Duran Duran, with their unique synthpop sound, pastel clothing and male model looks, was the perfect creation for early MTV. They were the first to use exotic location shoots and cinematic techniques in their music videos. Like “Hungry Like The Wolf,” a companion video filmed in Sri Lanka, “Rio” was directed by Russell Mulcahy. The genius […]
When “Once in A Lifetime” debuted on MTV in 1981 it went into heavy rotation in the consciousness of everyone who saw it and became an instant classic. The Talking Heads went from being artsy underground musicians to the coolest of New Wavers. The video highlights all the early VHS video effects: multiple images, squiggly […]
A study in contrasts, “Looper” is a tightly plotted high concept sci-fi thriller and “The Master” is a rambling low concept movie of stunning acting performances. Each illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of their respective approaches. “Looper” involves assasins (loopers) who kill and dispose of bodies time travelled by crime bosses from the future. Hooded […]
The music video for “Come On Eileen,” a lethally infectious single by Dexys Midnight Runners, hit MTV in 1982 and that zippy violin melody and images of shirtless hillbillies have been burning in our brains ever since. 80s videos were beloved because they combined storytelling with music and few did it better than “Come on […]
Anyone who has communicated on a social network or done some texting knows about emoticons, those clever smiley-faced :) and frowny-faced :( symbols. I count myself as a heavy user because I am an emotional and sensitive guy, a writer and an Aquarian, who enjoys adding emotional accent to what otherwise might be a droll […]
Effective cover art has always been an important part of publishing a book. In this dawning age of self-publishing and indie writers a good cover artist is an important member of every author’s publishing team. I was lucky to come across the talented Lee Libro who created the cover art for my novel, The Pursuit […]
I have long been a fan of Ray Bradbury’s science fiction (think, R is For Rocket) and Ridley Scott’s sci-fi movies because I like the way mixing humans with robotic and alien life forms seems to bring out the best and worst of humanity. “Prometheus” is an engaging and wondrous movie, and a worthy addition […]
This interview originally appeared on the Literary Magic blog of Lee Libro. Please visit her website when you get a chance. I have reproduced the interview here in its entirety. Lee Libro: Robb Skidmore, a writer of short stories and novellas, recently released his first novel. The Pursuit of Cool, a coming of age novel set in the […]
When I started out writing The Pursuit of Cool years ago, I had a vague idea that someday I would finish it and then someday and somehow it would be released into the world. When I started writing seriously in the mid-nineties I knew that I wanted to write this novel. I don’t know how many […]
The cover is the work of graphic artist Lee Libro, who did a fantastic job. A book cover is important on many levels, not the least of which is marketing and conveying a sense of the story within. I think of book covers as being the artistic face of the story, and as hard as […]
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