Painting from Darfen

Here’s something chanced upon today - a story about artists who copy great paintings from antiquity (mostly) for sale to unknown buyers.  These artists are based in Dafen, China and were asked by REGIONAL to paint a self-portrait in the style of the artist they usually copy.

From REGIONAL’s website:

“Dafen is a village surrounded by the thriving metropolis of Shenzhen, and the origin of most of the world’s reproduction oil paintings. In the popular imagination Dafen’s artists produce anonymous works for unknown customers, operating no differently than a faceless factory churning out counterfeits, replicas and nothing close to what would be considered art.”

Link to the article

I’ve got to say, it gives me great pleasure to be writing something good about China.

For the first time ever - and like many other people I know - I won’t be spending part of my summer watching the Olympics and will avoid any shop or bar broadcasting the events.  I’ve also stopped buying goods made in China when an alternative is available from elsewhere.  If you’re in the States or Europe, there’s no reason why you can’t ‘buy local’ and support your own nation’s producers and manufacturers and thereby, your economy.  This personal boycott extends to companies like Coca-Cola and Lenovo; in fact, any company I notice sponsoring the Beijing Olympics, including BT with whom I’ve cancelled my account.

This is not an anti-China position; it is a pro-Human Rights position.  As evidenced by her artists, China has much to offer.

Throwing With An Atlatl*

Typsetting, formatting a floppy disk (heck, 5 1/2″ floppies) tuning a radio, typing code for a game from a magazine into your computer, refilling/ using a fountain pen, using a microfiche, blowing on game catridges to make them work, finding that exact place on a tape where you can load the game at the level you want to play…

If you have any idea what I’m talking about then take a trip over to Obsolete Skills, the list of stuff that’s so out-dated you forgot you knew how to do it in the first place.

* an atlatl is a forearm-length of bone or wood that you use to throw your spear with more power. The last atlatl user was surprised by the guy with the bow and arrow.

Steel and brass

After reading Jay Lake’s, ‘Mainspring’, I’ve been thinking about the fascination with clocks and steam-powered machines I had as a kid and how I might use this fascination as the background to either developing a story or creating some illustrations (or a bit of both but I’m not that into comics). It’s bit of a pleasant surprise then to find this:

It’s a ‘biomechanical’ sculpture by an artist called Christopher Conte whose day job is designing artificial limbs. The link to the ‘Wired’ magazine article by Jenna Wortham is here.

(Photo: Amanda Dutton, Synesthesia Photo, courtesy of Christopher Conte)

Seven things…

As I blunder through the very steep learning curve that is screenwriting, I have on occasion stumbled on some great guidance. There’s no better website/ blog than that of John August, the writer behind such delights as ‘The Nines’ and ‘Go’. In one article, going back to February 2007, John describes ‘Seven things I Learned From World of Warcraft‘. Now, I’ve never played and it’s not only the idea of spending a sum of money every month to relive that bit from Lord of Rings where blah blah blah but have you ever seen a woman who looked like this?

I meant, when you hadn’t drunk the bar dry? (“Nice ears by the way but close your eyes, sweetie, you’re freakin’ me out…” Link to ‘World of Warcraft‘)

John has some great things to say about starting to write, trying to write, getting your act sorted out, avoiding distractions and so on. This article caught my eye because I simply don’t believe there’s such a thing as ‘Writer’s Block‘. I’ve heard a lot about it, about this struggle with a blank page, about trying to find The Muse and so on (clue: they were Greek gods, hence, a myth) but no one has so succinctly put down why writer’s find such difficulties in those moments when they ‘can’t’ write. Essentially, those moments are about allowing things to distract you and John takes the opposite tack to a lot of those books that advise ignoring distractions. John says that if something needs doing, do it, just as you would in ‘World of Warcraft’.

