Of "Happy Holidays"

Merry Christmas! And, to the jews, Happy Hanukkah! And, to those who celebrate it, Happy Kwanzaa! Usually, I don't like the term 'Happy Holidays', all things considered this time of year is predominantly about Jesus Christ and his birth. Not, as some believe, about Santa's birth. So, saying 'Happy Holidays' sounds overly PC, so as to not leave anybody out whereas, in actuality, it is christmas. Making it a Christian-holiday. So, like Stan Smith, when somebody wishes me 'Happy Holidays' I tend to be like "You mean, Merry Christmas, right?" or something along those lines. However, I'm capable of acknowledging the obvious existence of numerous holidays also celebrated around this time of year, and so I deliver a sweeping, "Happy Holidays" to you all and I hope that you all had a great Christmas today. 

I got quite a few cool things, most of which I asked for. It's at a stage now where Christmas isn't exciting anymore, due to the obvious lack of mountains of new toys/surprise gifts, etc. I'll never forget coming out of my room for Christmas when I was a kid in Hong Kong, seeing a sheet covering the toys, taking it off to reveal the Ninja Turtles sewer lair all set up for me by my dad, with an additional bit he created himself attached. Fucking ace. Ditto for the Ghostbusters Apartment HQ. That was fucking sweet.  I'll probably post some pictures of my gifts at some point, though the highlight without question is a gift my sister got me: a WWE replica belt. Granted, it's plastic. Not the all out, much money costing, version you can get online. AND it's the spinner belt, created by the loathsome John Cena. But, whatever, it's a belt. And it's mine. And my sister got it for me, it's probably one of the best gifts she's given to me in years. If ever!

That's it for this blog. I'll be compiling a list soon of my favorite things concerning '08 soon, before the New Year comes around, so look forward to that, oh, you non-existent-readers you!

And so, Happy Holidays! 

PS: If you direct your attention to the "I Would Love You Forever..." segment, I've added a PS2 game called Fire Pro Wrestling Returns. I've done a lot of research on this game today, as I've grown quite bored of kicking ass at Smackdown vs Raw 2009. It looks challenging, fun and incredibly deep! However, it never got a EU release outside of Italy, for some unknown reason. I mean, if you wanted to release it in one European territory, why the hell not England? You already had the english dub, with the USA release, so why not England? Hell, you can buy the game in Italy, the box and manual are in Italian, but the game is still in English. What the hell!? 

Okay, so I tried to order it today. Got through to the final part and was about to make payment when I noticed the price had shot up from €24.99 to like €59.98, all because of import tax or P+P or whatever the fuck. I haven't paid £50/60 for a game since the N64 era, and the idea of paying that much for a limited game that's been out in Japan since 2005, for the PS2 no less, is ludicrous to me. So, fuck you to those Italian gaming sites, you're ridiculous prices lost you a potential customer. And, to the developers, if you're going to release a game in one European region, do it in a region that might actually help you make a profit. Apparently, the reason they didn't was because of poor sales in the States. So, release it here! There are plenty of wrestling fans over here!! Even more who were stupid/dedicated enough to actually import at those prices! The fact the game costs like 15 bucks in the states makes this whole thing an even bigger joke. 

EDIT: I caved. Fuck it, I know. But I caved. I didn't spend the ridiculous near-£60 that one site was asking for but, thanks to a hook up I have in Italy, I should be able to get ahold of a copy. Hopefully for a whole lot less than what they were asking, which was pretty much the equivalent of 'THAT' scene in Deliverance. "Squeal, boy." No, I don't think I will. I'll just get my fix through other means. 

Big shout out to Luane for helping me out with something that, I'm sure, she finds kind've lame, and to her boyfriend, Andrea, for being the man on the inside! You guys are the awesome!

Of 'PlayStation Home'

First off, I can't really say this will be a 'real' review, solely due to the fact that PlayStation Home is still at an open Beta stage. Not the final thing. Although, from the opening messages and disclosures, it sounds like this Beta is pretty much the final thing with Sony adding and tweaking here and there in the future without any major overhauls. I read recently that Aaron Greenberg, Xbox 360 Group Product Manager, claimed that Home feels like "2005 tech in 2008" which, after playing it, I have to disagree with. The only thing that feels 2005, in places, is the concept and, even then, it's a concept that still holds up today, this idea of a social network; look at Facebook, Myspace, et al. This isn't a case of Sony jumping on a band wagon with avatars, a la Microsoft, this tech has been in development since 2005! JUMP!

