Space For some reason the latest post at the Beagle 2 weblog feels like the sadest moment in British space history: "The Beagle 2 team wish NASA's MER team all the best with the landing of the Spirit rover tomorrow morning GMT (8.35pm PST 3rd January 2004)." I know that in science we're all in it together, but still.
TV So Joey and Dawson have finally done it (for British terrestrial viewers anyway). But they've been talking about it for so long I'd forgotten it hadn't happened already. In the end it seemed cheap somehow. For me, Dawson's Creek has always been about romance, about the magic which surrounds the act rather than the act itself. The most passionate moment of the series up until this point was their kiss at the end of the first series. Perhaps the genius here was that when the central core unrequited love of the series finally became requited it was pretty ordinary, no ice cream, wax or extra bodies involved. At least now, just as the conversation was flagging, they'll have something to talk about for the next five or six episodes at least.

Elsewhere in the show as the six and final series begins, it's mostly business as usual. Audrey has been granted regular status after two series (still a great character) and there are signs she'll be getting her own storylines (and her own special episode - how we wish it had been her in that mugging episode last year - no chance of her singing along with the dying man). There also seems to be a new found ability to have fun with the Jack character who seems to be enjoying his sexuality now rather than torturing himself. Speaking of which, favourite character Jen seemed far too sunny but I was always happier when that was the case - I was never happy when she was an Elizabeth Wurtzel knock off - she always worked best with some deadpan humour and nothing more embarrassing than sitting next to your grandmother in a lecture. And suddenly in an attempt to make him seem more mature, Pacey sports a goatee beard which looks a bit wrong but we'll get used to it.

But the problem is that the show has said everything it can about the subjects it's trotting out. I've an idea of the upcoming plotlines and they really feel like reruns of old stories. The very English waitress and musician Emma Jones could have been an interesting character if she hadn't stolen her accent from the potentials in the last season of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, but she's another Gretchen or Amy, someone to buzz around the main characters, create complications, let Pacey save her (possibly), then buzz off again. It's tired and tiring. We're getting into the same territory as late X-Files - how much more can we surprise the audience? But I'm not jumping ship yet like I did with that series. This is something I'll be following to that bitter end, if only to see how Kevin Williamson, series creator, and writer of the final episode, handles his characters all grown up. Plus I'm still 'in love' with Michelle Williams and you have to allow your self some guilty pleasures now and then between the Truffaut movies.
Life Post Christmas blues then. All of that build up, all those shopping days out, all that careful selection of presents, all those decorations up and it's over within a few hours. We don't have a large family really so there isn't the extended excitement of more visits and more presents on all the days afterwards. My new Smoothie Maker is pretty excellent and is a great way eat fruit whilst simultaniously offering a handy alternative to water. I Ask'd Metafilter what I should spend my Christmas money on and they suggested Tivo (no longer available in the UK) or the adoption of a goriila. Thanks guys. I still don't know if a Playstation 2 is such a good idea (I mean if I want to play games I have this computer) but I don't really need anything else. I'll probably do the sensible thing as always and save the money until something inevitably conks out (my old mobile phone is looking increasingly crusty) but that just seems so boring ...
Film Rachel Weisz is one of those actors who I'm always pleased to see in a film. I saw two of her recent performances for the first time this week. In About A Boy she plays a single mum which Hugh Grant understandably falls for in quite a touching comedy which I'd put off seeing for far too long. It feels like a male companion piece to Bridget Jones, but this time it's about what happens to a man who's listlessly drifted through life not making any great ties and somehow not managing to find a purpose (so no great empathy with that character for me then). Also the casting director somehow manages to feature a child actor who's good without being cheesy, skilled without being forced (take note M Night Shyamalan). To be honest Rachel's the typical English rose here, the kind of thing she was born for.

Which is why her work in Neil LeBute's The Shape of Things is pretty startling, showcasing her versatility - an ability to be lovable and utterly sinister at the same time. She plays an artist who meets a geek who works in an art gallery (again so similar to my own life) and cleans him up, gives him some self esteem (again this could be my autobiography) supposedly driving him to be a better person. The geek is played by Paul Rudd (last seen dating Pheobe in Friends) and it's actually quite fun watching him slowly work towards being the actor we recognize. His disapprove friends are played perfectly by Fred Weller (The very definition of 'Hey, it's that guy!') and Grechen Mol (Rules of Attraction). The chemistry in particular between Rudd and Mol is just lovely.

It's based upon LeBute's stage play which did well in London a few years ago and features that opening cat. Now if you look at something like Rotten Tomatoes the typical criticism is that -- "Sadly, the film never overcomes its stage roots." Erm, that's the point. In many an interview LaBute has stated that he was essentially committing the stage play to film, the same pacing and roughly the same performances, the only real obvious change being the real locations. For me this works absolutely excellently, and it's approach which I've seen used just as well on other occasions (the version of Michael Faryn's Copenhagen which appeared on BBC4 last year for example). For me if a play flows perfectly as it stands there really isn't a reason not to leave it in the same structure for the filming. The are different adaptation considerations at play here, and LeBute is actually to be respected for not chopping things about for no reason other than to try and 'open' the piece out. The landscape which now surrounds that actors does that perfectly well. And with Weisz left to her own devices your left with the feeling that in The Mummy she was just having some fun. She's got a very strong career laid out in front of her, and I can't wait to see what she does in The Runaway Jury opposite Cusack, Hoffman and Hackman.
That Day So yes, Happy New Year and Christmas for that matter. I hope you enjoyed this year's review. A big thank you again to all the contributors, best wishes to you all. I'm going to post a sort of special features / epilogue soon so if anyone has at all has got any comments don't hesitate to get in touch -- the vacuum is stifling.

