise.

Blog Makeover

2010-08-13T18:31:00.002+01:00

The only unchanging change is change itself. So I changed the look and layout of this blog for easier navigation and less fidgety widgetry.
I'll be busy for August but will get back to more blogging in September

United Colours of Editing

2010-07-07T23:36:00.000+01:00

Red- general corrections, ~~strikesthroughs~~
Blue- tracking edits
Green- general comments

Conscious Admiring Influences

2010-06-30T21:29:00.017+01:00

The title of this post is taken from this excellent interview with China Mieville - Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of 'Perdidio Street Station', 'UnLundun' and 'The City And the City'. "Kraken" is his latest novel and it is released this month.

Mieville mentions being influenced by numerous writers and works; elements that you may not be aware at the time of writing, of being influenced by things you hate. However he mentions a strong debt to Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy as a Conscious Admiring Influence.

Who or what are some of your Conscious Admiring Influences? They include writers/poets/playwrights/ actors/directors/painters/ etc..., books, poems, passages or even phrases that set off inspirational fireworks in your nascent creative consciousness.

How to Switch Genres With (More) Ease

2010-06-21T22:19:00.003+01:00

Not long ago I had to write some stories in the crime and erotica genres. Genres that I never tried to write before. Sure I'd read a lot of both but it's like constantly going into a swanky boutique, always browsing and yet never trying on the merchandise. Was I nervous? Did I quiver? After several pithy attempts all I wrote was an analogy for my difficulty:

It is like visiting a distant relative and having to find your way around the relative's home during a power cut. You scream and stub your toe on some table legs that you thought were not there, stumble on the way into the storeroom to find some candles and a torchlight, but only to discover that the batteries are the wrong size and the matches are wet. All you can do is wait in the dark or feel your way around strange surroundings.

Pain! The dark! Being lost in a strange place! After I identified these three dominant elements I had a revelation, and narrowed down the cause of my writing difficulties to four main fears. (Fill in the blanks with the genre of your choice):

Fear #1- Suckage
I can't write ______ because I'll suck at it.

Does the disparity between your current writing and ______ genre appear like a chasm that you cannot bridge? Consider that literary fiction star EM Forster wrote a superb short story called 'The Machine Stops ' as an anti-science fiction riposte to H.G Wells and adult thriller writers John Grisham and James Patterson are now writing YA fiction. Hard work and a little daring should carry you across to the other side of that chasm.

Fear #2 - Unfamiliarity
I can't write_____ because I do not know the genre conventions and expectations.

Feeling your way around strange surroundings maybe awkward but you'll be gifted with a different view. That is precisely why you should write because you are not weighed down by common expectations and cliches. What if you were not aware that zombies are slow-moving reanimated corpses and made them run faster than a normal human being? What if vampirism is curable by homeopathy? Read as much as you can before you begin writing; learn the map of the genre and then chart your own way through the territory.

Fear #3 - Intimidation
I am put off by _______ 's (insert name of genre writer) achievements/sheer volume of output in this field.

Do not be daunted by bookshelves and Amazon wishlists dominated by a few names. They hit their rhythm and never let up but they've had their hard beginnings. Stephen King wrote 'Carrie' in a trailer laundry closet, JK Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers and Agatha Christie went through 2 divorces and depression.

Fear #4 Restriction
I do not want to write genre fiction because its defined and confined by set tropes and boundaries.

Some writers like working within confines and coming up with variations on the tried and tested, whereas some would rather endure quadruple root-canal than to write according to a set of genre rules. Perhaps this is more of a personal than a literary choice. Hence please determine whether making the genre switch is for you in the first place.

Never fear failure, but fear being not brave.
What are your ways to overcoming fear of change in your writing?

Wedding Songs

2010-06-20T23:02:00.000+01:00

A hefty amount of this blog's traffic comes from one of the older posts: The Wedding Whinger, which is about really really unfavourable songs to play during weddings.

But fret not, I have a softer side which does see sunlight at certain periods. (No, really! Come back! No sarcasm or irony intended...)
Here's a playlist I like to compile for friends' weddings and engagements and please feel free to use it. I've only received great responses for this selection:

1) "Beyond the Sea" Kevin Spacey
No disrespect to the original, but I prefer this cover from the Bobby Darin biopic because it zips along all bright and breezy like the titular body of water.

2) "The Book of Love" Peter Gabriel
A Peter Gabriel cover of a Magnetic Fields song, used in the Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez rom-com, "Shall We Dance". The string-arrangement alone will guarantee copious joyous weeping.

3)"Everyday I Write the Book" Elvis Costello
A smarter choice than Costello's overplayed cover of Charles Azavour's "She". Novel-writing as a creaky metaphor for a romantic relationship but who cares? It's a love song....

