The Watch

A television series called The Watch and based on the stories about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch from the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, is being developed by Prime Focus Productions in association with Rhianna Pratchett, who is co-writer for the series. Focus Productions have also previously created other television adaptations of Discworld novels including Hogfather, The Colour of Magic and Going Postal. Thirteen 60 Minute episodes are being made under Pratchett’s oversight by either Terry Jones, Gavin Scott or Guy Burt. The Watch has been described by Terry Pratchett as a “Pratchett-style CSI”. It is to have an episodic storyline, following the format of a “crime of the week” as tackled by the city’s police force under the command of Sam Vimes.

Terry Pratchett’s previous Discworld Novels Include The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort sorcery, Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Eric Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, Small Gods Lords and Ladies, Men at Arms, Soul Music, Interesting Times, Maskerade, Feet of Clay, Hogfather, Jingo, The Last Continent, Carpe Jugulum, The Fifth Elephant, The Truth, Thief of Time, The Last Hero, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Night Watch, The Wee Free Men, Monstrous Regiment A Hat Full of Sky, Going Postal, Thud!, Wintersmith, Making Money, Unseen Academicals, I shall Wear Midnight, Snuff and Raising Steam

Terry Pratchett has also written “Troll Bridge” “Theatre of Cruelty” “The Sea and Little Fishes” “Death and What Comes Next” “A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices” A Blink of the Screen (anthology), The Discworld Companion, The Science of Discworld, The Science of Discworld II: The Globe, The Science of Discworld III: Darwin’s Watch, The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day, The Pratchett Portfolio, The Art of Discworld, The Unseen University Challenge, The Wyrdest Link, The Streets of Ankh-Morpork, The Discworld Mapp, A Tourist Guide to Lancre, Death’s Domain, Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook The Discworld Almanak, Where’s My Cow?, The Unseen University Cut Out Book, The Discworld Diaries Once More* With Footnotes, The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld, The Folklore of Discworld, The World of Poo and The Complete Ankh-Morpork: City Guide.

William Burroughs

American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer. William Seward Burroughs II was born February 5, 1914 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was grandson of the inventor and founder of the Burroughs Corporation, William Seward Burroughs I, and nephew of public relations manager Ivy Lee. Burroughs. He began writing essays and journals in early adolescence and left home in 1932 to attend Harvard University, where he studied English, and anthropology as a postgraduate, and later attended medical school in Vienna. After being turned down by the Office of Strategic Services and U.S. Navy in 1942 to serve in World War II, he picked up the drug addiction that affected him for the rest of his life, while working a variety of jobs. In 1943 while living in New York City, he befriended Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the mutually influential foundation of which grew into the Beat Generation, and later the 1960s counterculture.

He became a major postmodernist author and one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century” and His influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays. Five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. He also collaborated on project which was s and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, and made many appearances in films.

Much of Burroughs’ work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as a heroin addict, as he lived throughout Mexico City, London, Paris, Berlin, the South American Amazon and Tangier in Morocco. Burroughs accidentally killed his second wife, Joan Vollmer, in 1951 in Mexico City, and was consequently convicted of manslaughter. He wrote the novel Queer in 1952 but it was not published until 1985. His next novel Junkie was written in 1953, but Burroughs is perhaps best known for his third novel Naked Lunch (1959), a controversy-fraught work that underwent a court case under the U.S. sodomy laws. With Brion Gysin, he also popularized the literary cut-up technique in works such as The Nova Trilogy (1961–64).

In 1983, Burroughs was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and in 1984 was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France. Jack Kerouac called Burroughs the “greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift”, a reputation he owes to his “lifelong subversion”of the moral, political and economic systems of modern American society, articulated in often darkly humorous sardonicism. J. G. Ballard considered Burroughs to be “the most important writer to emerge since the Second World War”, while Norman Mailer declared him “the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius”. Burroughs had one child, William Seward Burroughs III (1947–1981), with his second wife Joan Vollmer. Sadly though he tragically died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, after suffering a heart attack on 2 August 1997.

H.R. Giger

Fantastic Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor and set designer Hans Rudolf “Ruedi” Giger was born 5 February 1940 in Chur, capital city of Graubünden, the largest and easternmost Swiss canton. His father, a chemist, viewed art as a “breadless profession” and strongly encouraged him to enter pharmaceutics, Giger recalls. Yet he moved in 1962 to Zürich, where he studied Architecture and industrial design at the School of Applied Arts until 1970.

