We can put the whole tea-wasted-in-the-harbour thing behind us, right?
And as if the universe is giving you a present, look at this…
Anyone else think she’s jumping before something unsavoury emerges?
Author: John Page 31 of 121
Manchester Metropolitan University are running the Manchester Writing Competition, which has an impressive first prize of £10,000.
The deadline is 7 August, the entry fee is £15, and entries are limited to 5000 words, but other than that restriction it’s pretty much a case of write what you like… something which longtime readers will know is one of the tenets of this blog.
I’m not entirely keen on the fact that you have to pay, but then again it’s a college, so they probably don’t have loads of cash to spare – though on the other hand being a college should also ensure they don’t do a midnight flit with all the dosh, what with having buildings and students and being fairly well-established and everything.
Anyway, hope this is of use – not sure if I’ll enter myself, but if you do, good luck!
As it was – notionally – Henry Jones Junior’s 110th Birthday yesterday, and following a recent re-watch of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, I thought I’d just mention a recentish Lucasfilm re-edit of existing material – less glaring than Greedo shooting first, granted, but still rather strange, to my mind.
The 1992-1996 TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles wasn’t a wildly popular show – probably, I suspect, because it often came over as an uncomfortable mix of entertainment and historical fact; the young Jones meets a lot of historical figures (Lawrence of Arabia, Hemingway, Picasso and so on), and if you don’t know who they are or know their historical significance, it’s kind of reduced as a show.
Anyway, it was shown in various slots on UK TV, and I rather liked it, partly because episodes were often bookended by ‘present day’ (that is, early 1990s) encounters between people and an aged Indiana Jones, played by George Hall. As you can see from the picture accompanying this post, Jones in his 90s appeared to have lost an eye, which of course leads to the question of how, suggesting a story yet to be told.
And yet, rather inexplicably, Lucasfilm (presumably with the blessing of George Lucas – also pictured, he’s the one without the fedora) have edited out the ‘Old Indy’ aspects of the show for the DVD release. It’s not fatal to the story by any stretch of the imagination, though I rather liked the suggestive nature of the missing eye and facial scar (even as it does remove the suspense of the films, as we know that Jones will survive to a ripe old age), but it does strike me as rather symptomatic of a tendency to tinker which Lucas (and his pal Mr Spielberg) seems unable to resist.
Ultimately, the films etc are Lucas’s baby, and so I think that one has to concede that if he wants to add or delete stuff, then he’s free to do so; the usual excuse given is that it takes it closer to the original vision, though I must admit that if I was responsible for some of the most well-loved films of the last 50 years or so, I’d probably tend to leave well enough alone – however I suspect it’s the fate of creative types to only be able to see the flaws in their work, whilst if it finds an audience, they will probably focus on the merits.
I’m increasingly feeling that there is a tacit agreement between creators and their audience, though most of my feelings about this boil down to simple commandments (thou shalt not deus ex machina, thou shall know where thy story is going, that kind of thing) than to the exact nature of ‘entitlement’ within the relationship; as Neil Gaiman recently pointed out, the creator “is not your bitch”, and in the final analysis I suppose it’d best just to pretend there isn’t a new film or book or revamped version of the old one if you don’t like it. I know that’s easier said than done, and sometimes it’s bewildering how a creator themselves seems to lose sight of the aspects of their work which resonate with the audience, and indeed which made them popular (examples which spring readily to my mind would be the novel Hannibal, and Jewel’s album 0304). But – as Gaiman again points out – we’re talking about other human beings here, and they’re as prone to making errors of judgment as you and I.
It may be the sunshine outside, or the fact I have a cup of tea to hand, which is making me less snarly about this subject than usual; on the other hand, it may well be the fact that the excised Young Indiana Jones material has been lovingly compiled by some kind folks and placed on youtube in chunks such as this, and by sticking the letters ‘pwn’ before the web address, it’s possible to download the footage.
Um, you do know about that ‘pwn’ trick, right? If not, then I hope that me imparting that to you has made it feel like it was worth wading through the above rambling nonsense…
… a handful of minutes past the deadline for the BBC CBBC Writing Competition.
So, did any of you fine people enter? According to Royal Mail (yes, I know – hardly the most reliable of sources), my script was delivered this morning, and I know that Lawrence, Antonia and Dom have all entered too, so that’s at least four people. Any more?
Like many of the folks linked above, I rather enjoyed writing my script – which is called, at Mrs Soanes’s suggestion, The Secret Life Of A Bookworm – and was fairly pleased with how it turned out, even if, what with it being the first of a possible series, I had to get some exposition out of the way before I could get to the action. Still, I hope I did it pretty well, and I keep my fingers crossed about hearing back from the Beeb for the next stage, a workshop on Tuesday 28 July for the select(ed) few.
