Squadron's Got Chalant

Let's start with some top class, Squadron talent outings.

EuroButcher was inspired to draw this by a tiny bit of 2011 Adam and Joe convo.


I don't think I've linked to the Tumblr pages which contain many of the Made-up-Jokes read out over the years. Adam and Joe rather sweetly thought PJ in Manchester, who laboured so hard to gather these together had also designed the lovely Vertigo style page but that credit goes to Matthew Buchanan who designed the template in 2008. It looks superb, either way. I do hope he finds the time to update it and fill in the 2010 gaps but I certainly wouldn't blame them if he didn't. It's a nest of eggs/worm basket.

Dr Tom "Chill Cake" Williamson has made a nonsense button for you to press in times of need (I recommend multiple presses for Cornballs gratification) and Gentle Invasion made this promo for Ireland's great waste bin.

I've moved my page of Black Squadron Commands over here and also made a page listing the Podcast Intro Songs and a gathering of James Hood's weekly drawings.

The Archers Blog noted Adam and Joe's (& squadroner's) contribution to their saucy listening figures. Happily, they also corrected a little identity error made earlier.

This series of the 6Music show and podcast has probably been doing more consistently well in the iPlayer and iTunes charts than previous runs, I feel. 6Music was awarded "National Radio Station of the Year" last week.

The Sabotage Times have put together their top ten Adam and Joe broadcasting moments.

The twelve week season is drawing dangerously near it's end. I suppose there are couple or three more Western House shows plus hopefully some Glastonbury coverage. If the Glasto shows are in the evening, I thought it might be fun to play a drinking game with cans of Seven-Up and Dr Pepper so if you feel moved to make suggestions, please put them here.

Keep an eye open on the Channel 4 schedules for Jennifer Saunder's 2 hour special "What's so funny about the 90's?" as I believe Marcus Harben interviewed Adam and Joe for it back in January.

Adam Boult put this delightful piece together about Adam and BUG for Drowned in Sound and just in today, a charmer from This is Fake DIY.

Adam also spoke to the lovely Ali Plumb for Asylum* and this was in The Quietus.

There's an enormous picture of Adam in a classic catalogue pose at the Latitude website now but no clear indication of whether he's there with his stand-up or if they've moved his BUG show into the Comedy Arena this year. However, I get the impression it's the former.

In case you missed my tweet, Adam has added another gig on 15th June 2011 at The Idler Academy, Notting Hill, London.

It's worth keeping an eye on the AdamandJoe.com forum page for Adam's gigs (E&OE). Don't forget there are gigs in Bristol, Edinburgh and Hull coming up and I believe he's very keen to revisit the hospitality of Manchester again when he can. BUG26 tickets go on sale to BFI members next week (for July 13th & 14th). Adam also has a calendar feature on his redesigned blog.

If you attended BUG25 you'll have seen him perform this live. Sit down and giggle at his delicious bed-head.

There are some lovely photos from the Manchester BUG here.

If you dig around here long enough, you'll find a finger puppet representation of Tim Messenger in Hot Fuzz. I'm not giving a direct link because there's too much fun to be had looking for it.

Still wondering what your big Summer read should be? Look no further than Nigel Buxton's "The Fading Margin". What I wouldn't give for an audio version of that read by his son.

The people at Asylum* must feel the same need for balance that I suffer from because they've countered their piece with Adam by covering Attack the Block quite wonderfully.

A lot of bloggers have been having fun with Attack the Block but The Incredible Suit's ATB Week and The Shiznit's Cut Out & Keep Slang Reference cards probably take the cup cakes on this.

Attention: Two Handsome Men for the price of none alert.

Since my last post here, the day before the previews started, a great deal of Attack the Block nuggets have popped up. I have added many of the press reviews to my special ATB pages and will get around to some of the more fun stuff like photos from special events and video interviews. In the meantime, I'll plop this here.

I'd like the think the tag line for "Gritters" might be
"Icy driving conditions just got a lot more menacing"

So far as the box office in the UK was concerned, it entered at number three for the first weekend, falling to five in the second and it's ninth after this, the third weekend. A wonderful result for a tiny British film.

He may poo poo the Twitter but he refers to it as though he uses it more than I do so it must have warmed his cockills to see this.

September 26th seems to be the likely release date for Attack the Block on BD and DVD. Thrilled they seem to be making a double play of this one.

There's a lovely piece with Joe's Big Talk producer, Nira Park over at the BAFTA website.

A trailer and a couple of posters for The Adventures of Tintin are about. I can best show you them by pointing you towards Edgar Wright's blog and while you're over there, he posted the first page of the Attack the Block script but sadly, not in red.

If you're wondering how Joe spends his internet time when he's not ego-surfing, it's reading Limara Salt's blog.

Lauren Laverne had the lovely HeyUGuys in her internet slot and they didn't miss a chance to give Joe's film a shoutout or two.

Apropos of nothing at all, can I point you in the direction of this wonderful film poster website? (I thank for Ultra Culture for tweeting that link and if you really want to thank him, go and see Eurotrip in the ICA. It'll be fun, I expect.)

Don't forget to catch Andrew Collins' Mr Blue Sky while it is on the Radio 4 iPlayer.

There's a lovely, hearty bit of Stephenage at the end of this longtime Adam and Joe fan's cabaret video.

Finally, why not follow Nick Frost's tweets this week while he is in Africa for Comic Relief?

US Flyer for preview screenings

Dates, dates and more dates.....

