Resolution

Happy New Year!

I've been wanting to blog for a while now. I've rather fallen out of love with Twitter, I don't know why really, and I guess I've been missing the experience of venting my brain into cyberspace. I still think Twitter is A Good Thing, and really important, but I've been struggling to get back into tweeting, or even reading tweets. 

And anyway it's time the blog got some love. I miss that old blog camaraderie. So few people seem to comment on blogs now. It would be really cool to have some interaction on the here so if you read something you like, or something you hate, or whatever, then drop a comment please and we'll pass the time o'day. 

I'm going to aim to spew up a new post at least once a week. Might be about writing, or telly, or what I had for breakfast (cheese on toast). I really just want to get into a routine. It's a part of a 2014 relaunch strategy I've come up with because it's not just the blog that's been idle for a year. 

I've quite unintentionally taken a little over a year off from writing. I didn't want or mean to but there have been so many things going on in our lives that I've found it impossible to get any coherent work done. There was half a short story in February. Some script pitch busking in the last few months. Otherwise nowt.

So what were the distractions? Many and varied. Minor health issues, commitments, dayjob stuff, poor time management, moving house, and sometimes (for me at least) I think the less free time you have the less effectively you use it. I didn't find time to write but I have managed to complete sixty odd percent of GTA V. *ashamed face*

As a result of this lack of material I'm even missing Red Planet cos I have nothing ready that they've not already seen. That's a wake up call. I bloody love Red Planet. (in the wildly unlikely event that you don't know what I'm on about then go here or listen to this (you still have six days to enter your first ten pages)). 

Anyway, phase one (or January) of my 2014 Relaunch plan involves me coming out of the month having sat at my desk and worked at least three times every week. A modest ambition, surely? I'll keep you posted. 

Has anyone else got a January target they'd like to share with both my readers?

Five Years

It's five years this month since I started this blog so I thought I'd better squeeze out a commemorative post.


This is it.


I might post something of more substance soon but for the mean time here's one of my very favourite David Bowie songs...

Gah, my eyes! *UPDATED*

I don't like to blog about blogging but...

I recently saw someone on Twitter say something to the effect of "Gee whizz, I hate when blogs have white writing on a black background, that really makes my eyeballs ache. :("

So obviously I thought, "OMG!!! That's exactly what my blog looks like!!! :(((((" So I resolved to take action. Of course when I went to look at changing the design of the blog I discovered those nice new blogger templates and woo - you can change the width of columns and - oh hey you can have three columns now, wow!

By the time I was done I had a lovely new look blog with, yes that's right, white writing on a black background.

It's not that I didn't try other looks. I tried kind of a notepaper type background and some blue print. I even thought, "hey I'll handwrite a new blog header on notepaper, it'll look coool :)" (even though I'm immodestly proud of my long-standing island of Dreams header), but when it came down to it the old girl just didn't look right to me. I mean you can't get more high contrast than black and white, right?

In the interests of democracy I thought I'd solicit some opinions, so what do you think? I mean, that's if anybody reads the actual blog rather than just the feed on google reader? If you have a thought then let me know. I've put a poll in the sidebar (on the left, at the top, above my stupid face) and you get a vote - Keep the look as is or change it to something less eye-straining. You only have until the end of the month to vote though, m'kay?

'Course, if you do want it changed I'd appreciate suggestions via comments please. Likewise if you have any other feelings about content let me know. Maybe you miss my reviews and occasional ill-conceived rants about television, or want to hear about my adventures in parenthood, or maybe you just wish I'd shut my damn neck.

***UPDATE (7th August, 2010)***

Many thanks to all who voted in the poll. The results were 75% in favour of keeping the old white on black colour scheme. So obviously I decided to change it. Rather than being purely down to my contrary nature this was because:

a) I had come up with a cool idea for a new banner.

b) I grudgingly admitted to myself that if anyone was finding it hard to read the blog, even only 25% of visitors, then the best course of action was probably to make it easier on the eye.

c) I do have quite a contrary nature.

