House of Lords Reform in UK

The one reform I do not want is more politicians in the House of Lords. They have overseen a major decline in the nations self-confidence and economy. Now we are teetering at the edge of serious decline.  The background to this debate

I am infavour of a non political non-party solution to the second chamber. Iceland and Canada are looking at random selection of representatives, similar to the way we already select juries.  One suggested solution is random selection 

* One of the major problems with the party system is, politicians spend all their efforts in scoring points rather than finding solutions, and following long term policies.

* The party system is also unrepresentative of the population in terms of social class and aspirations. All politicians court the rich and famous and have little genuine concern for the electorate except at election times.

* It will also stop the development of the party list system, which has been encouraged in recent years. Central party offices in London have been pre-selecting candidates. This takes away that power from local constituency parties.  It has also led to less politicians having real business experience.

* In recent years, politicians have been using large government advertising budgets for political advertising – showing how good the government is.  Allied to this the last government  used public funds to bribe voters before the last generation. That got us into such a deep debt. Because the electoral figures did not add up to a Labour victory, this meant uncontrolled spending went on for two years.

* Even more worrying was the Blair and Brown government’s tendency for gesture or sound bite  politics, continually tinkering with the state apparatus. This costed taxpayers millions. The government felt  sound bite propaganda on a daily basis was good. It sent out a message showing how active the government was – when in fact they were wasting money and paralysing the state. The electorate were not getting the services they deserved. It is no wonder there have been calls for privatisation of the state. Politicians were wrecking the state and moving  from the successful mixed economy model that I grew up with.

There has already been a widespread disillusionment with politician’s expenses. Now they are deciding how the rest of us are governed. We urgently need someone other than the House of Commons to deal with parliamentary reform.

Who is Henrietta?

I’m Henrietta.I’m making my debut at #MIPCOM because I was too late for MIPJunior. Help me to grow bigger “like me”. http://goo.gl/Asisn http://goo.gl/wOA5e

See more progress on: make cartoon

A successful visit to MIPjunior and MIPCOM

Photo: Livia Wang, Leilei Hu and Leo Lee, from Versatile Digital Film Factory, with Luqman Whittinger, CEO of Lookman Ltd (Animation / Live action Film Producer, England) and Matias Ebert, producer from Germany. See full article on Prensario TV

LOOKMAN LTD RETURNS TO MIP JUNIOR AND MIPCOM AFTER A SUCCESSFUL VISIT INTRODUCING THE COMPANY’S NEW PROJECTS TO DISTRIBUTORS.

Lookman has spearheaded and created a new genre with “Mihte Lugh the Shining One” taking ancient British themes and fleshing them out. This is the first glimpse of a lost heroic culture for thousands of years.

Also introduced was “Who is Henrietta” an animated story of an alien princess from Earth who returns with a confused shape shifting alien, and a schizophrenic sprite. Earth will never be that same again as these bizarre characters encounter a demonic invasion.

Finally on a live action note, feelers were put out for co-producers to make the popular mystery about Katie, a merboy and a Spanish village’s unspeakable secrets. This is no PONYO, but more Romeo and Juliet.

“It’s my awesome adventures in the Underworld.”

The Oracles's home in the Underworld

I’m “Mihte Lugh

the Shining One”

An amazing cartoon series is being made about me!

I’m the Irish sun god.

Well, that’s not quite true -

I’m known throughout northern and central Eurasia and the whole world really. Just ‘cos you haven’t heard of me – its cos’ people have forgotten about me, but I’m always there first thing in the morning.

Next year, after my rebirth and each year after I will hopefully be shining out of you TV set.

It all started with my first book *MIHTE’S QUEST; Kids in the Underworld*
This is the exciting story of Jack, Ellie, and Jamie – the children left home alone while their mother went on holiday. Social workers sent us to live with dad in the countryside. We were delighted one day messing around on the river in two old dinghies.

Suddenly, disaster struck and we were sucked into the Underworld to become slaves of the Gnome King, except he was not that person, but another.

We escaped, were rescued and were sent on a quest, it was the only way home. We had to courageously face terrifying battles in an extraordinary adventure reminiscent of the ‘Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. ISBN 978-1-906206-833.

I spent three more years in the Underworld…

Then my second book *MIHTE’S CHALLENGE; Can Jack defeat the dread Lord of Annihilation* tells of another adventure.

