Cats, Jelly Babies, FeedBurner and an iPhone wallpaper!

The last few days have been particularly manic!

Since Friday I've embarked on the process of updating Nick Smith's blog template and publishing his Blogger hosted site to a custom domain name using GoDaddy (you can register domain names from any of a number of different registrars). This is no mean feat when you factor in html coding, FeedBurner, AdSense and Google Webmaster Tools amongst others!

Cat City Online
Cat City Online is the weblog of Nick Smith, author of "Scriptwriting: The Secrets Unleashed," "Milk Treading," "The Kitty Killer Cult" and "Undead on Arrival."

Drop by Nick's new and improved site and leave a comment. He's a good friend and a creative chap...

Memorial
Making further progress with my mother's memorial project! Today Shop@Panasonic, Harlequins Centre, Exeter, pulled through with a Plasma HDTV TH-37PX70, which will be installed at Lucerne House once the refurbishment work on the Alphinbrook Unit is complete! And a Shop@Panasonic staff member recognised me from myentertainmentnews.co.uk (formerly Unit News)! Always a pleasure to meet a fellow Doctor Who/Torchwood fan!

In addition to the plasma television, we've bought a PC, widescreen monitor and a Nintendo Wii (includes Wii Sports)!

The next steps include researching the needs of each resident and costing the peripherals and software needed to facilitate the highest level of transparency! At this stage I have no idea of the total cost - anywhere from £300 to £3000 and beyond! I'll give serious consideration to approaching disabled charities, for extra funding, if my mother's memorial fund falls short.

FeedBurner Help Group
Be sure to visit the brand new official FeedBurner Help Group, which launched last night (GMT), where I'm a Community Expert! I'll help out as much as possible along with my fellow Community Expert peeps Improbulus, Charles LaPage, Mathaba and Franklin Tse.

One last thing...

"Peek-a-boo" wallpaper
I was inspired to create a wallpaper for the iPhone (and it looks cool on iPod touch too)!

"Peek-a-boo" is my cheeky homage to the Apple logo and started life as my Twitter avatar!



More wallpapers to follow.

December Duet Online Premiere

It only took 12 years (the original Star Wars trilogy appeared on DVD before it)! Now, thanks to an afternoon spent in my Panasonic VHS to DVD transfer suite, for your pleasure and delight, is my video major 'December Duet' (1996).

I co-wrote (with novelist and friend Nick Smith - 'Milk Treading'), produced, directed and edited (non-linear for the final EDL) 'December Duet' (shot on Beta SP format), which was the culmination of the (BA Hons) Media Production course at the University of Bournemouth.



This 10 minute drama starred Bob Sessions, who has appeared in numerous films including Clive Barker's 'Night Breed', 'Hackers' (starring Academy Award® winning actress Angelina Jolie) and portrayed Batman/Bruce Wayne in BBC Radio One's, episodic audio adaptation, 'Knightfall' (1995).

Knight Rider

This post was guest blogged by Nick Smith of The Scratching Post.

I was looking forward to seeing the revamp of Knight Rider on NBC last night. I love driving my Ford Mustang, so I was quite happy with the make and model being used for the Knight Industries Three Thousand car (“KITT”). I was even willing to give Val Kilmer a go as the voice of KITT, and I thought a cameo by David Hasselhoff (from the original series) would be fun. The director had worked on Rome and Deadwood – he had to be a smart cookie.

I must confess, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled when the old Knight Rider theme began to play. But it was replaced within seconds by generic rock and from then on, the TV movie resembled a 2 hour car commercial: lots of shots of the tires, the windshield, the grille etc. No amount of fast cutting allowed for the fact that the director Steve Shill had forgotten to make the car chases exciting.

Worse, the storyline was dull, formulaic American TV stuff; the leads were bland, with no interesting lines to test their acting chops; and the dialogue was often drowned out by the rock music.

It’s a shame that executive producer Glen A. Larson couldn’t have taken a cue from a revamp of another of his shows, Battlestar Galactica, and added some more engaging, believable characters. The new Knight Rider was so vacuous that I didn’t stick around long enough for the Hasselhoff cameo, and Steve Shill should stay away from car porn in future...

NICK SMITH BIO
www.nicksmithbooks.com
Nick Smith is a filmmaker, writer and actor. He has written screenplays (The Terror Game, Cold Soldiers); dramas and documentaries for the BBC, Sky and all other major UK networks. He wrote a year's full content for "The Property Channel" on cable and contributed to "The Medical Channel" on satellite.

Other work includes novels (the bestselling Milk Treading, The Kitty Killer Cult and Undead on Arrival), stage plays (Crime School, Foodfellas), comedy sketches, articles (The Scotsman, Charleston Magazine), radio plays and comic books. He founded and ran a production company and The Film School Scotland before moving to Charleston, South Carolina where he’s currently directing feature film and teaching writing, acting and filmmaking. He charts it all in his blog, The Scratching Post.

Boss Cat

After a little coaxing, I've encouraged Nick Smith (friend and author of Milk Treading and The Kitty Killer Cult) to release a free eBook entitled 'Cat Sense'!

Cat Sense touches the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ingenious biological make-up of cats.

Offering free books (or chapters) is an excellent opportunity to reach an audience that may have otherwise never come into contact with a writer. I authored the eBook using Adobe's InDesign CS, Acrobat 7.0 Pro and Distiller. A publishing triple threat!