A Proclamation

Although I’ve mentioned this elsewhere already I haven’t really properly announced it. I don't want to make a big fuss but as it’s likely to come up quite a lot in the future – and for the rest of my life - it’s time I made some sort of proclamation...

My lovely wife and I are expecting our first child in a little over seven weeks. We're very excited and so far all is very well indeed with Mother and child. The baby can certainly kick and seems to enjoy listening to us reading Thomas the Tank Engine and The Gruffalo. There has also been some indication that our imminent child favours the works of Rage Against the Machine and Radiohead. Should fit in just fine then.

Here are some pics...

A warning to others...

This is a desktop Henry the Hoover.

This is a Dyson.






One of these is useful for getting the dust, dead skin cells and bits of chilli heatwave doritos out from between your laptop keys. One is not.

Use the wrong one and your laptop will end up looking like this;


Although to be honest there isn't really any point going through the tightly wound knots of dust, human hair and spiders-which-fell-prey-to-your-wife looking for the 'k' key as the retainer will be lost forever. And the sellotape look is so not chic. Save yourself the trouble and buy one of these;

Better yet, don't use a dyson to hoover your laptop keyboard.

Snow is falling

Here's the view from the sanctum right now. That's fresh snow falling in case you can't tell. Just when I'd started thinking we were in the clear!

The 7.10 to Euston

I had resolved not to post until the end of the month but find myself on the train with very little to do. If only I had an Asus! On the plus side I do have access to email and therefore you! No pretty pictures today though sorry.



Haven't posted a proper update in about a month so what the hell have I been doing? Well...



As work (the bill paying kind) tends to gear up going into Christmas I expected not to get much writing done. In fact I wrote December off altogether and concentrated instead on catching up on some reading and viewing.



Christmas was lovely. Our first in our new house, our first where we didn't have to dash up/down the motorway on Christmas eve, our first with Nyssa. Of course it was all over a little quick, even with my generous five days off. Before you know it the decorations are coming down and you're wondering why you spend so much longer preparing for Christmas than enjoying it...



New Years aren't really our thing so it was a quiet one. Particularly quiet as Emma went to bed poorly which left Nyssa and I to see in 2009 on our own. We celebrated via GTA IV (actually I thought the code crunchers might have put some fireworks in for New Year visitors to Liberty City but I was disappointed, perhaps in GTA V!).



I do have some resolutions, and a follow up to last years, but it was a scibosphere resolution frenzy at the start of the month so I'll save mine until the end. Just to be different.



That's enough for now. I'll post properly towards the end of January. Must go as the man is coming for my ticket so I'm afraid I'll have to trap him in a private cabin, strangle him with his tie and haul him out of the window as we pass through a tunnel. Even I can't really be expected to blog as I murder.



"Oh my ticket? Yes certainly, I think I put it over here..."

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Introducing Nyssa

There’s a new arrival at Stickler Hall, her name is Nyssa. On the afternoon of Friday August 8th Emma and I went to meet a cat in foster care with the RSPCA. Emma is on holiday until September and with us just back from our holiday the time seemed right to finally make good on our interest in rehoming a cat.

It feels a horribly shallow thing to pick a cat off of a website from a couple of photos and a potted biography but that’s what we had to do. One cat did stand out to us, though in truth we would probably have homed any of them. So after a telephone interview and a home visit to make sure we didn’t have any cat mangling equipment hidden in a secret laboratory the RSPCA agreed that we were fit to foster a cat. All that remained was for us to meet her, hence our trip to Walsall.

Nyssa was rescued from a third floor flat where something like eleven other cats were living. As far as we’re aware she’s never been abused or neglected, the cats were removed due to complaints from neighbours. We’re told she’s about three years old and has never been outside, although she loves to watch the world go by through the windows. We have to keep her indoors for the first four to six weeks anyway, after that we'll see if she shows an interest in going out and see what happens.

