Hello The Future

For my last post of the year I thought I'd put down how I see things going in 2012 (should be good for a laugh in twelve months' time). I've always been enamoured of culture and the arts, and I think the battle between what Old Money wants to keep the same, and what New Technology wants to see take over, is a fascinating one. My hope is things come to a head in 2012. I'd like to be part of the generation that saw the world change (hopefully into something better).

I already spend most of my time interacting with people I've never met, I think the society that could develop would be a great way to bypass the vested interests that tell us what to think and what to buy and who to hate.

Writing

Although it probably isn't that apparent from my blog, most of my time is taken up with writing. I now have two novels more or less copmpleted (well, one's finished but needs a polish, and the other is a first draft that's being critiqued).

The first is called Lickety Split and is about a man who decides to take his career more seriously and be a better human being, and ends up accused of stealing millions and murdering his girlfriend. The other is called Planet Janet and is the story of a young actress whose career takes off but every time something good happens to her something awful happens to someone she cares about.

My plan is to start sending them both out by the end of January. I don't know if this is the best time of year, or even if getting an agent is the best way to proceed, but we'll see.

I also want to start writing some short stories and maybe get them published wherever it is short stories get published these days.

Blogging

I'm going to continue posting Mondays and Thursdays, but I'm going to try to schedule ahaead as much as possible. Most of this year has been scribbling something the night before and it takes up a lot of energy that way. I'm also going to do the AZ blogfest again in April and I'll definitely sort out as many of those posts as I can in advance.

Books

I tend to read whatever takes my fancy, but on top of that I want to read some classics I never got round to. Now that I have a Kindle and with older book being free of copyright, I can carry round some hefty tomes without pulling a muscle. Over the next twelve months I'm going to try and get through The Brothers Karamazov and Moby Dick. Not just read them, but try to understand them too. There has to be a reason why they're so highly regarded. I did that with James Joyce's Ulysses some years ago, reading a lot around the subject and the author, and ultimately I felt I got a good idea of what the author was trying to do, even tthough the story itself left me dissatisfied. It was too of its own time. Hopefully the two I've chosen will be a little more universal.

Television

There was a time when I would look forward to television shows, but not so much anymore. The way I watch stuff has changed quite a lot and I'm not very patient with the kind of things that are presented as quality programming. My tendency is to not watch it when it's on, but to wait until the end of a season and then watch all episodes in one go. I also tend to use the fast forward button a lot. I've got to the point where I can tell what a scene is about from the first few seconds (this is a tender love scene, this is an argument in the office, this is a search for something in a house) and once I know, I just skip it.

Films

Movies just don't live up to the hype anymore. Not because they're all that bad, but because the hype is so huge. Most trailers give away every twist, every spectaclar stunt, even the ending. I've been burnt too many times to be tempted. I also have no interest in 3D. It's not three dimensional and it makes my head hurt. I'm not saying I won't be watching any movies, I watch loads and I expect to carry on in 2012, but I'll be watching smaller, intimate films that aren't made by robots. With HD camera technology relatively cheap and distribution through the internet a real option, I think there's going to be an explosion of not-so-underground filmmaking in the near future.

Music

The mainstream is horrible, dominated by corporations and autotune. Marketing is king and there are still enough people out there buying crap to sustain a cocaine and bitches lifestyle for the chosen few. If ever there was an argument in favour of online piracy it has to be the Billboard 100. Coldplay will survive fine without me, I'll stick to obscure stuff I find on the internet.

I think 2012 will be a good year to get small projects off the ground. Means of production and distribution are now available to all, so there really is no excuse (even for me), so I think it's the perfect time to go for it.

What do you think?