IAIN M. BANKS

I grew up with science fiction at the cinema from Stars Wars as a child to the more mature Alien, Bladerunner, and Heavy Metal but despite this, I never found a writer that could speak with a voice that I could understand on an emotional level. It wasn't until 1991 when I read Iain M. Banks' Consider Phlebas that my pessimism surrounding the genre evaporated. Here was a writer who not only created a future that was gritty, convincing, and unique but also emotionally charged and compelling.

Now some may wonder but I'll clarify, Ian M. Banks is how Ian Banks writes his name while doing science fiction. It's a shame that this kind of distinction is made but such is the rationale of those who hand out literary merits. He is most well known outside science fiction for The Wasp Factory but for me, it is in his science fiction that he excels, relaxes, experiments and creates the most extraordinary stories told with vivid language and epic themes that are modern and relevant.

And so it is with much sadness that it was announced today that he has inoperable cancer and that he is unlikely to live longer than a year. I had been formulating a post for him for some time and it's a shame it has taken this kind of news to make it happen but I urge anyone who loves literature to go beyond his fiction books and try his science fiction works. They are a revelation and deserve the attention of a wider audience.

Links:
Iain M Banks (Official Site)
Iain Banks (Wiki)
Iain Banks (British Council)

Good news for MOOMIN fans

With the release of the film Moomins and the Comet Chase in cinemas and with the republication in english of The Dangerous Journey (4 Nov 2010 - UK), it is a good time to be a Moomin fan. As an added bonus, Björk has done a track on the film with frequent collaborator, poet and writer Sjón.

Happy 65th anniversary to the Moomins!

Links:
Moomins and the Comet Chase
Moonins and the Comet Chase (IMDB)
Grand Old Aunt Björk (Reykjavik Grapevine)
More Moomin Magic (Publisher's Weekly)
Tove Jansson's Moomins (SiouxWIRE)
Sjón Profile

TRAN ANH HUNG's Adaptation of HARUKI MURAKAMI's "Norwegian Wood"

From director Tran Anh Hung(I Come With the Rain, Scent of Green Papaya) comes the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's classic novel Norwegian Wood.

I love Murakami and look forward to his upcoming novel 1Q84 (a play on the Japanese pronunciation of 1984) which has been released in three volumes in Japan. 1Q84 volumes 1-2 translated by Jay Rubin are due for release in the USA in September 2011, with volume 3 translated by Phillip Gabriel following thereafter.

Below is the synopsis and bite-size teaser trailer for Norwegian Wood.

“I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me.”

The melancholy tune and sentiment of this classic Beatles song seems to have taken the life of Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), who is similarly uncertain as to how he should view his relationships. At heart, a quiet and serious young Tokyo college student in 1969, Watanabe, is deeply devoted to his first love, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), a beautiful and introspective young woman. But their mutual passion is made by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Watanabe lives with the influence of death everywhere, while Naoko feels as if some integral part of her has been permanently lost. On the night of Naoko’s 20th birthday, they finally made love to each other. However, shortly thereafter Naoko decided to quit college and become a recluse. It is at that time Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) – a girl who is everything that Naoko is not -- outgoing, vivacious, supremely self-confident – marches into Watanabe's life and he has to choose between his future and his past.

Links:
Norwegian Wood (offical film site)
Norwegian Wood Stills (Wildgrounds)
Tran Anh Hung Wiki
Haruki Murakami (Random House)
Haruki Murakami: After Dark (SiouxWIRE)
1Q84 Wiki

Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND

The imagery that's been released by USA Today hints at something wondrous, menacing, and true to the original without being overly familiar. Promising. The cast includes Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Michael Sheen as the White Rabbit, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Christopher Lee as the Jabberwock, Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts, and newcomer Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsley.



Links:
Alice in Wonderland (USA Today)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Wiki
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (British Library)

Ex Libris Jack Raven: TOVE JANSSON's MOOMINS

For more than five years, I have been reading to my son Jack Raven an ample selection of children's literature. In this new series of posts I'll be introducing the artists and writers that rank among his favourites.

