2011 has had more reasons to celebrate than any other in recent Adam and Joe history.
JANUARY:Even this early in the year,
Little White Lies were starting the buzz for Attack the Block by running a competition, the winners of which would feature in their next,
March 2011 issue.
Adam returned to the BFI with
BUG23 but the big event this month was his Maldives piece in The Guardian's
Travel section. Like father, like son.
FEBRUARY:Ah, the month of Adam's glorious, technical breakdown at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill. This provided bonus hilarity due to an unruly Photoshop munchkin which Adam seemed embarrassed about despite the obvious delight of his audience. Three good things came of this. It was gloriously gigglesome, he touchingly perceived some obligation to perform an amazing free show to everyone who had felt let down and it prompted him to get to grips with Keynote which he uses to such great effect these days.
The following night, Adam presented the Röyksopp BUG Special which spilled over into the Benugo bar until the small hours. I say this with caution and without wishing to devalue any other BUG outing but I enjoyed my pants off at this event. I had to put them through a mangle when I got home.
The team at Attack the Block announced that the film would bow with it's premiere at South By Southwest but that the UK release date would be delayed until May 2011.
MARCH:The first day of March brought the
news that the 6Music Adam and Joe Radio Show would return in April for twelve weeks, which ended up totalling fifteen shows, the glorious creme of which was played out this morning and can be caught on the
iPlayer for the next seven days. There will also be two
podcasts from it.
The next day, Joe appeared on the live broadcast of Film 2011
talking about Attack the Block and showing a
couple of clips for the first time.
Despite getting a little
uptight about time,
Adam presented
BUG24 and played a blinder at
The Union Chapel.
Joe took a trip to Texas via some scribbling and leg jiggling time in L.A. setting the fuse wire on the great Attack the Block media machine which had the endorsement it needed to begin firing on all cylinders. The excitement at SXSW fueled the internet within seconds of the house lights going up and kept it's momentum for months to come. There's some waffle from that first night
here.
Jon Hamblin, a journalist who freelances for SFX Magazine was kind enough to give me some Attack the Block
nuggets that didn't make it to the publication.
APRIL:The Adam and Joe Radio Show returned to 6Music. They were straight in there with memes like 'Why be
Denny Different?', '
Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense' and '
Smarties make me naughty'. It was as though all the clever people on the street had a knowing smiles on their face that would last until early July.
The show
trended on Twitter and the pod went straight to
number one in the iTunes charts within a couple of hours of casting. Later in the month they were at the
top of the iPlayer chart too.
The 6Music
blog kicked back into action and they acquired a resident artist in the shape of
James Hood. Thomas Dolby
tweeted about them. Sally Grossart made special
Easter Paper People for them.
Adam performed his
Technical Meltdown show at the BFI which I believe was the first outing for his helmet-cam countdown film. Adam joined a team of people for a gig in aid of
Sod Cancer and whilst relaxing backstage, he was shown (by David Armand and Justin Edwards) a
YouTube nugget that would spark Adam and Joe's most
invasive meme since Boggins.
BUG Music Videos launched their
YouTube playlist showing clips of recent shows including some of Adam's delicious waffle and of course, some comments.
By turn of good fortune and great kindness I attended two preview screenings of Attack the Block but not before enjoying a wry put-down from Joe himself at the
Kapow Comic Con. We also learned that Sony/Screen Gems had snapped up the distribution rights for the film in the States and Canada.
The Guardian carried the first, proper Attack the Block based national press interview with Joe from
Eve Wiseman.
During the Kapow panel, Joe revealed that he and Edgar had just submitted their second Ant-man draft to Marvel.
MAY:Attack the Block was finally released in the UK but kicked off with a few previews including the London
premiere on 4th May and post screening Q & A's at
The Ritzy and
The Prince Charles in London's London.
Still giving rise to me smarting my face with a smack, Joe took the time to answer a some silly
questions I posed via the internet.
Joe and co. made appearances at Forbidden Planet and The Apple Store and they were generally all over the radio and tv media. Joe Cornish even
trended on Twitter at one point. The film was top of the
new entries in the weekend Box Office charts and Attack the Block related waffle
dominated the podcast chart.