That’s what I’m doing today. I’m updating blogs. I’m shredding 8 years worth of documents including old stories (if you never finished it, why keep it? If it’s an old draft, why keep it?). Here’s an addendum:

I think ‘Writer’s Block’ is simply a lack of imagination. Folks find they can’t write because they haven’t thought through the story well enough. Other folk get caught on the absolute rubbish that is the Character vs Plot debate. This debate is a chimera: there is no plot without development in a character’s life and vice versa. While you’re mulling these two hand grenades, here’s a third to throw into your next writer’s group (you know, just to see what happens and because that pretentious poet is really boring the f*ck out of everyone with his quotes from Rilke):

You’re only a ‘writer’ when you are actually writing. When you’re not physically writing, you’re a person, you’re doing stuff whether it’s the laundry, getting the car fixed, having a coffee with friends, reading a book, you are doing the things that everyone does and it is in these moments - if you’re paying attention to the world around you - that you develop your story which brings us back to John August and the best writer’s tips you will ever read:

‘Seven things I Learned From World of Warcraft‘

More on the WGA strike

In the last post, I wrote about the malign influence that would become apparent in the media as the strike dragged on, especially as Fox Studios is owned by the same Rupert Murdoch company that runs ‘The Times’ (UK).  That was then, this is today in The Times Online: poor analogy stretched to banality by ‘journalist’ Chris Ayres.

The analogy concerned is the old quote from Lew Wasserman. I’ll quote Chris Ayres’ paragraph in full:

“Wasserman’s agency MCA represented Bette Davis and a young man called Ronald Reagan, whom he later helped to become President – of the Screen Actors Guild. Wasserman went on to buy Universal Studios and pretty much ran Tinsel-town until the 1990s, when he sold out to the Japanese. And yet he remains most famous for his lavatory – or rather for his observation, possibly apocryphal, that he didn’t pay a royalty to his plumber every time he flushed the damn thing.”

The analogy fails comprehensively because firstly, the plumber didn’t make the toilet, he simply installed it.  Secondly, if Lew Wasserman was so talented, why did he have to pay a handyman to do the installation himself - after all, it would have saved money.  Are Hollywood studio bosses really the originators of content?  Only perhaps in the shit-brewing field but even in this, they come second to ‘journalists’ on the Fox/ Murdoch payroll.  In another quote from Chris Ayres: “…Some writers live on these residuals. Others buy Aston-Martin convertibles with them.“

Who? Tell your readers which writer is so well off to buy an Aston-Martin convertible.  If you’re going to state something for the record, quote your source: it’s called good writing.  Don’t just regurgitate Press releases composed by the studio bosses.

The Writer’s Strike in Hollywood

Perhaps because I’m part of a local film club, perhaps because I know other writers and artists as friends, I’ve been part of a few conversations about the writer’s strike in Hollywood, especially now that actors are supporting writers in refusing to cross what was to be a planned picket at the Golden Globes awards.

The studio’s are Big Industry and if one reflects on the fact that 20th Century Fox - the film studio is part of the same group, News International, that also runs Fox News, ‘The Wall Street Journal’ (US) and ‘The Times’ (UK) newspapers - both online and print editions, it is not surprising that the message of the Writer’s Guild of America is not getting it’s message out undiluted.

Point number one and a good place to start in trying to piece together the facts, is that the internet offers studios a way to make more money from their shows whether from direct downloads or advertising. It is not uncommon for the studios to use the possibilities for profit offered by the internet to attract investment. It is simple maths: investors will only give their money to those projects most likely to give them a profitable return on their money.

Point number two: it is no secret that writers are traditionally (in Hollywood, at any rate), the lowest in the studio pecking order. On average, over five years, a writer will earn roughly $20,000 (approx. £15,000) which I understand is a little less than a ‘grade school’ teacher (infant school in the UK). The top studio executives will walk away with more even than the film-stars (though in fact the titular head of United Artists is Tom Cruise).

Point number three: writers currently receive 0.08% of the sale of a video. This was a fee negotiated before VHS/ Betamax was a mature industry generating real revenue. Writers get the same for DVD - whether it’s a DVD of a film or a TV series - and nothing for internet. Remind yourself of point number one: the studios use the potentially massive revenue stream of the internet as a magnet for investment - and profit.

Point number four: it is not unusual for studios and TV companies to broadcast programs via the internet as promotional material. Writers - and other industry workers - do not get paid for this even though associated advertising is making money for the studio.

