It occurred to me recently that I don't have a blog. I did have one
once in 2004 but it fell off and was run over by some gypsies. I don't
blame them, they were very apologetic. We have stayed in contact and
in four years I have never had to pay for lucky heather or been cursed
in any way. And not just by the group who squashed my blog but by all
the Romanies and Didicoys I have encountered on my travels. At first I
thought it was some magical bond, an ancient telepathy that enabled
them to plug in to a shared sub conscious but it turns out they all
have mobile phones (pay-as-you-go) and ironically, write regular
blogs. What a wonderfully fruity nexus of old and new. It just goes to
show that tradition can be maintained in the face of advancing
progress and that a bluetooth handsfree device can sit happily in the
ear next to a large gold hoop.
I digress. I was thinking it might be a good idea, seeing as my good
friend Harmony Carrigan is kind enough to administer an anti-
impersonator MySpace page for me, as well as a brilliant and
exhaustive website (www.peggster.net), I might as well send her a blog
from time to time, that she may pin it to the infostream and keep
anyone who gives a toss up to date with my movements in this reality.
I can't offer it as a two way stream of communication but at the very
least it will be a horses mouth amid any low level speculation and
conjecture. Edgar has been posting a blog on his MySpace page for some
time and it is most entertaining. My Mum has subscribed to it and she
thoroughly enjoys his tales of the Hollywood high life. I am
embarrassed to say, she has, on a number of occasions discovered
things about her own son among the postings, that he/I have neglected
to mention on the phone or in person. Like the fact that I am a
moderately successful film actor and writer and I am married to a
lovely woman from West Scotland whose name is Maureen. That is of
course a joke. Maureen is a terrible, terrible ogre but to be
perfectly honest, I'm into that shit.
Here then is the first blog. Who knows? It might even be the last.
I'm terribly flakey and rarely finish anything through to the end that
doesn't involve grunting. I just felt, seeing as I am sat on a 737 on
my way to Tokyo, this might be a good time to restart the blog train.
Not least because I am fond of the word 'blog'. It has a wonderful
onomatopoeia that could easily be employed to describe the sound of
wet bricks landing on a thickly piled rug. Also, there are a number of
things happening this year that I'd like to be able to share with you.
Paul is fast approaching a production schedule and before that, I have
three unannounced film projects to complete, all of which are pretty
bloody exciting. As well as this, How To Lose Friends And Alienate
People is released on October 3rd, so there'll be plenty to relay as
me, Mary Jane, Agent Scully and The Dude it the promo treadmill.
On the Paul front, we are about to secure a very cool director to take
on helming duties. Edgar will of course be involved in some way. It
would be weird and wrong if he wasn't. Last week, whilst I was in LA
for the BAFTA Brit Week (see Edgar's Blog), Myself and Nira Park
(great friend and long time producer) met up with Bob Graf (line
producer on every Coen Brothers movie since Fargo) to talk some
shooting logistics. He is a very cool man and it was hard to talk
business when I had so many geeky questions about the Coens dribbling
out of my gob. It was all very exciting and I so wish Nick Frost could
have been there. He was back in Blighty working on Richard Curtis's
movie, The Boat That Rocked, which he is thoroughly enjoying. Not
least because he gets to do scenes with future Bond hotty, Gemma
Atherton and the formidably talented Philip Seymour Hoffman. I am not
jealous, although if he doesn't text me to say good morning, I get
prickly.
This morning I said goodbye to Maureen and my heartbreakingly
beautiful dog Minnie* and set off for London's Heathrow Airport. The
flight to Tokyo, Narita is eleven and a half hours. I tried to sleep
but only managed about three hours. I watched two films Charlie
Wilson's War, which I enjoyed but then I'm a sucker for Tommy Hanks
and Jumper which I assumed was about a magical sweater but was about
teleporting. Diverting stuff but felt very much like an origin story.
Clearly a first chapter.
I am now at the Park Hyatt, made famous by Lost In Translation. I am
well knackered. Might try and get a power nap but intend to sit on the
edge of my bed in my gown and slippers like Bill Murray for a few
minutes before I attempt slumber. More news as it explodes. Sx
*We've had Minnie for a year now. She is a Miniature Schnauzer very
much like Colin from Spaced. She actually met Ada (who plays Colin) at
the BFT Spaced event last year. It was a real moment for me. They
sniffed each other's bums and faces and seemed to hit off really well.
Ada is ten now and Minnie wasn't even a year old at the time but the
age difference didn't seem to bother them, although I noticed Ada was
playing it cool, which Minnie found impressive and interesting.
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