The Long Hard Plog

Now, it has been roughly a week and 48 hours and 32 min's, 28 seconds since Jack last wrote a plog. Roughly. And yes, plog. Incase you weren't aware a 'plog' is as follows:

"plog; (adj.) the writing of thoughticals onto the internet webage in inconsistent bursts of dialogue rather than regular daily/weekly patterns; apposed to a (consistent) 'blog.' 'I wrote a plog about my life for those interested.' "

Jack at first wondered how to assess the many days that had passed. He wouldn't want to write a descriptive passage for each day, nor would he want to read one in someone else's plog. So Jack took hold of his wireless keyboard (because he has one though can never type too far from the screen without struggling to see) and broke down those days in a short, these-were-the-key-things, sort of way. He then thought that thoughticals he wanted to express could happen in this break down and any particularly large thoughticals could be divulged in a separate plog altogether. A follow up or sequel to this burst of dialog. "Let us see if this works" thought Jack.

Wednesday
No. Jack couldn't remember what happened on this day. This was not a good start.

Thursday
No. Jack wasn't sure what happened here either. Is this going to be a constant problem with such plogging?

Friday
Hmm. Now Jack new something happened this day but he needed to work out what. Beside from anything, this is the first day he began to feel an illness of sorts come over him - spreading like a virus, but not a virus as that sounds like something of a dirty concept. Jack is a clean person and he wouldn't want to give the wrong impression... it spread like jam over toast, not that Jack liked jam either, but this will have to do as it is better than 'virus.'

Saturday
Jack did, on this fine Saturday, go to Muswell Hill. The sun was shining and the birds were tweeting (that's the sound, nothing to do with Twitter.com - although the thought that all the birds no longer sang on beautiful mornings but all logged on to Twitter amused him greatly) It took him a little time to set off as he enjoyed the weather with a paper and a magazine outside his flat. His flattymatey even showed up for a brief moment before going off to work (for he - we shall call from now on 'Thou-That-Shall-Bounce' - is in a play at The National) And so it was lunchtime when Jack got himself out of the East Finchley area - he skipped and sang aloud (at least he did in his head) over to Muswell Hill. There he sat, not with a paper or a magazine, but with his phone. He called is Mother and spoke with her. He then realized he had very little to actually do in Muswell Hill, and headed off back.

He then went for drinks for a friends birthday. "This" Jack thought "is worthy of a separate plog tomorrow."

Sunday
For reasons you will discover in said separate plog, Jack did not rise this Sunday before mid-day. But once he did he got on a telecommunications device to his Mother again, as this day was Mother's Day. Jack successfully ignored the headache knocking on his skull. The sun shone - although accompanied by a slightly chilly breeze - and he talked outside Costa Coffee. Once Jack had completed the conversation, he planned on joining Thou-That-Shall-Bounce at a table. Only suddenly, as he aimlessly paced around while on the phone, a man started following him. When Jack changed direction in his pacing, so did this little old man. The little old man clearly had problems/issues in his mind - then Jack realized that he was using his handsfree and perhaps the little old man thought he also had problems/issues in the mind, as it might appear Jack was talking to himself. Was the little old man following him for friendship? What ever it was it was awkward as Jack really had no-where to go. To avoid a vocal exchange (he was on the phone, after-all, to his Mother on her day) Jack wondered over to Thou-That-Shall-Bounce and asked what drink he wanted. Jack hadn't finished the conversation with his mother and had no intention of getting the drink just yet, but it showed the little man that he was not talking to himself and he was in fact with someone. Someone who was not talking to himself, not today, and certainly not in public. But both his Mother and Thou-That-Shall-Bounce had no clue what he was doing and no doubt were thinking him rude - Thou-That-Shall-Bounce for not getting the drink after having asked what he wanted, and his Mother for asking someone what they want to drink while being on the phone with her on her day.

And so the rest of the Sunday panned out like this: Thou-That-Shall-Bounce and Jack went to Muswell Hill to get some late lunch and go to Sainsbury's. They finished their food late and Sainsbury's was then closed. But the lunch was nice. They discussed how they were progressing with the draft work that's to be done on The Film, and also touched upon the corruption of the monetary system of profit and scarcity. They then went back to their dwelling and did some of the said drafting on The Film.