On the subject of hearing back, I see from the BBC Writersroom site that they intend to let people know if they’re through to the next round on Friday 10 July – that is, next Friday. Quite soon, then, but that’s certainly better than keeping people waiting.
And now this deadline is past, it’s on, on, ON to the next bit of writing! To the novel, and don’t spare the clauses*!
*Grammar, I mean, not Santa’s family.
I can’t quite shake the feeling that this picture might have been manipulated in some way. Not exactly sure what it is, but something about it isn’t quite right…
Taken from p4 of this, in case you think I’m making it up (as I so often do).
For pretty much as long as I can remember, the cost of CDs by the Beatles has been pretty stable – generally hovering around £15 per album (in shops, that is). It’s probably because they’re classics and perennial bestsellers, and it’s a good solid source of income for everyone involved. It’s also the reason I don’t have as many Beatles albums as I’d like.
Anyway, I was driven to think about this when I saw that one can now get the entire Monty Python TV series* for less than £16. Back when I was a teenage boy learning Python sketches off by heart instead of getting out in the sunshine or snogging girls, the VHS boxed sets of Python would set you back something in the region of £40 a series – so you’d probably be lucky to get the lot for less than £100 (though I know Mr Lomax got a decent deal on a set of all of them). And then they released the series on DVD recently, at about £15 a throw, which is way less than the VHS cost for a much better quality of image and sound. And then the deal linked above makes it possible to get all 45 episodes for £16. Presumably they’ll come out on Blu-Ray soon, and cost about £2.53, though for an extra tenner Eric Idle will come round and do your washing-up.
The same happened with Friends – the VHS tapes had 4 episodes per tape, and were about £10 each, so you’d be looking at something like £60 per series, or £600 for the whole run of the show. And now you can buy a boxed set of the DVDs for about £50. And it’s similar for The West Wing.
So, I’m rather bewildered; Python, Friends and The West Wing – which (I think it’s fair to say) are all still held in high esteem and rated as ‘classics’ of their genres – seem to have tumbled in cost over the years, and yet Beatles CDs – equally well-respected – don’t seem to have shifted much in price. And if it’s a question of the media involved (I can see how DVDs involve fewer working parts than a videotape), how can it be cheaper to produce a DVD than a CD? Less information, I would have thought. And why is it that boxed sets of The Wire are more like the Beatles CDs in cost? That doesn’t seem consistent.
Oh, my head hurts. Any of you good people have any idea why pricing seems to vary so much? I’m not being sarcastic or facetious here (for a change), I’d really like to know why it’s so unpredictable. If you can enlighten me, please use the Comment function to explain – words of one syllable are often best. Thanks.
*No, I’m not going to refer to it as Monty Python’s Flying Circus, because the acne-riddled teenage pedant in me is aware of the name change for Series 4. Oh yes.
… unfortunately, like
Paula Radcliffe and many a late-night reveller in a CCTV zone, it’s having your image captured whilst ‘going toilet’.
I’m John Soanes, and this has been your Sunday morning dose of sophistication. Coming up next, a CD of Parzifal which makes it look slightly as if the titular character has his winkie on show. Four years studying Law , and this is how I spend my time? Believe me, I too shake my head in despair.
(Click to enlarge as required)
Copyright Marvel Comics, obviously.
Interestingly, this semi-francophobia featuring one of American comics’ most patriotic characters was written by a Scotsman and drawn by a Brit. They clearly know how to please their audience.
Just a brief but self-indulgent post to share how I’m doing with my entry for the BBC CBBC writing thingy.
I’m making fairly good progress with it, I think, and hope this weekend to sit down with Mrs Soanes and have a ‘table read’, as ’twere a proper script for screen or stage.
As I go along, I’m painfully aware of bits which need work (exposition, though a necessary evil, will need to be pruned – or, rather hacked right back with a metaphorical scythe), but I’m ploughing on, and reminding myself that the fun of redrafting lies ahead – as I keep saying to myself, “get it written, and then get it right” (a saying I’m sure I’ve nicked from someone else, but offhand I can’t recall who it might have been).
Whilst the script’s flaws are currently all too visible to me, one thing I’ve been quite pleased with is the interaction betwene the two main characters – though I’m painfully aware that dialogue can easily be overwritten and end up being more fun for the writer and actors than the audience, I think I’m doing an okay job of capturing the speech patterns of two young people – two girls, no less, as I’m always keen to try to refute the assertion that men can’t write female characters (I don’t believe it any more than I believe the reverse to be true).
Anyway, back to it – how’s everyone else doing? Has anyone sent theirs in yet? I know I’m cutting it fine-ish with the deadline being Wednesday, but I like to think mine won’t be the last entry to arrive at the BBC…