Adam took BUG to
Manchester and then returned to the BFI for
BUG25. He featured on the radio in an episode of Matt Lucas's "
And the Winner Is" which aired on 7th May (no longer available).
The BBC Radio4 Archers
Blog included the latest clip from the 6Music show.
Posters and a trailer appeared for
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn this month. This is the film for which Joe Cornish & Edgar Wright took over the writing duties when Steven Moffat's Doctor Who workload made him unable to continue.
JUNE:Glastonbury came around again and the culmination of twelve weeks hard brand identity work was presented in the final three shows, broadcast live from the festival. The time went so quickly and full of so many memorable delights, the most enduring of which seems to be the Taffin cries. There was an exclusive, local Black Squadron gathering which produced all these
photographs.
Adam presented a
Moby BUG Special at the BFI where we had our first glimpse of his now famous (thanks to Never Mind the Buzzcocks) Moby guessing game. He also did a show at
The Idler, joined the lineup at
The Drill Hall and helped the
National Autistic Society by manning a
stand at their rain drenched Carter's Steam Fair event. Finally, he returned to his country pile for BUG Norwich 07.
JULY:Joe was celebrated with 41 other young creative
poppets at an event attended by Willie and Katie in L.A. under the umbrella of "BAFTA Brits to Watch".
Attack the Block was screened in L.A. with Joe and John Boyega (Moses) joining Edgar Wright to present and chat about it. Then they hopped around various cities with their US Press tour, giving print, radio and tv interviews all the way as the film began it's slow release in the States that month.
They went down to the San Diego Comic Con for a
panel.
Film4's wonderful Summer Screen event included Attack the Block this year. It was preceded by
David Cox
in conversation with
Joe Cornish in one of the awkwardly seated rooms at Somerset House. Before the film went on screen, Joe hauled as many of the
cast as possible onto the stage to take their bows.
Adam took his BUG Special show to
Latitude, also making some unscheduled appearances in other areas of the festival. He also honoured his promise from last year's sickly period by bringing BUG to the
Bristol Comedy Garden and then back to London for
BUG26 shows.
The first series of
Silent Library aired this month, with Adam giving the commentary. It's a bit of silly nonsense but Adam made it fun to watch.
Joe and Edgar submitted their third
Ant-man draft script to Marvel complete with some artistic impressions.
AUGUST:Joe took Attack the Block to
Locarno and
Berlin (joined by Nick Frost) and it opened in more US cities.
Empire's Big Screen weekend included a special cast attended screening of Attack the Block with Joe & co
chatting on stage afterwards. They were also looping the Tintin trailer in the concession area.
Adam did a five night run of BUGs at the
Edinburgh Festival. These shows were completely sold out! He popped up at an afternoon
Comedy Club For Kids event (appropriately at the Bongo Club) and on the last day he joined lovely Richard Herring for his
daily live podcast while he was up there.
Made In Me launched their audio app featuring Adam Buxton reading bedtime stories.
Jude Adam Mason, the lovely, long-suffering, giggly producer of early Adam and Joe radio shows had her beautiful little
baby Milly this month.
BUG Music Videos made a
Summer Summary.
SEPTEMBER:Adam kept the BUG train rolling with specials in The Queen Elizabeth Hall (which Joe attended),
King's Place and the
Greenwich Comedy Festival. The new BFI BUG27 shows were at the end of the month.
Attack the Block was
released on DVD, Blu-ray and through various on-line portals in the UK this month, starting with an exclusive rental at Blockbuster. The hard copies had a variety of special packages and some wonderful extra features. We've recently learned that Germany will introduce a
steel case version in February 2012.
The film continued to open in more US cities this month.
Get Darker launched a DJ competition to tie in with the film's soundtrack.
OCTOBER:
The Adam and Joe 6Music Radio Show won a
BTDMA!
Adam hosted the most lauded
episode of
Never Mind the Buzzcocks of the entire series. Surely, the only thing stopping him from becoming a more permanent host is the chance of making his own BUG style tv show. Please note that the
Best Of aired this week includes one tiny clip not previously shown.
Joe had a wicked and wet time in Sitges where Attack the Block collected four awards! He joined Luke Treadaway at MoMA for a presentation of Attack the Block and then they both went on to meet John Boyega at the
New York Comic Con for a streamed interview with Marvel, a
roundtable and a panel at the weekend. What is it with
me and film conventions? I have skill for self-embarrassment.
