Happy St Patrick’s Day, everyone!!! I’ve had a quiet one this year. I did my little bit of drinking on Saturday, and today was just another work day for me. I finished editing Book 2 of my four book series -- it ends even more bloodily than most of my books, on one of the biggest down notes I’ve ever finished up on -- but I suspect it will leave fans howling to find out what happens next!!!! I always love a juicy cliffhanger, and while this isn’t one of my absolute favourites, it’s not far off my most nerve-jangling finales!!

Also did some work on my web site, adding some new covers. Add in some office bits and pieces, and it’s been a busy little day -- it’s flown by! I’ve started to watch season 3 of Battlestar Galactica, and I’ve seen a few films over the last 3 days. Infamous was one of the highlights -- it told the story of Truman Capote and how he came to write In Cold Blood. This film suffered because the exact same story was told in the more high-profile Capote, but I thought it was in some ways even better -- it certainly felt a bit lighter and was more fun to watch. Another highlight was an interesting little film called Bubble, one of Steven Soderbergh’s more experimental movies. I was dubious going in, but it really caught my fancy. Filmed with non-actors, it reminded me of certain Italian films like Rome, Open City, which also utilised normal people instead of professional actors. Bubble was a downbeat, gloomy work, but an unexpected gem -- recommended for those who don’t mind something a bit different to the usual Hollywood blockbusters.

Finished my first edit of the first of my four book series. That’s quick, even by my standards!!! There were three reasons why I sailed through it so swiftly. One was that I think it stands pretty well for an early draft and didn’t need a huge amount of re-working. Another was that the story is one I’m truly fascinated by, so I was keen to push on and keep going, even at the point where I would normally stop for the day. The third reason ... it’s short!!!! I always feel a bit guilty when one of my novels comes up a bit shorter than normal. I do like giving my readers value for money, especially since my books are released in hardback in many countries! But it’s important never to push a story any further than it needs to go. I never write to a word count. Many writers do -- they accept a commission to write a book and then deliver it at the length required by their publisher. I can’t work that way. I tell a story until it doesn’t need to be told any longer, and then I stop. Most of my books are of a similar length, but if one is longer or shorter than the others, so be it. There’s no point in shoe-horning extra sections into a short book just to make it longer -- that will do more harm than good. The other three books of this series are longer than the first, but that doesn’t mean that the first is in any way deficient -- I was simply able to tell this section of the story in a few less chapters. But, logccal as that all is, I STILL feel a bit guilty!!!! Oh well, I’ll just have to keep telling myself, "Quality, not quanity. Quality, not quantity. Quality ..."

Saw a decent little thriller tonight, called Severance. It’s a recent British horror flick, with a humourous undertone. My hopes weren’t high, but it surprised me. No classic of the genre, but it’s better paced and structured than most, with the laughs nicely balanced with the thrills (for the most part). I also saw the last episode of season two of Battlestar Galactica -- I’m flying through it! It’s not my favourite sci-fi show of all time -- something about it just doesn’t sit entirely right with me, though I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that I don’t fully like -- but I’m certainly enjoying it. Dark and gritty, it’s a long way from Star Trek, and it’s good to see something different. I’m always interested in sci-fi that’s done well. In fact, I’ll even watch or read sci-fi that isn’t done well! A lot of my influences come from old sci-fi shows and movies, books and comics. I’ve even written a couple of full-on sci-fi books in my time, one of which is one of my own personal favourites out of everything I’ve written, though I haven’t yet taken either of them anywhere near the point where I could even think about getting them published. And maybe I never will -- some projects are fascinating to work on, but don’t exactly scream out to be taken to a wider audience. But my sci-fi roots do show through in my books, in the latter stages of both The Saga and The Demonata, and I suspect there’ll always be a hint of The Time Machine and Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov and Star Trek and 2001:A Space Odyssey and Philip K Dick and Moebius and Star Wars, etc, etc, etc, in everything that I do.

Another fan letter set me thinking a couple of days ago. Like many letters and emails that I receive, the writer wanted to know where my ideas come from. As I’ve often said here, that’s a question wasted on writers, since it’s part of a much bigger question -- where does ANY idea come from? How did mankind learn to think, to reason, to dream, to tell stories, to plot, to plan, to evolve? The genesis of ideas is key to the genesis of mankind itself. Great scientists, philosophers and theologians have addressed the question as far back as history recalls. While I certainly think writers can help prod and poke at that great question (as I did to an extent in Procession of the Dead, and as I will do to a greater extent in book 9 of The Demonata), I can’t see any of us providing a nice, neat answer any time soon!!!

