THE INTERVIEWS: 2016

Sunday 28 August 2016

ghostman: NYSTAGMUS by janice copp

ghostman: NYSTAGMUS by janice copp: Hi I just wanted to tell people a bit more about my eye conditions as people I know and I went to school with don't really understand it...

Monday 11 July 2016

Matt cook interview

http://ghostmanraines.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/matt-cook-interview.html

Saturday 2 July 2016

Myrto Simic (@cyberella) is a UX and UI designer, illustrator and a painter in her spare time. She is from Greece. And she makes monsters.

Interviewer Alexi Ueltzen (@alexi) is Ello’s Community Evangelist. If she’s not at the office, she’s probably swimming, getting muddy with her dogs or baking cookies. Seriously. The best cookies.

Alexi: How did you get interested in digital art and making crazy monsters?
Myrto: It all started when in the early years of Greece’s economic crisis, a bunch of friends formed a mobile apps development and design collective called “Tarentola.” We designed mainly educational games for children but it seemed that adults also loved playing our games. At the time I was designing a bunch of minimalistic 3D Takashi Murakami-like birds for a mobile game called “Make 24” and you know what happens when you start creating, right? You cannot stop. So I used those birdies along with other animals to create a series of illustrations where they interact in a 3D world, much like humans do. It all ended in a published form of a free illustrated e-book. So I started experimenting further with 3D modelling in order to create a comic series involving creatures's stories. Those creatures turned out to be bunny-like and octopus-like cute, chubby monsters.

Alexi: Your monsters are often part of a very normal street scene or activity. How do you decide the setting for each piece?
Myrto: First of all, the general concept was to place a creature in photos I took during my visits to friends and family abroad. The notion behind this was that those monsters are trying to rule the world. They are everywhere, in Paris, Britain, Greece, etc., but they fail miserably because they became quiet cozy with this world. So they visit museums even though they look creepy and eerie, they enjoy long walks and going on summer vacations - much like humans do - whilst sometimes their world integrates rather than merges with our own. The content of the photo lead to the story behind the illustration. Nowadays I simply take an urban or landscape photo just because I know that a great story with monsters will spring from this image.

Alexi: Along with making wonderful 3D creatures, you work on web and mobile design (and wallpapers, and fonts, and…) Do you plan to stick with digital art or are there other mediums you want to try?
Myrto: Let’s face it, digital art is ephemeral. It involves all an artist’s virtues like creativity and inspiration, but it doesn’t display the artist’s soul because the medium gives infallible and almost realistic results. A computer software, from a photo manipulation to a 3D program, cannot bring a soul to a plastic/3D-ish object or character. The soul is defined by the flaws and accidents of human interaction with the acrylics or temperas, the canvas or the marble. Analogue art, like painting, sculpting, et cetera, bring that “fire” forward and that is possibly the reason why those arts are timeless. I used to paint with egg-temperas and aquarelles right after I graduated from art college here in Athens - which was like 20 years ago - and in the last couple of months I started painting again, learning more techniques. I became a student again and it almost feels that I will probably be a "student" all my life.

Alexi: What inspires you, or where do you go for inspiration?
Myrto: There are so many creators that inspire me. From Takashi Murakami, to Mr. Kat, to Aaron Martinez, to Teodoru Badiu, to ChocoToy and Juan Carlos Paz. But I reckon the source of inspiration is not from browsing some web galleries but actually everyday life. From visiting museums and galleries, to a walk in the park, from a bicycle ride with my husband, to an unexpected afternoon near the sea watching the sunrise. Very simple and everyday moments can inspire unique stories.

Alexi: What are your favorite design tools or software to work with?
Myrto: I use mainly 3D programs like Vue and C4D to model, render and create ecosystems. I also use photo manipulation software like Photoshop to give the illusion of realism in the photo frame and integrate the digital creature in it.

Alexi: Do you have a favorite piece?
Myrto: Yeap, it is an old illustration I made during anti-austerity manifestations in Athens in which I participated as a citizen-journo activist. Those days were very intense in the centre of the city, riot police was everywhere, police brutality also everywhere in every march, even in the peaceful ones. I was taking a photo of the riot police squad from behind while walking towards Propylaea into an area where later on clashes occurred. And there was the perfect space to add a monster to depict the panic attack that hits you right after you inhale teargas. This illustration is really not a reminder of those times of continuous manifestations, it depicts my inner feelings during that season of non-ending teargassing and relentless unreasonable police violence.

