The Business of Independent Filmmaking & Casual Gaming

An article I wrote for the Wry Republic website on the convergence of animation filmmaking & casual gaming:

http://www.wryrepublic.co.za/the-internet-has-not-entirely-emancipated-independent-filmmakers/

you have my heart

but you also have my breath caught in
my lungs. each bone in my spine,
each bone in my body. every muscle
aches and surges with you. you have so
much more than my heart.
you have everything it keeps alive.

(anon)

South African film industry: A missed opportunity

An article I wrote for the Wry Republic website on the South African film & startup scene:

South African film industry: A missed opportunity

EVAPORATION (by Lisa Zaran)

I've left pens in a red rush behind me, full of words I meant to write. Scars on the soft edge of nouns, verbs I meant to give life to and forgot. Stories, once started, lost reason, as adjectives fell left and right. There were times I believed, I'm a thin woman now, my children stand on a dusty road, their witness-mouths twisted shut. Every night, I wish on a star. Oftentimes, the desert sky is dead in all its eloquence. I still whisper.

Valentine

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or a kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.

Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

by Carol Ann Duffy

Confession

waiting for death
like a cat
that will jump on the
bed

I am so very sorry for
my wife

she will see this
stiff
white
body
shake it once, then
maybe
again

"Hank!"

Hank won't
answer.

it's not my death that
worries me, it's my wife
left with this
pile of
nothing.

I want to
let her know
though
that all the nights
sleeping
beside her

even the useless
arguments
were things
ever splendid

and the hard
words
I ever feared to
say
can now be
said:

I love
you.

by Charles Bukowski

In each age men of genius undertake the ascent

“In each age men of genius undertake the ascent. From below, the world follows them with their eyes. These men go up the mountain, enter the clouds, disappear, reappear. People watch them, mark them. They walk by the side of precipices. They daringly pursue their road. See them aloft, see them in the distance; they are but black specks. On they go. The road is uneven, its difficulties constant. At each step a wall, at each step a trap. As they rise the cold increases. They must make their ladder, cut the ice and walk on it, hewing the steps in haste. A storm is raging. Nevertheless they go forward in their madness. The air becomes difficult to breath. The abyss yawns below them. Some fall. Others stop and retrace their steps; there is a sad weariness. The bold ones continue. They are eyed by the eagles; the lightning plays about them: the hurricane is furious. No matter, they persevere.”

Victor Hugo