Excerpt from an as yet unpublished screenplay, My Reason To Be, in which a mature and inquisitive child seeks relief from the pressures and pain of his daily existence on the trains of Paris. Travelling by night his journey takes in the noises, sights, personalities and dangers of his urban surrounds. By day he studies at school - immersed in a claustrophobic world to which he cannot relate - and lives with his grandparents, both of whom are elderly and unwell. The household is practically run by he and his siblings, so he is able to disappear at night from his well-ordered home and school life into his ever-changing world on the trains. Opening scene: close up on the child's face, the camera moving sporadically from his eyes to a full side-on profile as a piano and violin score plays in the background. He is sitting on a train, staring out the window into the black of the night. The sound of the wheels rattling along the track accompanies the soundtrack. He is expressionless - just staring out the window, contemplating the world outside. Staring. Thinking. After a while he closes his eyes, very slowly. The screen softly fades to black.

There's been an overwhelming number of submissions for the Lost At E Minor art book. Thanks to everyone who has emailed me so far. This is the last week for enquiries and then I'll be contacting all the artists individually to explain the format that the book will be taking. The theme for the first installment of what will be an ongoing series of publications is 'Breathe' - so any illustrators or photographers who want to contact me about it, please send me an email with a few samples of what you do. Speaking of which, I came across some really inspiring work during the week. One website I especially liked was that of New York based illustrator Noah Butkus. His Safe As Kittens website is full of amazing graphic and illustrative treatments including an iconic cover that he did for Deanne Cheuk's brilliant magazine, Tokion. Also worth a good look is the work of Sune Elhers, aka Mr Duudle. He's created a unique illustrative style that combines the innocence of random sketches with the sophistication of contemporary pop art. And then there's the beautiful illustrative work of American artist Tracy Robinson whose work has been featured in a diverse range of publications including Neomu, Atomica and Iconique. You can see more of her ethereal creations at the Duskyward website.

Luke's Nurse and Amaze is another superb release out of Denmark which sees the five-piece collective with the worst name in contemporary music craft a series of perfect pop songs highlighting the breathy vocals of Tanja Thulau and the subtle production skills of chief songwriter Nikolaj Grandjean. This is a fusion of downbeat styles, incorporating bossanova and lounge in particular, and wrapped up in a warm sonic blanket, which gives it all a very radio-friendly tone. The second track, the lush 'Sing To Me Softly', is one of the standouts - the strings and percussive elements adding rich textures to its simple chord progression. But the opening song, 'Whatever you want' and the last track, 'Slide', are also absolutely compelling. This is wonderfully executed - splashes of nu-jazz and electronica fusing the soulful nature of the instrumentation. Highly recommended.