Alexi: What are your thoughts on social media, and how it helps or hurts artists today? Specifically, can you share some thoughts on Ello?
Myrto: Social media I suppose, are multi-tools much like a Swiss army knife. They can either be a medium to promote your work, or a microblogging platform, or a cyber activism social tool, a way to exchange and share ideas publicly, and most definitely a way to spread the news seconds after the events. But - of course there is a “but” - it is the people that give character to the medium. So if - in my honest opinion - a creator thinks that Twitter, or Facebook sucks, it is probably not the tool’s fault, but how people use it. It is like 2001 Space Odyssey, where HAL is going bonkers, while it is not HAL’s fault. It is the human’s fault. HAL is a tool, that's programmed to perform a job, but humans never tested HAL in space, never saw how an AI entity will perform in space - and you know the rest of the story. As an artist I reckon that social media can become a window of inspiration. Artists usually interpret emotions, stronger and differently from the rest of the world, so if the refugee crisis that’s happening in Greece, or David Bowie’s death, or even Donald Trump’s absurd rising, from political, to social, to everyday life inspire you to create, social media are pretty fine tools to get to that source of inspiration.

Alexi: What’s something about you that would surprise our readers?
Myrto: Well, I am still unemployed for more than 8 months now. Do you know many unemployed with more than 18 years experience, one BA and two MA degrees? Well, here in Greece lots of us are like that, labeled as “over qualified” because companies prefer to hire a junior designer and pay him/her 400€ per month - sometimes less - to getting a senior designer who’s much more expensive. I also went - like many friends and acquaintances - into a depressed stage. Thankfully that didn’t last long and currently I am living for the moment because, seriously guys, there is no second life. This is it!

Follow Myrto on Ello, Twitter, Tumblr, Dribbble and her Monsters website.

Tuesday 7 June 2016

ghostman: Dave Baxter = cauldronfm = an interview

ghostman: Dave Baxter = cauldronfm = an interview: ...

Saturday 4 June 2016

Muhammad Ali -interview

Muhammad Ali appeared on Michael Parkinson's chat show four times.

In 1974, Ali was at the peak of his career and spoke to Parkinson about "fighting for a cause"=see video

Saturday 30 April 2016

ghostman: North Devon Permaculture an article

ghostman: North Devon Permaculture an article: What inspired you? We had always been environmentally-minded by doing the usual recycling that gets collected from your front door ever...

Saturday 2 April 2016

Ronnie Corbett interview

You say in the programme that you got your break relatively late - in your late 30s. Did you always have an ambition to be a comedian and if so, when were you first aware of it and what do you think sparked the desire in you to make people laugh?

I had a desire for comedy sparked by a youth club pantomime I did in Edinburgh. I played the wicked aunt and I was suddenly in an atmosphere that I found very comfortable. From that day on I was determined to have a go at it.

A lot of things happened in between because I did my national service in the air force for two years and worked for the civil service, but in the back of my mind there was always a desire to perhaps one day be a professional performer/entertainer/comedian.

You've had a long and successful career that has spanned a number of decades. What have been the highlights of your career?

It's very difficult to select highlights but obviously The Two Ronnies was a major part of British television during our lives. The Saturday night shows at that length, with their breadth of skills, design, writing and music was a major television show by any standards, so I would say my relationship with Ronnie Barker is the highlight of my career, and my spell with Danny La Rue is also very important. If you're talking about television though, it's definitely The Two Ronnies, Sorry!, No - That's Me Over Here!and various sitcoms along the way, but mainly The Two Ronnies.

Of course my extremely happy marriage is the spine of the whole thing. I have a happy, contended life with two lovely daughters, so that makes it all rather special.READ MORE=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/corbetts_comedy_britain/interview/ronnie_corbett/

Saturday 26 March 2016

Free Interview Questions and Answers

Free interview questions and answers to help you prepare for your interview. Know how to handle those tough job interview questions. Go through the list of common interview questions that explore your understanding of the job opportunity and what interests you about the position.