Three years, I spent as Hadi’s Apprentice. Then one day, my friends Haw and Rowan turned up and a lot of strange Grithods with trunks for ears. The next day, we were sent to the land of the Twenty-One Queens. We crossed the desert and were captured and made slaves of the Koblineigh. I caused a revolution before stumbling across the Amazois who wanted to eat us.

Finally ‘the Fish of Knowledge’ helped us to the Grithod’s home isles where the Gnomes who wanted to kill us. Escaping we arrived on a small rocky Island where we found the Grithods. I then faced a battle of wills against the dread Lord of Annihilation and found my real self. We had humongous battles of supernatural willpower.

This book should be published 2010, or early 2011, when I get time from my celestial duties.

Going home and join my family was all I wished for….

That’s where my third book starts. *MIHTE’S RETURN; Arthur Unmasked*

After three long years in the Underworld, I had not grown at all. You might ask why? Adolescence was not supposed to make me into a god. I suppose people who have druid and imaginary friends and an admiring army are different from the rest.

When I returned to my parent’s home, things are not right. News reports warn of a far off plague? It’s getting ever closer. Governments worldwide unite – they direct of people – changing lives.
At great personal risk with my imaginary friends I uncover what no one else wants to know. This journey takes me to the girl I am destined to marry? I risk all to discover the ‘Stone of Destiny’ and learn ‘Excalibur’s origins’.

You may ask where Stonehenge and the Druids come into the story – you will have to read it.

Untitled

I have written the film script, have an option and this is the promotional video http://www.lookman.biz/NewFilms.html

See more progress on: write a film

On What cloud are Publishers sitting on?

This is a reply to an article in the Guardian entitled,

“The digital era has not made publishers defunct”

by Ursula Mackenzie is chair of the Trade Publishers’ Council, The Publishers Association

Who is Mackenzie? She is chair of the Trade Publishers Council, The Publishers Association. What else could one expect from a representative of publishers, but for her to comfort publishers? Let us here the opinions of the Society of Authors. At my first author’s conference in 2008, I realised that authors were unhappy with publishers, probably since the end of the net book agreement. They were surprisingly militant and have not subsided since.

The realities are:

Authors are not glamorous multimillionaires as we often see in the films

Multinational companies have seized the market and some tried to create horizontal monopolies

Every year author’s royalties have been falling

Publishers expect authors to market themselves at their own expense

Many publishers have sacked authors, as cut their lists

The remaining market is smaller and ghostwriters have stepped in with celebrity books

The government is reviewing public lending rights, which may mean less money for authors

What is happening?

Authors are considering self-publishing and considering publishing coops. These authors are published authors looking beyond the current industry to stay alive. Many authors are investigating other media. A story does not need to be in a book.

Failure and elitism

It is the failure and elitism in the publishing industry that has limited market share as literacy and educational attainment rises. Children have been discouraged from reading by a literary bent in many books. They loose interest and give up reading. Literary prizes inspire adults who do not normally read to buy a book, which makes sales look good. They find they cannot read the telephone directory they bought and give up buying books. All the excitement of childhood reading is dissipated. I firmly believe the reading audience is several times larger than at current and that publishing and marketing over the same ground has restricted readership.

When Publishing and film merge.

Science fiction becomes science fact

Nothing is strange these days. Editors running around trying to find some licentious story or seeking celebrities to put their name on books they never wrote to keep readers on board. You can almost sense the fall of the publishing houses when you hear the groans and complaints of authors. Books as we know them will virtually disappear. A considerable part of film making will divert into increasingly realistic animation and merge with computer games.

This is really a window of opportunity for creatives until the great eye of corporate greed closes again and shuts them out for many decades. I can see a period emerging of great author brands dominating the market controlled by a new kind of publishing house. When this period ends the corporates will return. Corporates need monopoly so they can feel comfortable, rake in assured profits, and grow fat, lazy, and self-indulgent. Books will no longer be books, but experiences, perhaps eventually virtual experiences – On-line theme parks, where the reader can indulge in alternate reality from sources other than the written word. What will become important will be the written word or screenplay, but the story and how it can become a total experience. I am sure we will see the emergence of enduring alternate worlds that will become as familiar as the great stories of literature are in our epoch.

I have no idea what this will do to human consciousness and awareness – it does not bode well. Yet, it is unavoidable. There will be two types of people sharing a world – the impoverished excluded and the zombieish rich world.

This was part of a mail sent to a fellow author.

Lookman (Film and animation)