We'll catch up properly in a couple of days. In the mean time, I contribute a little bit to this year's Off The Telly year end television review (an embrassingly little bit actually -- Christmas and some other project sucked up what time I had so I didn't actually present as much as I would have liked). Luckily my incoherent mumblings about the John McEnroe gameshow 'The Chair' didn't make it in so I didn't embarass myself too much. Can I also suggest a glance through this Google News search. Where else can you find out about how 2003 went for the Monroe Courier or The International Sailing Federation?

Review 2003:
What do you predict for 2004?

As per Glenn Hoddle "I never make predictions and I never will".
Jack Kibble-White, Off The Telly and TV Cream

More stalkers, the rise of the man boob, a celebrity death, liquid phones, a scandal, fifty midgets storming a castle, lengthy debates on what's best: fruit or puppies, a football game that people talk about, pagers making a comeback, people naming their children after famous theme parks, China puts a man on the moon but by accident. Place yer bets, gentlemen!
Danny Wallace, Writer, Join Me

I think I'll get a driving license. I think I also need my own website and predict I will get someone to build me one.
Ben Birtwistle, Fine Art Printmaker and 'financial advisor'

The ten pound note is under the sofa. There will be an earthquake in Somerset. Oh, and a paperback of my novel British Summertime comes out in February!
Paul Cornell, Writer, British Summertime

World peace, the end of poverty, hunger and cruelty and that ITV will finally make a primetime comedy that captures the nation's hearts. Now, which one of those is least likely?
Cameron Borland, Off The Telly

My team of flying monkeys will come online, allowing me to rule the world through fear and monkey-based mind control; jet-packs and robots doing the housework will appear; my cat's tail won't grow back.
Nick Jones, Web Editor, National Museums Liverpool

I'm going to be fine and mobile phones will get smaller.
Eva Katzler, singer

I would like to predict world-wide peace and goodwill and it hurts me to think how far from the truth that will be. More realistically I predict that seminar rooms in developed countries will be filled with 'smart' and 'gyro' technologies.
Denise Raine, Librarian, The Henry Moore Institute

First of all I want to look back at my five predictions for 2003. Out of the following list, which one do you think would be the one most likely to happen?
*Eighth season of Buffy, with or with Buffy
*New TV series of Doctor Who
*The more obscure Shakespeare plays get movie versions (especially 'Measure for Measure')
*Less talk of the past, more of the future
*Peace
Who would have thought the real joke on the list, the one about a Timelord would turn out to be the biggest success? At the start of the year it wasn't clear that Angel would be carrying on that universe - Eliza Druska had yet to find her Tru Calling instead of continuing the franchise in Faith and as far as we knew Alison Hannigan was interested in Willow. Glancing at the Internet Movie Database, there where two new Othellos, and a Hamlet in German. Classic TV showed a seventy year old version of As You Like It in smudgy vision, but that's not really the same thing. All everyone seemed to do all year was talk about the past - it was a year of anniversaries and celebrations of one form or another, which is why this review seems to have fitted in so well. I did have a naive hope that the world wouldn't go completely mad but of course it did, as the responses in this article have proved. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. But I don't want to continue on a pessimistic note, so here are my predictions for 2004.
*A Starbucks will open closer to work
*More crossover in music across Europe. French, Spanish and German music will start to appear in our pop charts as the kids finally start looking for something different.
*There will be new governments in the UK and US. Neither will actually be much better or worse than what we have now.
*A second e-commerce boom will begin, with entrepreneurs learning from the mistakes of the past
*Something really extraordinary is going to happen with long lasting consequences effecting all mankind in a good way for a change
I know I'm hedging my bets with that last one. But peace didn't happen last time so why not try and go one better? We'll see at the end of 2004.
Stuart Ian Burns, feeling listless

I predict I will turn 40 and will continue to act like childish. That's a safe bet. I also predict the death or capture of Osama bin-Laden. It seems to us that nothing is going on with regard to capturing him, but we're not privy to the inner workings of global security. One day, much like yesterday's capture of Saddam, the news will break and then people like me can be smug.
Mike Brown, the pepys project

For 2004 I predict a continuous stream of unecessary death and wanton destruction. That's always a safe bet, esp. with the Republicans in office back in Washington. Also, I predict that in 2004 the mainstream media will distort reality even more than they have in 2003, if possible.
James Longley, Documentary Filmmaker, Gaza Strip

