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Sort-Of Update

I’m not posting this from my blog interface, but rather, hand-coding it. Blog software’s been a bit knackered for the last month (it’ll hopefully be fixed soon), so I’ve been unable to post. [Note: Of course, this has since been reposted using the new blog interface!]

Well, you know, weird turn of events. After the last move, to Ilford… I found myself without an Internet connection for two months, almost. And the new home had cockroaches. This was an unbeatable combination, quite honestly. I finally decided I had to give up on the Down South Experiment, so, would you believe… I write this five weeks after my fifth move in a 14-month period, back where I began, my old home-town (actually, the same street as before to boot!).

I don’t see this as permanent, but for now, just a bit of stability seems like a good idea. Apart from the trauma of moving five times, anyhoo. My sleeping patterns are shot to hell, worse than they’ve ever been and very nearly upside-down. But, the upsides: I have Wifi, there are no cockroaches, a large living-room into which all my junk fits nicely… and today, a new washing machine arrived, which was nice. (No, really. I am allergic to hand-washing.)
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Developments

So I am looking around for a new place. Went to see my friend Michael in Camden today and browse what was on offer there. No much of any use, as it happens, but we had a nice meal anyway!

I am (fingers crossed) viewing a place on Wednesday night in the Brockley/Lewisham area. Prolly not as funky as Fulham, but close to the city (only about 20 mins from Charing Cross), and it’s obviously the living situation itself that is most important. This one sounds a lot better, but I don’t wanna say too much for now.

I’ve been in a sort-of relationship for some months with someone now, and last night he suggested making it official. He was a little drunk so I said, ‘Hey, maybe tomorrow you’ll not say this.’ But no change so far! I guess that means it is official. It’s a nice feeling. The situation started to develop just before leaving London for my disastrous spell in Brighton, which did compound the error big-time. As much as it turns out that the current living situation sucks, I’m glad to be back in London.
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In Search of Steve Ditko

Well, I needed cheering up. I’ve been suffering from the most abysmal cold/flu bug all week. I still feel rough, and my neck bumps are still a bit swollen, but it seems the worst is finally over.

And to make my diminished mood even better, my DVD of Jonathan Ross’s new show, In Search of Steve Ditko, popped through the letterbox. Yeah, that show I worked on, brag brag, egotism, etc.
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In Search of…

Hmmm, okay, as the stories about this have spread across the Internet like a rash since Blake Bell posted about it, I might as well confirm that the Jonathan Ross show I was working on back in Feb/March (and which I have continued to help with where I can, as needed) is entitled “In Search of Steve Ditko”. It’s a profile of the less-famous half of the original Spider-Man creative team, to be aired on BBC4 sometime in the near future.

My March 1st entry was related to this, of course.

Otherwise, I don’t want to discuss too many details, or nuts and bolts, except to say, I hope it’ll be a really cool show, and it’s nice to have been able to contribute.
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Brighton

Right, so I went to Brighton yesterday (meaning Wednesday). That’s the moving situation. I’ve decided that, as Brighton is just 40 minutes away from London (the city centre) on the train, the air is a hell of a lot cleaner, and most importantly, you can rent quite nice places for about the same as you can get squalid dumps in most of London… that’s where I’m gonna relocate to.

The irony is that this is where mom and I planned to move to. We were still talking about this a year ago. It was roughly a year ago that mom started to show symptoms that led to a grim diagnosis and the end of her life. That’s been on my mind a fair bit, for obvious reasons, but I’m trying to not let it get me too down.

I do like Brighton, anyway. The seafront’s a major attraction, and as it’s not all that large, you’re never too far away from anything. I have to go into the city from here if, say, I want to browse a large music store… the only local option is a tiny HMV in Wimbledon. Yeah, Wimbledon turned out to be much smaller and less impressive than initial impressions suggested. :-/
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Hot and Saucy

Well… the extent to which I will discuss the last six days is: I’ve been working at the Hot Sauce offices on a Jonathan Ross show that is comics-related. I don’t want to divulge the subject until it seems appropriate to do so, but suffice it to say, I believe it will be a very interesting and worthwhile project.

Today, after a week of helping with research materials, briefs and arranging interviews, as well as contributing some questions for interview subjects, I was around for the shooting of some original artwork from Jonathan’s collection. JR had places to be, so I was quite honoured to be asked to stay around and help select which pieces to shoot. It was a fun day. On the whole, it’s been an enormously positive experience.
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Gallery of Wonder

Meeting Jonathan Ross and crew at the Hot Sauce offices, Paul and I were treated to sensory overload, trying to take in just a portion of the original comic artwork he has stored in a number of drawers (not to mention the small selection hung on sundry wallspace, including the toilet!). JR could start his own gallery single-handed. The artists covered are innumerable, though there is an emphasis on Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, who have drawers mostly to themselves. To say the collection is awesome would be no kind of understatement.

The offices also are crammed in every corner with all kinds of toys, videos and media. It’s quite an experience to browse the place. Here’s JR sitting at his desk…

Jonathan Ross Hotsauce Office January 16 2007

And here’s me and Paul posing with JR and the slightly wonderful double-page spread from Devil Dinosaur #1:
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