This is a hasty bit of nonsense and if you really pressed me, I'd have to admit I've only done it to help sort my muddled mind. I might as well share it with you.

This is by no means exhaustive and relies upon the goodwill and happily over-excited realms of Twitter.

Incongruous though this may seem, Joe spoke to the lads at TALKRadio which you can listen to here.

I'd imagine This Morning will cover Attack the Block on Thursday, 12th May. If it's live rather than a pre-record, it will herald yet another stupidly long and busy day for Joe and the team.

Joe Cornish, Nick Frost and John Boyega will be signing posters costing £10 at Forbidden Planet (Megastore!) between 5:30pm & 6pm on 12th too.

At 7pm on Thursday, 12th the Apple Store in Regent Street will host a discussion in their Meet the Filmmakers strand featuring Joe Cornish and Nick Frost. It's a strange old venue for these things and the brightness of the store makes projecting the footage almost worthless but you'll get to sniff the Frost and Balls and they could well be quite rank by then.

Richie McCormack recorded an interview with Joe today. It's up at the Phantom 105.2 website now.

Next Monday evening around 10pm, Orla Barry will have her interview with Joe. You can listen back to the show here.

Edith Bowman will roll out her interview with Joe and Nick on the weekend of 21/22nd May 2011. She's a bit tardy with it because she didn't want it to get lost in their Big Weekend thing.

I've tried to find out when Capital FM are doing something but not getting anywhere. We probably missed it.

I do hope Joe's not getting too exhausted. I'd hate him to get the shivery tingles again.

Adam has some more gigs to put in the diary.

17th June 2011 Headling with Issy Suttie & Andy Zaltzman with Richard Herring Hosting at the Bush Hall, Shepherd's Bush, London.

30th June 2011 BUG 7 (Norwich) at the Playhouse, Norwich.

5th July 2011 6 in the Parc By no means confirmed but it looks like Adam may do a DJ set.

14th - 17th July 2011 BUG Latitude Special at Henham Park, Southwold. Tickets are going fast. Adam will probably do his show on Sunday but I haven't seen that confirmed as yet.

23rd July 2011 BUG Special in BRISTOL at Queen Square, Bristol. Tickets available now..

3rd November 2011 BUG Special in HULL at Hull Quality Royal Hotel. Tickets available now..

There were two items in the podcast pot this week as a special Text The Nation nugget dribbled out on Monday afternoon so please refresh your subscriptions.

Black Squadron Photos are loading as I write. Be patient!

I'm slowly gathering various bits of Attack the Block media and putting them here. It's the same as the other one I did with added bits and it look slightly less pony.

It's stupid rod. My back doesn't like it one bit but I've started so I'll continue when I have time. If I've missed something you think should be included it's either sitting in my dock waiting for my time or I've genuinely been so bamboozled by the amount of media that it escaped my notice.

Thank you to the T'winternets, as always.

Unaccustomed as I am to sensationalism: Exclusive Attack the Block Interview with Joe Cornish

Incredible though this may seem, Joe Cornish has answered not some but all of Auntie Nubbins' ridiculous questions about Attack the Block.

Joe Cornish is two halves of directing and writing duo, Joe Cornish. His debut film, Attack the Block is a great big dollop of cinematic awesome and will receive it's UK premiere on Wednesday at the Vue, Leicester Square.

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this (there's a falafel & pitta option if you're vegetarian), I should make a few things clear.

1) It has been well established over nearly two years of waffle on here, I am not a journalist. A proper journalist would probably edit their questions to make themselves sound better in hindsight but these are of the pure, vanilla form in which I tossed them to Joe.*
2) He was kind enough to do this via the internets. I have not sniffed his vapour. I do not have any connection with the man himself.
3) I sent the sweet genius a ton of stupid questions expecting him to pick a handful but he went and answered all of them. Some are sillier than others.
4) The questions were devised a couple of weeks ago during the moments of euphoria after having just seen the film. I could have put more thought into them but I didn't. (See point 1)
5) I was trying to pose many of them in the pretentious manner heard from one of those ponces you get at film festival Q & A's who are more intent on hearing their own voice and parading their encyclopaedic (albeit often shaky) knowledge of the questionees oeuvre than extracting or absorbing an answer.
6) The temptation to respond to some of his answers was overwhelming but the poor soul gave me enough of his time already.
7) Thank you. Thank you, Joe Cornish. Thornish.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS

AN: You've spoken publicly about the provenance of using Tom Townend as your DoP and the fact that your lovely producers tried to persuade you to use more heavyweight personnel. I'm only a silly but quite apart from the beautiful look he gives, surely Tom's experience in the anal retentive world of advertising and the kick, bollock & scramble of music video made him a truly pragmatic choice for this project. How much resistance did you actually encounter to securing him for the job and how many days into production was it before they (the producers) began to relax?

JC: It is not true that my lovely producers tried to dissuade me from using Tom Townend as DOP on Attack The Block. On the contrary, they were and are extremely supportive of everything I wanted to do, they merely cautioned me that using a comparatively less experienced (in terms of features) DOP would be a harder sell to the investors. In truth, as soon as everyone met Tom and saw his work, they were immediately as convinced as I was that he was the man for the job. I feel very lucky that Tom agreed to work on ATB. I think he's a genius.

AN: There are actors whom, for my own pleasure and satisfaction, I keep a gentle eye on as they leave drama school and by some wicked coincidence both Jodie and The Treadaways number among them. I now have a new slew of tiny talent tots to bother about. John Boyega seems like a remarkable young man but do you envisage that the other young actors, those garnered more from street casting, will pursue this as a career now?

