Apologies for the lack of updates. My laptop is hunky-dory but I can't hook it up to Jill's main signal, so it requires a fair amount of to'ing and fro'ing between the two computers with files etc.

Still a good few minutes before it's technically Christmas morning here in Iowa. But a quick Yueltide Newsflash to say that Tad, the brother of Jill - the friend I'm staying with here - has weaved his magic and apparently cured my laptop. Huzzah! So will probably be able to be back online properly in next 48hrs.

Christmas present round-up so far includes: Dr Horrible's Singalongblog, Play-Doh, Chocolate Orange, sweat-shirt, afleece, US Writers' Guide, cash towards this break from parentals, poker chips and food.

Spent Christmas Eve shopping locally, helping clean Jill's house (not easy with four cats, two dogs etc)and then visting Jill's dad with the rest of her family.

As the clock says about 11:55 here, I bid you all a good night...

I'm now safely in Iowa. The stay at Yotel, Heathrow on Sunday night was fine, though for some explicable reason I noticed on Monday morning that my blackberry was set an hour laster than it should be, so I was up at 4:45am, not nearly 6:00 as planned. However, I'd given myself plenty of time anyway, so it was an mild annoyance more than anything else.

The queues at Terminal 4's Northwst desk would quite easily have rivalled some of those for Disney theme park rides and I was in line for a good ninety minutes and was even queueing to get in the queue at one point. We took off over an hour late, but made up the time in the air. It wasn't a great seat, but I did get a window and the people at the desk were friendlier than expected given the stress levels.

I attempted to use my laptop when we arrived in Minneapolis, but the whole laptop appears dead, even when I use either a cable or the normal battery. NO idea why it's done this and very annoying as it was working fine at Yotel and there's a Peter Wingfield transcript and audio file on there that I don't have anywhere else - I didn't ahve the chance to abck them up last week. Can only hope the laptop is back in action before print deadline. I also put $5 in a internet-booth in MSP airport and it ate it without giving me my allotted time. Was glas to finally get on the plane to Sioux Falls, though that was an hour late too.

Arrived into Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the middle of a snow-storm and was met by Jill, her sister Mart and friend Natasha and with a quick pit-stop for food it took about an hour or so to get back into Iowa and home. By this tiem Jill's pets had run slightly amok, so there's tidying to be done today.

Despite warnings, it's not incredibly cold, just chilly as long as I wrap up warm. Doesn't look as if it'll snow again before Christmas, but the white stuff is already deep and crisp and even. But, I recommend you avoid the yellow snow.

Despite a couple of nose bleeds (these are quite normal for me after I've flown - it's the colder, drier air, I think) all is fine.

More pix to follow. But Yule Tide (B)log updates will be limited unless the laptop pops back to life (fingers cross), but hope to blog again before the end of the week.

You know when you discover something and it's just...yours? It's like that television show that only you are watching. (Well, of course, it's not JUST you - it's a you and a few million others and probably quite a few million more on that if you count those who use Sky+ and TiVo, which the US industry doesn't and that's not fair is it?) - but, gosh darnit, it FEELS like you've found something before everyone else, regardless. For me, it's a little like that with the song Hallelujah. Sure, it's been around for years and it's been recorded by something like fifty people, probably on the edge of my radar forever and even used in a Shrek movie for heaven's sake... but hearing it used years ago in a particular stunning West Wing episode... I HEARD it. It resonated. It was immediately the kind of song you want to keep to just yourself for those moments when you need inspiration yet also immediately play to anyone and everyone who'll listen. Like all truly great songs it finds a way to punctuate your life like a particularly scathing comma.

Four days before I leave for Iowa (today -14 degrees!) I think I have the vaguest sniffle of a cold. No, don't worry, I'm well aware of the classic irony.

However plans are going to... plan. The main bag is almost all packed and though I'll go through it again on Saturday just to be anal-retentive completely sure, all the very essentials are accounted for and ready to roll. Just toiletries and some camera tech to go in there, nice and safely. I pack like a girl (which is good) but without the shoe factor.