Point number five: the Writer’s Guild of America is asking only for a doubling of the fee on video/ DVD and for a simliar amount from the internet. This will amount ot no more than cents per download.

Point number six: ‘The Pot’ will soon run out. TV companies are already having to show more re-runs and reality TV shows. If you’re a fan of shows like ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘Desperate Housewives’ then to put it neatly, you’re pretty much screwed. Did you enjoy all those blockbusters last summer? Well this year, not chance.

Point number seven: this isn’t some Leftist, ‘liberal’ plot. This is a ‘blue collar’ issue about fair pay for a fair day’s work. Screenwriters don’t get paid for development work, only for scripts delivered and just because they’ve spent weeks working on a story, doesn’t mean they’re going to get paid. The Screen Actors Guild - SAG members, incidentally, are largely supportive of the WGA’s current strike - could soon be on strike with the writers and it’s worth remembering that ‘black-listing’ aside, no less a person than Ronald Reagan was made president of the SAG in 1947.

Point number seven (b): Reagan “got up to other stuff, too, like the secret deal he struck with the company MCA, allowing it both to represent talent and to produce television shows (previously, actors were not allowed to be represented by agents who were also movie producers) in exchange for paying actors extra monies when their work was reissued. Yes, so-called ‘residuals’ - the fees given to actors and writers when their work is repeated - were an issue in Reagan’s day, just as they’re at the heart of the WGA’s current strike.” (from Film Guardian, Rachel Cooke, Jan 13)

Point number eight: the strike has cost the studios over £250 million already. The studios lost the moral ‘high ground’ when they walked away from negotiations not once but twice. The real impact of the strike is on other related industries, especially that of the crew who work behind the cameras: no shows mean no pay.

Point number nine: the economy of the city of Los Angeles has already lost more than $1.4bn of trade.

Point number ten: the payments that studios refuse to negotiate are called ‘residuals’. They are traditionally an indication of authorship. Who do you imagine writes your favourite shows and movies? Do you think that actors simply stand in front of a camera and say whatever comes to mind? How about if your boss decided not to pay you for one week out of four? You’d get pretty pissed, right?

This issue is not solely something that’s happening in the US. The internet is global. The movies and TV shows we enjoy are global. The 80th Annual Academy Awards on Feb 24 may suffer a similar fate as the Golden Globe awards and so what if you don’t enjoy watching all that glitz? These awards are a showcase for an industry on which many, many people are dependent for work. The US TV shows stop, so UK TV companies begin - like their US partners - to show repeats. The advertising revenue dwindles, affecting firstly the TV company’s work-force and then later, those companies who advertise on TV. Everything is related.

One last point: smaller studios are reaching independent agreement with the writers (on Jan 10, it was the turn of The Weinstein Company to make an agreement with the WGA), so why not the big studios?

Here are some links on the internet you can use to find more information:

You’re first stop should be Fans4Writers which is a site maintained neither by studios or writers but people like you.

Ronald D. Moore, is writer and producer of the re-imagined ‘Battlestar Galactica’. His blog is important because as a producer, you would imagine him to be on the side of the studios, however, he is what is called a ‘hyphenate’. These individuals are writer/ producers, the ones who actually generate your favourite TV shows and maintain a consistent vision throughout a series.

An article by Rachel Cooke in The Observer, Sunday 13 January 2008 (quoted above)

John August is a screenwriter (The Nines) and highlighted on his blog this week (post, Jan 11th) that Warner’s is preparing to fire paid employees rather return to the negotiating table.

Click on this link to discover which of the big industry names you may know are part of the strike.

bentley steed

 

It ’s been nearly two months since I posted here and as I’ve reflected elsewhere, there is nothing like being made redundant to get you busy. In two months, I’ve painted no pictures (though I’ve sold one, ‘Monument’) but I have written a feature-length spec-script for Battlestar Galactica (a bit pointless really while the WGA strike is on, about which more, later), a script for a short film for which I’m trying to gather together the local talent and just yesterday, I completed another feature-length story called ‘Mundane Atrocities’. I’ve also managed to conjure up a website that gathers together the different blogs, artwork and writing in one place. It’s still being developed so bear with me as I work around not having a server of my own.  Link to my website.