JC: None of the main young cast members in Attack The Block were 'street' cast. They had all at least shown interest in acting at school, or been involved in some kind of drama or theatre group on a local level. Most of them were around 16 or so when we shot the film and I couldn't be prouder of them. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if any or all of them pursue acting as a career. I wish them all the success in the world.

AN: Forgive me for not paying enough attention to every little precious detail but the track you wrote and performed.....where is that in the film? What was it called, Bing Bong or something? I should say, you rate A+ on my does-the-score-fit-the-end-credits-o-meter and the entire sound design was flippin' amazing to my ears and my eyes.

JC: That'll be 'Baked Beats'. We kind of ran out of money for music towards the end of post production, so I put something together myself one weekend to play in the background of a scene. I'm not going to tell you which scene, for no other reason than to be gratuitously mysterious.

I'm very glad you liked the sound design. We spent an extra couple of bonus weeks working on the creature noises and the overall mix to refine everything. There's a hell of a lot going on in terms of audio, and we had to work hard to make sure all the different elements punched through clearly.

AN: There's a 1980's Habitat mug in Ron's flat that matches the wallpaper in the very first kitchen I owned. Did you chose any props because of specific sentimental values?

JC: That mug would have been chosen by Marcus Rowland and one of his crack team of mug selectors. I didn't put any trinkets on the set myself. I guess the personal sentimental value in the film for me is in the locations where we shot it; streets that I've known since I was a kid.

AN: You've said the creature was partly inspired by the silhouette of your childhood family cat but there's a touch of the Sasquatch in there too, isn't there? I know it's a quadruped but even so.

JC: Yes. Of course. Bigfoot guides my hand in all I do. And also the illustration on the side of the Space Invaders arcade cabinet. And the American Werewolf in London werewolf.

AN: Hitting the ground running with all those weeks of night shoots, did you manage to maintain a balanced diet at all times and have a ready supply of clean underkecks?

JC: I had one can of Coke a day. And quite a lot of Froggos**. We had a craft services van that made very tasty hot panninis with pesto and salami and cheese. 'Youwannapannini?' was an on-set catchphrase. And yes, my underkecks are always clean. Genuine Calvin Klein. Fresh today.

AN: I notice I'm not being quite as obsequious as a proper journalist's agenda would dictate. You know that's just because any fawning I did would have little currency coming from me, wouldn't it? Did you have any press junket coaching and quote brainstorming? (Please don't use the term 'needle drop' in your answer here, thank you x).

JC: No, no junket coaching or quote brainstorming. But I've been the interviewer in junket situations once or twice when presenting Radio 4's film show Back Row. And as I've discovered, making a film necessitates the discussion of every element in great depth many times with many different people so, by the time the thing's finished, one's opinions are already fairly well formed.

AN: You've cited some 137 films that have influenced your creation of Attack the Block. Did you dream this list up in hindsight as you gradually began to understand where all this stuff had come from or did you sit in a laboratory and study every film ever made before you even put pen to paper?

JC: I knew before I started writing what kind of a film I wanted to make, so I watched movies that I loved that I thought had a similar tone or style, both before and while I wrote. Those are the movies I mention as having influenced it.

AN: Brian Dowling was your construction coordinator. How important was to you to include a reality show winner? Were you hoping some of his post Big Brother success might rub off on you?

JC: We really wanted handyman Craig Philips, winner of season one. But obviously he's in huge demand shecuring (not a typo) shelves internationally, so we couldn't get him. Brian is less good at DIY, but as you say, it's important to have some kind of Big Brother winner around at all times.

AN: There are only a few films that can genuinely sustain the excesses of two hours or more running time but Attack the Block is a gratifyingly compacted into the ideal viewing length or 'lavvy to cola consumption ratio', if you will. Were you always working to that or did some minor character studies get nuked in the Amos-olator suite? Were there any constructive editorial interventions from the grown-ups?

JC: I always wanted to make a 90 minute film. It was in my director's statement which came with the script when we were raising the finance. That we came a few minutes under is merely the result of twisting the tap a couple of turns tighter in the edit just to keep things as lean and mean as possible, which was always the idea.

AN: Are you happy to talk about the additional shooting you did towards the end of last year? Was this footage you'd hoped to achieve during principal photography but could only be funded once the purse had seen the spectacular bang you were putting together.......or did you get that awful sinking feeling in the cutting room when you realised the narrative was compromised by the lack of a scene or two. Or did Boggins do a little wee on the neg?


JC: All feature films shoot pick-ups if they possibly can. It's a standard part of the process. Small, essential elements that you didn't have the time or resources to get during the main shoot. Some pretty memorable shots in the history of cinema are pick-ups. The severed head popping out of the wreck in 'Jaws' was shot months after principal photography in the producer's pool. The shot of the Terminator's eye being crushed at the end of 'The Terminator' was shot months later in someone's garage. We did one or two bits and bobs, but nothing that interesting. And Boggins was kept WELL AWAY.

AN: I set myself the unenviable but ultimately rewarding task of avoiding all the clips and trailers until I'd seen the film for the first time. The teasing started very early in relation to the release date in the UK and I know you appreciate the joy of coming to a film completely cold. Do you have mixed feelings about the amount of advance media out there?

JC: Not really - though I admire your ambition. There's a lot more to the film than the trailer suggests, and we've been careful to pick clips from early in the story. It's a competitive market and we've got to try and make a bit of noise. Optimum are doing a brilliant job I think.


