MY BETTER HALF...

This woman is cleverer, funnier and stronger than I am. So she can certainly kick YOUR ass...

LEAST ACTION HERO...

So many deadlines and dinosaur incursions, so little time...

JOURNEYMAN...

Lay back and think of the air-miles I'm earning...

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Archive for July 2009

OWN GOALS?

I 'm not really a huge football fan but I recognise the fact that the death of Bobby Robson, legendary and cantankerous English football/soccer manager IS a news story. He was a huge and controversial personality and many passionate sport fans wil be sad he's died - albeit not unexpectedly after a long fight with cancer. BUT... may I offer a little perspective that his death is still being consistently covered fifteen minutes into every station's headlines and this on a day when Gary Mckinnon, the British hacker has lost his fight to be extradited to the US - which is getting about five minutes coverage, tops.

For those who don't know...this in a young Asperger's Syndrome sufferer who hacked into the Pentagon computers in search of information about UFOs and left some messages that warned the security services that their defences were rather pitiful. There's no doubt that he did technically commit a criminal act, but anyone who has seen and heard the guy knows that he's no terrorist mastermind or massive threat to national security. He apparently 'admitted' the crime to police - without lawyers' representation - after he was told that he was liable to get a slap on the wrist if he did so. Instead the 'confession' has led to US demands for him to be extradited to face far more serious crimes linked to 'terrorism'. Sensible people feel he should serve some punishment/be fined for his 'crime', but that US government intent seems completely out of scale. Current thinking is that US prosecutors are seriously looking at sentencing which could be up to 70 years in a US jail. Equally it seems that though the crimes were committed in the UK and under British law he should be tried here, the British parliament has completely caved in to US demands and Mckinnon has lost his appeal. 

Recently almost seventy politicians said they would support the fight to have Mckinnon tried here in the UK but when it came to formally putting their names to that motion, almost all buckled under government pressure to tow the party-line. This is one of those occasions where I  (shock, horror) actually agree with a Daily Mail viewpoint that something is utterly 'disgraceful'.  I'm afraid this probably says more about the current suicidal, complicit nature of our current Labour government to misjudge common-sense than it does about some US hawks looking to posture their security issues.

The Beautiful Game, a rathr ugly state of affairs... but if I was a serious news channel, I know which story I'd be spending more time on...

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BOYS' NIGHT OUT...

I had a few drinks with Glenn Hewitt and Jonny Parker last night (Tuesday) at The Black Bull, once my local pub, but an establishment I've barely been in recently. I haven't seen Glenn for a few years as our plans to meet up always seemed to end up with one of us having to cancel at the last minute, though we've always kept in touch. It's been over a decade since I saw Jonny P, but he hasn't changed much. Simon Hopkinson was supposed to make it down to Horsforth as well but his dad wouldn't let him have the car! (Parents!!!!)


Glenn's managed to nearly lose a finger in a train/ticket-machine/door interface, so is off the conducting schedules and is now the (remaining) fingers behind the screen lies announcements of delays you see while waiting at the smaller Leeds stations. He still never drinks alcohol nor swears like a trooper, but does have snakes named after the Nolan sisters. The first two of those statements are outright lies, the third is totally accurate and somewhat morally disturbing.  Jonny, fresh-ish from a job as a career-advisor is now... unemployed and has learned the art of ordering half a coke and making it last ninety minutes. I'm sure there's an official eastern name for that unique and impressive martial-art.

Glenn politely informs me that we've all put weight on, so I guess I need to put more effort into the putting in of more effort. I'm determined to be a half a stone lighter by Christmas, as long as I don't have to give up Jaffa Cakes.  We caught up on all the gossip  - some of it positively soap-operatic - and decided we had to do these meetings more often now that we're all back in the same-ish area. It might be after I'm back from Iowa as that's only a  few weeks away), but it'll be fun to do so.

Now... off to write articles and win the lottery...

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REFLECTIVE...

S itting with the group of journalists I mentioned last time, the observation was made that no-one knows you as well as yourself. I'm sure the profound comments were fuelled by tiredness and a few beers, but it raises some interesting points...