We are currently working through Tove Jansson's Moomin books which are full of wonder, wisdom and invention. Nine books were originally released in Swedish between 1945 and 1970 as well as five picture books and a series of comics written and illustrated by Jansson. The Moomins are a family of furry, hippo-like creatures who have a somwhat Bohemian outlook on life.

What I find so compelling about these stories are the strong characterisations and honesty all set within a world full of challenges and frights that remains benign without being banal. For my son, it's quick pace and curiosities keep him enthralled, its humour keeps him smiling, and its invention has him thinking.

The publisher Sort Of Books has recently released lovely editions of the picture books The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My and Who Will Comfort Toffle? in the UK. For information about Moomin books where you are, visit The Moomin Trove.




Links:
The Moominvalley of the Tampere Art Museum
Sort Of Books
The Moomin Trove
Tove Jansson Wiki
Moomin Wiki
Tove Jansson (Guardian)

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

In case any of you missed the promising trailer for Spike Jonze and Dave Egger's adaption of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are...

Trailer de Where the wild things are
Uploaded by masalladeorion -

Links:
Official website
We love you so
Dave Eggers
Spike Jonze wiki
Maurice Sendak wiki
Quicktime Trailer
Where the Wild Things Are wiki

Featurette: AINSLEY BURROWS

I just discovered spoken word artist Ainsley Burrows from Saatchi & Saatchi's latest advert for Guinness(with visual work from Shilo).

Poem for Obama

Here's an excerpt from his MySpace...

Internationally acclaimed poet, Ainsley Burrows has performed at festivals, cafés and institutions across Europe, America, Canada and the Caribbean, receiving numerous awards. These include Best International Performer of 2001 and 2002 from the Farrago Poetry Café in London, Munich’s International Poetry Slam Championship award in 2001 and awards from the Nuyorican Poet’s Café in 2001 (for participating in the National team) and the in 2004 (for being the Coach of the National team). In addition, Ainsley has conducted many workshops from London’s Hackney Community College to New York’s Julliard School of Music.

Links:
Ainsley Burrows MySpace
Ainsley Burrow profile (Poetry Slam)

The 2008 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE Shortlist

"The judges for the 2008 BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize announced the shortlist today, 15th May. Now in its tenth year the prize is the world’s richest non-fiction prize and is worth £30,000 to the winner.

The BBC FOUR Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction Shortlist 2008

• Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart by Tim Butcher (Vintage)
• Crow Country by Mark Cocker (Jonathan Cape)
• The Whisperers by Orlando Figes (Allen Lane)
• The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul by Patrick French (Picador)
• The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross (Fourth Estate)
• The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury)

Rosie Boycott, Chair of the judges, comments:

“This superb list of books captures both the surface and the underbelly of human existence in all its myriad variations. There is murder, betrayal, brutality, beauty and tales of the unexpected. In every instance, it is the power and the quality of the writing that has drawn us to this eclectic selection - and, as judges, it has been our great privilege to discover and help promote this award-winning short list. All six books are ones which changed the way we looked at the world, they are all ones we are eager to pass onto others. To quote Yeats ‘He, too, has been changed in his turn / Transformed utterly / A terrible beauty is born.’” (Easter 1916)

Rosie Boycott is joined by an eclectic panel of judges who offer a wide range of literary, journalistic and academic experience. They are literary editor of the Guardian, Claire Armitstead; poet, Daljit Nagra; Director of the Science Museum, Chris Rapley; and documentary maker and journalist, Hannah Rothschild.

The judges will announce the winner of the Prize at an awards event in the Ballroom of the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre, London on 15th July. The winner receives £30,000, and each of the five shortlisted authors, £1,000."

Links:
Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction
Blood River - Tim Butcher
Crow Country - Mark Cocker (Guardian Unlimited)
The Whisperers - Orlando Figes
The World is What It Is - Patrick French (Guardian Unlimited)
The Rest is Noise - Alex Ross
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher - Kate Summerscale (Guardian Unlimited)

Storytime: CHARLES BUKOWSKI reads "Bluebird"

It has been a long time since the last storytime. This is Charles Bukowski once again, this time reading his poem Bluebird.