But what people are really asking of writers when they ask that question, is how do you get ideas for a STORY -- i.e. how do you develop ideas and turn them into stories or novels or plays or whatever. That’s a much easier one to answer -- we investigate. Writers are, in essence, story detectives. I think just about everyone dreams, daydreams, has nightmares, imagines themselves in other positions (e.g. wondering what it would be like if you were a footballer or a rock star or a vet). We all have ideas. But a writer isn’t content to let an idea sit idle. When we have an idea, we start asking questions of it. We play around with the idea, bounce it off other ideas, imagine different outcomes if we roll it this way or that way. That’s a how a story grows and develops. My books always begin with a specific scene. Sometimes it’s a long scene. Other times it’s just a brief flash. That scene -- that idea -- can come from anywhere, at any time. What I then do it stick on my detective cap (metaphorically speaking) and interrogate the scene. For instance, if it’s a scene of someone dying, and somebody else crying, I ask why the person is crying? What happened to the person who died? Where are they? How did they get there? Is anybody else around?

If that sounds a bit too simple to be true -- it isn’t!!! It really does work that way! Sometimes the answers come quickly, other times it can take years to figure them out. Pretty much like a murder case really -- sometimes the police find the killer within a matter of hours, sometimes it can take months or years. Sometimes a case never gets solved, and you can bet everything you have that every writer has ideas that will never lead anywhere, no matter how long or how hard they work on them!!! You never know starting out where a case/story will lead you -- you just have to take what you have, examine it closely, and ask lots and lots of questions.
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I started editing the first of the four-book series that I wrote early last year. I’m very excited about these dark little babies!! I can’t believe it’s taken me more than a year to do my first edit, but time just got away from me in 2007 -- I had lots of The Demonata books to edit, and then Collins bought my adult books and I needed to go back and edit them as well, and I was on tour, and ... Anyway, I’m back in the saddle now. Book One is reading pretty well first time round. I’m tightening it up some, but it’s not as stiff or unwieldy as I thought it might be. If the rest of the books hold up this well, my editing job over the next few years is going to be pretty easy -- touch wood!!!! Some of you already know what the four books are about, but for those who don’t ... I’m not telling!!! I like to read out an extract from the first book at some of my live events, and it has far more of an impact if you don’t know what’s coming!! For those of you who can’t make it to any of my events over the next year or so, don’t worry, I’ll be revealing all when the time is right, probably early in 2009, or midway through.

Spurs crashed out of the UEFA Cup on penalties last night. It was horrible!! The game wasn’t being shown live on Irish TV, so I had to listen to it on radio through my computer. We were 1-0 down from the first leg, but played well and scored near the end. We won the match on the night, but that meant it ended 1-1 over the two legs, and it went to penalties. We were one kick away from winning, but one of our best players missed his chance to be a hero, and pretty soon it was goodnight Vienna!!! Losing on penalties is a dreadful feeling. It’s happened to me lots of times. In fact I can only recall teams that I support winning twice on penalties -- Spurs did it in 1984 when we last won the UEFA Cup (I had to listen to that game on the radio as well, though the internet was a long way off back then, so I had to set for a crackly old radio set, whose reception kept fading in and out throughout the course of the match!!), and Ireland did it in the World Cup in 1990. But every other time Spurs or Ireland have been involved in a penalty shoot-out, they’ve lost!!!!! Oh well, at least we have the solace of the Carling Cup to cheer us up, but it’s going to be a fairly long and dreary last two months of the season for the super Spurs ...