Giger got his start with small ink drawings before progressing to oil paintings. For most of his career, Giger has worked predominantly in airbrush, creating monochromatic canvasses depicting surreal, nightmarish dreamscapes. However, he has now largely abandoned large airbrush works in favor of works with pastels, markers or ink. His most distinctive stylistic innovation is that of a representation of human bodies and machines in a cold, interconnected relationship, he described as “biomechanical”. His paintings often display fetishistic sexual imagery His main influences were painters Ernst Fuchs, Salvador Dalí and the American horror fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft, particularly his first compendium of images Necronomicon, he was also a personal friend of Timothy Leary. Giger suffers from night terrors and his paintings are all to some extent inspired by his experiences with that particular sleep disorder. He studied interior and industrial design at the School of Commercial Art in Zurich (from 1962 to 1965) and made his first paintings as a means of art therapy.

Giger’s style and thematic execution have been influential. His design for the Alien was inspired by his painting Necronom IV and earned him an Oscar in 1980. His books of paintings, particularly Necronomicon and Necronomicon II (1985) and the frequent appearance of his art in Omni magazine continued his rise to international prominence. Giger is also well known for artwork on several music recording albums.In 1998 Giger acquired the Château St. Germain in Gruyères, Switzerland, and it now houses the H. R. Giger Museum, a permanent repository of his work and was inducted to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2013.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Giger directed a number of films, including Swiss Made (1968),Tagtraum (1973), Giger’s Necronomicon (1975) and Giger’s Alien (1979). Giger has created furniture designs, particularly the Harkonnen Capo Chair for a movie of the novel Dune that was to be directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Many years later, David Lynch directed the film, using only rough concepts by Giger. Giger had wished to work with Lynch. Giger has also applied his biomechanical style to interior design and a “Giger Bar” sprang up inTokyo, Sadly though Within a few years, the establishment was out of business. two more Giger Bars were built in Gruyères and Chur, under Giger’s close personal supervision and reflect his original concepts for them accurately.

At The Limelight in Manhattan, Giger’s artwork also decorates the VIP room, the uppermost chapel of the landmarked church, but it was never intended to be a permanent installation and As of 2009 only the two authentic Swiss Giger Bars remain. His art has greatly influenced tattooists and fetishists worldwide. Under a licensing deal Ibanez guitars released an H. R. Giger signature series: the Ibanez ICHRG2, an Ibanez Iceman, features “NY City VI”, the Ibanez RGTHRG1 has “NY City XI” printed on it, the S Series SHRG1Z has a metal-coated engraving of “Biomechanical Matrix” on it, and a 4-string SRX bass, SRXHRG1, has “N.Y. City X” on it.Giger is often referred to in pop culture, especially in science fiction and cyberpunk. William Gibson (who wrote an early script forAlien 3) seems particularly fascinated: a minor character in Virtual Light, Lowell, is described as having New York XXIV tattooed across his back, and in Idoru a secondary character, Yamazaki, describes the buildings of nanotech Japan as Giger-esque.

Giger sadly passed away 12 May 2014, but his artwork continues to inspire film makers and artists alike and his work can be seen at the Château St. Germain in Gruyères, Switzerland, which houses the H. R. Giger Museum, a permanent repository of his work. Giger was also inducted to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2013.

Guns’n’Roses

Former Guns’n’Roses bass Player and Writer Michael Andrew “Duff” McKagan was born 5th February 1964. He had a twelve-year tenure as the bassist of Guns N’ Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with the band, he released a solo album, Believe in Me (1993), and formed the short-lived supergroup Neurotic Outsiders. Following his departure from Guns N’ Roses in 1997. McKagan briefly reunited with his pre-success Seattle punk band 10 Minute Warning. He then formed the still-active hard rock band Loaded, in which he performs lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Between 2002 and 2008, he played bass in the supergroup Velvet Revolver with his former Guns N’ Roses band mates Slash and Matt Sorum. In addition to his musical career, McKagan has also established himself as a writer, and has written weekly columns on a wide variety of topics. A former high school drop-out, he attended Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics in the early 2000s, and subsequently founded the wealth management firm Meridian Rock.