More Bukowski storytimes:
Storytime: Dinosauria, we (SiouxWIRE)
Storytime: The Genius of the Crowd (SiouxWIRE)
Storytime: The night I killed Tommy (SiouxWIRE)
Storytime: An excerpt from Fire Station (SiouxWIRE)

Links:
Bukowski.net
Charles Bukowski (Poets.org)
Charles Bukowski (Poemhunter)
Charles Bukowski Wiki
Bukowski-Bluebird YouTube

Karel Čapek's WAR WITH THE NEWTS

Recently featuring José Saramago's Blindness, I was reminded of Karel Čapek's parable on fascism, colonialism, the arms race, and nationalism, War with the Newts. It is a satirical story akin to George Orwell's Animal Farm in tone.

Karel Čapek is one of the most influential Czech writers of the last century garnering a Nobel Prize Nomination and introducing the word "robot" to the world in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) in which a servant race of robots overthrow humanity. In Czech, "robota" means "labour".

Reading the book just a few years back, I was struck at its contemporary relevance. Čapek described how he developed the idea for War with the Newts in an interview:

I had written the sentence, 'You mustn't think that the evolution that gave rise to us was the only evolutionary possibility on this planet. . . . that cultural developments could be shaped through the mediation of another animal species. If the biological conditions were favorable, some civilization not inferior to our own could arise in the depths of the sea. . . . Would it do the same stupid things mankind has done? Would it invite the same historical calamities? What would we say if some animal other than man declared that its education and its numbers gave it the sole right to occupy the entire world and hold sway over all creation?" Out of this thought process War With the Newts Was Born.

Links:
Karel Čapek (Czech/English/French)
Karel Čapek Wiki
Karel Čapek bio + bibliography

José Saramago - Fernando Meirelles: BLINDNESS

After working on the adaptation of John le Carré's The Constant Gardener, Fernando Meirelles who also directed City of God has a new adaptation in the form of Nobel-laureate José Saramago's Blindness. The book tells the story of a mass epidemic which causes blindness and its effect on the unnamed city for which it is centred. Saramago wrote a sequel to the story in 2004 titled Seeing which is set in the same country and has been translated to English. It revolves around a majority of the populace casting blank ballots and the government's efforts to come to terms with and eradicate the movement.

Here is the teaser trailer for Meirelles adaptation for Blindness:

Blindness will be opening the 2008 Cannes Festival on the 14 May.

Links:
Blindess (movie website-Miramax)
José Saramago Nobel lecture (NobelPrize.org)
The Unexpected Fantasist - Saramago (New York Times)
José Saramago Wiki
Fernando Meirelles Wiki

I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND

With Jirí Menzel's film adaptation of Bohumil Hrabil's witty Czech masterpiece, I Served the King of England soon to be released outside the Czech Republic, I thought it timely to recommend this social and political satire which Milan Kundera described as "one of the most authentic incarnations of magical Prague, an incredible union of earthy humour and baroque imagination"

The film itself is typical of literary adaptations losing a good deal in the process but still remains worthy of its 2 hour run time with elements reminiscent of Roy Andersson and Jacques Tati. Jirí Menzel's previous adaptation of Hrabel, Closely Watched Trains won the 1967 Academy Award for best foreign film.


Here is the original Czech trailer followed by the American trailer. The Czech version is superior even with the language barrier though the subtitles in the over-the-top American trailer does give more background for those unfamiliar with Hrabil's book.

Links:
I Served the King of England (Sony Picture Classics)
Jirí Menzel interview
Jirí Menzel Wiki
I Served the King of England (Dear Cinema)

Interview: STACY WAKEFIELD FORTE

This is the first part of dual interviews between the twin founders of Evil Twin Publications.

Stacy Wakefield Forte studied book design at the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated from the Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam in 1994. As well as working with her sister on Evil Twin Publications, Stacy was Design Director at Artforum and Index magazines in New York.

Now living the Catskills of upstate New York, Stacy continues to design books, is a member of Booklyn, and works as a volunteer at hydro-powered WJFF Radio.