Monday
Monday was not a good day. Something happened in Jacks body that has not happened in a longtime. Something (not a 'bug' - please see last plog - certainly not a 'bug') had made Jack's body dislike his brain! It was like they were having a fight, and Jacks personality and functionality was caught in-between this war between his body and brain. Jack got through a day of work, just, and even managed to attend a theatrical outing to see Nic Hoult in 'New Boy.' Which he enjoyed. But then he got home and his body started the battle again, and his brain was losing. It was losing fast. So...

Tuesday & Wednesday
The brain gave in. He needed his spoonful of medicine, but he had no Mary Poppins.

Movies were watched, as this was the only way Jack could be sure his brain was still there and fighting the battle, but no work could be done. The International Film Company didn't like his 2 days off - Jack knew this - but when a battle of such proportions was going on biologically, The International Film Company could 'go fuck themselves' thought Jack, politely.
The films Jack watched: Notes On A Scandal / Half Nelson / Close Encounters Of The Third Kind / Get Smart / Spiderman 2 (which by the way - Jack discovered - has an appalling script, he somehow hadn't noticed until now...)

To find out what happened when Jack returned to The International Film Company today, what his Saturday night consisted of, and what feathers, a marble and an exploding head have to do with anything... stay tuned over the next couple of days....

The Day Of The Stomach Based Unicellular Micro Organisms

We have talked of the shape of Jacks head, which used to be oval until stress levels squashed it, but never of his eyes.

His eyes, it should be noted, have interchangeable lenses. This allows Jack to walk the streets and see things in different ways - a gritty/high contrast/sharp/Paul Greengrass style lens, a glossy/artificially lit/Spielberg-ian lens, and a beautifully composed/stunningly cinemagraphic/Lean-esk/lingering lens. It should also be pointed out that his eye lids act as transitions between shots. They squint to black for a fade, while a fast blink becomes a sharp cut. And this is how Jack Dean walks around the streets every day, his iphone providing the soundtrack, eyes the lenses, eye lids the edit. This is Jack Deans view of the world, and sometimes it distracts him but on other days, most days infact, it inspires him. But over the last few days, Jack has not even had time to walk around in this frame of mind.

The awaiting of decisions that effect his daily life was starting to get on his nerves but Jack knew that he was in the wrong industry if he wasn't prepared to wait. And when such decisions are so important, the wait is ultimately worth it. "I hope the answers hurry" Jack thought "waiting does not make interesting blog writing but then again, I only have a handful of followers."

The most interesting development of the last 4 days had been the decision that Jack is to attend Cannes Film Festival, 2009. "This," continued Jack with a spoonful porridge "will make interesting blog writing."

A less interesting development of the last 4 days had been that Jack had been off work and out of action for a couple of them with a 'stomach bug.' Jack wasn't sure what a 'stomach bug' actually was, but it hurt - he knew that. The thing about it that annoyed him the most was the term 'bug' - this suggests a literal bug, with legs and eyes and undoubtedly an appetite for what was going into his stomach. "Is this why, when I eat, I still feel empty?" wondered Jack on the 1st day of pain (which will now be, unimaginably, called 'Pain Day 1') "But then when did the bug get in there? Surely I would notice if a bug flew in my mouth, or in any other orifice? It must be of considerable size. No. That is not the case. WHY DO WE HAVE SUCH INACCURATE NAMES FOR THINGS" Jack thought angrily. The term 'stomach bug' became annoying to Jack. "It must be replaced by a term that accurately describes what is in my stomach instead of contributing to a fear culture. An old fashioned term that implies a demon bug in my stomach is just wrong" With a little research Jack realised the term referred to the 'virus' or 'bacteria' that causes such pain, and perhaps it was unfair to be so angry at it. Using the term 'bug' instils a very cartoonish image of an actual bug and this new term Jack will use must accurately describe the bacteria rather than making him fearful of flying bugs from cartoons trying to invade his biology. "So from now on I shall call, what has previously been known as a 'stomach bug,' a ' group of stomach based unicellular micro organisms.'" Much better, thought Jack. "It may not catch on, but at least it's accurate."

