This is the first time in years I’ve shunned the London Film Festival. I’ve been too busy to even try and fit a single screening into my diary, but I saw via Twitch yesterday that tickets for the London Korean Film Festival were on sale and immediately bagged a couple of seats for THE MAN FROM NOWHERE:
and I SAW THE DEVIL:
I’m pretty sure there’s enough style on offer with those two flicks alone that it won’t matter if I don’t see another movie for the rest of the year.
A morning of tab maintenance. Got too many of the bastards open so spinning a few off as bookmarks and dropping a few into the blog.
This has gone all over the Internet by now, but I love me some Shellac so I’m belatedly rambling about it anyway. Steve Albini did an interview with GQ magazine. Most people picked up on the fact that he had a pop at Sonic Youth* and then finished off wishing the magazine would fail. Nice. I’m always drawn to opinionated fucks because they make life on this rock interesting. If Henry Rollins is Seth Gecko then Albini is his younger brother. Him saying, “I don’t rate movies as an art form” is as problematic as leaving Richie Gecko to babysit. I’m still processing this.
But I love that GQ informs its readers that Albini “has a bit of an independent streak”. I don’t think I’ve even glanced at a copy of the magazine before so I have no idea how much irony is supposed to come loaded into a sentence like that.
If you’re still scratching your head as to who the guy is then I heartily recommend You Weren’t There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977 to 1984. A portion of the documentary is musicians calling Albini out as an asshole and you can see how much he got under their skin as a kid. Plus the music is fucking great.
Speaking of which, Albini namechecks Grandfather in the interview. I’ve been listening to their album all week and seeing as its currently up as a free download you’d be dumb not to go grab it.
And I should also mention the continuing epic ‘Women in Punk’ series of articles over on The F Word.
Go read, listen, break something.
*Shellac are actually supporting Sonic Youth at a New Year’s Eve party here in London. If it were any other night of the year I’d go.
.Hello Los Angeles. Take me to your air conditioning and mini bars. There is much we must discuss.
.The ever awesome @bergopolis picked me up and settled me in with an 18 year old Jameson. Fuck you, jetlag.
.Forgot I was wearing my full Galifianikis beard so we may record a Between Two Ferns too.
.@JoseMolinaTV I have an 11am meeting. If there are no coffee and scones waiting for me then look for the fireball over west Hollywood.
.Much quieter hotel than my last LA experience. I kinda miss the sound of sobbing music executives bewailing me to sleep.
.@londonfilmgeek Lightsaber hack waiting to happen. “Your father’s fleshlight. Not as clumsy or random as a vagina…”
.Gah. Just clicked on a link on my favourite hardcore Japanese porn site and it maliciously redirected me to Twitter. Morning.
.Just gave a little iPad, wireless keyboard and Dodocase combo demo to a huddle of Starbucks patrons. English accent was a bonus.
.Moving to index cards. No one ever asks me about the index cards.
.Thinking about Gregory Peck.
.Great meeting. Always fun to geek out with someone on the same wavelength. Plus I got to see the actual GOONIES pirate ship! #OneEyedWilly
.Cops just put a car full of dudes on the floor at gun point. Helicopters over head. Guys, I am *trying* to write an action scene here.
.I’d actually wait another decade for a Bill and Ted III and give time for the characters to age into Lebowski dudeness. #STATION
.”Lose the samurai”
.Annoyed I didn’t bring any John Ford westerns with me.
.Had to turn away housekeeping today in case they messed up my index cards. Now having to stack them so I can get into bed.
.I really need a Pagoda to my Royal Tenenbaum. Hotel life is difficult.
.”The office is located in the Team Disney building (the one with the Seven Dwarfs on it)”
.Nice stroll between studios after being told it wasn’t walkable. Now having coffee opposite the Warner Bros water tower. #YakkoWakkoDot
.Fun meeting. Hotel next to see if my new room is ready. Cab driver annoyed I’m not a blonde actress. I guess it’s good to get this stuff out
.Night spent writing with @bergopolis until they turned out the lights & pitched us out. Cops, cockatoos & @b0bg00dman made for a fun evening
.Watching three helicopters converge over something interesting. Reminded of Dan O’Bannon talking Blue Thunder.
.I seem to have been picked up in a black humvee. Very Jack Ryan if not for the blue neon interior and Lady Gaga soundtrack. LA, you spoil me
.Hiding from the sun in the Dreamworks lobby. Damn thing still reflecting in off the Oscar statuettes.
.Tip: When a movie exec asks you about the iPad always have his or her movie preloaded and ready to go. Just watched James T Kirk’s birth 
.Favourite LA number plates today: HOTNFAST and I♥JEDI
.Another night crashing stuff that @bergopolis was going to. Fun night, smart people. And cake.
.Dude opposite me is the double of Geoffrey Lewis as Mike Ryerson in Salem’s Lot right down to the shirt, sitting pose and empty stare 0_o
.Forced to drink iced coffee. You win this round, Los Angeles.
.Trying to work downstairs in the hotel and the staff keep plying me with free wine. Not really a problem.
.Heading out for coffee. Off to see Jerry Bruckheimer’s people this afternoon. Gotta swat up on my explosions and kablooey.
.Nothing like a huge pirate flag to welcome you into a meeting
.Back at the hotel from a small gathering that I’m not allowed to talk about. I should probably delete this tweet.
.Just passed a Lightcycle. Add that to the Mystery Machine (complete with Scooby) and one cowboy on horseback and you have a pretty full day.
.Thunder breaks as I leave Disney. The omens are good.
.I’m no good at small talk. She started on the weather and I immediately follow with my perfect bank robbery story.
.Tony Curtis. Fuck and damn it.
.First meeting done and all caught up with management. Worrying amount of Van Damme trivia in that conversation.
.Sat in Gale Anne Hurd’s offices looking at Aliens stuff 0_o
.Just opened my hotel curtains for the first time in 2 weeks. Dismantling the writing pit.
.Hello mini bar bill.
.*Great* conversation and breakfast with @manmademoon. Rounded off with a tour of the offices so I could geek out over Sam’s moon suits
.Just saw the sad news about Stephen J Cannell. Will be watching Rockford the moment I get back.
.And there’s my ride. Did I mention Sam yet? Best driver I could have asked for. Time to head to LAX…
.Good reason to get to LAX early: My carry on bag had to pass three times through security because of all the geek crap I carry 0_o
.Broadsword calling Danny Boy…
Back in London with all its regular weather. Kinda nice despite having to take the submarine chill off the office at 5am.
So that’d be the jet lag.
Easing back in slowly today by mostly working on my to-do list for the next three months. The LA trip was fun for a lot of reasons, but the work Ive talked myself into needs to be organised from the get-go.
As usual when I’m away I’ve allowed my email to fall into a kind of disorganised corpse. Autopsy will begin today, but sorry if I didn’t get back to you yet.
Lots of stuff to catch up on here and a few more LA related posts to come. Including the thing I saw that I’m still not allowed to talk about yet.
I now have three hours before I take a vomiting cat to the vet. Time to unpack the remainder of my case and get October under control…
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