"Beware of the blob...."

We watched a couple of old sci-fi movies today after lunch: "The Blob" (1958) and "Demon Seed" (1977).

"The Blob" is very entertaining spoof of alien invasion paranoia and teenage delinquency - imagine a mix of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Crawling Eye" with elements of "Rebel without a Cause". Add a 28 year old Steve McQueen ('and exciting young actors', as the trailer says) playing a teenager and you've got this film that I love! I've always found it great to watch, particularly as part of a late night 50's sci-fi film session. The opening theme song by Burt Bacharach retains a quirky charm all of it's own. So, what happens? A meteorite crashes outside a small American town: the meteorite reveals an alien creature that goes around absorbing human victims. Teenagers investigate and warn the town. Steve McQueen saves the day with a fire extinguisher. Have a look here for some more details.




In one of the most memorable scenes from the film, the 'blob' attacks a cinema. Cue shrieking 'thirty'-boppers!




"Demon Seed "is a much darker film, about a super computer named 'Proteous IV'
that becomes so powerful, that it develops it's own emotions and thought processes. It wishes to fully understand humans and does so by creating one. It achieves this by impregnating the estranged wife of the scientist who invented it. Julie Christie (pictured) plays Susan, who becomes the mother of the hybrid baby. Susan is entrapped in her home by the computer, and forced to do its bidding. Proteous IV even murders a scientist who tries to aid her escape. Eventually, the authorities decide to shut the crazed machine down, but Proteous IV finds a way to survive.....

The film takes a very bleak look at the then 'new' science of computers, typical of the era it was released in. Computers in 1970's cinema still belonged alongside evil robots and mad scientists! Overall, I quite like the film, although it does fall into over-long psychedelic weirdness in a couple of places. I guess the director was trying to achieve some sort of visual 'high art' with lasers and early examples of computer graphics.....or copy the end sequence of "2001: A Space Odyssey". Demon Seed features a cold but engaging performance from Julie Christie, who is fine as the grieving mother (the character had lost a daughter to leukaemia, and was going through marital problems) entrapped by the computer.

Right, I'm off to watch another old sci-fi film now, called "Silent Running".

The NEC Memorabilia show and our latest DVDs

I went to the Memorabilia show at Birmingham's NEC yesterday: the large TV and film collectors event. It was quite fun, especially as I was lucky enough to meet up with a few friends there (one who was in a full "Star Wars" costume - see picture on the right.) The place seemed to be busy so I guess that was good for the organisers. I went for one autograph, that of actor Julian Glover who appeared in "The Empire Strikes Back", "For Your Eyes Only", and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" etc. He was quite fun to chat to. I got Julian to sign my old "Empire Strikes Back" storybook, where all of my "Empire" related signatures are.

Today has been really lazy for us, but that's due to the bad weather outside -- no need to go anywhere when it's windy, raining and snowing!

Last week we watched "The Mist" on DVD, a cheap but effective horror flick based on Steven King's book. It wasn't that scary, and there were some poor CGI shots, but the film had an interesting concept and the ending was a grotesque twist. We both enjoyed it! We also sat through the remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" which was ok at best, but was an incipid version of the 1974 original. Jessica Biel made a good 'final girl' though. I also bought "Silent Running", an early 70's sci-fi feature starring Bruce Dern and three cute robots. We'll watch that at some point. Hopefully the other DVD I ordered - "The Blob" - will be here soon.

A visit home, and some board games from the past.

On Monday of this week, I drove home to see my mum and dad for a couple of days. It was nice to see them again, help out a bit with various chores, and take my dad shopping to some of the shops he can't usually get to. I also drove him down to the sea-front, which was nice as he has difficulty getting out and about these days due to ill-health, and he has always loved the sea and beach. I was also able to sort out the problems with the 'projection ratio' on their new rented TV. Nobody looks stretched anymore!

The drive there and back was ok -- about four hours each way. When I left on Tuesday afternoon, I was driving pretty much straight west, so I had the full blast of low angle winter sun in my eyes! At one point, the sun was right at the end of the road, glowing large and red! It looked like poster for "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", especially as this was at a straight section of the A143, and the setting was rural. If I had my camera with me, I may well have tried to stop somewhere and photograph it.

When I was at my parents' house, I discovered two of my old boardgames in the attic, and I decided to bring them back with me to play. They could be handy if we get visitors at weekends, or maybe to play over Xmas. These were "Creature Castle" and "Tank Commander", both dating from the 1970's. Thankfully both are complete and in very good condition.

Carla and I just had a quick game of "Creature Castle", which is a fun (if simplistic) little game. We weren't really prepared for the 'been in the attic for twenty-five years musty smell' coming from the packaging, board and cards though! *cough* oh well. You play classic 'Hammer horror style' characters who have to escape from the evil castle, by playing various cards which allows progress along the castle's corridors, and thus to freedom. I played as 'Igor' and only just won the game ahead of Carla, playing as 'Zelda'.

'Tank Commander' is a simple strategy war game, where you have to defeat your enemy by destroying their tanks before they destroy yours. We'll play that at some point. As a kid, I loved the little plastic tanks and trucks you move across the big fold out board.