AN: How did you feel when you realised the art department had cocked up with the spelling of Wymondham Tower?

JC: Much less confused than I do by that question.

AN: You did a stunning photo session with Pal Hansen. Did you discuss the concept for it at any length or was that entirely Pal's idea which you played along with like a silly dolly?

JC: Pal was a very persuasive and charming man. It was all from his brainium. He brought along that mysterious melty substance. So, the silly dolly answer.

AN: Would I be right in thinking there's not an aliens chance in South London of the OST hitting the shops anytime soon?

JC: Happily you're wrong. The score will be available both physically and digitally, pretty soon I hope.

AN: Have your Mummy and Daddy seen it? Have you levelled with them about being like Brewis?

JC: Yes my parents have seen the film. Plus they've seen all four series of The Adam and Joe Show and listened to the vast majority of my radio output and they raised me. I have few secrets from them, if any.

AN: Will you get some 'proper' shoes for the premiere?

JC: Probably not.

AN: Will I be numbing my arse on the cobbles of Somerset House this Summer to see it again?

JC: I can but dream of such a thing.

Edited to add, Joe's dream has come true!

AN: Can I have a crew jacket/hoodie thang....or a poster.....or a tickle.......or a punch?

JC: I don't have a poster myself yet. We've run out of ATB hoodies. And the tickle and punch are only available in a twin pack...

AN: I think you've said that Edgar Wright had a brilliant idea for a sequel but you're savvy enough to realise that probably shouldn't be your next directorial outing. Do you have any particular aspirations for your second stab in terms of genre and would you shoot someone else's script if it was good enough? Will you go out of your way to make sure most of the action takes place in daylight this time?

JC: Yes, yes and not telling.

AN: Ant-man blah, blah, blah?

JC: mumble mumble avoid question cough

AN: Do you have a ready supply of Caramac? My cash & carry sells them in bulk.

JC: Am off Caramacs at the moment. Am enjoying an 'Oh Henry' or two these days.

AN: ....just in case you've been l o n g i n g for someone to ask this:

AN: Who are you?
JC: Jedward
AN: What do you do?
JC: Jedward
AN: Who do you do?
JC: Jedward
AN: Faves?
JC: Jedward
AN: Worsties?
JC: Jedward
AN: Jedward?
JC: Yes, Jedward.

AN: .....and finally, if you could change one thing about Auntie Nubbins, what would it be? Be as wude as you like, she isn't real. (Clue: The correct answer is "who is Auntie Nubbins?")

JC: Who is Auntie Nubbins?


So there it is. I'm happy to say he answered all the questions absolutely correctly so he is completely entitled to his soon to be dispatched bucket of WIN!

Thanks again to Joe. He has made a viscerally thrilling and endearing job of his first feature. I hope it affords him the opportunities he has so patiently and diligently pursued.

If your appetite has not been sated by this waffle, you can read the answers to some questions from proper journalists at the links found here.

Attack the Block is in cinemas across the UK on 11th May, 2011

and the original soundtrack is released on 16th May, 2011.

*At the eleventh hour, I decided to omit one question pertaining to the creatures because I was concerned it might be a bit too spoilery, even for this.

** Think he meant Freddos.

Welcome To My Catch All, Attack the Block Reference Portal

I think this is something along the lines of what a proper fan-site might put together but in my case it will be a lumbering list of links that I shall attempt to update as and when the mood takes my flighty, little brain.

The shiny official website is here and it will be updated with stuff in a manner spookily similar to the regularity I deploy on this blog.






This film has been lovingly squeezed into it's cans (or BARCO spitspot) with the help of Optimum Releasing, Film4, Big Talk and the UK Film Council. All these links have a hotch-potch of things that might interest you if you poke around a bit.

What one site lacks in glossy pictures and pithy quotes, it makes up for in wordy bits of information.

Reviews







Interviews







Video Interviews







Clips and trailers if you can't navigate the official website.

So what did those Amerrricans think of the film? They saw it before any of us homeys, after all. The film was so well received at SXSW that it won the Best Midnight Feature nod so here are some links to the ejaculations of over-excited geekboys. Video interviews are here.

The next big public schmoozefest was at the Kapow Comic Con and I've been patiently thrumming my fingers in anticipation that someone might host some of the stuff that was recorded. They're probably waiting until nearer the release date.

The US Release.

and finally, a place to put all the items that defy categorisation.

Insert your own, tired bus analogy here:

Nothing in here for nearly a month and then there are two in quick succession. The last post was done in haste and I missed some of the nonsense I'd been storing up. This is going to be a ditheration of bothery-pops for which I can only apologise.

Starting with some callbacks from items covered in my last post: Kimika rendered her impression of the 'Smarties make me naughty' kid, Aislinn made a Denny Different drawing and the BBC started a Twitter Account for the radio show. Don't hold your breath, bless 'em.

Jim Hobbs took some cool pictures of Adam during the BUG show that followed his Technical Meltdown.



I wanted to save this for posterity
.

Several people tweeted pictures of Joe, Luke and John from the Kapow Comic Convention.


The very talented Sally Grosart made some special Easter Adam and Joe Paper Men for the weekend. I made my versions during the show yesterday.

I saw a bit of Stephenage on my local newstand that made me chuckle.

Somebody called Higgins0421 made this little Jonathan Creek Remix with sound clips from the radio show.


Adam went to see Derren Brown when he brought his show to Norwich. It seems they had a lovely, relaxing lunch together.