Nyssa was described to us as a timid cat and certainly seemed so in her foster home, which she was sharing with another four cats. She spent the duration of our visit tucked in behind the sofa with one wary eye on us and the other scanning for rival felines. Once we got her into our kitchen it became a different story. She bounded out of her carry case and had a nose around the kitchen. After a couple of quiet hours under the kitchen table she set about exploring the house. She’s friendly and very, very affectionate. We had a few friends over for the weekend and she was quite unfazed by the noise and disruption.

She was given to us with the name Nikki but shows no evidence of answering to it. In fact there was some confusion about whether it was Nikki, Mickey or something else ending in -icky. We decided to come up with a name of our own for her and as you see Nyssa managed to stick where Kenickie, Mr Bennett and Mouse failed.

It’s been ten days since we brought Nyssa into our home and already it’s impossible to imagine it without her. Her favourite spots are on the back of the sofa, in the kitchen window and under our bed. She may like running up and down the stairs mewling at three o’clock in the morning but then I’m sure some of our habits must seem odd to her too. I guess it’s just a matter of getting used to each other, she certainly seems to be settling in...

Sick Note

Two months? How did that happen! OK, so what have I been up to…

Got a cat – I’ll come back to that.

Had a holiday – yeah, an all inclusive sun chaser in Marmaris, Turkey. Our first holiday for nearly two years and just what the Doctor ordered. Sadly just a memory now though. There are some photos in the ‘lens jockey’ box to the right so keep an eye out.

Not had much sleep due to cat – I’ll come back to that too.

Caught the dreaded lurgee. Why does being ill always seem like more fun than it is? When I was a kid it meant sitting in my PJ’s all day watching Doctor Who and eating satsuma’s – a bit like Christmas. Had a long weekend and Sunday night I was feeling pretty crappy. I’ll see how I feel in the morning I thought (I don’t take time off work lightly). Sure enough in the morning I felt like crap (the cat didn’t help on this front I should note) so I called my boss and told him I wouldn’t be in. It’s not all bad – I thought – I’ll do some work; after all I’m always complaining that I don’t have enough time. Four hours of kids TV later (hey – that new animated Batman is ok!) I’m still sitting on the sofa in my dressing gown.

It’s sick day two now, feeling a bit better but eyes still streaming and such like. Yuk. Another day of recuperation and I’ll be back to work I think, both at the day job and the important stuff.

Grindstone time

I didn’t come here to blog, if blog really is a verb now, but to work. It’s difficult to settle down to work after so long a break though. The mind wanders...

Emma and I have finally moved into our new home in Sedgley. I have some lovely photos to post but there’s a USB lead with a tiny little connector somewhere in this house and until I can locate it no more of my stunning photies will be appearing on these pages. Of course I could google ‘house’ for images and post a picture of someone else’s house, it would probably be similar after all.

Actually it would be even easier for me if you could just look out of your nearest window, go on. See a house? No? Ok, nip out of your front door and look over your shoulder. House? Bingo (pun intended, and really quite witty I think). My house looks a bit like that (unless you live in a mansion, a motor home, a flat, under a rock, in a castle, cave, hole in the ground, canal barge, hollowed-out tree, caravan, forest, space station, Lada, tree house, farm house, hen house, poor house or outhouse).

The no pictures scenario is quite a bummer as my favourite bit of my house is the writey room. I used to have a desk (illustrated here) in my old house in Cardiff but have been sans surface since last August. Now I have a whole room. Wow. Actually it does also contain all my – shall we say – geeky stuff. Most of it anyhoo. But you’ll see when I find that pesky lead.

Due to the house moving process and major upheavals of last year I haven’t done any proper work for quite some time now, I have a few projects to get straight on with or finish off and then the rest of this year is going to be devoted to building my portfolio. I’ve got an ace short film script I’m halfway through, a script for a challenge that I think may turn out to be good enough to form the long awaited (by no-one but me really) BBC Writers Room follow up, and of course Hitman, which I got into a pickle with and now just need to kiss off, so to speak.

Step one, though, is getting into a routine. I’d say back into a routine but I’m not a liar. I’ve always been a binge writer but I can’t work that way anymore, got to do the Rocky thing now (cue music), train up, work hard and get fit – only in a writing sense.

So I’d best crack on…

Back in (the) Black (country)...

We moved out of our house in Worcester last Thursday and are now staying with my endlessly obliging in-laws until we are able to move into our new home in Sedgley. Assuming, that is, that we are able to move in there. The last few days have seen a flurry of calls from my solicitor as we go into 'mad panic' mode and attempt to exchange.

Should there be no further contretemps we should exchange on Monday and complete in just two weeks.

If anyone was in any doubt I can confirm that buying a house is not the sort of thing I was put upon the earth to do. When I was created I'm sure the Flying Spaghetti Monster was thinking more about who was going to listen to beautiful music, read books, smell flowers and think pretty thoughts, than who would take care of buying houses, using urinals, queueing at Tesco's and breaking down on the M5. It's one of those things that reduces you back to how you felt in school when you realised that you just weren't like everyone else. If you're me, which you are probably not.

Sedgley promises to be a lovely home. Set on high ground, for the Midlands at least, it's prone to fog and to snow. Being situated next to some woods and fields should ensure a plentiful supply of both in addition to great opportunities for walks and photos. There are also a number of small villages nearby ready to be explored and pub lunched, and Wolverhampton just down the road for all city needs (special mention for the splendid Forbidden Planet).

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There is no writing going on. I'm sure that some writers can thrive in writing during stressful periods but not me, as soon as I try and focus on any scripts or short story ideas my mind turns back to the labyrinthine business of completing this house purchase.

I have not been idle however, as I have been reading a great deal of Neil Gaiman. Currently I'm roaring through Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow, very exciting stuff that makes you wish you were serving in the Roman army two thousand years ago. Perhaps even more so when you're living in a relatives spare room.


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Television wise I'm enjoying The Fixer (a sort of 21st century take on The Professionals), Torchwood (let's hear it for Upper Boat. Still not to be taken too seriously, still sometimes more concerned with style than content but bloody great fun and a massive improvement on the patchy first series), He Kills Coppers (lush 1960's cops & gangsters with the excellent Rafe Spall), and the second series of Gavin & Stacey.

I also finally saw Beowulf which I loved, now why don't they use the same techniques to make a Sláine film?

I regret that I didn't enjoying Ashes to Ashes which I stopped watching two episodes before the end. After weeks of saying 'Am I mad, in a coma, or watching Ashes to Ashes' over the tedious intro. It's a heart breaker because I expected, and wanted to love the show having been a huge fan of Life on Mars. The fact is that if there was a vehicle for the continuing adventures of Gene Hunt Ashes to Ashes was not it. The moment may now have passed.

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Oh, one final thing...

Something's coming...



...but it's at the wrong time. If, like Russell T Davies, you feel that 6.20pm is too early for Doctor Who to start you might like to politely let the BBC know how you feel about it.

Very Superstitious

I'm not normally a superstitious person. Oddly working in IT has made me more wary of tempting fate then I have ever been before. We're in the middle of buying a house at the moment and Emma and I have been stopping ourselves saying 'everything seems to be going ok,' or 'we haven't had any problems so far,' or anything else that providence could possible construe as over confidence.

Fat lot of good that's done us.

We were due to move in a couple of weeks. The timing was perfect, just tying into the end of our current lease. The sellers had already started packing. Now the house that they were buying has been taken off the market. They're back to square one. And we've got nowhere to live after March twentieth. Of course, the in-laws (Gawd bless 'em) will put us up temporarily.

I just hope the sellers can find a new house fairly quickly as I can already picture my little office all kitted out with index cards, desk tidies and a nice big notice board and flip chart. Not to mention our cat, when we get one (keep those name's coming by the way).

Bloody providence. I never even said it was going well. Except maybe once.

It's an update...

I've dumped Opera. I don't feel very good about myself and I'll always be friends with it but I've been seeing another browser for a while now and it's serious...