Use the sample answers to be ready with your own job-winning interview answers. Be confident of how to handle these interview questions and stand out as the right candidate for the job opportunity.

Expect interview questions that assess how much you know about the job itself, such as:

What skills are the most critical to this position?

Prepare by listing the tasks given in the job description and identifying which skills are key to successful task performance.=read more =

Sunday 20 March 2016

Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee interview: 'We don’t mind when people make jokes about us'

On 17 March 2017, Paul Daniels died after a battle with terminal cancer. This interview with Daniels and his wife Debbie McGee was first published in October 2014.

Paul Daniels and the Lovely Debbie McGee are showing me a magic trick involving a pack of playing cards that, entre nous, I think will be a bit boring-snoring. I was hoping for a little legerdemain with the three white rabbits dozing in penthouse cages against the sitting-room wall. Or perhaps spooky hocus-pocus with the medical skeleton, lounging incongruously on one of the sumptuous cream sofas.

But within moments I am laughing with delight at the cleverness and the verve and the showmanship; these guys are good. Better than good. It’s just we’ve forgotten. We’ve forgotten because they’re not cool. They are cheesy and spangly. They are frilly-shirted and bow-tied up with a very different era of cosy Saturday night light entertainment, which began in 1979 and ceased abruptly in 1994 when The Paul Daniels Magic Show was axed by the BBC.

“Years ago, I played a month in Vegas,” says Paul, thoughtfully. “They offered me a 10-year contract. I turned it down. I was asked to sign up for a year on Broadway. I turned that down, too. I’m a family guy, my =read more =http://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/actors/paul-daniels-and-debbie-mcgee-interview-we-dont-mind-when-people/

Thunderbirds - Sylvia Anderson Interview

Sunday 13 March 2016

Keith Emerson exclusive interview by Mary Malloy

Sunday 6 March 2016

ghostman: ROBBIE THE pekingese INTERVIEWED.

ghostman: ROBBIE THE pekingese INTERVIEWED.: HOW DID YOU COME TO LIVE AT THE RAINES FAMILY HOME? WELL MAN I WAS ONCE A STAR GOING AROUND LOCAL DOG SHOWS SRUTTING MY STUFF AND ENDED U...

ghostman: MITZI THE JACK RUSSEL INTERVIEWED.

ghostman: MITZI THE JACK RUSSEL INTERVIEWED.: HOW DID YOU COME TO LIVE AT THE RAINES FAMILY HOME? WELL MY DEARLY I WAS A CANINE ASSISTANCE DOG THAT VISITED LOCAL CARE HOMES WITH M...

Sunday 28 February 2016

'Spike Milligan

Through a combination of his career-spanning chat show appearances, interviews and performance archive, 'Spike Milligan: The Interviews' tells his story in his words.
Spike's multi-faceted career spanned over 50 years. He was the driving force behind the ground breaking radio series 'The Goon Show', went on to make numerous TV series for the BBC, was an accomplished jazz musician, and he was also a prolific writer - publishing work across a wide range of genres.
Never one to shy away from airing his opinions, Spike would poke fun at the most sacred subjects and regularly campaigned to raise awareness for causes he was passionate about.
Respected far beyond the world of comedy, Spike was without doubt one of the greatest - and most eccentric - performers this country has ever seen=.http://gold.uktv.co.uk/shows/interviews/

Sunday 21 February 2016

Easy Beats to AC/DC, The Story of Aussie Rock

Sunday 14 February 2016

Film Night Special= Carry On Forever

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02rwdr2/film-night-film-night-special-carry-on-forever=Film Night Special looks at the story behind the success of the low-budget, bawdy Carry On films since they began in 1958.

Contributions come from the stars of the 19th film in the series, Carry On Up the Jungle, including Frankie Howerd, Sid James, Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Bresslaw and Joan Sims. Highlights from previous Carry On films include Carry On Up The Khyber, Carry on Camping and Carry On Doctor. (1970

Saturday 13 February 2016

ghostman: Rukia=@kahriqsalil

ghostman: Rukia=@kahriqsalil: Hey! *beatboxes* Unh, yo, I'm hard as a stone gargoyle in church *pause*, i rap so bad it hit ya ear and it hurts *drops mic* where my r...

ghostman: Article in n,d.j

ghostman: Article in n,d.j: North Devon Journal Holsworthy couple feel isolated by poor transport links By NDJJoe | Posted: February 11, 2016 Mark, 53, and Eni...