The single question for 2004, the only question that I am really care about, is the defeat of George W. Bush - I am cautiously hopeful, but steeled for four more years of creeping American neofascism. I wouldn't dare predict which way it will go. I only know that it will be decided by people in the center in a few swing states who don't even see the profound danger in Bush that I do.
Miles Hochstein, Documented Life

For me, renewed vision, new projects, and lots of fun. For the country, a hard-fought presidential race.
Rebecca Blood, Blogger and Author

Dean to be President.
Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, Photographer, Leaf Pile

The world will continue to bleat plaintively about the evils of George W. Bush's unilateralism/the evils of islamic terrorism. The dollar will continue to slide against the Euro and the Pound, reaching a low of $2 to the pound before the middle of the year (and possibly sinking further). This will cause widespread panic when it becomes apparent to everyone that the British balance of trade deficit is about to go through the ceiling and then the loft, with unpredictable political consequences. China will put another taikonaut into orbit. Lots of Japanese companies will announce lots of new shiny clicky things which I will be unable to buy due to the exchange rate fluctuations. And one of my cats will require dental work.
All of which is highly speculative. What isn't speculative is that I've got three new novels coming out in 2004 (in the US -- only one in the UK), and if I have to sign another page my pen-holding fingers will turn green and smelly from gangrene induced by the rictus-like grip with which I write these days.
Charlie Stross, Writer, weblog

Sadly, probably some more unnecessary wars and politicians telling lies. Some things never change...
Emily Dubberley, Founder of cliterati and Dubberly

I will regret snubbing my employer's astronomical insurance option and choosing instead the one I could truly afford. Return of the King won't win as many Academy Awards as it deserves, and my boyfriend will whine about this for decades to come. The company I work for will either bite the dust entirely, or at the very least lay me off before my next birthday. My bangs (or "fringe," depending on your geographic locale) will finally grow the *!&$% out, making me look less like a child, more like the sultry fringless woman I have become, and I will stop being asked for identification when I buy a bottle of wine. Elvis Costello will get angry about something and release a really good album instead of the schmoopy goo that was "North." The Fox Network will cancel its best show, "Arrested Development." I will continue to shock and offend unsuspecting friends by introducing them to the dubious wonders of the Star Wars Christmas Special.
Kat Sagbottom, Headmistress of the Sagbottom Home For Wayward Girls

Hopefully an end to the war, an economy that is recovering and some great movies!
Greg Mariotti formerly of The Uncool: Cameron Crowe Online and cigarettes & coffee.

Video On Demand moves in. This is going to be absolutely huge - we're just starting to see rollouts of VOD, and anyone can look at it and see why it's an improvement over cable today. VOD will move into news and change how we present it to the public. Advertising moves big bucks away from traditional TV: the fall ratings period was a disaster for the nets. They can't hope to convince advertisers they can still deliver the message to young males. Look for ad dollars to go to the internet and in other unconventional forums. We're all going to be really, really sick of Michael Jackson. We're all going to feel listless.
Steve Safran, Executive Producer, NECN: New England Cable News & Columnist,
Lost Remote


Sally Hawkins (who was in The Young Visiters on Boxing Day - she played Jim Broadbent's maid and stole the show) will be a huge star.
Emma Kennedy, Actress, Writer and Comedienne

By the dawning of 2005, I will have helped to produce and acted in a short film. I’ll have learnt how to operate a mini-DV camera and possibly learnt a bit about how to direct. Certainly I’ll know much more about the nitty gritty of making films than I do now. I will also have polished up and started marketing my first screenplay and finished a few more first drafts of new scripts. Who knows, maybe I’ll even manage to sell one of them. In the early part of next year I fully intend to move up north to Leeds or Manchester having either successfully restarted my career as a journalist or found myself a job. If I’m honest, I would prefer to start writing for a living again instead of trying to shoehorn myself into a career that doesn’t suit me, but I’ll take what I can get. I’d also like to crawl my way out of debt. I owe so much that it’s either going to take either a lottery win or the sale of a script for me to achieve this. Put it on the list under ‘I should be so lucky’, and we’ll see. If I manage to achieve all that, I will feel that I’ve really got my money’s worth for the year.
Suw Charman, Chocolate and Vodka

Hmm. Unemployment, possibly.
Caroline van Oosten de Boer of prolific and Whedonesque

Sleep. And not just for me. There's going to be a lot of it going around.
Jeff Blitz, Filmmaker, Amateur Magician, Spellbound

More (or some) periods of rest - a holiday would be nice...
Jason Haigh-Ellery, Producer, The Audio Adventures of Doctor Who, Big Finish Productions

365 days. No, wait: 366. 2004 is a leap year. Honestly, I have no idea. I have a great many wishes for things to happen, but I have no sense of anything definite.
MaryAnn Johanson, film critic, FlickFilosopher

Everything will be largely like today, but the date will be different.
Rowan Kerek, editor, The Collective

More of the same.
Drew Curtis, Fark

I'd rather be surprised.
Celeste Lanari, PR Manager, Geotecnica S.R.L

Am open. No longer see the world in advance. Perhaps, 'cause no one truly listens.
Cynthia Basinet, Entertainer

May it bring peace and love and happiness.
Kristina Perner, Audiopark

Tomorrow: It starts all over again. Happy New Year!