When I’d previously tried to get my personal domain name, some cyber-squatter was occupying it but no longer! The really neat thing is that I noticed my email address is essentially my name with a dot com at the end. I guess that’s a bit like getting handed a business card that reads person’s name followed by MD when you know that they’re not only self-employed but the only person working for that ‘company’. Truly naff but still… it was fun for a couple of minutes.

The picture is Jacques-Louis David’s, Napoleon Crossing the Alps, an example of propaganda from 1800. The truth is that Napoleon was led up through the mountains sat on a donkey or some-such but you can’t fault the man’s ambition, eh?
This is a link to Wikipedia about this painting and more.

Whatever happened to ‘Hooked on Books’?

Due to a change last week in my personal circumstances, I’ve temporarily suspended the unofficial Methvens Booksellers blog.  It’s still around but is ‘hidden’ while I reformat the site.

Changes will include a renewed focus on book reviews and news about forthcoming releases and the authors themselves.  To help those readers with visual difficulties, the blog will also change to a dark-text on white-background format which doesn’t look nearly so contemporary and doesn’t actually prevent eye-strain*.

In the meantime, might I recommend a forthcoming book by Roberto Saviano?  ‘Gomorrah: Italy’s Other Mafia‘ is a shocking read that highlights why you should never buy goods from China if at all possible and certainly try and track where your favourite shop is buying it’s goods from.  So many items coming through Europe’s main port - Naples - have come through the hands of Italy’s most dangerous gang.  ‘The System’ as the criminals like to be known have killed more people than the IRA, the Sicilian Mafia or the deaths on 9/11.  Their main ‘product’ is not narcotics or even people, Europe’s secret shame but the things you buy in supermarkets, grocery and electrical stores.  I’m only part way through the book and though it is classed as ‘crime’, it more rightly belongs in the business and politics section with only the cruel brutality of the killings making this anything but next year’s ‘Tescopoly’.  Link.

* - light-text on dark is better for the eyes which is why the heads-up displays in military craft are always yellow-on-green: quite simply, it might look awful but it’s the easiest to read.

Villains and a hero

BT are a bunch of conniving sh*ts. I moved house. I told all my utilities suppliers. I was even given the codes needed to facilitate a quick transfer of my broadband supply from my old address to my new and now, nearly six weeks after originally asking BT to move my broadband connection to my new address, I am finally back on the internet.

In the meantime, I have had vague assurances from some call centre in India (why can’t a British telecoms provider have a call centre to help customers actually based in Britain with operators who speak even a vaguely English-standard accent?) that the problem would be sorted and adding insult to injury - perhaps because BT knew I was with rival internet provider Tiscali) - was that I was being sent snail-mail adverts attempting to entice me to join their service. Surely, a reasonably competent marketing manager would have been sufficiently savvie about how customers think, to ensure a speedy change-over with a mailshot saying how quick BT’s service is?

Now I am one of those UK internet customers absolutely convinced that BT’s internet service must be the worst: are these thousands of customers who are ‘coming back to BT’ simply being bullied?

Rant over.

The hero of this episode is Swissmail who have provided an advert free - and spyware-free - internet-based email service that has kept me in touch with people mailing to find out why there were no updates.  There are no internet cafes in Worthing.

(This piece was previously published on the unofficial bookshop site: Hooked on Books)

Dancing with H

 Dream painting no.4 was inspired by waking from a mad waltzing promenade.  She was humming the tune Black Mirror by The Arcade Fire in that beautiful singing voice she has.  We were waltzing through The Red Hotel, a place that is always deserted of other patrons but has always been waiting in my deepest dreams.  As we danced, we banged through luxuriously padded swing doors, laughing loudly and not caring if unseen sleeping patrons were woken by our dancing at the ungodly hour of 4am as the unseen band in the ballroom continued to play and just for us.  Every day should begin like this.

As before, this is acrylic painted on cotton-polyester bedsheet (and 32 by 40 inches).