Monday 8 February 2016

ghostman: Tina Sawhney Psychic Reader, London at TarotCardsR...

ghostman: Tina Sawhney Psychic Reader, London at TarotCardsR...: I am outlining the following ways to improve emotional health here: Gaining fitness by doing exercise via zumba dance class or yoga exercise...

ghostman: Julie Be Siew Hoon Storyteller, Quantum Psychologi...

ghostman: Julie Be Siew Hoon Storyteller, Quantum Psychologi...: A Malaysian (where the heck is this Malaysia?) woman who is virtually a nobody went on a journey of self-discovery. She found many many answ...

ghostman: Nadejda Rozanova, PhD Biochemistry researcher, Rei...

ghostman: Nadejda Rozanova, PhD Biochemistry researcher, Rei...: I have 3 main goals - first present my cancer cure for public ( more about this method see in the article https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/201...

Saturday 6 February 2016

ghostman: Ray Sweeney..the disability karate federation

ghostman: Ray Sweeney..the disability karate federation: What inspired you? Three things: Firstly, I wondered why people were changing as a result of practising karate. So I looked at all the r...

ghostman: Justin paton an interview

ghostman: Justin paton an interview: What inspired you or your music? For this solo stuff, It was, mostly, the Acid House music from the late eighties. Stuff that came from...

Sunday 31 January 2016

The Most Dangerous Band In The World: The Story of Guns N’ Roses on BBC Four

In 1985, Sunset Strip in Los Angeles gave birth to what would become one of the most successful and notorious rock bands of all time: Guns N’ Roses. Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler formed a band that would change the history of rock 'n’ roll.

They produced one of the greatest debut albums of all time and went on to play to countless millions. Always uncompromising, Guns N’ Roses are an essential band in the musical lexicon.

Award-winning director Jon Brewer (B.B. King: The Life Of Riley and Nat King Cole: Afraid Of The Dark) tells the story of ‘The Most Dangerous Band In The World’ and how they came from playing bars on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles to stadiums across the world. The explosive rise of one of the most notorious bands of our times – it's a story of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll in excess. The film has been painstakingly compiled from a host of exclusive, never-before-heard interviews, and the early footage of Guns fan and friend Marc Canter.

It is testament to the legacy of this band that the past few years have been dominated with rumours of a reunion of the original members - which is now set to take place in 2016 at Coachella festival – with more dates rumoured. This raw, insightful and compelling documentary tells the story of how it all began and what really happened behind the scenes. The film features exclusive interviews with the likes of Steven Adler – drummer, Guns N’ Roses; Marc Canter – childhood friend of Slash from Guns N’ Roses; Vicky Hamilton – former manager of Guns N’ Roses; Saul Hudson (aka Slash) – lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses; Mario Maglieri – owner of The Rainbow and Whiskey A Go Go; Michael Monroe – lead singer of Hanoi Rocks; Matt Sorum – drummer of Guns N’ Roses; Tom Zutaut – A&R Executive who discovered and signed Guns N’ Roses. It also features exclusive live footage from Marc Canter– the man who documented the early days of Guns N’ Roses.

Guns N’ Roses are one of the most successful rock bands of all time, with their debut album Appetite for Destruction selling over 30 million copies worldwide and spawning some of the most famous rock songs ever written, like Welcome To The Jungle, Sweet Child O’ Mine and Paradise City. Since that release in 1987, the original line-up of Guns N’ Roses have gone to sell over 80 million records worldwide, releasing G N’ R Lies 1988, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II in 1991, and The Spaghetti Incident? in 1993.

Director Jon Brewer is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after filmmakers of the past decade; he has a way of telling the stories of icons which has captured audiences worldwide. His previous work has included documentaries on Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King and Nat King Cole.

This film was commissioned for BBC Four by Jan Younghusband, Head of Commissioning, Music TV.

