Creativity The Scorsese-Marvel thing Wherein I add absolutely nothing to the debate and ultimately fail to pick a side.
Stuff Aaron Sorkin's open letter to Mark Zuckerberg I'm not usually a fan of the open letter, as it just feels kind of performative to me, but this one is very good. I left Facebook a few months ago and, as this whole political ad thing plays out, I'm happy to file that as one of my better decisions.
Journal Robert Richardson Robert Richardson's work on Oliver Stone's movies and on Scorsese's films represents the pinnacle of the cinematographer's art. Latterly he's been doing amazing things with Tarantino and here he is talking to Deadline about "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood".
Journal A piece on Lovecraft I'd completely forgotten being interviewed for this piece and so I didn't think to look for it until today.
Writing Interview with Kurt Sutter This is a really interesting piece, from Deadline, with some insights into the studio process and showrunner politics.
Creativity On walking This, from the peerless Brain Pickings: https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/01/10/kenneth-grahame-the-fellow-that-goes-alone/
Creativity "Creative freedom" in UK broadcasting Although I've worked plenty for British broadcasters in the past, I haven't done anything for a UK company (with the exception of a podcast series we make for BBC Sounds) since around 2015.
Journal Seven Days Walking - Box Set This has been the soundtrack to all my writing this year. Now Ludovico Einaudi's SEVEN DAYS WALKING project is complete (it was originally released over seven months). The download is around now, but the CD box set is available from November 1st. This is perfect Autumn music, perfect
Stuff A way to beat jetlag? Saw this today and it seems like a throughly good idea. Tired of Jet Lag? This App Will Help Reset Your ClockTimeshifter cribs NASA-backed science to help you recalibrate your biorhythms after switching time zones.WIREDCondé Nast [https://www.wired.com/story/timeshifter-jet-lag-app/]
Getting Started Featured Some thoughts on first drafts... I'm writing a couple of movies right now that are both one-step deals, which means that I'm being paid to deliver one draft with no re-writes. Writing in my journal this morning, I stumbled across the following thought:
Journal Hotel Okura Monocle made this 5-minute film about the Hotel Okura in Tokyo. The whole thing is a wonder of 60s Japanese design. https://monocle.com/film/design/end-of-an-era/
Creativity A New Font Created From the Silhouettes of Gerrymandered Electoral Districts Here's fun, via Colossal: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/08/gerry-font/
Journal Is Social Media Over? That's a stupidly broad question, to which the answer is very obviously "no". But I can't be the only person who has grown to loathe the circular conversations and pointless fights on Twitter and Facebook and who has started avoiding Instagram because it just
Journal Incredible picture of the Russian volcano eruption, taken from the ISS Sharing this from Colossal: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/07/raikoke-eruption/
Journal Featured Suzanne Moxhay Suzanne Moxhay is an artist working with photographs, which is to say that she has an incredibly intricate process, inspired by the matte painting technique movies used to use.
Photography Featured A do-over on some older photos Try as I might with colour, I'm never as happy with the results as I am with a good monochrome image.
Writing NOS4A2 Interview with Joe Hill I really loved this book and I've excited for the TV show. Joe Hill has some interesting stuff to say here about the nature of horror and of adaptations. http://collider.com/nos4a2-joe-hill-interview/#charlie-manx
Journal Featured Suffolk Landscapes At the end of last week, I spent a couple of days up on the Suffolk coast, on a research/inspiration trip for the second series of our Mystery Machine podcast. I also found some time to experiment with some landscape photography.
Journal Some Amsterdam images An impromptu evening visit to the NDSM wharf; an old dockyard being transformed into a cultural enclave and artists' colony. Pictures taken last year on a Fuji X-E3 with a 35mm lens. Starting off at going through Centraal Station to ferry at the backWaiting for the ferryCrossing the waterAn
Creativity Featured Welcome to a new-look INFODUMP Not only has INFODUMP changed its look, it's also moved location. And these two things are part and parcel...
Writing Featured An Updated Work-Flow This is an addendum to a previous post from 2018 “A Working Guide To Screenwriting Software”. Much of what was written there still stands but experience and various updates and changes have affected how much I use these apps and what I use them for.
Journal These images are incredible Tennis Balls and Swim Caps Crowd the Frame in New Time-Lapse Compositions by Pelle Cass More to be seen at COLOSSAL [https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/05/new-photos-by-pelle-cass/]
Journal Fugitive Writing Machines The exciting news is that I have ordered a typewriter. It’s a Hermes 3000 which was manufactured in Switzerland in 1965 and is, I am reliably informed, “the Rolls Royce of typewriters”. This is a peculiar draw for me, as I’ve never had any interest in owning an
Journal Digital Minimalism I’m reading DIGITAL MINIMALISM [http://infodump.blog/] by Cal Newport, author of the excellent DEEP WORK. From the Amazon blurb: > The urge to pick up our phones every few minutes has become a nervous twitch that shatters our time into shards too small to be present. Our addiction
