#once again saying andrew and neil invented love

[lizandreil]

do y’all say “sunrise, abram, death” to yourselves a few times a day too or are you normal?

[bekaraar]

Musicians AU for the AFTG Bingo

Relationships: Kandreil, Kandrew, Kevineil, Andreil

Words: 3631

Warning: past character death

Read on Ao3 here

tea leaves in a guitar

Neil had always wanted to come here. This was Rishikesh in the flesh, majestic Himalayas and the flowing Ganga (Ganges). He took a moment to actually take it all in and made his way to his rented car, contemplating how to thank Stuart for this trip.

Neil knew he wasn’t an easy person to convince. He got it from his mother, so it said something about Stuart’s side of the genes when he managed to convince him to take this trip. It had started with a YouTube video of him playing the keyboard and singing at a shady bar that had gone viral, effectively shutting down any chances he had of continuing to work undercover for the Hartfords. So, he’d agreed, seeing his uncle’s point for letting the hype about the video die down. His uncle had also made the point about the music of Rishikesh and he’d be lying if he said that wasn’t what actually convinced him to go.

And as he looked at the road winding up the steep mountain, he finally understood what exactly made the Beatles come here.

Kevin Day wanted to form a band for a very long time. He had always been in one, but it was never his band per se. It was Riko’s or the Moriyama’s. Never his. For once in his life, Kevin wanted a band that was his.

That had been until he met Andrew Minyard, drugged to the deepest depths of hell (because somehow the word ‘high’ never really seemed to fit. The drugs dragged one down). It was rocky at first, but he got through to him.

It was using something Riko always said.

Everyone wants something.

So, he found out what Andrew want (a reason to live) and instead of taking advantage of him for that, he had worked to giving him that. And along the way, they may have realized they meant more to each other than wanted to admit, and it had taken three attempts and stilted half conversations before Kevin just decided to kiss Andrew (after asking for his explicit permission, of course). It had speeded things up considerably.

They just needed one more person. And Rishikesh was the place he intended to find one.

*

Determination, Andrew mused, was a good look on Kevin. He looked regal, as he walked into the hotel. Kevin Day had a purpose, and he would not leave without fulfilling it.

Andrew could do this now, the open stares and layered glances. It was allowed, without repercussions, because Kevin was his own person now, and wanted to come out. Andrew knew better that everyone how taxing a secret could be.

He had kept his end of the deal and Kevin had kept his. He had made that fact explicitly clear to Kevin after his first week sober. He had let him know that their this, was his purpose now, even though the drums couldn’t be for him what the guitar was for Kevin.

Kevin had just looked at him with a watery smile and said, “I know.”

So, here he was, with his boyfriend (it still gave him a thrill, even after a year), on the hunt for a musician, while also relaxing and teaching. He couldn’t say he hated the idea of it, but he didn’t particularly like the details either.

Nothing good comes without the bad, anyway.

He took a deep breath and followed Kevin into the ashram.

This, he thought, was trust.

*

Neil walked into the ashram, and almost immediately wanted to walk out. It wasn’t like he didn't expect something to go wrong, but this was still hilariously unexpected. Just the kind of joke the universe liked to play on him. So, he took a deep breath and walked in.

It is a small place, with something akin to a middle range hotel rooms on the top floor. The floor downstairs is for common meals, shows, and socialization and chai.

He takes comfort in the familiar lettering of Hindi on the board. India had been one of the best trips in his memory, having grown up here for a certain time.

He used it to distract himself from what he knew he was avoiding: the fact that Kevin fucking Day was here.

If the universe wanted anything to happen, it would make it.

He took comfort in the small things.

Neil made his way up to his room and surveyed it.

It had been years since he’d had such an attachment to his bag, but something in him prickled all the same at leaving it unsupervised.

He swallowed his inhibitions and left his bag in the room, making his way downstairs to what he knew would be a meet and greet before the actual yoga and music sessions started the next day.

*

Andrew didn’t really want to be there, but Kevin did, and he was, as Aaron would say, whipped.

He followed Kevin downstairs, looking for someone to talk to, as Kevin got swept up by the large variety of people looking to talk to the famous Kevin Day.

(There it was. That trust again.)

Interesting people, Andrew thinks, are both rare to find and ridiculously relevant to his mood.

It is a tough and laborious thing to be both hot and captivating. Kevin does it unknowingly. Andrew hates it. And him.

He mad his way to the drinks table, and since there was no alcohol anyway, he entertained himself by trying to mix some of the most ridiculously colored ones.

He could have sworn he felt a gaze burning a crater on the back of his head, and when he looked, he found icy eyes ices and face framed by flames.

*

Neil did not want to run into Kevin Day or Andrew Minyard.

Of course, the universe (or whatever fucked up being controlled it) didn’t listen to Neil. Ever.

Neil knew he had a conversation with Kevin that was long overdue, but he had intended to avoid Andrew at all costs, a plan that went flying out the window as soon as Andrew decided to walk over to him with a challenge in his eyes.

*

Kevin could hide pretty much everything behind his press façade, but seeing Nathaniel here was something took him enough by surprise that he had take a moment to gather his thoughts in a bathroom, for fuck’s sake.

So, he excused himself, and went over to Nathaniel, only to find him looking at Andrew with very challenge that he used to look at Kevin with. The one that Kevin knew meant that Nathaniel found Andrew worth his time. Which was saying something. He smiled and went over to Andrew.

(He almost didn't want to interrupt their conversation. It reminded him too much of another person, another life.)

“You know,” he said, making direct eye contact with Nathaniel, “I have to agree with Andrew. Tea is truly despicable.”

*

Neil stared at Kevin, who calmly stared back and he knew that Kevin saw the exact moment he decided not to run because he saw it in the soft smile he had spent years trying to forget.

So he looked Kevin in the eye and said, “Is that so?”

*

One of Andrew’s favourite pastimes was riling up people, and his favourite person to tease was Kevin with his pretty lips that he would purse just so when Andrew told him that he was “obsessed” and that cute horrible -really he hates it- nose that he scrunches up when he’s concentrating and Andrew pokes him in his ribs.

Really, he’s Andrew’s favourite, but Neil might be the second.

It’s entertaining (or as close as anything is going to get) to see him twist that perfect mouth that Andrew can imagine doing so many other things-

He takes a breath and looks at Neil, who is now having a very energetic conversation of the merits and demerits of tea and coffee respectively and if Andrew hadn’t spent so long convincing Neil he hated tea, he might even team up with him here but Andrew was nothing if not outrageously dedicated.

Andrew exhales softly and apologizes to Bee and to tea as a whole, as he says:

“I agree with Kevin. Tea… is man’s worst invention.”

It was a blessing that Neil was looking at him right then because Andrew saw Kevin choke on air as he heard what Andrew said next.

“So, why don’t you try to convince us to like tea?”

Neil smirked and met his challenge head on.

“Prepare to lose.”

He gave them one last cursory glance as he walked away.

“I thought you loved tea?”

“I do,” Andrew says, smiling softly, as he and Kevin make their way up to their room.

Kevin huffs in amusement and Andrew smiles as he pulls him down for a kiss.

“You seem to know him.”

Andrew watches Kevin sigh and run a hand through his hair.

“He’s Nathaniel.”

Oh.

*

Neil had made his getaway nicely, but the complete shock of Kevin deciding not to confront him right there still stayed. He knew he was just putting off the inevitable, but he decided not to speak of it till Kevin did.

He just hoped Kevin still shied away from the truth how much he did in the Nest.

Neil distracted himself by planning to introduce those imbeciles to the delights of tea, even if he had to sweeten it enough to choke the devil. Neil smiled as he took two packets of tea from his suitcase, his favourites. But for Andrew, he had a different flavour in mind.

Chocolate tea.

Neil hated it. With every fibre of his being. He’d rather drink hot chocolate if he had to introduce his body to the sickly-sweet concoction, but that was exactly why Andrew would love it.

Minyard had no clue what was coming at him.

As for Kevin, Neil had given up on his liking tea long ago but he had one last angle to give this.

Kale-honey tea.

(for his voice)

Neil loved his voice. It was just the perfect balance of rough and caressing, deep enough to envelope him just so.

It also matched perfectly with his own voice. Neil missed all of it. The last two years they had shared before Riko’s suicide. And then Kevin had left. Neil had pushed him away after that.

Maybe now was the time to forgive.

Neil sighed.

He wanted to kiss Kevin senseless, slowly and wanted to be kissed by Andrew.

He made himself a warm cup of chamomile tea and watched the distant mountains as the wind caressed him softly.

If he heard someone playing the song he and Kevin had composed, he wasn’t surprised.

*

Kevin looked at Andrew as he realized just how fucked they were.

“So, that’s Nathaniel.”

Kevin nodded

“Wow,” Andrew’s treacherous mouth said, “You didn’t tell me he’s so hot.”

Kevin shook his head and rubbed his neck.

“I expected him to hate me.”

“Kevin. Look at me.”

Kevin did, almost irritated.

“You left Jean and him for a good reason. Sometimes, you can’t save everyone you want to.”

“I know. It’s just,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “Jean was his partner.”

Andrew held Kevin close as he cried.

*

Neil studiously avoided Kevin and Andrew all through the morning and tried his best at lunch, which turned out be a little hard considering the fact that there was two of them and one of him. Finally he acquiesced, and turned to look at what turned out to be only Kevin.

“Yes?” he asked testily.

Kevin swallowed inconspicuously and met Neil’s gaze.

