I want to share with the DKos community a video series entitled The Idea of the Writer that have just been published online (FREE!), which David Milch has done during the writer's strike, addressing issues of writers vs. bosses, as well as such diverse and varied topics. Fair warning: expect equal measures of the sacred and profane :)
For those who don't know of him, David Milch, the creator of NYPD Blue and Deadwood, gave a series of lectures last month in which he shares his thoughts on the strike, his checkered past, and why the internet is going to change everything.
Highlights include:
His unique suggestion for writers trying to make a deeper connection to their art
The story of St. Paul's conversion and subsequent writings
Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" + the events surrounding the creation of "Billy Budd"
Kierkegaards "Sickness Unto Death" and what it means for writers in despair.
Del Shannon's "Runaway" vs. any song by B.B King
Coleridge's lack of dietary fiber and an analysis of fanciful versus imaginative association.
The dangers of outlining and ambivalent relationships towards structures of authority
A ton of fascinating and relevant tales from his personal life
He's a committed technophobe, recovering addict, ex-identity-salesman, and all around nutsy-crazy cantankerous guy, who, as well as offering support to fellow writers, wants to start a writers colony in which every participant can, through teaching, earn ownership in the collective enterprise. Fun stuff.