As he got better he started to turn his attention to what he needed to do for Cannes Film Festival. The accreditation was the first thing, which Jack completed on Sunday evening, and then the flights should be booked before prices go up - he booked these on Monday. Jacks Producer was taking charge of the accommodation - which was good as Jack didn't care for that responsibility. With his part in the basics for the attending of Cannes done, his attention turned to the fact that his name will be printed in the festival guide and he will forever be associated (small though it may be) with Cannes 2009. Jack liked this. He and his Producer were going with Jack and his Friends script, to make more contacts and socialize with the film industry. "As well as acting on behalf of The Film, I will also act on behalf of myself - if this is something you can do. I have every intention of making contacts for my own directing work as well." Jack mused. He knows doing the-networking-thing is essential to success in the industry, but also knew how innately strange this was. Being able to chat your way into a company or a producers pockets seemed to be something quite unique to the film industry, but not necessarily a bad thing.

Jack could continue writing as many thoughts were in need of a vent on the world wide webage, but he must get on with the doing and this was enough of the blogging for one day. But Jack will return in a day or so, to vent those thoughticals he missed here, and hopefully reveal some more nuggets of information. Jack thought he should be honest with the readers of this: some of it may be interesting to you, other stuff may not. Unlike the term 'stomach bug,' Jack will not imply anything other than the truth, some of it may be interesting, some of it may be a bore, some of it may be controversial (be patient, because this is coming) and some of it may be conventional.

Whatever the future is for this blog, there will be no 'stomach bugs.' Just the small chance of a group of stomach based unicellular micro organisms.

"Accuracy is love." thought Jack "yes, accuracy is love."

*Pic: Actress Cassandra Peterson at Cannes Film Festival '08 - Source: http://www.smh.com.au

The way all Work doesn't make Jack a very dull boy

The sun had risen and set more than once before Jack Dean managed to update his new blogging venture. It had been a stressful and semi-eventful week so far and it didn't look like it would calm down just yet.

The International Film Company, The Film and Michael Jackson had all been a stress for Jack Dean Monday to Thursday. The stress had actually made Jacks oval head transform into the shape of the stress ball he doesn't have. "Fidledidum this week's been annoying" thought Jack to himself as Thursday started and he automatically began to look to the weekend approaching. Not that he didn't have a hundred things to do at the weekend - just that they were all things that he could control the stress levels of.

The International Film Company was a stressful place to be this week, and his friends there had told Jack that he was wasted in it. Jack considered this: it is true that he could be used more efficiently, that his skills were not put to best use. However, The Film was starting to move quickly into a position ready for pre-production and The Producer was putting into action some financing for Jack to go fulltime onto it (in a capacity close to Associate Producer) so Jacks employment at The International Film Company was becoming less important by the day. Their interest in The Film on distribution level however had been moved to a new level and Jacks employment was no longer so much of an advantage - the relationships with the heads of departments had been built (so contact out of employment within the company will be maintained) and the interest indicated. A stressful few days in his position within The International Film Company had pointed out all this to Jack, and he started to have no interest in extending his contract - and all focus was moving on to the role of Associate Producer on his script. "I'm basically doing this job on The Film anyway so I might as well go official on it and get some extra money in the bank" thought Jack. He certainly liked the idea of being a fulltime filmmaker (this was always the end game) and the freedom that comes with that is extremely attractive to him - finally this looks like a reality. A reality only a month away if things go to plan.

With these thoughticals flowing at the speed of light round and round his stressball shaped head, a distraction such as purchasing concert tickets would have been welcome. And it was, when Jack received a presale code for Michael Jackson's comeback concerts at the O2 he made it his mission to get tickets. Comeback? Jack questioned the notion of a 'comeback' when no new material is presented and the concerts in question were announced to be the last ever performances in London. But comeback or not, they were a great opportunity to see a living legend. Jack understood how people could be questioning the man after the child abuse allegations and his clearly damaged psyche, but he had been acquitted of all charges and his music has unquestionably changed the face of pop. This was enough, coupled with the fact that Jackson was probably the first music artist to have an impact on him as a child, to get Jack excited at the prospect of seeing him live. The music and the dance and the music videos were what made him a legend and, in an age of disposable pop artists, he could be the last legend of this kind. And this is likely to be the last chance to ever see him. So, on Wednesday morning, after 3 hours, a crashed website and a priority ticket line that broke down due to the demand Jack purchased himself two tickets for the 28th July. "Excellent, I'd thought I'd missed the last chance to see the King Of Pop when I failed to see the HIStory tour" mused Jack when his ticket confirmation came through. Jack was also glad his was for the 10th show of 27 announced so far, he isn't convinced Jackson will be on top form for the last 5...

