Saw the new X-Files movie this week.

Truthfully... I thought it was pretty dreadful. The acting was okay, the direction was okay, but the whole film feels... unfinished. The series ran out of steam because Chris Carter and company liked asking questions but didn't see any urgency in answering them. This film sums that up... there's hardly a plot point that doesn't have a whopping great '?' after it. In fact, you'd be lucky to find one definitive comment in the whole movie. I'm not sure if that's because of the rush to get it to screen, or just the team wanting to play up the ambigious angles every few minutes, but there's huge holes in the logic and action and far too few explanations of various actions that just left me scratching my head. Maybe I just need one of their ludicrously powerful torches/flashlights.


It's a pity because I got to do press with David Duchovny and Chris Carter yesterday and they're nice, engaging people who obviously care about the franchise and enjoyed doing it. I'd like to see another X-Files movie somewhere down the line, but if this is the end, so be it. Those of you who haven't seen it yet and intend to, there's a nice scene/coda after the credits. There's a boat and everything :)

London was incredibly hot - hotter than most of the days in Iowa recently - and it was nice to chill by the Thames for a few hours after all the round-table press stuff. Of course, back in Leeds today, with a ton of stuff to do for Impact, it's been rainy and greay and awful. SO much for a day out and for British summertime!

I gave in. I was weak. Vain. (Perhaps even yuppy-ish if that word didn't make me sound old). Yet strangely justifiably pragmatic. So I keep telling myself.

Well, as you can see opposite - if you're viewing this at the actual blogsite and if not, GO VISIT immediately and double my readership - the teaser is up for the next Highlander event I'm involved with. It'll take place in April 2009 and the 'City of Angels' and enlarged letters in the logo may just give you a clue as to where.

The design took a while to put together and once again the trick was to give the logo an association with Highlander itself: hence the sword shape. But it is only one element of the whole launch image and event title which should be online sometime over the weekend. These events take a lot of planning and it's early days, but all the essential pieces are in place and given the cancellation of two key events in the US this year, this should hopefully restore the faith of the...well, faithful!

Still in a Highlander vein, this is... ahem, interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swVrD2Mv7Lk

Plenty of other designing work to do for various people and writing to keep me busy in the meantime.

Most bills paid, some loose change added to the Travel Fund jar and it's a Friday. So things going okay, if not spectacularly. :)

Another busy week. I went down to London late on Sunday for an early Monday morning start with Batman, The Dark Knight. There was a press screening at the big IMAX screen near Waterloo Station and it was... quite stunning. Not remotely the 'superhero' movie I was expecting - more like an episode of Law & Order or the movie HEAT, with added kevlar. Christian Bale is good, but the rumours are true... Heath Ledger is simply outstanding as the Joker, a sociopath criminal who isn't in it for profit but just simply to 'see things burn'. It's an amzing tour-de-force eprformance from the late actor and worht the price of admission alone. However the rest of the film doesn't disappoint and Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart and Sir Michael Caine are all good too.

Normally all is fairly boring in Leeds. My tight social circle seemed to gradually dilute and evaporate over the last eighteen months and I've noted that I really, genuinely do have more close friends outside the country than I do within it. I've been lucky to visit Sydney and Iowa this year and hope to do so again at future dates, so I can't complain too much (but when has that ever stopped me?).

Jet-lag is a bitch. It's Friday evening in the UK, a week since Independence Day celebrations, and - without wishing to rub Jilly's nose in it - I think I've got her share of sleep... I must have had about seventeen + hrs since Wednesday afternoon and had to drag myself out of bed each morning. But somehow managed to get all the last remnants of Impact material done and dusted.

In the next fortnight I have Dark Knight press stuff to do and, more importantly, several leads to follow up including chasing invoices etc to pay the bills. Glamourous, moi? Notsomuch.

This weekend, while realigning myself geographically, perhaps watching Who again, I need to finish the HLWW DVD designs and put the finishing touches to a teaser promotional image which I can only refer to as '1X' for the moment. I'll post the finished item on this page next week or soon thereafter. Also need to win the lottery. I entered the Iowa version of it ( I got a strange look when I asked the woman behind the desk if I could have a 'Lucky Dip') but unless Jilly's disappeared to Hawaii with the pirate booty, I'm guessing I didn't win. Hmmmmm.

Big Hi to Iowa. The only thing I'm not missing like crazy are the midgies - though I wish I was.

Must starting saving the pennies again...

All blog comments welcome. Particularly those sent on the back of a tenner :)

Iowa to Chicago flight got in 30minutes early, so it NEARLY off-sets the delay on the outward journey. But I had more than enough time to grab something to eat and drink here and confirm my Standby status. Currently at Chicago O'Hare with about an hour before ETD. I've heard all the horror stories about this place, but seem to have avoided any of the bad experiences (so far). Things are running relatively smoothly and all the staff have been helpful. IF all goes well, I'll be back in the UK around 7:00am Wednesday. It looks like I'll have a bulkhead seat on the AA flight, so that may give me a bit of leg-room and a chance to sleep.

Iowa was great (see my enthusiastic previous blog) and I'm already noting advance UK temperatures (60s at best and raining. Naturally). All pouty-lippy when I see Iowa will be in the late 80s again. Peh. Grumble. Whine. Etc.

Thursday will be back to the usual grey-coloured grind, but won't be impossible to get through if I get SOME work done on the plane. Maybe even a chapter of the novel.

As a kid - and in days when it was much safer - I used to spend my spare time going off with my fellow ankle-biters into the woods to try and catch newts and frogs and the like. I'd spend hours scurrying through undergrowth and wondering how far I could technically push my parents' rules abouyt where to go and where not to, without breaking them.

Tonight I took a short walk from Jilly's house, down by the railroad tracks (not in use at the mo)and found myself by the banks of the Sioux River and straight back to my childhood quests. The sun was setting over the river, the bridge stood tall and silent and with 'Stand by Me' relevance and the lightning bugs just added that special kind of atmosphere that usually resides only in memory. Yes it was well and truly magical. I now have the photos - which don't quite do it justice - and the midge-bites ('what...you've been bitten by midgets?' - Jilly) to prove it.

Just another reason to love this place.

It's now Sunday night here and have another 36hrs or so in Iowa which is a real shame as I'd gladly stay here longer. Though Jilly says there's so little to really 'do' around here, the fact is that's something of a blessing and even major cities like LA, London etc are only 'busier' if you haven't done their attractions already. Give me small-town America with it's limited traffic, safe environment and it's neighbo(u)rly neighbou(r)ing and I'm just as happy.

On 4th July we went across to Jilly's brother's family where we had a great barbeque and then let off a serious amount of fireworks. Jilly helped her nephew destroy a Matchbox car by attaching bottle rockets to it. Or rather she didn't, as Matchbox apparently make an indestructable car... unless you eventually take out your frustrated pyromaniac tendecies with a household hammer. I'm just saying.

I've had a great time and even helping stack some shelves at Jilly's work and clearing up dog poopie (Listen, I'll deny I've ever used the term poopie, so let's not dwell on it any longer) didn't seem like hard work. Jilly's doing well and though she'll be limping for a while yet, she will soon be back at work on a restricted/part-time basis which will get her out of the house but not cause too much stress or difficulty (the store is only five minutes away).

I've been lucky enough to travel the world and though it'll be good in some ways to get home, I can honestly say that I look forward to being back in Iowa before too long.

Well, it's Wednesday in both the US and UK and I'm about halfway through my Iowa trip. The weather has been gloriously hot - actually reaching 91 degrees yesterday. It's cooler and cloudier today, but still very nice.