“My other band wrote a song from the perspective of a band playing in the Pope’s bed chambers, you know, writing a song like ‘don’t give up hope – you’re the Pope, like when you’re down sometimes things get in your way like science but you gotta, you gotta like lift up your staff even if its heavy, and you know, put on your hat even if its too big and you gotta be the pope’. You know, we wanted to inspire him…”

Harry and The Potters reflecting on criticism from the religious right

I don’t really ‘get’ Harry Potter, but I do ‘get’ fan culture.

On the way home I finally got around to watching Josh Koury’s We are Wizards and it reached deep down and found my fan boy prostate. On the surface this should be throw away content – Harry Potter fans? perleeeeeeeease, but it’s actually an important movie about intellectual copyright and the weird ass ways that people tap into the creative well within themselves. It’s also very punk rock.

If those god-awful books launch a few cool careers and add a new documentary to the list of films I pull out to give friends an emotional throatkicking then so be it. Maybe JK knew what she was doing all along…

And yeah, I’m stalling before I write about the LA trip. Shut up.

“Mama was never any good at sums and she could hardly spell cat.”

And I always did like a girl that knows what she wants:

“Who is the best marshal they have?”

The sheriff thought on it for a minute. He said, “I would have to weigh that proposition. There is near about two hundred of them. I reckon William Waters is the best tracker. He is a half-breed Comanche and it is something to see, watching him cut for sign. The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear don’t enter into his thinking. He loves to pull a cork. Now L.T. Quinn, he brings his prisoners in alive. He may let one get by now and then but he believes even the worst of men is entitled to a fair shake. Also the court does not pay any fees for dead men. Quinn is a good peace officer and a lay preacher to boot. He will not plant evidence or abuse a prisoner. He is straight as a string. Yes, I will say Quinn is about the best they have.”

I said, “Where can I find this Rooster?”

Find someone to sit with you. You’re not strong enough to do it on your own. Nobody is. Find someone to sit with you.

I’m late to the party with this one. Downloaded an episode of Wallander on a whim via iTunes because I’ve been a fan of Kenneth Branagh forever and was curious to see what he was doing in a police procedural. The show was on my radar because of the way it was put together and it’s an intriguing puzzle box of a production. I like stuff that goes about things in a slightly different way. One of the reasons I’m currently in LaLa land.

The opening of Sidetracked knocked me on my ass. In fact I paused it just after the credits and didn’t get back to it for two days because I knew it was going to be special and wanted to give it my full attention. For those 48 hours Branagh holding his ID up to the girl in the field haunted me. It wasn’t what the girl did, it was the change in Wallander as the realisation sank in that his day just changed from the mundane to the horrific. A theme the later episodes build upon perfectly.

Full disclosure – I haven’t seen any of the Swedish language Wallander features or shows (something I aim to fix) and have only read one of the novels. However, I have swapped out Black Sabbath for Kurt’s ringtone on my iPhone if that counts for anything.

Speaking about Wallander since (I brought it up in meetings a lot last week) I keep running into the same question:

But don’t you find it depressing?

Not at all. It’s heartbreaking and that’s what I find life affirming about it. And that the main character is put through the wringer without mercy in just about every episode is part of the beauty. I love smart TV but this is intelligent television.

Throw David Warner into the mix, those scenes between him and Branagh… fuck. Talk about a high bar.

In this town people who had never had money before were suddenly truly rich, and they didn’t care what they paid for the things they wanted. Rolls-Royce did better here than in India in the days of the Raj. And money was pouring in from all over the world, as old regimes collapsed. In a few years Los Angeles was going to be the most expensive – and corrupt and dangerous – city on the face of the earth.

from Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorpe 1979

It’s more or less Monday in LA. Interesting weekend and the week is shaping up pretty well. Lots of new people to meet. Slightly rocky start when I got into my hotel room and decided that a new one was in order seeing as I wasn’t here to shoot a porn movie or hang out near the pool. Lovely concierge by the name of Jessica suggested I check out one of the fourth floor suites and passed me a key card. On opening the door I was greeted by a framed photo of the Rat Pack and was happily surprised to find each wall displaying a poster or photograph of Sinatra and co.

Seeing as I’m here because of my own Ocean’s 11-in-space it would have seemed churlish not to take the room.

