Idea IS the format

A is for AFK – I seem to get some of my best work done when I’m not staring at a screen.  I guess I’m more of a pencil person.

B is for BREAKFAST – The most important meal of the day.  And a chance to get ahead on all the fruit and fibre of which my diet seems to be otherwise totally devoid.  Take my word for it, breakfast is going to be BIG in 2010.  And fibrous.  And, well, rather boring.

C is for CRUNK – My version of Lent, involving a break from all the crap drugs.  You know the ones;  booze; coke; sugar; television.  I’m not damning them outright, they just aren’t my cup of green tea.  Last year I managed 37 days.  As of right now I’m four down and counting.

D is for @danlight – Twitter’s become an outlet through which I waste time and energy trying to validate inconsequential aspects of my life in the eyes of people who likely couldn’t give a shit.  Which would be fine, except that that’s what my blog’s for. Going to try and mix it up a bit on Twitter.

E is for ELECTION – Some of my favourite blog posts (by me, that is) were written about the 2008 US presidential election campaign.  Hopefully I can find some time to conjure a bit of commentary on the ‘compassionate conservative’ clusterfuck we can look forward to in the run-up to May 6th.  Without having to break my leg in two places in the process.

F is for FAMILY – It’s the easiest thing in the world to cite work/writing/whatever-you-fancy as a reason for being an absent or inadequate husband/father/son.  Even worse, you might actually try to convince yourself that it’s more difficult, or more important. It’s not.

G is for graze.com – One of my oldest friends, Tommy P, is one of the founders of graze.com.  Honestly, I didn’t see them surviving the downturn, but they seem to be doing just that.  What’s more, I met a few of the guys behind the business, and they’re an impressive bunch.  Expect good things in 2010.

H is for HELIOPOLIS – James Scudamore, another very old friend  – try 30-odd years – published his second novel, Heliopolis, exactly one year ago.  It ha since received considerable critical acclaim, and was long-listed for the Booker Prize.  I still haven’t read it.  (In fairness, it’s not like I read any other novels in 2009.)  This is lame as fuck.  I will read Heliopolis in 2010.

I is for INSHRIACH – The hard-working highland estate owned and managed by our pal Walter.  Just back from spending a truly magnificent few days seeing in the new year, and set to get back up there for one family holiday, three stag weekends and one music festival over the next six months.  Oh, and I want to try and shoot a film there (see L).  Project Inshriach goes from strength to strength.

J is for JUICE – Just don’t drink enough of it.  Cranberry is best, for the kidney win.

K is for kickstarter.com – a clever little site, recognising the amplified power of Internet crowdsourcing as the basis for funding a range of worthwhile endeavours.  Hope to try it out with something, quite possibly…

L is for LOCH GHOON – …a film I’m going to make.  So far I’ve failed spectacularly in almost everything I’ve set out to do.  Fortunately, for as long as I’m only playing with my time or money, that doesn’t really matter.  Expect more spectacular failures in 2010.

M is for MAX – My cousin, who passed away in 2009.  I’m going to honour his memory in the year to come, in a number of ways.  (See L, N and V.)

N is for NORTH DORSET RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB – Max was their Club Captain.  Going to make sure I get a long to a game or two, starting with the home game against joint-leaders of the Southern Counties League, Frome, on January 30th.  Let me know if you fancy it.

O is for ORGANISED – Not very.  Just a bit.  I’m talking a to-do list on a Monday morning, is all.  Meaning that O is also for Optimistic.

P is for PSYCHOTHERAPY – The new vocation Ems has chosen for herself, following almost a decade in corporate public relations.  Her foundation year starts right here, and four years down the line…

Q is for QUALIFICATIONS – …enabling her to practice Psychotherapy in a professional capacity.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned about what could come out in the wash along the way, but it feels great that she’s pursuing a vocation that has the potential to play to her real strengths.

R is for RESOLVE – Emma has it.  Once she commits herself to something, she gets the job done.  I’ve always been more of a butterfly, but I don’t beat myself up over it – it has its own advantages.  Between us we both seem to get stuff done.  I guess R is also for Rapport.

