A
YEAR IN THE LIFE OF BEN
-part
eight in a ongoing series-
(hopefully)
2013
The
Good Times
Awesome
new Job
Received some great news late in the year
in the shape of an offer of a new job - Film Equipment Technician at the Screen
Academy in Napier University. It’s
a pretty sweet gig and can’t see me finding a better job than
this anytime soon. The facilities are
astounding and for the first time ever I'm actually looking forward to starting
a job. I start in January.
The Balance
This year saw the
release of my 4th short film 'The Balance'. It was shot in May 2012 but
premiered on 16th February 2013 at the Banshee Labyrinth in Edinburgh.
About 80 people crammed into the cinema to view the 13 minute film
including most of the cast and crew. It’s always a great feeling to
showcase something you've worked so hard on and to see people respond to it.
Sadly the film broke down half way through due to some dodgy encoding but
that was soon forgotten about and a good time was had by all. The film
went on to have a premiere in Perth and get shown at 3 festivals including a rapturous response at the Edinburgh
short film festival. You can view the film below in all it's glory: (make sure you watch in HD)
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| The Balance Premiere at Banshee Labyrinth, February 16th 2013 |
The Many
Stags and Weddings of 2013
One thing I'm looking
forward to in 2014 is the lack of weddings and stag parties as this year was
mental - Kerry and Stuart's, Natalie and Mathew's, Will and Karens and Titch
and Morven's. Still a lot of great memories from these but the highlight
would have to be the bus pulling away from Kerry and Stu's wedding and seeing
the laird of Balgonie who looks like John Hammond from Jurassic Park waving at
us and me getting everyone to sing to Jurassic Park theme.
 |
| Me sharing a special moment with Natalie and Mathew on their wedding day - 2nd August 2013 |
The Return of the Lochearnhead Camping Trip
Not the most exciting
entry but it was a great return to camp at Lochearnhead like we all used to do
when we were younger. Throw in Kayaking, swimming in the loch and great
weather and it was a perfect weekend.
 |
| Craig Gudmundsson cooks us up dinner at the camping trip. |
Finished a script for a
new short film entitled Nutcracker that I aim to
Nutcracker
Finished a script for a
new short film entitled Nutcracker that I aim to shoot sometime in the next
year. Really proud of this one, it has a (kind of) coherent plot and
everything with a distinct 3 act structure. Also started a romantic short inspired by Cinderalla (no, really),
working title: ‘The Glass Slipper’.
Don’t worry it still has a Ben Thompson style twisted streak in it.
Vanilla Coke
Vanilla Coke returned to
UK shores in February and there was much rejoicement by all.
Finch
2013 saw the band of my
teenage years reunite one last time playing their amazing emo angsty debut
album 'What it is to Burn' in full. Caught them in Glasgow and London but
their London gig at Brixton Academy was just stunning and if this really is
their last time playing then what a way to go.
 |
| Finch - Brixton Academy, London 22nd March 2013 |
The Acquiral of a Playstation 4
In my review of the year last year I mentioned looking forward to the new X-Box but the X-Box One has a ton of problems and is pretty ugly in my opinion. I didn't think I'd be able to afford a next gen console this year let alone get one on release date. The burglary (see bad times below) left me without a Playstation 3, resulting in the home insurance giving me a £350 Argos gift card to replace it, but I thought it was worth chancing a Playstation 4 on release date and low and behold Argos had stock at 9am! Still waiting for a decent game that isn't a first person shooter to come out for it though.
In my review of the year last year I mentioned looking forward to the new X-Box but the X-Box One has a ton of problems and is pretty ugly in my opinion. I didn't think I'd be able to afford a next gen console this year let alone get one on release date. The burglary (see bad times below) left me without a Playstation 3, resulting in the home insurance giving me a £350 Argos gift card to replace it, but I thought it was worth chancing a Playstation 4 on release date and low and behold Argos had stock at 9am! Still waiting for a decent game that isn't a first person shooter to come out for it though.
Breaking Bad - Final Season
The final season of
probably the greatest TV series ever aired in 2013 and for someone who has been
with the show since 2009 it was perfect send off.
The
Bad Times
The Burglary
On 29th October I returned home to find our home
broken into and several high value items stolen. I was rather shocked to
say the least especially as I thought our place was rather secure.
Luckily the home insurance came through but not a nice feeling thinking
so jakie was going through all your stuff (including my pants). Luckily we received word from the police in December that the burglar (or at least who they thought to be the burglar) was in
custody.
The Death of Lucy
Lucy the dog has been a member of the family
Thompson since 1997 and was always deemed an invincible dog after escaping the
vet's death syringe in 2008 and getting lost in the woods for a few days.
Sadly it wasn't to be her year as after a series of kidney problems she
had to be put to sleep. She was awesome.
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| Lucy 1997-2013 |
Dexter - Final Season
This stunk. The final season of a normally
good show descended into nonsensical subplots involving Masuka's daughter.
The ending was atrocious and has retroactively done harm to the whole
series overall. In hindsight I
think seasons 1,2 & 4 were the only actual good ones.