Not only that, W.Axl Rose the singer-songwriter and lead vocalist of Guns N’ Roses was born on February 6th, 1962. He enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Guns’n’Roses, before disappearing from the public eye for several years. Guns’n’Roses formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The classic lineup as signed to Geffen Records in 1986, consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. Today, Axl Rose is the only remaining original member, in a lineup that comprises Use Your Illusion–era keyboardist Dizzy Reed, lead guitarists DJ Ashba and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer, and keyboardist Chris Pitman. The band has released six studio albums to date, accumulating sales of more than 100 million records worldwide, inluding shipments of 45 million in the United States,making them one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time.

A year after its release, Guns N’ Roses’ debut album Appetite for Destruction (1987) reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, on the strength of the hit “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, their only single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.The album has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide,including 18 million units sold in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S. The success of their debut was followed by the eight-song album G N’ R Lies (1988). The twin albumsUse Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II (1991) debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 on theBillboard 200 and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide,including 14 million units sold in the United States alone.The cover album “The Spaghetti Incident?” (1993) was the band’s last studio album to feature Slash and McKagan. After more than a decade of work and many lineup changes, Guns N’ Roses released the long-awaited album Chinese Democracy (2008) which, at an estimated $14 million in production costs, made it the most expensive album to ever be produced in music history.It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 but underwhelmed industry expectations, despite mostly positive critical reception

Guns N’ Roses have been credited with reviving the mainstream popularity of rock music, at a time when popular music was dominated by dance music and pop metal.Their late 1980s and early 1990s years have been described as the period in which they brought forth a “hedonistic rebelliousness” reminiscent of the earlyRolling Stones. A reputation that had earned them the nickname “The World’s Most Dangerous Band”.The band’s classic lineup, along with later members Reed and drummer Matt Sorum, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, their first year of eligibility. Rose has also been named one of the greatest singers of all time by various media outlets, including Rolling Stone and NME.

Cliff Martinez (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Cliff Martinez, the former drummer with funk Rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers was born 5th February 1954. Formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The Peppers’ musical style is a mix of funk, alternative rock, hard rock and punk rock. The band’s influences include Defunkt, Parliament-Funkadelic, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Gang of Four, Bob Marley, Big Boys, Sly and the Family Stone, Ohio Players, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Black Flag, Ornette Coleman, Led Zeppelin, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Fishbone, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Santana, Elvis Costello, The Stooges, The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Devo, and Miles Davis. Live, they incorporate many aspects of jam rock due to the improvised nature of much of their performances. Currently, the band consists of founding members Anthony Kiedis (vocals) and Michael “Flea” Balzary (bass), longtime drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who joined in late 2009, following the departure of John Frusciante. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have won seven Grammy Awards and sold over 80 million albums worldwide. In 2012 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The band’s original line-up featured guitarist Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons, alongside Kiedis and Flea. Cliff Martinez was the drummer for the first two records (Irons played on the third), and guitarist Jack Sherman played on the first. Slovak performed on two albums Freaky Styley (1985) and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987); but died of a heroin overdose in 1988, resulting in drummer Irons’ departure. Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist DeWayne McKnight was brought in but he was replaced by John Frusciante in 1988. Former Dead Kennedys drummer D.H. Peligro was brought in to replace Irons but was soon replaced by Chad Smith that same year. The line-up of Flea, Kiedis, Frusciante and Smith was the longest-lasting, and recorded five studio albums starting with 1989′s Mother’s Milk.

In 1990, the group released the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), which became the band’s first commercial success. Frusciante left abruptly in 1992, in the middle of the album tour. so they recruited guitarist Arik Marshall to complete the tour, Kiedis, Flea, and Smith employed Jesse Tobias who was replaced by Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction for their subsequent album, One Hot Minute (1995). Although commercially successful, the album failed to match the critical or popular acclaim of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Navarro left the band in 1998 and Frusciante, rejoined the band that same year at Flea’s request. The reunited quartet returned to the studio to record Californication(1999), which became the band’s biggest commercial success with 15 million copies worldwide. That album was followed three years later by By the Way(2002), and then four years later by the double album Stadium Arcadium (2006), their first number one album in America. After a world tour, the group went on an extended hiatus. Frusciante announced he was amicably leaving the band to focus on his solo career. Josh Klinghoffer, who had worked both as a sideman for the band on their Stadium Arcadium tour and on Frusciante’s solo projects, joined as lead guitarist in 2009 and appears on the tenth studio album, I’m with You ( 2011).