:: gia’s blog ::

On first thought, I’d say that 2007 was fairly uneventful. My past few months have consisted of me being ill and feeling like I’ve done very little other than try and get healthy again… Then, when I properly think about it, I realise that the whole year has been MENTAL!

January

Me and Charlie Brooker

I was doing lots of stuff for Sunshine and Channel4.com, saw Ben Folds in concert, the Sunshine trailer was leaked by resourceful fans and I was interviewed for Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe.

February

/Cat blog

MASSIVE Sunshine stuff, loads of Channel 4 stuff, went to LIFT where Brian spoke and my Screepwipe interview was broadcast.

Watch Video

March

Danny Boyle on the Sunshine set

I know the photo above wasn’t taken in March, but the month was so freakin’ mental I didn’t take any photos. I was doing 7 days a week, 18 hour days mainly for Sunshine- press and bloggers’ screenings, press interviews, cast and crew screening, Manchester screening, messageboards, emails, IMDB, generally mentalness. There was also Channel 4 stuff, a discussion I took part in at the ICA, went to Cambridge with Brian who spoke at their Science Festival… and I’ve also got ‘Milton Keynes’ in my diary on the 16th. I’ve got no memory of what that was about at all.

April

Danny Boyle, Cillian Murphy, Brian

Another insane month. Sunshine was released, screening and Q&A with Danny at the Ritzy cinema, trip to Russia for the premiere, the 28 Weeks Later premiere… and I bought some ‘Sunshine’ props and costumes. :)

May

Tiger in my face

My Sunshine props and costumes were delivered. :) Was starting to get properly frustrated with the Channel 4 stuff, was weaning off Sunshine, I went to the Arthur C. Clarke Awards nominations, did a Social Media Club photo walk with Lloyd, went to Anna and Julian’s wedding and started looking at secondary schools for my son.

June

Brian at the Star Wars exhibition

Trying to get back into life and recover generally from Sunshine insanity. Sunshine was at the IMAX, spoke at Music Tank, Daywatch screening, more secondary school stuff (including an entrance exam… yikes!)

July

Me at the Gormley exhibition

Secondary school interview (yikes!), started on the Sunshine DVD release, bit of Daywatch work, David Hoyle started Magazine again… my son was offered a place at a secondary school (yay!)

August

Brian, Mo, Benny Wong, Cliff Curtis

Sunshine DVD release, 28 Weeks Later DVD release, Daywatch, more David Hoyle at Magazine… QR Codes.

September

QR Codes

QR Codes for 28 Weeks Later, interviewed about QR on various tv and radio programmes, my son started at his new school, I was invited to talk to the Nuclear Industry Association, recorded the Nature podcast sponsor stings, went to more David Hoyle shows, saw Prince’s final aftershow gig, got properly ill.

October

CERN

Still ill. Started working on a project looking at the Ageing Population, went to CERN twice - the first time with Kevin Eldon and Simon Munnery, the second time with Quentin Wilson- took part in a Nuclear Industry Association roundtable discussion, met Arvind from Slingshot Studios.

November

David Hoyle

Lots of meetings, dinners and lunches. Ageing Project roundtable meeting and dinner… And, of course, the wonderful David Hoyle.

December

My father came to visit, I attended the Juno bloggers’/Twitterers’ screening, fell in LOVE with ‘Juno’ (you’ll be hearing more about this), started Twittering (finally), went to see the King Tut exhibition, attended the Nuclear Industry Association annual dinner, my son had his birthday, recorded a Digital Planet with Gareth Mitchell and Bill Thompson, more talks with Slingshot Studios, David Soul…then…

…today.

After all that, I really need to rest over the next few weeks. I feel like I’ve still not recovered from my illness properly and still need to catch up on all of the sleep I lost last spring with Sunshine… My next 10 days will consist of POWER RESTING. I won’t do any work (except for watching the pile of screeners I’ve got), I won’t worry about whether or not I’ll have any work in the new year… I will just relax in the most hardcore way…

NOTE: Before you buy anything, you can claim a £5 gift voucher for Firebox here!

I’ve put together another list of Christmas gift suggestions for your favourite geek. As I mentioned in my last post, I signed up for an affiliate account with my favourite online shop Firebox in the hope of earning enough commission to buy one of these.

These are things I’ve bought as gifts before:

1. I bought some Jazz Ice Stirrers for Christmas this year for a friend who’s really into his guitar and drinking.

2. If you don’t already have the Key Bottle Opener by Suck, then this is the very first thing you should buy yourself for Christmas this year. It is probably one of the single most useful inventions of the past 50 years.

3. I’ve bought loads of Hot Packs over the years for friends, family and myself. They are ideal for anyone who skis or snowboards, or anyone who, like me, constantly has cold hands in the winter.

4. Another gift for my hard-to-buy-for-father, Weasel Coffee. Yes, Vietnamese weasels eat the coffee beans and then throw them up. They are then packaged up and sold to people in the UK under the impression that this somehow makes the coffee taste better.

These gifts are by UK-based bloggers/geeks:

5. TV Cream Toys book by my fellow blogger, former Channel 4 colleague and Facebook friend, Steve Berry.

6. Even if you’re not a b3tan/b3tard, you more than likely have seen Joel Veitch’s insane animations. If you’ve ever seen some kind of monkey-kitten hybrid with a human mouth and eyes singing about wanking or something, you’ve seen one. He’s come out with some Rathergood Plush Toys based on some of his animations. I just might get Ninja Kitten instead of a Fraggle…

Amazing things which you can pre-order and get in time for Christmas:

7. HOLY SHIT!!! It’s a Death Star Transformer!! It’s due in on the 22nd of November so you’ll have time to get it for Christmas.

8. Well, as this is a geek Christmas gift list, I figure we can’t have enough Star Wars. Check these puppies out. Star Wars Mimbots - Star Wars-themed USB memory sticks. Dorky as all hell. In December 4th.

9. Periodic Table shower curtain! Oh. My. God. I wish I wasn’t so modern and didn’t have a shower room and instead had a normal shower which needed a curtain. In the 27th November.

Finally, for those of you who liked the look of the Pico Z Battle Copters I linked to last time, but cant justify spending £50 on them:

10. One, non-battling Pico Z Micro Helicopter. £19.95.

I’d thoroughly recommend the Star Wars Exhibition in London. We had an excellent time… I want to go back.