Jack then set about the rest of his duties for the week.

The music video had progressed very little so he planned for this weekend to be solely on Final Cut Pro, apart from Sunday afternoon he had made plans to re-write the opening pages of The Film based on some of The Producers notes. This and watching films on his really-shouldn't-have-had-to-buy 2nd blu-ray player that arrived today. He was looking forward to a peaceful weekend, a weekend that will be kicked off with a Producer meeting Friday night and consist of mostly working on different projects.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, except when the only thing he really cares about is work and 'play' is watching films which falls under a work-related type of play" thought Jack "That's not as catchy as the original phrase but the original isn't entirely accurate."

*Pic: Mel Brooks The Producers - Source: Google Images

The Saturday that Brought Change and Hidden Costs

Jack Dean has always been someone who thrives off change. When it becomes apparent change is going to happen, he becomes thirsty for it and will push for it to happen as soon as possible. If it does not seem to be coming and the wind tells him it should be, he changes things himself. Now, this is something worth remembering when discussing Jacks weekend.

The weekend started with a muted Friday night. He and his flatmate chose to get a pizza and watch a movie - that movie was Baby Mama starring Tina Fey (TV series 30 Rock being a favourite of Jacks) They watched, enjoyed and Jack retired to catch a good nights sleep. It transpired that too many thoughticals, on too many subjects, were rolling around his head, meaning his relatively early night was actually drifting off to sleep around 02:30 am.

When Saturday came, and the sun rose over the East Finchley Old Stag - he had the meeting to attend with his Producer, as arranged during the Thursday Phone Call. It was a shorter meeting than anticipated as ultimately little could be decided until the financing had been confirmed completely mid this week. When dealing with such large amounts of money (the fact that the final amount had not been confirmed being another issue) these footballers that wish to invest must be sent a lot of documents and information on The Film ("understandably" Jack thought). This is what Jack needed to do this weekend: as The Producer was meeting them on Monday, Jack needed to create such documents and forward them to The Producer on Sunday. It's all very complicated and Jack decided he should not go into further details when telling people - it could be a rather boring thing to go through if you have no vested interest in The Film. But by the middle of this week a large amount of money should be invested into The Film.

Now the issue of change was this - when this money clears there may be a chance to withdraw a certain amount (as 'on-going costs') to give Jack the freedom to go fulltime on the script and move forward on other production elements while The Producer finishes the edit on his last film. Jack saw on Saturday that change was on it's way, but it evidently may need a little push (as he has found all great changes do.) And so, along with work on the script itself and the editing of the music video he has in post production, and working fulltime at The International Film Company, Jack is to create a proposal for this change. The proposal includes the financing required, the work included and the long term and short term advantages. Jack will be working through all this, all the week ahead, but finds the notion of this change of pace and work an exciting thing - as long as he gets that little push it needs correct.

Jack also managed to over spend this weekend. Some thing's he could have not done but, put simply, just really wanted to. While the most expensive thing was forced upon him...

Jack, after the meeting, went to purchase a Blu-ray disc for him to enjoy Saturday evening, while working. He went into HMV with the knowledge that he was going to buy Ricky Gervais's 'Ghost Town' - certain elements of this film appeared to be similar to The Film "worth seeing how they have dealt with certain aspects in the writing and structure" Jack thought. However, the evil home entertainment overlord 'Master H. MV' trapped Jack inside the moment he stepped in the door with a 2 for £30 offer on Blu-ray's. Master H. MV had trapped Jack in the Blu-ray aisles for what seemed like an eternity. The only way out, to safety and daylight, was to take advantage of this offer. But the torment the overlord had given Jack stretched further... 'Ghost Town' was not in the 2 for £30. Then it got worse - Jack could only find one title in the 2 for £30 that he was certain he wanted. Jack stood there with 2 Blu-rays for a long-time. One in the offer, one out of the offer. But then he found another in the offer he wanted, perfect! And then he found another, not perfect. Now he stood with one film out of the offer, and 3 films in the offer. None of this was working out very well. He escaped the clutches of the overlord half an hour later when he decided to just bloody buy all four. When he got to the queue to pay he saw a film he had wanted to see for a long time on DVD for £3. So he got that as well. Jack felt guilty about spending such a large amount of money in one go when he got outside, but the guilt disappeared pretty quickly when he realised he'd not bought anything for himself for quite a while. That this was his big spend this weekend as he wasn't going drinking etc made it even more ok. "Jolly good" Jack thought as he moved down to Carneby Street for a sandwich and a read of the magazine he also bought on impulse at the counter.

