REBECCA BLACK

"De do do do, de da da da

Is all I want to say to you

De do do do, de da da da

They're meaningless and all that's true"
-Rebecca Black

"Oo-ooh-ooh, hoo yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah"
-Sting

Rebecca Black is a 13 year old girl somewhere in America who, for whatever reason, made a pop song and a video. If it had only been witnessed by seven people - would it still signal the end of music as we know it? At the time of writing, close to five hundred thousand people have hit the 'dislike' button on her YouTube video. These aren't 13 year old girls disliking it, they're angry forty year old men who are pissed that nobody's listening to Metallica anymore.

I don't see how Rebecca Black is relevant to me. Her video is fun. I remember being fourteen - it was similar to the video. You talk shit, you see your friends, you look forward to the weekend. Great, I hope the kids enjoy the song. It wasn't made for me. I only saw it because of the media storm.

So 500,000 hit 'dislike.' That's a lot of hate. Couldn't we do something more productive? The comments are mostly people bitching about how awful the music industry is, how this is the worst thing ever. But how many of them are creating the alternatives? Like it or not, the talentless can get famous in five minutes, but for the talented it takes years. The forty year old singer/songwriter might have more talent than Rebecca Black, but none of his songs are as good as Bruce Springsteen's. That's not Rebecca Black's fault. The guy just needs to keep making music. Whether Rebecca Black exists or not; everything is still the same.

But Black actually has some talent. She performed it acoustic. I've heard worse. There's a bunch of young girls in the audience. They seem to dig it. Should we force them to listen to Bob Dylan records?

Good music, good films, good art, whatever --- they don't exist in a vacuum. You can't get the good stuff without the bad. We enjoy Tom Petty because he isn't Rebecca Black. But the Petty's don't exist without the Black's and the Britney's. If the mainstream loved what we love on a personal level, it wouldn't mean anything. When Springsteen sings about bustin' outta town, or when Aretha Franklin sings about freedom - they're powerful because they come from outside, they come from a place that hurts. That matters. The mainstream frames this perfectly, it's what makes it meaningful. That's why the greatest hits are never your favorites, they mean too much to too many.

But we don't need to be so angry every time a teenager sings about the weekend. She's just a kid.

What's the meanest thing you've read, that hurt you the most? -Interviewer.

I hope you cut yourself and I hope you get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty. And I hope you go cut and die. -Rebecca Black, 13.

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McNuggets

1. I started a blog post about fifteen times last night. Desperately had something to say, I just couldn't figure out what it was.

2. I saw "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" today. The cinema was empty - it was just me. Me and a Woody Allen movie. Perfect. I loved it. I know most people don't - but it was pure joy for me. I walked home completely satisfied.

3. You just want actors to be truthful. That's all. Actors should just walk into auditions and be a light of truth.

4. I listen to Tom Petty a lot. I put his name on YouTube and then click 'playlists' and 'shuffle' and listen to all his live music magic.

5. They're bombing Libya. What does it all mean? I go to the shop to buy a can of coke and I don't get bombed, but if you're in Libya you can't be so sure. Is Gaddafi killing someone worse than one of our guys killing someone, just because our guy didn't mean to hurt a civilian? How are we meant to watch the news without wanting to scream, or puke? Why are bombings the answer? How does this end?

6. "Helvetica" is a great documentary. It's about a bunch of guys who are passionate about fonts. Their faces light up when they talk about typography. Sounds boring but it gets you--- because they're passionate. Passion is so interesting. By the end of the documentary you realize that fonts shape everything - and you immediately want to redesign your blog and change the fonts you use in emails.

7. Adam Duritz' interpretation of this song is haunting.



8. Everyone is out to get at your integrity. Like, five minutes after starting your blog, someone will offer you $9 to do a sponsored post. It's so you can link to their site, to improve their google rankings. That's how all writing is, it's how all art is. But there has to be someone, somewhere, who cares about what they're doing and doesn't sell out straight away. Is it you? Or, I guess, if you're going to sell it, do it the way they did in 'The Social Network.' "We don't know what it is yet," --- don't sell out for $9. Wait till you're so unique and amazing that it's $9million. Because if you sell up who you are for a couple of dollars, you'll peak too soon.

9. Sometimes people recommend me films or TV shows, and I tell them I won't be watching them within a second of seeing a trailer or whatever. It can come across as pretentiousness; but really; it's about authenticity. There's a very narrow window of material that I like, and I can always spot it. People who like similar stuff to me will probably know what I mean. But look how pretentious that sounds.

10. I'm tired.

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The Meaning Of Life (I figured it out)

How many of us are stuck behind walls? Can't write that script because something makes us blurry? Can't commit to that relationship because something makes us numb? Can't go out at the weekend because we just can't find that energy anymore?

Life becomes a series of things you need to do and appointments you need to keep. And the company you keep is just a repeat episode where you bitch about the same people and come up with new plans which are just a way of travelling around a circle in a slightly different way.

If you're religious, you know this is all a trap, a test, a thing to pass on the way to something better. If you don't believe in the Gods, it's just a meaningless ride and you gotta be at work at 9.

This is your life. These are our lives and everything stays the same and we argue with the neighbour and demand things from our families and judge our friend's relationships.

But man went to the moon. And Shakespeare had ideas. And Martin Luther King liked humanity. And Chaplin smiled. It's the dreams and the ideas and the art that make the ride worth it.