4) "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" The Proclaimers
A great stompin' tune for drunken sing-a-longs. Go on, you know you want to do a crap dance in time to the chorus.

5)"Brighter Than Sunshine" Aqualung
A stripped down piano ballad from Matt Hayles that builds to a finale of wondrous aural luminosity.

6)"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" The Police
Who would've expected this 'aw-shucks' lovestruck gem from the same band who composed the perfect stalker anthem, "Every Breath You Take"?

7) "Storms In Africa" Enya
Sung in Gaelic and it is about storms but please don't tell the guests, lest they misunderstand this song's inclusion to be a comment on the bride and groom.

8)"Show Me Heaven" Tina Arena
Less overwrought than the Maria McKee version.

9)"Recipe For Love" Harry Connick Junior
Another metaphoric song, but at least Connick sings it with tongue firmly lodged in cheek.

10) "Everlasting Love" U2
Opening with an el mariachi styled guitar, U2 covers Robert Knight's soul classic with gusto.

Writing Prompt: Ponte City

2010-06-14T18:04:00.001+01:00

Yes, it's a real building in Johannesburg, its Ponte City- a looming hollow column of once posh apartment blocks. You may have seen it from the outside in "District 9" and it is soon to be a cinematic focus again as Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) is set to direct a movie that takes place in Ponte City. The haunting Neo-Brutalist architecture really fires the imagination.

Character. Actor #2: Atonement

2010-06-06T18:29:00.000+01:00

James McAvoy said that portraying the character of Robbie Turner in the film adaptation of 'Atonement' was very difficult, because Robbie is too much like a saint despite his situation.

McAvoy is right, although the character in the novel recalls Winston Churchill's quote when describing the Soviet Union; "A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Robbie Turner's persona is romantic idealisation, the embodiment of Briony Tallis' childhood infatuation. It may be argued that pinpointing the moment when Robbie Turner becomes a tad too saintly could be the first indication to the reader that the book is a meta-narrative artifice.

Manipulating your characters like the moving parts of a Chinese/Japanese puzzle box takes skill and planning. A prime candidate for main protagonist," ... should be the one(character) that hurts the most", according to science-fiction writer David Gerrold. The young lovers Robbie and Cecilia Tallis, suffer due to a painful separation brought on by Briony wrongfully accusing Robbie Turner of raping her cousin Lola, but Briony's later compounded guilt ensures that she suffers the most over the course of the novel.

'Who does your story hurt?' and 'Who does it hurt most of all?" are two questions to consider in the initial planning stages of a WIP.

Alien-ation

2010-05-28T20:54:00.001+01:00

I could buy aliens, but not aliens that
look like Fifties’ comic art. They’re semiotic phantoms, bits of deep
cultural imagery that have split off and taken on a life of their own

from ‘The Gernsback Continuum’, William Gibson (1981)

Eeleen’s blog, stardate 29/05/10: My attempts to people (hah!) my science-fiction narratives with workable aliens have resulted in unusual abdominal pains. A xenomorph, or the green curry I had for dinner last night, could emerge from my stomach at any time.

You, sitting there and reading this blog, what comes to mind when you hear the word, ‘alien’ ?(and I don’t mean for immigration purposes..) Little green men waving ray-guns? Thin bug-eyed grey men wielding rectal probes? Colourful outlaw folk that frequent the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars? Those beings in Star Trek uniform with bizarre facial markings? (Oh sorry, those happen to be Star Trek fans …) Some of you may recall HR Giger’s Alien and the Predator with a shudder. How deeply these images have permeated our popular culture. Now, GET THEM OUT OF YOUR HEAD!!!

Finished? When you have banished the last pop culture alien from the orbit of your intellect, sit down with your preferred poison (An ice-blended sencha, Diet Coke and Nutrasweet in my case…) and ponder on alien possibilities.

Notice that I didn’t say, ‘possible aliens’. Then the usual stock questions would emerge, "What if they have six eyes, no mouth and communicate by telepathy? What if they look like giant praying mantids?". Cutting and pasting from a bizarre Identikit does not help your cause.

The most plausible alien possibility is that mankind will find an alien artefact. Only because humans have jettisoned so much rubbish into space, we do stand a chance of chancing upon some debris, even if it is the interstellar equivalent of a soft-drink can. We haven’t actually seen aliens upfront (despite accounts from hillbilly truck drivers) so your story become more credible when it rests on evidence of aliens.

Cover Art(illery)

2010-05-17T03:50:00.005+01:00

Bang! Pow! Zum Tum Tum! Striking sci-fi and horror book covers that make the maximum (positive) impact. Movie tie-in posters and reproduced photography/artwork do not count and names of photographers and illustrators included where possible.