Edited more of Hell's Horizon today, and did some bits and pieces around the office as well. The storm that's been raging since late Sunday continues to howl around my house, and we lost power for a couple of hours tonight. Luckily I have a few emergency lights strewn around the house, so I sat at my desk and answered quite a lot of fan mail. One of the letters was from a young wannabe writer who, like so many of you, was keen to get some advice from me. I pointed the wannabe to this blog and its array of entries -- there's no short answer to the "Can I have some advice?" question, and one of the things I like to do with this blog is provide some of the many long answers that exist, explaining how I go about my work, how I developed, how I sought a publisher, etc. I'm still planning to gather all the entries together one day and lump them somewhere on my site where people can access them all at the same time. But for the time being you have to sift back through my rather long backlist of entries -- then again, as I often say, the struggle is what makes the victory worthwhile, so maybe I should leave the posts as they are, to separate the REAL wannabes from those who are only playing with the idea of being writers!!!! 

But one of the things I said to this young writer, which I don't think I've said in a lot of my posts here, was "Write for FUN." I think that's really important to stress, especially if you're 10, 11, 12, 13 years old. Most of the would-be writers who read this blog are older, and my posts are usually aimed at those -- I think teachers and parents are better positioned to offer encouragement to younger pen-masters (and at a tender age, encouragement makes far more of a difference than advice). But the advice holds true no matter what your age, or how advanced along the road to being an author you are.

HAVE FUN WHEN YOU WRITE.

You're going to spend a hell of a lot of time by yourself if you choose to become an author. It's lonely, it's anti-social. Your friends and family will probably think you're deluded, and no matter how supportive they might appear, they'll pretty much all harbour doubts. You'll have to write lots of bad stories to learn to write good ones, and there will be times when you're sure you're wasting your time, that it isn't going to work out. Nobody in the publishing industry will care about you, and you'll have to fight hard to stake a place in that very difficult-to-crack world. In short -- it can be a miserable bloody time when you're starting out!! So I think it's vital that you enjoy the actual writing itself. Don't worry about the market or impressing people or how you compare to the published authors whose work you admire. Juts have fun with your imagination and write the sort of stories you'd love to read. Go wherever your mind prompts you. Don't be afraid to experiment. In some ways this will be the most free time of your career -- once you start to publish and build up a base of fans, you have to worry about letting them down if you write a story they won't like, but in the beginning, since nobody is reading your work, you're 100% free to write whatever you like!!!! If you want to write a 500 page book in rhyming couplets, do it! If you want to pepper your story with wild sex scenes or buckets of gore, go ahead!! (But try not to let your parents or teachers see -- most don't understand the more excessively playful reaches of the writer's psyche!!!!!) Write stories about your favourite characters or books or films (just don't try to publish them, for fear you run into legal complications!). Do whatever gives you enjoyment. The publishing and re-writing and editing and fine-tuning will come later, as you develop and grow and learn to focus your vision. In the beginning, just have a blast!!!

Really enjoyed seeing The Feeling in Birmingham on Friday. It was the first night of their latest tour, but you wouldn't have known from the quality of the performance. Even though Bas is much more of a fan than I am, I do like them, even if their second album isn't as good as the first (in my opinion). But they're energetic and enthusiastic, and they take it all in good fun. They even paraded through the crowd as part of their encore -- there aren't many bands around who would dare do that!!!! Only negative of the night was the Birmingham Carling Academy -- I thought it was a shocker of a venue!! It's a good size, with a decent enough stage, but both sides of the stage are blocked off, meaning unless you're able to manoeuvre into the middle of the floor, you have a very limited view of the performers -- there are 5 members in The Feeling, but we could only see 4 of them! It's an incredibly poor piece of design, which is a pity, because it would be a fab venue otherwise.

On Saturday I went to a 40th birthday party for my cousin Davina. I have literally hundreds of cousins (I come from a VERY extended family!), but Davina is one of the ones I'm closest to (her Mum and Dad are Nora and Davey, who I've often mentioned here), so it was a party I was extra pleased to attend. We had a nice few hours in a pub, then a group of us retired to my flat to carry on the party into the wee hours of the morning -- it was about 04.30 when I got to bed!! I've said it here before, but it's worth saying again -- few things in life are as enjoyable as passing away a night in the company of friends and family you care about. Good times!!!!