Review 2003:
Describe the one thing in 2003 which made you stop in your tracks and say under your breath 'That's so cool...'

Something everyday...today it was a pink mini.
Eva Katzler, Singer

No one thing. I'm generally under impressed by significant things and over impressed by small, sometimes inconsequential things. So here's a list of some: the news that Leslie Grantham was coming back to "EastEnders" (although not the actuality), seeing the graphics you can get on those mobile phone game things, the new edition of the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy, The Hill And Beyond, the kangaroo leg things on that Rolf Harris at the Albert Hall special, getting hold of a copy of Bob Monkhouse's guide to After Dinner Speaking, The Last Detective, Alf's deathbed dream sequence in Home and Away.
Jack Kibble-White, Off The Telly and TV Cream

Russell Davies and Julie Gardner getting to make Doctor Who.
Paul Cornell, Writer, British Summertime

Seeing Sir Derek Jacobi in my greenroom
Jason Haigh-Ellery, Producer, The Audio Adventures of Doctor Who, Big Finish Productions

When Yoda pulled back his robe and his lightsabre flew into his hand (on DVD, if the film came out last year, I can't remember). Still brings a tear to the eye.
Nick Jones, Web Editor, National Museums Liverpool

Well, it took twelve months, but seeing the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies in the theatre, and then Return of the King, had me breathless and goosepimply and I would've been saying "That's so cool" if talking had been allowed. Witnessing the perfect realization of a place that existed so vividly in my imagination was one of the coolest thing ever.
Kat Sagbottom, Headmistress of the Sagbottom Home For Wayward Girls

Bill Viola’s 5 Angels for the Millennium installation.
Rowan Kerek, Editor, The Collective

Of course there are a hundred things which could be listed here, from the stella improvement in CG special effects to the alarm clock I got for Christmas which projects the time onto the ceiling so you can see what time you're being woken up without even moving your head. But overall in terms of how it's made life bareable since March, it would be the FACT centre in Liverpool. Here is an arts centre and cinema which I never thought I would see in my city. While I haven't loved every exhibition which has appeared in the gallery spaces, they have at least been consistently interesting, trying something new. Where else, for example, could you find a piece in which an artist had edited together similar moments from throughout Starsky and Hutch so that you could pull a VCD off the shelf and watch every time Hutch burst into tears or somebody drove through some boxes. Just as I'd all but given up seeing anything not created outside Hollywood, three weeks after it opened I was watching a Kazachstani film about a folk hero. Despite a stoggy patch when the three main screens closed for business it's consistently tried to offer the kind of programme which you'd expect at a London Cinema, a good mix of populist and art house. I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King there the other day with their THX approved sound system, which sounds populist, until you consider that on the small screens they're showing Noi Albinoi about a drop-out from an Icelandic village who dreams of escaping from his remote fjord with the girl from the filling station, as well as seasons of the work of both Jacqui Tati and Yasujiro Ozu. This is a love affair which has only just begun.
Stuart Ian Burns, feeling listless

I went to London Zoo and saw a Slow Loris. It was certainly the coolest animal I have ever seen, and I know I referred to it as such at the time. It's like a cross between a monkey and a bear, and it swaggers so slowly and casually that it is the ultimate jazz beast. Buy one today!
Danny Wallace, Writer, Join Me

Watching my better half destroy Jack McConnell, Scotland's First Minister, on television. She tied him up in knots and placed the magic figure of £400 million for the cost of the Scottish Parliament in his mouth. It was a brilliant piece of television that reverberated around the land - indeed, it still does.
Cameron Borland, Off The Telly

Cameron Crowe being the coolest guy on the planet and getting me tickets to the acoustic Pearl Jam benefit concert in Seattle.
Greg Mariotti formerly of The Uncool: Cameron Crowe Online and cigarettes & coffee.

Saw the French documentary TO BE AND TO HAVE. In it, there's a scene of a family trying to help a young boy do his math homework. One of the best, most fleeting, scenes of the year.
Jeff Blitz, Filmmaker, Amateur Magician, Spellbound

Meeting Irving Fein and interviewing him for Who Wears The Trousers. He was Jack Benny's agent. He also looked after Gracie Allen (my comedy heroine) and George Burns. He had been there and done that before being there and doing that was even invented. Tremendous man.
Emma Kennedy, Actress, Writer and Comedienne

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this because it sounds so geeky but I experienced the most amazing piece of new technology recently. I visited the new Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation at Bradford University where a friend of mine is working. In the seminar room is a wonderful piece of kit - a 'smart' board on which you project the computer screen/video/dvd or whatever but you can also write on it with a marker pen and a programme can translate what you write into typing. Not only that but the computer is controlled by a 'gyro' keyboard and 'gyro' mouse which are wireless and can be used anywhere in the room. And there's a wireless microphone with speakers in the ceiling throughout the room. How wonderful; I hope this becomes the standard kit for all seminar/class rooms.
Denise Raine, Librarian, The Henry Moore Institute

