Yup, it’s National Novel Writing Month. “Now in its seventh year, this global write-fest was the brainchild of Chris Baty, a Californian freelance writer, and has grown from 21 participants in 1999 to over 42,000 last year, all trying to meet the 50,000-word finish line by midnight on the last day of the month and make it onto the NaNoWriMo roll of honour. This year, an estimated 60,000 speedwriters are taking part and there are local chapters scattered across the UK, from Brighton to Birmingham.”
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The Mysteries Of Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh has such appeal that even his untitled projects have fans lining up to buy tickets. “No one questions any more that Leigh is a ‘real’ writer, as they sometimes used to when they discovered how fully his actors participated in the creative process. He thinks the confusion was his fault – until 1987, his credit was always ‘devised and directed by’. Then he switched it to ‘written and directed by’. ‘It should always have been that. Nothing you can do about it now’.”
Homes Of The Henge Builders Unearthed
For the first time, archaeologists have excavated homes of prehistoric Neolithic henge builders, in a set of dwellings, some older than Stonehenge, excavated from a Northumberland quarry. “The Neolithic Britons left some of the most spectacular prehistoric monuments in the world, but there have been only scraps of evidence showing where and how they lived. House sites are so rare that some archaeologists believe most people lived a semi-nomadic existence.”
Today’s 10-Year-Old Music Fan: Denied Access
As a child Rupert Christiansen spent countless hours in the music collections of public libraries, exploring and listening. “Could a 10-year-old budding maestro – or opera critic – enjoy the same adventure today? Only if he or she was the winner in a postcode lottery. Decent public music collections have become increasingly hard to find in a library structure which has replaced its old mission of humanising and educating in favour of providing value-free dissemination of information. I see the logic in this, but feel impelled to defend my own culture’s corner.”
Esa-Pekka Salonen On Conducting:
“You know, in some ways conducting is counter-intuitive. It’s like winter driving in Finland – if you skid, the natural reaction is to fight with the wheel and jam on the brakes, which is the quickest way to get killed. What you have to do is let go, and the car will right itself. It’s the same when an orchestra loses its ensemble. You have to resist the temptation to semaphore, and let the orchestra find its own way back to the pulse.”
S&S Editor Korda Retiring
After 47 years at Simon & Shuster, star editor Michael Korda is retiring. “The 72-year-old industry veteran, who was born in England and remains one of the most well known and well-respected editors in New York, will leave his top post at the end of the year and take on the role of editor in chief emeritus.”
Scotland’s Roman Amphitheatre With A Twist
The stadium will be constructed on classical Greco-Roman lines and due to open in 2009. The Colosseum will rise to 148 feet (45 metres), with a dome measuring 394 feet (120 metres) across. It will be clad in translucent material that allows it to glow in the dark. The arena, by the Clyde in Glasgow, will seat 12,500, the same as London’s Wembley Arena. But unlike Wembley and other large arenas in the UK, the Colosseum will not be built around a sporting ‘key’. The design is solely dedicated to huge entertainment events such as concerts and theatrical performances.”
Radio For Cats And Dogs
“Now dogs, cats, hamsters and parrots can keep the anxiety, the loneliness, the restlessness at bay while their owners are out. It is radio just for them, live 17 hours a day, 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time, and podcast for the rest of the 24 hours. Those who listen to DogCatRadio will find that there is generally an animal motif to the playlist, like “Hound Dog”: You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog cryin’ all the time.”
BBC – Updating Shakespeare
The BBC is launching a series of updated Shakespeare plays this fall, with the emphasis on updated. “It’s unsurprising that writers and directors in a media- and celebrity-obsessed age find Shakespeare’s texts reflect those obsessions. Because the history of Shakespearean-updating shows the translators stamping their own times or minds on the plays.”
Will The iPod Reinvent TV?
TV shows are selling well for the video iPod. What does it mean? “The iTunes distribution model gives the networks a huge opportunity to reinvent themselves. By allowing viewers to purchase individual episodes, broadcast-television executives could free themselves from the yoke of advertising revenue. That could potentially usher in a new age of television, one where fans have the power to keep their favorite series in production and producers have the opportunity to create more elaborate, controversial, and innovative programs.”