Of "Why You Shouldn't Fall Asleep On Trains"

Hey, just a quick update as I've got Eleanor around to keep company and entertain, etc. Two things really:

1) DON'T fall asleep on a train if you  smell like the food you ate for lunch, food that you somehow failed to get in your mouth (Somehow! Somehow this guy managed to miss food going into his mouth!) Are overweight, and snore like a motherfucker. Which this guy did. So I took his picture because, as annoying as it was, especially during rush hour, he did look like a big, fat, bald baby. And that was funny. 

2) Playstation launches it's Home service today at some point. I've been to work and come back and it's still not there. I hope it comes up before too late! Considering I'm now on a 1:30-10:30 shift tomorrow, I won't get a chance to play it if it doesn't come out before, like, 11 tonight! 

I've also officially upgraded my PS3 harddrive from 60GB (reality: 55GB) to an awesome 320GB (in reality: 296GB!)!! Awesome! I was surprised with how easy this process was, it took me less than 5 minutes to do and is totally worth it. On top of which, I ordered an external HDD case and now have an additional 55GB harddrive for...things! NICE! I still need another external for really backing up my Big Mac and my MacTop and, at some point, one dedicated solely to comic books. Because comic books are fucking awesome! Don't believe me? Go read Y: The Last Man, start reading the new Dead Pool series, pick up Runaways, then try and tell me it's kid stuff. 

Anyway, that's it. Quick update done. I'm going to see if Home is on my XMB (Cross Media Bar, for the Playstation uninitiated) yet, here's hoping!

Of 'Uncharted: Drake's Fortune'

First, a little background story. Back when I was trying to decide which, now-current-gen, console to add to my collection (having already gotten a Wii, the gloriously pretty paper weight it is) I was torn between the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. As I mentioned in my rant in a previous post, I don’t like fanboys and their ways. I wasn’t going to side with one side for the purpose of choosing a side, that’s just so redundant really. No, the choice lay specifically on which console I believed would provide the most compelling game play/narrative choices. You see, and this will sound like a tenuous reason to purchase a console, I was writing my dissertation paper on the link and influence between video games and movies, namely mainstream blockbusters....JUMP!

Of "Now This Is Progess!" (Now With Additional Fanboy Rant! Awesome!)

Hey! So, I've had a day off work today and decided, instead of just doing nothing like usual, I would try and actually attempt to write something. You know, so I can move forward in trying to be a writer! 

I've written a new 6 page script that I think is pretty good. Reading it cold, you may wonder how it could be a comedy, but the comedic elements are definitely there. The problem with reading a script sometimes is that the writers intended delivery of lines, or actions, tend to get lost by the reader who is too focused on just reading and interpreting it in their own way, usually not how the writer intended. It isn't until a second read that they can really get a feeling for the flow of the script and the believability of the dialogue, etc. I don't think I've ever really had a problem with dialogue, thankfully, but finding an appropriate ending for this script was tough at first. I've got one now that, like the short itself, just kind of works. 

The script, which isn't named yet (not even a working title), isn't as funny as 'First Date' but is still pretty funny! Not 'LOLZ'/'ROFL'/OMGZ!' funny, but funny in an observational kind of way. I'll redraft it in the next few days and post some of it up here. Hell, seeing as it's only just 6 pages, I may as well post the whole thing when I'm happy with it. 

The story is only set in one location, with two characters. So it's as minimal as can be, like I wanted it to be. The entire short is just predicated on these two people (Jeff, a name that may change, and Dahlia) talking and discovering that the way we perceive people isn't always the way those people actually are. Intrigued? How about if I were to tell you they also talk about blowjobs? Aaaah, now I've got you! 

I was intending to redraft 'First Date' again today, but I'm happy with what I've done. I'm going to go through some of the feedback I've gotten recently and take the notes that ring true about my script before redrafting so I can make some decent changes to it, etc. 

I also finished replaying Uncharted: Drake's Fortune yesterday and, fuck me, that game is still as awesome as I remember it. It's probably one of only a handful of games I've felt compelled to replay within a year of buying it. I normally beat a game and let it sit on the shelf for a few years so that it'll be fresh when I come back to it. Notable exception is The Monkey Island trilogy, which I try to play at least once a year due to it's unbelievable awesomeness. Those games really are just awesome in a bottle, if you will. I may review Uncharted later tonight if I have nothing better to do. Which, as it's only 5:35pm, seems like it'll be the case. 

Considering I've written a new script, made a few changes to it, and am currently blogging, having already watched this weeks TNA iMPACT!, I'd say I've done quite alot with my day! I also watched the first hour of 'Sold out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith'. That dude can really tell tell a story! He took the first guys question and managed to deviate for about an hour before coming back on track! Regardless of the fact it was a story I'd heard before when I saw him at the Prince Charles cinema in London last April (I believe), it was still funny as hell. Doing Q+A's looks like so much fun and I can only hope that I'll be in a position one day where people will pay to ask me stuff! That'd be rad.

