Am late posting about February, which is bad, because I actually did stuff. Firstly, I went along to Gipsy Hill Comedy Night at the Black Sheep on the 13th, a local night for local people with not so-local acts. It was Richard Herring headlining that caught my eye and got me through the door, but it turned out to be a really strong line-up, with four great sets and even a compere who was pretty decent. Also: handy for an early Palace Spice. Then there was Black Box Recorder’s second night at the Luminaire in Kilburn, my second dose of Haines in two months, this time with added Moore and Nixey, and predictably great. March already all the poorer for being a Hainesian desert of a month.
I also caught the preview of Let The Right One In at the BFI, which I was looking forward to after pleasant rumblings from across the pond. It doesn’t get a general release here until April, so for once my movieblogging might actually be of use to somebody. In short, it’s very good. I’ve had the book it’s based on on order from Amazon for a while, and I understand it’s a lot more convoluted, but the film itself is elegantly spartan and understated, with moments of warmth, horror, violence and even (black) comedy. For my money, certainly the best Cold War era-set Swedish Vampire film I’ve ever seen.
Reading for Feb:
- The Wine Dark Sea by Robert Aickman
Err, that’s a bit rubbish really isn’t it? I’ve now read all of Aickman’s short fiction currently in-print, however, and it’s definitely been something of a revelation. As a frequently cited influence for many of my favourite authors, I wasn’t really expecting to find much I hadn’t already encountered elsewhere, but Aickman was a true master of the form, and his voice is still very much a unique one.