A Good Day to Die Hard
And you all thought Die Hard 4 was bad...
Goals for 2013 and how they turned out:
Do
something decent with my life instead of rotting away in an office or at least
as well as rotting away in an office. - Kind
of failed at this one, but more productive in the office and my new job will
hopefully keep me on my feet a bit more.
Complete a couple of new short film scripts. - Completed the script for 'Nutcracker'. One I'm very proud of.
Also wrote a first draft of 'Wisdom's Idiot' along with Murray Lothian
which has potential but just need the time to properly think it out. Also started Cinderella inspired ‘The
Glass Slipper’...no really.
Plan Epic Holiday: 2014 edition. Booked
a San Diego hotel for July 2014 in case we're successful in getting Comic Con
tickets in February. The holiday will be planned around if we get the
tickets or not then, also not sure where I stand with holidays at my new job.
Spend more time with the awesome people and less time with the not-so-awesome
people. - Mostly successful at
this.
Goals for 2014.
- Beat Kerry Macgregor in an arm wrestle. She is no woman but some kind
of beast.
- The return to San Diego Comic-con or something similarly cool in the states.
-
Complete USA Road Trip Volume 2 (West coast if successful in comic-con tickets,
East coast later in the year if unsuccessful)
- Shoot 'Nutcracker' but only if it's ready to go... it won't be rushed.
- Get to grips with new job and become pretty damn good at it.
- Get to grips with new job and become pretty damn good at it.
FILMS
Really sad note: In 2013 I’ve been keeping a
Letterboxd.com film diary. Between
1st January – 13th December I have watched 211
films. I need to get out more. See them all rated at the link below:
Honourable
mentions:
The
Kings of Summer, Captain Philips, Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3, Saving Mr. Banks,
Much Ado About Nothing, Escape Plan, Filth, Prisoners, Sunshine on Leith, The
Way Way Back, Elysium, The Conjuring, The Great Hip Hop Hoax, Monsters
University, Trance, Safety Not Guaranteed, Stoker, The Last Stand, Lincoln, The
Impossible
Guilty Pleasure Award:
Pacific
Rim
The I Have No Idea if I hated or Liked it Award:
Only
God Forgives
The 50% Amazing, 50% Shite Award:
Man
of Steel
Overatted Award (but still pretty good):
Iron
Man 3
Underrated Award (tie)
Kings
of Summer
The
Way, Way Back
Smelly stinkers
A Good Day to Die Hard
Now You See Me
Ender's Game
Machete Kills
Top
10 Most anticipated 2014
10
–
09
- Godzilla
08
– The Wind Rises
07
– The Grand Budapest Hotel
06
– X-Men: Days of Future Past
05– The Wolf of Wall Street
04
– Interstellar
03
– The Guardians of the Galaxy
02 -
Noah
01
– The Raid 2: Berendal
MUSIC
Top 10 Favourite Albums of 2013
Honourable Mentions:
Arcane Roots - Blood & Chemistry, The Sounds - Weekend, Killswitch Engage - Disarm the Descent, Alkaline Trio - My Shame is True, The Story So Far - What You Don't See, Kevin Devine - Bubblegum, Mixtapes - Ordinary Silence, City and Colour - The Hurry and the Harm, The Swellers - The Light under Closed Doors, The Sound City Players - Real to Reel, Alter Bridge - Fortress, Balance & Composure - The Things We Think We're Missing , Polar Bear Club - Death Chorus
Underground release you should seek out:
The People the Poet – The Narrator
Notable EPs
Vinnie Caruana – City By The Sea
Reverend Crowe
Benny's Kick Ass Tunes 2013
Most Albums Anticipated of 2014
Foo Fighters
Weezer
Say Anything
Crosses
Weezer
Say Anything
Crosses
The Xcerts
Manchester Orchestra
The Gaslight Anthem
Circa Survive
Circa Survive
Bruce Springsteen
Tool?
Brand New?
Tool?
Brand New?
Top 10 Musical Events I attended in 2013:
10 – Biffy Clyro - SECC, Glasgow (1st April)
09 – Polar Bear Club - Ivory Blacks, Glasgow (29th May)
08 -
Dave Hause - King Tuts, Glasgow (15th November)
07 - Black Sabbath - The Hydro, Glasgow (16th December)
06 – The Gaslight Anthem - O2 Academy, Glasgow (24th & 25th March)
06 – The Gaslight Anthem - O2 Academy, Glasgow (24th & 25th March)
05 – Bruce Springsteen - Hampden Park, Glasgow (18th June)
04 – Deftones - Barrowlands Glasgow (15th February)
03 - Soundgarden - Apollo, Manchester (13th September)
02 – Download Festival (Rammstein, Limp Bizkit, Gaslight Anthem, POD, Graveyard, Five Finger Death Punch, Stone Sour, Parkway Drive) (Day ticket 16th June)
01 – Finch - Brixton Academy, London (22nd March)
Highlight of the Year
Not seeing Graham Chen once this year was great.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Hugs, kisses and Ariel the Little Mermaid
costumes,
Ben
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