tag:,2008:/93 2008-01-14T21:07:36Z An unusual take on Wales Movable Type 3.31 tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2008://93.35820 2008-01-14T15:34:53Z 2008-01-14T21:07:36Z

The Slagg Brothers would like to thank everyone for the massive support recieved in an online video competition over the Christmas period. The Slagg Brothers were placed second and won a commission for a series of sketches to be filmed...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond The Slagg Brothers would like to thank everyone for the massive support recieved in an online video competition over the Christmas period. The Slagg Brothers were placed second and won a commission for a series of sketches to be filmed for ComedyBox. ComedyBox is the new online presence of Time Warner and is fronted by John Lloyd, the producer of great shows such as QI, Not the Nine O'Clock News, and Black Adder. If you want to see the sketch, please visit: http://www.comedybox.tv/topview-10640 Will have more interesting news to report from the comedy duo soon. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.31795 2007-11-29T13:06:05Z 2007-11-29T13:28:19Z

The Slagg Brothers' script for a comedy Film Noir has been accepted and filming will begin at the turn of the year in London. The process from approach by the company to acceptance of the script took five weeks. A...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond The Slagg Brothers' script for a comedy Film Noir has been accepted and filming will begin at the turn of the year in London. The process from approach by the company to acceptance of the script took five weeks. A fortnight to work out what the client was looking for, a week to plan, a week to write, and a week of redrafts. The keywords for the project were: poetic, erotic, dark, menacing. When we met up with the producers, we were pleased to find that they thought we'd delivered the script on time and fulfilling their expectations. At present the actors are being cast. Frank Harper (Lock, Stock ... and Football Factory) is to play the lead role and we're hoping that Beth Winslet (Sister of Kate) will play the lead female role. Will keep you informed of further progress. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.23701 2007-09-05T21:20:56Z 2007-09-05T21:26:15Z

An update on my occasional writing pardners, The Slagg Brothers. They've told me that they've made the shortlist for a very prestigious award (more details to follow) and they're currently writing the treatment for a cinema release Film Noir, due...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond An update on my occasional writing pardners, The Slagg Brothers. They've told me that they've made the shortlist for a very prestigious award (more details to follow) and they're currently writing the treatment for a cinema release Film Noir, due out in 2008. Will let you know at what exact moment everything goes bosoms up for them. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.21868 2007-08-14T10:32:56Z 2007-08-14T10:46:42Z

Slagg Brothers, my occasional writing partners have been busy the last few months. Recently securing an agent, they came second in the Liverpool Comedy Festival with a ten-second short called Angry Chaplin. The brief was a silent comedy in less...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond Angry Chaplin There are (hopefully) big moves in the USA for this duo with a large film company expressing interest in one of their screenplays. More on that, later.]]> tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.15874 2007-06-15T10:33:18Z 2007-08-14T10:51:13Z

Yep, irate and at my wits' end with this film. I have several gripes. Firing a monkey from a cannon isn't that clever, even in comedy. In real life, the poor creature's ass would pass through its head before it...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond Yep, irate and at my wits' end with this film. I have several gripes. Firing a monkey from a cannon isn't that clever, even in comedy. In real life, the poor creature's ass would pass through its head before it left the barrel. "Ah, it's only a film," cry its defenders. But those same cannons were firing cannonballs through wooden beams, a moment before. Create a fantasy world, by all means, but at least make the rules within that world constant. Consistency please, cannons either hurt or they don't. They aren't phasers that you can set to 'stun.' Friggin' in the riggin' - How many times did the characters hang from a rope and swoop in beautifully-timed and graceful arcs without once encountering any of the other countless pieces of rigging on a sailship? The only frigging in that rigging was with the truth. The Kiera speech - flat and tedious writing, totally predictable. If I was a 'irate' on that boat, I'd have been swmming to shore rather than listen to that hogwash any longer. The main problem was that the speech turned the morality of the film and the historical world on its head. Her speech about 'fighting for our freedom' and 'dying as free men' works when it comes from the President in Independence Day because the people are ordinary folk fighting for their freedom against an alien threat. But Kiera delivers this speech to a bunch of psycopathic, murderous, foul creatures whose career paths are based on depriving other people of their property, their freedom, and their lives. It should have been more apt for the captain of the Royal Navy to deliver that speech, at least then it would be a case of free men defending the rights of others against barbarians. Best part for me was the surreal sequence where Johnny Depp was going insane, alone on the Black Pearl. I knew the feeling by that stage of the film. Got to say it was better than the second but let's face it, that wasn't hard. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.12745 2007-05-16T18:38:15Z 2007-05-16T18:49:38Z