I got GTAIV through the mail this morning, well it actually came at about 2:40 (!). Maybe I'll bust that out and play it, see what the big deal was all about for this game. I also got Bioshock but it's one of those deals with my sister where you buy your own gift, they give you the money back and it's essentially from them. So I've got to wait til the X-Mas to play that. 

Quickly back onto the film making side of things,

one of my friends from Uni is currently working on a short web series. He sent me the script for the first episode, which was a-ight, and is currently in the middle of pre-pro, which makes me feel as though I'm falling behind pretty rapidly haha! I got some good feedback from him and am hoping to move forward with either of my scripts now. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I'll probably try and shoot the 6 pager first before 'First Date', but we'll just have to see how it turns out. He believes that 'First Date' is just too damn long for a film festival. Maybe true, depending on what festival, but some of our grad projects were pushing 20-25 minutes (others fell well short of that) and I don't think it'll be any longer than that, personally. Again, we'll see. 

Incidentally, does anyone else hate it whenever you try and talk about your project/s and the other person doesn't seem to want to comment? Makes me feel as though it's no good, etc. I'm yet to truly develop the rhino skin (hence the picture!) needed for this business, especially as a writer. I mean, as long as it's constructive, I don't really have a problem. When it's blasting little things for no other reason than to poke holes into your project, then I have a problem. But, in fairness, I don't think I've ever been good with criticism! 

Also, can I just add that, before all the X-Bots (as they've been lovingly coined) strike up in, hypocritical, joy...no. No, the picture below is not in reference to Metal Gear Solid coming to the 360. At least, nothing has been confirmed. And a lot of devices use that specific power icon. Such as, oh I don't know, Apple. Apple iPhone no less. Interesting. 

I love the hypocrisy of fanboys. 360 owners, on forums I lurk in and browse, have bashed MGS to death, hating on it, etc, etc. Claiming it's just an extended cut scene/movie, etc. And yet, now, when there's a possibility it could come to 360 (which has been rumored MANY times) they're all for it. It's stupid really.

To be honest, I dislike fanboys all 'round, there's no prejudice here! Those who are short sighted enough to ignore the fact that great games exist on all platorms....well, they're not truly gamers. I have a few friends who are diehard fanboys, be it PlaySlave, X-bot or Wiitard (all valid terms of definition!) and it surprises me how vehemently they denounce other consoles and games having neither owned the console, nor played its game. 

One friend in particular has really struck me. Having bought 'x' system, he is now a diehard 'x' fan. I can't help but get the feeling that if he'd bought system 'y' then he'd be a diehard system 'y' fan. Surprisingly enough, it really does seem to be the case! Pathetically enough. I mean, if that is how the, theoretical, battle lines are drawn then a lot of this fanboy culture comes down to simple monetary spending. Xbox 360 = cheaper than PS3 (even Wii right now!) so, using the above logic, it creates more X-bots because of the simple fact that it's the console they could afford, so it's the console they bought, so it's the console they support. Blindly. I'm probably coming across as a fanboy myself, to degrees. Yes, I love my Ps3. I honestly think it's been a fantastic console, and more to me. It really is an entertainment hub for  me. BUT, as mentioned earlier, I still want a 360. There are enough exclusives now that warrants a purchase when I get the cash. Unless you people want to donate some to me? That'd be great! Anyway, back on point...

True gamers recognize the fact a good game is a good game, regardless of what platform it happens to be on. Those who hate on Playstation 3 have clearly never played Uncharted or MGS4, etc. Those who hate on Xbox 360 must have never played (and, seeing as I don't have a 360, I'm included here. Though I'm pointing out these  awesome titles, so no fanboy tendencies here!) Dead Rising, Halo or Gears of War. Those who hate on Nintendo...well, with Wii Music it makes them fair game really. But Zelda: Twilight Princess, come on! That was awesome! I only have a Wii and a Ps3 out of the current gen, but I'm intending to buy a 360 for the aforementioned titles. There is no point in being elitist and claiming that other consoles haven't got any games worth playing, all you're doing is denying yourself a chance to play some GOOD games. Which, ultimately, is what we're all after as gamers, right? A good game? And guess what, to reiterate, they exist on ALL consoles. /rant.

Of "It's Been A While"

I read recently that, if you are an aspiring writer, it is best to have some sort of site/blog so, if they are so inclined, anybody who is interested can come and check out your writing style and, I suppose, get a better gauge of your personality. So, here it is - I have decided to restart this blog just in case a situation such as that may arise. I don't really expect it to, but just in case! I'll only really add to this blog when I have something to say, I hate the amount of blogs from people that chronicle their boring day,

"Woke up, ate something, did whatever, went to sleep." 

