Rooting through some old CD boxes this morning, I found my much-played copy of Electronic’s Getting Away With It, and was driven to wonder the following:
Am I utterly delusional, or is that one of the most simple yet elegant record cover designs of all time?
My claim in the profile to the right about climbing mountains isn’t an idle one (honest), and so I found this book, detailing some of the not-so-ethical behaviour on Mount Everest, was very interesting. And, at times, unsettling.
Michael Kodas tells the story of his own ill-fated attempt to summit Everest from the Tibetan side, and contrasts it with the death of Nils Antezana, a 69-year-old doctor who died whilst descending on the Nepalese side of the mountain. Whilst Kodas’s attempt floundered due to conflicts within the assembled team, Antezana died alone on the mountain after summiting but being left to descend, alone, by his guide.
These two stories are well told and quite unnerving, but there are other snippets as well – one climber was forced to rappel down one of the routes, and it was only by chance that he looked over his shoulder and realised that the (fixed) rope he was descending had, for no apparent reason, been cut off; had he not turned to look, he would have fallen to his death. Other climbers find their tents or equipment have been stolen as they ascend to higher camps on Everest.
There’s some good analysis of why 2006 saw so many deaths on Everest, and the chilling fact that almost anyone can claim to be a ‘guide’ and charge tens of thousands of pounds to lead you up Everest, even if they’ve had limited – or next to no – experience of guiding.
The book sometimes strays from the central narratives a bit, though it only tends to do this when recounting something else of interest or which adds to the background, so I felt this could be forgiven. The writing style is good and straightforward, and thankfully it generally avoids giving lines of dialogue when no witnesses were to hand, or speculating wildly about events. There’s a lot of referencing and quoting from eyewitnesses, and a bibliography and index to back all this up.
So, if you’re interested in Everest, or climbing generally, this is a solid account of an aspect of the mountain which doesn’t tend to get much coverage. I was lucky enough to be given a copy of the hardback (thanks, Mrs Wife!), but the paperback’s out in November, so you could save your recession-hit pennies until then. Either way, I recommend it.
When you’re as old and jaded as I am, you gradually come to accept that there are certain events on TV programmes and in films that just don’t happen.
The example I usually turn to is that of the ‘dance-off’ amongst disagreeing groups of people, which I have never ever ever seen anything even vaguely approximating, actually taking place out there on the streets. Lord knows I’d like it if people were more willing to settle their ideological differences by busting some funky moves on a street corner by a fire hydrant with a boom box, but unfortunately people seem more keen to use knives and guns and bombs than diplomacy or a good old-fashioned groovin’. Sigh.
Anyway, one thing which shows up in films and on TV quite a bit – and which is certainly more easy to replicate in the real world – is that of someone (usually a woman) throwing a glass of wine in the face of someone else (usually a man who’s been behaving like some kind of rotter). Aside from a story I vaguely recall from the 1980s about Anna Ford chucking wine at a TV executive who’d fired her or otherwise acted the cad in a professional sense, I have to say that I have never seen this this in real life, so I wanted to ask : have you ever seen anyone do this?
The first person I asked in this very scientific poll was m’good lady wife, who astutely observed that many people wouldn’t want to waste wine on someone they disliked that much, and would probably just throw a punch instead. I can see the logic of that.
So, can any of you report having seen a fine wine arc through the air to land on someone’s mush? Perhaps a glass of Pino Grigio was flung facewards by a friend of yours, with dry-cleaning-requiring results. If so – or if the answer’s emphatically NO – please let me know by posting a comment. I’m keen to know if this event actually occurs, or if, like ship captains performing marriage ceremonies, it’s naught but a fiction within fiction, as it were.
Seeing as how I haven’t heard anything yet about my entry into the Guardian’s
competition to write the first 150 words of a novel, and the notification date is almost past, and Laurence was kind enough to hassle me to share what I sent them, here it is.
The title of the novel was given as a springboard, so this is my first paragraph of The Letting Go…
“Life’s not about holding on,” her grandfather had once said. “It’s about the letting go.”
Years after his death, when she finally got round to sorting through his possessions, Heather realised that, in his life, he had let go of very little.
