At the outdoor gym. A woman in a hijab pulls three potatoes from her pocket and begins to juggle. When they fall she sees me watching as she chases after them. "I used to do this when I was a child in my country," she explains. "But I can't do it anymore." She picks the potatoes up and starts again.
I liked this message so much that I took a picture with my smartphone so I could share it to social media.
I finished High Potential S2. It's formulaic and flawed and sometimes utterly preposterous. But it's also slick and fun and warm and I absolutely love it.
There's a busker playing Hallelujah, but he's changed the word to Harry Potter, and I get that everyone needs to make a living, but this is actually a hate crime.
Reports of a third attempted arson attack on Jewish targets in North London this week. It's getting really scary and more people need to start taking it seriously.
Yesterday I watched Tatsumi a (rare) Singaporean animated feature, that explores the life of manga artist and "gegika" pioneer, Yoshihiro Tatsumi. The film adapts five (bleak) stories and interweaves them with scenes from the artist's memoir. It's beautifully done and I liked it a lot.
I finished Night and the City by Gerald Kersh. I love the 1950 film (in part because I too once ran around London promoting wrestling) but while it nails the tone, the book is bleaker, its Soho more sordid. (The clip joint speech reminded me of Nightmare Alley's "making a geek".) A dizzying spiral.
Sea is angry. Storm is getting worse. Waves lapping at foundations of the guest house. Everyone except me has left, apart from a cheery barmaid I don't trust. Trying to pack, but my efforts towards calling someone to pick me up are hampered by my failure to remember or find any phone numbers.
"Envoyez le chat !" RIP Nathalie Baye, seen here (in specs) as Joëlle in one of cinema's Greatest Cat Moments, from François Truffaut's LA NUIT AMÉRICAINE aka DAY FOR NIGHT (1973). [cf the same director's LA PEAU DOUCE, 1964; see my book CATS ON FILM]
Johnny Mains - the guy behind all those beautiful horror story anthologies - is 50 today! Give him a present...
Bogart's super stardom happening in real time. The Petrified Forest was released in 1936. Night and the City was published in 1938, three years before High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon. Bogart is still a supporting actor (apart from in B movies.) But he's making enough impact to sell a shirt.
A "Plato" graffiti tag.
Gangs of Greek philosphers fight vicious turf wars in North London.
On Friday I saw Kadimah Yiddish Theatre's bilingual Yentl (adapted from the short story, not the Streisand film.) Brilliantly performed by a cast of four, seamlessly switching between English and Yiddish (with surtitles) and the inherent gender politics feel relevant and timely. I liked it a lot.
Yesterday I saw Undertone, which has a fun, creepy premise and a terrific lead performance by Nina Kiri. Writer / director Ian Tuason creates an effective atmosphere of mounting dread, which maybe promises more than it delivers, but I'm very interested to see what he does when given a bigger canvas.
Last night I watched Sovereign, which feels like a dark and gritty reboot of Ron Swanson. Nick Offerman effectively takes his sitcom character but plays him as "what if someone was actually like that." Worth seeing for his performance alone, but the whole (mostly) true story is timely and gripping.
I finished the BBC audiobook of Jane Eyre (beautifully read by Katherine Press.) It made me realise that I don't understand a certain type of romance at *all* - those relationship dynamics seem so toxic. I regret not reading it when I was a student as I'm sure it would have been great fun to study.
Ooh! I'm very interested to see what you made of Exit 8. (I hadn't played the game before, but the film inspired me to. The sequel - Platform 8 - was arguably creepier.)
A page from Night and the City (1938) with the word "Gertcher" highlighted.
First time I've seen one of these outside of a Chas & Dave song!
Yesterday I watched Bertrand Bonello's Zombi Child, a post-colonial reworking of various horror tropes that sits somewhere between I Walked With A Zombie and Picnic At Hanging Rock. Quite slow, with minimal plot or genre elements, but it creeps up on you and lingers once it's over. I liked it.
Took me a moment to realise you meant the exhibition and not the non-existent spy thriller!
A man in a hat and glasses looking off camera in front of many dangling red strings.
Me at the Hayward Gallery Chiharu Shiota exhibition, looking like a spy meeting a contact in an arty cold war thriller from the 60s.
Thank God he didn't think I was the target!
I'm not sure I want it.
At the park a man in a hoodie and sunglasses said "Good morning, how are you?" I returned the greeting and walked on to the outdoor gym. He reappeared and gave me a thumbs up. There was nothing remotely threatening, and yet unsolicited interactions are strangely unnerving when no one else is around.
Yesterday I watched Liu Jian's animated feature Have A Nice Day. The visual style is simple but effective, with the backgrounds feeling as important as the disparate (and desperate) characters as they chase a bag of money round an unnamed town in China. 75 minutes. I liked it a lot.
On Friday I rewatched The King of Comedy. I've loved it since it came out but De Niro's performance is even more incredible than I remembered. It feels like more than acting - as if Rupert manifests himself into existence, using the actor as his vehicle. A perfect movie and an absolute masterpiece.
My cartoon in the first issue of Now Voyager, a new print magazine dedicated to long form international reporting, photography and art. Plus cartoons!
Last night I watched Pretty Lethal, which remixes elements of Sucker Punch, Abigail, and John Wick. The set-up is very set-uppy, but once you get past that, the action sequences are fun and inventive, and everyone commits to the tropes, with Lana Condor and Avantika particularly nailing the tone.
me talking about game design here for some reason! But seriously, check it out, I am sure I'm fascinating and erudite and stuff. It's just an unfortunate screen capture of my face there, honestly!
Finish things. THEN have a go at yourself for it not being perfect.
Because then at least it gets to BE…
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