All play and no work

Truly, it was a grand freakend.
Stephanie was a fantastic host once again. We saw The Grates and The Go! Team at Brighton Corn Exchange. Great, great fun. The Grates were bouncy and punky with a very cute front woman who seemed to be having a hell of a time. The Go! Team were fizzy with their retro visuals and punchy, jump-rope music. If they are ever in your town I'd recommend checking both bands out..

Stephanie took me around Brighton's cool stores and we did quite a lot of music shopping. I picked up The Album Leaf's 'In A Safe Place' and Modest Mouse's 'The Lonesome Crowded West' for £5 each. Uber Bargain! Brighton has some amazing indie record stores that you could get lost in...they're cheap too. No Virgin Megastore/HMV rip-offs.

Stephanie is always fun. She's a great friend and a brilliant host. It was good to catch-up, watch DiG! (Superb film), share jokes, Watch Sonic Youth videos (Some good, some shitty but funny)...it was a fun, fun weekend that, in my fried state, I'm having trouble jotting down...
Thanks again to Stephanie for playing host, getting me Go! Team tickets, the belt, the 'Goodbye Lenin' DVD, the Wilco tee and the big, red glasses (They are so cool)...everything...

...Thanks to Steve for the big welcome home. Sorry I had to crash out. Lotsa travelling and little rest make Chris a tired trooper.

Brighton Bound

This four day freakend I'm off on my travels to see good friend and fellow Blogger Stephanie. We're seeing The Go! Team and taking in the many cool bars dotted around the veritable fun-zone that is Brighton. We're also going to go to the cool, indie record shops and stock up on some bargains. I aim to purchase the entire Sleater-Kinney and Regina Spektor back catalogue. I have a list....

..I've also got some exciting blah, blah about a couple of things that are going on in Chris World but I'm trying to refrain from blogging about things before they happen..

..Does anyone else have a 'Three Text' rule? Where you text someone three times on your mobile and if you don't get a response you delete them? Is it just me? There is only so many times you can SMS an invite or query to someone in my book before it's time to goodbye their number...

..It's probably is just me.

Have fun this freakend...

I'd love to dress up as a police man, go to a U2 concert, jump on the lead guitarist and shout:

"LOOK AT ME, I'M A COP ON THE EDGE!"

thankyouverymuch

"When I get you in that ring, Hogan..."

It's a little known fact that I won the WWE Intercontinental Title at David J's house party on Saturday...and you thought I was going to be a writer!

I've dropped the 'propaganda' from the site address which means that giving out the address of this tawdry site is a helluva lot easier. I'm also not going to be as detailed as I used to be. I liked it when I was vague and straight to the point. Nobody likes a bush-beater, so they?
I'm a comments whore on the sly and I think people were getting bored off non-stop DRTN stuff. If i could talk about anything else i would...
Some people talk about cabinets and get over 40 comments...I talk about working on films and I get less than 10. I don't have the fucking character to talk about anything else...

Unlike some of you, my love life is all shot to holy shit so i can't talk about that. i don't want to talk about what was or what is or whatever will be. I don't believe in L.

I'm going to go back to being the strange fucker i used to be when my blog was slightly interesting...

fuck it, I might just run off and join the myspace circus...

Sweet sweet Stephanie wrote some sweet sweet words about the screening last week. Check it out. It's a great blog regardless of her take on 'Death Rides The Nine'

two nice emails from two nice people

1) Peggy Paterson of Scriptonline. She hosted the Shoot The Writers event that I was part of last Thursday..


Dear Chris

Back in the office today to see your note.

I'm so pleased you were part of the panel and very glad you enjoyed it. I am going to do a note to Peter to say I'd be happy to Chair another one any time and it would be good to do a follow-up. Also, if there are other opportunities I will certainly ask you. Hope you have now registered on the Script website so that you will automatically get notice of our monthly Newsletter. It contains info. on courses not just run by us but by others too. Do keep me posted on how the new script is going.
I loved your film - one of the scenes which keeps coming back to me is the Devil and God auditioning Grim - lovely stuff.

Keep it coming.

all best, Peggy

**************************************

2) Geoff Thompson, director of 'Brown Paper Bag'


Hi Christopher,

It was great meeting you. I loved your film and your voice. I was chatting to my friend, a script commissioning editor at the BBC about you, told her I loved your work and she said she'd love to have a look at some of your stuff. If you ring her at work some time on ********** you can have a chat and see where it leads. I predict big things for you.

Geoff

An action film complete with explosions, punching, partial nudity, more explosions, men gritting their teeth and saying things like: "Get me the President!", An attractive woman running hand in hand with the bruised and battered hero as a warehouse or other large building blows up in the background; all that.

Voice Over:

The voice over is, well, limp and casual and not the gritty, dramatic voice you usually hear during such trailers.

