Living On Video

Films about characters with superpowers are quite popular, so I thought I’d watch one. The one I chose was Shadey (1985) starring Anthony Sher and some other top actors. Unfortunately this is hard to view nowadays, as it was never on disc and only a short clip is on YouTube. Luckily we have a VHS […]

The Jim Callaghan Rock Opera

I watched Rock Follies, originally broadcast in 2 seasons in 1976-7. I never saw it on TV but I liked the soundtrack albums when they were reissued in this century. I tried to watch the show in 2007 but I wasn’t in the right mood – however the world has changed enough since then to […]

60 Seconds

We travelled to Redditch. I went by bus to the car rental and on the way saw the crowds gathering for the funfair opened at Crystal Palace. The car I got this time was much less tiresome than the previous one, and only added its own commentary to warn about proximity to the car in […]

Phase 2, Second Jab, Third Wave

We got invited to get our second dose of vaccine, just 7 weeks after the first one. It was at the same place, we set out early and were all done and back home by 9.30. Once again we were quizzed about medical conditions, I explained I had had leukaemia years ago and take penicillin, […]

Galactic Imperialism

I watched an East German sci-fi film made in 1976. In The Dust Of The Stars is the English version of the title, which doesn’t appear until several minutes in to the story. A spaceship from the planet Cynro has reached the planet Tem 4 (NB. some on-line sources wrongly give Cynro as the name […]

F.U. Nancy Drew

I read The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran. I got a copy a few years ago, at the same time as Cherry by Nico Walker, because it looked like an exciting crime thriller. When I finally read it I found out it was the 3rd in a series of 3 stories about private investigator Claire […]

Industrial Music

I realised I had never seen a film starring Gracie Fields, so I watched Sing As We Go! (1934) The story begins in the Lancashire mill town of Greybeck. The mill was working at capacity, but now it has to close down. Assistant Manager Hugh Phillips thinks it will only be possible to reopen if […]

Stone Tape Listening Party

I listened to The Battersea Poltergeist, and I also read a novel in a similar mood. Since the grand finale of the former will happen tomorrow night (April 9th) I better get my opinions in now ahead of it. First of all, although it is not stated explicitly anywhere in the surrounding media material, it […]

The Western Lands

We travelled to Wales, as we had planned to do at Christmas. On Friday morning I went to the car hire to collect the car we’d rented for the week. The last time I hired a car was in September and there was quite a queue to pick up or drop off early in the […]

Zarathustra’s Planet

I watched films made by Andrzej Zulawski. The Third Part Of The Night (1971) starts with a reading of Revelation 8:7-12. Helena is with her husband Michal in the countryside, with their young son Lukasz and Michal’s father. Michal is recovering from an illness that caused him to “swell to monstrous size” but he doesn’t […]