*user pauses for deep thinking mode*

I've been transcribing several recent interviews for upcoming articles and if I didn't already know that was me on the tape, I wouldn't recognise my own voice. The way I hear myself talking aloud 'live' is very much different than the way the playback sounds and, presumably, how others hear me. The words are mine - but the tone seems off. Equally, while taking a self-portrait like the one that you can see top left (if you're reading this on the blogsite itself) it's often easier to take the shot in the mirror, but then I have to remember to reverse it. The shot I originally get is the one I most easily recognise from seeing myself on a daily basis (contrary to popular belief I don't spend all day looking at myself, but , hey, some longful gazing at me is inevitable); the correctly reversed one allows me to see the version of my face that everyone else see, but it looks wrong to me. Again - there's that gap between what I know of me and what others do.

So with such differences, who knows the real me and do I know it any better?  After all, I'm in a prominent minority of one.  And if that's true, do we ever see others the 'right' way? Certainly their view of themselves will differ accordingly.  I think the only real answer is that spending a lot of time around those you care about, you get to know the way they THINK, their personality and how they react to things. It's the reason that people become more attractive the more you get to know them (or the opposite, I suppose) . Those interactions with family, lovers, friends...are the things that probably define the bigger us more than our looks or voice - at least to those who matter. You get an insight into the 'who' of who they are. Equally, through experience, people may sometimes read us better than we read ourselves; subjective or objective, it's always a receipe for good drama. :)

The truth is that there's little you can do to change those physical factors, so you just have to trust in yourself and in the people whose opinions have come to matter and who seem to have our best interest at heart. You can but hope that the person you are and the person people perceive you to be are relatively close... and if in doubt, always go with the most positive version. You can spend too much time in your own head - and my head is a nice place to visit, but time-share is a big commitment.

In other terms... in the words of that great philosopher himself: 'I think therefore I yam what I yam....' 

Everything else is noise.

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PRESS FOR ACTION...

W ell, the week flew by. The second trip to London was interesting. First, I watched the first UK press screening of GI Joe. I'd love to tell you what I thought of it, but contractually I'm not even allowed to review it on my blog until the start of April, never mind elsewhere - suffice to say it wasn't as bad as Transformers - but that's a given.

Sarah, from the film distributors, took a group of us for a meal in Soho where we discussed the merits of movies, basic tips to make events like Cinema Days work better and the woeful state of the business (no-one's doing well). Then a smaller group of us retired back to the hotel bar and set the world to rights, talking about life, love and laughter for an hour or so. The actual hotel itslf was quite plush and the bedrooms very relaxing. I was out like a light and up early for the press conference the following day.

That was aboard HMS Belfast, the warship moored just down from Tower Bridge. Nice idea, but not that practical. The publicity 'battle' beforehand was scuppered by health and safety rules, but the conference was light and frothy (a little like the Thames). Worth going down for, but not full of any great insights.



The new Impact is now back form the printers. I fought for a posteresque Inglourious Basterds cover and it looks good. Slightly annoyed I didn't catch the fact that we correctly wrote 'Inglorious' when it should have been incorrectly spelled Inglourious as per the title of the film, but I was concentrating more on Basterds not being the problem! Darn that Tarantino guy!

No more press trips next week - just can't afford them - but plenty of work to do to keep me off the streets. Need to write two issues of Impact work before heading to Iowa next month and so I doubt I'll have much time to go off gallavanting beforehand. However there seems to be lots of interesting news coming out Comic-Con in San Diego, so I'll have to live vicariously and just write about them, instead.

Other good news: Jilly's scoring consistent As in her college assignments so I fully expect her to be teaching me a thing or two about pen(wo)manship before I return...

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(MORE) PROs & CONs.

I t's been a busy few days. I spent Friday to Sunday covering the London Film & Comic Con. Given recent trips and outgoings it was a bit expsnsive for me, but I intended to get some good interviews which will ultimately be in Impact and perhaps other magazines in the near future and months to come.

The weather for the train trips in both directions was... interesting. We went through some fairly intense storms, only to keep emerging into much brightier, sunnier weather. Quite fun, when you don't have to go out in it all and watch it from a window as you speed by. (See photo taken from the train and remarkably clear!)

Got down into London and across to the Radisson Edwardian by around 7:00pm. The first thing I noticed was the little cameras on sticks at reception. They looked like the kind you see as you pass through US Customs at airports. I was assured by the check-in staff that they were only there to photograph regular/important guests to aid the hotel staff in catering for them. Personally, I have a very strong feeling that's complete and utter bullshit and it's yet another 'security' issue. Part of me wonders what information is kept, who it's passed to and I am seriously seeing if I can find out answers to that. Yes, bit of a militant, me when we get down to all this Big Brother tech stuff and lack of clarity/honesty across the board.