The interview with Tim Minear went well. We discussed the upcoming Eliza Dushku (pictured) vehicle Dollhouse, Drive, The Inside and Firefly amongst others... as well as the emerging new market for drama (straight-to-DVD specials, the Net etc). I'm thinking some of those latter quotes may be saved for a separate new tech feature in the new year. After all, if a writers' strike and a possible actors' strike are concerned with new media, then so should we all be. Still to come this week are a chat with veteran movie poster designer Bill Garland and, if schedules permit, Leverage's Gina Bellman - both for Impact. In the middle of that I have to do the very last bits of Christmas shopping and attend the Impact Christmas party otherwise known as Daniel Day Lewis': There Will Be Food. I never turn down the annual opportunity for my publisher to spend money.

Just a little more writing to do before bed and the sleep of the just. In the meantime I'm listening to the news saying a rapist has got two life sentences and will serve at least... twelve years. Unless the guilty man is over seventy, I think I've just spotted where our legal system is going wrong.

So, all being well (and me being well) at this point in a week's time I should be safely ensconsed in Iowa for the Christmas holidays or at least have touched down in Sioux Falls, complete with baggage. One look at www.wunderground.com (the weather site as endorsed by Moz) shows that there's a good chance it will be cold. Very cold. Warmth: nil point. Possibly double figures below and fallling. I'm imagining icicles hanging off my nose. Not an attractive image. Yes, I've packed thermals, thanks for asking...

Despite the world not feeling as festive as it should, I decided I should enter into the spirit of the holidays and spruce (ha!) up the blog. After some html twiddling and image-correcting, the blog has a decidely wintery look - for those of you with wider screens there's even a Christmas tree. Notice the lack of presents under it so far. I'm just saying.

While I intend to blog through the Christmas break if possible, there is a middling chance that my Net connection may not be ideal and therefore if there's a lack of Mozblogs after next Sunday, that's more likely the reason than me being up to my neck in a snow drift. Though, that's always possible.

Yesterday (Sunday) I caught up with Peter Wingfield (Highlander / 24) who I haven't spoken to since earlier this year. He's keeping busy in LA and beyond and there'll likely be a feature on him in the Impact out in late January, just in time to co-incide with the return of 24 to screens. Tomorrow (Tues), I should be chatting with Tim Minear (of Buffy, Angel and *sob* Firefly fame) about his latest project along side Joss Whedon, Dollhouse. Both Peter and Tim (and the people around them) are excellent people. Still chasing some of the Leverage cast and putting together several Impact features before I head off. Hopefully this week I can get a fair amount done without giving myself a headache. I've had a couple over the last few days, but thankfully not the explodey kind.

Still packing, but remarkably ahead on points and weight-rationing. Okay....I think I'll go watch the Wolverine trailer again, or maybe some West Wing episodes before a well-earned sleep and back into the thick of it tomorrow.

Ho Ho Ho. Or something.

After a long time resisting, I actually have a Facebook account (blame David Fury) and though I've got quite a few old, new and very interesting friends on my list there and have rediscovered a fair amount of people I'd lost contact with, I also get a lot of the well-intentioned but rather more useless 'application' invites which ask you to ultimately sign up to a lot more you aren't interested in. Truthfully, I can indulge in cyber-snowball fights and virtual hugging and return such with vigour and... hey, I'm willing to hang my Christmas stocking in certain profiles with a mighty Ho Ho Ho...but application-wise I have no use for ''lil green patches' or 'If you you were a rare fresh-water pebble, what colour would you be?' I'll leave that for the inevitable and over-priced psychiatric sessions I'll have somewhere down the line.

Well, I was back at actual 'work' for the first time yesterday and it didn't prove too much of a strain. Being able to work form home has meant that my Impact duties at the office were merely looking over what had been done and making small corrections/changes as needed. Even managed to sort out the budget. Neal and the team have done a good job with #205. It'll look great. Please buy! :)

I went to my doctor on Friday for a check-up and he's given me the all-clear to fly off in two weeks' time. As he pointed out, I'm at that annoying stage of recovery where I'm largely all repaired but at the edge of still needing to be a bit careful/ being too careful. He's basically said that it can take weeks and months to actually FEEL 100% again and to simply act appropriately to how I feel. I'm still sleeping more than I did and sometimes grabbing an hour's sleep in the evening. However I should be fine to engage in all things Christmassy, though I may avoid significant hangovers and headaches.

