Raindrops on roses and Seth Godin's Linchpin.

I'm listening to the audio book and I need something beautiful to keep in mind so I don't cry out loud. Raindrops on roses.

Over 10 years ago, I did a course at the Relaxation Centre called The Centre Within. The guy who took the two day self-development course did this little meditation thing at some point. He got you to close your eyes and imagine yourself a child again.
He asked us to remember how we learned to draw and how it didn't matter (in the beginning) if the grass was blue and the sky was green - but then we went to school.
At school the teacher then would rap you over the knuckles for not conforming : the sky is blue therefore the sky you paint must be blue.
At this point, an involuntary sob escaped from my throat. I remember it because it was a revelatory moment for me - it took me completely by surprise.
It changed my life. I decided to go to art school and study photography, I decided not to be like everyone else, I had the guts to grow my skills despite not knowing where I was going to end up - I still don't know.

Seth Godin is not going to make me cry out but I reckon reading this book might stop a lot of other people from crying out in the darkness of a long, dark night wondering what the future will bring.

He says that people who are "Linchpins" are different but "the linchpins among us are not the ones born with a magical talent".
"They are people who have decided that a new kind of work is important and train themselves to do it."

"It doesn't pay to do factory work at factory wages only to subsidize the boss." - Can't argue with that.

Waiting for an emergent culture to form from a dying culture

I caught up with a friend today. It wasn't so much as a catch up though as a debate over "emergent culture". 

The debate was in the context of making art.

The debate was fraught with assumptions about the basics of making art.

How to use materials like paint or pencils on paper.

How to use photoshop. Digital v Fine Art - you really don't want to go there.

Isn't it all a means to an end?

Where does the process of making art start?

Leave out the assumptions of whether it's good or bad art.

Everyone can make a smudge on paper and call it art if it pleases them to put it on the wall of their cafe or TV room - one man's meat is another's poison.

Doesn't it all "emerge" from "perception" and "awareness"?

Everything, not just art, depends on the sharpness and sensitivity of these qualities. But then there's consensus. Is it popular? Is popular art worse or better than fine culture?

I'm sorry but I'm pretty much continually amazed by the lack these qualities - as far as I'm concerned this "emergent culture" of perception blunted by self-interest pervades everything: academia, politics, business, arts, sports ... perhaps mental virus is a better description than emergent culture. 

 

A process of deterioration which must - if there's a future - be balanced by an "emergent culture" with the creative ability to see beyond immediate self-interest.

Perhaps this explains the polls out today that show that the Australian Greens are gaining popularity while support for the two mainstream parties  falters.

I'm not actually concerned about the level of skills people have since they can pretty much be developed by anyone with the drive to do so.

But I think it's the lack of "perception" and a mindset fraught with self-serving "assumptions" and a disregard rather than attention to details that lead to situations such as the Louisiana oil spill and the Israeli action against the Gaza aid flotilla.

 

It irks me when "traditionally trained" artists discard the digital arts because these artists have not got years of training in fine arts.

But I'm also annoyed by digital artists who show a complete lack of understanding of traditional fine art methods. 

It seems to be that the two need to learn from each other.

Graeme Blundell hosts the David Williamson tribute at the National Screenwriters' Conference. Video.

As the sun went down and the moon came up over the Harvest Feast on Churchill Island the guest of honour was soon to be toasted - only the lamb was roasted on this occasion for 30 hours and it was delicious. David Williamson was the head of the Australian Writers' Guild for 13 years - the longest serving president ever.

I turned on my FlipVideo camera to take a very wobbly picture when it became evident that the award presentation to Australia's most successful playwright was indeed a special celebration - though I know from conversations the following day that quite a few conference goers didn't actually know much about him. 

I knew his plays having interviewed him for Dead White Males in his Sydney home and then for Heretic in the Sydney Opera House at a time a David Williamson play meant a box office bonanza and every state theatre company wanted to stage his premieres.

I've taken some comic license with a kind of laugh track commentary here which I hope will not offend anyone. It's only a 2-hour edit on iMovie.

The AWG's current president, Tim Pye, presented him with a trophy.

The inscription on his trophy reads:

David Williamson AO
A luminary of Australian stage and screen and champion of writers.
Australian Writers’ Guild 17 February 2011

David Williamson:

UCLA Film School Professor Richard Walter's Brisbane talk. A Jewish pilgrim's story.

When the pilgrims' ship, The Mayflower, dropped anchor in Plymouth, Massachusetts, (in what became the USA) in 1620 they didn't have immigration papers or identification or passports.

UCLA Film School professor, screenwriter Richard Walter,  tells a little story about how he needed a passport to teach in Nevada as proof of US citizenship. And an expired passport would not do for they had to be sure he hadn't renounced his citizenship. 

This is state of paranoia against illegal immigrants in Nevada - the laws put the onus upon employers to make sure they don't employ illegal immigrants.

(Kind of like trying to renew an expired Australian passport really - but really!)

Everyone in the audience laughs when he jokes about the uni's claim that they don't discriminate - "They treat everyone badly". Boom-boom.

"Art is the lie that makes us realise the truth" - he says, quoting Picasso. So when writing a screenplay, he advises, lie through your teeth!

Making films is not like painting pictures - you can't be discovered after you die you must be appreciated for the work you do while you live.

No point in making obscure films which don't make money & reach a lot of people. Shakespeare was a phenomenon in his own time - as was Sophocles. 

Interesting.

Walter wrote the first two drafts of American Graffiti for George Lucas but his name doesn't appear on the credits because of union / industry conventions. His friend "George", along with Steven Spielberg, may be the Sophocles and Shakespeare of our art & times.

Thanks to Star Wars, George has eclipsed Walter, a successful author and screenwriter as well as honoured educator with tenure at UCLA, but Walter makes another good point.

He asks: "Isn't it enough to be privileged to lead an artistic life?"

UCLA graduates have won or been nominated for Oscars for the past three years - Sideways, Milk, Benjamin Button.

Spielberg has hired UCLA graduates to write 10 projects including Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones 2&3, and War of the Worlds.

"So much arts education is about tearing down & negative criticism," he says. "We are affirming, encouraging, healing. It's a miracle to be involved in creative expression.

"It's so unique to the species. We should rejoice and celebrate and not tear down. We put the safety of the artist first."

When it comes to teaching comedy they get the likes of Neil (The Odd Couple) Simon. "That's like God himself to give a sermon on Sunday." (paraphrased)

Walters says stories spiritually nourish people, underpin culture and make the human race unique.

The tears you cry in a movie are no different to the tears you cry in real life - the grief, the laughter, the anger is real.

If you can make people feel then you successful - the difference between a successful writer and a failed writer apparently is time.

It takes time and discipline to write. Most people give up.

I think the question should be how much are you prepared to sacrifice? 

People complain about Hollywood but might it not be easier in Australia if we did have our own "Hollywood" - isn't it called an industry?

One more point Walters makes: American movies - every one of them (I'm sure he's exaggerating) - is sold overseas into markets all over the world.

Why? He thinks it's because they are made by immigrants who tell stories with universal themes which may on the face of it be American stories but tell us what it is to be human.

I had to laugh tho when I opened his book because the first thing I saw was his advice on creating characters: Do not write stereotypes.

Does anyone think that Australian films, media, TV are full of stereotypes? Packed to the Rafters even? Joke! ;) But really ... Walters also thinks that middle class values are antz pantz.

There you go.