Annnnnnnyways... the actual event was fun. Met up with mucker Mark Ryan on Friday night and we also travelled into Earls Court for the LFCC in the morning. The event Green Room was as interesting mix as ever and some good/silly/serious conversations were to be had. Always interesting to see the mix of people, genuinely glad to meet their peers.

In the end I got time with the likes of Danny Trejo, Michael Ironside, Chris Sarandon, Michael Keating (Blake's Seven) and comic guys Phil Jiminez and Arthur Suydam. Scott Bakula was there too and seemed in good spirits. Personally, I've no interest in Twilight, but the actors themselves proved popular with the crowds.

Had a few drinks out with the crew on Saturday night and another one back at the hotel, but still avoiding hangovers where possible. I also caught up with 'Evil' who is now married, off to live in the States and will hopefully supply me with general US visa info for the future.

Got a late-ish train back on Sunday through more 'weather' and then an early night. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm back down to London for GI Joe and stuff - wish I was getting 'frequent flyer' miles for the train -  but managed to get some articles done tonight and so should be able to keep to the schedule pre-Iowa.

Oh - and I just watched and reviewed Dead Snow (Out on DVD next month) which is about zombie nazis attacking horny norwegian trainee doctors. C'mon, what else do you need to know?

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BEER, TRACKS POTTER

I've had a busy few days. I went out for a drink with Simon Hopkinson (website) on Sunday night. Having finished some last minute  Impacty things, he suggested I should have a drink in one of our old locals. It's been a number of years since our last catch-up and now he's permenantly back in the UK there was plenty of time to talk about America (where he lived for several years), England, beer, the Internet, mad women, politics and healthcare. Yes, indeed, never let it be said that ex-SNYG members don't know how to party!  I should be getting together with Simon and Glenn Hewitt in the near future for more craziness.

On Monday morning I saw the new Harry Potter film. Now, I've never read a single line of the J K Rowling books, so I always go with what's on screen. However I get the feeling (apparently quite rightly) that there's a ton of stuff missing from the screen version of The Half-Blood Prince. The problem is, it shows. I was left sitting there at several points thinking 'Have I missed something?' While it's a fine-looking film and has some great photography with some impressive set-pieces, the plot jumps around and can't quite disguise the many holes. Dumbledore's missing! But, no, wait, here he is in the next scene, so he must be okay. At least for now!  It all feels like a Equity-renewal line for British thesps and a teaser for the final book (separated into the next two films) which, hey, I suppose it always was.

This coming weekend it's off to London for the LFCC which is like the SDCC, but  a) a tad smaller, b) a tad nearer and c) in London, not San Diego. (And they admit it's also about Films as well as Comics). Will hopefully catch up with Mark Ryan and chat with a few key people for upcoming Impact issues.  Next week there's some G I Joeiness on the Thames.  All fun, all accumulativly expensive, so will have to juggle  a bit.

Tonight: last bits of Impact 'Coming Soon' text to do, more watching of the news (and the rather genuinely touching footage of the people of Wooten Basset lining the streets to pay tribute to the homecoming of fallen UK soliders - more worthwhile, genuine emotion there than in a whole tour of Michael Jackson tributes) and checking of ebay bits and pieces.  Tomorrow, HLWW design stuff.

Feeling a tad under-the-weather, so, hopefully, a LITTLE bit of a lie-in though as well....

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I RESTED, DEVELOPMENTS

S o, TFI Friday. As in the aftermath of any transatlantic trip, there's a real lack of (correct) awareness of passing time. It doesn't actually feel like a Friday and it's weird that on Monday I was still in Iowa - or for that matter that in about six weeks time I'll be back.  It's like I'm in Bizarro World - a place where Torchwood is actually proving to be rather good! Though the terminal jet-lag never kicked in, my body-clock is still off a bit, so I'm not so tired on an evening, but still have to drag my sorry ass out of bed with maximum effort on a morning. Generally feeling a bit run-down. Thankfully, there IS another week until Impact deadline, so it's not quite as manic as originally anticipated.

Came home to the credit-card bills, never a good thing and they've taken a bit of a hammering in the last month. Hopefully some of the rather nifty Highlander and genre items I've just put up on ebay will assist and some overdue expenses will/should be arriving soon, which will also help a bit, but there'll be more spent going down to the London Film and Comic Con next weekend. However I should enjoy meeting up with Mark Ryan again - and hoping to get a chance to chat with Danny Trejo and some of the other guests as well. Then there'll be a G I Joe press event aboard HMS Belfast a few days later.

