Binnsy's Hovel

I’m not ashamed to admit I like the new Channel Ten promo. You can see it here.

What I take issue with is the nigh-immediate response it got from folks that work in the mental health industry, who state that it unnecessarily lampoons the very serious issue of mental health.

Point number one – at which point does it poke fun at real people who are genuinely suffering from mental disability (which, may I say, is definitely a real problem, and not a single person is doubting this)?

Secondly, I despair for the advancement of comedy when something so benign is taken as being offensive. Making fun of minorities, of society’s fringe, is wrong. But this kind of humour is brilliantly self-deprecating in the most wonderfully and classically Australian way.

Making fun of oneself is a comedic principle the British pride themselves on, and is the reason for the success of Monty Python, Little Britain and other comedy gold. The second Australia tries it, some advocacy group comes out of the woodwork and slams it down.

No wonder there’s nothing good on TV any more.

Until next time…

Here we are.

At WordPress.

This is genuinely strange. WordPress is very involved, but also quite simple. The layout, for now, will stay as it is now, but no doubt I’ll tinker over the coming weeks.

I played Mass Effect for a little while today, after updating the near-neolithic graphics drivers on my PC laptop. The game, for the most part, is very cinematic. I’ve yet to engage in any (no doubt RAM-chomping) combat or any in-depth sidequests, but I’m enjoying it thus far.

At present I’m backing up all the documents, music, pictures and such on the MacBook, in the hope of installing XP Pro via Bootcamp by the end of the day. Once that’s done, I’d love to install both Mass Effect and Vampire The Masquerade on there, just to see how they run on a nice new-ish Dual Core processor.

Anyway, nerdiness aside, I’ve almost completed writing the short film I’ll be submitting to Metro Screen in the hopes of getting a tiny but very valuable production grant. Channeling Abrams, I guess this would be my Cloverfield. I’ve mapped out the remaining 2-3 pages. I’ll let you know how I finish up.

Best get back into it. Writing, that is. Mass Effect I might hold off ’til I can get it cranked on the MacBook.

Until next time…

Well, I’m making the switch to WordPress… very soon, the Hovel will be hosted at www.danbinns.net/blog.

I’m not too sure how I feel about this. Blogger has been great, but I think I need to get rid of my old Google account – many aspects of it anyway – given that it’s been compromised in the past.

In other news I’m writing again – a few ideas inspired by television series I’ve been watching, and desperately wanting to cash in on something topical and/or bankable.

For now though, off to work I go (full time at the production house – very, very cool). Will update when WordPress goes live.

Until next time…

There’s been much talk at various blogs (well, mainly one) about the best kind of space for a writer. The consensus, as it should be, is that everyone is different, and inspired by different things, and work better in different environments.

For mine, I’ve written on planes, on trains, on the side of the road, in bed, on the floor, on the toilet, at work, on holiday and any other kind of scenario that can be imagined.

My ideal time for writing – my best writing, anyway – is between 11pm and 3am. Once, during this time, I wrote over 15000 words. Another time, I wrote almost an entire feature script.

Different things inspire me – music, good wine, decent food, a face spotted on the bus, a moment glimpsed from afar.

I guess these things, for all writers, are in a state of flux, and what works perfectly one day may cause ideas to fizzle up and die the next.

Do what works in the moment. And don’t argue with or get fed up with yourself when nothing works.

Until next time…

Good work, SMH…

Until next time…

2009 was a big year for me, for many reasons.

Among many, many other things, it was a year of friendships broken and friendships made, of big connections established and of great things achieved. I wrote my Honours thesis, got second class, was offered a place for post-graduate work at UWS, and continued full-time work at Onion Media Group.

It was a year of great reflection, and contemplation, as the Black Saturday bushfires ravaged my home state while I watched from up north, floods hit the northern states numerous times, and closer to home, I left the confines of university accommodation to occupy a small apartment much closer to the city and to work.

2010 offers many new opportunities. I’m taking a year away from study to work full-time, develop my skills, write screenplays, stories and articles and generally build up a neat folio of work that will make me utterly irresistible to any and all kind of employer and female the world over.

I’m taking up piano again, finishing off my short film and sending it around the world, thinking up new things, playing lots of video games, getting fit, settling my debts and getting my car in tip-top shape.

I may also buy a PS3.

Most of all this will be an incident- and change-free year. If anything major happens, it’ll be of my own doing.

Until next time…