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  • Breakfast in the Ruins

    Meant to blog about this in my previous entry – but better late than never…

    One of the unavoidable and inevitable things about coming back to the place where you grew up is the way things have changed. Cornwall doesn’t change much – and there are plenty of places here that are still identical in every respect – but there are also plenty of differences, especially since I haven’t really spent an extended period of time down here for a number of years (the month when I was writing and house-sitting in 2006 doesn’t count, as I barely went out!) It’s always a bit odd spotting the changes, or seeing a building and saying “I don’t remember that being there…” but nothing quite prepared me for what’s happened to the ‘Old Site’ of Pool School, my old secondary school.

    A brief explanation – when I attended it (from 1985-1990), Pool School was divided up into two sites on opposite sides of one of the main roads in Pool. There was the ‘New Site’, a sprawling bit of late Sixties concrete that housed the 3rd-5th years (and the majority of the classrooms), and there was the ‘Old Site’, which consisted of a building which had (if memory serves me correctly) originally been the main school, along with a whole collection of Portacabins and small buildings, and this housed the 1st and 2nd years. There was quite a lot there, and I can remember it being a busy and thriving place, even if it was somewhat restrictive, and it was a bit of a relief when I finally ‘graduated’ to the third year and only made occasional journeys back.

    Now, there’s been lots of changes in Pool – last time I was down, Tris and I had a wander around Cornwall College, and I was somewhat shocked to find that the Humanities block (one of the main locations for my video project The Alchemist) wasn’t there anymore, so I’m used to the idea that stuff is going to be different. But the Old Site… well, Tris offered me the chance to have a look, so I wandered up there, expecting it to be pretty changed – and it wasn’t so much the fact that the Site was gone, it’s the fact that there isn’t any proof that it was even there in the first place! The main building is still there, but the rest of the buildings are all gone without trace, and the whole thing is now owned by a development company and is standing empty for the moment. It’s ended up massively overgrown, with plants covering the site, and it’s genuinely eerie to walk along in a place where I spent so much time years ago, and have it feel like (as Tris described rather accurately) something from Planet of the Apes, like we’d just wandered into a post-apocalyptic landscape.

    If I’d been sensible, I’d have gotten some photos (the idea didn’t occur to either of us, and Tris’ camera was back in the car). Nonetheless, it’s a sight that’s going to stick with me for a while – and probably the scariest evidence yet that however much I might want to avoid it, time is going to continue marching on…

  • Ninety-Three Million Miles from the Sun

    Monday evening. I’m parked on the bed in the guest room at Dad’s house in Cornwall, and so far it’s been a very nice break. I ended up having a birthday weekend, of sorts – my actual birthday on Friday was fairly quiet (but very nice), while my sister, her husband and her son came down and stayed the night on Saturday, and then on Sunday I met up with Tris for the latest in our long run of bizarre photoshoots. Sadly, thanks to the terminally unpredictable weather, we ended up with grey and glowering skies and occasional spots of rain, which was far from ideal photography weather, and the both of us were a bit tired, so we ended up drawing things to a close mid-evening instead of the somewhat epic night-shoot we’d originally planned. Some good shots were created, nontheless, and it’s always a huge amount of fun to see Tris.

    And also, had a massive number of people wishing me happy birthday, and each one made me extremely happy.

    Received various presents – including a small mountain of Doctor Who DVDs, which I’m currently exploring (and will be writing about at length fairly soon, for certain…), and am endeavouring to make sure that I’m actually having a decent break. It’s good to be down in Cornwall – Dad’s actually aiming to move at some point in the next eighteen months or so, and may be going as far afield as Scotland, so my days of having an always-available bolt-hole in Cornwall may be coming to an end. But, I’m going to enjoy all the time I spend down here, while also remembering that although it’s lovely to go back to the places where I grew up, there’s still way too many places that I haven’t been. And sometime, I’m going to have to start doing something about that…

  • Thirtysomething

    In just over forty minutes, I’m going to cross the barrier into being 35.

    Gulp.

    I’m spending my birthday down in Cornwall, staying with my Dad. Relaxation, reading, walks on the cliff, and an upcoming day of photo adventure with my friend Tris.

    There have been plenty of points recently where I’ve been down, or depressed, or lonely. I may lack confidence in myself. But I’m not going to let that stop me.

    Being 33 was rough. Being 34 was even rougher.