The good times continued on Sunday, when my team, Tottenham Hotspur, thrashed local rivals West Ham 4-0. Well ... I say rivals, but in truth the rivalry is more on their side than ours. West Ham have always been one of the lesser teams in London, and because they're so far out of touch with the bigger teams (Arsenal and -- in more recent times -- Chelsea), they've focused on Spurs and positioned us in their hearts and minds as the biggest local team they have any chance of out-doing. While we're a long way off the achievements of Arsenal, we're also a LONG way ahead of the likes of West Ham in the footbal food chain, as evidenced by the many trophies we've won over the years (the most recent being just a couple of weeks ago). So it's hard for us to take them as serious rivals -- they're just another club as far as we're concerned, no different to Charlton or Millwall or Watford. But because their fans nurture a rather silly hatred of us, and loudly and publicly mock our failures and envy our victories, it's always nice when we put them in their place on the football pitch and remind them of their rather lowly status in the greater footballing scheme of things. I'm normally on the side of the underdog in most cases, but nobody likes an underdog who whines and yaps at you like a pampered, petulant little puppy!!!!

I flew back home after the game. It wasn't a flight I was looking forward to. The worst storm in years had been forcast for Ireland and the UK, and was due to blow in some time on Sunday night. I thought my flight might be cancelled, but it left on time. Once we were up in the air, the pilot said there might be some rough winds ahead, but that we should be OK. A bit later, he said the wind in Shannon was too rough for a landing, but we'd go into a holding pattern for a while and see if they died down. An hour later, he said it was just about under the accepted levels, so we'd try and set down -- if the wind increased again while we were attempting a landing, he'd abort and we'd divert to Cork. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy about that!!! But I just had to sit and hope for the best, along with the rest of the passengers -- and hope we didn't end up being capsized by an especially strong blast of air!!! In the event, it was quite a smooth landing -- a bit rockier than normal, but nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Still, I've rarely been more happy getting off a plane!! Oh, for a train link between Limerick and London ...

Spent today doing various bits and pieces around the office. I tried to do some more work on Hell's Horizon after lunch, but we had a series of power cuts -- the power would go off for a handful of seconds each time, but it meant having to reboot my PC on every occasion. In the end I got sick of it and replied to some fan mail instead!!!

I recently wrote an introduction to the classic book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has been re-released by Puffin. They recorded me reading out my introduction, as well as answering questions about the book, and reading out a short extract from it. The intro lasts about 5 minutes, the answers 6 minutes, the extract about 3. I always find it strange listening to myself when I've been recorded speaking -- that voice doesn't sound like the voice inside my head when I'm speaking to myself!!! But if you want to hear me waxing lyrical about one of my favourite books, and failing miserably to mimic an American accent (I'm absolutely RUBBISH at accents!!), then you can download and listen to the Puffin podcast, which you can find by clicking on the following link: http://thepuffinpodcast.typepad.com/

Flew over to London for a brief visit yesterday. Went to see Spurs play their latest UEFA cup game, at home to PSV Eindhoven. We were useless, and lost 1-0. To be honest, we could have lost by more than that! Hard to believe this is the same side that whupped Chelsea just 11 days ago!!! Anyway, we have the second leg away next week. It's still all to play for, but after last night's performance I don't feel too much enthusiasm ...

On a more upbeat note, Bas and I are going to see The Feeling in Birmingham tonight, at the start of their latest tour. They're one of Bas's favourite bands and I quite like them too. We saw them play a short set in front of the London Eye a month or two ago, and that was fun, so we're really looking forward to seeing a full set. Rock on!!!!!

A fan called Ryan Ficken sent the following message to me yesterday:

I myself am an aspiring author; screenwriter to be more specific, but I can write in novel form also. I'm sure you get this a lot, like all writers, but how do you overcome speed bumps like writer's block and getting started. I'm sure there are times when you want to write it all so you can get to the climactic ending, so how do you write the middle? I have a 4-story series in mind, with all kinds of thrilling plot twists and action that would make a great movie, but the ideas flow in faster than words, and I find myself fascinated by the daydreaming of watching the nonexistent film, but when I attempt to write it, I'm at a loss of words. The reasons differ, but I always seem to find something wrong with the scene I'm writing -- whether it's not long enough, not descriptive enough, or it just doesn't feel right. As cocky as it seems, I feel the idea is too grand for words, so how do I fit it into words? This is an ongoing dilemna, as well as deciding what I should do with a different story of mine, specifically how to start the next chapter. Thank you for reading this all; I hope to hear back.