The relaxing evening of work and a Blu-ray didn't quite go to plan. Jack organised his filing when he got in, which was liberating as papers that went with all his work had piled up over the last month. Job done. Jack felt relieved...

But then he sat down to enjoy a Blu-ray while scanning over work. He put the Blu-ray of 'The Mist' in the player but found to his dismay that the sound didn't work. Thinking it was the disc, he put 'Hancock' in, and the problem was the same. Then he realised he hadn't up dated his firmware on his Blu-ray player since he'd bought it and perhaps this was the problem. He went online and download the official firmware, usb'd it into his player which took sometime, but it was updated successfully. The sound still didn't work on his surround sound system and Jack realised it was actually due to the fact that he hadn't set up the 5.1 connections - getting away with a 2.1 set up thus far. Wires needed to be bought. But the sound worked through the TV so he watched 'Hancock.' When it came time for sleep - roughly 3 am - he put a DVD of 'Friends' in the settle into bed with, and it is here that everything went wrong. The disc was spat out as an 'incompatible' disc. Confused, Jack tried another, and then a Family Guy disc. The same problem persisted. After an hour of trying to work it all out - he realised the update he had completed was, in fact, the US version and he had accidentally made his Blu-ray player think it was an American - y'all. "This may be a boring read" Jack thought "but my god it has caused me pain and I will write it down anyway" And so, after hours of research in the early hours of the morning and the following day - it became apparent to Jack that there was no reversing what he had done. Certain Blu-ray discs will work on it still, as 'Hancock' had, as some are made region free - but not many out of his 55 Blu-rays, and none of his hundreds of DVD's. And the sound on the latest discs still didn't work. So Sunday evening, he needed to buy a new Blu-ray player, and did so off the internet. This will arrive mid-week. He will then have two Blu-ray players - one British one with a personality disorder that thinks it's American, and a British one. This was a cost he had not planned for, and made him wish he had not done that spending to escape Master H. MV. Jack realised he still has to buy the damn wires to get the 5.1 sound working.

Saturday had been a strange day for our oval headed hero. Not one that ended how it should have. The Blu-ray trauma should now be over, but it had been somewhat trying. And The Film should see some very interesting changes over the coming week.

The Morning Of Many Thoughticals

Yesterday kicked off with an incident on a bus, nothing like what Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves experienced, but still an incident all the same. Today, however, opened with the remains of the days before it spinning around Jack Deans oval head. Jack doesn't like days that run into other days, but as most do in some manner due to the rules of nature and time, he has learned to accept it. But this morning seemed to be consisting mainly of the weeks developments, of all the days before it running into each other. An accident waiting to happen.

Sitting with his mocha and cigarette Jack processed a couple of things in his head.

NOTE: Jack likes to call his thoughts 'thoughticals' and the process of dealing with them 'a thinkathon.' But, for the sake of confusion and to preserve his appearance as a non-geek, we shall continue to call them 'thoughts' and 'thinking' in these writings.

