Guest blog: Altered books

Guest blogger Antonia Hawken explores an innovative way to recycle old books and create new literature.

It can seem, at times, that as English students we spend our lives purchasing book after book, only to use them for a few weeks and then discard and forget. Despite my ever growing literature tab and the gentle covering of dust some seem to have accumulated, I will never find the courage to put them back on Amazon (unless things get really desperate). In my attempts to rationalise this lifelong commitment to my paperbacks, I delved deep into the online world for inspiration.

To my delight, I stumbled upon the art of turning a much loved novel into an entirely new piece with ‘Altered Books’, simply by circling or highlighting interesting phrases or words and joining them together to create poetry. I was inspired by http://www.logolalia.com/alteredbooks/ which gives a brief insight into the concept:

The Idea

“Cut the bindings off of books found at a used book store. Find poems in the pages by the process of obliteration. Put pages in the mail and send them all around the world. Lather, rinse, repeat.”

Many of the remaining words are surrounded by rough, dull scribbles in order to make them boldly stand from the paper, whilst others have been decorated and personalised with equations, doodles and colours making the pieces even more unique.

You can completely change the tone of chapter, develop new characters, and become the hidden voice of the writer by transforming their works, developing and altering to suit your mood.  Some of the entered poems are inspiring and it would be fantastic to see what examples we at Razz can unearth.  Start simple with a few pages of an old book you don’t mind altering and see where it takes you.

Follow Antonia on twitter @xantonialouisax

Guest post: The screenwriting of 50/50

An expresslit. guest blogger explores the screenwriting in recent black comedy 50/50

Many great Hollywood films have had stories and scripts derived from popular novels and adapted. However, every once and while a script is written from scratch that proves a hit on the big screen. 50/50 provides exactly that, a recent Drama-Comedy directed by the young and talented Jonathan Levine, tells a story of man in his late 20’s experience of a rare cancer that, as the film’s title suggests, offers him a 50% chance of surviving.

Who wrote it?

The film is based on the real life experience of Will Reiser who also wrote the screen-play for the movie. Will Reiser who is portrayed as Adam in the movie is coincidently best friends with established Hollywood comic and actor Seth Rogan, both of whom used to write on the Ali-G show. It was Rogan who reportedly convinced Reiser to write a script based on his experiences.

What drives it?

First off, this movie is not a big blockbuster with Avatar special effects or lavish Inception sets but driven by a script that brings honesty, integrity and comedy to an otherwise bleak subject. It offers not only one man’s journey through cancer but also explores his relationships with his girlfriend, friends and family and how they alter with the prospect of death wedged between them. It gives audience members a chance to empathise with the main character whilst enjoying breaks of comedic interaction between to the main characters which essentially carries the movie.

Who’s in it?

The main character Adam played by 500 Days of Summer’s, Joseph Gordon Levitt who gives a thoughtful performance showing  absolute dedication to the role by actually shaving his head which was not set out in the original script. Other main cast members include Seth Rogan who plays the comedic best friend and Twilight’s Anna Kendrick playing an inexperienced trainee psychiatrist. All cast members deliver strong performances and paired together with a great script this makes for a great watch.

http://youtu.be/mMaJET7mD0M