Tales From The Bat Cave

In 1994 BBC Radio One broadcast Batman: Knightfall and enthralled lunchtime listeners. Bob Sessions played the titular role with such panache and gravitas that many Batfans, myself included, consider his to be the definitive performance. When Bob emotes “If you’re threatening me, get in line!”, he’s not bluffing.

In 1996 I was introduced to Bob Sessions, by Dirk Maggs, and asked him if he would like to participate in my video major December Duet, which was in pre-production for a summer shooting schedule. Nick Smith, my long time friend and creative partner in crime, wrote an astonishing poem for the screenplay and Bob generously agreed to perform it.

Far from passion, pain and guilt
In caverns far from inn or church
Their kind in coldness ever dwell.
With folded wings they take the hanged man's perch
Dead men's spirits in the air
Blind to the fate that nature gave
We envy their winged escape
Yet share their destined grave.
So high yet seeing naught but dark
Our souls with burdens great
Leathered limbs caress the sky
Gods blinded by the weight
The wheel turns, the spirit memories remain,
A never changing face,
More sooted than the world below
Too numb to change their place.

Dirk Maggs recorded the performance at the award-winning Soundhouse Ltd Recording Studios in May of that year. And has kindly taken the time to transfer the original DAT studio master to CD-R. d you are the man!

Listening to it again after all these years (I seldom revisit self-produced creative), I deeply regret not making more of its raw narrative power. Although Bob Sessions is no longer alive, this is a small tribute to his memory from two Batfans. Here, for your delectation and listening pleasure, is Bob's incomparable reading of Nick’s poem (MP3).

Yosemite National Park

Happy Fourth of July to my US readers and Nick Smith. Have a great day, but don't forget those Amity Island sharks!

Currently testing Deer Park! What's this? Deer Park is the codename for the Firefox 1.1 Alpha release.

Easter XEGS

After an eventful Mothering Sunday, where's Agent Scully when you need her? It was a pleasant diversion to learn that acclaimed Atari 8-bit/5200 emulator Atari800MacX has been updated to 2.1. This release includes many bug fixes and a new brush metal appearance (suggested by yours truly). Requires real Atari DOS to work.

Updated Nick Smith Books.

Don't Believe The Hype

Feeling that your literary needs are undernourished? Then read a transcript of the press kit for the new novel by my friend Nick Smith here. Next stop the movie franchise. Personally I'm really looking forward to reading Nick's books to my Mother.

Watching last night's episode of The OC, I noticed classic arcade game machines in the Student Coffee House! Galaxians and Pole Position had pride of place on the set. Don't you just love it?

To anyone who has downloaded my MacMAME Xcode build, you are cordially invited to provide usability feedback here. Thanks for your time.

OK. I'm off to unwrap the gorgeous Dead or Alive Ultimate and bask in its 16:9 rays.

Chez Fred

Dad missed my birthday this year. So, he treated me to KFC tonight. Brought back memories of eating like a 'barbarian' with longtime friend and fellow Bournemouth alumni Sunil Chamund. In 1996 Sunil arranged an unforgettable - and genuine - surprise party. And Nick Smith, Natasha Gann et al went to Chez Fred. That evening Bournemouth's award-winning Chez Fred restaurant was closed to the public. I don't drink alcohol, but the proprietor very generously donated a bottle of wine. A cherished birthday memory and a reminder of far less complicated times.

Tonight Amazon UK started accepting pre-orders for Nintendo DS (£99.99 or €149). Maestro Shigeru Miyamoto oversaw the development of the successor to the Game Boy brand. The dual screen concept will doubtlessly shape the future of gaming. The DS hardware package will come bundled with Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, as it did in the USA.

Star Trek II - The Wrath Of Khan

As an adjunct to a post from May 2004. Towards the end of my final year of undergraduate study at Bournemouth University, I once again braved the deck of USS Excalibur*. An ILM speaker, model maker Chris Boyd, was scheduled to appear. Amidst a torrent of name drops an amusing anecdote involved Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi) on the set of Star Trek movie Generations (1994). She allegedly suffered from serious 'gas' following a restaurant meal and...

Later in the Q&A the subject of the Star Wars prequels arose. Chris confirmed that the title was Shadows of the Empire! The assembled Trek throng raved in their complicity. However, knowing that this was not the case, having read the edge magazine, I pointed out to the embarrassed ILM speaker that SOTE was a multi-platform marketing project centered on the launch of Nintendo's upcoming 64-bit games console. My comments were met with derision. History would suggest otherwise...

[*Excalibur emerged from Vintage video where I made the acquaintance of friend and novelist Nick Smith.]

Singer soars

X-Men movie franchise auteur Bryan Singer is officially signed to direct Superman's big screen return. According to sources the narrative will intertwine with the mythology of Richard Donner's 70's opus Superman (The Movie). Singer's roster of upcoming projects includes Logan's Run and X3. Presumably the latter project will remain under his aegis as the previous entries are structured as part of a trilogy format. Lets hope that Smallville's Tom Welling is afforded the deserved opportunity to transition to the big screen!



With the news of Superman and Batman Begins (currently in production and headlined by Christian Bale and Katie Holmes) comic book licenses are at an all time high! You can view original Superman and Batman fine art in my gallery. In the future I intend to add new material.

Plug time! My friend Nick Smith is about to release his new novel.

Back to screenplay writing!