“Why don’t you hate me?”

“Why do you think I don’t hate you?”

Understanding dawned in Kevin’s eyes.

“You think it was my fault.”

“Well,” Neil said, raising his voice just a little bit “Whose fault was it? Jean’s?”

“No, I-”

“You don’t get to apologize! Your apologies won’t make him any less dead! Riko may have killed him, Kevin, but it was you who handed him the knife.”

*

Kevin stepped back as if he’d been slapped.

“Neil, listen-”

“No.”

Kevin stepped aside to let him go. As he stared at Neil’s retreating form, he felt a suffocating hopelessness course through him.

Andrew came up to him, and placed an arm around his waist and led him up to their room, but Kevin didn’t wasn’t any of that right now.

“Hold the fuck up, Neil.”

Neil turned to look at him and opened his mouth to give him a piece of his mind but Kevin stalked over before he could.

“Do you even know why I left? You think a stupid injury could push me to leave?” Kevin laughed, twistedly, and it sent shivers up Neil’s spine.

“You know, he saw us. All the time, when we thought we were safe? He saw us. He saw me with you. You with Jean. Jean with me. He took advantage of it.”

Kevin took a deep breath in.

“He knew I’d do anything for you both.”

Finally, Neil understood.

“He broke your hand out of jealousy.”

Kevin nodded.

“And I left so that I could get you out.”

“But you didn’t realize to what extent his anger ran.”

“No,” Kevin sighed. “I didn’t.”

It sounded a lot like defeat.

*

Neil stared at Kevin.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Kevin stared flatly at him.

“Because you disappeared off the face of the fucking earth.”

*

Neil sighed as he stared at Kevin.

“I never really blamed you anyway.”

“You what.”

Neil sighed again

“I’m sorry. I just- You know we had something right -”

“Uh.”

“What?”

“See, I’m dating Andrew-”

“Oh,” Neil said.

“Yeah,” Kevin says.

Neil looks away, slowly.

“The challenge is still on, though?”

“Oh, yeah,” Neil says, the glint returning to his eye.

*

Andrew needed to hide his favourite teas from Neil. He knew it wouldn’t be long till he figured it out, and he did not want to take that chance.

He had discovered exactly eight packets of chocolate tea scattered in his and Kevin’s baggage and devised increasingly ridiculous places to hide them, much to Kevin’s amusement and disgust.

“We have no clue how long that’s been there, Drew,” he said regarding the small box of coffee Andrew found behind the cupboards.

Andrew just smiled as he transferred the coffee powder to a jar and emptied a packet of tea into the coffee box.

(If he hid a packet in Kevin’s guitar, no one had to know.)

*

The more that Neil thought about it (and he thought quite a lot) it seemed extremely unlikely that Andrew actually hated tea. It even seemed impossible.

If anything, Neil knew Kevin as well as he knew himself (better even, the Nest wasn’t the best) and he knew Kevin absolutely loathed tea (something about Irish coffee) and it seemed obvious that Andrew was just the contrary kind of person to develop a taste for it just to annoy Kevin. It’s something Neil would do if Stuart hadn’t already conditioned him to liking tea. So, the obvious conclusion was this: Andrew was clearly lying. Now Neil just needed to confront him.

*

Kevin was trying to bake his sorrows along with the cookies that he was trying not to burn when there was a knock at the door of their room.

He opens it and Neil walks in looking around, as if it was his room.

Kevin raises both his eyebrows, and with all the judgement he can muster, says, “Excuse you?”

Neil looks at him with an air of Oh my god, can you believe this idiot , and says,“I know Andrew hates tea.”

Kein grins like Neil just gave him three kittens.

“You just won me twenty dollars.”

Neil stares at him like a grumpy cat and Kevin is realizes just how well he knows Neil.

“Andrew and I bet over how long it’d take you to come down here.”

Neil continues staring at him.

“Andrew bet till you’d last till the evening and I said you wouldn’t wait till then.”

Neil breaks out into  a grin as he stares up at Kevin.

Kevin takes a deep breath.

I want to kiss you, he wants to say, but doesn’t.

It had taken ages for his thing with Andrew to make sense and he didn’t want to ruin it now.

He offers Neil some cookies when he leaves.

*

Andrew wakes up more tired than when he slept.

He walks out and sees Kevin surrounded by approximately eight batches of cookies. Andrew does enjoy his baking, but he also enjoys a working body.

He walks over to kevin, who is looking out the window mournfully.

“Neil?” Andrew asks Kevin and he looks over at him with the same mournful face he had been regarding the teas with.

“I wanted to kiss him,” Kevin said honestly, and Andrew looked at him almost amusedly.

“What if even I wanted to?”

Kevin’s eyes widened and he choked on his own spit.

“What the fuck?”

Andrew continued looking at him with a slight smile on his lips.

“Answer me.”

“I’d be fine with that,” Kevin replied, confused, “Only if I can too.”

Andrew smiled fully and pulled Kevin down for a kiss.

He couldn’t wait for Neil to come over.

*

This was their last evening free before the performances and enrichments started. Enrichments, Neil thought with scorn. Too much of a pride to call the classes.

He sat back in his chair with a book, a fictitious one of no great value, but it was enthralling just the same. He still had an hour to meet Kevin and Andrew, and he was unable to concentrate.

It seemed weird to him, the fact that Andrew was blatantly flirting wit him, yet Kevin seemed almost hesitant to make a move when he so clearly wanted to. Something he knew Neil wanted too. Andrew, Neil felt, was the unknown in the equation, the unforeseen. Neil would never have seen himself falling in love with someone whose personality could only be described and ‘whimsical’ and ‘cat like’.

There was also the fact to consider that he was five feet and dating Kevin Day.

He sighed, and then sighed again at the fact that he seemed to be sighing a lot these past few days.

He got up and put away his book. If wasn’t able to concentrate on anything else, he’d rather concentrate on the tea dilemma, as he liked to call it.

It was now clarified that Andrew loves tea. Neil just needed evidence.

*

Neil would be lying if he said that he missed the thrill of the undercover jobs that he did for Stuart, but this, he thought was taking it too far. He was hanging over a busy street  and his only anchor, was the narrow windowsill of windows that were almost a feet apart. He just had to make across five to reach Kevin and Andrew’s room.

He allowed himself a moment’s relaxation before moving.

*

Andrew realized that seeing his boyfriend’s ex who they were both not over yet snooping in their kitchen should have set Andrew’s alarm bells on fire, but the only thing his brain could come up with was hot damn, and honestly, that was not helpful.

Judging by the way Kevin was looking over at Neil, he probably felt the same.

Not helpful at all.

*

Usually, Neil thought, getting caught would mean death, but this time, getting caught meant embarrassment.

Exclaiming “Ah hah!” while holding a box of tea leaves (it was chocolate!!!) was not quite the impression that he wanted to make, but what was done was done, so he improvised.

“I found your tea!”

In retrospect, saying that with the same tone a diabolical villain would use was also not a good idea, but neither Kevin nor Andrew seemed to think so.

*

Andrew looked at Neil, enamoured.

“Fuck,” he heard himself saying, “Can I kiss you?”

He saw Neil eyes get wide and a blush creep up his neck in the prettiest way possible before he covered the distance and did what he had been waiting to do for years days.

He kissed Neil.

Much to Kevin’s chagrin. They were so hot, it was unfair, his brain thought and he could only hope he hadn’t said that aloud.

*

Later that night, Neil lay on the couch, next to Kevin, hugging him, as Kevin slowly told him about the last three months he spent with Jean before it all went to shit.

Andrew was inside, on their bed, furiously typing away at something that he refused to share with any of them. Neil walked over to him and sat down next to him. He was still not as comfortable with Andrew as he was with Kevin, which was understandable.

Talking to Kevin had been like falling back into a routine he didn’t know he missed so much. It was natural, happy, and though there was always going to be that grief that came with everything they’d fought and everyone they’d loved and lost along the way, they were here now and they were going to make it.

“So,” Andrew said, not looking up, “Where’d you find the tea?”

Neil laughed at looked at him softly.

“In your guitar. And speaking of which, I won our little competition.”

“Oh,” Andrew said looking up in interest, “Would you like a prize?”

Neil laughed, then sobered up.

“Yeah,” he said. “Maybe I do.”

Kevin came and sat down next to them on the bed.

“What a about our band?” he suggested. “We need a back up vocalist, someone good on the keyboard, and you fit the bill.”

Neil looked at them incredulously, a slow smile spreading across his face.

“What do you want to name it?”

Andrew looked between them, eyes sharp.

“Tea leaves in a guitar.”

[son-of-alderaan]

SPOILER WARNING: reveals information about some of the script's themes and about a character's transformation that happens gradually throughout the film. Information is given about early plot elements, but no plot details are given about the end of the film.

Tony Grisoni has collaborated on a number of projects with Terry Gilliam. The pair wrote the script for Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), and then The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Grisoni and Gilliam performed a rewrite of Ehren Kruger’s script for The Brothers Grimm (2005) and wrote the script for Tideland (also 2005), based on Mitch Cullin’s novel. The pair also worked on scripts for Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel Good Omens and a project called The Minotaur, although neither of these scripts went into production.

Grisoni’s other feature films as screenwriter include Queen of Hearts (1989) directed by Jon Amiel, In This World(2002) directed by Michael Winterbottom, and Brothers of the Head (2005). In This World won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. He also collaborated with Samantha Morton, writing the script for her directorial debut The Unloved (2009).