Jack, sipping on his mocha, found it hard to lift the mug to his mouth. He had a thoughtical, a thought to all of us, about how painful his body is after time at the gym. His personal trainer, a small woman with a love for her rabbit so strong Jack often wondered if she really wanted to be one, worked him especially hard this week. It felt as if his muscles were tighter, sure, but then again were they tighter or smaller? The pain covered virtually every key muscle his body needed to function: his arms, legs, chest, neck, and bum. Jack then started to believe, just for a moment, that she may actually be trying to make him into a rabbit. The first thing you would need to do, as everyone knows, is shrink someone's muscles to the size of a rabbits. Having done this you will have a rabbit shaped person and then the rest is easy - well, Jack assumed it would be: hormones for the ear growth, hair implants for the fur etc. This thoughtical was all getting quite strange, but Jack thought this a possibility for a moment as his muscle seemed too tight/small to lift the mug - as a rabbit must feel if it tried to lift a mug. His personal trainer could put this man-to-rabbit transformation into action without him knowing, weekly changing his body... slowly, but surely, into that of a rabbits. But he decided he mustn't get worried about this too much as the chances are she isn't, and besides, life as a rabbit would probably be quite nice. Less stressful. And he's already a vegetarian so the diet wouldn't be an issue.

Finishing his mocha as quickly as he could, as time had been an issue while leaving the flat this morning, he went into his work, the International Film Company.

Once at his desk the days duties commenced. Something Jack had got into the habit of was keeping an internet window open so he can be in touch with people while doing his job. Namely a couple of social networking sites - it made him feel like he was in touch with the world while working.

This morning he needed to drop a quick message on a Social Networking site to a friend of his. He and his friend had been trying to get in touch for a catch up for sometime now but their attempts kept failing. His friend, she of a heart-shaped head and fashion extravagance that represented her individual DNA make up, had been scheduled to call the night before but, as has been happening for weeks, events had conspired against them. Jack had received a big phone call and she of a heart-shaped head and fashion extravagance that represented her individual DNA make up, had left her phone at a gym. They failed to speak once again. Jack then wondered if, with modern technology and it's constant evolution, it might be the case that in the near future human interaction may become something very rare. A kind of special treat once a month. A person can be in touch every day via textual messages of different kinds but never actually speak in person for months on end. "Will this happen more often? Will this lead us to a world where this type of communication is the norm, and human to human interaction is a rarity?" Jack thought. "That would be a sad day indeed, but it seems not that unlikely". Jack thought it best to leave that there before he became depressed about the future of humankind.

The other thought rolling around in his hamster wheel of a head was the Phone Call he had received. The phone call had resulted in the conclusion that a meeting, that of human to human interaction, was needed tomorrow. This is The Producer of Jack and his friends script. The meeting is to involve The Film's financing and some money being offered and Jack found this an endless distraction while at work. "I will have to wait till after the meeting to see what should be concluded of the Phone Call" Jack decided. But the Phone Call and meeting to come could make The Film's production speed up considerably. Jack realized quite quickly he will have to be considering these potential developments for the rest of the day.

All these thoughts, of all the days of the week, had made for a heavy morning of thoughticals.

The Morning That Spoke Volumes

Jack Dean woke this morning as he does every morning - 8 alarms spread over his 2 phones on a constant set of 'snoozes' until the last minute of eye rest (as once the first alarm goes he knows it is no longer sleep) is drained from the night. He got dressed and, like every morning, thought he 'really should get more of a variety of clothes' before heading into the bathroom. There he brushed his teeth and, like every morning, thought he should 'really get a new head for his electric toothbrush'.

Once out the door the cold air hit him, and his recent belief, that the weather was changing and Spring was on it's way, was shattered.

On the bus, like every morning, Jack listened to his iphone. Except this morning something happened that had never before: he was told to turn it down by a Man two seats ahead. Now, you should understand that Jack is a polite person and remember this, for it is important.

When it comes to his ipod/iphone - Jack has found that how loud the sound is filtering out to the public is practically impossible to judge. He has tried to work this out before - by taking out the headphones with the music still playing and listening to how they sound out of ear - however this isn't how it must sound for the people around him. Jack often wondered if maybe the music bounces around his ear and is louder to those around him once the headphones are in, but how can he ever know? How could he know when his volume has passed that threshold? He has considered this, in detail, but as no-one has ever complained he assumed his out-of-ear test was accurate and he was not a disturbance. Until this morning.

