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Demon Download

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So, the government and various music companies (and others) have banded together with a whole gang of ISPs in the hope of giving online piracy a kick in the pants. It’s good to see that at least they’re not running straight for the ill-advised ‘three strikes and you’re disconnected’ option being bandied around in France, although I’m willing to bet that the onslaught of paperwork and hassle from this decision will create almost as many problems as it solves. There is part of me that thinks this is all out of order, that the freedom of the Internet is a good thing, and that pirates will always find a way around the barriers they come up with… but on a personal level, I’m not sure that I’m that bothered, and in certain ways I think this could be a positive thing.

It’s true that downloading has completely changed the media landscape, in ways that the big Media corporations are only now starting to understand. The idea that all you have to do is get the right software and you can access almost anything is rather dizzying, and it’s very easy to get into the habit of assuming everything should be free. It’s easy to resent the idea that you should have to pay for something when you can get it for nothing online, and over the last few years, you’ve probably ended up with a significant proportion of the ‘current generation’ of kids who are perfectly au fait with the idea of downloading whole seasons of TV off the net for nothing, that it’s just something you do. It’s very easy to not value something as much when you can get it easily and for nothing – and over the last couple of years, I’ve actually found myself gravitating back towards the idea of getting my media through more traditional routes, and that there’s something more satisfying in having something as a physical media rather than as a nebulous file.

After my initial rush of “Wow, so many things to download…”, I’ve mainly used it as a way of getting at American TV earlier (especially when, for an extended period of time, we didn’t have a functioning TV…), but even here, the novelty is starting to wear off, and if as a result of this new decision I’m really not able to do that anymore, than it’ll be a little annoying, but it’s not like it’ll be a massive tragedy. I will shrug, I will say “hey ho”, and I will get on with things, and simply have to be much better at avoiding the spoiler tags on net and magazine articles.

I think the only thing which is really frustrating is that they’re tackling the symptom, but they’re not going to look at this and think “Hey- there are lots of consumers who might be really interested in getting their content as quickly as possible, and don’t want to be restricted by which country they live in.” What I’d really like to see is making paid downloads of TV available worldwide (or subscription ‘channels’)- give people the right to see what they want, when they want, and the right people will very likely still make money. It’s holding on to an ageing distribution ideal, when the world has changed. But, it’s not going to happen right away, if at all. And, for me, it’ll be an annoyance, but I’m not sure downloading via that route will be something I’ll miss that much.

A Moment of Clarity

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It’s funny how you can happily amble along for ages, telling yourself that you’re doing the right thing, telling yourself that you’re happy… and then suddenly you see your situation from a different angle. And then you think “Why the hell am I doing this?”

It’s been an odd year work-wise, and not an especially rewarding one. Being a full-time freelance journalist/sub-editor is something I’ve never been entirely comfortable with (one of the things that first nudged me towards writing The Hypernova Gambit is the hope that it might, in some way, propell me in a different direction and make something happen), and I’ve finally come to the realisation that the uncertainty, the constant scrabbling for work, and the general hassle of doing what I’m doing isn’t actually helping me anymore. It’d be nice to say I’ve got plenty of time to write, but I haven’t– and a stressed Saxon isn’t someone who feels comfortable sitting down and writing when there’s stuff to be done.

So, essentially, I’m putting a couple of plans into action – some short-term, some long-term. I’m keeping my eyes out for a part-time job. I’m putting more effort into building up subbing contacts. I’m going to rigorously pursue the idea of getting more proofreading work. Going back to full-time work isn’t a solution – it’d work short term, but it’d send me potty in short order – and I’ve obviously got the added problem that in terms of part-time work, the possibilities aren’t as strong down here as they would be in London (and a commute is only remotely worth it if it’s something as relatively well-paid as subbing). These are problems, but most problems have solutions.

I think, to be honest, that the negative aspects of this life have been affecting me for a long time (I’ve been doing this since the end of 2003), and even if my plans do take a while to come to fruition, even the thought that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel is making me feel better. It ain’t necessarily going to be easy, but I’m going to shake my life up, and do some things my instincts normally tell me not to (a decision which has me, rather worryingly, thinking of the Seinfeld episode “The Opposite”). And even if the results aren’t what I expect, I’m hoping that change will happen, and that I’ll inch closer to a working life that can actually make me happy in the long term.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes…

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I’m almost caught up with everything I’ve missed- but one thing that’s definitely stuck out is the first trailer for Watchmen hitting the web.. Verdict? Well, it’s gorgeous to look at and full of Zach Snyder’s signature 300-style “We are going to tell you this scene is important by putting it in graceful slow motion” directorial approach – it’s both closer to the comic than I expected, and broader in its visuals, with much richer, weirder colours. There’s also a couple of moments that tap into the kind of pure pulp imagery that fills my inner fanboy with glee – but then, there’s also the fact that they’ve chosen a slightly bleary Smashing Pumpkins track as the backing, and the fact that it’s the kind of trailer that shows you plenty without giving you any clue as to what the film’s like. Shots like Dr. Manhattan’s glass retreat emerging from the Martian soil are genuinely gorgeous, and it’s interesting to see they’ve managed to make Doc Manhattan look unearthly but still be a naked blue man (and no hints as to exactly how they’re going to get around the original’s frequent full-frontal male nudity) – I’m still not convinced that it’s necessarily going to make a good movie. Snyder just about got away with the bombastic visuals disguising everything else in the action porn that was 300 – but whether we get an actual film, or just a digest version of the best bits of Watchmen remains to be seen. One way or another, we’ll find out next March…

The Book(s) of Lost Things

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Holiday reading:- (Most of which was thanks to the e-book reader on my Asus Eee PC, a device I’m finally starting to seriously appreciate…)
1: Farthing, by Jo Walton – an alternate history whodunnit, set in a world where the UK made peace with Hitler directly after Dunkirk, this was excellent stuff, functioning both as a great mystery and a very unsettling piece of fiction, allowing the really dark edges of the story (and the wider implications) to sink in gradually rather than going the sledgehammer route. It’s also very well characterised, and the first time in a while that I’ve read a genuine whodunnit. Powerful, effective, and very relevant.