What effect did travelling outside the US at a young age have on you? And what were the key things you learned during this period? Charmed by squatting? Was it difficult to return to the home country?
Travelling internationally at any age is fascinating. You discover things you take for granted that other cultures look at completely differently. I loved squatting for the same reason, it expanded my notions of how basic things like housing and group living could and should work. In the netherlands there is a community around squatting that functions extremely well. People in that scene are very community focussed, which is surprising to be around coming from the US where the culture is very individualistic. American underground art and music culture is exciting exactly because of our intense individualism. But the dutch are much better than us at anything community-centered, like squatting and collectively run businesses and projects. In my experience.


You’re currently collaborating with Fritz Haeg, researching earth sheltered homes for a new book. Where did you discover Fritz’s work and how did the collaboration begin? And what drew you to the subject of earth sheltered homes?
I met Fritz in LA through mutual friends and we spontaneously discovered a shared fascination with earth sheltered houses. We both had ideas percolating around them that made more sparks when combined. Earth sheltered houses are so romantic and wonderful. Covering a house with a sod roof so that it blends with the landscape and the home is protected from the elements makes so much sense.

For some reason this style hasn't captured the sustainable-building imagination as much as it should, so I think this project is really important for bringing rooted houses more into the public conciousness. There are issues around building them, it is a little more complicated and expensive to build them than above ground houses, and the right site is very important. but with more attention and discussion brought to them, these things can be addressed and improved on. So our goal is to investigate earth sheltered building, its past and present and potential, and see what we find.

What are the prominent memories and key things you learned while working as design director for Artforum and Index Magazine?
Artforum is an extremely well-run independent magazine with a phenomenal staff. I was really lucky to get to work there. The design of the magazine is necessarily straightforward and subservient to the text and art images, so as much as i loved the working environment and being involved in such a venerable institution as Artforum is, I don't think the designer has a very integral role there. At Index I had the chance to have much more impact. It could be very challenging to work there because it was a small and chaotic operation, but that added to everyone's sense of urgency and personal accountability. The role of design in the magazine was huge, I worked in very close creative collaboration with the publisher, Peter Halley, and we tried out all kinds of ideas that editors would have killed at other magazines.

Usually as a designer, you are working to please a panel of editors, who are by nature word people and not always visually adventurous. I have no problem with that, I think that kind of collaboration between a designer and editor can lead to the most accessible and relevant design. But index was a departure from that because the only person with final say over my work was Peter Halley who is a visual artist, as well as a writer. He was always pushing me to be wilder.

Continue reading the interview & see more images
by clicking here

Introducing ONE PERCENT PRESS

Stephen Floyd and J.P. Coovert are artists and founders of One Percent Press. In addition to the other artists, Floyd and Coovert create deceptively simple, honest, and refreshing works in the form of both comics and zines (as well as music).

The One Percent Press site is worth a browse with preview pages of a good number of their works. To give a flavour of their approach, here are their own words:

"Professionalism is too often mistaken for being synonymous with quality. Artists often search for some big name to be affiliated with, in hopes that this will add validity to his or her art. Even in independent circles, it seems more often than not, that artists are more pre-occupied with wanting to be on a hip new comic or record label (or whatever the case may be), than creating good art.

As artists, we reject this notion that in order to be "legitimate" you have to be involved with an already established label, indie or otherwise. As people, we come from a very strong DIY background, which we took with us from growing up in punk rock. We also reject the notion that there are any limitations or boundaries in punk, or within DIY for that matter. We will work as hard and put as much care into our art as we please.

We hope to make art that is engaging, thoughtful, and made with our best intentions and care. We're trying, and encourage anyone else to try also. We're just people trying to get our ideas out there."

Links:
One Percent Press
One Percent Press MySpace

SHAUN HARRISON's "Mother to Son" (Langston Hughes)

Shaun Harrison, a young student at the Savannah College of Art & Design has produced this excellent short based on Langston Hughes' poem Mother to Son in which the poetry, music, and imagery are skillfully blended.

Links:
Dailymotion Link
Shaun's DM profile
Langston Hughes Wiki
Langston Hughes - Poetry Foundation
SCAD

"The walls became the world all around"

When has adapting a children's picture book into a film ever succeeded? Certainly Dr. Seuss hasn't fared well in recent years with The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And is there a point?

