I really can't figure out what to do for next year. I haven't got a single idea that would work for a student animation film (unless I worked unbelievably hard), and even then I don't really have a plot sorted for any of them, just titles and imagery which might work.

Here are some of the pictures I've saved, as visual stimulants to get my imagination going. (Note, I don't want the animated piece to look like I filmed it through an indie photo lens, but these kinds of photos are probably the best for inspiration, as they bring about so much in a single frame)

You can kind of see what kind of look and feel this thing is gonna have. After Toil and Trouble, as much as I liked it and am really pleased with the finished piece, I want to do something on a bigger scale. For one thing, it would probably have to be outside. And feature realistic human animation, and maybe even voice acting (if I can get my hands on the appropriate talent. There's nothing worse than a student film, no matter how good, with terrible voice acting). It's a lot to consider, but this is going to be my final, graduating piece of work. I'd have been pleased with Toil and Trouble if I was graduating with it, but not overly thrilled. This year, I really want to do something which pushes my limits. (Not that Toil and Trouble didn't, after all, I had to learn everything more or less as I was doing it).

Thankfully I've got all of three months to come up with a solid plan (and with that concept sketches and maybe even early models). I did this CAT-rig suicide video, where a rig plummets to her supposed death, which I think I linked a few posts back, as a jumping off point (no joke intended, but it really is quite a fortunate one) to an idea. Sadly, nothing really manifested there.

In other news, I'm ten pages into the comic, and still not past the first part. Still a long way to go before I finish it, but if I do it by the end of July I'll be a happy man.

Also, I'm looking forward to the new announced American Gods TV series HBO are planning. Neil Gaiman himself is writing, so it can't be bad at all.

Allow me to play you off, with this classic gag from silent film legend Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

By the way, Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood on the BBC, currently running, is a really great watch.

---

Used with(out) permission from Neil Gaiman's short story collection Smoke and Mirrors

---------------

Nicholas Was… Older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die. The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language, but conversed in their own, twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories. Once very year they forced him, sobbing & protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves’ invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept, frozen into time. He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and Judas. His punishment was harsher. Ho. Ho. Ho.

----

Animation intro for Neil Gaiman's book Instructions, illustrated by Charles Vess

This week I was told over by Chris on this blog that you can get paid for doing reviews. I like trying things, I like watching films and I certainly like criticizing and getting paid for it, so I signed up. I don't know if you guys can see this page, or if you have to be logged in. Otherwise I'll just post them up individually when I do interesting ones worth reading, like this one about A Tale of Two Sisters, this one on the Dark Knight, and this on Godzilla. Fuck knows if those link work, either. But I'm getting money from it so I don't care. Actually.

*edit* I just learnt, my reviews only get published days a few days after I write them. Oh, right. Gotcha

--------------

Today I helped a bunch of Haitians by packing and loading up great big boxes of big-ass tents, and survival things like water purifiers. I think I may have to go back tomorrow and start all over again because 300 boxes isn't enough, apparently. I feel like a better person, already.

I also learnt today this. Today has been filled with happiness, except when I had to pay 250 pounds into my stupid account because it was overdrawn. 

Ok, now I'm gonna watch some TV or something, or ... maybe ... go to bed early ? *gasp*

A brand new year has begun. The first in a brand new decade of what was, not too long ago a new millennium (and needless to say, century). Everything's pretty new, and is the usual pathos in this, it represents brand new beginnings and hope and all that. But, of course, it doesn't. It's another day which will be followed by another day the day after it, until we reach the end of the year which is full of reminiscence and then the eventual new beginning.       Everything ends, and everything begins again, but only if you choose to see it. That's not to say that the end of the year isn't something worth celebrating. 

There's a lot of things I want to get right this year, which I didn't quite seem to get last year. I'm not going to write up any resolutions, mainly because I haven't thought of any. It's going to be the usual mix of things, though: get that Wanderer comic off the ground, finish writing things, write new things, draw more, and, hell, why not even start a film or an animated piece while I'm at it. 

Remember way back when in my eager stages of planning for bits of life that wouldn't happen for years and years and years? It's all still happening. Nothing's ended, nor begun. I'm still running around in circles trying to find decent plots for these three stories. If life in Sheffield proves to be as excellent as it's been lately, I'm pretty sure I can see a really good year ahead of me. 

I wonder if Fool Face Reilly got my New Year's text

I'm listening to my "sounds of 2009" playlist which I just created, which instead of being good music from 2009, it's music I listened to a shitload in 2009, which includes undoubtedly, the musical genius and lyrical mastery of Amanda Palmer and Dresden Dolls. Mr Children's Home album and their B-Sides compilation album have certainly awarded themselves a place in this (as well as all their other songs I have), as have AC Newman, Coeur de Pirate, and Regina Spektor.     It's a pretty good playlist.