"He's a cop. A cop on the edge! He's been accused of a crime he didn't commit AND his partner was killed by the biggest drugs baron the world has ever known. As you can imagine he's a little annoyed! He's got forty-eight hours to sort things out and get revenge!
The, uh, film is only ninety-minutes. Ninety-three minutes if you want to get into semantics. Anyway, what was I saying? He's well miffed and he's got scores to settle and he's going to settle them with knuckles, bullets and language that would make your mother blush. Starring that guy who was in that film with the kid who saw dead people, the old black guy that was the best thing in 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves', that young guy who was in that film where aliens take over a high school and they kill them with biros and some attractive woman who I've never seen before but is likely to feature in a kinky dream at some point in the future.
'Bang Theory' is out this summer.
Watch it! Certificate 18. May contain instances of scenery chewing and two roundhouse kicks."

Monday Morning Mixtape:

Be Your Own Pet 'Adventures'
Regina Spektor 'Us'
The Eagles of Death Metal 'Whorehoppin'
Sonic Youth '100%'
Jeff Buckley 'Back in N.Y.C'


Thanks to everyone for an awesome weekend. Lots of things went on. Here is a list of random happenings:


The Steve putting on a stage show at The Planet after the screening. The man has to be seen to be believed. He dances up a storm and such.

D. J's house party on Saturday which was just like the old days, better in fact. The place was packed and it was packed with decent sorts.

Stephanie played hockey in Chris S's room. She's got a few bruises blocking a speeding puck with her legs.

David J Showed me his snake and I don't mean that in A 'Carry On' way. D.J has a new pet which I was allowed to play with (This isn't going to sound good no matter what I write)

I played D.J and played some killer tunes for Nick and Matt to jig to.

We all had 95% vodka in a spray.

Some more...

"A young Hal Hartley"

Hey each and all,

Three hours of sleep and fatigue is kicking in. Last night was amazing, absolutely. It went better than I could have imagined.

The screening at 6:30 for friends and family went well. There were a bunch of people that hadn't seen it and they all seemed to enjoy it. They laughed and cheered and I got hugs and handshakes from my nearest and dearest. There were a couple of people I didn't know in there and they seemed to have a good time with it too.

After the screening was over I was ushered back into the room for the Shoot The Writers section. I sat with the other film makers and felt like a bit of a fraud. These guys and girls were older, wiser and considerably richer than I. I felt like I'd crashed a wedding or something.
People filed in students, aspiring writers and media types and they wouldn't stop. It was packed to the rafters and they were turning people away (including The Steve and a bunch of my friends)
Peggy Paterson kicked off the Q and A and I sat there in all my casualness (both in dress and in attitiude) and felt the nerves kick in. When it came for me to speak I was very nervous, honest and more than a little self-deprivating. I had to be. I wasn't on par with the BAFTA award winners and producers so I told it how I saw it. I think the students liked it because of all the other guys were already there and secure. I was (and am) still winging it.
After a threat of only being able to show a clip of 'Death...' I rejoined the crowd to watch the films. The first two were good. They were very serious, gripping films that looked and felt like proper films. They were also very heavy. I wondered what people would think of the jokey-talky effort that would follow.
'Death..' kicked in and so did my nerves. I was expecting no laughs and for it to be cut off at any moment. People laughed and laughed some more. I think that it was because of the response that it played all the way through and got a HUGE round of applause. It really popped. Peggy the organiser, really loved it. I sat next to her and she was laughing from start to finish.
After another Q and A where we had questions from the audience, we filed out to the after show. I'll bullet point the rest of this because of the creeping fatigue.

• I had lots of people come up to me and shake my hand and compliment me. I was thrilled. Some even brought me drinks. I thought: "This is what rock stars must feel like!" There were no strippers or anything.
• Geoff Thompson, writer of 'Brown Paper Bag' (His film played second) said that I "really had something" and that he thought I was going to be huge. His wife loved it too and he said that she doesn't really care much for comedy. He knows Ray Winstone and Paul Abbot! It was a huge compliment. I was honoured.
  
• Another guy said I was like a "young Hal Hartley"
• Peggy said that she was pleased with the film and the way I handled the questions. She suggest another screening of 'Death...' in the near future because she felt that more could be said on the subject and that I was encouraging to students because, well, I'm around their age and I'm really into what I do.
• I was invited to another film screening to meet a reknown director.
• We went to The Planet after for our very own aftershow. I met up with Steve and the others and we did some drinking and dancing.
• I wonder what's going to happen now and next.....
  

"Death Rides The Weekend"

It's all go for tommorow.

I'm off until Monday to get the full worth...

Stephanie is coming down for the screening and will stay at our laddy abode.

Friends, family, well-wishers and old friends are to be there for 6:15 and those that want to stay on and watch me squirm at 'Shoot the Writers' will get the chance from 7 pm onwards.