1. R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Čapek
Penguin Edition 2004 (cover photo credit- Bob Esdale)
Czech playwright Capek did not coin the word 'robot' in his best known play 'R.U.R'': that credit goes to his brother Joseph. A disturbing image; four AA batteries embedded in the back of the cranium, creepily reminiscent of cyberpunk 'jack-in' portals and implanted microchips.

2. Dune by Frank Herbert (SF Masterworks hardcover edition 2007)
There's a gi-normous worm on the cover, poised to swallow everything that can't get out if its way- what more do you want? Other covers depict the Arrakeen desert, spacecraft and multiple sand worms ridden by the Fremen of Arrakis, but less worms are definitely more.

3. The Spook House Ambrose Bierce. Cover illustration by Coralie Bickford-Smith (2008 Penguin reprint)
The jagged imagery reminds me of Saul Bass' opening movie credits, especially the one for 'Psycho'. You can almost hear the animated knives slashing through the cover.

4. I Am Legend Richard Matheson (SF Masterworks reissue 1999). Cover Illustration by Jim Thiesen
"Hello Hollywood? Take a look at this book cover. Yes I know this has been made thrice into a movie but this cover is scarier than all three films edited together. This is what a post apocalyptic nightmare of the undead is supposed to look like! Not a major star wondering around the ruins of New York looking for his dinner."

4. Eon Greg Bear (Victor Gollancz reissue 2009) Design by Sanda Zahirovic

Utterly striking book cover but provokes divisive reactions. I've veered from regarding it as "contemporary and minimalist" to "Who's been playing in the publishing office's recycled paper basket during lunchtime?" and back again.

5. A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess (Penguin editions clockwise from top left: David Pelham (1972); top right: photography by Lionel F Williams (Eye) and SOA / Photonica (Cogs) (1996).Bottom left and right: photography by Véronique Rolland (2000 & 2008).

I know I'm cheating here but I love all four covers, even the Tate Modernesque photos of glasses of milk. I don't own any of them, in fact my copy is the 1986 Norton edition with flames and the lower screaming half of a man's face. It doesn't sound exciting but I've seen worse literal covers for this book with mechanical oranges and cogwheels.

6. Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination Edogawa Rampo. cover illustration by Bolger Edward (Tuttle 1956)

Bow down to the Grandfather of the Japanese mystery tale! Let this cover hijack your attention before you open this book of bizarre psychological horror tales. The chair on the cover refers to Rampo's most famous short story 'The Human Chair', which will scare you off buying comfy sofas and armchairs. For life.

Cover Argh!

2010-05-04T21:15:00.005+01:00

Horror book covers used to be a ghoulish delight, now I find them rather abstract and minimalist. In the 1980s, I loved the WH Smiths in Finchley Road and Brent Cross, London UK because they stocked an extensive range of horror books. Back then, I was too young to read the titles but I loved looking at the book covers because they scared the sh*t out of me. Scary films do not give me nightmares but these covers in their glossy lurid glory (or gory) were highly effective at making me not read the contents of the books until well into adulthood.

1) 'The Spear' James Herbert (1981)
Those glaring red eyes! That disturbingly phallic spear held by a skeletal hand! All set against an impenetrable black background! I suppose the cover artist showed the publisher a rough rendition got the rest of the week off for this work as a bonus.

2) 'Slugs' Shaun Hutson (1982)
Hokey as this novel seems now and since made into a very cheesy B-movie in 1988, perhaps the only genuine shudders are provoked by this first-edition cover art. A slug slowly nibbling the corner of some unfortunate woman's eyeball - although now I believe perhaps a pinch of salt would kill the pesky thing?

3) 'Books of Blood Volume 4' aka 'The Inhuman Condition' Clive Barker (1985)
The man's brain is exposed while his body is dissolving into ribbons, and yet his eyes are full of manic glee - he really shouldn't be enjoying his ordeal. This cover seriously scared me when I was seven but when I later discovered that the cover art was also painted by the author, I *had* to read the book just to find out whether the contents measure up to the cover. They do. (This book contains the short story 'The Forbidden' which was adapted into the film 'Candyman' in 1992)

4) 'Communion' Whitley Strieber (1988)
There's a good reason why I do not believe that the little green men will be cute, cuddly and benevolent if they visit this planet. This book cover is that reason - do those eyes say 'We come in peace'?! No, they say ,'We come to send rectal probes to Uranus!'

5) 'It' Stephen King (1988)
"Where's the clown?" you may ask. The clown owes much to Tim Curry's terrifying portrayal in the miniseries adaptation and subsequent editions later put the clown on the cover. However, this simple and very understated cover art hints at a monstrous menace hiding just under the ordinary streets where children play.