The girl from your past is more beautiful to the sound of a song you both loved. The people you lost along the way are more vivid when you remember their love for old war movies. Your relationship with your kids is strongest when you build things together or invent storylines about aliens from mars.

Keep believing in the aliens. Keep creating them. Don't ever let anyone make you think the aliens aren't the most important thing in the world.

Your creativity, your art, your mad mind, they're what makes life worth living. You've always known this, so don't ever shy away from it. Don't ever pretend it's not what life is about.

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the days got busy

The only chance I'm getting to blog at the moment is late at night when I should be sleeping, but of course I'm not sleeping, because I don't really do that.

Last night I did a Skype audio interview with a college class in Milwaukee, about my blog. They wanted to know what makes a successful blog? What inspires you? All those kinds of questions. They sounded like a great and enthusiastic class-- and I felt bad because I was beyond exhausted and my answers veered off into a world of rambling and nonsense that I fear would have made them hang up if they weren't enchanted by the English accent.

So I finished the call and didn't go to sleep because my mind was still running around.

I got up at 6am to go and film an audition tape for an actress I know who's up for a great part. The casting director needed the tape by 2.30pm without fail. So we were gonna shoot it in the 'normal' morning time which is 9am for normal people but 11am for actors and directors. But we decided to start at 8am because that's the type of people we are. I left home at 6.30 and when I got to Liverpool Street station I walked to her place in the morning sun except that it was grey and miserable, but at least I got there on time or at least would have done if I had planned properly.

I got lost. London is confusing. Especially when you're on foot at 7.30am without caffeine.

We filmed the scenes and she was awesome. Totally rocked it. She is more of a theatre girl and was worried about her screen acting but she nailed it. I got some credit for helping her be natural, but it's bullshit; it was all her. She'll get the role, she has to.

She had a housemate, another actress. And it was like fate. I'm not talking about love. But casting-fate. I'm casting my movie and she could be right. So I did an impromptu screentest. She was awesome.

And I got done and gone by 4.03pm where I went to the Cineworld in Shaftsbury Avenue to see about forty minutes of "No Strings Attached" and I loved it! It had some truth, it had some laughs; and people criticise Kutcher, but he has heart. And Portman I want to marry. And she can act good.

And I left the cinema somewhere around 4.52pm and headed to the cafe near Covent Garden to meet with an actress friend and before you get the impression I just go around meeting up with actresses you should know that isn't true except for on weekdays. And I'm joking of course; but the actress in the coffee place somewhere in Covent Garden just has that air of authenticity about her. Like you just knows she's about the truth. I go after that because so few actors have truth and honesty, they're too busy trying to be successful. And unless you're a well-tanned self-help junk 'coach' from California, then your job isn't to be successful it's just to be yourself, which I'd actually harder.

And I headed home and responded to a ton of emails and watched the end of 'The Town' which is an amazing film, and then I edited four videos that I needed to complete for a project. And tomorrow I'm up at 7, and in the early afternoon I have to be on camera for something somewhere in London.

And it's hard for me and my film's producer to see eye to eye. It always is. Because money and art never agree, there's always disagreements and defensiveness and confusion and righteousness--- on both sides.

And everything is busy and I'm not sleeping. But today was the good kind of busy--- interesting work and wonderful actresses. But most days you're up crazy early and it's a slog.

And the interviews say "What inspired you?" and "what do you love about...." but most of the time you're part of the long and stressful slog, and thats what most of it is.

But it's all great. It's a blast. But nobody earns anything really and everyone is learning how to get back to being who they are. And the actresses today were great examples of that. They used to chase opportunities and be hopeful. But now they're experienced and they just focus on being themselves and doing their own thing.

And it creeps towards 1am and I'm up at 7. I've averaged three hours a night this week.

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Is my creativity the result of a bad habit?

I've been exhausted for days. It keeps getting to 3am and I'm still awake. And the days keep getting busier.

Today was meant to be an early night. But I lay down and the tiredness of the day forgets itself and instead I think about ideas and projects and the world and whatever else comes along. It surprises me every time, but it really shouldn't, because it's so common for me.

I was never a sleeper. It's just a whole lot of lying down in the dark waiting for the day to start. But why am I like this? Is it linked to my creativity? Definitely. But why dont I sleep? Is it just a bad habit from childhood?

Is my creativity the result of a bad habit? Writers and artists of all disciplines like the ego boost of thinking they have a higher purpose or a gift from God, but maybe it is the result of a bad habit, or a knock to the head, or something equally mundane. Why do some people have a bad day and want to write a poem, whereas others have a bad day and want to buy a chocolate bar? We always have meaningful answers but why should it be meaningful?

As a kid I hated the dark. Didn't trust it. Even now I pull myself out of falling to sleep. But what if I dealt with my sleep issues when I was seven and became an avid sleeper. Would all the scripts and articles and blogs I've written at 2am still exist? Sometimes I conceive of entire projects in a night.

Was it written in the stars that I'd create my work while everyone is busy sleeping, or is it just a fluke?

But I'm tired, I wish I was asleep now. So often I can be so certain I need sleep, and then I almost feel anger as an idea appears in my mind at 4.09am, because I know the chance for rest is slipping away.

---- I've re-read everything above, and an ending to this post isn't coming. It's my late night muse shutting up shop, It's done for the night. The part of my brain that knows when I've done a good job knows that the work isn't done, but the part of my brain that fed me the 'blog about sleep' idea has gone silent. And that's creativity, a semi-formed idea at 1.28am on a Thursday morning.

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