Matt Rees's Blog – January 2011 Archive (3)

Enter character the Black Swan and Bruce Springsteen way

A writer needs to enter the characters in his novel. I’ve talked about this with other writers, but also found it useful to discuss it with artists from other fields. Two movies I saw in the last week, “Black Swan” and “The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town,” illustrate just why it’s so important.

“Black Swan” revolves around the dilemma facing Natalie…

Continue

Added by Matt Rees on January 27, 2011 at 7:19pm — 3 Comments

Bestselling teeth for Writers

A few years ago, I was at dinner with an American couple who were friends of mine. I had known them a while, but there was something odd about them that night. When they spoke, I was slightly dazzled. I paid more attention to his jokes, even though I had heard most of them before. She was suddenly very attractive.

I couldn’t work out what it was that had transformed them. Then I saw it. “Your teeth are very white,” I said.

“Crest White Strips,” they both responded,…

Continue

Added by Matt Rees on January 13, 2011 at 10:58pm — No Comments

Israel's president is no angel

When the residents of Kiryat Malakhi, the southern Israeli town whose name means “City of Angels,” picked Moshe Katsav as the youngest-ever mayor in the country’s history in 1970, he was 24. For decades he was the town’s symbol, an immigrant born in Iran who made it to the top of the establishment and was elected Israel's president in 2000.

Now it has been proven that they picked the wrong man.

Far from being an angel, Katsav stands convicted of two counts of rape and…

Continue

Added by Matt Rees on January 1, 2011 at 6:44pm — No Comments