Adam has a few more gig dates in his diary:

I'm thinking that the airing of Adam's appearance on Matt Lucas' "And the Winner Is" will probably be 10pm on Saturday, 7th May.

On 1st June at 8:45pm he will be doing a BUG Moby Special and there's a chance to interact with some Moby music in a competition. You can find all the details here. I do recommend BUG Specials most highly. Tickets will go on sale at the beginning of May as per the usual BFI policy.

Adam has been confirmed for yet another year down the road at his local summer festival. He usually takes a Sunday lunchtime/early afternoon slot (17th July) at Latitude with his BUG show but don't hold me to it. There's something about the way this is written that implies he may be doing his own comedy show either instead of the BUG or as well as.

On Saturday, 23rd July Adam will be giving an afternoon BUG show at The Bristol Comedy Garden. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.

As I write, Slack Squadron are enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon listening to the iPlayer in force and placing yesterday's show at #1 in the Most Popular Radio list.

They reside in second position for the iTunes Chart which is sadly, a slip down from their King of Pods title over the last three weeks. IF you felt the need to unsubcribe and then subscribe again to restore their crown, I'm sure nobody would think the worse of you but DO save the older pods in case you lose them.

Any Other Business:

If you're a fan of Shaun W Keaveny you'll be a fan of Jake so you might like to read this. With the help of long-faced and sexy Matt plus the occasional interlude from Andrew Collins, there is no finer way to start your day.

The Attack the Block cast has been all over the press corp. There's a lovely energy about this snap taken by NintendoTV. I'll be putting a full Attack the Block media page together soon and if you're in any doubt about how wonderful this young cast is, take a look at this chucklesome tweet from the lovely fella who plays Moses:

Forgive me BlogDad, for I have sinned.It has been twenty days since my last post.

It's not as if there's been nothing to talk about but I haven't had a spare moment.

The return of the Adam and Joe 6Music Show has been phenomenally successful. Jo Good was positively squealing with excitement as she counted down the minutes to their first show. Miranda Hart was looking forward to them. They were trending on Twitter by 10:20 am on 2nd April which must surely be the benchmark of success anyone would aspire to in this day and age(worldwide too). It was still trending forty minutes after the show ended. The Black Squadron command garnered more than 350 submissions and the Text The Nation topic was so loose it made a cassoulet of my brain. All around the world, a sense of joy popped in the hearts of even the most jaded listener.

The show has gained a resident artist, James Hood whose Black Squadron picture is plastered on one of the webcams for the duration of the command. James is a fine gentleman but he seems to have a distorted, Hall of Mirrors view on life. He is summarising each weeks' show in a picture that Lucy will be posting on the blog.
He also provided a glorious banner for the main, grown-up BBC website for the beginning of the week.

The team were ceremoniously greeted by welcome bunting, forged in the creative foundry of two dedicated and beloved fans. You can read a little more here. I kept an eye on the webcam all week and the banner endured until sometime while Radcliffe & Maconie were on air from Manchester, the following Thursday.

We were promised a podcast by Sunday but frankly, we've been promised things before. However, in the actual event, the lovely production team gave us the cherry on the cupcake by 7pm on Saturday! Not only that, by soon after 9pm it was riding the crest of the iTunes podcast waves with the number one trophy in the main chart! For some dubious reason, iTunes list the episode chart first, with the main chart underneath. It seems that confused poor Buckles and he had the notion that they were only the top of the comedy podcast chart. This isn't the case. It is definitely the main chart (they are still there as I write) unless the 'Play of the Week' and 'Five Sport' suddenly became hilariously edgy.

Knocking Mr Gervais from the spire of the individual episode chart has proved more difficult but they did spend a while in the second position. This week, the Radio4 Friday night comedy show has given hope to knocking Ricky off but we're not there yet, despite the enduring banner and featuring efforts.

No matter, the main thing is the Adam and Joe podcast is King of UK Pods and has not faltered from that position since two hours after the first one was cast. It should also be noted, such is the dedication and excitement of their following, that they hurtled up the chart to position two in anticipation before the first one had even been released.

I could mumble on about the show for hours but you wouldn't be here if you hadn't listened to them all yourselves so I'll spare you. I'm not one for favouritism, as you know but so far my favourite bits were when Joe got upset but couldn't rant on air so had Adam do it for him. It's the fracture in Adam's voice and the gentle cues from Joe that crack me up. The Brian Cox/Toffee link pleasured me on so many levels. The genius of "Smarties Make Me Naughty" shows all the signs of becoming a meme, judging by the response if you put it into a Twitter search. Of course, I am also loving the lizzard tales from the podcast and the Sandwich Conspiracy (the town of Sandwich is in Kent, Old England, Joe).

Have a look around the 6Music Blog for all the delights. There's even a wonderful video of Adam making a jingle.

As I think I mentioned in earlier posts, Adam has announced BUGs in both Manchester and Norwich along with the regular London shows and I believe there may be some standing tickets still available for the Sod Cancer gig in which he will appear at the end of the month. The team ran in the Marathon at the weekend. If you can't attend the gig, please give a few of your pennies here.


The Buckular highpoint of April so far was his Technical Meltdown at the BFI. He put so much care into the show (it seemed to me) including the helmet cam, audience calmer film of his cycling journey from wherever he had been staying, right up to the doors of NFT1. I wanted to pop right out of my disguise and give him a hug for putting that together. He did the first half hour completely in character as Famous Guy, there. I'm going to be honest and say that he had hitherto not been my favourite character but seeing him properly live was a treat and a privilege. I am duly converted to his sublime delights. Adam would describe the rest of the show as being his usual format of playing some of his films and singing along to them, then playing other people's films followed by reading comments from the You Tube community. I've seen him do both these things many, many times but this night's show had a different edge to it. There was so much heart and a different kind of intimacy in the way he was working with the audience. It was utterly splendid.