It's pretty boring really and it's something that I want to avoid. I'll probably end up reviewing a bunch of stuff that I find interesting, ranging from movies, to TV shows, to video games and comic books. I'm into quite a lot of geeky things and will probably be talking about quite a lot of otaku subjects because of it. If anybody is interested in the things I'm looking forward to, or am currently playing/watching, then all you have to do is look to the bar on the right and you'll see (now with handy pictures!)

I am currently in the process of writing a short movie, entitled 'First Date'. I am in the rewriting stages and am hoping to get it to a shooting stage by early next year. I am on the 4th rewrite and will probably redraft it, yet again, in the next couple of days. Any information on the movie will probably be blogged about on here, hopefully with accompanying photos, etc when the shoot starts. Whenever it starts. 

I also have another short idea, this one ALOT shorter than the aforementioned script, which is currently running at about 30 pages, though the running time would be no where near that if we are adhering to the 'one page = one minute screen time' theory. I'm aiming to write this at about 5/10 pages and have it set in one location with only a few characters, so I could shoot this quickly and easily. I would probably plan to shoot this before 'First Date'. It'll give me a chance to get back into the swing of directing and would probably boost my confidence about shooting a 30 page script. 

I'll be sure to post updates about both these projects as they occur, I'm hoping to move forward with these projects and go the festival route to, hopefully, make some sort of name for myself. I'm sure it won't happen, at least not straight away, but these things do happen, so why not to me? The least I can do is try. I mean, once the script is done it'll be a few more months before shooting would be completed, assuming the pre-production phase goes smoothly and quickly, but I've got good feelings about these projects. The feedback I've received from a few of my close friends has yielded some good notes and observations that I have taken on board for the script. They all seem to have enjoyed it to varying degrees but, ultimately, it's a simple and fun story in the vein of a Smith/Apatow flick. Once the final draft has been completed I'll put some pages up here for you guys and gals to have a look at and once the shooting starts I'll make sure to have pics and updates as much as possible. 

Anyway, this short post has ballooned somewhat. I'll make sure to try and update when I can, only with things, or subjects, that I find interesting or worthy talking about of course. There are such a wealth of blogs and opinions out there on this internets that I understand there is a real feeling of 'me too' whenever somebody starts a new one, but I'm hoping to avoid that. Anyway, I'm starting repeat myself - probably a side effect of trying to watch a movie (Stanley Kubrick's 'Lolita') whilst writing, so I'm going to go and focus on the flick. 

Later!

UPDATE: This was too good to pass up on posting here, it's got a little bit for everybody really, with plenty of star appearances. Also, can I just say, John C. Reilly is so fucking awesome! If you haven't, go watch Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, this is dude just knows funny! Anyway, enjoy; Prop 8 - The Musical! 

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Of Jumping

Howdy! So, I watched Jumper last night. Gotta say, it's pretty good. I thought the movie was fun throughout and wore it's obvious comic book-esqueness (it's a word! ...) on its sleeve, which I appreciated. The only problems I had with the flick (beware, here be spoilers!) were the 'justification' as to why the Paladins tracked down Jumpers. Okay, so they've been doing it since the Middle Ages, back when people were all God fearing and would've thought these people were demons of some sort, okay. I can buy that. But the idea that in this modern age that is still the main reasoning as to why they hunt them down? Fuck off. That's just lazy, I mean, I can buy into Samuel L because he's one, just one, but this idea that the entire of ALL the Paladins do it for this reason is just bogus to me. And they didn't offer any alternative reasoning which stuck in my craw. Also, the run time is pretty short which works for it, I guess. But I still feel there should have been an extra scene in there, maybe to...I don't know...provide better reasoning. Maybe? Yeah? No. Your loss. 

Overall though, I felt it was a good start to what I've read as being the first of three Jumper movies. It's weird though, growing up on a hefty diet of comic books, etc the idea of teleporting, although still awesome, just reminds me of the X-Men. It just seems like a mutant gene over this whole god-like thing they were running with, and because teleporters aren't that rare in the X-Men world I didn't think the whole Jumping thing was that unique. They've not gone with the 'prejudiced' thing like in the X-Men and instead opted for, apparently, religious zealots. Hm, fun times. 

On movie news regarding me...I have rewritten the script now into what will probably be it's new basic skeletal structure. It was tough, like I thought it would be, and it took me longer than I thought it would. I've written in some new scenes and am going to reread the whole thing later, but I'm hoping the whole thing is better now. And, yes, by the way, I have been bumped up to an actual 'script doctor' (remember there's a difference, kids!) on this project after the writer, Kulraj, opted out of rewriting it. Whatever. I may put the script up here in a before and after kinda thing for those interested to see what it's like and what changes I've made.

I guess I better go back to work...I guess. 

Steve.