So, in the last week just kepy fairly local (went down to Kirkstall Abbey to take photos by the river there (see above) and my plan is to pop back into Impact - possibly on Tuesday - to have a look over the current issue that goes off to printers on Friday and also discuss budget issues *sigh*. There are some good interviews surrounding the new show Leverage (on TNT in the US on Sunday and Tuesday nights this week) in #205 - particularly Dean Devlin and Mark Sheppard and hopefully with more to come. Catch the show if you can.

Also, I recently e-mailed Heathrow's Yotel to say I'd been disappointed to have a room next to a literal jack-hammer last time I stayed (see the blogs from the end of May) and if I was going to use them again, I'd need some assurances of a good night's sleep. I was pleasantly surprised to be offered a free stay there, so looks like my accomodation for 21st Dec is sorted before I fly out. See, complaining DOES get decent results.

Well, peh. Today was going to be my first proper day out doing stuff after November's brainfart and I was all set to go to London to do some press stuff with Samuel L Jackson and Frank Miller for The Spirit movie. You know... typical Thursday etc etc.

For the last week I've been having problems with my laptop. No, no... this isn't another PC World rant. But it did seem I picked up a computer virus that randomly redirected all Yahoo and Google searches to sites I'd never heard of or particularly want to. I sort advice at the http://www.computing.net/ forum they talked me through some step-by-step ways to find out exactly what was causing it and towards some downloadable solutions. It felt like jumping through hoops and sometimes frustratingly not being able to find the hoops to jump through, but after the posting of several 'logs' and at a point where I couldn't follow the instructions precisely any more, my laptop seems to be abck to normal - so one of the virus killers I got from them is doing its job again - albeit not the originally installed McAfee one which I paid about £40 for , which missed the virus to begin with, couldn't stop it when it surfaced and then stopped updating at all.

Still sleeping more than usual and grabbing forty winks as and when I can (I think there may have been fifty WINKS today, but the exchange rate fluctuates a bit). The legs feel a lot better and only the general fatigue and neck-ache makes me feel yucky. So, all things considered, doing remarkably well. Go, me.

I've been able to lessen the pain-killers dosage and also walk about a bit, so I'm happy with my progress, even if I still ache. My friend Dina put me onto Diclofenac diethylammonium, but I prefer to refer to it by its brand name which is Voltarol (mainly because I think it sounds like a cool Transformer), It's an anti-inflammatory cream which has really helped with the damage to my sciatic nerve. Add to the dose a couple of basic paracetamol and I'm doing fine-ish.

Despite me being off ill for the last two weeks, the latest issue of Impact got off to the printers approximately on time. I'd done most of my existing work prior to Hallowe'en and the only articles I couldn't provide were Thought Bubble coverage and the Leverage piece - both of which will now feature in #205.

A week on and the headaches are fading and the pain in my legs is starting to subside a bit (as little as 72hrs ago I could barely get out of bed). However I'm making good progress on my complete West Wing box-set and have given myself over to Jaffa Cakes as the recovery food of choice. I'm also getting to the point where I can type more and start putting together some material for Impact, though I won't physically be going into the office for a while yet.

I've been watching with sadness the wildfires consuming parts of Los Angeles (most of the people I know seem to be sufficently away from the flames for now) and have fallen asleep several times while watching various news-channels (Bill O'Reilly seems particularly effective at helping me with that). I haven't been out of the house in a week and barely out of the room - and I'm slowly going stir crazy, though I'd rather be sensible now than put back the full recovery.

But I did miss the Thought Bubble event at which I was supposed to present a panel and that's damned annoying. I hear it went very well, so congrats to all involved. There'll be a piece by Sabrina Peyton in a forthcoming issue of Impact rather than the one I was originally to write myself. Despite all the chaos, this latest issue apparently looks great.

Okay, time for the daily drugs, drink and jaffa cakes and then sleep. So... not ALL bad then.