Anyway, I've finally come round to Firefox, and more significantly Thunderbird and I think you probably should as well. Too many visitors to this site are still using Internet Explorer and they really should know better. I can tell, you know. I can see everything you're doing right now. Yuck.

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Hit a bit of a snag as far as SWF '08 goes. No day tickets this year and a ticket for three days will set me back three monkeys (or something). Bum. The wallet just won't stretch that far when I'm buying a house this month.

But that's ok. I still feel my energies should be going into generating spec scripts and developing my skills. I can always go next year, with a years-worth more work behind me. Hell, I'll be 33 in a couple of months - it's not like I'm against the clock.

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I'm on leave this week so it's binge-writing time, in between bouts of packing and appointments with solicitors. Actually today wasn't a great start. Sat in front of the laptop for ages trying to make something work to no joy before moving on to a different problem. Amusingly the answer came to me hours later while I was doing the dishes.

I'm hoping to get one big project finished this week. It's been hanging around for ages and I really want to clear the decks before moving to our new home - and my new office.

Over at the Jobbing Screenwriter the Barron has been showing off his (very) shiny new desks. I won't be starting off with anything so flash but I'm very excited about having a space to write again. It's six months since I had a desk - never mind an office. I have stolen his notice board system though, don't tell him.

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Elsewhere in the Scribosphere the redoubtable M. Arnopp will be enjoying a screening of his short film what he wrote, Look At Me, in a seedy Soho kinema tomorrow evening. The Island of Dreams is transmitting big blog love in the direction of ole London town and hopes the event is a smashing success. Good show Jase.

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I know the Writers Strike is all sorted now, but does that mean I have to get rid of my little blog badge? I'm pretty fond of it. Maybe I can keep it as a warning to anyone else who fancies playing tough with writers?

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Well, that's it for now. I'll probably chip in later this week with some thoughts on Ashes to Ashes (précis - Started poorly but improving), Being Human (Bring us more of this genre television of which you speak), and of course Torchwood (They don't have any torches, but they've all got wood).

Until then then... then.

Door Jam

Emma and I went out of the house Saturday morning to walk down to town and get some breakfast, Saturdays are still a bit of a novelty to us.

Two metres from the house I realised I hadn't put my specs on. My eyesight isn't that bad but if it's further away fro my hand it's going to be a little blurry. I was intending to raid some second hand book shops so I'd be needing my eyeses.

Pop back to the house and open the door... open the door... open (strain) - nope. The door won't open.

I may have mentioned we've not been too happy in this house. On Saturday the house bit back again. I tried to call the letting agent but just got an answerphone. Just to be safe we decided to walk down to their office and pop in to explain the situation in person.

'We're your tennants from number X on blah st,' we said, 'and we can't get into the house. The lock turns but the door isn't opening.'

'I don't think I can get anyone out to you today.' says the company that manages our home.

'You'll have to get someone out today because we can't get into our house,' says we.

'I know what you're saying but I'm not sure there'll be anyone available today, it's Saturday.'

'Then you'll have to arrange an emergency locksmith,' I suggest.

'Take a seat please,' our handy dandy helper says dismissively.

So we sit. And we listen to the letting agent phone the land lady. The conversation begins with a discussion about who will pay.

'If we call someone out and there's nothing wrong with the lock you'll have to pay.'

'Once we're back in our house and the situation is resolved we can discuss who pays for what,' I reply.

'But if the latch has dropped and the deadlock's on are you happy to pay?' she asks.

'You need to get us into our house,' I say firmly, 'then we can discuss payment.'

'The tenants are fine with paying,' she tells the land lady - still on the phone. Curiously that doesn't seem to match the words that came out of my mouth. Too late it ocurrs to me that if the latch has dropped and the deadlocks on then the locks at fault anyway. I say so helpfully but the letting agent isn't very interested in anything I say unless I say it loudly and slowly like I'm about to rip her eyeballs out of their sockets and stuff them up her nose.