    I’m aiming to make 35 a whole lot more fun.

  • Hang Down Your Head

    Warning: Downbeat content. Do not read further without consulting your Doctor.

  • Genesis

    Sunday night. The start of another week, and once again what I’ve got to look forward to is a severe dose of proofreading. I’ve got a pretty major chunk of proofing to get out of the way – it’ll get done, but the result is that it’s going to be a week of intensive routine, which aren’t often weeks that make me excessively happy. The one thing I am attempting to make certain is that I get plenty of writing done. It’s nice to get to the end of the day and remind myself that I’ve actually acheived something more than the appointed “keeping myself in food and comics” tasks. The project I’m working on at the moment is starting to come together, or is at least evolving in my head in an interesting fashion, to the extent that I really wish I could get a completely clear week so I could sit down and do nothing but work on it. At present, this isn’t a possibility, so it’s just trying to cram everything in to as small a space – and I may be able to get some done on holiday, as I’m disappearing off to Cornwall next week. There shall be relaxation, there shall be walks in the country – and all things being well, there shall also be another photo session with Tris, in a slightly more experimental vibe.

    But there’s this week to get through. And at least I’ve got a ton of stuff to watch, including a new haul of Classic Who DVDs for £3 at Fopp. For now, a little more sorting out stuff before bed. Monday morning is a little too close for comfort…

  • Erm… hello? Is this thing on?

    Good gracious. The massed network attack that’s been hitting Livejournal for the last few days seems to have ceased. It’s actually quite bizarre being able to access this and read my friend page again. Anyhow, no massive news (other than lots of proofreading), but there’ll be a more detailed post in the next day or so. I’m off to watch some Classic Who DVDs I was once again able to pick up from budget discount store Fopp. Ah, nostalgia…

  • Stuck on Repeat

    So, I had a weekend in London. What happenned? There was action. There was drunkenness. There was a fantastic night out with friends. There was some of the most delicious Chinese food I’ve had in my life. There was a visit to Essex. There was plenty of exchange voucher action. There was an evening with the frankly incomprable Mr David Devereux. There was a two-and-a-half hour walk back across the wilds of North London in the middle of the night thanks to engineering works on the Tube and the lack of a decent Rail Replacement Service. And above all, there was plenty of socialisation and fun, which has left me blinking somewhat in the aftermath, and reacclimatising myself back to a world where I spend most of my time on my own. I’ve also come to the realisation that about 80% of the TV I’ve been watching is either made by HBO or the kind of stuff HBO would have no problems about showing, meaning that I’ve been somewhat in need of fun (I like The Shield, but the first two episodes of the second season left me feeling like I’d been punched in the stomach, and I know it’s only likely to get more extreme…) and have taken shelter in the simple joys of season 3 of Monty Python’s Flying Circus (god bless Fopp and their £3 offers).

    So I’m back, in the right frame of mind, and working on a new project. My main aim is to just get myself writing consistently. If I can do that, I’ll be able to feel like I’m going about things the right way. I’ve chosen my project, and I’m sticking with it until it’s done, no matter how hard it gets.

    I’m flirting with the idea of going to the SFX Weekender next February – and I have the extra advantage of getting 15% off admission thanks to being an SFX freelancer. Although I do have the problem that I can’t go on my own (Well, I could, but it would be absurdly expensive – there are no single tickets available. It’s for sharing groups of 2 and above…). Anyone out there like the idea of coming along?

    A friend of mine has also proudly announced (in a slightly Braveheart, “Come on lads!” stylee) that he’s going to the San Diego Comic-Con next year. And I’m ever so tempted to say that I’ll join him. It’s certainly something I’d like to at least do once – and if I was ever to do a convention on another continent, I’d rather go to one where the Geek-Out levels would be at optimum for me (frankly, bugger the movie-related stuff – the chance for Comic related geeking out is still epic there).

    I’ve also discovered some absolutely hilarious annotations to a truly appalling comics adaptation of Laurel K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. The only downside is that they’re in reverse chronological order, which results in a bit of brain-melting if you’re reading them all in one go,but they’re truly funny stuff that deserves a look.

    There’s a truly massive (and really expensive) Strangers in Paradise omnibus coming out. Truly, my love of gorgeously packaged comic books is one day going to get me into big trouble…

    A fantastically odd trailer for the new Coen Brothers movie, A Serious Man.