6) Spooky Stories 1 edited by Barbara Ireson (1982)
The first volume in a great anthology series (for children!) with a cover so unnerving that my mother hated it. Grubby fingernails, decayed teeth and wild staring eyes- urghhh!

7) 'Koko' Peter Straub (1988)

Not really disturbing for me when I was 10 but more grungy, grainy and very enigmatic; What or who is 'Koko'? I remember reading the back cover; its about Vietnam War veterans trying to catch a serial killer (hence the camouflage paint on the face) Thankfully reprinted in 2009, so I can finally read it to find out.

Character. Actor #1 : Michael Biehn and Naming

2010-04-24T19:04:00.019+01:00

The first in a series of posts that connect acting and characters in a literary and creative writing sense. (Note: 'Actor' is used to include actresses too, its just that 'Character. Actor' sounds catchier...and I stress that I'm not a professional actor, I'm just writing from a literary POV)

"What's in a name?" asked Shakespeare, who was an obvious master of naming his characters. As a writer you have the potential to give your characters power through your choice of name; just take care that there's no potential for confusion. The question should not be,"What the $%@# is that name?".

Here's a personal example; when I was young, I used to have the following discussion with other girls about the actor Michael Biehn (right):

Variation #1

"Did you see 'The Terminator' on TV last night?"

"Yes."

"How do you pronounce that actor's last name?"

"Err, 'Sch-war-zen-neg-gar'?"

"No, not him! I'm talking about the cute guy protecting Sarah Connor."

"Ahh, 'Michael Bi-' 'Bine'? 'Behn?' 'Bin'?"

Variation #2

"Did you see 'Aliens' last night?"

"Yes."

"How do you pronounce the name of-?"

"'Si-Gour- nee-Weaver"

"No, not her! I'm talking about the cute guy playing 'Hicks'. The little girl bit him on the hand?"

"Oh, him again....'Michael B-i-e-h-n?"
"Eeleen, I know how to spell his last name but how do you say it?"

I was genuinely stumped. Movie encyclopedias entries listed him but did not say how his surname is pronounced (this was before the Internet, Google, Wikipedia and Imdb) I waited patiently for interviews and news snippets on programs such as Entertainment This Week (broadcast in Singapore one month late) just to hear his name pronounced by a presenter.
Nothing. Nada. I dubbed him 'Hicks' after his character in "Aliens" just for easy reference. But I felt like I wasn't doing him justice because he was in other major films before and after "Aliens".

One afternoon Karuna Ti and I took matters into our own hands; we sat down and dissected his surname. I decided that the name 'Biehn' could be Germanic , as in 'Bein' whereas she proposed that the 'h' was silent, towards the Gallic sounding, 'Bien'. To pronounce the 'h' resulted in 'Michael Be-hine', which did not sound respectful at all. We agreed to disagree and use our individual pronunciations. Hence once we settled this issue, we talked about his other films such as 'The Seventh Seal', 'Navy Seals', and how I missed a brief screening of 'K2' at the cineplex.

As writers we all know that the naming of characters is important. "The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names." goes an ancient Chinese saying. Name your characters well for the sake of first impressions. When in doubt, try the names on your beta readers and friends.
A good name does not have to be simplistic, for example an unwieldy monicker did not harm the careers of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sigourney Weaver. My name has six 'e's in it and people always remember it. But beware the nebulous name which can be problematic. It's not that your readers are lazy or stupid, it's just that they want to be certain. Imagine your readers are meeting a new best friend; they want to get the name absolutely right and not offend the person.

Now I know Michael Biehn's surname is actually pronounced 'Been' (both of us were wrong although common sense told us the 'h' is silent) and I was right about the German origin. But it would've been nice to have been (no pun intended) sure in the first place. Just because he's a brilliant, versatile yet underused actor, ranging from the heroic :"Aliens" ,"Navy Seals"to the psychotic ;"The Fan" (1981) and 'The Abyss'. Here's a website if you can't get enough of Mr. Biehn. And he meets all the eye-candy criteria for this blog.

Favourite Authors

2010-04-24T16:12:00.001+01:00

In no particular order, not an exhaustive list and not excluded to the following;

Ian McEwan
Joseph Conrad
Aldous Huxley
J.G Ballard
Graham Swift
M.R James
Daphne du Maurier
Clive Barker
Evelyn Waugh
Saki

Obscure Horrors

2010-04-13T18:57:00.006+01:00

I thought I might save this post for Halloween, but then again, Halloween is a season for carnivalesque safe scares; you pays your money, enter the ghost-train ride and emerge on the other side unscathed. The ride is easily forgotten and the memory is disposable, whereas a great horror story errrrmm...haunts you.