Joe hasn't been idle either, try as he might to grab a snooze on the sofa or even a holiday. I shall probably make a lumbering great post about all the online Attack the Block media I have been collecting but the hard copy stuff is coming through at quite a pace now.

Little White Lies is bi-monthly so you still have some time to seek out a copy in quality newsagents or Picturehouses cinemas and I cannot recommend it more highly. There is good stuff in the May issue of Empire too. You've missed your chance to get a copy of SFX with Jon Hamblin's lovely interview in the stores but I'm sure it's available digitally still. Other film and Sci-Fi mags are carrying stuff but frankly, it's more generic. I can't comment properly on the interview in Clint because I have yet to find a copy but there's a tempting taster here. Watch out for next issue of Dazed and Confused which should carry an interview by the deliciously exotic Limara Salt. There was also a gorgeous piece from The Guardian's Eve Wiseman in The Observer at the weekend. The photograph is stunning and I'd probably consider blu-tacking it to my bedroom ceiling for the image alone. The fact that Cornballs is the featured artiste just adds to the frisson.

The important but unspoilery stuff you might like to know about the film is that it has found US distribution via Screen Gems but I don't believe there is a release date at this early stage. If you want to absorb as much spoilerage as possible before seeing the actual film (why would you want to do that?) or are too immature to slide in under the 15 certificate wire, you can sate yourself with three trailers, two clips and five character profiles knocking around the web and a little Behind the Scenes featurette in various portals. The Attack the Block Facebook page should point you in the right direction but they seem rather tardy (tardier than me) at posting stuff. That said, they have three pairs of tickets to see the film tomorrow (Wednesday, 20th April) so do seek it out.

Joe gathered Luke Treadaway and John Boyega into his arms and lugged them to the first ever Kapow Comic Con. This was a real trial for me but video cameras were there so I hope to see their output available at some point closer to the release date. I gather some of that footage may pop up on the DVD that Joe is currently punching into submission somewhere in Soho. Apparently, it may include an on-set massage but that information may be spurious.

I've asked Joe, via a Facebook message, if he'd indulge me with a net-based interview about the film for this blog but he's been steadfast in his resolve to keep as far away as possible from a crazed old woman like me (I only asked him yesterday).

There were a couple of opportunities for mere mortals to see Attack the Block in advance of it's release date (11th or 13th May, depending upon where you live and how tenacious you are) but if you can get to the Ritzy in Brixton the hot ticket is for a chance see it on the previous Friday and be delighted by a Q & A with Joseph Murray Sexy Cornish afterwards.

I've maintained that I'd keep this blog going if I had nothing better to do and I'm not saying I don't enjoy it but I am really busy at the moment so I'll leave it here and perhaps return with more nonsense in a couple of days. I haven't included the level of linkage I would have liked but let's see how the day pans out.

At the risk of sounding like a great big ponce, I'd like to renew my thanks to the team of delicious idiotholes who lend their support and words of wisdom via the portal of the internets. Your help and camaraderie make this so much more fun.

Exclusive: Cornish wafers for Auntie Nubbins

The joy of Twitter is when it throws you a unexpected bone.

One day back in February, I made a cheery response to a lovely journalist, Jon Hamblin's missive about meeting Joe Cornish for an interview the next day and he said he'd give me some of what he didn't publish.

He is a gentleman and true to his word. He also has a rockin' style so I urge you to read the main content of this meeting in SFX Magazine and on his blog. The details are way down below.

Here's what he gave me. Thank you, Jon.

On when he knew he wanted to make movies:

“Well it was when I was twelve. I always wanted to make films. The first thing I ever did with Adam was directing the Super 8 films. We made a feature length Super 8 film when we were 14 or 15, that I directed and he starred in, so to speak. And I went to film school straight after leaving school, I spent three years at film school, just before Edgar actually, in Bournemouth and I trained as a writer/director and then I worked as a runner in the film industry in London for several years and then all the time I was making little silly comedy skits with Adam. And we got the opportunity to do Takeover TV and so that was really a sort of … you know, just a way to practice really and even though there was a huge difference between doing three minute sketches and sustaining something for 90 minutes, it’s very good practice just churning stuff out.”


On Attack the Block, was there a moment where you thought: “What am I doing?”

“There’s lots of moments like that. There was never a why am I doing this moment but making a film is very frustrating not because the people around you aren’t brilliant and doing amazing work but because if you are ambitious you’ve spent years wanting it and imagining it and trying to get what would be the perfect thing to do and then when you are actually doing it, it is like a flipping trolley dash. It’s like you have got four seconds to execute an idea that you formulated over four years and nothing will be right. It will be raining, you know, something will break, the location will be a bit different, someone will be tired, you know what I mean? And sometimes you just have to think of a totally different way to do it because of that you haven’t anticipated or that you can’t control. So it’s this weird juxtaposition of – oh my god, this is my amazing chance – and shit where did you get this! Do you know what I mean? So that’s what is terrifying but exciting as well and, you know, every first time director, everyone around you has made more films than you. So the trick is not to be a pot which is hard for me and just really engage and get the support of and harness all the superior talent that’s around you to help you overcome those problems because everyone around you is … that’s what it’s about, it’s about troubleshooting that stuff and everyone around you has more experience. Especially in this film because we’ve got explosions and monsters and its all set at night and there’s weapons and actions and chases and so it’s not the King’s Speech, if you know what I mean.”

