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live at the SF bookstore!
Jul. 11th, 2011 04:41 pmOur local watering-hole, SF-bokhandeln (science fiction bookstore), has this last week celebrated its ten-year anniversary in Gothenburg. (That means it was brand new during Lexx-o-Rama 2001!) There have been events at the store, including Skype interviews with famous writers. On Saturday, several dressing-up societies were invited to help create atmosphere; Mithlond and the 501st Legion answered the call. So there were Hobbits and Stormtroopers giving the holidaymakers embarrassed smiles as they passed by. Well, most of them wanted to be photographed with Lord Vader and various troopers, who must have sweated horribly in the sunshine...
But yesterday, wow, the main event for die-hard geeks! Ola had rented a plex at Biopalatset, where he showed the full Branney&Leman HPLHS oeuvre, from a not-too-embarrassing student film from 1988 based on "The Statement of Randolph Carter", via the mockumentary about a failed production of "A Shoggoth on the Roof", "The Call of Cthulhu" which still is fantastic given the non-budget -- and the secret bonus film!
This one mustn't be named, at least not until its offical Swedish release. We were given strict instructions to say we saw it in Copenhagen if we _must_ give the title. I'll just point to the HPLHS site and leave it nameless. It was slicker than "Cthulhu" but could have benefitted from its length, tightening the story. It was a Mythoscope talkie, but the action ending seemed more 1950s fright fest than 1930s noir. Still, it had Charles Fort in it! I'm reading Fort even as we speak... well not at this actual moment of typing, but you know what I mean.
Ola then hinted at the possibility of more Lovecraftian film horrors in the future. Excellent! I laughed maniacally all the way home through the sudden downpour.
***
And then I saw "Torchwood: Miracle Day" episode one, the American version. Yay, "Hanteringen av odöda" Russell Davies-style! I liked it.
***
I'm also watching an old "Sherlock Holmes" TV series, with Ronald Howard as Holmes and H Marion Crawford as Watson (if "Marion" isn't embarrassing I wonder what horrible name "H" stand for, "Hilda"?). In the second episode I realised I've seen this before, probably when I was a kid in the 70s. Very familiar. The first three episodes were very good, Watson forceful and putting up with no nonsense from Holmes, but then the fourth episode was quite... bad. Hope that was an exception or the remaining 36 episodes will be just painful.
More Holmes in the offing, as the one glance at Amazon to buy an "ID4" novelisation about the early work of Dr Okun turned into quite a shopping binge. Yes, we gathered to see that classic movie, now 15 years old, on the fourth of July. Hamburgers, American beer and whisky, and some very harmless fireworks too. But we did _not_ go quietly at all!
Also, Bill Pullman is in the new "Torchwood", haha. Quite creepy he was too...
But yesterday, wow, the main event for die-hard geeks! Ola had rented a plex at Biopalatset, where he showed the full Branney&Leman HPLHS oeuvre, from a not-too-embarrassing student film from 1988 based on "The Statement of Randolph Carter", via the mockumentary about a failed production of "A Shoggoth on the Roof", "The Call of Cthulhu" which still is fantastic given the non-budget -- and the secret bonus film!
This one mustn't be named, at least not until its offical Swedish release. We were given strict instructions to say we saw it in Copenhagen if we _must_ give the title. I'll just point to the HPLHS site and leave it nameless. It was slicker than "Cthulhu" but could have benefitted from its length, tightening the story. It was a Mythoscope talkie, but the action ending seemed more 1950s fright fest than 1930s noir. Still, it had Charles Fort in it! I'm reading Fort even as we speak... well not at this actual moment of typing, but you know what I mean.
Ola then hinted at the possibility of more Lovecraftian film horrors in the future. Excellent! I laughed maniacally all the way home through the sudden downpour.
***
And then I saw "Torchwood: Miracle Day" episode one, the American version. Yay, "Hanteringen av odöda" Russell Davies-style! I liked it.
***
I'm also watching an old "Sherlock Holmes" TV series, with Ronald Howard as Holmes and H Marion Crawford as Watson (if "Marion" isn't embarrassing I wonder what horrible name "H" stand for, "Hilda"?). In the second episode I realised I've seen this before, probably when I was a kid in the 70s. Very familiar. The first three episodes were very good, Watson forceful and putting up with no nonsense from Holmes, but then the fourth episode was quite... bad. Hope that was an exception or the remaining 36 episodes will be just painful.
More Holmes in the offing, as the one glance at Amazon to buy an "ID4" novelisation about the early work of Dr Okun turned into quite a shopping binge. Yes, we gathered to see that classic movie, now 15 years old, on the fourth of July. Hamburgers, American beer and whisky, and some very harmless fireworks too. But we did _not_ go quietly at all!
Also, Bill Pullman is in the new "Torchwood", haha. Quite creepy he was too...