The writer has also had considerable success in television, with credits including the outstanding Red Riding trilogy (2009) featuring Andrew Garfield, and the acclaimed Southcliffe (2013). His script for The City & The City, based on the novel by China Mieville, screened on BBC2 in 2018.

Grisoni was executive producer and wrote two episodes of The Young Pope (2016 - ), and penned Crazy Diamond (2017), the Steve Buscemi episode of Channel 4’s anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.

The writer spoke with Philip Stubbs about his work with Terry Gilliam on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in July 2017, just after principal photography had completed.

Philip Stubbs: Once Fear & Loathing had completed photography, there was a frantic postproduction. During the publicity for the picture in 1998, I remember that Terry said he’d been too tired to start anything else. I think it was towards the end of 1998 that he kicked off the Quixote project with you. Tony Grisoni: People remember Fear and Loathing very fondly, but what they forget is that, when it premiered at Cannes in 1998, it was a total disaster. I think that almost every trade publication trashed us. As a result, that had a huge effect on the distribution of the film. It was seen as being a failure. After going through the blood, sweat and tears that you shed to make the film, you can imagine how tough that must have been for Terry to have faced – guess what, this film is no good. Yet, over the years, students and schoolkids have made it a huge success, because it became the Friday night video.

It was a big seller in Walmart! Yes, huge. It became a very big home video seller, and then the movie became known as a great success. But at the time of its theatrical release, that was not how it was seen. The great and the good in the critical world saw it as trash. It was hard thing to take at the time.

So around 1998 he started talking about Quixote. He had a script from years before that he’d written with Charles McKeown. So we were having these conversations. Terry said, “I want to do something about this advertising executive. He’s really arrogant - he thinks he knows everything. He gets dragged into Quixote’s world. He goes back in time and he becomes Quixote’s sidekick.” Terry was talking about this, and I said, “But it’s not written down.” Terry then said, “It’s all in my head.” It sounded like a weird fusion of Don Quixote and A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain.

In fact Terry had spent six months working on Mark Twain’s novel just after The Fisher King I didn’t know that! So that’s where Terry stole it… now we know! In fact, this particular advertising executive, Toby, did bang his head, go back in time and meet Quixote. In the first drafts that we did together, it was split between the contemporary world - this advertising man making commercials, having betrayed any creative truth that he had, selling out to make commercials to flog cat food or whatever... He gets a bang on the head, and goes back to meet the real Don Quixote and then learns to become a servant to this crazed man. That was very much the early drafts. That balance and how you went into the Quixote world changed a lot, there was a moment I remember where he slipped into the contemporary world for a bit before being plunged back into the past. It very much played with that play between past and present.

In the middle of a previous script, he woke up in a hospital before going back to the world of Quixote. Yes, in one draft he woke up in a hospital. There were many different drafts, versions of this.

Casting your mind back to 1998, early 1999, when you put that script together, what can you remember about the roles you played? I’ve never worked with Terry where anything was distinct at all. Part of the joy is that it is play. What you have to do is to jump in and play. And it is hard play - you do it for a long time. I remember we’d act out scenes in a very natural way. We didn’t stand on a stage performing, but we’d just go through scenes and play different roles. Then we’d swap the roles we played.

By doing this, we understood the sense of the scene, the timing and how the jokes work. We would do that kind of thing, and I would go away with the material. I’d write and then send to him and then we’d meet up again and go over the script - that’s what we do.

Meanwhile Terry would say, “I had a go. I had a look at that scene and I’ve got a new version here,” and Terry would often say things like, “I managed to destroy the work that you did!” Joking aside, sometimes he has! But I say: well you’d better send it to me then. Toss the ball back. Then I have a look at it, and of course he hasn’t destroyed it totally, the destruction always brings a new idea or a new twist or an interesting take on something, or a new element. Then I incorporate that. We talk, we read the script, we have new ideas. I make sure I’ve got many notes, so I could go away and piece it together and do the writing and then come back and do some more. So it’s a very fluid process.

When it comes to putting a script together, the skills you bring in and complement each other, is there something that Terry specifically needs you for? I know that everyone likes the image of Terry being a crazed, out-of-control madman. But he’s not - he’s actually very disciplined. You can’t make a film unless you are disciplined. His take on a script is very, very good. He’s got a very good eye for a script. He understands structure of a script.

I’m in love with structure because I think structure is everything when it comes to a screenplay. It’s all about juxtaposition, it’s all about the transition from one scene to the next scene, and the meaning is in the middle, in that juxtaposition.

The film will be shot to shot to shot. The joy is the same in the script, going from one sequence to another. So to be really blunt about it, if you’ve got a really sad scene, you really want to come in with a very funny scene. The closer you put beauty and horror together, the better the horror works and the better the beauty works. The closer you put funny next to sad, the better the funny works and the better the sad works.

The other thing is that I used to be scared of writing dialogue. These days I really enjoy it. The biggest demon in dialogue is exposition of course. One of the biggest problems is the number of notes I get saying “Can we make it clearer?” In other words: can we tell everyone what’s happening? That implies that the executive understands, but he or she is worried the mass audience won’t.

The best dialogue you write is never about the plot. The best dialogue you write is about something else. The opposite of what’s happening. I enjoy writing that stuff very much.

Terry is a very visual filmmaker. Of course he is. But he’s also a chatterbox. He does a very funny thing with some dialogue: sometimes he’ll start talking non-stop. It’s very funny, very stream of consciousness, and it is great is to integrate stuff like that. I see the script as being my responsibility, that’s what I do. I’m the screenwriter. I want to pull everything back to me, write it and set it down.

This method makes him free to come up with ideas, to write something which is freed of the rigours of the framework of the screenplay, which we can then go over and explore. I can then try and integrate it all so that it works.

That addresses my next question: why does Terry need a collaborator on the screenplay? Because it leaves him freer to invent, when he has a collaborator to work with him? Well, I think that’s a really interesting point. I think what you are describing is the bigger business of filmmaking. A mentor of mine, the great producer - Tony Garnett - refers to filmmaking as being a social act, which it is of course. This isn’t just paying lip service like a great award ceremony where people say what a collaborative art it is - before they then take the gong…

The point is that it is an actual description of the business of filmmaking. It is a social act, and if I am writing a screenplay on my own - do I need a collaborator? Of course I do. It tends to be a producer whom I trust, whose notes are part of an ongoing conversation which is not just for that one film. Does Nicola Pecorini do his cinematography all on his own? Does a designer, a sound mixer, and actor?

No - none of us do what we do on our own. And we really are only as good as the people we are working with. And that applies to directing and screenwriting too. It’s about the dynamic between us all the time. It doesn’t need to be a fixed thing: one person can play the sensible one and the other person can be the irresponsible one. Then you can switch over - you can be free about how you play. It is about dynamic - you can’t have the same roles, because that’s when you don’t get anything interesting. So you need to challenge, offer up an alternative. It’s a debate. Does that sound too dull for you?

No, it’s fascinating insight! The way I work with Terry is unique - totally different from any other way I work. I think what you say about him writing with a screenwriter, partly yes there are many instances where he can be freed because - guess what - my main responsibility is the screenplay, that’s my job. But it’s not the only way it works. I might come up with an idea which is a bit off-piste, to which Terry might respond that it doesn’t really fit. We argue it out. He might have the final say - it’s his brand - but I will still argue. He enjoys a fight - as you may have noticed. The important thing is fluidity. You don’t stop. 

Terry has said himself the two things you need to get films made is momentum and belief. If he had enough knuckles he’d have them tattooed on his knuckles! Those are the two things, the two requirements. That’s all to do with playing. And by playing you avoid the demon of fear.

Momentum and belief is what gets movies into production without full financing! Absolutely, and it’s also increasingly necessary. I can’t remember the last time I went into production on a feature film with a contract all signed and sealed. There’s always something slightly outstanding isn’t there? I think that’s one of the reasons we’re all moving to television.

There was a 1999 attempt to make the film that fell apart, but shooting started in the autumn of 2000. How happy were you with that script going into production? Then, I was very happy. With hindsight, I am not. The first thing is that anything that you wrote a day ago just doesn’t look as good. Anything, let alone something that’s from 17 years ago. At the time you think it’s something of complete genius. And then it doesn’t seem to be quite so genius a week later. You gain a certain objectivity, hopefully you get better. You have new ideas, new ways of putting something together. And after 17 years, you’re not the same person. It’s a very natural thing. Yet at the time, I thought it absolutely felt just great to be getting it out there on the road.

Over the 17 years, I think on average we probably rewrote the script twice a year, maybe more sometimes - depending on the possibility of the film going into production again. Whenever it looked like there was a chance, I’d get the phone call and it would be Terry saying, “It looks like we’ve got Quixote back together again… I read the script and it’s crap!” That would be his way of saying we’re on the road again, let’s have a look at it. 17 years on I think we’ve finally got quite a good script.

One of the big differences is that now there is no time slip: everything is contemporary. That was a very welcome decision in a practical way. It’s also a smarter move because it’s not such a literal thing. As a result of shooting in Spain, we can still have Holy Week; we still have interiors of castles; we still have period costumes for great extravaganzas. So we are in the contemporary world, but we can slip back into a more ancient world in a subtler way, in a way where the old world and the new world are combined.