The event is being filmed.

'Death..' will play twice in full. There was talk of a small preview during 'Shoot..' but that appears to be a thing of the past because Peter, the co-ordinator, liked the flick.

I'm the most inexperianced writer on the first panel so expect me to look like a little boy lost.

I will try to answer questions without sounding like I'm freezing.

'The Planet' rock club after all the film funs for drinks, dancing and all that..

Nick (The Handsome One) came up with 'Death Rides The Weekend'. You give the best weekends names. The long weekend should be pretty wild.

We'll probably be at 'Blast Off' too.

I'll be thinking of you all, every step of the way.

You're aces.

Valentines

If you need ONE day to show someone how much you love them then you're doing it all wrong.

Three Day Week : ) : )

Man, I'm so excited. Thursday is the big day for me.

Thursday is the day friends, family and curious parties get to peek 'DRTN' and see what i've been doing with myself for the last few years and why never take my job too seriously.

There are a variety of people coming along. Some of whom I know very well, work with or don't know at all. Some people are even making long trips to come and see it.
I really hope that it measures up to their expectations (if they have any, some maybe hoping for some kind of cinematic car-crash.)
I will warn you now that i will be nervous. More so at the 'Shoot the Writers' part. Hopefully, the nerves will subside. If not, I'll just smile, nod and pretend I didn't hear the questions.

It should be a good time. Interesting for sure.

First screening starts 6:30 PM and 'Shoot the Writers' starts at 7 PM and runs until about 10 PM.

Then, it's off to The Planet for back-slapping or bitch slapping depending on your opinion of the film.

Thank you, local and non-local peeps, for your interest and kind words since I started telling you about the film. It's greatly appreciated.

Chris

P.S Steve, I will be wearing my girly braclet on the night. Just so you know...

Walk The Line is a great, great film.

I like visiting friends within the hours of 1 to 5 am.

Blast Off was good. Interesting good. It's all a bit of a blur though which is odd because I wasn't drunk (or drugged)


Time to make zzzz's

Ryan and Lindsay/NME Tour/Swimming with metaphorical sharks (AKA What the fuck is wrong with me?)

Lindsay Lohan and Ryan Adams? What is the world of showbiz up to? How is that going to shape the guys records? Please don't let them duet. Parker Posey was okay because she had a certain amount of sassy cool about her (And she was a vampire in the otherwise pointless Blade Trinity) but Looney Lohan? I'd rather eat my own legs than

a) listen to that record (or her records)

b) have my way with her. Like Britney Spears, J-Lo and Beyonce I just don't see the attraction.

(The Steve does. The Steve wants to marry her)

She was just okay in 'Mean Girls'

Anyway, celebrity gossip aside (I apologise wholeheartedly for bleating on like a reporter from Heat magazine or Hello or Snoop or something) I have a couple of things I'd like to share with you. It's been a crazy few days and I haven't really been able to get everything down.

The NME Awards Tour was a blast. I'd completely forgotten about it until Mans reminded me on the day. Mans had won the tickets from NME, tickets that, thanks to the startling and sudden popularity of the Artic Monkeys, had rocketed in value. As we were on the guest list we couldn't cash in on the madness and become a few hundred better off. Mans wouldn't anyway. Anyway, Mans had to report on the gig for a future addition of NME. He, with my 'help', had to interview gig goers, take pictures and look out for a list of things that would make for an interesting article. The peeps at the magazine had made a list of things to look out for: 'Craziest Fan', 'Best Front man', 'Best banter from an audience member' (Which went to me as it happens after I shouted 'Are you Jimmy Saville?' at The Mystery Jets keyboardist)
Anyway, amid interviewing random people and narrowly avoiding being swept away by a tide of sweaty people, we had a grand old time.

I'm not one for the mosh pit, I feel you should know this. I'm not going to risk my face for The Arctic Monkeys or Maximo Park (MAYBE We Are Scientists) because that kind of behaviour is reserved for such bands as Modest Mouse, Okkervil River, DFA 1979 etc (Bands of real quality)
Mans has to cobble together all the sweaty scraps of paper and fuzzy images to create an article. I'm sure Mans will kick ass with it. He's had a long-standing ambition to be a music journalist.

In other, more personal, news I have realised that the mental scars obtained by my first (And most likely last) relationship are deeper than I thought. I feel that, because of this, I've upset someone I really care for.

In the words of Jeff Buckley's 'Love You Should Have Come Over':

"Maybe I'm too young/ To keep good love from going wrong"

I feel like a surfer who has been attacked by a big ugly shark (Bare with me..) and is too frightened to get back in the water. I feel like I just want to paddle where it's safe and shallow for a while.

I hope I don't fuck this up like I always seem to.

"Lucky in life not in love"

Ryan Adams 'Withering Heights'

Sweet and sour.

Such is life.