The Man in question started his grump by looking around him. He looked at other passengers to see if they were as clearly outraged as he was. When it was clear they were not, he turned round and started saying something to the person sat behind Jack. Jack couldn't hear what the conversation was obviously, due to the orchestra in his ears, but it was then that the Man in question looked directly at him, with disgust. Jack thought it looked like the same look you would give a child murderer who had stolen your car and erased all the files from your computer. Jack made an ear available for him in a polite manner, but before he could open his mouth the Man told him to "turn that down" and immediately turned around again.

See, now remember Jack is a polite person? Jack did turn it down, with a "sure I will." But the manner of which the Man had gone about his request made him angry. Why couldn't the Man ask nicely? Why did he feel he needed to involve other people on the bus? Why was he treating Jack like he was a hooligan, a dirty citizen, an example of what is wrong with society? Jack is none of those things and the Man had, in his opinion, been the one more rude.

Jacks volume slip up was an accident, and one he can't easily know when it's happened... "there should be a warning" he thought "when you move your volume up a little message should pop up that this volume may cause disturbance in a public place'" because how else will he know? He pondered this, and then his anger at the way he had just been spoken to made him annoyed at everything: "Although" he continued "London Transport has just made buses that much more louder by adding a woman's voice telling you the name of the bus you are on and the approaching stop, very very loudly. To be able to hear your music at all you must have it past a certain level anyway!" His thoughts continued like this for at least the passing of four stops - to-ing and fro-ing between the volume needed to hear music and the practicalities of knowing when your volume is disturbing people. However, by the time the fifth stop came up Jack realised that the most important point was this: even if someone has their music on loudly and you can hear a tinny melody coming from their ears, this does not make you better than them or give you a right to speak to them in a patronising or disrespectful manner, or judge their character. There are things a lot worse that people do. Many things entitle you to think someone a bad person, but someone enjoying music at a volume level that means Philip Glass isn't interrupted by a loud female voice telling you what bus you have caught, just is not one of them. By the time he reached his destination Jack had made peace with the argument he had had in his head. As he got up to get off the bus he looked over at the man, and thought 'how awful it must be to live life being so angry at the world and judgemental of the people you have to share it with.'

And this was how Jack Dean started his day.

He, like every morning, had his Mocha and cigarette while glancing at the morning papers and walked into the International Film Company at which he works at 9am.

It had been a thoughtful morning for Jack.. the day may get stranger and somewhat eventful. He has various meetings throughout the day, and often comes out of them with many thoughts running round his oval head. But then, his life has been strange and somewhat eventful so far... yet some how, it still only feels like the beginning of the story.

The First Day

At first you should be introduced to the rather interesting hero of this blog. His name is Jack Dean and his life is strange, but some people may find it very interesting. This story is for those such people.

Jack Dean is 24, he likes music, movies, art and literature - which doesn't make him stand out from the crowd. He dresses smart/casual at both day and night time events and enjoys Reese's Peanut Butter Cups very much. His legs are quite long, and his head relatively oval.

Many things go through Jacks head, but only one thing goes through on a regular basis - for day in, day out, the only thing that concerns Jack is his career in The Motion Picture Business.

As this story begins he works in an international film company, and is writing a film with his friend that will start shooting in the near future. But all is not well in Jacks life - he finds he has a lot to say, but often finds he doesn't say it before the thought leaves his head. You see, there are that many things going through Jacks oval head. And so today, on the 4th March 2009, he decided he will discover the point of blogging on the internet.

When he sat down to write it for the first time, he realised how late in the craze of blogging he was, so much so that perhaps the craze had passed and it must be called something else. A past-time perhaps. But he made a promise to himself: "today" he thought "is the day I start writing things down that may or may not make sense, today is the day people I will never meet will be able to read my most intimate thoughts and perhaps even some of them will mistake my opinions as fact!" He hesitated at this thought, for his relationship with the internet was one that fluxed from love to hate very often. Many times it turned to hate when uneducated people quoted opinions they had read online as facts, when people were tempted into the dark sides of life through it, or when the glorious freedom that is free speech was abused on it. "Then perhaps I will write my life and thoughts as a story, in the 3rd person, with a false name - then no-one can think it fact, or judge me by a rant, or point fingers if my thoughts are controversial!" And so this is what he did.

The 4th March, 2009 then became a special day in Jacks life.

It was the day he discovered how to get those thoughts out of his oval head before they left and were replaced by others.

It was the first day... of a very interesting story.