The Apple Macintosh eMac which I caught sight of in April... It came home with me. I still say "that's so cool" when I come home each day although the 2GHz Apple G5 is possibly cooler... but my employer doesn't pay the required sums to be the ultimate in cool.
Ben Birtwistle, Fine Art Printmaker and 'financial advisor'

I have to pick two: the iTunes store, which is ushering in an era of digital downloads that is revolutionary and the advent of the combo DVD-R and TiVo that will have an equally big effect on the television industry. Watch what you want, archive it on a DVD. The perfect device.
Steve Safran, Executive Producer, NECN: New England Cable News & Columnist,
Lost Remote

Sam the Cat: a purring, breathing fake cat on firebox.com
Emily Dubberley, Founder of cliterati and Dubberly

In theory, I've been drooling over the ipod ever since I first heard about it although I still don't have one and am unlikely to get one any time soon. Unless Santa wins the lottery. Ditto for the Power Mac G5. In reality, it was a pair of sunglasses that caught my attention this year. Whilst attempting to buy some Dolce & Gabbana sunnies, it was suggested to me that I should try on another pair... a different pair... a black pair... a pair with the word 'Neo' inscribed on the inside of one arm, and 'The Matrix' on the other. Oh, boy, did that cause me a degree of internal conflict. On the one hand, they are very, very cool sunnies. On the other hand, oh my god, what a terribly fanboy thing to do. It took me an hour of deliberations as to the relative merits of Dolce & Gabbana vs. official Matrix, but eventually Neo won. I still look at them and think 'Oh, they're just so cool...', so I guess I made the right decision.
Suw Charman, Chocolate and Vodka

As I see shiny clicky things every 24 hours and go "DING! That is so cool! I need that!" it's kinda hard to single one out. (But currently I'm drooling copiously over my Treo 600 smartphone.) Broadening the focus a bit, I was at Turnhouse Airport (Edinburgh) in the viewing area beside the runway when the last Concorde to visit Scotland landed -- and took off again, leaving for good. It may not be new, and it may be horrendously expensive to run, and it may not be flying any more, but it's *still* cool.
Charlie Stross, Writer, weblog

Driving through Heathrow Airport--on the wrong side of the road.
Rebecca Blood, Blogger and Author

SpamAssassin is the first thing to come to mind, though there are probably more. My new-to-me digital camera is another (it's so unGeeky of me to be so disinterested in anything more than my little 1.6 mpx camera)
Mike Brown, the pepys project

Various geographic information system technologies for producing maps, and various other technologies for stitching images together into mosaics and panoramas have absorbed me this year.... plus, I don't live in LA anymore!
Miles Hochstein, Documented Life

Being awarded a fellowship from the Houston Center for Photography.
Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, Photographer, Leaf Pile

My name in the credits of the 'In America' soundtrack CD.
Caroline van Oosten de Boer, prolific and Whedonesque

When President Bush, touched down in Bagdad. Also, finding Saddam. Also the Arnold
campaign was a "wow" moment, when it all came together and he won.
Cynthia Basinet, Entertainer

Hey, when I think something's cool, I don't say so under my breath -- I say it out loud. :-> The thing I saw this year that made me say "Oh, cool!" the loudest has got to be seeing Mars so big and red in the sky all summer, and then seeing it even bigger through a good pair of binoculars.
MaryAnn Johanson, Film Critic, FlickFilosopher

That there will be two mars landers hitting Mars within the next month. I'm sure there was something other than that but that's all I can think of at the moment.
Drew Curtis, Fark

I've barely been able to find a way to eat Thai food during 2003, let alone say "That's so cool..." under my breath. The food in Iraq is okay, but it mostly involves roasted meat on a spit. This is likely to have lasting consequences for me when I die of heart-failure at 32.
Actually, I take it back. The coolest thing I experienced in 2003 were the mountains of eastern Iraqi Kurdistan, near the Iranian border. Easily the most beautiful place I have ever been. Icy mountain streams bursting out of the cliffs and gurgling along past wild grapes and pomegranates -- a real Garden of Eden -- and not a western tourist for hundreds of kilometers around. Might be a good place to drop a microdot. To be honest, it's really hard to think of something great that happened in 2003. All the good things seem out-weighed by tragedy. For me the year has been full of anxiety and worries and nightmares springing to life, threatening to take over my world to such a degree that I forget to eat and wash myself. My country (the U.S.) has fallen so far down the rabbit hole that I'm almost afraid to travel to it -- I've been abroad for the entire year, furtively looking around in Europe and South America for other countries I can permanently move to when Bush is elected for a second spectacular term in office. On the upside, I'm doing exactly what I want (making documentaries) about things I think are important -- and I've been able to maintain total independence so I don't have to listen to anyone while I do it. How many people are so lucky?
James Longley, Documentary Filmmaker, Gaza Strip

This takes me back to my brother's situation. Doctors informed us that the area of the brain that was affected by the injuries, would cause him, most likely, to loose speech and movement. As i was visiting him one day, at the neuro-rehabilitation clinic, i thought i heard him say something to our other brother. I didn't leave his side until i made sure, i wasn't hallucinating. He was, in fact, talking to us and one of the first things he said was, my name, Celeste. THAT! was so cool....
Celeste Lanari, PR Manager, Geotecnica S.R.L

New input:

There is a little shop in Neal's Passage in London called Bionyc. They do 'made-to-order' graffiti.
Kristina Perner, Audiopark

Tomorrow: What do you predict for 2004?