At the bottom of the fourth box, in an unmarked manila envelope, she found it: a curl-cornered black and white photograph of her grandfather, aged about twenty. With a full head of hair and an impish grin, he stood in front of a terraced house, with his arm around the shoulders of a woman who was definitely not Heather’s grandmother. And standing in front of them, scowling at the camera, a serious-looking young girl.
Her hand shaking only slightly, Heather flipped the photo over, hoping for a date or other explanation. There was a short sentence in her grandfather’s handwriting.
Don’t tell her you found this, it said.
As ever, comments are welcomed (though do bear in mind it’s too late for me to make any changes which might increase my chances of winning the competition).
I don’t often review single issues of comics here on’t blog – or collected comics, for that matter – but this is a good ‘un, and I thought it was worth drawing to your attention.
Unwritten is a new series published by Vertigo Comics (the ‘mature’ wing of DC Comics). It’s written by Mike Carey and drawn by Peter Gross, and tells the story of Tommy Taylor. Taylor’s father was a writer, and like A.A. Milne, wrote books featuring a character with the same name as his son. Taylor Senior has disappeared, leaving a legacy of books which bear a resemblance to – but, we are told, are more popular than – the Harry Potter series.
As the series opens, Tommy’s making a fairly unsuccessful living attending conventions and making personal appearances. It’s at one of these conventions that he’s asked some questions by an audience member which start to suggest that Tommy may, in a way, not be as real as he might believe. Things unravel pretty quickly from there, and the first issue sets things up very promisingly. The art’s good and clear, and flashy and impressive when needed, and the dialogue is – gasp – close to how people actually speak, which has to be a good thing.
So, a good comic, and the final selling point is that this first issue, which contains 32 pages of story, is on sale at the lure-you-in price of $1 (or, here in Blighty, about 75p). You can spend that on a fizzy drink, which your system will just turn into wee, so why not give this comic a read instead ? You may have to go to an actual comic shop to get it, but it’s a very decent read. If nothing else, you can smile, as I did, at the opening pages and their similarity to events in the Potter books/films.
As you probably know, this film is the big-screen ‘reboot’ of the long-running series (though it’s possible to interpret it as an altered history thing, given the time-travel elements). It’s been getting very positive reviews, and there are all manner of background stories etc to be found elsewhere, so I won’t get into that sort of stuff here, I’ll just try to stick to giving you a mini-review.
Put simply, it’s a lot of fun, and I recommend it highly. I have mixed feelings about the Trek franchise, liking some bits, being left cold by others, and often being frightened by the passion of its fans, but this film has a decent story, solid acting, impressive special effects, and a good balance of action scenes and character interaction. I reckon you could see it with someone who’d never seen an episode or film or even heard the names of the characters before, and they’d still have fun.
For my money, the most impressive thing the film does – and I wouldn’t like to guess whether this was a conscious move away from the recent, less-successful films, but it would make sense if it was – is to invest enough time and effort into making the viewer give a damn about what’s happening, as opposed to leaning on the fact that these are well-known characters and therefore you’re supposed to have some pre-existing affection for them. As a result, when characters are in peril, it’s dramatic within the context of the film, and not because you’re expected to care because, hey, these are iconiccharacters.
So, a definite thumbs-up from me, and I’ve often been lukewarm about Trek.
You’ll no doubt have noticed that the picture accompanying this review isn’t of the film poster or the cast or whatever, but I wanted to draw a smidgin of attention to the fact that the current US Edition of Wired magazine is guest-edited by JJ Abrams, the director of the film. As well as having a number of interesting articles about mysteries and magic and the like, there’s a comic strip that leads into the film, drawn by well-respected comic artist Paul Pope, and written by the film’s screenwriters, which is worth a look as it provides a nice little bit of background. As I say, this is the USA edition (though the UK edition’s worth checking out as well), is labelled as such with a shiny gold sticker, and can be found on the shelves of slightly-larger newsagents.
This young chap may well be the owner of the coolest name ever.
Granted, it could well be a hoax (though maybe not), but if it’s for real, no wonder he’s smiling.
*I am such a geek.