The other thing was to find a more solid story for Toby, which is what happened to him in the past when he was a young filmmaker- how he was recreating the Quixote myth in Spain using people who are nonprofessional actors, people who had jobs, such as an old man who was a cobbler. A man who is losing his marbles and who becomes convinced by Toby that he is in fact Don Quixote de La Mancha. Therefore Toby feels a responsibility for what subsequently happens.

Toby’s guilt gives him a solid grounding for his transformation. Yes it does. It is interesting if you ask yourself what is this guilt about - because he made something, because he produced something, because people were affected, some people were damaged by what he did? It’s interesting that he has that guilt.

I think Toby’s guilt is about irresponsibility, but to be honest he’s talking about a much younger self. I think his guilt is misplaced to be honest. I don’t think he is in fact justified in feeling the guilt he does feel. I don’t think it’s a true thing.

Making a movie can shake up people’s lives, yet I don’t think that it destroys them. Far from it. Anything you do in this world can affect people. I’ve seen plenty of examples of people becoming involved in films from outside the film world, and it’s only been a good thing. It’s like running away with the circus. People can reinvent themselves; people can throw off an older life. It’s a responsibility because if you are part of this whirlwind, this crucible stirring, of course you are responsible. You can’t pretend that you’re not having an effect, but it is not necessarily a negative thing. In fact most of the time I don’t think it is a negative thing. I think it enhances the world. It’s a bigger world, though a more dangerous world. I would never say that Toby was involved with a cynical misuse of the Quixote myth, and now he’s going to suffer because he’s guilty. Now he may feel guilty, and he clearly does, but I think it’s misplaced. I don’t think he’s thinking straight about it.

The part that really captures me is the tenderness between Toby and Quixote. And I really like that part of the story which is developed throughout, really. Toby does start off to be an arrogant shit, but I really like his gradual taking on of serving Quixote, and what I like about it is – it is two characters of course, but it’s about Toby giving himself up to a crazy idea, something you can’t see, something that is bigger and more extraordinary than the world you touch and see. That’s what he’s really giving himself to. He’s allowing, he saying that he’s not everything. There’s a huge world out there that’s nothing to do with me, and I’ll be in second place to that world. That sounds very highfalutin but that’s what’s going on.

By the way, isn’t that partly the source of his guilt, his being self-centred? As Quixote says to him, “It’s always about you…. me, me, me,” he says. I do think that guilt is about him being self-obsessed. Toby thinks, “It must be me, I caused this.”… I’m not sure - perhaps his real sin is he never lived up to his promise.

Straight after the Quixote collapse you did some work with Terry on Good Omens… The collapse of Quixote and the collapse of Good Omens was a real blow. I started working with Michel Winterbottom actually around that time, and that became In This World. That was a different kind of filmmaking where we were going to people and asking them for their experiences, and making a film guided and informed by that. It was purposefully a different tack. It was in response to those two big collapses. Although Good Omens wasn’t as big a disaster as Quixote, we did a lot of work on that script. And I still feel it would make a really good film. I think we had a good script there.

Tell me about the backstory of Toby’s student film. First of all, remember that we had come through the collapse of Don Quixote, so what was happening there? A filmmaker was making a version of Don Quixote which then collapses because of a great storm. So that’s sitting there. Plus we’ve both had experience of being ambitious young filmmakers. These things are in the ether. Toby’s student backstory grew out of those elements. It’s not: here’s a new idea - we’re going to slap on, it was quite a natural development.

I remember writing the details of it – it just ran, it just went, it was very easy. It felt such a natural progression, but it didn’t come out of nowhere. It comes out of the fact that we are constantly talking about this film, this story and these ideas. I don’t think we ever mentioned: isn’t this like another mirror on what actually happened on the collapsed Don Quixote shoot? I don’t think we even said it.

We have a film where, guess what, we’re making a film with a version of Quixote but as a commercial, and it collapses. We didn’t say: just like in real life. You don’t have to say it. By analysing those things, it destroys them. You’ve got to believe in the story. It’s the story you go to, not the storyteller. You just need that belief in the story, keep going, don’t worry about whose idea it is, just do it.

The script is very funny. Nicola, who clearly was there when it was shot, said that what was shot was funnier than the script, He said that the moviemaking alchemy has made it a very, very funny film. What challenges were posed by having to write humorous dialogue? There are different types of films, and different film projects call for different kinds of dialogue. It’s both a curse and a blessing, working on what is going to be labelled a Terry Gilliam film, because that’s what’s going to happen. One of the freedoms you get is the way that people talk to one another can veer into quite sort of surreal comedy. It allows you to do that. And remember this is co-writing - it���s a to and fro’.

I remember writing Rupert’s dialogue, and really enjoying it because I didn’t plan to write comedy. I planned to write this particular character, and Rupert’s very controlling. He makes a living out of being as close to Toby as possible, as close to power as possible. He’s full of that, ingratiating himself to survive - a bit of a guru, and a fake. All of these things can only be funny if played to Toby as the straight man. Which is what happens - it comes out of character, it doesn’t come out of comic intent. The development of that of course depends on the playing of them - performers picking up on that particular dynamic between those two characters in this instance. And getting it and playing it to the hilt. That’s what happens.

(Tony jokes) Maybe Nicola’s English is not good enough to appreciate out brilliant script. What a cheeky fucker! What Nicola is saying is that his bit of filmmaking is better than my bit of filmmaking. I shall poison his vineyard!

Clearly Nicola is talking about what the actors brought to it enhanced it! Listen, I recently worked with Steve Buscemi. The big danger with Steve Buscemi performing the lines that you’ve written, is that you think: I’m a really good writer. Because you get someone like that, you get Adam Driver, you get these people - they take hold of the lines and make them theirs. It’s a beautiful thing. I always think that writers pretend, and actors become. So I’m very pleased and absolutely believe everything what they have done with this script can only make it better, and thank Christ for that. People can then say, “Really great writing!”

One scene I did see being shot was when Jonathan Pryce as Javier/Quixote and Adam Driver as Toby arrive horseback at the castle. Jonathan Pryce was terrific, the one scene he was particularly good at was trying to please Alexei, while at the same time apologising for Toby’s behaviour and also being angry at Toby’s behaviour. He did all of those things simultaneously. It was hilarious. He’s born to the part or what? What I’ve seen of Jonathan Pryce becoming Quixote is just sublime. People pretend that the writing stops when you go into production, and of course it doesn’t. It continues, and that’s what Jonathan Pryce has done because he has continued the writing of the film. That’s what’s so beautiful. What Nicola’s saying is absolutely right, of course it is, and it’s a great thing when that happens.

Now, did you ever think it was an impossible dream, and did you ever take Terry to one side, and say “Don’t you think it’s time, you’ve tried it 10 times, to be focussing on something else?” I never did say that to Terry, but I did think it. That is the truth. If anyone asked me, as they did on several occasions, “What about Quixote?”, I’d say absolutely we’re going to make it. Absolutely it’s going to happen. Privately, I visited the garden of Gethsemane more than once. That’s my confession. My joy of Terry turning over on the first day was only surpassed by my joy of him turning over on the last day. I’m very pleased for the man.

Did you visit the set of this one? No I didn’t. I stayed away from it. I think that’s why it’s turned out such a success! I almost went to the set, but I didn’t go in the end. It’s a funny thing, Terry used to phone up every now and again, and say something like, “We’re shooting a scene and they’re hiding under the stairs and I need some dialogue.” I said, “Who’s hiding under the stairs - what are you talking about?” He said, “Quixote and Toby are hiding under the stairs - just write something!”

We also had conversations about what song is Adam singing? Lots of little bits and pieces. These missives from the front now and again appeared, and I just loaded up some ammunition and sent it back.

We talked before about Terry’s wild imagination, so you could say that Terry resembles Cervantes’s character Don Quixote, but you also mentioned the side of structure and practicality that you need to get a film made. So to what extent does Terry resemble Quixote, that is, Cervantes’s character? If you watch Lost in La Mancha, we make a big thing of that, and I think we got it wrong. I really do. I think Terry has a love of Quixote, he has an understanding of this old man’s dreams which are so detached from the waking world - yet that isn’t Terry. You can’t make movies like that. Don Quixote would not - could not - make a movie.

So I think the relationship is way more interesting and less literal than a bunch of us, myself included, stated in Lost in La Mancha. It’s much more interesting. It’s a love for Quixote’s detachment from the world, a wish for it as well, but it’s the conflict that makes it interesting, the very worldly process of the business of making a film. You are freest when you are writing, because you’re furthest away from the reality, compared to when you are shooting. Time is limitless when you start writing, up to the point just before you start shooting. And then it reverses out.

It rains; someone falls off a horse; the scene wasn’t as great as we thought it was; we found a different way of doing that scene; everyone was pointing in the wrong direction that day - all of these things, these are practicalities. And Terry is very, very practical.

With analogue film, the actual film was literally physically clicking through the gate at 25 frames per second: every frame costs money. That’s what’s happening when you are making the film, just as John Boorman called his book Money Into Light. That’s the alchemy that’s happening, that’s the magic going on. You can’t be Don Quixote and make that magic. You have to be someone else.

It’s interesting about Terry Gilliam/Don Quixote, because I regret having bolstered that equation. It’s a bit lazy and not close enough to the truth. I think the reality is really fascinating: that tension between recognising the crazed dreamer that is Quixote and recognising that in yourself and at the same time embracing the very practical things that enable you to turn the dreaming into film. It’s a way more interesting equation. In the end the film is Quixote and we are all Sancho.

