Back home, and feeling better. We had a fantastic talk with George’s Mum this morning about business related stuff (we’re trying to combine our finances), and now we’re back in London. Ten minutes after we arrived (despite a delay on the underground), the heavens opened and now there’s a severe thunderstorm going down outside. What I like to call “good timing.”

We’re now having a nice evening in, and I’ve just had a hot chocolate so life doesn’t get much better than this. I did have a good time, despite my slightly miserabilist bent in the last entry- the highlight was probably managing to use my facility with weird voices to make my niece Minty laugh so much she almost had difficulty breathing. And, it’s good to get out of London.

The next few days are going to be kinda intense. Lots to do…

Moods are strange things. The week has been odd so far- with most of the last few days taken up with non-stop travelling. I’m down staying with George’s parents, but I feel a bit discombobulated from reality at the moment. Again, I’ve said yes to a piece of work which means a rather scary amount of work for the next few days, and again, I’m looking myself in the mirror and wondering why I do this to myself. It’ll be nice to be somewhere and just stop- both George and I have barely stood still for the past few days, and we both seem to be sparking off each other in weird ways as a result. It always feels horrible when we do, and I know there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s like a beautiful mathematical formula that suddenly just refuses to fit together and causes a worrying mess on the page. I know we’ll be fine, it’s just been a bit worrying, and I don’t know if either of us are actually getting enough sleep. And tonight (Matthew…) we’ll be sleeping on an airbed, which should tell you all you need to know about how much sleep we’re likely to be getting.

I’m also going through weird phases of being terribly scared about stuff. I went to the doctor on monday about a condition which I think is stress related, and it always seems that everywhere you look there’s stuff to be absolutely terrified of. I never used to be quite such a nervous wreck. I think I need just a small break- enough to catch my breath, and relax.

Not feeling good, and some RSI-related aches in my fingers aren’t helping as I type this. Hopefully will be feeling better soon. I bounce back well.

Back from the wedding. Tired, sweaty but alive, and we had a great time. We rounded the evening off by dancing to “Do You Want To” by Franz Ferdinand, and actually got a round of applause at the end. Hurrah!

It was great seeing Tris again and helping out on such an important day- I was cameraman, getting lots of (attempted) sweeping tracking shots, and trying my best to capture some memorable moments without disintergrating into Blair Witch-style shakycam. George was also on hand, snapping away like a professional, and there was good food and a multitude of sweets.

Also strange seeing some of “the Gang” who I haven’t seen for a very long time. Dave Simpson is fairly different, wheras Viv hasn’t changed at all (except for some grey hairs, but I could almost suspect he’s just faking them to protect his true Dorian Grey-like nature).

It was also weird being at someone else’s wedding- witnessing a lot of what happenned to me and George last year, but from the other side. Strange but illuminating.

George has also been giving various English language criticisms over my shoulder for the past few minutes, so I’m going to hand over to her for a few moments so she can dazzle you with her wits. Or something.

Well, after listening to every single thing he has written for the last 4 years, checking for grammatical errors, how can he now expect me to hold my tongue? Besides, now that he’s left the room, instead of Dazzling you all with my wit, I’ve gone back through his previous typings and ammended as I see fit. Also, I do want to make it clear that during the third last of our requests we had the joy of the dancefloor solely to ourselves. Bravo us!

After much journeying across the wilds of England, I’m now back in Cornwall for my friend Tristan’s wedding. I’m also discovering the delights of the Wireless network my Dad has, and this new USB adaptor I got recently that has freed up plenty of possibilities with my laptop. It’s only a flying visit- we’re back up to London tomorrow, and today is going to be slightly odd.

The reason for this is that I’m going to be encountering lots of people from school and college that I really haven’t seen that much in the last ten years. I always feel weird about encountering people from my past- or, more precisely, encountering people whose last memory of me is the way I was ten or so years ago, and most defintely not the way I am now. To be honest, I think today is definitely going to have a Grosse Pointe Blank feel to it- although, unfortunately, most of them are going to know what I do, so I can’t get away with pretending to be a professional killer. Damn.