I’m listening to a lot of John Zorn to dilute the Vegas vibe and the mini bar has remained closed.

Haven’t had a chance to use my camera yet, but when looking on Flickr for photos of the hotel I found the one above taken by someone I know on Twitter. It’s a small world and Hollywood is well trodden.

The quote is taken from the novel that was later adapted into the screenplay for Die Hard. I’ll be swinging by Nakatomi plaza later this week.

Two conversations I’ve had say a lot about the city. The first was with a homeless guy (Dave) who stopped me to talk about music after he clocked my Dead Kennedys shirt – a genuine and warm conversation about the failures of punk rock and why it doesn’t matter. The second was with a music executive (let’s call him Ellis) who gushed about the music station whose logo is on the shirt I wore this evening – I didn’t let on that KAB RADIO 1340 was the station from John Carpenter’s The Fog, but did mention how happy I was that they had bounced back after ‘the incident’ in 1980.

City of angles…

And the terrorists were over-zealous, But it was sweet when they killed Ellis!

from Die Hard by Guyz Nite

Photo credit: from the floor by iced soul (CC license)

Make with the clicky to embiggen and you’ll see it was Lucas’ way of tipping the hat to Cameron back in 1998. But the Redditors pulled out a few more in response:

Great stuff. Here’s ET and R2-D2 too.

I always liked the little friendly digs that crop up in actual movies like the ripped posters in Evil Dead, The Hill Have Eyes and A Nightmare on Elm Street related to raising the horror stakes, but these were new to me. I guess eventually a full set will pop up on Reddit. Keep your eyes open.

I’ve always been drawn to the parts on old maps that depict sea monsters – here be dragons – or simply the unknown. We have an ultima thule print hanging in the living room as a reminder that there’s a lot of world out there. So it struck me as marvelous that there are maps of the known world drawn up to ward off further investigation. And it seemed fitting to mention the map below as I’m off again to Ireland tomorrow:

…the country still looks more attractive than the rest of Europe

Context as always is everything. I found this via Lloyd’s I’ve said too much. Another blogger I wish would say a lot more.

So yes, Ireland. It’s been a lot of fun working with Ciaran. Tomorrow and Thursday we’ll attempt to wrap up the initial phase of concept building, but everything looks in good shape ahead of getting the pilot written.

I’m back in London for one (busy) day before heading out to LA on Saturday. Not as much time to blog as I’d like, but I’ll try and do a little brain dumping between now and then.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend screenings in the presence of cast members before, but last week I had the unnerving experience of watching JAWS with honest-to-god actual sharks swimming only a few feet away.

This evening Sky Movies HD will be premiering Spielberg’s 1975 classic in high definition and as a run up to this event a small group of people were invited to a preview. I couldn’t begin to guess how many times I’ve seen this movie, but I’d have gone to see it on the big screen again anyway. It’s one of those rare movies that never seems to get old and I never ever tire of seeing it. That the Sky screening was taking place after hours in the depths of the London Aquarium right next to the shark tank was icing on the cake…

JAWS in HD is a thing of beauty. Bruce still holds his own against CGI upstarts that fade and out-date almost immediately while Amity and the water has never looked so inviting. I don’t truck with satellite or terrestrial transmissions myself (seems a little 20th century), but if you have the opportunity to tune in this evening around 8pm you will see the movie in all its crystal clear glory. Hopefully we can expect a blu-ray release soon…

So did having the sharks doing their thing right next door distract as much as say some idiot’s mobile phone going off in a regular cinema? Not really. I’m not convinced they were too interested in what we were up to and even Robert Shaw’s demise met no sly winks of approval, but the few times I was aware of the other humans around me it was nice to note that the reappearance of Ben Gardner still causes people to jump and that the beautiful character study of three men on a boat still elicits a warm response.

In fact it’s a credit to the film that even after 35 (!) years and multiple viewings that the only eyes not glued to the screen were the cold dark ones on the other side of the tank…

Bernard Cribbins has been a part of my life since I was a kid. He probably had more influence over me than my parents when I was growing up and hearing his voice or catching an old movie of his makes me break out into a grin. I’ve never been able to work out exactly why this is, but it turns out Bernard knows. He’s a smart guy. But I’ll get to that.