Alison Flood's article article in The Guardian set me thinking about horror/supernatural fiction. Readers cite the usual horror suspects (King, Poe, Shirley Jackson...) but I remember as a reader that my literary scares came from reading short stories in old anthologies borrowed from libraries or unearthed in clearance book sales. I discovered new names and old names; wonderful tales by one-hit wonders and stories by writers that you'd normally would not associate with horror/ supernatural fiction.

It wouldn't be useful to name some of these old anthologies because some are long out of print, but links to more available editions are included where possible.

1) "Not Exactly Ghosts" Andrew Caldecott (Wordsworth Editions 2007)
Sir Andrew Caldecott is better known as a diplomat and ex-governor of Hong Kong and Singapore. His administrative legacy endures (Mediacorp, the home of Singapore Broadcasting, resides on Caldecott Hill) but his literary legacy is criminally underrated. Buy this if you want subtle early 20th-Century ghost stories, where mundane objects like a pump, a pair of trousers and a church organ are haunted .

2)"The Party" "The Partnership" William F. Nolan
What? Horror from one of the writers of "Logan's Run"? I had to struggle to put the 1976 movie out of my head, Nolan writes superb dark psychological tales and "The Party" was as chosen by Newsweek as one of the top ten most effective horror stories. "The Partnership" is an unsettling sample of American Gothic that was adapted for the anthology TV series "Darkroom" in 1980. Now I want a copy of "Logan's Run" because the book is much grittier and deserves better, before Hollywood got its mitts on it for the movie.

3)"Video Nasty" Phillip Pullman (1996). Published in "The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories" edited by Peter Haining (Mammoth Books 2007)

Yes, dear reader you read the name correctly as him of "Northern Lights" fame . Just like its title, "Video Nasty" is an unmercifully visceral short ghost story that raises more troubling questions than answers. Parallels between 'The Ring' are merely coincidental (it was written 3 years before the Japanese film version hit mainstream Western audiences)

4) The Machine Stops E.M Forster
A dystopian science-fiction story by one of the foremost critics of science-fiction. This is not a horror story but I urge you not to shudder at Forster's vision of future humans reduced to fungoid growths by their slavish dependence on technology.

5) The Lamp Agatha Christie(1933). Published in"The Hound of Death and other stories" (Harper Collins Ltd)
The Queen of Crime also reigns supreme as a ghost story writer . Poignant and eerie, "The Lamp" has a unique atmosphere that does not disperse, even when you have switched on all the lights.

6) All But Empty Graham Greene
A murder is connected to an afternoon matinee attended by only two people. Invariably, there is a twist ending but *what* a twist it is.

7) Close Behind Him John Wyndham
In his famous novels such as 'The Day of the Triffids' and 'The Midwich Cuckoos', Wyndham created his own genre of 'logical fantasy' and he applies the same precise structuring and prose to this story of murder avenged.

8) The Ball Room China Mieville "Looking For Jake and Other Stories" (Pan, 2006)
Can China Mieville's prose hack it in a real-world setting? It does and you almost wish he wrote more contemporary fiction. You will never dare go near a children's play area after reading this.

9) The Dancing Partner Jerome K. Jerome
The author of the classic comic novel "Three Men In a Boat" displays a rarely-seen warped sense of humour in this tale of a toy dancing-partner that *never* wants to stop dancing.

10) The Signalman Charles Dickens
Incisive social commentary of Victorian England? Check. Effortless lucid prose from a master writer? Check. Eccentric ghosts a la "A Christmas Carol"? Absent. A disturbing ending that ensures sleeping with all the lights on? Present.

Other suggestions/ additions to this list? Comment below thank you

Filler Killer

2010-04-05T23:17:00.001+01:00

Here's a problem that I don't really talk about as a writer, because I've never encountered it before.

What do you do when you can't make the minimal wordcount? When even 2000 words feels like you have to pull material out of every gawdforsaken body orifice? Do I resort to tautology and obfuscation to meet the requirement but shortchange myself and my readers? Should I incorporate Henry Jamesian passages of long description and bore myself into a stupor?

My muse scratches his/her nose and opines that there wasn't much of a story or narrative drive to whatever I was working on in the first place. I'm reminded of Abe Ferrara's infamous film, 'The Driller Killer' - in between brief scenes of the film's anti-hero taking a power tool to the skulls of winos in 1970's New York, Ferrara's film is mostly filler (oil-painting, lesbian shower scenes acted by actresses who look fed up and shots of the noisy punk band rehearsing next door..). Perhaps a gory poster would work....?