Review 2003:
Who was the best new person you met in 2003 and what was the first thing you talked about?

It occurs to me that all of us probably meet many interesting people everyday. We sit next to them on the bus or train, we walk past them on our way to work, they sell us our lunch or see them in the lift at work. But we never have time to stop and talk, always rushing about, probably missing out on learning something new or making a brilliant new friend. But to choose that smashing girl who works in Boots would be missing the point. So instead I'll say Nancy from my World Music course, because she's studying accountancy by day so that she can help those who have none when she graduates, which sounds inspiring to me.
Stuart Ian Burns, feeling listless

I've got to know the inhabitants of my own village much better this year, and so I'd nominate the fellow members of the village Arts Festival team, whose company I really enjoy down the pub, and with whom I'm putting together something really satisfying. Freelancers don't get to organise very often, and this fulfills that need.
Paul Cornell, Writer, British Summertime

That's an awkward question, given the possibility that in choosing I may hurt the feelings of someone else. Generally speaking, thanks to my online world I've met a number of great people and while I can't remember any specific discussions I know I've enjoyed talking to each of them
individually and as a group on my site.
Mike Brown, the pepys project

I met some great folks from New Jersey while waiting for the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. We talked about sports, Disneyland and films. They were extremely friendly.
Greg Mariotti formerly of The Uncool: Cameron Crowe Online and cigarettes & coffee.

I got to meet the Brothers Chaps from Homestarrunner.com. We talked about beer.
Drew Curtis, Fark

Despite living as a virtual hermit due to being somewhat fiscally challenged this year, I have nevertheless met some very cool people. In January I met up with a whole bunch of fellow Elliott Smith fans whom I'd come to know via a messageboard called Sweet Addy. One of the regulars, Mike, held his 40th birthday party in Manchester and 32 Sweet Addiers went up for the party. I'd met only two of them once, yet I was warmly welcomed by the other 30. We had such a fantastic time, talking, embarrassing Mike at his local pub by singing Happy Birthday somewhat raucously, and playing Elliott's songs late into the night on acoustic guitar. A truly great party. However, if I'm forced to pick just one person, well, that would have to be Vincent Holland-Keen. We met online on Zoetrope at the beginning of August and the first thing I think we spoke about was his script for a short film, Nothing Travels Faster Than Bad News. Since then we've corresponded quite a bit, met in person, and now I'm helping co-produce his film and he's helping me iron out the wrinkles in my script. I'm absolutely sure that I'll cop flack for saying this, but Vince is not only a deeply cool person, but also very a talented writer whom I suspect will eventually be horrifically successful. His acting sucks arse, though.
Suw Charman, Chocolate and Vodka

That person would be my new friend, Canela. The first thing we talked about was, how much the concept of family, is changing in different parts of the world.
Celeste Lanari, PR Manager, Geotecnica S.R.L

I rediscovered a friend I'd lost contact with. We talked about the past 5 years.
Eva Katzler, singer

Stephen Done, curator of Liverpool Football Club's museum at Anfield. Our conversation immediately and wholly consisted of the life, times and effect of Bill Shankly.
Cameron Borland, Off The Telly

Bill Viola ... we didn’t 'talk' as such, well, he did, at me, or more accurately, at us.
Rowan Kerek, editor, The Collective

Andrei Codrescu. Our hope for Romania.
Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, Photographer, Leaf Pile

This honor would have to go to my new coworker, Rachel, who is witty and wise beyond her young years. She has this odd habit of interrogating people: I think that she has a sort of imaginary life where she believes she's a talk-show host. I think the first conversation we ever had was related to her asking, "If you had to choose between having a problem with uncontrollable constant flatulence, or random and unpredictable projectile vomiting, which would you choose and why?" Never a dull moment with Rachel. She makes work a joy, and she just generally rocks.
Kat Sagbottom, Headmistress of the Sagbottom Home For Wayward Girls

Warren Ellis. Palm Pilots and mobile blogging.
Charlie Stross, Writer, weblog

I'm going to throw a shoutout here to a fellow blogger - Rex Sorgatz - who runs Fimoculous.com (He's an IBS guy in Minneapolis.) I met Rex at an RTNDF gathering in DC this year, and we instantly argued over nearly every aspect of new media. But he has a vision. I think we disagreed on everything except getting another round of drinks. Great guy - more cool and hip than I ever hope to be. I check out his site every day - I'm a fan. I met some famous people, too, but they weren't nearly as interesting or insightful.
Steve Safran, Executive Producer, NECN: New England Cable News & Columnist,
Lost Remote

Michael Buffington. He had us in stitches telling stories about his website, Stink Factor.
Rebecca Blood, Blogger and Author