Of The Gig

Wow, last night was pretty awesome! The gig finally came and went and, although tensions were high in the run up to the gig, everything went pretty well! I fucked up a few times, but hey, we all did to varying degrees. Mine was probably the worst due to the fact that my pic flew out of my hands whilst performing 'When Your Heart Stops Beating' just before the second verse, so I had to start using my fingers whilst trying to sing, the words of which I promptly forgot. Brad thankfully handed me back my pic and I was able to come back into the song at the chorus, I covered the fuck up pretty well though, I feel. Or not.

Overall, it was an awesome night. I want to thank everyone of my friends who came, I really appreciated you guys and gals being there, seriously. It was nice to look out at the small crowd and see my friends out there looking back, slightly frustrated at my bands inability to perform or play in time. I kid. Kinda. 

It was a great feeling to come off the stage and, literally, be surrounded by friends congratulating you on a good set. I'm kinda disappointed that so many people dropped out of coming in the days running up to the gig, and that no one Chazz or Joe invited came. Made me wonder that, if my friends hadn't come along, what kind've night it would've been. 

The set started slightly off as the timing was all over the place, noticeably so. Frustratingly so. It's a shame because during practices the first song was pretty much our strongest, so I don't really get why it failed so badly on the night. We picked up after that however, with fun banter between songs. Even if Joe was rushing me and, essentially, telling me to shut up and play the next song. I'm glad I didn't though, because if I had we would've been done in about 10 minutes thanks to the way he wanted to literally play song after song after song. I just wanted to have a good time talking to the crowd, interacting and, importantly, having fun. Which I feel we had, I think we had a pretty good first gig together. It could've gone a lot worse, frankly. At the same time, however, it could've gone a lot better. I know it sounds like I'm fluctuating from 'it was great' to 'it could've been better' but frankly I think that's exactly the case; I had fun and all, and I think it was an awesome experience, but a lot of it may have had to do with the fact that it was a new experience for me so no matter how good, or bad, it was it would've been rad regardless.

Gotta say a thank you to Brad. If it weren't for him helping us out through out the night, I honestly feel that it would've gone a lot worse than it could've done, he was a great liaison between us and the sound guy as well as the other bands; The Blackhearts and Work. The Blackhearts were pretty good, though not as fun between songs. They seemed like nice guys, and were cool enough to let us use their cymbals and snare which Joe hadn't brought, we received an e-mail saying that there would be a full kit available for rental at £8 per band, but according to Brad, the sound guy, and everyone a full drum kit only describes the bass drum and tom tom's, etc. Not cymbals and snare. Which everyone knows. Apparently. Except us. But we know now, so hooray! 

Also, gotta say thanks a lot to the guys from Work who let us use their amps, without them I have no idea what we would've done. They seemed to enjoy our set and there was a blonde girl who was dancing around during our set, which I pointed out. Unfortunately, she then stopped dancing. I regret that, at least there was some movement when she was dancing! *sigh*

The set list, for those interested was as follows:

Pathetic (blink 182)

Bras Are Awesome...I Wish You'd Show Me Yours

Irish Hearts Are Breaking

Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne) 

When Your Heart Stops Beating (Plus 44)

Nintendo Song

Seventy Times Seven (Brand New)

It was a cool night, and a fun experience. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be, I think getting truly hopped up on Red Bull and Relentless helped, and, despite fluctuating timing, the set was fun to play and sounded alright. We managed to fill about 30 minutes, give or take (take, frankly) a few minutes, out of a potential 45. Considering we were only supposed to originally fill 30 though, I don't think that's much of a problem. Hopefully there'll be more gigs coming our way now in the future, though I've got other things to do Uni wise as do the other guys. We've also got to work on some new material, it really stuck in my craw that ours was such a cover heavy set. So hopefully, the next time we play we'll have at least 6 originals or something. I've got a few ideas in my head, but it'll take a while before we can fully flesh them out. Hopefully though these songs will come together and be as awesome as the stuff we already have. 

Thanks again to everyone who came, all my friends, who earned major brownie points with me for just being there, and to everyone who sat through our set. Photos should be on their way soon enough when Chazz uploads them. 

There's some other stuff going on right now, film wise, but I feel I've talked at length right now about the gig and don't want to go into film junk. I know I was going to talk about Girls and Lars and The Real Girl, but I'm not going to do that here. I'll save that for a later date. 

I'm out.

Steve.

Of BAFTAs and Giggage

So I'm watching Lily Allen and friends right now, it's really not that good. I read a report earlier in the week that stated half of her audience walked out due to boredom. I then read a rebuttal by Lily Allen stating that the recording went on longer than expected and so audience members had to leave in order to catch trains....bullshit. 