Adam presented BUG Specials in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and BUG Norwich 8.
Tintin was premiered in London and
Joe joined the
press junket with Edgar Wright and Steven Moffat. He also did a little Attack the Block chitty chat with Edith Bowman for BAFTA voters.
Joe talked to eager delegates at the
London Screenwriters Festival.
Adam finally shared this wonderful home video with us.
NOVEMBER:Adam had BUG Specials in Hull, Cardiff and the Cheltenham Festival and joined Jon Holmes and Olly Mann for a radio event in
Salford. In a slight change of format, he introduced Jon Spiro's excellent
Anyone Can Play Guitar followed by wonderful interviews with some of the contributors. It's a crying shame this film doesn't have a big distribution deal. Jon gives Martin Scorcese a run for his money.....well, a speed walk at least.
BUG28 was at the BFI this month and there was a OneDotZero BUG special featuring Björk. Adam also did a small show at
this Promax event and presented the
UK Music Video Awards again this year, which included another gong given to Attack the Block's Tom Townend for his work with Adele.
All of these were gigs eclipsed by the staggering
Radiohead BUG Special at the end of the month. This is an enormous auditorium and not only did he (and maybe Radiohead) fill it but he held the audience in the palm of his hand and made it feel as intimate as a small club. If I have any right to such a thing, I felt so
proud of him. He is a truly accomplished performer with a uniquely personable manner that is a rare and precious commodity.
DECEMBER:Adam gave us this:
Joe gave us zip.
Nothing.
He collapsed in an exhausted, sexy tangle on the floor.
Broadcasting House, however saw fit to give
him something. A
spurtle, no less.
Adam and Joe must be busy with sutin because they couldn't give
us a Christmas show.
Adam might be working hard to get his Sydney show together and maybe he is closer to having something for the tv.
Joe has said he's got all his research done for writing his next film but he may have changed his mind. He has always retained that prerogative, the raving ponce.
2011/12So there it is.
Adam Buxton presented a record breaking episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and played to what was probably his biggest audience in the Odeon Leicester Square for the Radiohead BUG Special.
Joe Cornish released his writing and directorial debut film to both critical and audience acclaim worldwide and enjoyed considerable recognition for his part in the writing of the Tintin script.
You can catch The Best of Adam and Joe's Radio Show 2011
here for 7 days and check for any
podcasts you might be missing.
Adam is taking BUG to
Sydney in January, then returning to the BFI and to the
Leicester Comedy Festival in February.
He continues to regale us with tales of his
Country Man plus sporadic, joyous bursts on his
YouTube Channel and
blog.
Joe is sitting at home in his wolf pants watching daytime telly, fiddling with his spurtle and vetting all the awards as they roll in.
Attack the Block has garnered the following recognition thus far:
South by Southwest Audience Award -
wonLos Angeles Film Festival Audience Award -
wonMiskolc International Film Festival, Hungary -
wonLund International Fantastic Film Festival, Sweden -
wonMontreal Fantasia International Film Festival 2011 -
wonWriters Guild of Great Britain Award -nominated
British Independent Film Awards - nominated x 2
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival -
won x 4
NY Film Critics Online -
wonLondon Critics Circle Film Awards - nominated x 2 (not yet announced)
Black Reel Awards - nominated x 6 (not yet announced)
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards -
wonAustin Film Critics Association
nominated x 5 -
won x 2
....and the best accolade of all, with something akin to a deadline-free, peoples' award extending into perpetuity, this film has inspired incredible
fan art and is currently figuring in many bloggers' top ten films of the year.
For my part, if they've been busy, then to a lesser degree, so have I.
If they've been publicly happy then I've been happy too.
As always, this blog carries the disclaimer that I mean no harm with my waffle. If it's ever misconstrued it's because I'm an idiothole and cannot adequately express myself.
I did man up enough to splutter a couple of words to both Adam and to Joe in person this year but I was so much in awe that I could hardly look them in the eye which probably resulted in them thinking any of the nonsense I clumsily spluttered was not truthful. My mouth dried, my tongue swelled and I failed introduce myself in this guise. Perhaps that implies I should step back a little in 2012.
This is my attempt at pre-cogging these silly men.
