FROM THE SFX OFFICE

Musical chairs and post-deadline euphoria in our latest peek behind-the-scenes

THE OFFICE IS A COMPLETE KERFUFFLE! OK, we might be exaggerating a little but if Godzilla were to tear through the SFX office it probably wouldn’t look much different to the way it did earlier today. The reason? To better accommodate our ever expanding team we pulled the old office switcheroo and most of us have moved desks. For anyone else moving three feet to another chair wouldn’t be a big deal, but when you’ve got years worth of accumulated sci-fi tat tucked into every nook and cranny moving suddenly becomes a feat comparable to evacuating Hoth.

Ian and Nick managed to escape this morning’s musical chairs (“I can never be moved!” declared Ian), but Jordan is particularly pleased with his new window view over picturesque Bath, even if all he can see is a slate roof, a couple of chimneys and a lamppost. Dave B and Jon meanwhile are no longer downstairs (huzzah!) and have been re-assimilated into the SFX hive mind to start work on issue 208 – the redesign issue. In fact this morning we had our first in-depth flatplan meeting for the new issue, which explains why FROM THE OFFICE is arriving on t’interwebs a little later than usual. It’s a brave new world, but an exciting one like Pandora, not tedious and dusty like Carpathia.

It’s been so exciting we almost forgot that we sent the latest issue, 207, off to the printers yesterday for the presses to work their magic. It’s all very hush hush for now, but we can reveal if you’re a fan of little green men you won’t want to miss it.

Rob’s taking the week off to play videogames and move house. But mainly to play videogames. Ade is out of the office too and has taken his son to visit the Doctor Who Experience in the Big Smoke. Jordan on the other hand was there on Tuesday (seems we can’t keep away) to play Portal 2 and chat to the writers, while this Saturday he’s off to Cardiff to take in the sights at Cardiff International Comics Expo. That’s if he can drag himself away from his Angel boxset, which has been devouring his every spare minute for the past month. He’s also getting unreasonably excited about the Nintendo’s 3DS after getting his first chance to play on one in the Trocadero HMV, all in spite of his vehement dislike of all things 3D, including the real world. Why couldn’t everything just be flat, like Super Mario World?

Now that Dave B’s back in the office Rich has picked up the news baton again and is beavering away on the exciting new look news section. Oh yeah, and he’s got a quiz to write. Dave G missed this morning’s shenanigans on account of the fact he was chatting with The Adjustment Bureau ’s writer/director George Nolfi in London town. He also returned with exciting news about Merlin series four and managed to fit a trip to special effects house The Mill in as well. Phew!

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Random Quote Of The Week: “Now I know what that naked child running down the street in Vietnam felt like.”

Whose Shoes? (last week’s answer, clockwise from the bottom: Jordan, Nick, Jon, Dave B and Rob’s jazzy socks!)

Jordan Farley

I'm the News Editor at Total Film magazine, running the opening pages of every issue where you can read exclusive interviews and see first-look images from the biggest films. I was previously the Community Editor at sci-fi, fantasy and horror movie bible SFX. You'll find my name on news, reviews, and interviews covering every type of movie, from the latest French arthouse release to the biggest Hollywood blockbuster. My work has also featured in Official PlayStation Magazine and Edge. Outside of my day job, I'm a FromSoft fanatic (proudest achievement: beating Malenia solo) and a TV connoisseur (translation: I'll watch anything).