I think most young writers struggle with this -- I know I certainly did. What you have to realise is that vision comes before ability to realise that vision. I've had what I thought were great ideas for books pretty much all my life. Definitely when I was 13, 14, 15, 16, I could picture big scenes, dramatic moments, big fight scenes, death scenes, etc. Like Ryan, it was like I was watching clips from a movie, inside my head. But when I'd try to put a bigger story around those clips and develop them into a novel ... that was a different matter altogether!!!

As I'm constantly saying on this blog, writers need to WRITE. It's not enough to have the vision, to be able to see scenes playing out inside your head. That's a very important starting point, but I'm of the opinion that EVERYONE does that. I think all humans daydream and play out imaginary scenes inside their heads. It's why I always think the question "Where do your ideas come from?" is a pointless question to ask a writer, because it needs to be asked of everyone -- we ALL have ideas for books!!

To do justice to your vision, you have to work hard and write lots. The most sensible way is to focus on short stories, keep writing those for several years, develop your craft that way -- it's what most writers do. But it's not the only way, and it's not what I did. I decided from a very early age (16 or 17) that I preferred the longer format, so I started writing novels. I wasn't equipped to write a good novel at that stage, but I went ahead and wrote book-length stories anyway, and that's how I learned. Over time, and lots of mistakes, I gradually learnt and improved.

Procession of the Dead is a good book to point out. I had the idea for that when I was 21, and that's when I wrote the first draft. It was a far lesser book than the one I've published now, at the age of 35. It was about half the length, not as pacy or twisting, nowhere near as polished. It was half-formed and half-baked. But at least I had SOMETHING. I'd produced a piece of work and, flawed as it was, that gave me something solid to work with, to go back and re-write, and edit, and play around with. You can never tell what a story will play out like until you write the whole thing down. Then, when it's on paper, you can go back and study it, see what's wrong, where it's weak, where it needs fixing ... and you can set to work.

Dreaming won't get a wannabe writer anywhere. Plotting things out in your head won't get you anywhere. Having great ideas and being able to visualise amazing scenes inside your head won't get you anywhere. You. Have. To. Write. Until you sit down and put yourself to the test, you're only a dreamer. Once you actually start writing, you become a writer. Not a good writer or a published writer -- that probably won't come for many years -- but you've set foot on the path and you're working towards your dream. You mustn't be afraid of words and of failing. ALL writers fail at the start. In fact I think writers NEED to fail -- only by seeing what's bad or undeveloped in yourself can you start to address your flaws and work towards your strengths.

In short -- don't sit there dreaming -- get writing!! And if what you produce isn't any good -- write again. And again. And again. And again. And ...

That's what I did and what every writer I've ever spoken to did. Good writing doesn't come from having a neat vision -- it comes from having the determination and guts to work hard to make that vision a reality. Ackoweldge your weaknesses. Work to overcome them. Keep faith in yourself. And you WILL get there. It won't be easy, but nothing worthwhile in life SHOULD be easy. A hard-fought victory is always a lot sweeter than a first-round knockout!!!!

Edited more of Hell's Horizon. It's tightening up nicely. I did most of my major work on it during my last edit, but there are still plenty of lines which can be improved by trimming a word here or altering the structure there. I like my stories to flow, for people to be able to read the paragraphs swiftly and effortlessly, without having to struggle to understand a line. Some writers want their readers to pause, to study the words, to reflect -- their style is all about making readers aware that they're reading. I prefer to immerse my readers, to have them give themselves over to the story, to flow along with it and lose track of time and the world around them, to feel like they're really in the story. I don't think either style is, in and of itself, better than the other, though I know most serious critics prefer the cerebral books -- many frown on books which are "just" entertaining. but personally I prefer books that flow. I've read and enjoyed books that don't -- such as Ulysses by Joyce, or Gunter Grass's novels -- but all things considered, I read books primarily because I love stories. And I make no apologies for that, since I consider story-telling one of the purest and best ways a person can pass their time.

I picked up a lot of fan mail from Paul at the weekend, so once again there's  large stack on my shelf which will take a while to get through. I replied to twenty letters tonight, so I've made a good start. But there are many more still to go. Getting fan mail is one of the best and worst parts of being a writer. Best because it's wonderful to hear from people who've responded to your work the way you always dreamed and hoped people would respond. Worst because you have to reply to them, and when there's a lot of letters, that means a lot of extra work!!! But the best far outweighs the worst for me, and although it does feel like homework at times, I still enjoy reading and replying to letters, and marvelling at the fact that people in Japan, America and Sweden (just three of the countries that cropped up in tonight's batch) are writing to ME!!!!!!