There's some HLWW work to catch up on and I hope to make some progress on designing some new cartoon Cafe Press items that will be released in a couple of months. That and I REALLY have to do some work on the novel...

Back to the grindstone...

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WENT FOURTH, CAME BACK...

O nce again I spent the Fourth of July in the US with Jilly and after a stressful week it was nice to put that behind us with some genuine fireworks. We headed over to her brother's place where Jilly blew up sparklers, rockets and cars (so, no change there) and I took a lot of photos, some of which came out rather well.

Friday and Saturday were overcast and cooler, but the rain held off enough for the most part - though that meant more bug-bites - and for Sunday, my last full day in Iowa (well, at least for a few weeks) it was back up to the late 80s and gloriously sunny. I've left a drawer full of t-shirts etc for next time (so no overtly-heavy luggage to haul back). Yes, I'm going to miss waking up with a cat sat on my head or biting my toes, but I'll survive.

The flights home on Monday/Tuesday all went well and much easier than the outward trip. There was a dash across the airport at Minneapolis, but made it just in time and was allocated a bulkhead seat near the main exit, so managed to get sat down and eventually disembark very easily. Ha dplanned to watch some stuff on my laptop, but ended up watching Duplicity and then grabbing a little shut-eye.

I should also confess to a bit of two-timing on the side. Yes, I'm sorry, but having read all of  Michael Connelly's novels, I had to cast my net further afield and been seen out with some Harlan Coben novels. Pretty good stuff with some genuine plot surprises in each of his books. Finished 'No Second Chance' as I headed in to land to Leeds Bradford Airport and will look for some more in the near future...

Photobucket

Right now I've grabbed a little more shut-eye and should be okay for a decent night's sleep tonight and then back into things at Impact tomorrow morning before we head to print on Friday. Okay - back to the routine for a while. Given this trip cut a bit into savings, I will be ebaying some more bits and pieces to finance the next one. But first some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs

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FAREWELL TO ARMS...

T he weather has been really hot here for the last few days - it was about 93 degrees at at 5:00pm yesterday which apparently beats the hot spell that the UK is going through as well.

After a brief service (with some wry smiles as well as family memories) we laid Lyle to rest early yesterday morning and I'm glad to say these things went as well as they ever can. He was a military veteran, so as well as the kind words of Pastor Stuart, there were also members of the military there and he was given a send off with an impressive (and loud) round from their rifles and Jily's brother was presented with a flag and shells from the guns. Some of Jilly's relatives were up in the area for the first time in many years and there was much catching-up. Though I'm technically on the fringes and a newcomer, I was treated like one of the family and felt very proud to be one of the pallbearers.

Currently I'm looking after the animals (who are, strangely, rather behaving themselves for once!) while Jilly spends some quality time with her sister, but she'll be back later. It's looking a little cooler and a bit more overcast today, so it may not be quite as over-powering. Survived until yesterday without midge-bites but now have a couple of lumps - but nothing too dramatic. I'm here until Monday and July 4th should be okay for fireworks etc.

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THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY

S o, then. Quite a week on the life and death front. Ignoring the 'King of Pop' as most journos aren't wont to do, I've been in Iowa where Jilly's dad passed away this past weekend without the benefit of an army of helicopters, broadcasting vans, wall-to-wall network punditting and vox pop interviews.

I met Lyle a few times since my visits to see Jilly started last year and despite being quite frail, he was a brightly intelligent, observant man with a knack for building model planes and winning at card games (could never be quite sure whether he was cheating or not!). He was a man of great experience and taste - and hey, he liked me, so obviosuly a great judge of character.

While his passing wasn't unexpected after he suddenly fell ill in the last two weeks, the actual passing was much quicker than anticpated and naturally it's never easy when it happens. I'm really glad I made the decision to fly out immediately to be with Jilly - and her whole family have been great and welcoming. I feel like one of the family, I'm helping as best I can where I can and may well be one of the pallbearers at tomorrow's service.

It's not been an easy week by any stretch, but quite an experience on all fronts. This was an unscheduled trip - both a sad reason and a good excuse to be with Jilly - but I'll be back in the UK next week to meet magazine deadlines etc and out here again next month as originally planned for a longer stay. I discover more each time I'm here.

Rest in Peace, Lyle.

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