hokus pokus…
And another timezone is upon us (sort of) even if my normally peaceful unawareness of this was scuppered by my forgetting to change the clock on the old hifi that serves as an amp for my radio alarm, resulting in my getting woken up at 7am on Sunday morning by Betty Harris. All things considered, it could have been worse.
I’ve certainly had less welcome things happen over the years on a Sunday morning, but they’ve generally had the decorum to at least leave it until a sensible hour. There wasn’t much that could be done except to fire up Netflix and get on with an epic lie in; a richly deserved one too after the previous weekend’s shenanigans at Celluloid Screams in Sheffield which included lots of virtually all of the things I like but not much in the way of sleeping. Films aside, an honourable mention should definitely go to the hotel breakfast buffet and its waffles, provided nobody tells the people at WeightWatchers.
I’m somewhat ashamed to admit to only lasting one film of the Saturday allnighter, but sixteen solid hours of either sitting in or standing outside a cinema in one day even allowing for (and possibly because of) the couple of breaks for punter-time, proved to be a little too much even for me on this occasion bearing in mind that the next onslaught began some three hours after the allnighter finished. Possibly because I managed a far better seat this year than last, I was rarely bothered by the latecomers or anything else and whilst there’s always a handful of pedestrian moments the CS programme was as exemplary as ever with enough crossovers from FrightFest and Dead By Dawn I’d already seen to allow for repeat viewings (We Go On, What We Become, Antibirth) or breaks (Devil’s Candy, Pet) depending – yay!
As ever given the post-LFF scheduling, lots of shiny new things from the London Film Festival too although Raw, the multi-award winning festival darling hyped beyond all measure turned out to be very nicely made with terrific sound especially (said the deaf cinemagoer) but otherwise uninteresting, to me at least. I’d love to know which bits were supposedly causing people to faint and vomit in the aisles, because on that I’m genuinely baffled; you’d think Canadians would be made of sterner stuff. This years’ primo recommendation instead is for The Autopsy Of Jane Doe starring (one of my favourites, and for anybody who hasn’t seen Manhunter, why not?) Brian Cox and which also won the audience vote. A lot more fun, even allowing for an ending somebody found in the shed and stuck on with gaffer tape.
Back at the ranch, I won’t need to tell any local readers that the temperature has dipped further still, and having been caught in a hailstorm on my way home this very afternoon I will be spending the remainder of the weekend digging out my Nordic clobber for the daily hike to the flat and back – fortunately it’s been a busy week and is looking like another! Warmth from all available sources will be gratefully received, and in the meantime I have my trusty cashmere socks to tide me over.
The quest to fully stock the chilly cupboard in the hallway with Christmas food continues apace, its shelves now including chocolate, pretzels, nuts, crackers and Twiglets as well two and a half Christmas cakes – why is nearly all Christmas food brown? Mincemeat was next on the Home Made list and I managed to get through the whole task without picking (eating the stuff raw is a step too far even for this lifelong suet devotee) or making a mess, and puddings will follow next weekend to coincide with yet more painting of woodwork in the four or five hours of daylight available. Fingers crossed the former will triumph in the Battle Of What The House Will Smell Like.
In the spirit of Halloween earlier in the week, Bonfire Night tonight and the belief that the bandwagon-jumping numpties wandering about dressed up as down-on-his-luck Ronald MacDonalds have moved on to something else, this weeks Song Of The Week comes from the spectacularly daft Insane Clown Posse. Whoop Whoop!
I’m currently working on Christmas and New Year availability both here and for the post-Christmas London trip, and the usual special page will be up in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile my return to Pimlico proper for the first time in years approaches in ten days time! Maybe it’ll be warmer.
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