There's no two ways about it, it's a pretty lame show right now. Maybe it'll get better, probably not though. It's funny how fervently she was defending her show, which is only natural, but I think they're going to have to do something drastic to make it a little bit more entertaining.

Talking about entertainment, what the hell was going on the with the 2008 BAFTA awards? Seriously, opening with a 300 reference with about 30ish overweight (not even muscular) greased up men? What the hell, the flick came out in 2006! Something a bit more current, please. Then there were the microphone issues for the first 20 minutes, nice. The amount of promotion they did for this event, the fact they consider themselves the British equivalent to the Oscars and already, within the first 3 minutes, they've made a lame reference to a movie that's already two years old as well as echoey microphones! Good going, team! 

Jeez, the British writers aren't even on strike and they produce this crap? Perhaps sabotage? Perhaps. Or not. Actually, no. It was just lame. The 'jokes' they had the presenters spout before reading off the list were terrible. Why is that such an ingrained institution with awards ceremonies? Why, oh why, can't the jokes be..you know, good?

Whatever, moving onto film stuff. I did get the role of script editor (not doctor) as well as Art Director. After having to explain the differences (that do exist) between a script editor and script doctor, to the course leader no less, I settled into the role. 

Today was the first creative meeting, we discussed the script and did an initial break down and so, after two-three hours, we had successfully managed to get through 5 pages. Go us and our awesome methodical techniques! 

Every thing was discussed in relative depth. It'll be interesting having to write to somebody else's expectations, in this case our director Joe. He wants to take it in an interesting comedic direction, toning it down, making it more subtle, etc, which, considering the style of comedy the script is right now, will be interesting. To say the least, the tone right now is pretty much not what he wants. In its description it was described as 'Bridget Jones' meets 'The Office' (Uk not USA), but it never felt that way to me. There's a character in it called Stephen who just begs to be played by someone like Ben Stiller (via Dodgeball) or Will Ferrell (via anything with Will Ferrell). That being said, toning it down into a more subtle sense of humor (The Office, UK, and Extras were two names thrown around a lot) should be fun, I like both senses of humor and think I've got a good grasp on them both, better than most, especially considering my up bringing and my eventual deportation (it wasn't really) over here. 

Also, they've apparently been onto a casting agency that rep one, David Mitchell (of the British Apple Ads fame. Oh, and some show about Peeping),  to play the protagonist, Jeffrey. My money says he'll be too busy, but you never know. 

Gotta say, I've doctored a script in the past and had fun doing it, but this is pretty different and should be interesting. It'll be tough because the way I saw the script being made isn't the way Joe wants it and, considering he's the boss man, I've gotta write it to satisfy what he wants (easy, people.) That's not to say I won't be having any sense of creative input, hopefully there'll be something of me in there. I'm not too sure there'll be loads, but whatever.

Music wise, having to be back down for these meetings and my Final Cut Pro session has obviously meant we haven't practice these past few days. The guys had other stuff to do anyway and, frankly, I'm glad for the break. It'll give my fingers a damn chance to heal up and hopefully when we get back together to practice on Thursday/Friday for the gig on Sat we'll be a bit more relaxed and so won't be prone to stupid mistakes like timing issues or forgetting lyrics (my bad!) Hopefully.

I'm out, but next time I manage to get on I'll probably talk a bit about Girls and Y: The Last Man as well as Lars and The Real Girl. If I remember, and can be bothered that is. 

Steve.

Oh and Amy Winehouse winning all those Grammys? Fucking bullshit. Don't give people with those kind of problems this kind of recognition, it's fucking retarded. She's not that good and she looks like a damn witch. 

Of Gig Information

Here's the information for my upcoming gig as promised earlier. 

Date:

16th February 2008

Place:

Lark in the Park

60 Copenhagen Street

Islington

London

N1 0JW

Location: 

Here's a link. And here's a map.

Doors:

7:30pm

Price:

£6.00

£5.00 (w/flyer)

Bands (in order):

Work (8:00 - 8:30)

newsagents (8:40 - 9:10)

The Laughing Pines (9:20 - 9:50)

Flashguns (10:00 - 10:30)

The Blackhearts (10:40 - 11:10)

And just because I love you all so much, here's a link where you can download a flyer, it allows you to get in past the burly doormen (surely?) for, get this, a WHOLE POUND LESS! Fuck

 yeah, you guys just mean that much to me, y'see. 

There are a total of  four flyers on the page, so print it off and get three of your friends to come along! I'd really appreciate it if you did. Yupp, me, personally. 

Hope to see you there!

Steve. 

UPDATE (10/02/08): Check this the fuck out....

I can't believe it! It makes it all seem so much more official. That and, seemingly, we're headlining. Which can't be right, it really can't be. I hope it isn't. We've only got three original songs for fuck sake. THREE! This has gotta be a mistake. It's gone from maybe not being booked at all to suddenly headlining? Something very strange is going on...

