When I woke up in the morning, my alarm gave out a warning...and then I met Mr. Belding

Hello there. Yesterday I flew back in to L.A. from Hawaii. Tomorrow I will be flying to Chicago. Today I met Dennis Haskins, a.k.a. Principal Richard 'the Bopper' Belding, from popular television show of the early nineties 'Saved By The Bell'.

We did lunch so to speak at a joint called Hambuger Hamlet, which is in the heart of Hollywood just opposite the Chinese Picture House and the Kodak Theatre (where the Oscars are held by the way, in case I hadn't mentioned before), which specialises in...well, hambugers, obviously. Dennis had come directly from an audition for a new film about bowling which is set to star that brazen hussy Tara Reid. The audition had gone swimmingly, he had just overcome a bout of illness, and he had returned back home after a trip to Florida where he had been doing a couple of Q & As to college students. All was good in the life of Haskins, or as he has become known in some circles, The Belding-ater (the circles of which I speak are me, talking to myself and making up silly nicknames for people who were good enough to take time out to chat with me. Idiot).

For all the haters, the non-believers, the doubters, the players and pimps, the tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors, rich men, poor men, beggar men, theives, and anybody other than those I've already mentioned here lies the proof and indeed verification of such an encounter.

And that wasn't the only photo that Dennis had to pose for during our luncheon. A couple of young scallywags approached us with comments such as, "Hey Belding, I love you dude", and "Look, it's the Belding-ater" (the latter didn't actually happen, I'm simply trying to make the nickname catch on by lying about its popularity. Idiot) and produced a disposable camera to capture the moment. Chances are however, they may be disappointed; my photography skills are at best piss-poor, oh well

He chatted at length about his pre-acting days when he was a music concert promoter (his client list included Tom Jones, the famous ageing lethario as opposed to our old music teacher), his first big acting break (with long hair, stubble and a moustache he made the perfect bad guy for the first ever episode of 'Starsky and Hutch'), his eleven years in Saved By The Bell (he and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zach Morris) have a great mutual respect for one another's work), and his opinions on Dustin 'Screech Powers' Diamond's new career as a stand-up comedian ("No comment" were his exact words). He also told me about all of the work he does for good causes, including charity golf tournaments and other such appearances.

Most of all he was very clear about his love for acting. Yes, he's happy to do the college speaches and reality T.V. shows (watch this space) but acting is his number one joy. It was an absolute privilige to spend the time in his company, and I need to pay a whole heap of gratitude to him for being so accomodating and patient with my constant pestering or 'perserverence' as he diplomatically and mercifully put it.

In other news, my project is going so well that Hollywood finally chose to honour me in the appropriate way:


It doesn't seem much, but look closer:



Yep, my own Hollywood Star of Fame. Ok, ok, I'll hold my hands up. They didn't actually give it to me. It's actually just a sticker (courtesy of Simon 'Hilly' Hill). In actual fact Alan Young told me that now days you have to pay between $15,000 and $20,000 for one of those bad boys. So when you see the likes of Vin Diesel and Steven Seagal down there, just remember they didn't so much earn the accolade, as opposed to more buying it with lots and lots of money that they earned for acting badly. Just for the record, when Alan Young got his, they were earned on credit, not for cash. Although mine is just a sticker, at least it is something for Hollywood to remember me by for ever; or at least until tonight when they come and wash it away and probably send the F.B.I. after me and shoot me dead.

Oh yea, one other thing...Dennis 'Belding' Haskins is also a big karaoke fan. Awesome.

Kind regards.

Adam Marshall