American Independent Film Reviews

2010-03-29T17:57:00.001+01:00

Click on the link below to read two of my film reviews in the Directory of World Cinema: American Independent. This handsome tome is available from Intellect UK. Free download for a limited period.

http://worldcinemadirectory.co.uk/

Random Music Trivia

2010-03-22T20:50:00.002Z

"Take Me Home " - Sophie Ellis-Bextor (original lyrics sung by Cher)
"She" - Charles Azanour (covered by Elvis Costello)
"(White Man) in Hammersmith Palais" - The Clash
"Mack the Knife" - Bobby Darin
"Work It Out" - Beyonce
"All I Want Is You" - U2
"It's A Mug's Game" - Soft Cell
"Fake Plastic Trees" - Radiohead

Question: What do these songs have in common?
Answer: All of them do not have choruses.

(You're welcome....)

SoShy

2010-03-18T14:27:00.001Z

Face like Angelina Jolie, voice like Amy Winehouse, tattoos like LA Ink.
Which begs the question - why isn't SoShy more famous outside France? Apart from 'Morning After Dark' with Timbaland and Nelly Furtado and two World Cup themed songs, 'Dorothy' and 'The Way I am'.
I am blogging my enthusiasm and await her debut album with utmost impatience.

Celluloid Rehab

2010-03-12T17:47:00.002Z

Famed, lie low
that's the best choice for us
Seeking escape at the movies.
For a little more
take a hike, or a cruise
Until you get stuck in the popcorn pit of deja-vu.
A well worn shoe
that has stepped on many a bollock.

Entertainment prices become
Fines; penalties paid for your observance of the law.
You want more
Than your wallets can grant.

Before you become an old man,
Gone is the first bloom of youth
When you are stuck in the same gear and pushing your pen.
Railing against stone deadlines.
You want to forget about
Bringing home the bacon.

Cast off your leg-irons!
Become a free man!
Stop living in your Ikea-furnished cage and
Bail out! Out of your depth
Life doesn't stop when it becomes stiller.

Drive your Ford to the woods
(Using diesel, of course)
The jolly robins are skipping in the green and black.
A crow and a fox perches on your sun roof.
Isn't a real panaroma better than widescreen?

(There are 31 actors' and actresses' surnames in this poem, including one full name anagram in the first verse. Can you spot them?)

This Is Really Not A Love Song.

2010-03-06T10:22:00.001Z

Bruce Springsteen sang in 'No Retreat No Surrender' that you can learn more from a three minute record than you can ever learn in school. Track down that old form teacher who confiscated your walkman/ discman/ mp3 player and show him/her the following list! Who said popular songs are all vacuous fluff and confection?

1. 'Being Boiled' (1981) The Human League
Phil Oakey and company stand up for animal rights and protests against the mass exploitation of silkworms.
Vocabulary enriching lyric: "sericulture" (The cultivation of silkworms for silk)

2. 'Free Your Mind' (1992) En Vogue
Don't judge by appearances! Down with damaging stereotypes! These four ladies rap and roar their polemic, although their leather and lace costumes in the video does dent their credibility.
Vocabulary enriching lyric: "synecdoche" (Using a small part, such as an individual, to judge a whole group, i.e race or culture in the case of this song)

3. "Remembrance Day" (1987) Bryan Adams
Everything he does is not just MOR rock and aweshucks love balladry. Here's a restrained tribute to the role of Canadian soldiers in World War I.
Interesting Fact written into song lyrics: "By October 1918, Cambrai had fallen" Surely the only reference to the 1918 Hundred Days Offensive by the Allied Powers, in rock music?

4. "Wuthering Heights" (1979) Kate Bush
It doesn't get more literary than this tune. The haunting refrain of 'Heathcliff! Its me, Cathy! I've come home, let me into your window!" evokes and distills the essence of Emily Bronte's classic novel more effectively than a dozen Yorknotes study guides.

5. "One Week" (1998) Barenaked Ladies
There has to be one pop-culture referencing song on this list. Jason Mraz has based his entire career around this song and with good reason, the references fly in, in a relentless stream:, Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa, Harrison Ford and Aquaman are namechecked.

6. "Enola Gay" (1984) Orchestral Manoevres in the Dark
More history, now its World War 2, or to be more specific, the end of WW2. OMD sing about the plane that dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.
Interesting fact worked into song title: The name of the plane! Genius!

7. "Invisible Sun" (1981) The Police
A dark song about the political tensions in Northern Ireland, but not difficult to listen to. Banned by the BBC upon release - how rock and roll is that?
Vocabulary enriching lyric: 'armalite'. aka the AR-18 assault rifle.

8. "Cemetry Gates" (1987) The Smiths
Smart lyrics from Morissey, the Ocasr Wilde-o-phile. Apparantly about poetry battles and questions of attribution that take place in the titular graveyard.
Educational advice written into lyrics : A warning against plagiarism: "Always someone somewhere, with a big nose who knows!"

