I’ve been subconsciously forming an idea for a while which was crystallised a few days ago when I read this article about Alan Moore’s new magazine, Dodgem Logic.

Back in the mid nineties, in the two years between school and work that I charitably refer to as my art school education, I was a huge fan of  Deadline Magazine. It brought together all the things that interested me at that point. There were a few other essentially underground magazines which threatened to go mainstream at the time, such as The Beastie Boys Grand Royal magazine and the Herb Garden, but to my mind, Deadline was the daddy. The inclusion of the comics just gave it another dimension which made it stand out from the more mainstream mags like Select and NME.

Of course, the Tank Girl movie sucked so badly, and crashed and burned so terribly it dragged the magazine down with it, and it left a gap on WH Smiths shelves which has never really been filled again.

The first issue of Dodgem Logic isn’t out yet but it looks like it will be taking much of the same inspiration as Deadline, but tying it around what’s going on in Northampton just now. Moore has hinted that he’d like people to localise the magazine for different cities through an 8 page pullout which will carry local event listings and the like, and I hope someone else picks up the challenge to do that for the central belt, but I’d like to read something which is more tailor built around what’s going on up here.

There’s always been a thriving creative scene in Scotland. Glasgow in particular always seemed to avoid the talent drain which affected a lot of English towns and cities, whereby anyone with the slightest hint of talent would leave for London at the first whiff of success. I guess the A&R men never made it past Hadrians Wall? Whatever it was, it sculpted a supportive local scene which functioned in complete isolation to whatever was going on in the rest of the UK. Exactly like what has happened over the last five years or so in more or less every city in the western world, thanks to Myspace, Twitter etc.

Now there’s an army of  quality bloggers writing passionately to document the latest bands, artists, photographers and writers. The ever brilliant Glasgow Podcart just posted a round-up of some of the best yesterday. Much as this couldn’t have happened without the internet, like Alan Moore, I still like artifacts. Something to pick up, hold and flick through. I accept the idea of producing something on dead trees in this day and age seems like a backwards step but, particularly when it comes to art, it’s more appealing, for me at least, to have something tactile. A physical printed object to hold.

So my idea is this. A magazine which would incorporate music features, short stories, serialised graphic novels and short strips, as well as features on artists and photographers. Initially, it would focus on what’s going on in Scotland right now but it certainly wouldn’t be a chestthumping ‘wha’s like us’ endeavour and wouldn’t automatically kiss any arses based on home postcode.

It would be full colour and printed on the best quality paper I could afford. I want the thing to look so beautiful, you can’t resist picking it up and flicking through it, like a copy of Juxtapoz or Hi Fructose. The sort of magazine you want to collect and keep, rather than throw out when the next issue arrives.

That’s the idea in a nutshell, and now I’m really looking for your input. Please leave comments. How many of you would be interested in reading something like that? What sort of features would you be looking for? More particularly, is there anyone who would be interested in contributing articles or having their work featured? I’m particularly interested in hearing from amateur graphic novelists, or other comic artists but if you are a writer interested in collaborating with an artist to produce graphic adaptations of your work, or vice versa, I’d love to hear from you too so I can get you in touch with each other.

Please leave a comment even if you wouldn’t be interested, so I can get an accurate idea of what sort of reception it might get.

I appreciate that with Trafigura, the likely imminent tory government and BNP gaining a modicum of political credibility in some camps, there are more pressing issues to be concerned about than the Disney release schedule. But I guess I really am that shallow. Two weeks ago, I sent the email below to Disney but am still awaiting a reply. It’s a bit of a rant so feel free to move along without reading

“Hi
I’m a huge fan of the work of Pixar and Studio Ghibli, both of which are distributed in the UK by Disney. I am keenly looking forward to seeing Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D, although it would appear that, unlike the US where these are being shown as a double feature, I will have to pay twice to see the two films in the UK. This seems typical of the disdain with which Disney treats it’s UK fans.

We are still waiting for the release of Up here in the UK, 5 months after it’s release in America. Similarly, Ponyo, Ghibli’s latest release, comes out in the UK, 7 months after its premier and 6 months after the English language version was first released in America.

If we look back through the last few Pixar and Ghibli releases, we see a similar pattern.

Up – 5 month delay
Howls Moving Castle – 3 months
Spirited away – 12 months
Ratatouille – 4 months

Admittedly, Wall-E and Cars both bucked the trend by coming out just a month after their US release, which is more normal for most other films. I really cant see the reason there is such a delay.

I understand the logistics of film companies reusing the film for different countries, so UK gets the second hand film once America is finished with it, (which incidentally means we tend to see films which are already covered in scratches and marks) but my understanding is that this argument does not apply with digital projectors. Also, most other mainstream films reach the uk no more than a month or two after the US release. An increasing number are released worldwide on the same day. If other studios can manage it, why can’t Disney?

In the old days, where you had to focus marketing to build hype in each separate country for the film, it made sense to stagger releases, but in the days of the internet, the whole world gets to see the trailers and advertising which is meant for America. More importantly, with file sharing being rife, surely it’s in your best interest to give fans a legitimate avenue to see your films as early as possible? I would never download a pirate copy of a Pixar or Ghibli film since seeing the amazing visuals on the big screen is a large part of the experience, but I would imagine it’s harder for parents where their children have seen the trailers online and don’t understand why they can’t go and see the film yet. Five months is a long time for a child. Most young parents grew up with file sharing technology so I could imagine the temptation is there to download the film to allow their child to see it. A temptation which wouldn’t be there if Disney just released their films on a better schedule to begin with.

I’d be interested in your thoughts and explanations on the points I have raised. I will remain a fan, but it doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed!”

I’ll update the post if they ever deem fit to get back in touch.

As we were driving into Glasgow today we got a wee bit of a shock when we looked up a street and saw this. There were police standing at the end of the street and a crowd gathered. Fortunately, it turned out they were just filming something. I’ve no idea what but it looked vaguely 28 days later-ish since there were all sorts of posters up for many different missing people and burn’t out cars etc. They appeared to be getting ready to film and we got moved along before we could figure out what they were filming but I’d be curious to find out.

[Edit] a quick search on Twitter reveals it to be the set of Ewan McGregors next film The Last Word.