2: Infected, by Scott Siegler – a very Crichton-esque tale of a mysterious outbreak of psychotic disorders that turns out to be connected to an odd disease with very horrible consequences. It’s a very good pageturner, and he’s obviously done his research, but it all starts getting silly halfway through, and part of the central character’s conflict seems to be won by him embracing his similarities with his abusive father, which I don’t think was quite what Siegler was aiming for. It’s fun, fast-paced and fantastically gory, but you’ll have forgotten it twenty minutes after finishing.

3: Four and Twenty Blackbirds, by Cherie Priest – An engaging tale of Voodoo and ghosts in the Deep South, although I can’t help feeling that the more the overarching plot becomes important, the less interesting the book gets. There’s a real charm in the far more episodic first four chapters that the book can’t quite sustain, and I can’t help feeling it might have been better as a short novella (or even a collection of short stories).

4: Anno Dracula, by Kim Newman – To be honest, I didn’t finish this, and am not certain if I will. I seriously admire Newman’s short fiction (the collection Unforgivable Stories is wonderful), but I really have trouble with his novels. It doesn’t help that Anno Dracula is essentially doing the same thing that Alan Moore went on to do with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Newman’s stuff suffers from some of the problems that have admittedly started affecting the League (particularly in The Black Dossier) – the fact that if you can’t keep up with the multitude of references, it gets very difficult to care. There’s some fantastic ideas here, but it does feel a little too much like an intellectual exercise rather than a story that’s compelling me to find out what happens next.

What’s Going On

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For me, it’s very difficult to return from a two week holiday and not feel like Sam saying “Well, I’m back” at the end of Lord of the Rings. Fourteen days always ends up feeling like a long time – but I think this break has been good for me. Two weeks in southern Spain, staying with my in-laws in a rather lovely and roomy house that’s about an hour from Alicante, and gave us all plenty of opportunities to not do very much and sit by the pool. There was some exploring, a few trips, and an expedition to the beach (which was the most touristy beach I’ve ever been on – and actually gave me some major Jaws flashbacks, mainly because I’ve never actually swum at a big, wide, American-style touristy beach when it’s sunny – blame my Cornish upbringing…), but most of this time was spent being inactive and recharging my batteries. This isn’t something I’m always good at – my brain is very adept at tying itself in knots and creating things for me to get worked up about – but overall, it’s been a very good holiday for me, one that gave me the chance to see plenty of Spaghetti Western-style scenery and have lots of fun. The journey back was relatively smooth (although extremely hard work), and today is going to be mostly set aside for recovery and general lying around going “uhhhhhh”…

It certainly helped that the run-up to the holiday was one of my most insanely busy work periods ever. Cramming proofreading, reviews and interviews into less than a week was certainly an education- from the beginning of the Edinburgh Festival through to the departure for the holiday, almost every single hour of my life was accounted for. I’ve now got a slightly quieter time, so hopefully I’ll be able to do some sorting out and re-orient myself. There are things I need to do to get myself back on track, and lots of them revolve around me doing lots and lots of writing.

Plenty to do. Not enough time to do it.

And- in case you were wondering – there’s still no news about the novel…

Departure Gate

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I’d love to blog in-depth, but it’s far too early, and I’m far too tired. Suffice to say, we’re off to Spain for two weeks tomorrow (well, technically speaking it’s today…), and I will hopefully be able to recharge my batteries. There’s a remote possibility I may get regular access to the net in that time- otherwise, look after yourselves, behave, and we’ll be back in two weeks to try and fill in the blanks of what’s been an incessantly busy time.

Right now, the idea of lolling by a pool and doing very little sounds incredibly nice…

See ya soon…

Istambul (Not Constantinople)

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Today is the trip home, so won’t be too heavy duty…

I wrote that on Thursday morning, and boy was I regretting it by Thursday evening. Thanks to a whole selection of weird occurrences my supposedly simple four-hour journey by train from Edinburgh to London (having basked in the magic that was WALL-E in the morning) turned out to be an eight hour journey into one of the lower circles of hell. ‘Signal Problems’ meant we got stranded at Doncaster station for 2 1/2 hours with virtually no news, and then limped the rest of the way into London, getting in at 11.10 (instead of 7.20). And, just to compound things, I was too late to get to Waterloo for the last train (at 11.20), so I was bundled into a Taxi with a couple of other Hampshire-based passengers (paid for by the Train company) and driven on a fairly epic journey back home. 2.10 am was my arrival time, so Friday was, to be honest, a wash-out. I managed to get myself together for the interview with Tarsem Singh, but other than that was not able to get much done. Today was a little better, however, and I’m getting back into the swing of things. I wish I did have the chance to slump, but there’s proofreading to do, reviews to finish, and an interview to write up, and other problems to sort. Friday is the day when we’re off on holiday, and everything needs to be done by then. At some point, I’m going to stop, and breathe out a very long sigh of relief. Just not quite yet….