The above image is from Spike Jonze's upcoming adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. The image looks wonderful and there is a lot of talent behind the production. Jonze is a great choice as director, going with Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a wise move, and Dave Eggars knows his way around a typewriter but a lot of questions arise into the premise of adapting a picture book. Writers Spike Jonze and Dave Eggars have quite a challenge.

Much of the charm of picture books is their ability to distill big ideas into small, simple packages with enchanting imagery. While I'm sure Jonze will get the imagery right, the question remains: how does one preserve the charm and simplicity of a picture book over the course of a feature length film? I hope that we will have the answer when Where the Wild Things Are is released in October.

Links:
Legendary Pictures
Where the Wild Things Are - Wiki
Maurice Sendak - Wiki
Spike Jonze - Wiki
Dave Eggars - Wiki
MTV Movies Blog entry
Jim Henson's Creature Shop
McSweeneys
IMDB - Entry

RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN's "Imperial Life in the Emerald City"

Even after the years of absurdity in Iraq, the Washington Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran and his book, "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone" somehow manages to surprise and horrify in equal measure.

From the official site, here are a couple of excerpts from the book's description:

"The Washington Post’s former Baghdad bureau chief Rajiv Chandrasekaran takes us with him into the Zone: into a bubble, cut off from wartime realities, where the task of reconstructing a devastated nation competed with the distractions of a Little America—a half-dozen bars stocked with cold beer, a disco where women showed up in hot pants, a movie theater that screened shoot-’em-up films, an all-you-could-eat buffet piled high with pork, a shopping mall that sold pornographic movies, a parking lot filled with shiny new SUVs, and a snappy dry-cleaning service—much of it run by Halliburton. Most Iraqis were barred from entering the Emerald City for fear they would blow it up."

And insight into the work of Paul Bremer:

"In the vacuum of postwar planning, Bremer ignores what Iraqis tell him they want or need and instead pursues irrelevant neoconservative solutions—a flat tax, a sell-off of Iraqi government assets, and an end to food rationing. His underlings spend their days drawing up pie-in-the-sky policies, among them a new traffic code and a law protecting microchip designs, instead of rebuilding looted buildings and restoring electricity production. His almost comic initiatives anger the locals and help fuel the insurgency."

Here is the VBS tv interview with Rajiv:

VBS Meets - Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Uploaded by VBS_tv

The book has recently won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction and is published by Random House.

Links:
Official Site
Excerpt from the book
The Washington Post
BBC Article
Guardian Article
Random House

Interview: ICELANDIC LOVE CORPORATION

The Icelandic Love Corporation are enigmatic and their colourful, life affirming works are transient or anonymous. Because of this and having read numerous other interviews, I knew that this would be a challenge; a bit like catching smoke with a net or a scooping up the same piece of river more than once.

Their work spans a wide range of mediums including performance, sculpture, installations, music, film, television, painting, and literature. While certainly emotive, like their creators, the works are resistant to analysis. Trying to do so is rather pointless; a bit like trying to create a specific blueprint for how to run the rake through a Zen garden.

What I will say is that I find their work honest and refreshing with a seriousness that isn't cumbersome. As a whole, their body of work is like an ornate diary, a window into their own personal journeys with the most incredible, enlightening outlook.

In regards to the name of your group, would you explain the importance of the trio of words from which it is made: Icelandic, love, and corporation? And aside from the name itself, what changed between the group being known as Gjörningaklúbburinn and The Icelandic Love Corporation?
Well, we never thought about it as a trio of words, per se. When this name was first used, we were actually a quartet. Dóra Isleifsdóttir was a part of the group from 1996 - 2001. Why we chose those three exact words is both easy and hard to explain. Icelandic, well that's a fact. We are icelandic. Love. we like it. it is a strong idea. It is both a redeeming, creative and destructive element. but most of the time a very good thing. corporation.

"Some people seem to automatically connect the word love to something kitschy or childish. We really don't understand that."