9. "Once In a Lifetime" (1980) Talking Heads
You may have first heard this song used in the trailer for 'The Truman Show' It combines existentialism and fears of looming mid-life crisis with a beautiful chorus that, once heard, may never leave your brain.
Educational note on music video: Incorporates footage of tribal dancing and sign language (and I'm not referring to David Byrne's dancing and hand gestures..)

10. "MLK" (1984) U2
"Pride In the Name of Love" maybe the more obvious song about Martin Luther King, but 'MLK" is the shorter and more subtle piece.

Do you have any examples of smart pop(ular) songs? Post them in Comments please.

A User's Guide to Mythological Objects.

2010-02-28T16:44:00.000Z

In honour of the upcoming remake of 'Clash of the Titans', let's get technical. These items should have come with proper instructions, mortals are ill-equipped to handle or construct these objects. Its like giving a lightning bolt to a three-year old (unless the three-year old is Hercules...)

Gorgon's Head
Why isn't my target turning into stone?
Check that your target is standing no more than 3m away from you and making direct eye contact with the Gorgon's face. Using a mirror, check that both eyes of the Gorgon are completely open.

Warning: In the event of accidental petrification, consult a sorcerer or deity of your choice.
We are not liable for mishaps arising from the intentional/ unintentional misuse of your Gorgon's head. In irreversible cases, we recommend that the statues be assigned new functions as garden ornaments and subjects of dinner-party conversation.

Golden Fleece
Although of divine origins, always wash your golden fleece in lukewarm water with mild detergent after use and drip-dry.

Pandora's Box
Read the warning stated on the outside. Includes Hope.

Trojan Horse
Functions only as a decoy, not as an armoured vehicle.
Do not exceed stated capacity.
Does not include toilet or other amenities.
Recommended for overnight use only.

Labrinyth
(Minotaur sold separately) If lost, please find your way out by following the thread.

Zen Pen

2010-02-18T20:29:00.003Z

Zen wisdom come in sayings or the koan- a lightning bolt of impenetrable, illogical profundity. Answers are not required as the enigmatic sayings and axioms are intended to induce enlightenment by moving the mind to a different position. This is called a mental 'precipice'.

Whether you leap off the precipice or sit and admire the view, the Zen approach benefits the writing process. If your writing sessions sound more like "Arghhhhh!" instead of "Ahh!" read on.

1. "Water that is too pure has no fish" (Hong Zicheng)
You may have created a great protagonist/ antagonist. But no one is 101% goody-two shoes or evil. Not only are these characters stock, two-dimensional and boring, they are also implausible. Characters are conflicted and flawed, they are rattling bags of contradictions and they transform over the course of a story. Or even a sentence.

2. "Omnipotence is not knowing how everything is done - it's just doing it" (Alan Watts)
Story plans : structures or strait-jackets? Try not to think of extremes in the early stages. Instead, put your story in an open space and explore it. You don't have to know all the answers yet.

3. "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound?" (unknown)
A koan-like philosophy question but not a Zen koan. Can something exist without it being perceived?
You may have manuscripts tucked away somewhere, stories you don't show to anyone. Without exposure they are as good as non-existent. Go on, dig them out, have another look. Since you wrote them, you owe them their existence.

4. "In serving, serve.
In fighting, kill." (Jinzu)
Let me append another line, "In writing, write."
I see this as a warning against multitasking, which detracts from your intention. We all do it, but perhaps it is better to turn off the technological distractions and just concentrate on your work.

5. "The reverse side also has a reverse side" (proverb)
As a writer you are encouraged to be investigative and look beyond the obvious. There is never just one aspect or story to anyone or anything.

TLCs (Terrible Love Couplets)

2010-02-15T09:46:00.001Z

Romantic poetry a la Eeleen. Hallmark cards please don't cancel my contract....

#1
Candy heart gifts and chocolate are far from pathetic,
But darling, you forgot that I'm *diabetic*!

#2
'Love Kamikaze' is one of your nicknames:
'When you go down, you go down in flames'

#3
I care not for your flaws, warts, stretch marks and cellulite,
Because when Cupid took aim, he used an Armalite!

#4 Bella saw the fortune-teller about her fella
Who tell'd her, 'Stop hiding your love- dig him up from the cellar!'

Bella frowned- the answer didn't please her:
She preferred that other geezer she'd stashed in the freezer.

In such matters, it pays to be pragmatic:
Don't remain static and keep the corpses in the attic.

#5
Love life affected by the global credit crunch?
Pray, desist from buying her a $5.99 McValue Lunch!

#6
'Love is blind', there's no separation,
An accelerated process of macular degeneration.

#7
He finally popped the question, so why so bitter?
Is is because he proposed via Twitter?

#8
Once I tried speed-dating on speed,
It was over too soon, so I went back to weed.

#9
On love's battlefield Cupid lurks like a viper,
Archery's outdated- now he's a sniper.