    Gracious. Too many links. Must go and lie down at once…

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  • 24 Frames Per Second

    Some film related thoughts. Fear the spoilers…

    Moon, Public Enemies, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

  • Tron: Legacy

    Just for some additional eye-candy, here’s some footage that was originally shown last year at Comic-Con, I suspect simply to cause a splash and gauge reaction. No surprises, reaction was pretty massive, with the end result being that a sequel to Tron, of all things, is happening – Tron: Legacy is currently being shot, and is scheduled for release sometime in 2010. Jeff Bridges is appearing, which is at least a relatively promising sign, and the concept footage for Tron: Legacy has now been released in official, spangly Quicktime rather than the rough camcorder captures that were available on Youtube. It’s gorgeous stuff (watch it in the highest resolution you can muster) – and my only real issue is that it does seem to make things in the ‘game world’ a little bit too real, missing out on some of the cool abstractness that’s made the bizarre style of Tron so groovy over the years. However, it’s certainly enough to get me very intrigued as to what the final result is – it’ll be eye candy, but (especially in 3-D) it could be very, very cool eye candy…

  • TV EYE: The Prisoner (Redux)

    There are few projects guaranteed to raise my hackles as much as a Prisoner remake. Just below Who, The Prisoner was one of the shows that defined my childhood and my teenage years, and which raised my general level of weirdness tolerances to all new levels. I’ve already talked here in the wake of Patrick McGoohan’s death about how much I loved the series – it’s a fascinating piece of television, flawed and creaky in parts and yet hugely ambitious and wildly experimental, both of its time and weirdly universal in a way that very few television programs have ever managed. There have been threatened movie versions – indeed, the movie rights are currently in the hands of Christopher Nolan, a filmmaker who (despite his occasional flaws and excesses) does have the chops to make something potentially good out of the idea – but before that, we’re getting a six-part TV miniseries that will (if memory serves me correctly) be screening here on Sky One sometime later this year. Filmed in South Africa and starring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellan, it’s gradually going into publicity mode – there was a panel at Comic-Con, but – more interestingly – a 9 minute ‘highlights reel’ that gives some major indications (and at least a handful of spoilers) as to what we’ll be seeing:

    My verdict? I’m not blown away, but I am intrigued. I already knew that they were avoiding a good proportion of the original series iconography, and I’ll be willing to bet that whatever ending they go for, it won’t be the whacked-out lunacy that featured in the original’s finale. Also, as an international co-production, a good deal of the quaint Englishness has been dropped for a more transatlantic flavour (It does sound utterly wrong for people in American accents to be saying “Be Seeing You!” (Or, as the actor in the reel says it, “Be Seeing Ya!”)), the ‘Number’ in everyone’s name has been dropped (The main character is now simply ‘Six’), and having been shot in South Africa, this is a very different visual proposition to Portmerion. There is, however, some enjoyably sinister stuff here – it does look like at least some of their attempts to capture the spirit of the original have been succesful, there’s a few trippy-looking corridor shots that could have come straight out of the 1967 series, and there’s at least a couple of shots that had my inner geek leaping with delight. There are some less effective moments here – the brief scenes that directly reference the original episodes actually come off the worst (especially the map scene in the Village shop, and the very unwise decision to have Caviezel saying “I am not a number, I am a free man” in a somewhat wet manner that gets nowhere near McGoohan’s iconic yell), the dialogue isn’t exactly amazing, and it does look possible that it could be way too serious for its own good (the best of the original show does have a very unsettling sense of anarchy and humour to it). Certainly, the one absolute winner it’s got on its side is Ian McKellan, who seems to be having a whale of a time, and is about the most ideal candidate for the role of Number Two (or ‘Two’, here) that I can think of. Whatever happens, he’s certainly going to be watchable – and I’m reserving judgement on Jim Caviezel until I’ve seen more of him. I’m not totally convinced by his performance in some of the clips here – but then, he’s going up against Patrick McGoohan’s absolutely bloody amazing intensity, which would leave most actors looking wishy-washy. Overall, I’m interested to see what they’ve done – like most remakes, I very much doubt this will top the 1967 show’s best moments, but from the looks of things it’s at least going to be worth watching, and doesn’t look like it’s going to completely dishonour the memory or repuation of the original.

    Of course, after transmission I could be thinking something very different. Only time will tell…

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