Quick update: The headaches have lessened quite a bit, but I'm still having major problems with balance and walking and the whole legs 'not really working the way they're supposed to' thing. The mind is firing on all cylinders, but the body feels like it's taken a beating. Which I guess is exactly what's happened.

It seems that it's most likley that the convulsions last weekend threw something out in my back or trapped a nerve. Didn't notice it at first as the head hurts were the most pressing pressure, but this whole agony thing isn't half what it's cracked up to be.

Takes all the fun out of resting.

I think it was Mark Twain who said “Rumours of my death have been greatly exagge…wait, George Michael? What the heck are you doing in my living room?”

So, it must have been an interesting week to be a fly on the wall of the BBC.

I'm tired. It's been a busy week. Well, given recent weeks at least.

Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment (nothing serious, I'll live)

It was a very good/bad week to be called Joe if you live in the US. The funniest Palin since Michael (intentional or not) was referring to Joe Six-Pack; McCain was referring to Joe Lieberman; Obama was talking up Joe Biden and then everyone was discussing Joe the Plumber. The irony being that the latter Joe, who'd complained to Obama on camera about tax increases for the reasonably wealthy, apparently isn't even a registered plumber and is so far behind on paying taxes that a) he wouldn't even be hit by increases to the top layer and b) probably wouldn't pay them anyway. And, hey, Joe's his middle name not his first. (Then again, I've got room to talk).

There's an old saying in our family. Actually it's a relative new one, but it still rings true. It goes: 'Don't Mess with a Moz' (It's like Galaxy Quest's ' never retreat, never surrender...' maxim, but from a more wuthering climate)

So, like many people I'm watching the financial chaos which seems to be gripping most of the world and shows no sign of abating any time soon, bail-outs or not.

Well, just got back from Cinema Days where I got to see about twelve upcoming films and seem to have developed eye-strain and over-tiredness. Perhaps the two are connected?

The films varied in quality, though there were no truly outstanding movies. Some were quite good (Ghost Town, Clubbed, Lakeview Terrace, Easy Virtue, Slumdog Millionaire, Inkheart), some were okay but a tad disappointing given their cast and potential (What Just Happened, Body of Lies) and others were so dreadful that I wouldn't recommend them to anyone (the worst of which was the deeply unpleasantly bizarre Surveillance - a gruesome so-called thriller for which I'd worked out the twist and lost interest in after ten minutes - directed by Jennifer Lynch. The film does nothing to change my opinion that Lynch is a lousy film-maker whose work is purely a pale immitation of her father's - so doubly damned.

Danny Boyle, Kris Marshall and a few others turne dup to promote their projects, but over-all there were not the big names we could once attract to the event and if it hadn't been for the social side, it might not have been worth going on a potential-revenue level.

Over the next few weeks I'm hosting a couple of Film Education screenings and there'll be a few more press outings - but I'm hoping I can get a few deadline sout of the way and buckle down to generating some more outlets and getting some more finances sorted pre-Christmas. Both are do-able if I can get some balance to the schedule restored.

Oh and after the gosh-darnit Vice Presidential debate of last week which was a tenth of the fun of the superior Saturday Night Live sketches to date, it'll be interesting to see if the Obama-McCain second round raises my blood-pressure or only an eyebrow. Be careful, it's a lipstick jungle out there...

It's been one of those weeks where people have been amazingly helpful or rat-bastard idiots from the planet Arse. (Otherwise known as PC World).

Let's get the necessary rat-bastardiness out of the way by laughing heartily and crying softly at the PC World complaints liasion who told me that if I didn't like the fact I'd have to wait for a written response to my attempts to halt my ongoing problems and complaints then I should... write a letter to them explaining my grievances. I swear I nearly reached down the phone and hit him with a blunt object of which I'm sure there were many lying about. Equally while away this weekend at Collectormania I got a call from said Written Complaints Department to explain they were really sorry about hearing all the problems I'd had, but couldn't do much without receipts of my expenditures etc. Given I won't have the five hours of my calls on my phone bill until at least December (and maybe not if then if the shorter calls don't show up) nor my credit card bill for a month ,that would take a while. Also I've learned (albeit by asking the same question over and over again until it was admitted through clenched teeth) that it's COMPANY POLICY that I won't get a penny of compenstaion other than those specific, exact to the penny provable expenditures. So I won't get anything for being lied to, admittedly misled, messed around, losing work time because of false promises, used petrol etc for the last few weeks. In short, they slap the wrists of the people that do it, but don't compensate the victim. As I said, rat-bastards. I'll be mailing Managing Director Rat Bastard Snr. forthwith. If no joy, BBC's Watchdog may get a call. Messeth with the Moz, ye not.

