All Blog posts
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
I've been a fan of David Mitchell since reading Cloud Atlas in my early twenties. Since then, I have enjoyed almost everything he has written, so I was excited to finally get round to The Bone Clocks. I've somehow never tackled it, possibly because at 500 pages it's quite a time investment.
'Show Your Work!' Six weeks in
I mentioned in a previous post how I was inspired to share more of my writing byShow Your Work! by Austin Kleon. This little book has been surprisingly helpful in sharing work, but also producing it. Six weeks into following some of the principles, I thought I would expand on how it has helped me.
Radiohead and the importance of letting ideas gestate
I've been hugely excited to listen to the new Radiohead album A Moon Shaped Pool. It's really good, thankfully. There's lush, layered sounds and a strange type of orchestration, with genuine emotion in a number of the songs.
Links and Things I liked in April
Here, in no particular order, are some things I enjoyed over the last month:
'Birdman', Superhero Films and Spectacle
Riggan: How about Jeremy Renner?
Jake: Who?
Riggan: Jeremy Renner. He was nominated. He was the Hurt Locker guy.
Jake: Oh, okay. He's an Avenger.
Riggan: Fuck, they put him in a cape too?
One of the best and most inspired films I've seen recently is Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), a fantastic multi-layered meta commentary on hollywood and the creation of art. It features Michael Keaton as an middle-aged actor struggling to make what he sees as 'real art', after playing a superhero called 'Birdman' twenty years ago. This superhero, or possibly his diseased mind, torments him throughout the film. It taunts him about his perceived lack of talent and asking why he's bothering to attempt a serious play on Broadway. Near the film's climax, the Birdman appears and directly taunts the audience, showing them explosions and fast action, before turning directly into the camera and saying:
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan- Book Review
I picked this short novella up recently and devoured it in about a day. Having previously read some of Ian McEwan's later novels such as Saturday and On Chesil Beach, I wasn't expecting such a violent and horrible little story. It deals with four children left abandoned in their house when both their parents die, and the unpleasantness that follows their isolation.
The Work Never Stops
After I published my first book of short stories, Amber Stars, I took a week off writing. I enjoyed the achievement of actually finishing a project and publishing a book. So I kicked back, read some books, browsed the web a lot and created absolutely nothing.
Newspaper Blackout Poems
In the past month, I've been messing around with a strange form of 'writing' called blackout poems. I was inspired by Austin Kleon, who helped popularise the form. Since then, hundreds of people have ran with it, creating new and different poetry using existing texts.
Zaireeka and the live experience
The live music experience is still thriving, even as CD sales fall. For many bands, it is the primary way of making a living. It seems odd that even as we devalue recorded music, live music has stayed important. I believe it comes down to the experience.
Thoughts on 'High Rise'
Last Saturday, somewhat spontaneously, I went to see High Rise, the newest film by Ben Wheatley. I'd previously seen Sightseers and A Field in England and enjoyed them both. The later wasn't wholly successful, but it felt very different to any other film I'd seen before.