Posts by Paul Rowe
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And no, I don't reread the Potter books. I kind of stopped reading them at all when they started being more than 500 pages. Obviously her editor was scared to second-guess the artiste.
Tp paraphrase Johnny Ramone, does JK Rowling think I have nothing better to do than spend all that time reading her book? (he was referring to Springsteen's legendary 4 hour concerts)
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I think it is wrong to say she has no insight into the lives of her audience. She just chooses a strange audience.
Fair play. I am obviously not part of her intended audience! Will we be recalling the great days of Heiress Existence Art in 20 years time? Probably not. Will we remember the genius of Stars are Blind? I've forgotten it already.
It's not like no-one ever painted a ceiling before.
That made me think of the line in The Producers that goes something like this:
Aah, The Fuhrer was a wonderful dancer, and a painter! He could paint an entire room - two coats - in a single afternoon.
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3410 makes a good point, but I would amend it slightly.
Someone who is independently wealthy has no need for their "art" to be financially successful.
As an example, I love Gram Parsons' work. It was mostly unsuccessful while he was alive, though he never starved (he was able to swan off to France for months while the Stones recorded Exile on Main Street) because of his Trust Fund. He was a probably a pain in the arse to work with cos when he got bored he moved onto something else, leaving the "real" (starving) musicians to take up the slack.
IMHO, a commercially successful song or book or whatever happens because the author's creation finds a common wavelength (? emotional link? sorry, WIP) with an audience, not an easy or common occurrance. Dilletantes like that Hilton woman never spend enough time on one thing or commit to it emotionally (at least Parsons was emotionally committed to his music) to be able to make the emotional connection with the audience - she has no insight into their lives at all.
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zipped through book one, inched through book two, nearly gave up halfway through book three.
Amen to that. It took me about four goes to get through the whole thing. I don't reread LOTR much anymore, but I find myself skipping through long passages, particularly at the beginning of Book1 (Jackson was right to cut Tom Bombadil from the film). The prose is dire at some points (which might reflect its age) and he could have done with a decent editor.
I read somewhere that he & CS Lewis used to read their novels-in-progress to their faculty chums for feedback & advice, I imagine that a closed group of intellectuals also contributed to the clumsiness of some of the writing.
(I've never read Lewis, couldn't get into it)
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Then surely.... the artist with no money may well already be distorting their art in order to survive, and equally, an artist that wants for nothing, can surely also do thier art for its own sake?
It is reasonably true that many great artists have known poverty at some point....
But it doesnt follow that you have to be poor to do art for its own sake.
Has anybody read Keep the Aspidistra Flying recently? From memory Gordon Comstock's dedication to poverty for his art is mocked by Orwell as ultimately self-defeating and pointless. In the end he gives up his poverty & his poetry for an office job and marriage to his pregnant girlfriend. Comstock's writer's block is, at least indirectly, caused by his poverty as he spends most of his time worrying about money!
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ooooheerrr! Double Entenres anyone
I suppose we can talk about food if you want...
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If you haven't smothered your black pudding in brown sauce in Northern greasy spoon (well any greasy spoon) , then you haven't lived...
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Could even be the subject of one of Russell's monthly story gathering initiatives
Encyclopaedia Britannica, open science classroom window, hey presto - gunpowder. 70% carbon, 20% sulphur, 10% potassium nitrate (memory hazy). 1987 I think...
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Oh, and by the way. Graham, I downloaded the Greencards CD from eMusic (don't tell Marbecks) on your Elsewhere review. Love it, so cheers!
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I've always felt a certain 'bah humbug' about the whole Auckland, City of Sails thing.
Seems like you only have to have a bit of water to claim that. I was in Liverpool in 05 & noticed some of their tourist blurb describing the place as a "City of Sails".
Life goes on. Not like if we fail to win the RWC!
(Trust me, I'd use an emoticon to show that I'm kidding, were they allowed!)
Who was it who said "Football's not a matter of life & death, it's more important than that"?