I was introduced to the artist Yinka Shonibare by his girl-friend, Maxa Zoller, and all we went for lunch together. We started off by mentioning that I had named my dog after his girl-friend and I promised that if ever Maxa the dog got a male companion I would call it Yinka.
Denise Raine, Librarian, The Henry Moore Institute

Probably the author Dan Rhodes, and it was probably about how one of our mutual friends had tried to pick up a particularly gorgeous girl that night by explaining, in depth the rules of bridge. Either him or a lady called Lisa Thomas, who runs a comedy management agency, and has become a bit of a big sister. I think we talked about how stupid my haircut was.
Danny Wallace, Writer, Join Me

Sarah MacCormick, who became my agent in May this year. The first thing we talked about was a performance I gave at age 18 which by a strange twist of fate, Sarah had seen. If that isn't destiny calling I don't know what is.
Emma Kennedy, Actress, Writer and Comedienne

Mil Millington; I met him to interview him about his book. The first thing we discussed was smoking - I asked if he minded if I smoked, he pulled out a packet of fags of the same brand as mine and we chain-smoked through the interview. We've subsequently become mates, which is cool cos he's a sweetie.
Emily Dubberley, Founder of cliterati and Dubberly

Ostentatious I know, but it has to be Dudley "Tinker" Sutton, who I interviewed along with a couple of other TV Creamers during the Edinburgh Festival. What a truly smashing chap. Unfortunately the first thing we talked about was about the least interesting thing we discussed. Given that we had done no preparation, and knew very little about his career (Children's Film Foundation, token heavy in the 1970s, Tinker in Lovejoy) the TV Cream contingent resolved to simply ask him "what brings you to the Edinburgh Festival" followed by "and what are you doing next", in the hope that natural conversation would thence spew forth. And spew forth it did. For an hour, Dudley kept us captivated with his wit, anecdotes and general low opinion of Ian McShane.
Jack Kibble-White, Off The Telly and TV Cream

Nadine Cox (my now girlfriend) - we talked about West End theatre.
Jason Haigh-Ellery, Producer, The Audio Adventures of Doctor Who, Big Finish Productions

Every day my two children, 3 and 6, really are new people, and each conversation with them is an awakening. We talk about airplanes, books and what it is like to be a fish.
Miles Hochstein, Documented Life

I met my niece, Rachel, in May. She was just about five months old. We didn't really discuss much, as you can imagine, but we had some meaningful laughter and a few moments of one-sided hideous screaming.
Jeff Blitz, Filmmaker, Amateur Magician, Spellbound

I met many 'best' people this year, including new housemates, colleagues and soulmates. First conversations were usually about places, films, being ill and food.
Kristina Perner, Audiopark

That would have to be the aforementioned niece, Victoria, and she didn't have a lot to say when I met her the day after she was born. But we did exchange a skeptical look in which she seemed to say "Can you believe this crap?" and I nodded sympathetically.
MaryAnn Johanson, Film Critic, FlickFilosopher

Sorry, 'bout that, am kinda hidden away in HW (Hollywood).
Cynthia Basinet, Entertainer

Best new person (sounds like a BRIT Award).... I've met no one this year who is worthy of a mention... I'm thinking very hard and if there was someone I'd be detailing them now... No, sorry, not enough Networking this season from me..
Ben Birtwistle, Fine Art Printmaker and 'financial advisor'

Sadly, nobody.
Caroline van Oosten de Boer, prolific and Whedonesque

I remained unimpressed by everyone new I met this year. You all really must try harder in 2004.
Nick Jones, Web Editor, National Museums Liverpool

Tomorrow: Describe the one thing in 2003 which made you stop in your tracks and say under your breath 'That's so cool...'

Review 2003:
In general, which one thing in 2003 will have the most lasting consequences?

The war in Iraq.
Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, Photographer, Leaf Pile

I take it you mean "one thing in news and media" rather than "one thing in general." If it's one thing in general, it's the Iraq war. This will have consequences for decades to come. If it's one thing in news, then it's Embedded Reporting. We now have an up-close look at war. It wasn't perfect, it was too "rah-rah" sometimes - but we followed the war in real time.
Steve Safran, Executive Producer, NECN: New England Cable News & Columnist,
Lost Remote


Unfortunately I'd have to say, war, is the one that will fit right in this category. The chaos around the world will leave scars for life.
Celeste Lanari, PR Manager, Geotecnica S.R.L

The removal of Saddam Hussein from power (though any tyrant would have suited the purpose). It may seem naive, but there is every reason to believe that we eventually will live in a world a la Star Trek, with no borders, no wars and while there will always be those who threaten the peace, their numbers will be fewer.
Mike Brown, the pepys project

For me, the baby. For all of us, probably the Iraq invasion.
Drew Curtis, Fark

The war.
Cynthia Basinet, Entertainer

I suppose you mean not the one thing that happened to me personally but that happened in the world at large. I think without question that has to be the U.S.'s unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation on false pretenses and without the support of the rest of the world. I worry about the precedent that was set with that action, and I think the world is a more dangerous place than it was before that happened.
MaryAnn Johanson, Film Critic, FlickFilosopher