Of Practicing and Practicing and even more Practicing...

Hi! I know I said I'd update this a little more often than I have done, but considering no one is reading this blog yet I don't really care. Because you don't really care. I mean, if you cared then I would care, naturally. But you don't, so I don't.

But I digress.

The past few days I've been back home in order to practice with my band, the Newsagents (Hit the jump to hear our song 'Irish Hearts Are Breaking'), for our upcoming gig at the Lark In The Park in Islington. 

It's been a tiring three days, my fingers are raw and numb and a strange shade of red with a blister on one of them. It's a sexy sight, and I know there are people out there that would pay to see this shit! (send me and e-mail, we can work something out) Apart from that things have been going at an...okay pace, frankly. The first day I left with a definite feeling that we can do this, no problem. We clicked back into place and were having a lot of fun. 

The second say not so much, there were a lot of timing issues (in the sense that the speed of the songs kept fluctuating, for whatever reason...) that left us all feeling frustrated. As a bassist, and singer, I can tell you having the speed constantly changing isn't your friend. In fact it's pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum, it's really annoying. And...and...frustrating! Did I already use that? Oh well. Let's just say I'm reiterating to hammer it home. 

Let me just say, I'm not the best musician in the world. Anyone will happily tell you that, especially me. I'm a root note cruncher and fucking proud of it. Nothing is more fun to me than hammering the roots and running around having a good time while doing it. That being said, I do have a pretty good sense of time and rhythm (I nailed the bass track in 'Irish Hearts...' in three takes. THREE, people! The vox took a little longer but eh.) and so yeah, it's hard to keep things going in time when everything else isn't. Y'know. But whatever, that's why we're practicing. 

And now, here we are, on the third day! 

This was a pretty rad day actually, it felt like same old same old at the start. It didn't help my fingers were hurting like a motherfucker, and red raw to boot! That being said, Joe had a HUGE blister on his thumb by the end of the first day. So I guess I can't really complain, especially considering how hilarious me and Chazz found his blister...and the pain he was going through. Brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. Yes, I am a member of a sadist website. I'm not really, but I have looked into it. Joking, by the way, before anyone freaks out...

We started learning a new cover to bulk up our set list to try and make it to a half hour, which is our alloted time. As mentioned in a previous post we've got a 7 song set, and I think that with talking we'll actually cover a half hour no problem. I was stoked to start on this new song, which I'm not going to mention here as I want it to be a surprise when we play it. It's an awesome and fun song though, definitely dance worthy. 

So, that's about it really. I heard about the role of script editor the other day, don't know if I'll get it or not. Funnily enough the role information that was provided through our 'esteemed' course leader about script editing (doctoring) doesn't exactly correspond with what a script doctor actually does. But, hey, whatever. We'll see whether I get that or not by the end of the weekend and I've got a meeting Monday with the rest of my group. Fun times, huh. 

Anyway, the more observant among you may have noticed a title change to 'The Slacker Chronicles'. I thought this was more apt, considering that not everything I do is film based. Despite the amount of time I may spend talking about, watching, or wanting to film movies and junk. I just felt, considering that the majority of this post was about my band, that I should give the blog a more all encompassing name. Besides, it's not like anyones read any of these. Especially considering I haven't given the site out yet...

Steve.

Of D-Day

So D-Day came and went. The big day, the 1st February 2008, in which our Dissertations had to be handed in. Overlooking the fact that I handed mine in two days earlier, I was actually quite relieved (even more so) that it was all over for the fact that maybe, just maybe, people would be able to do stuff again. Y'know...socially. Didn't really help that my friend, Matt, took one flick through my Dissertation and pointed out that I hadn't 1.5 spaced my conclusion, thanks dude. But at that point, truth be told, I was at a 'fuck it' stage. I wasn't going to reprint and then rebind it because of that. 

Last night we celebrated by going down to the SU (The Undercroft) for, possibly, the last time. It was a pretty good time until everyone, well the majority, decided to move on up to London to a club. I really thought this was pretty stupid, yeah London is cool and everything but you don't need to be in London to have a good time. We were all having a good time at the time, alcohol is alcohol, right? In a club we wouldn't have been able to talk or hear each other...there just seemed like no reason to leave. So I didn't. Thankfully, a few other peeps didn't go too so we all hung out together. 