You mentioned some other projects you have on the go... I’ve had three things all shooting at the same time: there’s Don Quixote (Terry Gilliam), and one of an anthology of Philip K Dick short stories called Crazy Diamond, which Mark Munden has directed for Channel Four and Sony. A third thing is an adaptation of a novel called The City & The City by China Mieville, and that’s a four-parter for the BBC, which is directed by Tom Shankland. They are all now in the cutting room. I am now writing In the Wolf’s Mouth, which is a set of interlocking stories all set around Sicily in 1943. That’s with Andrea Calderwood producing.

[nickireadstfc]

The Foxhole Court, Chapter 11 – Orange Sportsball Gets The Fuck Real

In which the Foxes play their first match of the season, I have questions about American college sports, my Percy Jackson obsession has a brief cameo, and I’m sadly less excited about Actual Sportsball Games than I should be.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The Foxhole Court.

           Thursday’s excitement had nothing on Friday’s. The whole school got decked out overnight with vibrant orange and white streamers. Ribbons and banners hung off every sidewalk lamp. Live student bands took over the amphitheater for short concerts and the student newspaper released that morning gave details for the afternoon parade.

Is that, like…………. Normal behavior on game days?? Actual American high school/college students, please confirm. Is this an actual thing???

I mean, I know y’all are big on sports and school spirit, but this big??

Please understand my confusion: At my school, no one fucking gave a shit about the sports teams. I didn’t even know when anyone had games/competitions unless we got told afterwards who won what brilliant award now, and even then like 5% of us cared. And I can’t speak for my uni yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same there as well. Do German unis even have sports teams?

I always liked to make fun of High School Musical 3 for having those giant ass banners displaying the athletes hanging in the halls. I am now starting to realize that might be perfectly normal for American schools.

What the fuck.

Also, Neil officially came out now – as a member of the Foxes, that is, of course.

           Neil wanted to cut class and hide at Fox Tower until game time, but athletes weren’t allowed to call out without a legitimate medical excuse. Someone from the athletics committee went around all day counting heads through classroom windows, and Wymack would be the first to hear Neil was absent.

They seriously stalk their students all day in fear they might be skipping class? And these students are in college, they are grown adults, not 14-year-olds. Again, is this a thing, what the fuck??

Then again, we’re talking about the country who invented hall passes. This is probably not the craziest thing around.

Fortunately, the Foxes decide to display their first sign of group solidarity in these trying times and guide Neil from class to class. This is a really small detail, but I love it.

I’m imagining Neil as a lil baby duck who obediently follows a big spikey-haired Matt duck, a small white-pastel-y Renee duck or a glamorous blonde Allison duck, wagging behind them in a tiny duck-sized jersey.

Although, when you think about it, they’re all just lil baby ducks following a big Wymack momma duck.

(Someone draw me fanart, I’m BEGGING YOU.)

I’m getting off track. Back to the plot.

           Andrew hadn’t lied to Neil back in May. In almost every article that talked of Neil’s pathetic experience Kevin was quoted as having high hopes for him. Kevin really had said that Neil would one day be Court.

Because this is the second time this has come up: What exactly does “being Court” mean?? Like, being Captain? Being MVP? Also, is this a regular sports expression or is is Exy-exclusive? Exyclusive?? Help.

A small silver lining of future hilariousness appears on the horizon: An Exy kickoff banquet is going to happen sometime in the next few chapter, and I am HYPED. This chaotic mess of a team + all their rivals + dates + drinks can only equal a Massive Fun Time™.

Fun for us, not for them, might I add. I am dying to see this.

           “[Renee] hasn’t asked [Andrew] yet, but it’s inevitable. (…) Money’s on the table as to whether or not he says yes. Pot’s getting pretty big, so get your bet in fast.”

           The only thing the Foxes had in common besides Exy and hardship was their strange obsession with betting on the stupidest things. Neil had figured that out only two weeks into practice. A week didn’t go by when there wasn’t money on something or another.

A team after my own heart <3 Can I join? I can never find anyone to bet on dumb things in my own circle of friends.

Will I throw this piece of paper in the bin on my first shot? Will the bus be late? Will Friend A and B hook up tonight? Will I lose my (nonexistent) emotional sanity to this series before the last book is over?

I don’t know about the others, but the last one is 100% happening.

           “There’s something we haven’t told you yet,” Dan said. (…) “So Andrew’s technically legally required to take his medication, right? (…) He struck a bargain of his own with Coach. The only reason he signed with us is because Coach agreed to let him come off his drugs for game nights.”

Is this supposed to come as a big plot twist? Because I kind of saw that coming. 10 bucks says Andrew comes off his meds for all Important Moments.

*insert yet another rant about the negative portrayal of mental health meds as barbaric mind-numbing, mania-inducing ~happy pills~ here*

Anyways, back to game day!! Our beloved foxy nutcases are playing against the Breckenridge Jackals, which is shaping up to be a Fun Time™ as they are apparently the biggest bullies around (second only to the Edgar Allan Murder Mob Clique, of course).

However, when faced with his impending wipe-out on the court, our favourite Sassmaster McSavage reaches new levels of Hell Fuckin Yeah:

           “[Gorilla] will break every bone in your body if you give him the chance.”

           “Don’t worry, though,” Matt said. “He’ll probably be too busy killing Kevin and Seth to notice you.”

           “This is my reassured face,” Neil said, pointing up at his blank expression.

SAVAGE.

I actually laughed so hard at that. This is some Percy Jackson level of sass right there.

Come to think about it, I want the entire AFTG series narrated by Percy Jackson, especially the chapter titles.

“I Am Offered A Foxy Deal”

“My Troubled Past Comes Back To Haunt My Ass”

“I Get Dragged Into Some Gay Shit”

“We Kick Serious Jackal Butt, Sort Of”

Remind me to make a full post of that once I’ve finished the series.

Off topic again. Sorry.

Before we finally begin the actual match (and wow, it’s 1.1k words already), Nicky seems to finally get the mental slaps I’ve been sending him since a few chapters ago:

           Nicky looked at Neil. “Hey,” he said, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk after… Well. I wanted to say sorry, but I kept chickening out. Are we okay?”

           “I don’t know yet,” Neil said.

           Nicky weighed that for a minute, then sighed and said, “Fair enough.”

Deep sigh. Who are we kidding, I can never resist a self-aware comic relief, Nicky, you’re still one of my faves. At least he knows he fucked up.

And now, finally: It’s Orange Sportsball time!!

Time for fast-paced sports action, balls flying, racquets hitting, body-checks left and right, a flurry of energy and emotion… that I simply can’t get behind.

I’m sorry, you guys, but I found myself having to double- and triple-read passages here in order to keep up with who is standing where, who is passing to whom and just generally what exactly is going on. Maybe it has to do with my own lack of interest for any sports involving balls (or actually any sports that isn’t dance, cheer, or anything involving performance), but I’m not really excited about this whole game part, to put it mildly.

Don’t get me wrong: I am loving the emotions attached to it. Solidarity, passion, group dynamics and character development shown on the field, give me all that good shit. I just couldn’t care less about who’s passing to who. Forgive me.

Did someone say passion and group dynamics?

           Neil’d watched his teammates fall apart to in-fighting all summer long, but now he finally saw them as a whole. As much as the Foxes disliked each other at times, they disliked their opponents more. They were still too fractured to be truly great, but they were good enough to give him chills.

This is shaping up to be good, you guys.

I can only imagine the sheer gloriousness in the upcoming books when Kandreil finally get their shit together and play on the field as a beautiful unstoppable three-way killing machine. I WILL DIE.

Twenty minutes into the game, Seth is crushed against a wall by three hundred pounds of pure douchebaggery – and I actually do feel sorry for him, not gonna lie – which means it’s time for the moment we’ve all been waiting for:

           “Going on for Seth Gordon is freshman Neil Josten, number ten, of Millport, Arizona.”

           Neil wondered if casket lids sounded like court doors being shut.

Ah yes, thank you for reminding me, even in the face of impending doom, how incredibly extra our boy Josten is.

           “A national champion and an amateur? South Carolina’s gotten even crazier than usual.”

           “An amateur and a cripple, you mean,” the dealer said.

           Andrew slammed his racquet against the goal, making several athletes jump and drawing more than a few wary looks his way.

This is such a small detail but it’s the /best/. Nobody insults my boyfriends in front of me, fuckface.

Bla bla bla more sports bla bla, I’m putting everything remotely interesting that’s happening in a bullet list because let’s be honest, it’s not fucking much.

Neil scores! Twice! Good boy.

Matt takes a card for the team by punching the fuck out of Gorilla, what a babe.

Also, his mom is a professional boxer? When can we meet her. I’m always a sucker for strong women who could kick my ass.

Gorilla has been hitting Kevin’s hand on purpose all the time, which is not cool, yet not surprising, ain’t no honour in Exy injuries, apparently.

That is it, my dudes.

Writing the next chapter on a coach (yet again) as I’ll be visiting some friends in NRW, so I’ll be coming to you live from my Prime Flixbus Office Space, let’s see how that works out. Till next time, ily all. <3

[spicynbachili1]

The 300 Week 42: THIS IS SUSPIRIA!

A lightweight week, however a captivating combine of films to speak about

Double, double toil and hassle, my little witches and warlocks, and welcome again to The 300, a recurring function on my hellish try to observe 300 motion pictures in theaters within the yr 2018. I’ll be watching new releases, classics, hidden gems, and pageant movies to expertise the extensive world of cinema in all its kinds. With a lot moviegoing selection, there should be one thing right here so that you can get pleasure from.