I'm going to end this entry with this benediction from my author idol, Neil Gaiman, because everything I've tried to write has sounded really forced and unbelievably cheesy:

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. May your coming year be a wonderful thing in which you dream both dangerously and outrageously.

"I hope it'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and you will be liked and you will have people to love and to like in return. And most importantly, because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now - I hope that you will, when you need to be, be wise and that you will always be kind. And I hope that somewhere in the next year you surprise yourself."

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope it's a great one.

I have a new comptuer mouse, which claims to do many things, which I've to see how they're different to the things my old (albeit broken) computer mouse used to do. Highly amused though at the intructions, which come in a neat CD-box sized envelope, that is until you open it. Then the thing unfolds like a Tube map that's almost twice the size of your desk space. There aren't many instructions either (putting in batteries, installing software, warning keep away from eyes) but they've thought it a good idea to translate it into 23 languages And why not I've just read these two April Fool articles. They were linked on Gaiman's journal but they made me laugh so I'll link em here anyway http://www.locusmag.com/2007/0401_NeilGaimanSainthood.html http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=19999 -- I spent most of the night last night reading both Jungle Books, because I couldn't sleep. You know how there's always that one guy in your apartment building who plays music at two in morning and keeps everyone up despite seemingly oblivious to what is happening. It's lovely that we don't have any in this block here, except for this one guy next to me... ... who laughs. Every night, from about 8 till I fall asleep, he's laughing. it's most perplexing. And last night that was what I was kept up by. So I decided to rewrite things, and then fell asleep at my computer, like on TV And my internet's been down all yesterday. It was awful. Although I ended up getting a lot of work done...

So many ideas, so little time to write them all in. Critical analysis today gave me an awesome Avargado (that's the setting for such stories as Under Her Wing, and full novels Last of the Heroes, One Tin Soldier and Vaeun) involving the creation of the camera. John Berger's crazy-ass show Ways of Seeing gave me the idea, so thanks John for that. That's one more idea to the ever-increasing project list. So far they include: rewriting/editing Last of the Heroes and One Tin Soldier, finishing up Dial M 2, getting to work with Maze, and finishing, hopefully, this Scroogical (a poem based on A Christmas Carol) which I've been working on for two years. I also bought graphic novel Death: Time of Your Life, and although I love Gaiman's work, I can't believe I just spent so much on something with less than a hundred pages... It'll definitely be a damn good read in any case. Now time to continue writing, as these words aren't going to make themselves.

Photoshop is annoying. Gragh. Or maybe it's my drawing skill. Nah. It's definitely photoshop, and my mate for not supplying high def pictures of the character I'm doing the poster of. Also, I need to buy a new computer mouse, not cos I threw it across the room (as it was broken before. honest). At least I'm getting a few hundred words written a day (an amazing 1,000 done yesterday) so hopefully I'll be getting Dial M 2 and Maze done before summer, although that's probably wishful thinking A second rant for the day: why is Coraline taking so long to come out over the UK? May? I mean, come on, it's an English book ... well, English author anyway. That and Dragonball are the two movies I'm looking forward to this year

OK, i tried using Twitter to ask Neil Gaiman what the Icelandic from AG is. He didn't reply, of course, with several thousand followers it's no doubt that he gets several hundred tweets at once (even worse for Stephen Fry with a scale breaking 150,000 followers). Terrible banging and shouting and loud Final Fantasy music came from my flatmate's room all day. I daren't ask what the fuck was going on. To Zanarkand should never be played on full volume. also, I made an awesomely obscure reference in Dial M for Mephistopheles 2 today. "Ed's voice floated around Louis like Tsai Chin's Forgotten Time" I don't see many people getting that. Which is awesome, cos those who do will my favourites

Finished American Gods last night which was, despite the bits I didn't quite get or didn't seem the plot, was a very good book indeed. I recommend people read it now. Also, I'm trying to find out what Odin said to Shadow in the postscript, in Iceland. If anyone speaks Icelandic, it'd be awesome to know what "Hvernig gengur? manst pu eftir mer?" means. It's probably nothing important, but what the hell. I have found that I am incredibly influenced by things around me. I have been reading Neil Gaiman, only him, for about a month now and it's showing in my writing style. When I was on a Discworld binge, I was writing like Pratchett. It would be good to not have such an easily malleable style (did I spell that right?). It's been snowing like hell outside, too, and snow features quite a bit in AG and, lo and behold, suddenly I'm chucking snow all over the place in my stories. All I know so far is that Maze an Dial M 2 will have snow in them somewhere..