Yep, my occasional writing pardners, The Slagg Brothers, made the trip up to London to recieve an award from Lycos and Comic Relief. The prize was tickets for the London Eye, a bottle of champagne, and a very nice chrome...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond Yep, my occasional writing pardners, The Slagg Brothers, made the trip up to London to recieve an award from Lycos and Comic Relief. The prize was tickets for the London Eye, a bottle of champagne, and a very nice chrome metal slab, beautifully embossed, that was presented at the Eye. SlagA, the dumber of the pair, forgot to arrange a place to hook up for the presentation and spent half an hour frantically running up to people who seemed 'important', dropping subtle hints that he was a Slagg. Yeah, right. No surprise there. SlagA drunk the champagne in the train toilet before anyone noticed he'd slipped away with it. SlagB was so taken with the award that he had it converted with a motorbike chain so that he could always wear it around his neck. We haven't seen him since he went scubadiving on the weekend. The moral of the tale is to keep The Slagg Brothers from free booze and glitzy show biz awards. No problem there then. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.9810 2007-04-09T10:52:42Z 2007-04-09T11:05:34Z

South Wales Animal Rescue is a great family-run rescue centre in Swansea that helps to rehome unwanted pets. I was introduced to them by my friend who lost a rabbit (See my post about Good Intentions) and was impressed by...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond http://www.southwalesanimalrescue.org.uk The Welsh Assembly has finally passed some new animal welfare guidelines. I'll post the URL here soon.]]> tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.8940 2007-03-27T21:03:55Z 2007-03-27T21:30:27Z

Just read George Orwell's 1984 for the first time as research for a new book. There were some unsettling parallels with the novel and our present times. 1) The dictatorship in 1984 relied on a state of perpetual war to...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond Just read George Orwell's 1984 for the first time as research for a new book. There were some unsettling parallels with the novel and our present times. 1) The dictatorship in 1984 relied on a state of perpetual war to galvanise and motivate the population. Bush's declaration that the vague shadowy 'War on Terror' may last hundreds of years seems to prepare us for a state of continual (though sometimes non-existent) war. 2) The constant surveillance society of 1984 is coming to us. Since 911 more than a million cctv cameras have been placed in London alone. Our mobile phones, our credit card transactions, our internet access all give away our locations and activities. 3) The destruction of the English language in 1984 (called NewSpeak) can be seen in the falling standards of education. The dictatorship's reasoning was that if you limit the number and type of words available for thought, you can control the thoughts or at least limit the thoughts of the population, because they have no words to express unauthorised thoughts. 4) The papers for the plebs in 1984 were filled with sex and sport. Hmm. 5) In 1984, even a person's mind was not allowed to be private. The dictatorship employed methods to work out the hidden thoughts of the person. They were already watching Winston Smith, before his rebellion moved from subconsciousness to consciousness. Our own governments are working on mind-reading methods and equipment. 6) The regime in 1984 did not rely on individuals, what mattered was that the policies and the grip on power were maintained. People die but doctrines are eternal. In much the same way, in our democracy the various oppossing parties appear to resemble each other more with time. What choice when all parties espouse the same views and occupy the middle ground? Our world won't mirror closely 1984, because those interested in power will seek to avoid blatant similarities. However, I do think that the present world is equally as invasive, equally as powerful. But the powers that are (and have been) have learned subtlety. They have actually changed the mindset of the public through systems like reality TV. The greatest fear of most people in society is not that Big Brother is watching us but that Big Brother is NOT watching us. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.8000 2007-03-16T09:22:50Z 2007-03-16T10:13:18Z