War. What else need be said?
Jeff Blitz, filmmaker, amateur magician, Spellbound

It's a toss-up between the war and the rise in popularity of the drawstring teabag.
Danny Wallace, Writer, Join Me

The election of Arnie to public office - the consequences are more frightening than that of the Iraq invasion. Having lived in California for three years, I just don't get it. Neither do Californians apparently.
Cameron Borland, Off The Telly

In terms of global consequences, I'm going to be optimistic and say that I think that President Bush's HIV/AIDS initiative, the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, will be the thing with the longest-reaching and lasting effects from his entire tenure. As far as things with consequences in the personal arena, I'd like to hope that the soul-searching and getting-off-of-my-sagging-bottom that I managed to do in 2003 is a lasting thing that will consequently end someday with me no longer qualifying for "Fat Lady In The Circus Sideshow" as a valid career option.
Kat Sagbottom, Headmistress of the Sagbottom Home For Wayward Girls

For me - surviving
Rowan Kerek, Editor, The Collective

I suppose learning to drive. It took me a couple of attempts, and I was glad to pass, but I can't say I at all enjoy driving. Given that I live in pretty much the centre of Glasgow, almost every journey throws up some kind of hazard to shake your confidence just when you think you're finally getting the hang of it. Still, I have to say I genuinely love driving to the big Tescos at midnight on a Friday and wandering around the empty aisles doing the weekly big shop.
Jack Kibble-White, Off The Telly and TV Cream

Chopping the end of my cat's tail in the back door. Unlike certain lizards, cats' tails don't grow back, so the consequence of that action should be around for at least a decade. It was an accident, by the way.
Nick Jones, Web Editor, National Museums Liverpool

My mother died on 3 February 2003.
Denise Raine, Librarian, The Henry Moore Institute

I resolved and began to do work that I truly love.
Miles Hochstein, Documented Life

My life laundry. I was always something of a hoarder. Going through the process of getting rid of so much stuff was very cathartic, if not actually relaxing. But working out which videos and books to get rid of meant I was at times justifying my taste in something. In High Fidelity, Nick Hornby writes about how you're more than what you like. Effectively what you like is not what you're like. Did having every series of Star Trek on video define who I was in someway and did the wholesale ditching of the lot via twenty handy bin bags have some other symbolism? I finally decided not to think about it and just enjoy all the space I suddenly had about the place.
Stuart Ian Burns, feeling listless

On a personal level, the obvious thing to say here would be the collapse of my business. I'm going to be paying that back for a very long time, but something else happened this year that I hope will eventually be seen to eclipse that little hiccup quite completely. I wrote the first draft of my first screenplay and started a second. I got good reviews on Zoetrope, a web site for people interested in the creative aspects of the film industry, for my first foray into screenwriting. That pleased me greatly, but I'm determined that the second draft will be even better. I've been writing professionally and for fun for years, usually features, interviews, prose, random copy for corporate employers, but I rarely manage to finish anything that doesn't involve an editor, a deadline and payment. Now, though, I feel as if I have finally found a format within which I am happy - there's something particularly sexy about writing the blueprint for a future feature film. It's a format I feel very comfortable in and I intend to continue writing screenplays until someone somewhere pays me money to stop.
Suw Charman, Chocolate and Vodka

Probably the giving-up-the-day-job-to-write-fiction thing. (As Karen and I had been living together for a decade before getting married, that's not going to change things a huge amount for us.)
Charlie Stross, Writer, weblog

Possibly splitting with my partner of five and a half years, but more likely, the writing career really taking off and doing odds and sods of TV and radio, that will hopefully make it easier for me to get a publishing deal.
Emily Dubberley, Founder of cliterati and Dubberly

The production of Shada for BBC
Jason Haigh-Ellery, Producer, The Audio Adventures of Doctor Who, Big Finish Productions

The publication of the book U2 Live - A Concert Documentary. I took over authorship from an old friend who passed away in 2002.
Caroline van Oosten de Boer of prolific and Whedonesque

Hopefully, one of the (items I listed) above, but writers don't like talking about commissioned stuff until it's definitely going to be made.
Paul Cornell, Writer, British Summertime

Finding out I have to run the London Marathon. I hate it now but I'm thinking it might leave me with a lifetime of running for pleasure.
Emma Kennedy, Actress, Writer and Comedienne

I completed a book proposal which will dictate my next two years--if I decide to submit it. And I started a couple of projects that are very close to my heart. Nothing I'm ready to talk about, but they should make for an involving and satisfying 2004.
Rebecca Blood, Blogger, Author, and Woman of Mystery

I have an inking that it is about to happen.
Eva Katzler, singer

I'll tell you in a few years.
Ben Birtwistle, Fine Art Printmaker and 'financial advisor'

Trying to bring a show to the Fringe, which unfortunately had to cancelled due to unforeseen cicumstances. Consequences include debts, days and nights of problem solving and an intense learning process.
Kristina Perner, Audiopark

Tomorrow: Who was the best new person you met in 2003 and what was the first thing you talked about?