Rather than call out a locksmith, like we asked, they send one of their man-with-a-van's. This works out in our favour though as it turns out there really isn't anything wrong with the lock. The door is so swollen from the damp we've already reported that it's solidly jammed shut. Man-with-a-van has to force his way in and plane a couple of inches off the door to shut it. This is the second time the door has been planed in fortnight. Come July you'll be able to walk into the house without opening the door. At least we won't be here then.

The point of this story is this. I've been renting for over a decade, I've had a lot of land lords and I've dealt with a lot of letting agencies. I don't honestly think I've ever rented from anyone who didn't describe me as an ideal tennant. My current letting agency are without doubt the laziest, most incompetent and overpriced company it has ever been my misfortune to deal with. Their customer service is atrocious and I would warn anyone who reads this never to even consider renting or purchasing a property through them. Only a sense of good form prevents me disclosing the name of the company - though I could probably be convinced. If you're looking for a home in the Worcestershire area drop me a line and I'll let you know.

On the plus side I did find The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and The Making of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on video for 50p at the Cats Protection jumble sale. And The Trouble with Lichen from the bookshop in the market on The Shambles. We're probably going to get a cat when we move. If we can think of a good name. Is Phenomena a good name for a cat?

What's Going On

Time for a brief, but well overdue, update. As previously noted the new year resolutions have not had a particularly life changing effect so far. In fact I've managed to be less productive than I was prior to the new year if anything. No mean feat.

The reason, or the excuse if you're feeling charitable, is that another move looms. Unexpectedly we spotted a likely home over the holiday season and we're in the process of sorting out all the endless gubbins involved in buying a house.

Without intending any offence to the picturesque City of Worcester we will not be staying on in these parts. Whether because it was such a trial finding somewhere to live here, or because the place we found was not really adequate for our purposes I can't say. Whatever the reason we've not been very comfortable during our stay. I think we may be regular visitors in the future however as I am very fond of the Cathedral, the river and The Swan with Two Nicks.

I don't want to jinx the new home so I'll not go into too many details yet. I will reveal that I already have a writey room (or study as I believe more professional persons describe them) earmarked (and a shopping list for kitting it out Cork board - check, multi-coloured post it notes - check, flip chart - check, one of those little basketball hoops to clip on to the bin - check...). This will be a vast improvement on the situation in our current home where I balance the laptop on my knee.

We're not likely to move before April so I've revised my writing objetives somewhat. As long as I complete the one project I've been working on by the time of the move then I'll be happy. I can then start off in the new place with all fresh projects. That'll feel good. I still believe 2008 is going to be a make or break year for me - and I oddly feel more and more positive about the future. In the mean time I've been reading and viewing extensively.

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In other news I've been enjoying some quality drama over the last month. I've watched the first series of Survivors, which has agressively asserted itself amongst my favourite television programmes ever (Abby Grant is my new hero). We've also been watching the first three series of Dad's Army. When a series is repeated so often, and usually the same episodes over and over, it's easy to forget what great scripts they had, and what a brilliant cast they had. I recommend settling in with a Dad's Army DVD as an excellent way to spend an evening and a masterclass in television comedy.

Similarly, having received the complete Blackadder collection for Christmas I scoffed the lot in a couple of weeks (well, apart from Back and Forth. I'm going to leave a bit of a gap before I watch that - about ten years I think). I may not have watched the potato episode for fifteen years but I still remembered every line, to the endless delight of my wife.

The redoubtable Torchwood is back and, as expected, better than last year. If I'm totally honest I found the first episode slightly overcooked but the last two have been very, very good (particularly the one by Mr Moran of this parish). I also guess it should lead straight into series four of Who so yee-harr!

I've also been very much enjoying the second series of Primeval, just as fresh and fun as the first series was, but a bit dafter!

All this and Ashes to Ashes starts next Thursday. Not completely sure it needed to be made but I am sure I'll enjoy it. I certainly like the Radio Times covers!