Slagg Brothers win prestigious award ... apparently

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond The Slagg Brothers have apparently won Comic Relief's Red Nose Day competition, run in conjunction with Lycos. I say apparently as the sketch is yet to appear on the websites. The Slaggies have asked me to pass on their thanks to everyone who voted. The prize is a presentation in London, but knowing their luck, it'll be downgraded to a free bottle of stout at the local Spar. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.7365 2007-03-07T19:32:06Z 2007-03-07T19:39:11Z

Get the Slaggs onto Comic Relief ... please.

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond The Slagg Brothers are vying for one of their sketches to be uploaded to the Comic Relief website but they need your votes and they've asked me for help in publicising their cause. Please visit: http://comicrelief.lycos.co.uk/gallery.php?pageNumber=1&id=30 http://comicrelief.lycos.co.uk/gallery.php?pageNumber=1&id=26 and give us 5 stars ... pretty please. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.6534 2007-02-24T10:20:19Z 2007-08-14T10:58:42Z

Are good intentions really worthless? It's a common saying that good intentions aren't of value. It was a view I held but it has been challenged by the experience of a friend. This friend is a keeper of rare breeds...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond WHY a particular choice was made. The final outcome is not always in our hands but the initial part of the equation is. No matter the outcome, that underlying intention behind the choice can never change or be stolen from you. So in some circumstances I'd have to argue that intentions are of worth, and are a true indication of character. I go further to say that the original intention is the only thing that remains pure in this messy confused world. After the foreseen and unforeseen repercusions of a decision have settled and the doubts come to haunt us, we can seek refuge in the intention: the only part of the chain that was within our control.]]> tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.6067 2007-02-16T14:21:29Z 2007-02-17T20:55:24Z

What is publicly admitted common knowledge should make us stop and think before even the right to think is removed....

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond What is publicly admitted common knowledge should make us stop and think before even the right to think is removed. here: Notice he says the exercise was "... based on simultaneous bombs going off PRECISELY at the railway stations that it happened this morning." See the ITN interview here. Watch a film that shows the interviews here: Now that's spooky. Using insurance risk calculations, for an exercise to mirror an actual event by date, time, and three locations out of the possible hundreds of stations in London, the chance of this happening by accident is the same as picking the right piece of sand from all the sand on the planet multiplied a trillion times - a rather big number. When you consider that on 9/11, two exercises were being run that also mirrored the real threat on that day and time, you get into the realms of impossibility. PS: An estimated 160 Billion dollars worth of ingots were stored beneath the Twin Towers, the World's biggest gold reserve outside of Fort Nox. Only 238 Million dollars of gold were ever recovered: and this was from a service tunnel that had been blocked off by the collapse. The gold was found in the back of a deserted 10-ton truck complete with abandoned car convoy. How did the convoy know it was time to bail out when the firefighters didn't know that the buildings were due to collapse? Who could shift 160 billion dollars of gold ingots in less than 2 hours? Where 's the gold now? Answers on a postcard to: Who the Hell is running this planet? 101 Big Brother Close Stepford]]> tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.5872 2007-02-13T20:51:16Z 2007-02-13T21:06:41Z

My part-time associates, The Slagg Brothers, have just had an interview with the BBC. Very (emphasis on the word VERY) minor and well hidden, you'd never stumble on it by accident. You can read the interview here. They also made...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond here. They also made pick of the week on the BBC's Comedy Soup page with their fake Dragons' Den pitch: Optimism In A Can Slagg Brothers' sketches are being featured on TV:Homegrown (Sky 201) on Fridays at 23:00 and repeats in the week. Hope you enjoy. Visit their website for all the latest video.]]> tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.4918 2007-01-26T12:24:18Z 2007-01-26T16:47:32Z

