Kirk Douglas 1949
Man oh man I been busy. This is national novel writing month. The idea is to write about 1500 words a day, without thinking about it too much and see what you get at the end of the month. The idea is you’ll have a first draft of a novel that is at least 50.000 words. Nanowrimo link.
I started writing late in the month so I have had to average high-about 3,000 words a day to get to where I am now which is 35,000. It’s been fun and I’m pleased with what I have written. It’s Mid grade story and Freddie, the hero has just escaped the giant spider and the evil princess.
Steve Martin said the subconscious mind is the writer the conscious mind the editor. This process of writing in a month with out planning or editing is all subconscious work. It’s great to be able to work in this free wheeling kind of way. Two pals have also taken the challenge. One of them is buzzing with life, kinda energized by the experience. When I was most focused on the novel, last week, I was writting from somewhere ‘deep’ with in and that night I had the MOST trippy visual dreams, reflecting what I had been writing. It was fab. At one point there was knock on the door. “Whose there?” I asked.” Meisner”, a man replied. (actors will get it)
But I have still been getting on with my Hollywood lifestyle!! Last week I went to the Britannia awards, Bafta’s given to Americans. It was a super star studded event. I brushed shoulders with some huge Hollywood animals, the biggest shouldered of whom was the Governator himself Arnie. He can’t talk proper, he mumbled on about park benches or something, said Kirk Douglas was his entire inspiration and grinned those big gnashers of his. But imagine that, without Kirk there’d have been no Arnie, then no body building, then no gyms and we’d all be fat. Arnie then handed a life time achievement award to screen legend Kirk Douglas. Despite his stroke Kirk ran onto the stage. He told us all a lovely story about how he and Burt Lancaster had performed to the Queen in the London Paladium. He then sung “Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner.” And fairly scooted off the stage again! He is 92 but still a super star.
A whole bunch of other stars got awards but I can’t be bothered mentioning them becos they weren’t in the wild. They were indoors which I feel is less celebrity safari and more celebrity safari park. However Ben Stiller did take the piss out of Robert De Niro in a very funny speech (He took all the credit for De Niro’s career) then gave him another very important Bafta. Bob was cool as can be. He took the mick out of british theatrical lovies and retold his Travis Bickle lines from the Taxi Driver in a Sir John Geilgud voice “I say sir. Are you looking at me sir? I mean I wonder very much are you looking at me sir?” 
Talking of Geilgud, god bless his thespian soul, I went to a really good production of Harold Pinters play “No mans Land” at the Odyssey theatre. Geilgud was one of the original cast, with Ralph Richardson (Oh I miss those chaps so!) Everyone was good but the lead, Alan Mundell was world class. The play is wonderfully from the subconscious. It is about success, the lack of it and the price of the two! Mandell has a wonderful monologue where he begs a character to change his life. See the play if you can. Mandell is Beckett scholar and worked with the man. Below is a link of his performance in the original version of ‘The endgame’ he is the guy in the bin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN0oXalNQ1Q
Also congratulations to my good buddy KJ Miller whose film ‘Nobody the great‘ ( a comedy about 2 posho brits who mistake the Gasman for a terrorsist) won the Bel Air Film Festival audience award.
Rock on.