The Most Dangerous Band In the World: The Story of Guns N’ Roses is set for a premiere on BBC Four at 10pm on Friday 5 February 2016

Saturday 30 January 2016

ghostman: Chuggaboom interview

ghostman: Chuggaboom interview: Interview with John Virgo - Guitar What inspired you? After a very successful career in world snooker and TV broadcasting, i felt a r...

ghostman: Gypsie Dawn a interview

ghostman: Gypsie Dawn a interview: what inspired me first was the fact that I KNEW that there were others in the room with me that I could not see. As a child i spent a grea...

Saturday 23 January 2016

ghostman: Mufon ufo an interview

ghostman: Mufon ufo an interview: What inspired you? Since I was a young girl, I have always had an interest in the paranormal. My main interest would be Ufology. I read a b...

Sunday 17 January 2016

ghostman: Josh Heard Author, Lecturer, Paranormal Investigat...

ghostman: Josh Heard Author, Lecturer, Paranormal Investigat...: What initially inspired me was a paranormal experience a few days after my uncle passed away. I was around 12 years old when this all took p...

ghostman: Christopher Stone: Interviewed by Mark Antony Ra...

ghostman: Christopher Stone: Interviewed by Mark Antony Ra...: What inspires you to write? What inspires me to write? Everything inspires me to write. I’m interested in most things and have a compul...

Saturday 16 January 2016

Alan Rickman was the toughest actor I ever interviewed — and the smartest

Rickman wasn't an easy interview.
Alan Rickman died this week at age 69, and while his role in "Harry Potter" sprang to mind for many, I remembered a different movie.

It was 2008's "Bottle Shock," an offbeat little film about the early days of the California wine business.

Rickman played Steven Spurrier, an English wine merchant who staged a now-legendary taste-off between French and California wines — that the Californians won!

I recalled "Bottle Shock" because I interviewed Rickman about it, when I was living in Los Angeles and doing celebrity journalism, writing profiles for the LA Times. I had been a longtime admirer of Rickman thanks to a great movie called "Truly, Madly, Deeply," directed by the late Anthony Minghella before he achieved much larger fame with "The English Patient."

Rickman was remarkable. You generally interview movie actors under two scenarios: at breakfast or lunch, usually at a restaurant of the actor's choosing, sometimes at his or her home; or at media cattle calls in fancy hotels. The "Bottle Shock" interview took place at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills, in a suite of rooms.

You could tell Rickman was holding his nose about the whole thing, remaining almost completely -read more-https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/alan-rickman-toughest-actor-ever-141700321.html

David Bowie Talks About "Searching for God" and "Spirituality" in Unaired 60 Minutes Interview

In another interview with 60 Minutes, Bowie talked about being asked, "Why do you do what you do?" and struggling to come up with an answer. "I really had to think about that," he said. "I guess, I guess, taking away all the theatrics or the costuming and the outer layers of what I do, I'm a writer...I write. I started examining the subject matter that i write about, and it really only boils down to a few songs based around...loneliness, to a certain extent, couple[d] with isolation, some kind of spiritual search, and a looking for a way into communicating with other people."

Bowie touched on spirituality again at a different point in the same interview. "Searching for music is like searching for God," he said. "They're very similar. There's an effort to reclaim the unmentionable, the unsayable, the unseeable, the unspeakable, all those things, comes into being a composer and to writing music and to searching for notes and pieces of musical information that don't exist."

NEWS: Inside David Bowie and Iman's enduring love story

Ultimately, Bowie told 60 Minutes he was grateful he ended up writing andperforming his music. "I think generally, I just cannot really envision life without -read more -http://www.eonline.com/uk/news/730590/david-bowie-talks-about-searching-for-god-and-spirituality-in-unaired-60-minutes-interview?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Sunday 10 January 2016

ghostman: Mystic BRIDGET DeBose an interview

ghostman: Mystic BRIDGET DeBose an interview: Mystic Bridget DeBose What Inspired me? As a Social Worker I wanted to improve the lives of people. Later I found out I came from the fu...

ghostman: justin paton an interview

ghostman: justin paton an interview: QUESTIONS about music? ok, here goes: WHAT INSPIRED YOU? my brother really helped me get into music. i think i heard talking heads "re...

ghostman: Lykquydyzer-ben kortekaa-a interview

ghostman: Lykquydyzer-ben kortekaa-a interview: What inspired you? My main influences Pop Will Eat Itself, Orbital, The Chemical Brothers, Hallucinogen. I remember seeing Orbital live in t...