The most popular super-hero team in the world (and stars of their own recent movie) are now to be written by Grant Morrison, a drug-crazed magician-abductee from Scotland and writer of the seminal Invisibles. See what they will look like: here.
Just in case you’re having difficulty tracing the time-lines of what I’m getting up to here, bear in mind that while plasticbag.org is currently working on GMT, I am not. Hence two posts in one day saying “Last night I did this….”
Last night I went to this LA gay bar called ‘Rage’ where there was an event called ‘Varsity’ where anyone over the age of eighteen can get in (although clearly they can’t drink). In England, of course, this wouldn’t be an issue. And as I pointed out to someone, it’s no use having new people around if you aren’t allowed to get them drunk enough to have sex with you. Still – at least they looked pretty.
People here seem fascinated by my accent, by which I suppose I mean my lack of accent. Last time I was in LA a waiter asked me, “Is that an accent?”. I replied of course, “No”. Last night this bloke said that he, “really liked foreigners” (a strange thing to say at the best of times), to which I replied, “you should – you are one”. I’m more than aware that this is why English people are cast as the evil people in movies, but nonetheless it’s very entertaining.
So here am I – 28, crumbly and creased – untanned, ageing and flatulent, in a city of ten thousand million buff bodies and perfect smiles. What’s a boy to do?
Thanks to all the Los Angeles residents and visitors from barbelith.com who kept me entertained yesterday, especially to Ralph who was particularly entertaining. Experience the thrill of the after-meet glow over on the Underground – and pass me a cigarette while you’re over there, will you?
Sean, one of my hosts in LA, has produced a great Flash movie that will shortly be doing the rounds of everyone’s office PCs. It’s a splice of a recent Brit-movie favourite and an esteemed horror classic. I’m going to see if I can get someone to host it for him in the long term – but in the short-term I might see if I can stick it on plasticbag.org – more information as I have it…
I’ve found this internet café on Melrose called @coffee, which is quite cool, although vastly more expensive than places like easyeverything in London. It’s given me a little time to relax with the net – write a little, think some stuff through – generally to get a little head rest. If you can imagine the brain as a muscle imagine mine as tight and contracted – it feels a bit like there isn’t space down any synapse for a pulse of thought to travel. Fucking around on the net seems to let my brain relax – to slump like mush and swill around the bottom of my skull. It’s more relaxing than it sounds. I need this sensation of emptying stress and excess thought from my mind… Nothing else quite does it for me…
Valentine’s Day in Los Angeles arrives the same way as every other day, as far as I can tell – I’ve been up since nine in the morning, and I can expect to wait until midday or one pm before I have any company. The weather has finally broken – it looks really sunny outside, although it’s still pretty chilly. I’m off to meet some people from barbelith.com in an hour or so.
I’m in LA for the release of the Oscar nominations, and they are a fairly mixed bag. The most important categories (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Film, Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay) are mostly shared between ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, ‘Erin Brokovich’, ‘Quills’, ‘Traffic’, ‘The Contender’ and ‘Chocolat’ – but with notable appearances from ‘Almost Famous’ and ‘Requiem for a Dream’. One film dominates though: Crouching Tiger with a total of ten nominations, but even this is matched by the combined nominations for Steven Soderbergh’s competing films. Notable (and delighful) absence from Best Film: ‘CastAway’.
I’ve arrived in Los Angeles (near Santa Monica and Vine if that means anything to anyone), and am experiencing yet again the wonders of sleep deprivation and chronic jet-lag. I’m not at my best at the moment, that much is for sure.
