#ShoutAboutItThursday

Well, everyone seems to be doing it.
#pushTuesday, #chooseday, #ManicureMonday
Choose a day of the week and then decide that, on that day, you're going to do something special…or different.
So I've come up with #ShoutAboutItThursday, a day on which I will choose something that is interesting or important to me (don't worry, I'll not be banging on about my books - I'll be doing that on #OhForFucksSakeFriday!)…and today I've decided that, even though I run the risk of accusations of nepotism (it is about my youngest daughter after all), I'm going to shamelessly plug a small video production company called 'Spelt with a T Productions'.
Why 'Spelt with a T'?
When Emily got her first credit for a film she was involved in, her name was written as:
EMILY RICHIE - not RITCHIE.
The rest, as they say, is history!

On her YouTube Channel I'd strongly recommend taking a bit of time to look at the following videos:

'Better Life' - a video Emily made for the group 'Tactical Dance Maneuver'

'Dark Digital Space' - a disturbing experimental film on the subject of self-harm

I'd also recommend checking out:

Life in Hand - a documentary

And, to demonstrate her versatility, have a look at this award-winning stop-motion movie:

Transforming the Campus with Sally the Slug

And last, and certainly from my perspective, very much not least, Emily helped me put together the fabulous videoblurb from my book…yes, I know, I said I wasn't going to bang on about them, but I just can't help it because this video is really, really good - listen out for the subtle change in music about halfway through!!

So if you're somewhere in the Lancashire area (and even if you're not) and you're looking for someone to make a film or a video or a book trailer, drop Emily a note on either her Facebook page or Twitter feed; and don;t forget to follow and share and do all that other social media malarky!

Spelt with a T on Facebook

Spelt with a T on Twitter

ps - If you'd like me to feature you, your business, someone you know, something interesting (because if it's boring I'll just ignore it!), etc, etc, on #ShoutAboutItThursday, just drop me a comment - but please don't be offended if I refuse.

Happy Independence Day...and a Videoblurb!

Happy Fourth of July to everyone 'state-side', especially the fantastic people who regularly follow this blog! You are all brilliant!
Over here in Blighty, it is also the time of year when we forgive you for the fact that you're celebrating gaining independence from us, and the fact that your film industry still likes to stereotypically portray the British as villains (Die Hard, Cliffhanger (and John Lithgow is American!!), Pocahontas, etc.). On the plus side, you have given us The Big Bang Theory and the Bourne films.
Trust you will all have a great day!

But whilst the US of A gets into the holiday spirit, there are also a couple of other things to celebrate.
Firstly, this blog has now had in excess of over 2000 pageviews since it started back in March, and has been welcomed onto the computer screens, tablets and smartphones of people in over 30 countries around the world...and I'm pretty certain that more than half of them found the site deliberately (as opposed to 'by accident' whilst trawling the internet for porn or searching for '101 uses for a vaseline-covered feather duster').
My thanks also to Edward Snowden, whose probable visits to the site whilst in Hong Kong now mean there are regular pageviews from the NSA, CIA, MI6, FSB, MSS and the Disney Corporation.
But seriously, my sincere thanks to everyone who has done me the honour of taking interest in my musings, ramblings, moanings and groanings.

Secondly, last night saw the completion of the latest step in my ambitious, well-structured and largely ineffective marketing campaign for 'The Book That THEY Do Not Want You To Read.'
Yes, folks, the VIDEOBLURB is here!
'But what...' I hear some people cry in bemusement, '...the fuck (Obligatory blog swear-word) is a videoblurb?'
Well, follow the link below and see for yourself:

Videoblurb for 'The Book That THEY Do Not Want You To Read'

Yes, it's the blurb of the book...turned into a video!
Cool, eh?

(A special thanks to youngest daughter Emily who took time out of doing her own film projects to help me with it, in particular the 'nanites in the eyes' and the 'running down the alley' bits.
(By the way, feel free to check out Em's work at http://www.youtube.com/user/larrisaa1/videos and http://www.youtube.com/user/SpeltwithaT ). I would just like to confirm that she was in no way threatened with dis-inheritance if she did not assist me.)

So please check out my videoblurb (there will be a permanent link on the blog page) and let me know what you think.
Better still, share it with everyone you know, telling them it is likely to win the Palme D'Or for best short film at next year's Cannes Film Festival...
Better better still, get them to buy the book as well!!

And once again, Happy Independence Day!Independence