An interesting call for scripts over on the BBC Writersroom website; they’re after “the next generation of CBBC writers with fresh perspectives, original voices, and the ability to create unforgettable characters”, and they’re asking for 30-minute original TV scripts.
Once you’ve filled out the online application form, all submissions should be sent in hard copy, to CBBC New Writers, BBC writersroom: 1st Floor, Grafton House, 379 Euston Road, London NW1 3AU by 5pm on Wednesday 1 July 2009. There’ll then be a masterclass for 15-20 shortlisted writers in July, and then eight of those writers will attend a residential week in late September, and then the finalists out of the eight will receive mentoring and £300.
Full details are here, there’s a Frequently Asked Questions page here, and if you want more information on CBBC generally, cast your eyes and mouse here.
My immediate feeling about it? The deadline’s a good six weeks or so away, which seems feasible time-wise, and overall it sounds worth having a go. In all honesty, I’ve never really thought about writing for the 6-12 age range, but on the other hand I’ve not discounted it either, and I can readily imagine that writing for a younger audience is often more of a challenge than, say, writing for one’s peers.
So I’ll definitely have a think about it, and see if I’ve got any stories, or even story ideas or loose structural notions, which might fit the bill.
Anyone else likely to enter this?
Edited: to add in details about the online application form. Whereas I am often forgetful, Piers has a solid memory. Thanks, Mr B!
I’ve been rather sceptical about the prospect of e-Readers (or electronic books, or whatever you want to call them) for a while, though I can see the fundamental appeal of being able to take loads of books with you on, say, a lengthy holiday.
My main concern is that they seem to have mutually exclusive operating and formatting systems and the like (what I believe is known as ‘proprietary software’), and I’m always rather concerned that that sort of thing usually leads to dwindling availability of content, no matter how good the actual kit might be (like the shelves of pre-recorded MiniDiscs not taking over your local HMV, if you see what I mean).
Anyway, there seems to have been a surge in development in this area; the frankly nice-looking item pictured here is the unfortunately named Cool-Er, which has the advantage of looking a lot like an iPod. Mind you, it doesn’t have the wireless capability of Amazon’s Kindle device (see John August’s report of buying a book wirelessly here – I can see why this would be a handy thing to have for those spur-of-the-moment purchases, though I can also see why that might leave me broke. I’m a sponzanyous kinda guy).
Magazines and newspapers are often cited as being the key items to get onto these devices to really get them to sell, and I can see why; a lot of the magazines I read aren’t worth me keeping after I’m done (oh, I used to do this, but space considerations and the question will I ever read these again? eventually led to a purge), and so being able to read the thing and then delete it – or keep a copy on the computer or even print off pages of particular note – would be something of a boon.
And the same for a lot of comics I read – I’m much inclined nowadays to buy single issues and then ditch them and buy collected editions (assuming that it’s something I’d see myself reading repeatedly), so being able to buy e-comics of the individual issues and then read them away from the computer would be pretty neat. Though of course, a lot of US comics are printed in colour, and no colour readers are available… yet.
One concern I have, especially with books or comics which might demand a bit of work from the reader, would be the ability to flip back a page or two to re-read a paragraph or panel which has, now you’ve read a little further, come to have a possible double meaning or heightened relevance. If it’s as easy as the manufacturers suggest to turn the page, then that’s fine, but if not… well, I’m going to take a bit more convincing before thinking about shifting to the electronic form, especially as paper never has battery issues or suffers data crashes. Well, apart from dropping it in the bath or a puddle.
All that said, though, I like the look of the Cool-Er. But with my backlog of books in the ‘to be read’ pile (well, on a shelf, but you know what I mean), I doubt I should really be thinking about new ways in which to get hold of books, should I ? Although one might make the argument that holding them electronically would take up less room… hmm.
The photo above is by Jon Snyder from the Wired.com site. No copyright infringement is intended.
You might want to close down any unnecessary applications running on your computer, in case they slow down the general working of things, before you click the following link.
No, really, I mean it, you’re going to want things running as whizzily as possible on your electronic Babbage difference engine.
Ready? Okay, click here and if it doesn’t blow your mind, then… well, I’m kind of surprised, and I’m sorry to have wasted your time.
If it appeals, though… thought you’d like it!
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