Oh, Carla showed me the very basics of a 'kettlebell' workout this morning, and I practised some of the techniques. I'm going to try fifteen minute workout with the 8 kilo bell tomorrow! I'm sure it will do me the world of good.

Right, off now to watch (from the window) yet more fireworks going off in our area!

Halloween pumpkins, a collectors show at Coventry Football club, and Daniel Craig!

Last Friday, Halloween, I was able to get out of work a bit early, and after a doctors visit and a little shopping, head off home to get the house ready. I put up my usual array of halloween decorations, mostly comprimising of pumpkins in various guises that I've collected over the years, including two new real ones that I carved. Of course, we had to name them after Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross this year! The display was ok, but I think previous years have been better. Never mind, it looked ok.

Carla and her work pal Teresa were at a work event until 8pm (see her blog), so I went and picked them after that and then we all came back to the flat to have a bit of a horror film session! Whilst eating a schlubby dinner of saugages and chips, and then cake to follow, the three of us watched the DVD of the John Carpenter 1978 film, "Halloween" (this DVD version contains four new scenes, which were actually shot for the 1980 TV screening) as it was the film's 30th anniversary, and it being the proper night and all, it seemed appropriate! Also, Teresa had never seen it, so it was interesting to show this classic to a new viewer! As Carla says, it's good to analyse a 'classic' and explain to somebody new why it was a success - the most successfuly independent released film of all time - an honour it held for about twelve years. I love the film, even though I have some issues with the plot, because Carpenter has a wonderful skill of achieving a creepy atmosphere through moody photography, and simple yet effective theme music. The way the film is edited builds the tension slowly. Anyway, after the film finished, I was all up for watching "Halloween II", but Teresa had to go, so I lent it to her the DVD instead (she hadn't seen that either!) Maybe I can get her to watch "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" (a guilty pleasure of mine - I love that film even though everyone else thinks its rubbish!)

On Saturday, our pal Mandy came down to stay, and we went off to the 'Collectormania Midlands' event, held at the Coventry Ricoh Arena. At the show we met up with our friends Kevin and Gerald. Like the last one held there I went to, it was a bit quiet, but fun to attend. It was the usual mix of dealers selling old and new tv/film related merchandise, and had the added attraction of some celebrities signing autographs. As the leading guest was Dirk Benedict from the "A-Team" and "Battlestar Galactica", the organisers had two "A-Team" original vehicles on show, the van and the corvette. My pal Kevin was in his element getting Dirk's autograph and having a picture with the van! We also went to a free talk by Dirk, where he rambled on a bit about various things including his son playing for Southend United Football club, and how Mr T and George Peppard didn't talk to each other on the set of the "A-Team" - quite a mix! After the show, we all went back to the flat for a bit of a chat and drink (and to finish the cake!)

After Kevin and Gerald left, and after a quick dinner, the three of us headed off to the cinema to see the latest James Bond flick, "Quantum of Solace", which was released the day before. It had been raining heavily since the early evening, which put a damper on the local authority-organised firework display which we passed. At the cinema, we ran from the car trying not to get too wet. Unfortunately, as we just turned up at the cinema without booking, we had to sit only five rows from the front, which made the screen very big and too close for our liking. Oh well.

The film picks up 'about an hour' after the the last scene in "Casino Royale". We see James Bond in a high octane car chase on the Italian coast. Well, I say 'see', because to be honest, I couldn't make out what on earth was going on for that whole opening sequence. It was edited very choppy and fast - too fast! Anyway, I was irritated by that, and the film seemed to be playing ok in the non-action sequences, but every time there was a chase, fight, explosion etc, the director and editor seemed to go a bit over the top with the fast editing. Arrgrghh!! Films that give me a headache in the opening five minutes don't really appeal.

The most effective part of this rather disjointed (and ultimately disappointing) film was the opera scene, which was very thrilling and well thought out. Funnily enough, his choppy editing style worked at this point. So, to sum up....the plot? Fine - an interesting continuation of the first film. Acting, locations, photography, sound, visual effects, all good. Editing on the action scenes? DREADFUL. That's a word you don't want to appear in an action film. It would have been nice just to have some of the action scenes edited like previous Bond pictures. If somebody could re-edit the action scenes to tone down the over the top cross-cutting, it would be a 10/10 movie. I'll give it 6/10 until that happens. Shame.

Hmm, I'm thinking the film might work better on the small screen. We'll see when the DVD comes out.

Sunday was a lazy day. I wandered into town after Mandy left, and picked up the DVD of "Star Wars: Robot Chicken": the silly frame by frame animation show, which in this episode lampoons all things "Star Wars". I adore the Jar Jar Binks/Darth Vader skit when Binks dies and comes back as a Jedi ghost. "Mee-sa all spark-lee glow-ee!" After that, we watched another DVD, the 1960 drama "Peeping Tom" - a superb (if unsettling) tale of a deranged film-maker, Mark Lewis (played with surprising sympathy by the excellent Carl Boehm - pictured on the right with glamour model Pamela Green) who murders women and films their deaths in order to catch their fear on film, all to become "a martyr to psychology". A stunning film. The old Channel 4 documentary included on the DVD was very interesting as well - particularly the piece about the negative reaction to the film on its original release.