This is a brave edition of this long running blog. Foolhardy even but needs must. I have set a high bar for this weekly epistle. My readers expect many things including candour. They demand quality, some pathos, wisdom but above all else, they want to smile and occasionally laugh. And to create this alchemy, if…
As part of his A level art, Paddy has chosen photography – a smart move given his mum’s profession and her proclivity for helping others and especially her young. Like most students and probably almost all boys, Paddy likes to leave things to the very last second to complete and submit any tasks required of…
The word to use might be blithe or glib. Or more likely, foolhardy given that so few of us know anything about what we are agreeing to when we accept cookies. It is drummed into us as kids never to accept sweets (candy) from strangers and yet we happily accept cookies offered to us by…
Two things occur to me listening to this clip… That a strong work ethic is a talent in itself and one that Tom has relied heavily on throughout his short but already significant career. During his time playing Billy in Billy Elliot, it was noteworthy how bloody hard Tom worked and something I make mention…
Standing Ovations are a great honour unless they are pre-arranged like the ones we see at political rallies. Ovations are most powerful if they are spontaneous like the one Tom and I discuss in this clip, given by the Toronto audience at the worldwide premiere of The Impossible. For obvious reasons this screening was a…
When writing Eclipsed and indeed in my ongoing life and my career output, one of my golden rules is not to compromise my boys nor to embarrass them. Which explains why I have not included in Eclipsed the awkward incident in Thailand when one of my boys (Harry) happened to shit his pants. There are many advantages…
Takes on Life strikes me as a good book title for a non-fiction funny book. Takes being used as a verb – as in to take on something like a challenge. And also my take… as in my perspective on something or other. I think this is clever and I am surprised that Takes on…
Observational comedy is only successful with a high degree of accuracy and some cunning. To observe something that resonates – but crucially is something that people haven’t already realised for themselves. This is why good observations are often described as acute or even oblique. I call them nuggets because they are valuable and not easy…
“How the f*** did this movie get made?” This is a question we have all raged at the screen – big and small. It happened to me most recently watching Snakehead, the latest glitzy must-see from Netflix and heavily leaning on its two stars for our patronage. But alas, their best efforts are in complete…
The ‘art’ of putting oneself down. Taking the mickey out of oneself for comic effect. It is comic seam I have mined over the years, to an extent on stage but particularly so in my writing. Eclipsed as a storyline lends itself easily to this technique and genre. Writing a book about a dad being outshone…