As all the time, there are three guidelines for The 300:

The film should be a minimum of 40 minutes lengthy, assembly the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences’ definition of a function movie.

I have to watch the film at a movie show, screening room, or outside screening venue.

Whereas I can watch motion pictures I’ve seen earlier than 2018, I can’t depend repeated viewings of the identical movie in 2018 a number of instances.

One other gentle week however an fascinating mix of movies. I used to be sadly solely in a position to catch another film at the 2018 Brooklyn Horror Movie Pageant resulting from subway points, and was upstate writing and mountaineering for the weekend, which lower into moviegoing time. I’ll be ratcheting up exercise within the subsequent few weeks to recover from the end line, however I can’t watch for this lengthy moviegoing schlep to finish so I can return to being a streaming jabroni like everybody else. As we close to the tip, I’ve come down with a case of senioritis.

I’ve 26 motion pictures left to go. Let’s dance.

And so, onward.

271 of 300: The Rusalka (2018)

Director: Perry Blackshear Starring: Evan Dumouchel, Margaret Ying Drake, MacLeod Andrews Nation: USA Seen at Nitehawk Cinema (Brooklyn, NY) 2018 Brooklyn Horror Movie Pageant (BHFF) Thursday, October 18th

The Rusalka put me a bit of in thoughts of A Quiet Place (The 300 Week 14) and The Form of Water. The previous as a result of Evan Dumouchel seems a bit of like John Krasinski and performs a mute, and the latter as a result of the film is about an individual who can’t converse falling in love with an aquatic creature. Moderately than a scaly river god or the carnivorous merfolk of Agnieszka Smoczynska’s The Lure, Margaret Ying Drake is extra of a mermaid pixie dream lady. Her eyes darken and she will growl fiercely, however little else about her is monstrous, which is smart given the character of this mermaid story.

As a low-budget and lo-fi movie enjoying with folklore and style tropes, The Rusalka is a comparatively efficient fantasy drama about an unimaginable romance. It falters a bit towards the tip, although. Whereas I may purchase into the truth of a homicidal mermaid falling for a lonely and strapping younger man, there’s a critical harm in the course of the finale that will get utterly brushed apart. It’s a complete “’Tis however a scratch!” second that took me out of the considerate emotional notes that conclude the movie.

272 of 300: First Man (2018)

Director: Damien Chazelle Starring: Ryan Gosling, Jason Clarke, Claire Foy, Kyle Chandler Nation: USA Seen at Lyceum Six Cinemas (Pink Hook, NY) Sunday, October 21st

The astronaut sequences in First Man are extremely properly accomplished. The climax of the film once we lastly see the Apollo 11 mission to the moon is breathtaking, and offers a stoic emotional climax to the grim drama that pervades the movie. This isn’t only a story of mankind’s triumph within the face of the unimaginable, however a stone-faced rumination on demise, survival, and even perhaps the survivor’s guilt of being merely fortunate and extremely lucky. Ryan Gosling’s clean demeanor works in that respect. The Neil Armstrong depicted on this story is a no-frills, all-business, emotionally restrained form of man. In different phrases, he’s upstanding however actually boring. That is likely one of the downfalls of Man.

At any time when we’re not in astronaut mode, First Man is robotic. Damien Chazelle clearly believes within the significance of the movie, and the film is engineered with an overbearing seriousness about the entire endeavor. All of the humanity is drained from it within the course of. Claire Foy does what she will and has a number of excellent scenes, although First Man feels so stodgy and self-aware of its personal prestigiousness, limiting its emotional appeals to some fastidiously chosen moments. That self-seriousness is what stored me from having fun with the film. It’s good-looking and at instances thrilling, however the in-between segments drag as a result of Armstrong withholds his emotions a lot.

I must also observe that the flag controversy was dumb. The American flag is there in the course of the moon touchdown, however to deal with the planting of the flag misses the sense of grandeur, isolation, and melancholy within the second of triumph. It’s slightly spectacular, being on the moon. I simply want the remainder of the human drama in First Man contained fractions of that feeling.

273 of 300: Suspiria (2018)

Director: Luca Guadagnino Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth Nation: Italy/USA Seen at Tribeca Screening Room (New York, NY) Monday, October 22nd

“Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria goes to piss off so many individuals. Followers of Dario Argento’s 1977 authentic can be enraged by the modifications. Followers of Guadagnino’s Name Me By Your Identify can be appalled by how brutal, grotesque, and sadistic this movie is. Normal audiences can be bored by the movie’s arthouse pretensions because it ponders violence in opposition to ladies, political revolution and separation, and the inventive rites of dance. Early evaluations mentioned Suspiria can be this yr’s mom! That’s correct when it comes to the divisive response. As I advised a good friend on-line, if this film will get greater than an F on Cinemascore, I’ll eat a t-shirt. Suspiria will bomb, however it should go away behind one hell of a crater.”

Learn the total evaluation of Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria

274 of 300: Border (2018) (aka Gräns)

Director: Ali Abbasi Starring: Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Jörgen Thorsson Nation: Sweden/Denmark Seen at IFC Middle (New York, NY) Tuesday, October 23rd

Based mostly on a narrative by John Ajvide Lindqvist (the novelist and screenwriter of Let the Proper One In), Border is a such a captivating style hybrid. But I don’t wish to say an excessive amount of in regards to the movie for the reason that surprises are a part of the enjoyable. What I can say is the movie merges the conventions of a misfit romance film, Grimm’s fairy tales, and Legislation & Order SVU. It’s actually a singular creature. Tina (Eva Melander) is a Swedish border guard with a expertise for sniffing out suspicious conduct. She seems completely different, which she attributes to a chromosomal defect. Her unhappy life modifications when she encounters Vore (Eero Milonoff), who has an identical facial construction and unusual demeanor. Perhaps she has discovered another person on the planet who will get her.

Border goes in such delightfully surprising instructions, some darker than anticipated and others way more stunning and transferring than I’d anticipated. Maybe my emotions about First Man, which is so plain and stodgy, have been pronounced by these three different movies this week. It jogs my memory that the works I get pleasure from most are the unusual, the idiosyncratic, and the formally daring.

As a facet observe, some folks walked into the theater in the course of the remaining 10-15 minutes of the movie. They did not understand it was a press screening for Border. I assume they have been simply making an attempt to get seated early for no matter was enjoying in that theater afterwards. Because the movie drew to a detailed, I heard one in all them ask “Are we even in the proper film?” I ponder what they considered Border’s remaining moments with none context. They in all probability had no concept what hit them.

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[lucyariablog]

Shouldn’t Every Piece of Content Be Clickbait?

Welcome to the clickbait debate.

Credited to Jay Geiger, who first wrote about it in 2006, the term “clickbait” earned a place in The Oxford English Dictionary in 2016 with this definition:

“(on the Internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.”

Taken for its denotative meaning, clickbait does what all content marketers want – it entices the audience to click on the headline and consume their content.

So why does clickbait show up on lists, including Facebook’s, of content marketing mistakes or practices to avoid?

David Ambrogio, SEO and content strategist at Online Optimism, offers a definition that touches on what the word clickbait connotes for many people – “any content with sensationalist headlines used to encourage clicks or drive ad revenue.”

The problem with clickbait, says Gregory Golinski, head of digital marketing at YourParkingSpace.co.uk, is that it’s a one-sided deal with your audience. “Clickbait is tricking people into consuming your content by making them believe it will be better than what it really is. You take something from your audience without fulfilling your part of the deal: creating useful, quality content.”

Clickbait takes from the audience w/out fulfilling your end of the deal. Gregory Golinski of @YPSUK Click To Tweet

But clickbait doesn’t have to live up (or down) to those negative connotations, others say.

Can clickbait be good?

“Clickbait isn’t necessarily bad,” says Andrew Selepak, a professor at the University of Florida. “While we often view clickbait negatively because it is associated with fake news and online hucksters, if your company has a solid product that can actually help consumers, getting people to your site by hook or crook isn’t such a bad thing.”

He offers P.T. Barnum’s “Greatest Show on Earth” label as an example of pre-internet clickbait: “While it is debatable that P.T. Barnum truly had the greatest show on earth, his clickbait advertising did get people to come see his show, and what they saw was entertaining.”

Even if it wasn’t the greatest show on earth, P.T. Barnum still entertained his audience. @aselepak Click To Tweet

P.T. Barnum knew well that it was good business to make sure customers got what they expected. As he wrote in 1880’s The Art of Money Getting:

You may advertise a spurious article and induce many people to call and buy it once, but they will denounce you as an imposter and swindler, and your business will gradually die out and leave you poor.

Spurious articles to attract customers? That’s the clickbait content of the 19th century (and likely since the invention of the printing press).

Clickbait creates the curiosity gap

Patsy Nearkhou of Talkative UK offers two categories of clickbait titles – the spectacular and the mysterious.

A spectacular headline would be: Marketers Tried These 6 Insane Influencer Hacks … You Won’t Believe the Results! As Patsy explains, the headline is peppered with grandiose statements, directly addresses the reader, and contains several superlatives.

A mysterious headline might be: The One Word I Promised to Stop Using in 2018. It isn’t shouty but deliberately ambiguous.

“The continuous theme across all clickbait titles is that they appeal to the reader’s curiosity … they appeal to the same psychological process,” Patsy says. “They work because people are naturally curious creatures so it’s irrelevant whether they use grandiose or subtle tactics.”