Probably the megalomania in us back then was pretty strong. but also we thought it was funny. to be a corporation of four girls. We did not really sit around contemplating about this name for a very long time. it just seemed right. through the years we have thought about it from time to time and have grown to like it more and more. Some people seem to automatically connect the word love to something kitschy or childish. We really don't understand that. well partly we do, but we think that's unfair to love.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE

Favourite Scenes: THE ENGLISH PATIENT

The English Patient is one my favourite books and films. To me, it is incomprehensible that anyone would find the film boring. It's one of the most engaging, visually stunning, tense, erotic and rich stories in cinema preserving the strongest themes of the book from which it is sourced. Indeed, Michael Ondaatje worked closely on the film and was happy with the result.

Having experienced the divisive and cretinous use of national borders as a means of distinguishing people, I can empathize strongly with Count Almásy(Ralph Fiennes) as he struggles to comprehend the idiocy of nationality which is brought to a head by the onset of war. Friends and lovers are separated, sinners who stand under the right flag are canonized and saints with the wrong passport are demonized. It's a unique perspective that is typically overlooked.

In this key scene(48) early in film, the Patient introduces the audience to his perspective while Hana(Juliette Binoche)'s perspective lays down the starting point for her character's journey.

48. INT. THE PATIENT'S ROOM. DAY.

Hana carries in a tray. There's OMELETTE on the plate.

HANA
There's a man downstairs. He brought us eggs.
(shows him the omelette)
He might stay.

THE PATIENT
Why? Can he lay eggs?

HANA
He's Canadian.

THE PATIENT (brittle)
Why are people always so happy when they collide with someone from the same place? What happened in Montreal when you passed a man in the street - did you invite him to live with you?

HANA
He needn't disturb you.

THE PATIENT
Me? He can't. I'm already disturbed.

HANA
He won't disturb us then. I think he's after morphine.
(she's cut the omelette into tiny pieces)
There's a war. Where you come from becomes important. And besides - we're vulnerable here. I keep hearing noises in the night. Voices.

The Patient says nothing. She puts a spoonful of the omelette into his mouth. He grunts.

**From the screenplay by Anthony Minghella adapted from Michael Ondaatje's novel.

Links:
The English Patient (Book) - Wiki
The English Patient (Film) - Wiki

WILL EISNER & FRANK MILLER's "The Spirit" + The Importance of Perspective

Frank Miller has written a big screen adaptation of Will Eisner's classic comic series The Spirit which centers on Denny Colt who fakes his own death to fight crime in the gritty urban setting of Central City. The script has been acquired by Lionsgate for American distribution and Miller is set to direct. Odd Lot International(UK) is selling overseas distribution rights in Cannes.

After co-directing with Robert Rodriguez on Sin City, Miller has stated in regard to the adaptation of his graphic novel 300, "This, I hope, will be the last property of mine that isn't directed by me". Samuel L. Jackson is in discussion to star as the villain, the Octopus. The Spirit will be Miller's debut as a solo director after his co-direction of Sin City.

It will be interesting to see how Miller approaches Eisner's original material and how well he can come to terms with directing solo. Whatever one feels about Frank Miller's work or personal beliefs, he's undeniably single-minded in his vision and being no stranger to controversy has been a catalyst of discussion across several forums.

The downside is that as Miller asks people to question things, some of his fanbase can't seem to extend this to Miller himself. Still, that's common across all "fans" who can't seem to help sporting rosy tinted glasses in regard to their idols. Anyone who believes that any person is incapable of doing any wrong, is a fool. Likewise, the same is true of those who feel anyone in the world is incapable of any good.

Thus far on SiouxWIRE, I've stressed the importance of having a broad range of artistic influences across mediums and class, but there's also something to be said of not surrounding yourself with people who think along the same lines as you do either politically, spiritually, or morally. It's impossible to have perspective when your lens is perpetually pointing in one direction.

Returning to The Spirit, I have been reading Frank Miller's work for just over two decades and having seen several screen adaptations, I think this extremely gifted visual/narrative artist is well overdue for his time in the director's chair and I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

Links:
The Spirit (official page)
Daily Telegraph Interview(Miller)
LA Times interview(Miller)
willeisner.com
The Guardian Obituary
New York Times Obituary
Will Eisner Wiki
Frank Miller Wiki
Hollywood Reporter - Jackson casting