S is for SLINGERS SIZZLE – Very keen to see where this ends up, after generating such a huge buzz back in early December.  So I guess S is also for Sizemore and Sleepydog.

T is for TOMMY P – He’s getting married in May.  I figure that gets him his own entry, especially being that I’m best man.  Soon as I’m done with this list, I need to make a start on that speech.

U is for UNSUBSCRIBE – Meaning I don’t care how many of my friends took quizzes this week.  Or what kind of dried fruit you are.  Or what kind of dried fruit I am.

V is for #VHSMovieClub – and the 365 VHS videos I’m going to watch in 2010.  Follow @VHSMovieClub to keep pace, and for details of our occasional outings, the first of which is the Max Biles Memorial #VHSMovieClub taking place at The Scooterworks on January 25th

W is for WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR – The subject of the most grown-up thing I’ve ever attempted.  Watch this space.

X is for EXERCISE – kind of.  Because I’m going to start taking regular exercise. Kind of.  It starts with getting back on a climbing wall.  Reckon my leg is back where it needs to be, and I can probably squeeze a spare evening out of the week, especially during Crunk.  Probably Thursdays at The Castle in Green Lanes, if anybody fancies it.

Y is for WHY NOT? – It’s a much better question than ‘Why?’  For someone who’s supposed to be creative, I think my mind is sometimes far too closed to the more challenging ideas of the people around me.  Need to fix that.

Z is for ZZZ – Every aspect of my life seems to be improved off the back of a good night’s sleep.  It’s effortless, enjoyable, and a great way to experience the extraordinary imaginative energy and latent creativity of the human mind.   Speaking of which, I fancy a kip.  See you in 2011.

I watched the original Creature from the Black Lagoon for the first time two nights ago, and for the second time last night – about to go for the hat-trick, just as soon as I’ve rustled up a cuppa and a couple of satsumas.  The major upside of my seasonal winter cold is that I get to lie in bed for a few days and watch a shitload of movies.  Or, in this case, the same movie, a shitload of times.

Regular readers of my blog will know why the sudden interest in the 1954 creature feature.  Everybody else should read this.  Bottom line is we have a film to make.  It’s called Loch Ghoon.

Rather than piling into the production of a full 120-minute feature, the plan is to produce a five-minute teaser, shooting before the end of 2009.  This gives us a chance to cut our teeth on some existing material, but also gives us something to bring to the table when we’re asking for help from family, friends and, if and when it comes to it, potential financiers.

A perfect example of how this ought to work is the Slingers ’sizzle’ (featured in my last post) which turned up on the web just over a week ago.  Pitched as ‘Ocean’s 11 in space’, Slingers is a sci-fi series created by Sizemore (AKA Mike Atherton) and in the process of being brought to life by production company Sleepydog (AKA Toby Moores and friends).

I don’t know what it cost to produce the sizzle itself, but I’m guessing that 60k views in under ten days feels like a pretty good return; not to mention the groundswell of grass-roots interest articulated through every blog, fan site and forum with even the most spurious interest in this kind of thing. If I was a TV exec busy trying to option a new hit mini-series, right now Slingers would be looking like a pretty intriguing proposition.

I’m sure there are a few traditional TV folk looking a tad grudgingly at Slingers, wondering how it is that Mike and Toby have come so far in such a short space of time.  The reality is that they’ve had the support of a network they’ve been developing for many years, consisting of seasoned bloggers and social media beatniks with more than a little to offer in relation to the changing face of television itself.

Taking all of this into account, you’ll realise how damn lucky I am that Sizemore has agreed to help develop the script for Loch Ghoon.  We caught up last week, and talked it over.  It took him about an hour to nail the basics.  Maybe forty-five minutes.

A week on, and we have our teaser script, introducing an ill-fated character who’s already begging to be resurrected in his own comic book.  It’s great to finally be working with Mike on a project like this, a couple of years on from our very first encounter, at the Tuttle club, serendipitously captured by Thayer Prime:

I think it was Mike who said it looked like a rehearsal for Lord of the Rings.

I guess now we have our quest.

- – -

Coming up next week: THEY CALL HIM MR CRIME…

Mike’s sizzle for his TV show Slingers is finally out in the wild. Longer post on this in the pipeline, but for now just enjoy: