Well here it is, my first short movie starring the very talented Richard Collins. Written and directed by myself, camera by James G Wall and produced by Summer Snow, it runs at just over 5 minutes and is called Confession. The storyline - A man reveals his deepest darkest secret which will live with him forever.
Amazing is just one of the words I could use to describe how I felt when the finished film was posted on YouTube. It has reached 300 views which isn't bad but more would be nice. I'm not going to lie, I would love it to go viral and I hope this is the first of many.
Here it is for you to watch. If you like it, please feel free to leave a comment and share the film.
Hi Folks.
Well it has been a while hasn't it?
I thought I would do something different this time and let you all know what I have been up to lately.
Last year a good friend of mine made a film and was in desperate need for some extras. Of course I agreed to be one, went to the set the following day and then basically spent the rest of the shoot helping out behind the camera. I must confess it is my absolute dream to have a career making movies so absolutely loved helping out on this one.
The film was released a few months ago on YouTube and received rave reviews and over 5000 views. For those of you wishing to watch it, the film is called "The Truth About Romance" and is excellent.
Since then, I have finished writing scripts for a film trilogy, a ghost story and my first short movie called Confession. The latter has been filmed with me as Director and will be available to watch on YouTube this coming Monday.
More recently, I have been involved in the making of a new web series called "Two Guys & Her".
Written and directed by the very talented James G Wall (who also made The Truth About Romance) and starring James and the equally talented Jennifer Durrans and Jordan Greenhough, it is a hilarious series based on three housemates and the crazy things they get up to.
Episodes one to four are available to watch now as well as some very funny outtakes. I hope you find them just as funny as I did.
So what is next I hear you all ask? Well there are another six episodes of Two Guys to make, the premiere of Confession and I am currently re-writing my earlier confessions in the hopes of publishing them. After that, who knows? I would love the opportunity to make my ghost story film a reality.
All I can say is that I am having a blast and in the words of the amazing Ethel Merman "There's no business like show business". You said it girl.
Well here it is folks. The start of my Eurovision Countdown and where better to start than number 10.
If any of you agree with my choices or have any favourites of your own, just leave me a message.
Let the Eurovision frivolities commence.
No 10 One Step Further by Bardo (UK)
The Uk's entry for 1982's Eurovision was this jolly little song.
Bardo were actually tipped to win the contest but, as you will see watching the video, their performance on the night was less than average.
Luckily for me, I had heard the song already and absolutely loved it.
It was never going to win an NME award for best song but who cares. It served it's purpose by being a fun song with a catchy tune and, at the time, was good to dance to. What can I say, I'm gay and sometimes my musical tastes can be quite strange.
Sally Ann Triplett and Stephen Fischer were Bardo and formed just for Eurovision with plans to further their new found pop career after the contest.
Things did not get off to a good start with the act finishing 7th on the night. They fared better with the release of the song when it reached number 2 in the charts.
Unfortunately none of their other releases charted and they joined that elite group known as One Hit Wonders and separated.
They reformed under a new name and also became a duo romantically with Sally giving birth to their son in 1990 (thanks to Wikipedia for that little snippet of information).
A few years later, the relationship ended and they went their separate ways.
I honestly believe that if their performance had been better on that forsaken night, they would have indeed won the contest and who knows how the the future of Bardo could have turned out?
I am still the proud owner of One Step Further on 7" vinyl though I am not the owner of a record player. Thanks to YouTube, I recently listened to it again and was reminded of just how much I loved it and the temptation to download it from Amazon is proving very hard to resist.
Yes folks, you read that correctly. The Eurovision Song Contest is indeed one of my guilty pleasures.
My earliest memory of watching Eurovision is in 1976 with my family. I was a mere 9 years old and Brotherhood of Man won the contest for the UK with Save all Your Kisses for Me. Who could ever forget that dance and don't any of you dare deny that you didn't have a go at those moves like I did.
Eurovision was a big part of our life and we never missed it. We'd had our electricity cut off one year and were so desperate not to miss it that we made do with the radio.
There we were with a few candles and Eurovision blurting out of a small speaker. It was bliss and one of the memories I treasure most.
Katie Boyle and Terry Wogan were of course the King and Queen of Eurovision but I think Graham Norton is proving to be a most excellent host. As with his predecessors, you can tell he absolutely loves everything about it.
These days it has become a little too political with countries awarding points to their neighbours just to keep them happy, for fear of possible invasions or a ban from fishing in the other countries waters.
Never the less, I still love it and and even more so now that each year it is on, I visit my good friend Andy to watch it with him. We even go as far as awarding our own points and trying to predict who will win. I love it but Andy adores it. I'm not kidding, the man is like the encyclopedia Eurovision.
So why do I love it so? I could say it's because I'm gay and because it is as camp as Christmas. I could even say it's because sometimes the songs are so bad and the artists so ridiculous you just have to laugh out loud. There could be the possibility my addiction to Eurovision is all down to the hosts and their hilarious comments.
It is, however, none of the previous. The reason I love it so is quite simply because the contest unites countries through the art of music. Millions of people watch it every year and with each passing year, it becomes bigger and better and more importantly it becomes even more loved.
Yes there are those who ridicule it but they still watch it.
I think the Eurovision Song Contest will be with us for many more years and I would love it see it evolve into the World Song Contest. Not sure if the BBC could spare a whole day to show all the acts taking part but it sure would be fun to watch.
Leading up to this years contest, I will be compiling my top ten Eurovision acts. The list will contain acts that won and some that didn't and thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I will do my utmost to include a video (hopefully from the contest) for each one.
I hope you find it an interesting and enjoyable edition to my blog and please feel free to let me know your favourite Eurovision acts or songs.
Until next week when we start with number 10 in our countdown, I bid thee farewell.