About Basement Jaxx’s score:

“Basement Jaxx are fantastic and what’s great about them is they are Brits and they are South London guys and they are originals. The club is about two roads away from where we filmed and where I grew up. But they are clever enough to know that they serve the film and it’s not about … they serve the film … everything is about telling the story and presenting the characters. There is not going to be this big rave explosion. It’s got to serve the film. I thought what Daft Punk did was fantastic in Tron Legacy, but the best bit was in the club I thought and I have to say I thought: “Why are computer programs drinking, and why do they go to a club?” For every bit that I enjoyed it, I also had a lot of question marks in my head, personally. Even though it was an amazing spectacle.”

Making the film in Brixton:

“We were shooting in South London on rural South London streets and we were staging a mugging, and we were shooting in proper little urban areas around the Myatts Field Estate which is quite a, if you believe what the papers say, notorious estate but actually it’s lovely, not architecturally, but it is lovely round there.

So we were staging a mugging and a group of genuine local “yout” came up to our actors, to our boys, and said "What are you guys filming?" And they’d heard about the film because we’d put letters through everyone’s doors. And they said "Where are you from?" to our boys, like, quite a little bit threateningly and our lead boy said "Oh, I'm from Peckham" and the other kid said "Oh, I’m from Elephant and Castle", and the local youth looked a little bit put out because they were local. "Oh we thought they were going to bring in some stage school, you know, idiots, to come and pretend to be local youth," they said. And then they looked our kids up and down and said, "Alright – but you rob that woman hard" – and left. And that was it, we never saw anybody ever again, we got left totally alone. Haha!”

To read Jon Hamblin’s full interview with Joe Cornish, check out issue 207 of SFX Magazine, available in all good newsagents now (but hurry) and on-line in the digital version. Also, check out Jon’s blog: www.bigfatgeekrunning.com or follow him on twitter @jon_cybernet for good times and more bits of Joe-related gossip.

Can I be controversial and say I prefer the quad poster? I like the air on the sides that gives room for a bit of my beloved London landscape and the lovely, clean top to the building is far superior. It'd look nice in my living telly room, in fact.

No Sir, No Talk of Attack the Block Here At All*

If that's all you've come for, you'll have to go here.

The day after the announcement that the 6Music Adam And Joe Show was to return for twelve weeks in April, Lauren interviewed them on her show. It might just be me but I felt they pretty much phoned it in. Apparently "Stephen!" started trending on Twitter during the interview.

Andrew Collins made an enjoyable blog entry when 6 Music were finally in a position to put an end (albeit a sad one) to all these months of uncertainty. Even Jonny Greenwood expressed his joy and Miranda Sawyer can't wait.

Adam made a couple of blog entries, encouraging a bit of listener participation so please do your duty.

Spoonfed spoke fondly of The Union Chapel where Adam played earlier this month.

If you're a regular reader of this blog (and why would you have enough time to do that?), you'll know that the techno-sprites put the screws on Adam's recent gig at the Tabernacle which prompted him to foolishly offer a free show to anyone who was cheeky enough to lie about feeling in some way short-changed. True to his word, he's doing a special show on 7th April at the BFI followed by a third BUG24 show in recognition of the oversubscription to the BUGs this week. These shows are also sold out because Adam is probably the most consistently largest revenue generator at the Poncey Benugo Cinema Complex.

These podchancers were obliged with a special jingle from Adam (at around 11 minutes in).

The most gravitas holding item in this post is my rather tardy discovery that the short film Adam starred in, Little Face has been on YouTube for months now. If you're a casting director and you have hitherto only considered Adam for in-your-face comedy, I hereby dubb you Idiothole Supremo. This man has range. Use it.


Joe joined Edgar in LA on the pretext of doing some Ant-man writing but he was just there for the latest New Beverly season and some utter silliness. As recently as 17th March, Joe was still there.

Here's some stuff that's not about Attack The Block from Jon Hamblin's interview with Joe and I'm very happy to say that in the not-too-distant future, I shall bring a little more Hamblin goodness onto this very blog with his generous permission.

Huge Adam and Joe fan and longtime member of Twitsquadron is holding an evening of entertainment on a barge on 26th April. Do go along.

Don't forget Ben Mercer is also playing on 30th March.

The wonderful Sally Grossart has made some Paper People for Nick and Simon's movie "Paul". I can't wait to see what she makes of the characters in Joe's little film.

Peeps are saying Holger Czukay's "Cool in the Pool" sounds like Adam and Joe.

Finally and totally off-topic........free music doesn't get much lovelier than this from Robin Pecknold.

*OK, so there are a couple of mentions.

Imbalanced Blog Entry about Attack the Block

I'm not sure if anybody even notices but I do try to maintain an equipoise to my blogposts. It's not been easy over the past year with Adam being so charmingly accessible and Joe maintaing his haughty air of mystery but I like to think I've rarely mentioned one without the other.

The alien/hoodie lovestorm which took place in Texas over the last couple of weeks simply poleaxed me into a stupor of non-blogitude but I can't ride that colloid hydrogel forever so here's a lot of stuff about Joe's film. In a short while, I'll do something that barely mentions the elusive thing.