In better news, I spent a few hours talking with and interviewing Mark Sheppard (of Firefly, Leverage, Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman, 24 etc fame and pictured above) after Kerry helped set it up (she's working on Leverage with him at the mo). Very nice guy who could talk a hind leg off a donkey and then sell it back to the donkey and make a profit. Plus he has a really nice new, cutting-edge I-Phone. I think I have device envy. Also caught up with his BSG co-star Jamie Bamber to finish an interview I started last week. So all in all, that was a worthwhile trip.

I have to type up all of that before Cinema Days at the end of this week, so won't be getting much rest. It's not all as exciting as it sounds and I'll be judging not-that-profitable deadlines for a while yet.

All job offers entertained and chocolate accepted.

Apparently it was just 'Talk like a Pirate' Day. Why are these days so popular... I don't know, they just arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

A couple of the bulletin boards I'm on have been talking about the new TV season's offerings and some of the attention has been on the returning Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. For me it's one of the most annoying programmes, only because I WANT to like it: it has a great premise, some decent performances, a truck-load of mythology to draw from and yet... and yet, if feels so damned lazy.

Okay, a public service announcement for anyone who might be confused:

RIGHT: My brother's debut novel from a few years back

LEFT: NOT my brother's debut novel... from a few days ago.

I'm reliably informed the interiors are different...

Yesterday was a long day. I went down to London (where surprisngly the sun was shining) to do an interview with Alan Moore. For those who don't know the name he's the guy who originally wrote Watchmen and V for Vendetta, two of the biggest / most controversial comcis ever produced. He has a reputation for being opinionated and has fallen out with Hollywood numerous times (sometimes understandbly) and given his Hell's Angel like frame /unfeasibly bushy beard, I was a tad nervous.

The laptop saga ("This time it's personal... computer") continues, though at least someone seems to be on the actual case. As I suspected the refund will take some extra days to come through but one of the tech people at PC World is at least trying to establish exactly what happened, why and how I'm further compensated - added to the fact that he doesn't think I'll get my hard-drive (or e-mails) back as they can't even find the damn machine or track where it went. Apparently all the problems may have started when they input the wrong info into their system when I brought it in (confusing it with a laptop my parentals had bought last year). The new laptop is fine so far, but I've spent a fortune in phone-calls, petrol and basic inconvenience, so I'm not letting this issue go. Did I drop on them the fact I'm the very annoyed editor of a national magazine? Oh, I think I did.

So, I'm typing on a new laptop. An ACER 5920 for those who want to byte off more than they can chew. :)

Further adventures in Lap-topping...

Spent a day in London as Warner Bros. launched Rocknrolla on an unsuspecting public - well, probably quite suspecting as the public knows what to expect from a Guy Ritchie film and his last couple haven't done that well. However this is the guy (sic) that brought the world Lock, Stock... and Snatch so there's a certain kind of film that he does well if you like your gangster-chic to be of the cockney dramedy style.

The DVD sleeves for HLWW are now finally done and dusted, though there'll be another set of designs to do in the near future. The current batch are covering much of the 2007 Vancouver event and took a little longer to do than I'd anticIpated because of other commitments and a changed schedule of release. However I'm pleased with the unique branding & packaging and the five separate titles should be on sale soon via the official site.

If you have any spare Vice, I'll definitely be your President...

Vote or Die!

It's been one of those 'blah' weeks where little things kept going wrong - nothing earth shattering or cataclysmic, merely a minor series of chores and irritations that I could easily have done without. However any week you can walk away from is a good one. And hey, I won £5 on the lottery - that'll go in the travel fund jar. Go, me... well, eventually!