Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Recently in my boring life...

I've finally started reading a book my good friend gave me for my birthday last year. A novel called Walking On Glass by Iain Banks. And I am overwhelmed by the pure imagination of it. The actual prose doesn't quite meet Elmore Leonards 10 rules of writing, but it is a great read nonetheless. A crazy story about a guy in love and two strange people locked in a strange castle, forced to play games endlessly, and a hole in a ceiling that can put you inside the head of anybody on the planet. Its even more remarkable that it was written in 1985.
    I had a job in the summer that was so tedious that one particular day, during the course of my eight hour shift, I attempted to list in my mind, chronologically, every band I discovered and the corresponding albums, all the way from my very first memories of listening to music to present day. Essentially a family tree of musical influences, for better or for worse. On another day I tried to list,mentally, every great film I have seen, and if possible where I saw it. That level of tedium has to be experienced first hand, for one to truly understand it.
     I was thinking earlier about the most important components of writing. This is what I came up with: Prose, your writers voice, structure, and pure imagination. I'm not really very good at any of them but I think its true all the same.
     I've been watching An Idiot Abroad and The Trip recently. Both are fantastic. And more to the point, both are quintessentially british. The Trip is a show wherein you literally watch Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon talk and argue over dinner. An Idiot Abroad is a travel documentary that follows Karl Pilkington as he travels to the seven wonders of the world and basically complains to the camera about all that he sees. The final episode was filmed back in the studio, though. And features Karl talking to Steven merchant and Ricky Gervais about his experiences. While watching these shows I tried to imagine ever watching a similar program from any other country and enjoying it. Let alone this much. The Trip, especially, is a work of near genius. And like I said a minute ago, is literally two men having a discussion over dinner. Albeit, a hilarious discussion. And this seems to me, to be a distinctly british creation. You would never see a similar show made in Canada or America. Especially a show of such honesty, such intelligence, that most importantly, isn't contrived or pretentious. And its what makes great british television so great.
     For me, british television and films have always produced the best comedy, and continue to do so. I think its an irrefutable law of nature, really.
    Oh and I am still struggling to get past just how good the Terry Wogan hosted episode of Nevermind the Buzzcocks was. Man alive. No wonder the man is an institution.
    Also, I recently read The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. I was amazed at how well it was written. Such a well realized, singular vision. The line "it was like pounding on a pumpkin, hard at first then everything just gave in.", will be stuck in my brain forever.
     I've been tired for a week. Well, technically speaking I've been tired forever, but especially this week.
     Discipline is something that has been sorely missing in my life, also I miss Barcelona.
    And now, quite abruptly, I seem to have run out of stuff to say.