If This Is A Blog Then What's Christmas?

The GoT cast in the 21st Century (thanks, M).

How to win at Rock, Paper, Scissors (thanks, J).

James Joyce reading from Finnegan’s Wake (thanks, V):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtOQi7xspRc

Ker-azee planets.

Obama being funny (thanks, D):

Who has the widest vocab in hip-hop? (Thanks, J.)

The crazy shit people search Google for (thanks, J).

The most ironic photos of all time (thanks, J).

Shakespeare movies improved by Danny Dyer (thanks, D).

Tree rings sound fucking cool:

Urinal fail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InR7tip2Izk

Amazing shot of film vs greenscreen (thanks, J).

Babies with eyebrows is too much awesome (thanks, S).

The world’s most terrifying penises: the echidna (thanks, J):

We all saw this a couple of months ago, didn’t we?

Well, some incredibly bright sparks made a massive change to it then stuck a logo on the end (and an annoying VO on top).

I don’t mind people being inspired by the internet, but this just makes the industry look lazy.

A few months ago I was sent an email from an AMV account man.

He’d written a book and wondered if I’d have a look at it.

I think I was knee deep in some other novel at the time, but then I started reading Elliot Cooper’s Work Here Is Done and soon decided to jump ship.

It’s about a guy whose career is going downhill until he gets a lucky break to take a second chance. It’s funny, insightful, page-turny and really bloody filthy.

As I wrote to Nick: I finished ECYWHID. I have to say I really enjoyed it. I got through it pretty quickly and found myself constantly impressed by how competent the writing was (I know that sounds like a sideways insult but it’s not. I’m honestly really impressed that it reads like a proper novel and at no time did I feel as if you’d dropped the ball or made the characters inconsistent or paced it wrongly or let it sag. That’s what I mean by competent. You did the basics very well indeed). I also thought it was better than many books I’ve picked up in a book shop – like others it reminded me of Jonathan Coe’s What A Carve Up in its deft balance of comedy and drama. 

If you fancy a bit of the above, get in touch with Nick via his website.

(Sorry. Don’t know how to stop it looking squashed. Next size down is tiny, but you get the idea.)

Here’s another fine ad from John Lewis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAxO6KEbTiI

Charmingly shot,  affectionately portrayed, satisfyingly resolved.

What do we say when this happens nowadays?

Chapeau?

I quite like chapeau.

Here’s an interesting article about what’s happening to the film business.

Its main thrust analyses the change from developing lots of movies that might succeed or fail, with the successes paying for the failures, to banking on fewer sure things, or as they call them ‘tentpoles’ (which prop up the the rest of the business):

The number of tentpoles has risen, as has the average price per studio film, while smaller and mid-range movies have decreased. The money that used to be spent on a series of films is now being spent on a select few; instead of putting $500 million into the creation of eight, ten, or a dozen movies, the studios are pouring it all into just two or three at a time.

The other part explains that almost all big budget Hollywood movies are based on previous intellectual properties (IP), which come with a built-in audience to further increase chances of success. These IPs also help to attract bigger name actors and directors (increasing chances of success further still) because if they’re going to spend a few years making something they’d probably like to think it will reach the widest possible audience and give them even more cachet to make the next big thing. So now movies are really made as packages, with properties attached to attract other until there are enough people involved to make it worth spending $100-$200m on.

So… all this means that if you’re a talented writer who wants to make a movie, what you need to do is create something else. Maybe it’s a video game (Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, the upcoming Angry Birds), a book (Harry Potter, Twilight, about a billion others), a product (Transformers, the upcoming Monopoly) or a TV show (21 Jump Street, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Jackass etc.). Then you’ll be all set to write/exec produce a movie.

Strangely enough, as it was in the old days, when making commercials led many people to make movies,  advertising might well be a fertile training ground for this new diversification:

Maybe you want to learn how to make a product.

Or a game.

Or a book.

Or a TV show.

Or even a movie itself:

So if you want to make a film, just get into advertising, ask for all the odd briefs and let nature take its course.

(Thanks, L.)

Dolly Parton’s Jolene sounds much better when slowed to 33 rpm (thanks, M).

Terrible estate agent photos (thanks, J).

Billy Wilder on movie writing:

All the F-words in WOWS (thanks, A):

Shop name puns (thanks, T).

Prison sex threat supercut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_NHDWl85DE

Great recap of Breaking Bad (spoilers etc. Thanks, J):

Gay people like to ‘eat the poo poo’, apparently (thanks, J):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17C_9TXgAms

The most boring ad ever made? (Thanks, S):

There isn’t an app for that (thanks, D).

Billy Wilder’s screenwriting tips (thanks, T).

Louis CK talks about dicks supercut (thanks, J):

The other day I had lunch with copywriter and ad blogger Jeff Kwiatek.

I thoroughly recommend his blog.

And if you get the chance to have a chat with him, do so.

It’s like listening to his blog, which is great if you’re very lazy.