Couldn't Agree More...

...with the sentiment of this song. Brilliant.

Away We Go

Season's greetings and all that jazz. I bring well wishes to all at this oh-so-merry time of year. The reason for my well wishes are because things have been going very well of late for yours truly. I now have an agent, which is exciting. Of course, I understand that getting an agent is really just the beginning of the battle but it is a beginning nonetheless. The quest marches on.

Also, I was delighted to find out that the diabolical sound issues I am having with my short can be fixed and will not require a re-shoot. This news alone was enough to make me want to sing like a mockingbird (albeit a flabby, pasty English one) from the hills of Griffith Park. Thus all I have to do now is re-shoot a few inserts, get the sound fixed and we're away. Well, then I suppose there's the small matter of building a promotional web-site, starting a production company, getting it on imdb and submitting it to festivals around the globe in the vain hope that someone will realise my quite obvious genius and make me rich beyond my wildest dreams....but, you get the point. I'm getting there.

Speaking of genius, I had the pleasure, which might be the wrong word, of watching "127 Hours" last night. If you haven't already, go and see it as it is fantastic. A little bit cheesy in parts but James Franco's quite brilliant performance more than makes up for it. In my humble opinion he should definitely get an Academy Award nomination...to him I offer a slow, gentlemanly golf clap. Bravo sir, bravo.

Another cultural reference that caught my eye was Mr. David Cross. Better known as Tobias from "Arrested Development", Cross is one of the few stand-ups I have seen of late that really got me in what I like to call 'the no shame zone" - wherein someone or something makes you laugh in such a way that all dignity is immediately abandoned.

I am determined to try this one day:


Here's hoping Father Christmas brings me a new TV so I don't have to rely on youtube for audiovisual sustinence.

Big up!

JB.

My Year In Facebook Updates

I found this rather amusing...and very 2010 of me.

Alot of football updates and movie references. Conclusion: I should get out more.

JB.

Tunes Currently Adding Cheese To My Pickle...

* Beasts From The East - The Lost Boyz (featuring one of the best rap verses you'll ever hear)

* Corpus Christi Carol - Jeff Buckley

* Free Until They Cut Me Down - Iron & Wine

* Una Furtiva Lagrima - Enrico Caruso

* Let Down - Radiohead

* After The Goldrush - Neil Young

* Aneurysm - Nirvana

* Jonz In My Bonz - D'Angelo

* Brown Paper Bag - Roni Size

* Back Door Man - The Doors

Enjoy,

John.

Lyrics To Live By...

"He's as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?"

(The Beatles - "Nowhere Man")

Lizard Season

This week has been a frantic one. A good thing, in my humble opinion, as it means I've actually got stuff to do rather than idly getting fat and watching films. This week has also been a week of meetings. I know it sounds very "Annie Hall" but it's sort of the name of the game out here.

"Yay, corporate friends!"

I have been steadily getting my reel out to agents around town and, as a result, scored a few meetings. Already I've learned that meeting with people, in the formal sense of the word, is a delicate art in itself. Particularly when it comes to agents. Both of you are painfully aware that you need each other, yet neither of you wants that to ever become apparent. Thus the trick is to appear like you have better things going in your career (which of course, you haven't or you wouldn't be here in the first place) but remain interested and delightful enough so that this agent will want to fall all over themselves to make you, and by default them, rich and successful. The ironic thing is that the person across the table is doing exactly the same thing. A good old fashioned stand-off. My technique, of course, is to drop awkward clangers time and again and embarrass my way through the whole charade. It remains to be seen if this method is successful.

One meeting with a particularly lovely lady lead to one of the more awkward moments of my life. She decided that we should have a viewing of my reel in her office as she couldn't quite remember me from the dozens of people she'd seen that week. As soon as it started, every swear word out of my filthy little mouth rang around the silent room like a church bell. The high(low)light being the hearing of the immortal words "I'll fuck around and hit you with the Hennessey dick" at excruciatingly high volume. A little bit uncomfortable, to say the least.

The rest of my time has been spent either working, sitting in ungodly amounts of traffic, reading inspirational shit, or trying to set up meetings with sound people to fix my as yet unfinished short film. Such is the ferocity of competition here in Los Angeles that within two days of me placing an ad on Mandy.com, I had received 92(!!!) responses. Nine. Tee. TWO! People from as far as Osaka, Japan wanted to work on my film. Just absolute global economic meltdown madness I tell thee! Still, I've got my first round of 'interviews' tomorrow so I will finally find out whether my problems (the cursed fridge noise etc.) are mendable or whether a re-shoot will be in order.

Either way is fine with me as I've been steadily working and finally bringing in some cash. At least I was until I got bored yesterday and decided to invest in a new iPhone 4. Now, I've never been one for popular fads, or indeed being always reachable by phone/email/carrier pigeon etc, so I have always resisted the urge to invest in an iphone - also for the fact that anyone I know who's got one can't let go of it for more than 5 minutes without having a panic attack. However, now that I'm in possession of one, in the words of William Shakespeare himself...it is the bollocks! I could honestly blather on all night about the excellence of this product in literally every single imaginable way, however I'll just say that the best thing is the Hipstamatic app I downloaded. It's so good it can make the most crooked, downtrodden door (like the one on the roof of my building) look like this:

Remarkable really.

So, the good news is that I'm busy and lots of things are simmering away nicely. The bad news is that I feel not an ounce of Christmas cheer. As anyone who knows me knows, Christmas is typically my favourite time of year...by far! From the age of 5, when I caught my grandad sneaking into my room dressed as Santa (in truth, despite the denials of my family, I'm pretty sure it was the real thing) I have been hooked. I just love it.

However, this year for the first time in a long time I won't be returning to London for the occassion, thus meaning my first xmas in LA, which so far is about as festive as an Al-Qaeda training camp. It's just weird to be wandering around under blue skies, wearing a t-shirt. I don't like it, not one bit. And call me a curmudgeon but I'm not really a big fan of the whole "isn't the weather great here in southern california?" thing either. One season. That's what we get all year round. It's not right! I can already hear my English bretheren, knee deep in snow as we speak, screaming at me in anger. Fine, I'll take the sun. I'm just saying that being here all year it starts to feel like The Truman Show after a while. If the Truman Show had gang violence and extreme poverty, of course.

Oh well, I suppose I'll try and enjoy it. If I must.

Peace,

JB.