Neil Patel believes clickbait gets a bad rap. “When done correctly, it’s one of the best ways to get people to take notice and give you their most precious asset: attention,” he writes.

Clickbait gets a bad rap. Done well, it’s one of the best ways to get attention for your #content. @NeilPatel. Click To Tweet

Steve Kurniawan, content specialist and growth strategist at Nine Peaks Media, agrees. “Humans are curious in nature, especially for topics we already are interested in,” he says. “The key to a successful clickbait title is proper understanding of your audience – their behaviors, needs, issues, the things they love, and so on.

“Then you can deliver a clickbait title to address this behavior or need.”

Are clicks the goal?

Marketers and content creators seeking to avoid clickbait-type content should try to provide all essential information in the headline or summary, says John Sammon, CEO of Sixth City Marketing. “Someone can read it and get the information they need without having to click on the article or keep reading.”

His advice works well for brands seeking to be expert resources or have their content be the featured snippet on the Google search results page. But what if the goal is to get people to visit your website (i.e., click), what can you do?

The trick is to write a killer headline & follow through w/ an equally good article. @eman_zabi Click To Tweet

Neil has pointed to an academic study of 69,907 news article headlines that revealed that the most powerful headlines – the ones that receive the most clicks – are polarizing.

Eman Zabi, copywriter and brand strategist at The Scribesmith, says the trick is to write a killer headline with a hook and follow through with an equally good article. She suggests writing at least 10 headlines and then picking the best one. If you’re stuck, use headline formulas. Run them through CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer to narrow down to the best.

“Don’t be afraid to have a little fun with the headlines. Clear beats clever, but there’s no reason you can’t pull off both,” she says.

Angelo Frisina, CEO of Sunlight Media, notes how BuzzFeed rapidly grew to a top-50 site in the United States largely due to its clever, attention-grabbing headlines. “Some would classify that as clickbait, I say it’s optimizing titles for high click-through rates,” he says.

Angelo offers some BuzzFeed-like headlines for marketers to use for their own content:

25 ___ That Will Change the Way You ___

I Tried ___. And Even I Was Surprised About What Happened Next

This ___ Makes ___ 10x Better

Here Are 11 ___ That ____. And They’re Backed by Science

Use These 20 Simple Hacks for More ____. #5 Is Awesome

When You Learn About ___ You’ll Never ____ Again

“The ability to use it creatively and effectively is the key to success,” he says with a cautionary note. “Overuse will bring little to no positive results.”

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Increase Content Marketing Success With Helpful Headline Tips & Tools

Why clickbait won’t (and maybe shouldn’t) disappear

Derek Gleason, content lead of CXL, says content platforms like Google, YouTube, and Facebook are set up to encourage clickbait-type headlines.

Google, YouTube, and Facebook are set up to encourage clickbait. @derek_gleason Click To Tweet

Think about a search page. Marketers want their headlines to stand out in the crowd to encourage searchers to click and connect with their content. But you don’t have to implement sensationalistic practices to get this result.

For example, if you create an industry guide, a straightforward label title may not be enough to get noticed. “You may need to start dropping words like ‘ultimate’ into your title so that your link seems better than those offering simple ‘guides,’” Derek says.

Brands measuring #content success by clicks & shares exacerbate the use of clickbait. @derek_gleason‏ Click To Tweet

Searchers also tend to click on the most current information available. Derek offers the example of a hypothetical article called Blogging Best Practices in 2013. Each subsequent year, you update a couple links and screenshots in the post and change the date in the headline.

“The change of title suggests a more dramatic change in content value than what’s really there,” Derek says. “The only reason (to include) a date at all is that (you) think it will boost click-through rates.”

Content platforms aren’t the only ones that reward clickbait. Brands that measure content success by clicks and shares exacerbate its use. “It’s a perverse incentive system that pays no mind to whether clickbait achieves long-term company goals. In other words, it ‘works’ in their tiny fiefdom,” Derek says.

“Clickbait has one motivation – to entice users to click on a link/video by using highly engaging headlines and thumbnails, says Matt Slaymaker of Folsom Creative. “Good clickbait is when your thumbnail and headline are provocative and enticing, yet true to the content of the article or video.”

He offers an example of YouTube sensation Mike Korzenmba who produces multiple NBA-related videos every week for his 1.3 million subscribers. This one, 7 Stories to Prove Michael Jordon was NOT Human, has generated 8 million views and interestingly, multiple comments about how it’s “the most clickbaity YouTube channel that isn’t clickbait”

It boils down to one thing

No matter where you fall in the clickbait debate, we all likely can agree on the resulting principle: Create the bait – great, accurate headlines that entice people to click – and, when they click, don’t disappoint them – have content deliver on the promise.

And that’s what I call clickworthy. What about you?

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Road Map to Success: Creating the Content of Your Audience’s Dreams

Please note:  All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

Want to make your content marketing more powerful? Attend Content Marketing University. Winter enrollment is now open.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Shouldn’t Every Piece of Content Be Clickbait? appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/12/practice-content-clickbait/

[a-breton]

Shouldn’t Every Piece of Content Be Clickbait?

Welcome to the clickbait debate.

Credited to Jay Geiger, who first wrote about it in 2006, the term “clickbait” earned a place in The Oxford English Dictionary in 2016 with this definition:

“(on the Internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.”

Taken for its denotative meaning, clickbait does what all content marketers want – it entices the audience to click on the headline and consume their content.

So why does clickbait show up on lists, including Facebook’s, of content marketing mistakes or practices to avoid?

David Ambrogio, SEO and content strategist at Online Optimism, offers a definition that touches on what the word clickbait connotes for many people – “any content with sensationalist headlines used to encourage clicks or drive ad revenue.”

The problem with clickbait, says Gregory Golinski, head of digital marketing at YourParkingSpace.co.uk, is that it’s a one-sided deal with your audience. “Clickbait is tricking people into consuming your content by making them believe it will be better than what it really is. You take something from your audience without fulfilling your part of the deal: creating useful, quality content.”

Clickbait takes from the audience w/out fulfilling your end of the deal. Gregory Golinski of @YPSUK Click To Tweet

But clickbait doesn’t have to live up (or down) to those negative connotations, others say.

Can clickbait be good?

“Clickbait isn’t necessarily bad,” says Andrew Selepak, a professor at the University of Florida. “While we often view clickbait negatively because it is associated with fake news and online hucksters, if your company has a solid product that can actually help consumers, getting people to your site by hook or crook isn’t such a bad thing.”

He offers P.T. Barnum’s “Greatest Show on Earth” label as an example of pre-internet clickbait: “While it is debatable that P.T. Barnum truly had the greatest show on earth, his clickbait advertising did get people to come see his show, and what they saw was entertaining.”

Even if it wasn’t the greatest show on earth, P.T. Barnum still entertained his audience. @aselepak Click To Tweet

P.T. Barnum knew well that it was good business to make sure customers got what they expected. As he wrote in 1880’s The Art of Money Getting:

You may advertise a spurious article and induce many people to call and buy it once, but they will denounce you as an imposter and swindler, and your business will gradually die out and leave you poor.

Spurious articles to attract customers? That’s the clickbait content of the 19th century (and likely since the invention of the printing press).

Clickbait creates the curiosity gap

Patsy Nearkhou of Talkative UK offers two categories of clickbait titles – the spectacular and the mysterious.

A spectacular headline would be: Marketers Tried These 6 Insane Influencer Hacks … You Won’t Believe the Results! As Patsy explains, the headline is peppered with grandiose statements, directly addresses the reader, and contains several superlatives.

A mysterious headline might be: The One Word I Promised to Stop Using in 2018. It isn’t shouty but deliberately ambiguous.

“The continuous theme across all clickbait titles is that they appeal to the reader’s curiosity … they appeal to the same psychological process,” Patsy says. “They work because people are naturally curious creatures so it’s irrelevant whether they use grandiose or subtle tactics.”

Neil Patel believes clickbait gets a bad rap. “When done correctly, it’s one of the best ways to get people to take notice and give you their most precious asset: attention,” he writes.

Clickbait gets a bad rap. Done well, it’s one of the best ways to get attention for your #content. @NeilPatel. Click To Tweet

Steve Kurniawan, content specialist and growth strategist at Nine Peaks Media, agrees. “Humans are curious in nature, especially for topics we already are interested in,” he says. “The key to a successful clickbait title is proper understanding of your audience – their behaviors, needs, issues, the things they love, and so on.

“Then you can deliver a clickbait title to address this behavior or need.”

Are clicks the goal?

Marketers and content creators seeking to avoid clickbait-type content should try to provide all essential information in the headline or summary, says John Sammon, CEO of Sixth City Marketing. “Someone can read it and get the information they need without having to click on the article or keep reading.”

His advice works well for brands seeking to be expert resources or have their content be the featured snippet on the Google search results page. But what if the goal is to get people to visit your website (i.e., click), what can you do?

The trick is to write a killer headline & follow through w/ an equally good article. @eman_zabi Click To Tweet

Neil has pointed to an academic study of 69,907 news article headlines that revealed that the most powerful headlines – the ones that receive the most clicks – are polarizing.

Eman Zabi, copywriter and brand strategist at The Scribesmith, says the trick is to write a killer headline with a hook and follow through with an equally good article. She suggests writing at least 10 headlines and then picking the best one. If you’re stuck, use headline formulas. Run them through CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer to narrow down to the best.