Writer Olympics

2010-02-08T20:29:00.004Z

Let's be honest with ourselves: writing is not very physical. Heaving the laptop/notebook to the cafe is probably the most active a writer gets when they are working, or pacing the room and tearing your hair out while threatening your Muse to show up. Not that I'm saying all writers neglect exercise, some make the best exercisers. Yours truly loves her gym, belly dancing and core-strength vinyasa yoga with Sadie Nardini (not necessarily in that order...) 4-5 times a week and Murakami wrote a book on long-distance running.

But I'm sure you are an athlete in your mind (otherwise you won't be insane enough to be a writer.) you train yourself everyday to bang out those words on paper. You can create a team of characters in the time it takes to run 100m! Your plotting strategy is worthy of field sports! You run multiple marathon writing sessions! You tell yourself mental exhaustion/burnout is for amateurs!

Citius, Altius, Fortius! Pay tribute to the upcoming highest manifestation of human athletic ability the 2010 Winter Olympics, by taking the following quiz, inspired by the Guardian guide to Winter Olympics

Which Winter Olympics Sport Matches your Writing Style?

1. You prefer to___
a)Work alone
b)Work with a friend/ buddy
c)Write and then present work to a group for critque
d)Write as part of a group for the competition

2. Once started on a piece, you___
a) Stick to it and block out outside intrusions - its gonna be a long hard slog.
b) Contact your friend/buddy regularly
c) Need a nudge or a push from your team (friends, family) to get you going
d)Brace yourself against all odds.

3. Which best describes your progress?
a) Slow and steady. With scheduled breaks
b) A sustained effort as long as your friend/buddy performs well.
c) A hard fast start but with a tendency to get sidetracked.
d) A furious intensive session. Other people have to referee on your behalf

4. Which response best describes your response to writer's block?
a) Take a break and resume writing when recovered.
b) It's their problem too!
c) Should've seen that coming!
d) Head on. With a long stick and body armour

5)How do you react to unjustified negative criticism?
a) Shrug it off.No one said it was going to be easy when you're alone.
b) Smile at each other. All judges are biased anyway.
c) Blame your equipment ("@#$%ing spellcheck!")
d) Pick a fistfight, it never hurts to entertain your audience too....

If you chose:

Mostly As:
Cross Country Skiing
Endurance and tenacity are your main strengths. But know when to pace yourself.

Mostly Bs:
Figure Skating
Something genuinely beautiful can emerge from collaborations if you can both master your egos.

Mostly Cs:
Bobsleigh
Your team are behind you all the way but you are driving your bobsleigh, and have to figure out the best way along your personal track. Maintain control and don't lose it

Mostly Ds:
Ice Hockey
You play fast, and score goal after goal. Writing feels like a full contact sport and you tell yourself you thrive on challenge. Beware of mid-career burnout and play nice with the other team.

Post your results in the Comments section

Compelling Readability

2010-02-06T16:48:00.002Z

I gave up an entire weekend to "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman last month. I took the book everywhere with me, even to the smallest room in the house and other peoples' houses.
How does a writer like Gaiman achieve it? When reading the first sentence is like slipping down the Winter Olympics track on a luge, when progressing from chapter to chapter distorts a reader's perception of time. I call this seemingly magical quality Compelling Readability.

Gaiman is not the only one: Armistead Maupin wrote of Clive Barker possessing the 'easy confidence of a tribal storyteller - an elder who has seen everything and committed most of it to scripture. '. No matter how outlandish or outrageous the tales, the reader trustingly surrenders to the writer. Those first storytellers appealed to a mass audience gathered around in a large collective.

Remember, the first stories were not written down to be individually read, their word-of-mouth was literally, word of mouth . Shakespeare would laugh if he saw students writing essays about his plays and sonnets. Literary theory, admiration and analysis hijack sheer experience; 'How?' becomes more important than ,'Wow!'

I won't apologize that the writers mentioned in this post are are deemed popular, I never trusted the demarcation between popular and literary because the two are not mutually exclusive and a poor gauge of merit. To paraphrase Donald Maas, readers mostly want a good story, not merely fine writing. (Jane Austen's novels were not popular when she was alive, John Kennedy Toole committed suicide because of the negative reception to "A Confederacy of Dunces") But I am not championing airport novels and trashy bestsellers except to say, perhaps the readers of these books may benefit from the writers being deceased...

How does a writer cultivate this tangible yet elusive quality of Compelling Readability in his/her writing? Classes, courses and books only teach craft and technique of words, not how to make words fly to a reader's heart.

Write your stories as if a stadium of people is listening to you. If that visual is too daunting, reduce audience size to a group gathered around a campfire. Any school kid will attest to the fact that the best stories are told around a campfire.