So in 2001 we made this short ...

... called 'Date' to be seen on the film festival circuit. Cast and crew were assembled from adverts placed in  UK Screen, Shooting People and a few good men from City Eye, Southampton along with doormen of the Dungeon night club in a specially written role.


Filming was split between Bitterne Manor House where my about to be put upon girl friend and I lived, a house on the other side of Southampton that was due for demolition and the Dungeon.


Rooms were readied for those that had to stay the night, food was stocked (including big pots of home made pasta sauce that I spent a day slow cooking), booze was bought (rarely drunk by the actors but fully appreciated by myself, production manager Kelly King and the crew).


The shoot ran efficiently. A few obstacles presented themselves and were dispatched, most notable losing a house that was demolished ahead of time, we shot what we could quickly and decamped to the manor. 
Hours were long and sleep rare but thanks to a skilled crew in one week we had everything wrapped. 
Editing for one reason or another was completed in 2002 by Morrigan in Brighton who worked some miracles. 


The finished piece did a few screenings but I wasn't happy with it. It was way too long (fifteen minutes, should have been five). The look wasn't quite right. I didn't like some of the dialogue. I'm not throwing blame here by the way, this was my fault, I wrote it.


So 'Date' sat on my hard drive doing nothing for a while. Over the years it was taken out and small changes made, a cut here, contrast change there. Eventually I got rid of the sound and made it a silent film then left it again.


When Gregor Tischberger from The Maybe Men asked me to do a video I was planning an animation but then thought of the little film that I could never find an outlet for. It took nearly ten years but here it is, hope you like it.


The Maybe Men - David Berman Afterworld

Good Buy

Print, laptop and iphone skin:
Here

Matt Johnson - The The...

... one of the few artists whose work actually means more twenty years on than it did then. Buy ALL the L.P. s (though not with a yankee dollar).

http://www.thethe.com/

New Sickboy Logo 2011

Had to be done, needs to be viewed large...

I used to be a tour guide you know...

then I resigned, this was my letter...

"Hello,

we haven't met and now probably never will but congratulations on your recent appointment as general manager. I hear you were the best of two applicants, well done.

Though this will be no surprise I thought I would offer my official resignation as a tour guide at ___. My various skills it seems are appreciated, encouraged and remunerated to a greater extent in nicer places of the world.

My time in one of British history's most interesting sites has been an honour. Retracing periods from Saxon, through to Norman rule, onwards to the English Civil War and beyond was always a joy. The fact that you are sitting not too far from where Geoffrey of Monmouth once taught should have you on your knees drooling if you are to have any respect for the place.

 My stay in the company of ___ and ___ however has been a constant frustration. The ___ only want money and would turn the castle into a theme park if they could. The ___ seem dead set on avoiding any semblance of historical factuality which intrigues me, from the look I'd say many of them were there with the Saxons (or at least the Jewish expulsion). 

Thus I have decided to build a home in the sun, away from useless idiot clerks that the U.K. seems to value and promote so highly (say hello to ___ and ___ for me). 

Take care of the guides, their timidity and lack of fight annoys me to the highest degree but they are your greatest asset (and for next to nothing in pay) but sadly the last consideration in your Monday morning sit downs. Get ___ some decent products in the shop, fight for an expanded marketing budget so ___ doesn't have to do those bloody cheap kids trails. Don't buy ___ another fucking costume!

My work attire shall be returned when I am next in the vicinity, I have a pair of boots that the castle wore out. I would like them re-soling before this happens, as agreed many months ago by the management and then (naturally) never acted upon.

Enjoy your time as manager. Give my regards to the rest of the team, I do think about them from time to time. Generally when looking through the scope of a rifle.

Regards

___

a.k.a. ___

Formally the best tour guide at ___"

I even made the card my resignation was sent in:

This is the new shit

It's a stencil, it's a card, it's a t shirt. I might go and design some fucking wrapping paper.