The Cartoon Museum

This couple of days, a couple of Meetups: last night, back with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ, yay!), who were, unusually for them, doing something midweek - specifically, a late at the Cartoon Museum - which is walking distance from the office, where I was yesterday.

Ah, the hardship of timing work so it finishes neither too early nor too late.. when the time was finally closer to 5.30 than 5.15, off I popped, and walked to the museum. Jesu, my shoulders were aching from the laptop by the time I got there, slightly early - shortly afterwards, someone posted in the WhatsApp group that she had arrived, but was standing in the porch, 'cause it was too cold. As it certainly was - the overnight rain has warmed things up a bit, but it was bitter last night. And we all duly assembled in the porch, apart from a few who were running late.

Well, it turned out that there was a tour group, which we obviously didn't want to get mixed up in. So we headed to the comic exhibition first, while they toured the cartoons..

Ah look, they are screening old episodes of Buck Rogers! I remember him - although perhaps not these old episodes:

Buck Rogers himself (I suppose) sits at a table beside the tv, with booklets that you can fill with stamps (blocks and ink provided):

I think this had something to do with Tank Girl. Not sure. But it's kinda cool.

Now this is cool - an old magazine with articles about pop stars of the day, plus predictions of the future! Including a guy sitting in his living room with a massive screen, attached to a computer. Gosh, could that ever happen.. ;-)

To the side is a small info panel, explaining that the magazine also predicted that things like your typewriter, camera, tape recorder and so on would one day be as antiquated to the people of the future as gas lamps were in that day. And as the panel said, how many gadgets like this have been replaced by phone apps..?

Now, this annoyed me. Really, could they not have come up with a name for her other than "The Girl"?

Well, I never knew there was a comic for The Handmaid's Tale! 

And then there's a space hero called The Lone Ranger. (Is the ship called Silver?)

Appropriately, one of the cartoons seems to have made its way to the space-related section ;-)

Woo, Star Trek!

Honestly though, my interest in comics is limited - and my shoulders hurt from lugging the rucksack - so it was a relief when we realised we could move to the other room. Which is larger, and reminded me of what I saw when I was last here - perhaps we didn't visit the comics on that occasion..? Anyway, again, they cover social situations..

Ooh, this has been me:

And believe it or not, so was this - once!

Oh, I used to love Giles!

..and there was political material..

This one references time running out for Assad:

Remember Charlie Hebdo?

This one is partially still relevant:

One for cat lovers:

Oh dear:

Aww..

And in the activities room, an opportunity for artistic expression:

In an oddly shaped space, they really use every nook and cranny!

Plenty of historical cartoons on display - here's Gladstone, a copy of the Home Rule bill protruding from his pocket:

A striking cartoon of Churchill leading an army:

"Careless talk costs lives"..

Also an entertaining gift shop - where I wished I had an excuse to buy something, and one person must have been happy to find Viz cards, having failed to find the actual comic in the exhibition. We were headed to the pub afterwards, but they kept the location secret.. kind of. They did actually give it in the event description. And so it was that we came to The Blue Posts, where we had a space booked upstairs. A couple of us got food - and I have to give credit to the chicken schnitzel, and the accompanying aioli - absolutely delicious. We didn't stay that late, it being a school night, but the chat was as good as ever. Even if it did start with the bleakness of world affairs - probably an after-effect of those political cartoons..

Ran too late to blog last night. And tonight, I'm back with The Hideout for Primate, about your typical tropical paradise, where a group of youngsters have come to party, and there's a pet chimp. Unfortunately, he goes from sweet to savage when bitten by a rabid animal, and carnage ensues. Venue finally announced as the Vue West End, to Victory House before that for drinks, and Bella Italia before that for me, for food.

Tomorrow was the day that suited best for me, James, Mark, and Martin to meet.

On Sunday, Over 40 Living the Life is planning a trip to the 7 Wonders of the World Immersive Exhibition, which sounds good. However, I baulk at their trip for a few reasons - firstly, the £4 per person she's charging on top: secondly, the tickets she's bought don't include VR, which you'd have to buy separately: and thirdly, it's too damn early! I've bought my own ticket (VIP - includes the VR) for later in the day.

The next two days, I'm thinking film, but they're not selling out (yet), so I haven't booked. On Monday, thinking of Breathless, at the BFI - part of their Ensemble season to celebrate the filmmakers referenced in Richard Linklater's new documentary about the French Nouvelle Vague (New Wave). Breathless is directed by Jean-Luc Godard.

On Tuesday, thinking of seeing a documentary called This Is Not a Film, made by the banned Iranian director Jafar Panahi, mostly on a mobile phone, and smuggled out in a cake. Showing, as good documentaries tend to do, in the Curzon Bloomsbury.

Then a run of five Meetups! On Wednesday, I got a ticket from someone who bought one, then couldn't go, for Mrs. President at Charing Cross Theatre: an outing with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS). And that'll be interesting, a week after seeing Our American Queen, because Mrs. President is about the wife of Abraham Lincoln, who's mentioned in Our American Queen, and she and the Chases couldn't stand each other!

On Thursday, I'm with Movie Roadhouse London - for, would you believe, that new Richard Linklater film, Nouvelle Vague! It primarily focuses on the making of Breathless, and it'll be funny, seeing it a few days after seeing Breathless itself.. Also showing in the BFI, and I'm heading to The Archduke beforehand - although when I looked, there were only two timeslots left, and I ended up having to book quite an early one! So I'll have lots of time before I meet the group..

Next Friday, UITCS tempted me back with Guidelines, at the New Diorama - a play about the horrors of the internet, basically.

Then the weekend belongs to LoMAZ.. on the 7th, we're off to Bletchley Park, the ticket for which is valid for a year. I got a cheap train ticket on Uber, with a promotion knocking £5 off, plus £10 Uber credit - which was most of the cost of the ticket. And afterwards, we're headed to the fetchingly monikered Captain Ridley's Shooting Party! (It's a pub.) The history reads as follows: In 1937, the estate passed into government hands. Then, an undercover MI6 group arrived using the name ‘Captain Ridley’s Shooting Party’, with ‘an air of friends enjoying a weekend at a country house’. Their real purpose was to see whether Bletchley Park would work as a wartime location.

And on the 8th, it's a LoMAZ Unlimited event, where they don't cap numbers - we're off to the British Museum to see fragments of the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, followed by a social in Penderel's Oak, as usual.