If you're new to this nonsense, I need to mention that I'm a spoiler-phobe and any review of Attack the Block I might link here is executed with the confidence I have in the source rather than an appraisal of the actual content. Furthermore, my decision to not capitalise 'the' in the film's title is not the product of an intimate discussion with the director. It just pleases my eye and softens the menace. Deal with it.

Deep respect to the tweeters who look after the British Independent Film Awards account for being right up there at the front with their Follow Friday last month.

Optimum Releasing are distributing this renagade capsule and I shall continue to praise them until they put my arse on a seat with a good view. They have programme notes and a link to another file with an extension name of .docx.docx.docx which immediately made an independently remote-functioning synapse of my brain mumble "Basement Jocx. ocx. ocx" but no matter. Said link will give you all the trailers in all the colours and all the sizes.

It would be rude to mention Optimum without including a link to Film4 and their latest article, without whose input this film would have been made on an even tighter budget, with far less red in it and virtually no ten minute 'specials' on their digital tv channel.

I'm going to say I am finding the marketing hoopla a bit of a conundrum and particularly testing.

More than two months before the film's release, the director himself was awkwardly plonked on the Film 2011 sofa in a position that required him to swing his neck back and forth like an umpire at Wimbledon. I mean, he was already being sick in his mouth before he got there. I am told that these clips were aired during the show.

That same day, in a 75 seater basement room in Soho, selected members of the press were embargoed right up and over the area.

With a click of his heels, Joe skidded out of Television Centre and onto a Los Angeles bound 'plane to join Edgar Wright for quality procrastination.

On the morning prior to the first public screening, The Hollywood Reporter broke the first of many trade paper missives. I'm particularly heartened to note their praise for young John Boyega.

The next weekend finally brought the premiere at South By Southwest in the Alamo Drafthouse and I straddled the delicate chasm between needing to know that Joe wasn't going to land in a crumpled heap and yet not absorbing any film specific information. I caught photos from people who watched the intro and links to Q & As that I'm still too resolved in unspoilerdom to watch properly. Here he is sporting his best hands on hips look that he probably learnt during his brief modelling career in Japan. There's another shot here.

Charles Gant's piece for Variety was the first review to hit the nets after the screening had finished. In fact, it was linked about twenty minutes before it went live immediately after the screening. It's behind a paywall.....one of the easiest paywalls to negotiate on the net but I didn't tell you that.

I'm not going to list too many more review links because Big Talk have collected the good ones on their post-premiere news page. Catherine Shoad at The Guardian has a view but all you really want to know is what Charlie thought of it. There's some more good reading stuff in here.

HeyUGuysBlog filmed the intro and the Q & A. I did some sneaky dipping and with a pointer to the time marker, I'm pleased to say there was some Stephenage in Austin!



The IFC streamed interview (including the trailer at the start of part two) is here and Dread Central have a video interview here.

The praise went on all week, up to and beyond the screening on Wednesday. Finally, the film was voted as the audience's favourite Midnighter.....and before you tell me it was a small strand of the festival, it was rammed full of films everyone is waiting to see.

In Other More Standard Film Release Info News:
The BBFC have given Attack the Block a '15' certificate and although it only lists the two minute trailer, a shorter tv spot has aired on E4 as well.
It would be weird if I didn't include the trailer, wouldn't it?


The poster looks like the kind of thing worth investing in a double-sided and a big old light box for as Slash Film broke (or should that be 'Forward Slash'?)

Before the film had even come back from Snappy Snaps the rumour of a US remake or at the very least, subtitles was manufactured by lazy types with too much time on their hands. Whatever it takes to deliver the thing to an audience will work but how real is this actual threat in the first place?

===================================================

REMINDER SECTION

Reminder 1: Jon Hamblin's beautifully considered interview with Joe can be found in the digital and analogue version of SFX Magazine this month.
Reminder 2: Little White Lies Issue 34 has a glow-in-the-dark cover with at least 19 lumins and lots of Attack the Block delights.

Reminder 3: There is an Official Attack the Block website which has the hopefully temporarily messy look since they backgroundedid the poster artwork.
Reminder 4: There is an Attack the Block Facebook page thing.
Reminder 5: There is a Twitter thing here.

===================================================

The News in Brief

The Admirals of Idiocy are returning for at least 12 weeks from the beginning of April and it's not just wishful thinking on the part of lovely James....a parchment has floated down from the castle ramparts.

Is this Adam doing the latest Wrigley's campaign? Was this what she meant?

Joe talked to Total Film about his fractional contribution to the creation of Tintin.

The BBC Comedy microsite has released the third instalment of Country Man.


Joe's little Attack The Block hobby has a website, a Twitter account and a Facebook page. The trailer is expected any day now so follow, like and sign in there for updates. Some promo stuff was shot here last month.

Adam is doing a gig this weekend at a really lovely venue in Islington. His two shows at the Leicester Comedy Festival got some lovely responses on Twitter and Squadron member, Simon grabbed him for a bit of signatory and forgery action. He was also available for amateur papping too.

Joe was spotted on the tube a couple of times last week which means he's not toning his body on his bicycle any more in the hopes that his gym ones might be used in a Twilight film but on the other hand he's not quite haughty enough to use a Hummer. Something tells me he has had quite an influence on some of the younger members of his ATB cast.

I'm sure you've all found Adam's latest YouTube upload. There's another Buxton shaped gem out there but in the interest of balance, I'm going to save that link until Joe's little film trailer pops out.

Don't forget that SFX Magazine is out on 9th March and it will hopefully contain Jon Hamblin's interview with Joe. Not to mention the Attack The Block edition of Little White Lies due in the shops next week too.