I Think Of Dean Moriarty
February 3rd, 2010 | daybook
This is the cover to the first edition of ON THE ROAD I ever owned. Which I thought of, which I always think of, because I’m on the road again next week. First, I have a couple of days in London for sekrit meetingz. Then I’m on a plane to Toronto, to spend a day or two on the set of RED.
Being on the set of a shoot is a bit odd. Everyone’s very nice to you because they’ve been told you’re the author of the source material. No-one’s quite sure why you’re there, or what to say to you. After a few hours, you feel like you’re a bit underfoot, not least because everyone’s working, or at least a working part of the production, and you’re just there to watch. You actually welcome the usually excruciating (for me: I hate being filmed or photographed) experience of recording interview material with the unit publicist, because you at least feel mildly useful for an hour.
Being only there for a day or two, and obviously having to be on the set a lot because this is what they’re flying me out for, I won’t get to see everyone I know in Toronto, and I apologise in advance. I’ll be back.
I’m out of there at the weekend, and am travelling to An Undisclosed Location for a couple of days to break ground on a new writing project without distraction.
I’m then circling round and hitting LA for two days of intensely scheduled meetings on a number of gigs. Again, I’m not going to get to see my LA friends, which I hate, but I expect to be back in the summer with more time on my hands.
Things are really a bit insane right now. More so than usual. If even half of this stuff pans out, I’m going to be in this very weird cross-media space by the end of the year.
Of course, the moment I leave God’s Own Country (that’s the United Kingdom to you, johnny foreigner), my phone will shed about a hundred IQ points and half its metabolism. 7.2MB 3G connection over the air in North America? Forget it, travelling man. No more watching the news on the phone for you. You’ll take the local flavour of gimpy GPRS and like it. And we’ll charge you fifteen quid for every 25MB you eat. warrenelllisdotcom time will therefore be relegated to moments with hotel wifi for ten days. I hate that I lose so much of my outboard brain functions when I go to North America. I practically had a seizure from the thin bandwidth in Vancouver four years back.
Which reminds me, I need to rig my netbook for travel configuration. More later.
is the award-winning creator of graphic novels such as 
“I hate that I lose so much of my outboard brain functions when I go to North America.”
Yeah, but we got better Freedoms hear!
That’s a great cover, for both the vaguely Hopperesque look and for depicting a kind of terrain you don’t see painted or photographed too often.
Fanboy question: Are you ever tempted to appear as an extra in one of these productions, you know, like:
Assistant Saline Injector . . . Warren Ellis
No. See above about hating to be photographed/filmed. It’d ruin the film for me.
About mobile phone connection speed in the USA, you might want to check with Ewan McLeod: http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2010/02/verizon_americas_best_3g_network_-_i_just_became_a_customer.html
Congrats on all the action, Warren. You’ve busted your ass for it. Rake it in while it’s there to get and let’s all hope it lasts (we all know how fickle those bastards can be…). In a pinch, remember that most McDonald’s are now offering free WiFi. So are Barnes & Noble and Borders.
You can also check out this: http://www.wififreespot.com/
do you hate to be photographed because like that tribe in the congo or wherever you think the camera or film steals your soul? Im down with that.
also, does this mean tweets may be impacted? without your gentle lullabies in the eventide, I fear I am destined for insomnia. also your cheerful wake ups are better than nails on a board.
curious to see what a weird cross media space reads like.
safe travels, big daddy.and happy heart day to you and yours ~:)
xoxoroo