Work is still frenetic, weird and busy. I’ve just landed a gigantic article on Movie Openings and Movie Endings (Top 25 of Each), and I’ve gotta get to work on it as soon as possible.

My Dad has also revived his seemingly unstoppable obsession to track down the TV adaptation of a novel called Clochmerle, all about a french village getting (Shock, horror) a public toilet. You would not believe the lengths he has gone to, and I’ve vaguely agreed to try and help him just on the understanding that he never, ever, ever brings it up again. Something tells me this won’t be the end…

The flat is now tidy, after the mass cleaning we did last week for the party- and it’s so nice. We’re both instinctively messy people, George and I, so having a clear and uncluttered frontroom is nothing short of a marvel.

I’ve also seen the fourth episode of the new season of Lost. That show just keeps on getting better and better.

Off to the wedding. More soon!

We held our first flat party on Saturday night. Calling it a “housewarming” after sixteen months might be pushing it a bit, and it was also a fantastic motivation to finally sort out all those annoying little clearing up jobs that we’d both been putting off for ages. Anyway, after a considerable amount of stress, vacuuming, cleaning, sorting and tidying, everything was in place. As is always the way, a proportion of the people we invited didn’t turn up, but we actually ended up with a good turnout and almost exactly the right number of people for the amount of room we had.

And how did it all go? Well, one person threw up, and two people stayed for a lot longer than they’d originally intended simply because they were having loads of fun. Which I guess is a promising sign. We’ll definitely be having another, and hopefully it won’t take another sixteen months…

Elsewhere, things are going well. Tris’s wedding is this weekend, and I’m doing the video. I’m also thankful that George is going to be there as the whole ‘gang’ of people who I used to hang out with a long long time ago will be there too. I was never an official part of the ‘gang’- more of an unofficial satellite- and meeting them again is going to be very, very, very strange.

The mountain of work (which has been generally meaning I haven’t wanted to sit in front of this computer for more than necessary, hence the infrequent updates) has eased off a little, but the London Film Festival pre-screenings have swung into action to compensate. Lots of films, not much fun. Last week seemed to mainly consist of lots of miserabilist movies about social injustice and grubby sex (Where’s the fun sex? Why does cinematic sex at the moment always have to be arty, highbrow, and apparently as enjoyable as being dipped in cement?). Then, I saw Neil Jordan’s Breakfast On Pluto, which was wonderful- witty, warm and utterly loony, with a fantastic central performance from Cillian Murphy.

George and I played co-operative Halo 2 on the Xbox last night. It was a sinful amount of fun.

The Weekend starts here…

Just got a few minutes before I accompany George into town. She’s been a bit poorly, and it’s always a bit worrying when this happens- she generally has the constitution of an ox, but when she gets ill it flattens her for a day or so, and combined with that she’s allergic to 70% of available painkillers. Hopefully it’s all going to work out okay, and I’ve got some stuff to sort out, including shopping for Chinese-related food and checking my PO box.

The last week has, again, been nothing but work. I really don’t know which weird god I’ve accidentally prayed to (or offended). It’s cool, but now I get the chance to have a little break. There’s still a couple of things that need to be done this weekend, but compared with most of the last four weeks and the general “How can I fit doing five reviews into the next six hours?” ambience, it’ll be pretty relaxing.

I’ve got a whole gigantic pile of comic-related Ebaying to do. The money I’ve raised so far was going to be going on Graphic Novels, but is instead going on buying Stevie’s Xbox and a whole pile of games.

I’m very, very behind on my writing. And I don’t want to be.

A quick link to a video that you might enjoy. Trailers on the internet come in many shapes and sizes…

Here’s an alternate cut of an old favourite:

The Shining – Redux

(When you get to the page, click on the “Shining Redux” link and the video will play!)

