June 2008 Archives

I must have been five or six when my Dad took my younger brother and me to the local newsagents one Saturday afternoon to choose a comic each. We debated the various merits of each comic before we both settled on a title. My brother chose ‘Pippin’, a title aimed at early readers and featuring recognisable characters such as ‘Larry the Lamb’ and ‘Trumpton’. I chose ‘TV Comic’.

Deadlines crunching, time evaporating, tension rising… This week has seen work go crazy. I need a holiday. Meanwhile, I made another public grammar gaff and managed to turn it into another popular post – Grammar Wars III. Anyone else think it’s funny how I can always turn an idiotic mistake into a perceptive example of modern grammar usage worthy of discussion? Diverts attention from my own idiocy admirably.

Can Someone Put the Supa Back in Supanova

Yup, the Supanova Pop Culture Expo was on again in Sydney last weekend, and as usual, Hazel and I spent way too much money in a complete geek frenzy.

This year was rather disappointing for us as the guests were rather uninspiring. This is not to criticise the appearances of Joe Jusko, Ben Templesmith (follow Ben on Twitter, he’s one of the best new-breed artists in comics) and Howard Chaykin - wonderful artists all - but I miss the days when we would see Mark Silvestri and Brian Bendis signing autographs for obscenely long queues...

You knew this was going to happen, right? Hopefully, it won't mean I come back in a few years with three more posts that grossly disappoint everyone.

The reason for yet another grammar article was - you guessed it - another embarrassing gaff on my part. As before, I believe it illustrates another interesting point in modern grammar; the effect technology is having on grammar and the language and the gradual shift towards fulfilling George Orwell's prediction of Newspeak.

In Grammar Wars, I looked at how the priorities of grammar can change in different genres or platforms. Then, in Grammar Wars II, I discussed the traps and issues involved in editing and proofreading your own work. This time, I'm looking at those times where proofreading and editing don't even come into play.

Yup, another series has nearly zipped past and we are preparing for the annual 6 month agony of waiting for the Christmas Special.

I've had a lot on the last few days with deadlines, meaning I haven't been able to complete some of the many posts I hoped to have up by this weekend. In the meantime, and to keep some of you happy, here is the trailer for the first part of the huge Series 4 finale.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT view this trailer if you haven't seen Series 4 up to episode 11 and are avoiding spoilers, especially if you live in Australia (The Australian release for Series 4 is mid July, so this episode will appear on the ABC in October). I'm not going to get blamed because you can't resist a quick peak and then realise you've just taken some of the surprises out. You have been warned.

Previously, I mentioned I was having trouble with Three Mobile over their handling of my account. Mixing up the account details for me and my daughter was bad enough the first time. But when they did it a second time, effectively canceling the sim card in my phone and transferring my number to my daughter’s phone, blood had to be spilt. Thankfully, Three worked hard last Friday to make amends, offering us both free upgrades on our phones.

I now have a wonderful LG KU990 Viewty, a beautiful piece of touch screen technology with the best video DivX playback I’ve ever seen on a mobile device. I can quite happily watch entire episodes of 'Doctor Who' on my lunchbreak.

I came across the whole " 'Doctor Who' is a kid's show" argument again this week. Personally, I thought Warren Ellis was more supportive of the show than he recently indicated on his own forum boards. But by placing the kid show label on Doctor Who, he perpetuated a pop culture myth that really has had its day.

“Personally, I think DOCTOR WHO is a kid's show, and I watch it with my daughter. If I didn't have a daughter, I doubt I'd be watching it. Not being a kid and all.”

Warren’s argument seems to be that if a show is enjoyed by children as well as adults, it is a kid’s show. If he had merely said that he wasn’t that interested in the show and probably wouldn’t watch it without his daughter, it would be a different argument. But clearly he relates his disinterest to an identification of the show as purely kids stuff.

Riayn, in her blog 'Dancing with Architecture', recently posted about children's books that stand the test of time. Which novels and characters are still going to be published thirty or forty years from now? Will our children still be reading the same books we grew up with? This post got me thinking about quality children's writing, in books, films and television, meaning you may see a few posts on this broad subject over the next few weeks.

Yes, this week’s TW3 is a day late due to flu. I’ve never been very good at staying in bed for any length of time, so yesterday was interminable for me. On the other hand, I managed to catch up on 'Battlestar Galactica', listened to the hilarious podcast commentary for last weekend’s 'Doctor Who', ‘The Forest of Fear’, and finally watched Capra’s ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’. The latter is a film that is ripe for a modern remake, as the issues are far more prevalent today.

Last week's 'Grammar Wars' post was extremely popular amongst old and new readers. Yet it wasn't free of problems and revealed a couple of other points worth exploring. Plus, the obvious sequel title was just too tempting.

"Ern" left a comment on the original article pointing out a mistake so basic I was cringing as I read it.

"Strunk & White's 'The Elements of Style' is still the most popular handbook for students and writer's alike..."

"Writers" not "writer's" :P

Although, by night, I may pose as a mild-mannered blogger and amateur scriptwriter, by day I work as copywriter and online editor for Netregistry. Therefore, I was a little surprised to receive the following comment on a recent promotional piece I wrote to launch the new web copy service.

May I respectfully suggest you sack your copywriters, or whomever drafted the page advertising the service. It contains dozens of basic grammatical errors.

After I got over the inevitable sense of hurt pride, I reread the ‘offending’ page and satisfied myself that the grammar is entirely respectable within the context of web marketing copy. There were a couple of phrases I would enjoy redrafting for stylistic reasons, forcing me to remember the crunch day of deadlines, but nothing that I would change grammatically. Copywriting is often about letting go of a piece once the deadline arrives.

A busy week, what with racing to launch the Netregistry sale (50% off hosting a range of services this month) and trying to fit in my social media commitments.

Plurk appeared on the scene, only to convince most of us that Twitter isn’t as bad as all that really, And Three Mobile decided they would deactivate my sim card twice, leaving me without my phone for the best part of a week. Let’s see how they try to keep me as a happy customer before I decide whether they merit the blog post from hell.

Freak Angels

I’ve regularly used Warren Ellis as an example of the kind of writer I aspire to – embracing new technology, crossing genres and platforms to produce a diverse but always fascinating body of work. Often, the format Ellis chooses is almost as newsworthy as the content – such as the creative choices made to produce ‘Fell’. This comic was designed as an example of what can be produced within the modern commercial comic landscape.

Ever wondered why a British film can flop in America or why a classic American novel never seems to resonate with a British readership?

Lying in bed yesterday morning I was forced to watch 'Video Hits' due to the annoying lack of morning news on a Saturday in Australia. But this trawl through the uninspiring tunes and videos that clog the teenage single-buying public provided illustration for a point I’ve wanted to make for some time.

The usual mix of British and American bands danced, cavorted and wailed through various video backdrops, but there was a distinct difference between the imagery and ideologies of both, that I’ve realised doesn’t only occur in pop videos, but also throughout mainstream writing in virtually every genre.

Before I start, this is a generalisation. I am sure you can think of exceptions to the rule I’m about to expound that are perfectly valid.