I'm sure I'll have more to say about Survivors, Torchie and Ashes soon.

Until then...

Sequel Rage

Not the best start to the year in terms of resolutions then. Although for all you know, dear reader, I may have been unable to update these pages due to my incessant scribblings elsewhere. It could be. It isn't, of course. Once again real life has crept up behind me, put it's clammy hands over my eyes, spun me around five times and set me off in a different direction.

In fact I have done some work. I need to quite drastically restructure one script (following advice from the reasonably priced and damn clever Bang2Write script reading service) and have done very well in doing so.

I've also finally started using Final Draft, an event so epoch marking that it could probably be compared to the first caveman hefting a rock in his hand for a moment before bashing his brothers head in. What a fantastically useful tool.

Emma and I are in the middle of sorting something incredibly exciting but which I refuse to talk about here due to my crippling fear of jinxing myself. More on that soon.

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After years of hearing lots of people going on about how bloody marvellous the new Battlestar Galactica was I finally got around to watching the initial miniseries last week. It's excellent, full of interesting characters with complex relationships and hidden agendas.

Incredibly it's hardly about the Cylons or a war between species as much as it's about the last humans struggling to survive near-genocide. Great performances too, especially from Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff. I'll be tracking down the first series imminently.

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On the other hand I finally watched 28 Weeks Later last night and how I wished I hadn't bothered. Oddly Chip seems to have watched it at about the same time and has mentioned pretty much everything that was wrong with it.

The frantic, confused camera work (something which seems to be a feature in almost every new film I watch these days) meant that I was so frustrated at not being able to tell what was going on that I was probably poisoned against the film within the first twenty minutes anyway.

Robert Carlyle's unthinking zombie was a lucky old fella wasn't he? When the army locked up all the survivors (forgetting about the unguarded door at the other end of the room - d'oh!) he managed to find a find a way in. When the US army decided to kill everyone - infected or not - he managed to escape a bullet and even when they napalmed the Isle of Dogs, and not before time, he still eluded death. Oddly his strain of the rage virus made him lurk about staring at his kids a lot when every other infected ever seen could no more stand still than I could resist a bourbon cream to go with a cup of coffee.

There were some good ideas and a few nice scenes that I liked (mainly the section where the two kids escape and go back to their old house) and Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton were compelling as the children; in general though the ham-fisted direction and lack of subtlety rendered the film virtually unwatchable. It's more an insult to 28 Days Later than a sequel.

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That's all for now, dismissed.

Enter 2008... (Stage Right)

Ok, I know I promised a review of Voyage of the Damned, it IS on the way - honest. In the meantime I've compiled my New Years resolutions/challenges.

I didn't have a blog last year so I can't use it to gauge this years achievements. Unfortunately I'd say a lot of the things on this list would have been on it last year too. On the other hand I passed my driving test, changed my career and moved to the Midlands so it wasn't a total loss.

Here is what we want from 2008

• Write daily, establish a routine.
• Complete a clutch of scripts in time for SFW '08 in Cheltenham.
• Make some contacts/promote myself more.
• (Finally) send a follow up script to Writers Room.
• Enter Red Planet '08.
• Send a steady stream of spec scripts to 2000AD.
• Most importantly - get something published or produced somewhere.
• At least one bog update per week - and on a broader range of subjects.
• Maybe a little fiction on the blog now and again?
• Low Carb diet and plenty of regular exercise.
• Possibly create a new website.
• Buy a house.
• Have a proper holiday (like abroad and everything!).
• Organise time so Emma and I have more 'quality' time together.
• Watch plenty of good telly, films and theatre.
• Read constantly.
• Build a Linux machine.
• Get more enjoyment from small pleasures.

It's not that much really, eh? In the scheme of things. Just laying the bedrock for a productive writing career. My greatest problem is not completing projects and if I can't beat that Devil in 2008 then I might as well quit. Yes, you can hold me to that.

That's it then, good luck for the new year everyone. May it bring us all success and happiness. If you're partying tonight drink responsibly and have a good time.