“Don’t be afraid to have a little fun with the headlines. Clear beats clever, but there’s no reason you can’t pull off both,” she says.

Angelo Frisina, CEO of Sunlight Media, notes how BuzzFeed rapidly grew to a top-50 site in the United States largely due to its clever, attention-grabbing headlines. “Some would classify that as clickbait, I say it’s optimizing titles for high click-through rates,” he says.

Angelo offers some BuzzFeed-like headlines for marketers to use for their own content:

25 ___ That Will Change the Way You ___

I Tried ___. And Even I Was Surprised About What Happened Next

This ___ Makes ___ 10x Better

Here Are 11 ___ That ____. And They’re Backed by Science

Use These 20 Simple Hacks for More ____. #5 Is Awesome

When You Learn About ___ You’ll Never ____ Again

“The ability to use it creatively and effectively is the key to success,” he says with a cautionary note. “Overuse will bring little to no positive results.”

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Increase Content Marketing Success With Helpful Headline Tips & Tools

Why clickbait won’t (and maybe shouldn’t) disappear

Derek Gleason, content lead of CXL, says content platforms like Google, YouTube, and Facebook are set up to encourage clickbait-type headlines.

Google, YouTube, and Facebook are set up to encourage clickbait. @derek_gleason Click To Tweet

Think about a search page. Marketers want their headlines to stand out in the crowd to encourage searchers to click and connect with their content. But you don’t have to implement sensationalistic practices to get this result.

For example, if you create an industry guide, a straightforward label title may not be enough to get noticed. “You may need to start dropping words like ‘ultimate’ into your title so that your link seems better than those offering simple ‘guides,’” Derek says.

Brands measuring #content success by clicks & shares exacerbate the use of clickbait. @derek_gleason‏ Click To Tweet

Searchers also tend to click on the most current information available. Derek offers the example of a hypothetical article called Blogging Best Practices in 2013. Each subsequent year, you update a couple links and screenshots in the post and change the date in the headline.

“The change of title suggests a more dramatic change in content value than what’s really there,” Derek says. “The only reason (to include) a date at all is that (you) think it will boost click-through rates.”

Content platforms aren’t the only ones that reward clickbait. Brands that measure content success by clicks and shares exacerbate its use. “It’s a perverse incentive system that pays no mind to whether clickbait achieves long-term company goals. In other words, it ‘works’ in their tiny fiefdom,” Derek says.

“Clickbait has one motivation – to entice users to click on a link/video by using highly engaging headlines and thumbnails, says Matt Slaymaker of Folsom Creative. “Good clickbait is when your thumbnail and headline are provocative and enticing, yet true to the content of the article or video.”

He offers an example of YouTube sensation Mike Korzenmba who produces multiple NBA-related videos every week for his 1.3 million subscribers. This one, 7 Stories to Prove Michael Jordon was NOT Human, has generated 8 million views and interestingly, multiple comments about how it’s “the most clickbaity YouTube channel that isn’t clickbait”

It boils down to one thing

No matter where you fall in the clickbait debate, we all likely can agree on the resulting principle: Create the bait – great, accurate headlines that entice people to click – and, when they click, don’t disappoint them – have content deliver on the promise.

And that’s what I call clickworthy. What about you?

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Road Map to Success: Creating the Content of Your Audience’s Dreams

Please note:  All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

Want to make your content marketing more powerful? Attend Content Marketing University. Winter enrollment is now open.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

from http://bit.ly/2zGbRft

[countingyams]

This year, I resolve to waste time well

By Lydia Lum for The Sunday Times on January 01, 2017

New Year's resolutions can make for hard reading, especially in a year with sputtering economic growth and spiralling geopolitical risk, not to mention cost cutting and belt tightening, all of which can suck the cheer out of a festive season. Pledges to eat less, drink less and spend less just add to the gloom.

So I have decided to focus not on what I want to cut back on, but on how I want to enlarge my life.

This is no small step for a careful saver like me who has for decades embraced the Singapore ethic of squirrelling money away for a rainy day and, along with it, the modern cult of personal productivity which spurred me to purge my life of time-wasting activities such as watching television and reading storybooks.

Both seemed like indulgences I could ill afford. Instead, I have for years read almost exclusively non-fiction, the sort I need for work or for self-improvement.

Such a regimen trains you for a life that can seem awfully purposeful. But if adhered to too strictly, it fails to free you and instead tethers you to a powerful vacuum cleaner that sucks the joy out of living and leaves you wondering what you are storing away time and money for.

So this year, I resolve to do the opposite and think hard about how to waste time.

I use the word "waste" intentionally, a verb the dictionary says means to "use or expend carelessly, extravagantly or to no purpose". Its synonyms include "squander" and "fritter away".

I wish to devote this column precisely to extravagance and those aspects of life that seem to serve no purpose, at least not any that we can touch or tote up in our bank accounts or lists of achievements.

Many years ago, when I was still in school and had the time and space to wander around those magical places called libraries, linger among the shelves and delve into the books I chanced upon, I stumbled across some lines of poetry about buying "hyacinths for the soul". For some reason, that phrase enchanted me and I never forgot it, perhaps because it reminded me of that time long ago and those stories I read - stories from around the world about people and places and happenings that piqued my curiosity, fired my imagination and, yes, fed my soul.

The phrase likely comes from the work of a 13th-century Persian poet named Muslihuddin Sadi, who is said to have written these lines:

If, of thy mortal goods, thou art bereft,

And from thy slender store two loaves

alone to thee are left,

Sell one and from the dole,

Buy hyacinths to feed the soul.

Last year, I started reading fiction again and was transported to worlds I would never be able to travel to physically, no matter how big my budget. I was moved to tears by Madeleine Thein's novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, on China's cultural revolution, and thrilled that Tan Twan Eng's Garden Of Evening Mists taught me some of the history of a place I love - Cameron Highlands. I found myself wanting to tell my family and friends about what I learnt from reading those books. I cannot wait to discover more literary gems, especially those by Asian writers.

In a lecture he delivered in October 2015 on the future of reading and libraries, British writer Neil Gaiman spoke about visiting China in 2007 for the first-ever Communist Party-approved science fiction and fantasy convention. He wondered why science fiction, which had been disapproved of for a long time, was now allowed.

He asked a top official and related what this official said in reply: "It's simple, he told me. The Chinese were brilliant at making things if people brought them the plans. But they did not innovate and they did not invent. They did not imagine.

"So they sent a delegation to the US, to Apple, to Microsoft, to Google, and they asked the people there who were inventing the future about themselves. And they found out that all of them had read science fiction when they were boys and girls.

"Fiction can show you a different world. It can take you somewhere you have never been. Once you have visited other worlds, like those who ate fairy fruit, you can never be entirely content with the world that you grew up in. Discontent is a good thing: Discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leaving them better, leaving them different."

American writer Maya Angelou stopped talking for five years after being raped at age seven. "In those five years," she said in an interview, "I read every book in the black school library. I read all the books I could get from the white school library. I memorised Shakespeare, whole plays, 50 sonnets. I memorised Edgar Allan Poe, all the poetry, never having heard it, I memorised it. I had Longfellow, I had Guy de Maupassant, I had Balzac, Rudyard Kipling. When I decided to speak, I had a lot to say, and many ways in which to say what I had to say... And I was able to draw from human thought, human disappointments and triumphs, enough to triumph myself."

Fiction, it seems, is a good waste of time.

What of music?

Just over a year ago, I was speaking to two friends whose seven-year-old daughter is now learning the cello. I mentioned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the three of us discovered that some 20 years ago, when we had not known each other, we had gone separately to watch him play with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra at the Victoria Concert Hall. What was amazing was how well we all remembered that concert - actually I had only managed to get tickets to the lunchtime rehearsal - and how moved we had been by his playing. I had gone with a friend who is a classical music aficionado and I remember turning to him at the end of the Elgar Concerto and swallowing my words when I saw tears rolling silently down his face.

A couple of months ago, over tea in the office, a colleague surprised me by describing in vivid detail a trip he had made to Amsterdam, from Cambridge where he had then been studying, to catch a performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. It was clearly an experience he would cherish for the rest of his life. Since coming back to Singapore and starting work, though, he has had little time for concerts, he said. That made me sad because he spoke with such depth of feeling about the beauty of a Mahler symphony.

Why listen to classical music, or any other kind of music for that matter, especially if you have no plans to make a career of it?

Musician Andrew Balio, founder of Future Symphony Institute, a think-tank dedicated to classical music, believes classical music "opens for us a door into a space that exists beyond our physical world, and what we hear moving in the music through that space is us. The symphony takes us on a journey through the secretive shadows and the uncertain vistas of our human condition. It touches those things of value within us, and it invites them to witness the miracle of transubstantiation wherein the dross of our daily existence, however trivial or tragic, is changed into the possibility of salvation".

Mr Balio also reflects on why he thinks classical music audiences are ageing: "Obviously, our elders come to concerts not because they hope the music will make them better at maths or more successful in their careers. There is no use to which they plan to put the music they come to hear, cleverly plying it to realise their five- or 10-year plans.

"I think if we asked them, we would find that classical music for them is only about beauty. I think they would sympathise with John Ruskin, who said, 'Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless.'

"And maybe this is the real reason that audiences for classical music are aging: That it takes us so much longer to shake off the utilitarian mindset that pervades our modern world, so well-rooted it has become in our unexamined ways of thinking and being."

What would you like to waste time on this year? I leave you with that question and wish you a Happy New Year.