Much as I admire select cuts from this duo (Porridge), the film 'Goal' was a poor childlike (in the worst sense) script that revealed how little footie they'd ever watched. I know viewers tend to suspend belief but this was...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond Much as I admire select cuts from this duo (Porridge), the film 'Goal' was a poor childlike (in the worst sense) script that revealed how little footie they'd ever watched. I know viewers tend to suspend belief but this was stretching reality so far that I expected Superman and a talking dog to drop in and visit their old pal - Santiago. It was fantasy of the worst and most feeble kind. 1) The whole film spans ONE MONTH at season's end. A month in which Newcastle have to win all three games. At this moment, it could be EVERY season Newcastle has faced but any footie fan knows there are a lot more than 3 games to play in the closing 4 weeks. 2) During this month, the hero (an unknown from the USA) rises from sacked trialist to reserve player and then scorer of the winning goal in the first team. Oh, and there's no mention of arranging the necessary work permits. 3) In a mid-film exchange the hero says, "One month ago I was heading back home, now I have a contract and a flat." Feeble childish exposition but it hides an even more basic error. One month? So the three first-team games have been played, right? Wrong! Although the timeline for the film has stretched past the initial month in which the three first-team games have to be won, two of the games are still to be played. I looked desperately for a Pulp Fiction fractured timeline to explain this dichotomy but I now feared that the only pulp was between the commissioning producer's ears. 3) The writers then throw out the century-old rule: NEVER rely on COINCIDENCE to link or close your plot. While it's allowable to open on a coincidence, such as winning the lottery, it is bad form to use coincidence to hinge or resolve a plot. For an unrelated example, money problems solved, at film climax, by a lottery win. As the hero is being driven by taxi to the airport after being released, the taxi driver is ordered to pick up the Toon's lead striker after kids have nicked his alloy wheels. It is evident that the striker has never used this taxi service before, through his desperate attempts to persuade the taxi radio operator that he really is the famous striker. During the shared trip, the striker takes the sacked hero under his wing. Utter ROLLOCKS. How many taxi firms in Newcastle? How many taxis in Newcastle? How many taxis stop to pick up when they have a fare? What if the hero's flight was later? If unpublished screenwriters used a plot hinge like that, the script would be in the bin. 4) For two comedy writers, the gags were very thin - three, maybe. OK, it was a sports movie but please squeeze some humour in. One gag / 30 minutes is woeful. 5) Beckham, Zidane, and Raul are all in the same London nightclub (like they do) despite it being a weekend and that's the day these players play ... in Europe. 6) An afternoon match is played in London. In Los Angeles, the hero's father sneaks off to watch the game in a pub (8 hours difference but you'd never know it) filled with ... NEWCASTLE fans. I'm close to an overdose here. Coincidence 2 coming up fast. The father and hero have been in dispute since the opening of the film. Days after watching the game, the father dies leaving said conflict unresolved. The hero is devastated that his dad died not seeing him play. When the grandmother and brother decide to go and watch the third match, they choose the SAME pub, filled with the SAME fans, and during casual conversation they learn that the father did actually watch the son play before he died. Hero learns this straight after the match ends, after his 'agent' runs from a top stand seat to the pitch to hand him a phone. It is his grandma telling him his dad had forgiven him. At this point I reached for the off switch and a vomit bucket, but the writers even denied me the pleasure of terminating the film and supper, because the film chose that precise moment to end. tag:planetasperger.welshblogs.co.uk,2007://93.4047 2007-01-02T16:25:51Z 2007-01-02T16:41:44Z

The Slagg Brothers have been regularly featured on Sky Channel 201 and recently appeared in a Sky1 advert for the show. They aren't getting paid but the coverage is a much needed boost to their confidence. You can see Flobb...

AJ Desmond http://www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond website or Sky 201, Friday 11 pm. Coming soon is a possible interview with Radio Wales. I'll give you more details as they become available. My PC keyboard died and I'm writing with a cheap rubber keybord, which is really winding me up. The key touch is very poor and the feel of the sticky rubber is bringing my Asperger Syndrome symptoms to the fore today. Argh!]]>