Happy New Year!

...and a Very Merry Christmas to all of you at home!

Happy Christmas to everyone who passes through these pages. I hope you have a lovely time over the holidays.

Tune in later this week for New Year Resolutions and a Voyage of the Damned review.

Joyous Yuletide!

Improve the profile of your Website with Rhydian Roberts

If I'd realised the effect mentioning 'The X Factor' would have on The Island of Dreams hit rate I wouldn't have spent seven months talking about writing, classic television and comics. Live and learn. I was going to talk about today's 'Fairytale in New York' farrago but I'm scared I can't do it justice!

Hello to all the Rhydian fans passing through here. I thought he should have won too - although he wasn't my favourite; despite my being Welsh. The media seems to believe that thinking Rhydian should have won only occurs in the Welsh, and vice versa presumably.

More words later this week; and on more familiar topics. In the meantime two reminders;

Bang2Write's logline competition closes tommorrow.

Don't miss the Screen Wipe Christmas Special tomorrow night.

Our time is running out...

It’s the end. Now, I know I’ve been wrong about this before but this time it’s definitely on. Armageddon is coming so get thee to Tesco and stock up on tinned foods and sporting goods. All the portents are there. The world is going stark raving crackers.

Let’s review the evidence; the Tories are leading opinion polls by the greatest margin for fifteen years; the new coach of the English football team doesn’t speak a word of it, unleaded is now £1.05 a litre round the corner and The Eagles have got back together. Most damning of all? Leon Jackson has won The X Factor 2007. I fully expect cats and dogs to start living together and Sunny Delight to rain down from the heavens within the next fortnight.

Of course, the thing I’m most distressed about is being forced to reveal my secret shame. Yes, I do watch The X Factor. I’ve illicitly watched it for years without feeling the need to speak about it in public but this time the great British idiotbox slaves have really gone too far. Ok, so Shayne Ward looked like someone queueing at Halfords but at least he had a good voice, and charisma. Nobody could argue that Leona (keep Bleedin’) Lewis doesn’t have some mighty lungs and every chance of a credible career ahead of her. Whoever won the first series was probably at least tolerable as well. But Leon bloody Jackson? A scrutty zig-zag of flesh with a total inability to carry a note and all the dancing skills of someone undergoing electroconvulsive therapy? I ask you.

Week after week I’ve watched amazed as competitors with some slender fibre of talent or who at least look like they might be enjoying themselves get voted off while Leon sodding Jackson jerks around the stage as if forced onto it with a cattle-prod. I’d more or less accepted that my personal favourites, the energetic, if unsettling, Same Difference, were unlikely to win last night. That’s ok. They’ve not given a poor performance throughout the series and seem the most professional act The X Factor has ever seen. They made it to their well deserved place in the final and that’s what matters. But are we seriously to believe that Leon fricking Jackson has more talent, charisma and potential than the mighty Rhydian? The Aryan voice meister could dismember that Scottish shoelace with a tiny toot of his tenor. The results show ended with it’s contestants and presenter seeming every part as stunned as I was. Leon, when pressed for a comment, could only mumble ‘Thanks’. Don’t thank me Leon, thank the viewers who thought you had more star quality than your fellow contestants. Apparently Ladbrokes describe it as ‘the biggest shock in the history of reality TV betting.’ They know about these things.

I suppose it’s some consolation that in five years or so when Same Difference are looking back on at least a couple of hit singles and Rhydian Roberts is in his latest smash hit West End musical the winner of The X Factor 2007 will almost certainly be back in his West Lothian mining town where he belongs. Not that I’ve anything against him, he’s won and good luck to him. He seems like a nice lad and I’m sure his mother is very proud. It’s just that I’d understood it was a talent competition and so far as I saw he was outclassed not just by the other two finalists but by the vast majority of this years competitors.

Apparently the voting public felt differently, but if polls are to be believed they also trust the Conservatives and want to bring back the death penalty. Mark my words, the breakdown of society is just a heartbeat away.