He recently received a BAFTA Special Award in recognition for his work in children’s entertainment. You can see clips from this strand of his career and interviews from the night here.

“I’m 80 years old now, it’s just a question of how much longer I can carry on and how much longer people will want my services. But they still seem to,” he chuckles, “so that’s alright.”

As a follow up to the BAFTA awards ceremony a more public event was organised at the BFI last weekend and I was lucky enough to be invited along. It was great to see so many young children there and of course Bernard’s recent turn as Wilfred Mott in Doctor Who has introduced him to a new generation of fans. The Q&A was followed by a screening of the 1966 movie, Dalek’s Invasion Earth 2150 in which Cribbins plays another TARDIS companion, police constable Tom Campbell. But of course the main reason for most people to be there was to hear him speak of a career that started when he was just 14 years old.

We were treated to an 8 minute video that showed a fraction of the roles he’s played over the years before he walked on stage saying, “My God, I was busy…”

He’s still a wonderful speaker and was happy to tease his interviewer and concentrate on the audience. It was one of those rare events where the crowd got to ask the majority of the questions and each one lead to a funny or moving anecdote. A young girl a few rows ahead of me asked him in a very serious voice how he had felt upon discovering that he was responsible for the Doctor’s death in the recent Christmas special. Brilliant.

He answered my own question as to why it seems he, rather than so many other actors of his generation of whom I’m also a fan, had such an impact on me as a kid. He recalled being in the back of a cab on his way to the BBC and chatting to the driver when the long running children’s show, Jackanory, came up in conversation. Bernard actually holds the record for reading more stories on the show than anyone else, a staggering 111 appearances. In a very matter of fact way, as if it was not a big deal at all, the man revealed to Bernard that it was watching him read to him on the television that made him decide to learn to read.

Incredible stuff storytelling.

Bernard went on to praise the simplicity of the concept: a couple of cameras, a good story, simple but beautiful illustrations and the reader. What this meant to him – and this was the revelation for me – is that he was reaching out to each child individually in much the same way that would happen when a parent read to their child before bed. No unnecessary bells and whistles, no special effects. One story. One reader and one listener. Life changing stuff. And from the smiles in the audience of kids and adults alike he’s still connecting.

I didn’t like much of the new Doctor Who. Parts of it were utterly brilliant, but for the most part I thought it was dreadful and at worst actually treated the audience with contempt. All the worst parts of the new run seemed to have been brought front and centre for David Tennant’s swan song, but in the middle of this unholy mess was Bernard Cribbins. Inspired casting – although as it turns out his continued role was more chance than intentional – and two scenes stand out. One is when the old man finds himself in orbit and points out far below where he fought in the war (an actual anecdote of Bernard’s that was woven into the script) and then later when Wilfred knocks four times to bring the Doctor’s attention to his latest predicament*.

The emotional charge that Cribbins brought to those scenes comes from not just a lifetime of acting, but also taking the parts seriously. It’s something you can see throughout his career and he’s been in some truly bizarre roles, but he tackles each one as seriously as Shakespeare. Known as a comic actor he’s actually got one of the most varied bodies of work I’ve seen and I’m slowly but surely tracking the roles down.

I’ve seen a lot of Bernard Cribbins, but thanks to BAFTA I think my favourite moment of his now is watching him leave the stage and join his family to watch a movie he hadn’t seen himself in decades.

Time travel, right there in front of me. Pretty damn perfect I think.

*Of course, a moment later the scene goes to hell when Tenant’s Doctor cowardly complains about his fate. Tenant’s done some wonderful things with lackluster scripts, but its this fatal misunderstanding of the character by the new writers that made me wish the damn franchise had been left well alone. But I digress.

Turns out I had almost non existent connectivity in Ireland and the time I wasn’t in the writing room was spent thinking about the next story beat or character problem. Intensive work and a lot of fun. Getting back and I’m straight into the Sleepydog slate. Did take time out to see a couple of my favourite people and one of my favourite movies, but I’ll get to that.

Next LA trip is now booked. I’m out there from the 30th of January until February 6th and I’m writing some cool names in my diary. Should be a fun trip. See some of you out there.

Until then this is what an embryonic TV show looks like:

Not my baby, but it’s been fun getting it up walking, making noises and pulling guns on me.