The Blood is The Life 15-06-2012

• It’s all in the game
  Best post on the state of politics in general I have seen in a long time.
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• Oz and Ends: Stephanie Brown’s “intrinsic importance to the Bat-verse”
  I miss Steph :(
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• Brilliant post demolishing objections to objections to catwoman's recent depiction
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• CCDP First impressions: A bill with too few safeguards
  Zoe has great analysis here.
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• Hilarious Slug Maze
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• Heresy Corner: Total war on crime means total war on privacy
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• BBC News - Peasants' Revolt: The time when women took up arms
  "there's a growing feeling historians have overlooked [women's] role in medieval rebellions like 1381's Peasants Revolt."
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• Liberal England: Draft Communications Bill violates the Coalition agreement
  What Jonathan said.
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• Which of Doctor Who's 11 Doctors is your boss?
  Cruel, especially to poor dear COlin (as usual) but funny.
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• The four main problems with the Draft Communications Data Bill | Contrasting Sounds
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Cross-platform Follow Friday #ff 5th edition

Here are my recommendations for stuff on t'internet you should check out:

• Solo Blogger - For those about to Rock - A tumblr dedicated to all things metal (and occasional silly jokes). A bit Kiss-heavy for my tastes, but I love all the old photos of Motley Crue in their days of most ridiculousness.


• Group Blog - scans_daily - a source of news and comment about comics which is refreshingly free of all the het-white-male-privilege-bullshit that normally infests mainstream comicsy sites..


• Twitterer - The Fantastic Films Weekend official twitter feed - this is where I shall be this weekend.


• Pinterest Board - Icons by Kiddý Ámundadóttir - Kiddy is a person I came across pretty randomly, and she has such broad yet refined taste. Her Icons board covers film, music, and other stars, and generally the pictures she posts of them are very well chosen.


• Google Plusser - Saturn - all the other planets and planetoids are worth following too, but I have to follow Saturn for Holly ;).


• Other - Argyle and Bute Council - who are today learning about The Streisand Effect after banning a nine year old from blogging about her school dinners. A NINE YEAR OLD, people. Go and tell the authoritarian arseholes what you think of them stamping down on a child with the full might of bureaucracy.

Right, and now I really must away to bradford. I have a film festival to go to! Tata!

Fantastic Films Weekend Day 1 #ffwfest

Flesh and Blood

Recut, remastered, and with nearly an hour of extra footage, we didn't get in in time to see all of this definitive documentary on Hammer films, but what we did see was by turns informative, intruguing and hilarious. Definitely one to get the updated DVD of if/when it comes out.

The Monster Squad

I hadn't seen this before, and I really liked it. It was kind of like the Goonies with Monsters, and while it was flawed (the Dracula was rubbish, and the soundtrack was very eighties) there was much in it that was very good indeed. I loved that Frankenstien's monster was a sympathetic character, and I loved that it was the two characters most disdained by the gang of boys (the little girl and the Scary German Guy) who wound up saving the day. There were some lovely references to Universal horrors (the creature from the black lagoon's make-up was particularly effective, and the scene where Frank first meets Phoebe). And I cried at the end, because I'm a big soppy.

Short Films Compendium

• Bobby Yeah! - a very weird animation that found many many different horrible ways of depicting sperm and fannies. It was very well animated, but I couldn't really find anything to like about it. Possibly would have been OK had it been five minutes, but it was twenty, so I kind of felt it outstayed its welcome.


• Chomp! (UK PREMIERE) - on the other hand, I really loved this one. Imagine the spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp, except with zombies and a cadaver instead of two dogs and a bowl of spaghetti. And then add some really good acting, especially from the girl zombie.


• Decapoda Shock - will now be forever known as The One With The Awesome Space Lobster Riding a Horse. Can't really explain it; you have to see it.
  
  
  


• Perished (UK PREMIERE) - really well executed zombie survival film. Not massively original, but very enjoyable.


• Once it Started it Could Not End Otherwise (UK PREMIERE) - interesting and arty, but somewhat plotless. I liked it but wouldn't say I loved it.


• The Hunting Ground (UK PREMIERE) - brilliant. Interesting plot, well-filmed, nice use of sound. The only slight flaw I would pick is that the shopkeeper in it is distractingly reminiscent of Harry Enfield.


• The Little Mermaid (UK PREMIERE) - beautiful make-up on the mermaid. Nice performances, especially from the uncredited extras in the audience.


• Bear - a simple morality tale (don't be a prick to your girlfriend) which doesn't end well for anyone concerned. I really liked this one too, especially the ending.

Overall, this was one of the best selections of short films I have ever seen at the FFW. Only one that I didn't like, lots that I more than liked, and not one rape scene. I'd call that a win.

Fright Night

I love this film. I have done for quite some time. All the acting in it is great, the script is fab, the parodic bits are affectionate, and the effects are really gruesome in that special 80s way. And Chris Sarandon is dead sexy in it. It has lots of affectionate references to Hammer (plus some Hammer clips), and really clever use of apples.

It would have been nice had it actually been a film print, though, and not a digital copy. A number of scenes were annoyingly liney/pixellated, and this irritates me a lot more than scratches on an analogue print. Apparently there were similar issues with Quatermass in the other screen, though, plus Quatermass reportedly had lag between lip movement and speech, so at least I didn't feel cheated in that regard.

The Casebook of Eddie Brewer with special guests

I really wanted to see this, but sadly everything was running late and we would have had to leave about half way through to catch the last bus home, so we decided against and came home. It's a shame though, because I'd like to see what can be done on a micro-budget of fifteen hundred quid.

Still, we're watching our nice new BluRay of Dracula Prince of Darkness now, so that's a cheery thing. :)

Roll on tomorrow and The Toxic Avenger and Vamp, amongst others.