Chapter Seven: The Psychos Man Flu

Here I am again for my small readership.

I am currently typing these words whilst bunged up, full of Lemsip and heavy eyes. This week has been one defined by setbacks, firstly a small injury which halted my progress in working out and then suddenly the dreaded sore-throat and sniffs which ushered in a harsh cold which has grounded me.

In reflection, these seven days could have gone much better. And it all started so well..waking up to the realisation my small YouTube channel had passed 4,000 subs on Monday promised lofty expectations – that feels like a long time ago now.

A high point of my week was watching Mary Harron's American Psycho from 2000 – a sinister, satirical and surreal gaze into yuppie culture of the 1980's and a deep dive into a psychopaths mind. A bit like the way I referred to a Nazi film in Jojo Rabbit last week as one filled with joy (did I actually just type that), American Psycho had a similarly effect in its use of storytelling, tone and performance. It is also majorly helpful inspiration for project I am writing at the moment, but if you are a fan of horror, a fan of social norms and gender being challenged and just some inspired acting from Batman – this is a film worth catching.

The rest of the week has included a lot of sneezing and binging on Doctor Who – which has also sparked some creativity from me too.

In previous years, I may have taken this setback as a chance to sit in some self-pity and panic over the dream of a perfect year taking shape all crumbling around me. Instead, its more rational to understand this is the first of what will be many setbacks over the next 12 months and the challenge to respond proactively and positively to them. That's advice I would impart to all reading this.

Fingers crossed this evil cold passes soon and I can get back on a good path.

Just want to take this time to say a two-day belated Happy Birthday to a mate of mind Callan Riches. Callan was a good friend of mine in University, someone to look up to, learn from and listen to. The brilliantly taken photos of my ugly mug on this website was from the camera and eye of Callan – and he has continued to work on his photography skills and massively improved, so go over and give his pages a follow.

Also – Callan was kind enough to give me a small part in his crew for the award-winning Out of Water, a wonderfully crafted and performed short-film which went from shooting in a cold-road in Chichester to an LA festival and I'm sure this is only the start of Callan's storytelling and I'm excited to see what he does next.

Apologies for a shorter blog – it will get better next week.

Keep Moving Forward,

Daniel