2013 was...

...our first narrative music video for Black Lights, which due to some digital jiggery pokery meant that I could make into a "4K" super pixel peeping extravaganza, a weekend in Camden Town, strawpedoes, a trip to Mozilla HQ, Poker Night in which I won, a visit to BBC Bristol, editing the highlights for BBC North's Comic Relief fundraising week including a massive Media City Harlem Shake, Hoptimus Prime, a visit to BBC Glasgow, an attack of a scouse bird with her baps out in Liverpool, Metal Gear Rising, Raiden Graffiti, superheroes at Stockport's vintage market, putting together a crack team of Film Super Heroes in the form of the Northwest Avengers in order to create a 48 hour Sci-Fi film for the London Sci-Fi film festival, hot tubs in the middle of nowhere with Chris Lane and co, restoring and (re)-releasing MancattaN online on a Vimeo platform with the correct aspect ratio and all logos intact (which our previous distributor got wrong!), also giving MancattaN a brand new website to go with it's digital facelift, briefly having some studio space, before realising we'd never use it and so let it go, recording some acoustic tunes performed by yours truly in said former studio space, but that won't see the light of day for a while, Viva La Scotty's 30th, FINALLY making a Transformers film, which was of course very, very serious, real life Autobot and Decepticon cars, I do a Legolas, Alton Towers, Dogs in Sunglasses, almost QUITTING FILM FOR GOOD... Almost... , being yourself, unless you can be Batman, in which case, always be Batman, a trip to Wales for the BBC, a sculpture of bums, Torchwood, Quarry Bank Mill, a new role at the ol' BBC, rock and roll-a-billy Hazel, re-teaming up with Black Lights to film a rather gorgeous music video (and inventing the concept of a music video B-Side) at the amazing Eve Studios, building an edit suite in the back garden, balcony parties at media City, re-designing the garden, taking part in the Filmonik Summer 2013 Kabaret which included playing a small part in the superhero film "Iron Manc", and all sorts of other Filmonik madness like The Hulk, Zombie Cats on Mars and F*****g War, firepits, camping in Ambleside, drunken bowling and Quasar with the Filmonik posse, after a ten year hiatus, returning to the Auto Assembly Transformers Convention where I bumped into a few friends in disguise and met one of the IDW Transformer's writers who commented on my rather dapper suit, The Watcher gets a facelift and a Dailymotion release, I'm going to be an Uncle! Diane's Deli, Hazel Earle battering down the doors of The Royal Exchange and starring in the play Firearms & Fingertips, teaming up with the ferocious Hyena Kill and making my first ever Metal Music Video collaboration, a Transformers comic made me cry because the writing was so beautiful, BBC Summer of Wildlife, Bill Bailey at The Lowry, a visit to Channel 4, the MOSI Beer Festival, Mancattan at the Handmade Manchester Film Festival, the launch of my bezzy buddies new band night (by bands, for bands) in the shape of DS Promotions "Call It A Night" events, a fundamental shift in Liverpool, an argument with a faux hypnotist in The Wirral, the Indy Man Beer Con, filming the BBC Philharmonic and a cheeky nod to camera live on TV, joining a God Damn Gym, the Last beer train, a Change, Ziggy the Cat went missing... But came back, the Kino Kabaret Blues, and a Regeneration; not just for you know Who.



All in all, 2013 was very trying on a number of levels. It almost finished me off. I was let down by some people, but I let down a fair few more; the ones that matter most. I'd pushed myself too far, and I broke; I didn't mean to take so many people with me on the way out. But they picked me back up. They told me it wasn't Game Over. I owe it to them, as ever, to carry on. And just when it all seemed darkest, the Dawn rose. You're only ever at your best when your back is to the wall.

Already 2014 looks, bigger, brighter and bolder. I hope yours does too. Roll on 2014, The Year of The Defiant Cuppa.

xxx