Alex de Campi: Gojira!

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30.1.07 The £1200 greyhound, and other news

You ever had one of those weeks where your problems go from serious, to just... breaking on through into the realms of the absurd? I had one of those in November, when I found out my father had cancer. I've had another one this week.

My December rent bounced, due to a delayed transfer from an American employer. The transfer finally was untangled about a fortnight ago, and the next working day after that I happened to be in my bank, the Barclays in Swiss Cottage, to open up a business account. I think, while I'm here, I'll see a personal banker and send off my rent. The woman moans about their slow computers, then sends my transfer, confirming verbally to me the recipient and amount. Off I skip, the Skip of Virtue, that I had made an extra-special effort of seeing a real human being to get the money sent. See how good I am!

Fast forward to yesterday, where I get home from a day organising this to find an angry email from my managing agent. Rent has not arrived, and it's been over 8 days. I had checked my balance a few days previously, and the money had definitely gone out. So I call up Barclays, describe when, how much and to whom the transfer went. and ask for a tracking number.

There is a moment of silence at the end of the line.

Then, whispered, "oh no."

A moment later: "Um, excuse me, ma'am, but who's CAF/MSF?"

"That's the retired-greyhound charity at which I sponsor a dog, I send them £10 a month."

"Oh."

Another pregnant pause, then, "We sent them your rent."

Yes, gentle stranger, somewhere in Kent a greyhound gambols, dining on caviar and content that it is now £1200 richer.

Barclays put me through to their complaints division, who tell me that even though it's their mistake, they can't make good on the wrongly-sent transfer and pay my landlord until they get the money back from the greyhound, forcing the little fella to sell his new mink coat and the diamond-encrusted collar which, as anyone involved in the greyhound-bling repossession business will tell you, can take several weeks.

So my landlord is now furious and threatening to kick me out. "It would be a lot faster if you contacted everyone yourself to sort out the problem," said Bryan, the Complaints guy at Barclays. Wait, so Barclays make a mistake that may cost me my flat and then they tell ME to fix it?

Bryan coughed in an embarrassed way and muttered about "procedures" and "investigations", while not once saying sorry or trying to make me as a customer even vaguely content, much less happy.

Gentle strangers: never, ever bank at Barclays. They mix incompetence with a lack of customer service to a level last seen in Leningrad department stores of the 1970s.

Meanwhile, I have no money (really no money, as in not one cent) while I wait for another employer to send belated payment, and I have eaten nothing but oatmeal for the past 2 days. (Oatmeal is very cheap in the UK, 49p for a 1lb bag.)

On a happier note, my "Raindrops" video has been accepted by the SXSW festival. Sadly I can't fly to Austin to attend, but I've been able to give my passes to the video's animator, Ryan Parker, who lives in Austin. Ryan worked so hard on the video for not nearly as much money as he deserved, so I'm pleased he can use the passes.

"Dogboy vs Monsters", my follow-up video to "Raindrops" for Flipron, shoots on Feb 24 & 25 up in Somerset. In 10 days I'm filming a really fun 60-second viral commercial, which is basically anarchic, slapstick silent comedy, something I love. Between that and the Flipron video, I'm also filming a short rockumentary as a friend's band record their debut EP in a studio down in the middle of the Ashdown Forest, in Sussex.

A mobile/online video provider loves my work and is in negotiation to take all my music videos for broadcast in the US, Europe and Thailand, so stay tuned. You may be able to get "Raindrops" on your US mobile phone very soon.

And, lastly, Mr Tobias Slater and I are throwing a very grand party on Friday the 13th of April, called White Mischief. At a unique central-London venue, the party will feature the bands The Real Tuesday Weld (debuting their new show), Flipron (launching their new single), Kunta Kinte and Evil Genius (launching their debut EP), with entr'acte entertainment from some of Britain's most amazing circus performers - the aerial performer Sarah Duddy (as seen in my "Stress" music video), Marissa Carnesky doing her newest mix of magic and burlesque, and more. Plus, for all you artists and drinkers out there, we're having sessions of Dr Sketchy's in the side/chillout room. I will have a small allocation of £10 friends & family tickets but these will go very fast, so stay tuned for ticketing information and/or check our myspace page regularly.

And don't bank at Barclays.

( 6:49 PM ) (1) comments

12.1.07 I want to move to Africa, where things work.

Returned very late Monday night from eight days backpacking across Tunisia with Charlie. Go to Tunisia. It's fabulous. Friendly people, permanent blue skies and sunshine, gorgeous beaches, and a transport system so well organised and cheap that it costs about £2 to get from Tunis to Kairouan, two and a half hours south. Up yours, London Transport!

Photos to come later, but meanwhile, have a gig flyer:

Evil Genius flyer

Art by Farel Dalrymple, colouring by, er, me. (Boy, do I have even more respect for the genius of Laura Martin than I did before!).

Also, if you haven't cottoned on to this yet, turn in your geek card immediately.

Sigh. I had things to tell you - things of actual import! - but I've forgotten what they were. This is what three hours of Illustrator can do to your brain. Off to bend it still further with Pynchon's Against The Day, which is more consistently delightful than a 1,000-page book really should be.

EDIT: Ah yes, that was it. Kat & Mouse vol 2 has been getting some great press. We're a finalist for the Cybil award in the under-12 Graphic Novel category, and have gotten good writeups at Newsarama (thanks Dino!), Comicsnob, and Comics Worth Reading. Agent Boo's also gotten a shout on PopSyndicate. I hardly ever read comics news, so if anybody else spots reviews of Kat & Mouse or Agent Boo, do drop me a line and let me know.