Yesterday, I found out what it’s like to be transformed into somebody else. My friend Stevie, who’s a top level make-up and creature effects designer (and who’s soon going to be moving to LA to work) has wanted to do a test make-up on me for ages. We did a life cast a few months ago, where I got to have my entire head encased in plaster of paris and that weird stuff that dentists use to take a cast of your teeth. And yesterday, after a sleepless night and a major stomach upset, I left the house at 7.30am to go and be transformed into what could safely be described as a “weird, gold-looking and slightly aristocratic robot”.

The photo studio was one that Stevie had gotten via his connections at The Sun (he did a few prosthetic related things for them), and we even had a photographer for the day. It was lots of sitting in a chair, for the most part, and watching myself be gradually changed into something completely different. Once the thing was on, it was kinda weird- like having your head wrapped in a very tight, very warm hood. It was peerfectly copable, though, and if I’d gotten a decent night’s sleep the previous night, I would have been fine. Looking in the mirror and finding somebody else staring back is very strange. Then, there were lots of pictures taken, and I accidentally ended up doing a “coy” pose for most of the afternoon. Then, removal- which was ridiculously easy thanks to the way Stevie had designed it. The man knows his stuff, and to be honest, I think he’ll rock their asses off in America.

I can’t post pictures at the moment- but when I have them, I’ll put links up to them. (I’m still on a free acount here, so no funky pictorial action from Sax. Yet.)

Just finishing my first round of selling on Ebay, and everything seems to have gotten to everybody okay- except for one bloke who still hasn’t responded or sent me any money. Grrr. Going to do more soon, but at the moment I’m more concerned with getting my major workload caught up. I actually turned down some more work- which I’ve had a few worries over, but I’m determined to not let get to me. Instead, I’m going to try and keep the momentum going, and see how far I can get.

Also saw the first episode of the second season of Lost on Friday- and, oh boy, it’s fantastic. Several moments had me going “No!!!!!!!!!!!!” and “What the hell was that?!?!?!?” and various other exclamations. I keep worrying about it ‘jumping the shark’ in the way that Alias did in its second season (The episode often referred to in American circles as the “Superbowl episode with Jennifer Garner dressed as a hooker”- thought by many to be a classic, but for me it was where the whole show fell apart), but to be honest, at the moment it’s better than Alias ever was, and if they can just keep the balance of mystery and character right, it’ll stay fantastic. What with this and the absolutely storming second season of Battlestar Galactica, the idea of trying to get excited over the upcoming second series of the new Doctor Who is… well…. rather difficult.

There’s work to be done, and I’ve gotta go do it…

Haringey Borough Council, how do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways…

After a whole year of bureacratic hoop jumping, delays and confusion, it turns out that despite giving George over £4,000 of benefit, apparently somebody didn’t do their job properly and George shouldn’t have gotten anything. So they’d like it all back now, please.

I am so glad I’ve never had to depend on benefits. The closest I came was signing on when I got to London- and getting a job the same day so that I had to immediately sign off again! Ever since then, I’ve walked away from a whole number of jobs, but with a full-scale “I WILL NOT GIVE IN!” feeling. And somehow, it’s worked. Often, my life feels like a succession of very happy accidents, and I’m not quite sure how I keep things on an even keel. But I do.

Still ridiculously busy, to the extent that I’m actually having to turn work down, which defies description, to be honest. Waiting for a moment when I’m going to be able to draw breath without having an insane amount to do, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be coming any time soon…

Okay- it’s a gag that only the film literate will get, but it made me laugh anyway…

Just so you know- Joint Security Area is a Korean thriller all about the border between North and South Korea, directed by the same guy who made Oldboy. A remake, set on the Mexico/US border (which, hey, is like… nothing at all like Korea…) is being developed.

From the AICN-Down Under section of Aint It Cool News:

– The makers of the upcoming US/Mexican border-set JOINT SECURITY AREA remake announce a remake of THE GREAT DICTATOR, to be set in Florida