Positional Play...

One of the most basic things to master when you're playing pool is positional play but this basic concept can be an elusive and tricky one.

If you have any form of several-ball clearance on the table then you can have one sequence of potting the balls where the white will travel all over the place and another where the white will barely travel at all. The latter option is obviously the safest option because you have less chance of going in-off or of the white knocking into something else and deviating off path. You obviously have to leave yourself alternative options but the main thing is you have a definite plan and a fixed route, then if you deviate from that plan you always know what route you need to return to at some point during the clearance.

It's also a similar thing in martial arts: position in everything, whether you're applying a wrist lock in hapkido, a one-two combination in boxing or a kimura in BJJ. If you're not in the correct position in the first place then the chances are you're not going to succeed in getting the lock, connecting with the punch or tapping with the submission.

I'm currently planning a few radical changes in both my professional and my artistic lives and I'm bearing in mind these lessons about position: go too early and the position will not yet be established, go too late and I may have missed the boat. I'm consequently using the theory of position to get the timing just right.

So the next six months is now going to be about positioning myself and making sure the cornerstones of my new three-year plan are all in place because, quite frankly, it's time to shit or get off the pot with a few ventures and other ideas I've been kicking around.

It's potentially excitingtimes.com at Brooks Towers...

Objects of Desire...

It's been a tough day at work with a very tough martial arts class along the way. So I leave work early and go home for a soak in the bath because a soak in the bath is what you do when you're middle-aged and aching.

The Missus comes home while I am mid-soak and we share news and events from our respective days before I get out of the bath to dry myself.

I come out of the bath wrapped in a towel and the Missus is in the hallway. So I drop the towel and adopt a 'sexy' pose and catch her eye.
'You own all this...' I state as I display my wares.

There is a look of slight disappointment. Her usual objects of desire are black athletes such as Dwayne Chambers or singers like Jimmy Cliff or mixed martial artists such as Anderson Silva. By comparison I am, perhaps, a poor substitute in terms of athleticism, muscle definition and coolness.

'Do I have a receipt?' she asks.
'Why? Do you want a different model?' I inquire.
'No. I just may want it in a different colour...'

This is how love sometimes works.

Pool: The Final Frontier: Part II...

I was supposed to be retiring from playing pool at the end of last season but my interleague team and my county team qualified for the final knockout stages of two national tournaments. I also qualified for the trials for the England team, too, so after seven weeks of not picking up a cue I'm back on the practice table putting in the hours for a last hurrah. For a while at least...

Forcing myself to go out to do something I've always loved doing is probably a sign that I've chosen to have a break at just the right time, but I am enjoying the discipline of timing my run to the tournaments so I'm hitting peak form at just the right time. So a few recent sessions on the pool table and some improved form, then a snooker session with a 46 and a 66 break thrown in are all good signs with two weeks and plenty more table time to go.

The idea of not playing pool has opened up lots of exciting possibilities and it means I'll be able to commit more time to my writing and my martial arts training and the theatre company I'm now back working with. The prospect of time freed up by not playing pool and not having to practice for matches and tournaments is quite invigorating.

I miss the people, though, and when the opening county match of the season was held last weekend it felt very strange not to be part of it. But I think that will get easier.

Message For: The Readthrough...

It's now two and a bit weeks since the rehearsed reading of Message For and I've had the chance to think it through and assess it away from the immediate emotional attachment I have of a play that I not only wrote but also directed. So here are some thoughts...

i) It's the first time I've directed anything in about 12 years and working with a fully professional cast was an absolute joy. Just because they've done it for a living for quite a while they bring lots to the table and also make you up your game. It was odd feeling my way back into directing and I need to be less worried about knowing what I want and asking for it. But that's a confidence thing and I won't be quite so nervous the next time. I also like the sitting down and going through the script process then getting it moving. It was like a muscle memory thing.

ii) The play works and is genuinely funny. One of the problems it may have, however, is that there are too many gags. Some of these got missed because we didn't have the time to rehearse everything adequately, but some of them also got missed because the script is too dense with gags and clever stuff and references and homages. So I need to lose some of the weaker gags and make sure the rest of the funnies don't bury the narrative or character development. And this becomes much more important when there are  lots of visual and stage business gags that weren't included in the reading.

iii) I'm finding my voice as a writer. I've been back writing for about nine years now and I feel like I'm finally starting to know what I'm doing, particularly with comedy. I know how gags work and I can reverse engineer a good funny with the best of them. I'm also learning the value of writing and rewriting and trying to be economical with words. Watching comedians I admire and seeing how they hone their craft has greatly helped with this.

The most important thing I got from this, though, is that I know I can do it and I'm more or less ready to give a real go and make this work. And apart from working with a wonderful cast, and seeing lots of friends turn up to support me and the play, and realising that I might just have something that's really good here, that's the biggest thing to come out of this reading for me.

So it's game on...

Derek...

Cards on the table. I like Ricky Gervais. I thought The Office was a superb creation and, alongside the ever-wonderful Peep Show and shows such as Father Ted and Black Books, it sets the benchmark for any new comedy series.

I also thoroughly enjoyed Extras and the podcasts kept me amused on many slow days at work. In fact, on one holiday myself, The Missus and The Boy spent several afternoons sat around a pool with our respective iPods plugged in loudly chuckling to ourselves as Gervais, Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington sort of set the world to rights. I like Gervais as a stand-up, too, and thought Life's Too Short was criminally under-appreciated, particularly with Warwick Davies showing a superb ability to do slapstick and physical comedy.

But I'm totally sold on his new show Derek. When the pilot was aired last year, Gervais came in for much criticism at writing a show about a man with learning difficulties (Derek) working in a care home. It was considered poor taste in some areas of the press and the blog-osphere. Personally, I thought it was quite touching and you could see there was the germ of an idea in there that could be brilliant.

Well I've now seen episode one and it could be the best thing he's done. Gervais is very engaging and doesn't overplay the role of Derek and Pilkington is surprisingly good as his handyman mate Duggie. The real star of the show, though, is Kerry Godliman as put-upon and caring care home manager Hannah, who in the opening episode is told she and the home are surplus to requirements and the old folk living there are going to be rehoused at other institutions.

The show's not laugh-out-funny but it's bittersweet and will probably be something that flies a bit under the TV comedy radar for lots of viewers. But it's beautifully written and takes a compassionate view of its subject, while also making something of a plea that we should value services like care homes in an age when many of the most vulnerable in society remain under attack from the Cameron government.

Give it a go. It's entertaining, rewarding and engaging TV.