Tangents

Holy mother of pearl! Writing scripts based on other people's characters and ideas is hard. My mind tends to wander, you know?

UP TO SPEED

It's been a strange and eventful few days in the Land of Oz (A.K.A Bateville, Propaganda Land etc, etc) I've been recovering from Brighton (in a good 'Damn that was fun!' way) and a harsh cold (Probably from not wearing sensible clothes by the beach)
Stephanie has put up a huge post about the whole affair and there is more info HERE.
Again, thank you to Stephanie for a wonderful time.
Post-Brighton things have been busy. I attended the 'After Hours' event at The Lighthouse and met Peter and Wendy who are organising the screening next week. They were both very nice people who were pleasant and excited about the event. Peter said that he found my attitude 'refreshing' and said that there are a number of people attending the screening that I should talk to. I gave him a copy of the ‘Death Rides the Nine’ promo DVD that arrived last week. I had previously shown it to Stephanie, the lads and Stephanie’s housemate Kelly in Brilliant Brighton. I was pretty confident handing it over after their kind praise for it.
I hung around after and hung around with Mans, who had been kind enough to meet me for 'moral support'. He is the one responsible for setting the cogs in motion so I wanted him there with me. if it wasn't for Mans and his faith in the film (Which he hasn't even seen yet) the screening wouldn't be taking place.
Afterwards We went to The Gifford (A rock bar that resembles a ghost train) and we checked out the Jukebox which boasted having over '2 MILLION TRACKS'. I tested it by searching for some Okkervil River. To my surprise, there was a lot of earlier O.R. I put on 'Blanket and Crib' and sang heartily as the Metal Heads looked on in bemusement. They were probably waiting to hear 'Disturbed' or 'Satan’s Pet Bastard' or something.

Other bits:

* ‘Death Rides the Nine’ is fully copy-written (Is that the right way to say it?) I received a certificate from the library of Congress the other day.
* I got my 'Scram!' and 'Nerds Unite' t-shirts from Threadless.com They're so cool! I also ordered my brother a belated birthday present (After not picking up a gift in Brighton) and those Vans trainers I wanted. Buying things for myself makes me feel guilty for some reason.
I have other news. I have yet to Blog about the new film, the NME Awards Tour (Featuring Maximo Park, We Are Scientists, Artic Monkeys and The Mystery Jets), playing 'reporter' for said magazine and winning the WWE title under the alias 'The Dropkick Kid' (The last one is a filthy lie)

Brighton in a photographic nutshell/Fun by the sea

My Inn.
@ The Arc. Nice place, tough to get into but get in we did.
At some jazzy bar where we killed some time before indie thrills. Not sure why I'm pulling such an odd face.
Brighton beach (has) rocks.
Nick and The Steve's future album cover. I love this pic. They were a dynamic duo on the dance floor.

Thanks so much to Stephanie for hosting an absolutely awesome few days of fun by the sea. Here are just a few of the many, many pictures taken over the long weekend. We went to plenty of cool bars and clubs, eat more chips and hotdogs than usual, drank as we always do, danced as we often like to (Birthday boys Nick and The Steve were the stars of the floor once again), brought tons of records, comics and trinkets and threw rocks into the cold, Brighton sea.
It was an example of what happens when you have the right people and the right place. It was just what the Doctor ordered.

I miss Brighton.
I miss our wonderful host and great, great friend.
I'll be back to both by the end of the month. :)

I now have a raging cold thanks to the insanely cold British weather.:(
You can't have it all but you can have a lot.

Chris

(More posts to follow. Lots of tales to tell for those intrigued enough to want to hear of them)

Oh, Teddy Thompson rules.

Brighton Adventures

Slightly earlier Freakend wishes as my long Freakend begins at mid day today. The Steve, Other Housemate Mark, Nick and I are piling into The House Mobile for a weekend of fun and frolicals in Brighton. The intention is to give Nick and The Steve a great big birthday adventure.
We're going to be hanging out with fellow blogger and good friend, Stephanie. It should be mucho greatness.
There will most likely be pictures and stuff.
Sorry again for those that have been coming here lately only to be dissapointed by the lack of posts (Or thrilled depending on your opinion of me and this there blogspot) I've been really busy writing some stuff for another film, trying to arrange more screenings for 'that film I keep talking about' and attempting to convince my friend that Bruce Lee's real name was 'Edmund Roundhousekick'.

Abnormal service will be resumed shortly.

P.S

* The 'Death Rides The Nine' promo DVD arrived today! I watched it on the XBOX with the sound waaaay up.

* There is a new posting regarding the film at Plot Online (It contains a screenshot which is pretty cool)

Oh, and if you haven't already heard it check out Jose Gonzales 'Heartbeats' It's lovely stuff. He reminds me of Nick Drake.

I'm really diggin' The Ranconteurs.