Salome, in particular, wanted to go pretty badly not soon after as she wanted to get food. Hanging out for a while we went on to get some Chinese food (at like 11:00ish) only to, surprise, surprise, find it closed. There's a deep sense of irony when there's a brightly lit Kebab shop across the street calling like a siren. Ironic because, simply, you want some gnarly Chinese food and have to settle on greasy Kebab...and not only that but it truly was like a sirens song. It was alright though cause I didn't get a Kebab, I got a 1/2 pounder cheeseburger instead which was actually pretty good. Kebab shop burgers tend to be pretty good I've found in my experience, maybe I'm just having a good run. It's bound to run out sometime.

ANYWAY, film stuff. This project of mine seems to snagged itself a producer from my conversation with Salome last night. Salome sent me feedback for my script over Christmas with some glowing comments, which I loved, and has told me that if she had the choice she would've produced mine over the scripts chosen. Which, frankly, is pretty awesome. So when I mentioned filming it in the free time we'll have during the summer period she was all for it, assuming she'll be around. I'd love to have her on the team though, I've seen her as producer and she gets the job done, seemingly with ease. She knows what she's doing, and she wants to work on my lame-o script! 

This thing seems to be coming together pretty well. If I manage to get the role I want for the final year project (sounds important, it's not.) of script editor then I'll have plenty of time to edit up my script. I'm going under the hopeful assumption that they won't want to change the script at all which means that I won't really have to be on set, and if I do I'm bringing my goddamn Nintendo DS. 

BAND stuff! Sounds like the gig we're apart of is actually a Battle of the Bands kinda deal, not 100% on that but it'd be awesome if true. I know quite a few people and friends of mine who are going to try and come and, if they do, it'll be a great night. Hopefully! In case you're coming, here's the set list of originals and covers we've got so you can learn the words, etc.

1. Pathetic (blink 182)

2. Bras Are Awesome...I Wish You'd Show Me Yours

3. Irish Hearts Are Breaking

4. Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne)

5. Nintendo Song

6. Seventy Times Seven (Brand New)

7. (undecided cover, possibly Motion City Soundtrack)

That's not the confirmed order of the songs, but I'm pretty sure it won't be changing too much from that. So, go learn the words and sing the fuck along, guys!

That's it.

I'm out!

Steve.

Of Introductions

Hi! To anybody who has come across this blog, hello. My name is Stephen (21, likes short walks on the beach that culminate in sex and no attachments.  I kid, I kid. It's all about the long walks) and I have this here blog in order to make fun of people I don't like, possibly by drawing cocaine and other shit all over their faces in Microsoft Paint. 

No, not really. I'll leave that to the professionals.

This blog is however going to allow me a place to randomly write or type, which ever you prefer, about a whole range of things that cross my mind.

I'm currently at University, in my third and final year, at the University of Westminster, ironically located not in Westminster but Harrow. I study the Film and TV Production course and, though I'm at the end of the course, there has been plenty to bitch about. Though I doubt I'll do so now, maybe if you're lucky. Y'know, say your prayers and take your vitamins, etc, etc. This is why the title of this blog is the apt "Tales of A Wannabe Film Maker". 

Right now I'm in the early stages of thinking about putting together a project to film, a project that I wrote and that wasn't chosen to be made by my Uni (at least by the tutors, everyone I've talked to seemed to 'love it'. Though they could just be being nice to me.) A lot of people, whose opinions I trust, have told me it's great, so I may just make it whilst I have the opportunity to use the Uni's equipment. You heard it here first, check back and I'll be sure to keep you up to date on everything. 

Other than that I'm prepping for my first ever gig with my band, the newsagents. I'm pretty excited for it, I've never performed in front of a crowd like this before with my music and we're not even at the bottom of the bill! It's at the Lark in the Park pub in Islington on the 16th Feb. I mean, we go from not having practiced for 5+ months to not having practiced for 5+ months with a gig in less that (at the time) a few weeks. Now even sooner! 6 songs consisting of 3 originals and 3 covers, should be fun. Considering our style of 'melodic', believe me I use the term loosely, punk rock we're going to stand out like an STD infected dick, every other band on the bill is as indie as can be. It's going to be interesting, for better or worse.

So, that kinda wraps this up for now. I'll post again when I can and, importantly, when I have something to talk about. Don't be surprised if you find totally random posts where I talk about a movie or a gig or whatever. Then again, that's part of the fun of blogs, right?

Oh, btw. I'm in the process of reading Robert Kirkman's phenomenal 'The Walking Dead' series, if you're in the slightest bit interested in zombies, comics or just a damn good story, then pick it up. 

See? Beautifully random.

The first blog is always kind've hard, somewhat of a stepping stone, as you try to introduce yourself and endear yourself to whoever is taking the time out of their day to read. So, thanks. I hope that you come back and check out any updates I post in the future. Feel free to leave comments, feedback, etc...unless it's negative. In which case it will be promptly deleted and forever ignored. NAH, I'm joking. Kinda. Maybe. Sort of. Not really. Or at all. 

Steve.