I had a nice conversation this afternoon with one of the people involved with the Cirque Du Freak movie. Shooting's going well, he said -- this week they've been filming a lot of scenes in Darren's house -- and he commented on the fact that the look of the film is great, very stylish. I've been invited to visit the set, if we can find a date that's suitable for all of us. If that happens, I will of course report my visit on this blog as soon as I return -- though if it does happen, it probably won't be for a while yet, so don't hold your breath!!!!

Began another edit of Hell's Horizon, my second D B Shan book, today. This time I'm working from my editor's notes -- she read through my revised draft a month or so ago, made some tweaks, suggested some changes, noted some mistakes, asked some questions. It's always a relief as an author when your editor comes back with ways to make your book better. Sometimes there can be differences of opinion and you have to go your separate ways as soon as you can. (I remember when a temporary editor on The Saga said she didn't like time travel and maybe I should remove mention of it from the books -- given that it was an essential part of the overall plot, and something I'd been working up to for most of the series, I just knew we weren't going to have a long-term working relationship!!!) But good publishing houses have a knack of putting together their authors with the right editors, editors who get the books, who are in tune with the authors, who can see the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscripts and find ways to improve them.

I've been very impressed by Sarah Hodgson, the editor of my D B Shan books, just as I've been very impressed by Stella Paskins, who's been with me all the way on The Demonata. I feel like I'm in sync with them both, and far from being wary of their notes, I actually look forward to hearing from them, because I know that nine times out of ten they'll be spot on with their suggestions or complaints. (And the one time that they're not? Well, again, good editors who have a good relationship with their authors know when to give us the benfit of the doubt. e.g. Stella absolutely HATES the way I use hyphens, but when she saw how much that meant to me, she let me break all the rules and do what I wanted.) I always mention my editor in the credits at the start of my books, because I think they're instrumental in bringing the finished work to life, and deserve the nod. But you can never have too much praise if you're doing a good job, so let's hear a big Hip Hip Hooray for Sarah and Stella -- freaks and grave-robbers of the very highest standards!!!!!!

Took things fairly easy over the weekend. I was out quite late on Friday with my friend Paul, and didn't get to bed until about 03.30. As a result I rose late on Saturday. Bas and I went shopping, popped in to see Paul on our way home, and then I spent the afternoon doing various bits and pieces, as well as putting most of the March issue of the Shanville Monthly into place. I thought I'd be able to wrap it up, but I forgot I had to include details of my upcoming UK tour -- always a lengthy job. In the end I had to leave it unfinished, then wrap up work on it on Sunday. Didn't do too much else on Sunday, apart from put some of my office work into order (a big pile of receipts had built up by the side of my keyboard), go for a nice walk in Curraghchase (my local park) and visit my grandparents and parents (it was Mother's Day, so I couldn't NOT visit!!!).

Saw an old Frank Capra film, American Madness, on Saturday. I'm a big Capra fan, and I've seen most of his films, but this one managed to avoid me over the years, because it's quite rare. I finall tracked down a copy from another country and got to see it at last. Not one of his best films, badly dated in a few places, but strong overall, with that trademark Capra feel for the little guy up against the big system. Today I saw a film by another of my favourite directors, Nazarin, by Luis Bunuel. This was one of his Mexican films, made while he was in exile. It's not as polished or memorable as his later, surreal masterpieces, but it was an interesting look at faith and the meanness of the human spirit. I love it that such films are finally available after years of neglect. As a serious cinephile, it always irked me that films by major directors such as Bunuel, Kurosawa or Bergman weren't readily available. Even a lesser Bunuel film is worth seeing, especially when you consider how shelves in DVD stores are spilling over with so many terrible recent films!!! It's great to see less well known films as these two finally make their way onto the market. Even if only a handful of people choose to actually track them down and watch them, at least they CAN be accessed. Hopefully, as internet downloads come into their own over the next decade or so, more material than ever before will be presented to the public, and hardcore movie buffs like myself can at long last claim to have seen EVERY Bunuel film and EVERY Kurosawa film and EVERY ......