Author Archives: GeorgeBlot

The Age of Innocence

Here’s Melvyn Bragg’s take on Edith Wharton’s the Age of Innocence and other novels. You can tell Bragg is blown away by Innocence, and well he might be: it’s one of the great novels of the twentieth century (see my … Continue reading

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You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off…

… metaphorically speaking. Here’s an interview with the eternally workmanlike Michael Caine. Caine is talking about the skills of acting, and says that beginner actors will want to play drunks by consciously trying to slur their words and walk crooked, … Continue reading

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Cherry-Garrard: the cleanest way of having a bad time ever devised

Here’s Wikipedia, crediting the Dadaists onto Burroughs: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut-up_technique Here’s Burroughs himself, crediting himself and citing Johnny von Neumann of all people: https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/burroughs-cutup.html And here’s a quote from George Seaver, writing about his friend Apsley Cherry-Garrard (describing when he was starting … Continue reading

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Dead Seas

It’s crossed my mind – a lot, actually, in recent months – that we might be witnessing the end of our civilisation, whether at the hands of climate change or a rejuvenated – and this time successful – fascism. If … Continue reading

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How many types of story are there?

I’m not talking about tragedy vs comedy (answer: two, obv) here, or even genres like sci-fi vs crime vs romance, etc (answer: maybe half-a-dozen, everything else being the non-genre genre called “mainstream”). No, I really mean how many species of … Continue reading

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Murakami: a story watcher, not a storyteller

The UK Guardian had an important interview with the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami a while ago. See https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/11/haruki-murakami-interview-killing-commendatore. Of course, the article is mostly about Murakami’s writing regime, his personality, and his near-misses with the Nobels, because that’s what these … Continue reading

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Reasons to be cheerful

Paul Gosar (Rep Arizona): Let’s go back at this credibility. You want us to make sure that we think of you as a real philanthropic icon, that you’re about justice, that you’re the person that someone would call at three … Continue reading

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The escalator from hell

Mildly better than the escalator to hell, you’d think. You’d be wrong. You’re always wrong. Everyone’s always wrong. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/14/elon-musk-backed-ai-writes-convincing-news-fiction I suppose we all start to look for new jobs, then. And new planets.

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Tony Gilroy: “See, it just works. Where it falls – here.”

Very good (albeit a bit old) interview with one of the best screenwriters out there. I haven’t seen Duplicity, but damn I’m going to. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/03/16/twister-2

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Mars blog: reasons to look up with awe and pride

What with Trump, and climate change, and Brexit, and Putin, and post-truth, and homelessness, and a million other problems to worry us, it’s easy to let it all get you down. Fear not: the Friday blog is here to rescue … Continue reading

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