Film: Rose of Nevada

Today, The Hideout's sister group, Movie Roadhouse London, was off to see The Devil Wears Prada 2 - but that's really not my thing. Instead, I decided on Rose of Nevada - I saw the trailer and thought it was interesting. A fishing boat reappears after being missing for 30 years.. two men join the crew, and after one voyage, find themselves transported back in time and mistaken for the original crew.. Closest showing to me was in the Barbican - or alternatively in the BFI, for 50p more, so I went with the Barbican. It wasn't booking out, so I didn't bother to book - I decided to get the ticket there and save the booking fee. I did book Cote Barbican for beforehand, though. It was a late showing - and boy, was I glad to have a few hours to catch up with myself!

Left in perfect time to catch the bus - which was then diverted. For a wee minute, I thought the diversion might work in my favour, taking me closer than I should have been - but no, the diversion was in the other direction. And if you saw what caused it, you wouldn't be surprised at the diversion - a whopping great crane taking up the whole of Bishopsgate! Oh, the traffic though.. a distraught, Italian-sounding couple, complete with a family's-worth of luggage and a fractious toddler in a pushchair, were distraught at this disruption to their plans, and the wife (who obviously had the better English) asked me what the next stop was. Luckily for her, I'd looked it up online, and checked we were still going to Liverpool Street - where we were obviously all headed. Crikey though, when she showed me her route map, it looked as though they'd travelled the entire route! It was a relief to us all when we finally disembarked.

The restaurant had meantime texted to check I was on the way - a very useful device, as I ended up 10 minutes late. Not a problem though, they had plenty of space, and I was efficiently, and pleasantly, served, and had a great meal. Sadly, no time for dessert, even if I was right next door - I paid, trotted over there, bought a ticket.

Oh dear. Well, the film is set in a fishing village in roughly the present day - within a few years anyway. It's a depressed area, the local fishing economy having apparently collapsed. And then this boat drifts up, having been AWOL for the past 30 years, and with no crew.. What better idea than for the owner to send it off to sea again, having found a crew. But dearie me, what will they find at the end of the voyage..?

It's a somewhat interesting idea, and as they go back in time (to a time when they know something of what happened, and can see the seeds of the future that they know in the village), the question does arise of whether you would change things if you could. And it's interesting to see how the two lads, who seem the only ones not in on this big secret, deal with it. But Lordy me, you could, frankly, cover it in half an hour. I really don't know how they managed to squeeze a feature film out of it, but it really drags - although it is very atmospheric. If you're into a seaside/fishing kind of vibe. I'd have loved it as a short film - not at all happy with it as a feature.

And tomorrow, fifth scary thing in a row.. mwah-hah-haa, 'tis the long-awaited launch of Dracula Interactive! It's a LoMAZ event, but to be fair, they didn't come up with it - it developed during the pandemic, based on the fact that the novel, Dracula, is written as a diary. Anyway, a website was set up whereby you could have the section of the novel corresponding to a particular day emailed to you on that day! So.. LoMAZ has decided to read along. Oh, but that ain't the half of it.. we're meeting in our regular haunt of the Union Jack, and dressing up (preferably vampirically) is encouraged. Happily for that, the predicted probability of rain has decreased. Plus, apart from hopefully deciding the ongoing schedule of readings that day.. we also have a couple of tie-in travel events.. because the action moves to Whitby in August, and to Transylvania in November! And I had so many ideas for the trips.. I was asked to be a co-host. This is going to be a record-breaking Meetup - and with a terrific bunch of people. Ooh, looking forward to it..

The next two days are also looking like film. On Monday, I was thinking of Coup '53, a documentary about the Western coup in Iran in 1953 - and of course, showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury. But when I checked yesterday, it was sold out! Crikey. Anyway, The Hideout came to my rescue.. our organiser is on a binge of films for the weekend, and wants to finish it with a repeat trip to see Lee Cronin's The Mummy. Well.. all righty then, I did enjoy it. And we're going to the matinée in the Vue, so will probably head for food afterwards. And that'll be two Meetups in a row.

And on Tuesday, well, there's a new Irish horror film, Hokum, that I might check out - it's certainly highly rated! The Hideout is actually going to it tomorrow evening, just late enough that those also coming to the Dracula launch can do both, if desired. (So yes, that'll be four films in a row for the organiser, who's just flown in from the States..) Closest Tuesday evening showing to me is in Peckhamplex.

On Wednesday.. well, it happened before and it's happened again. There's a Meetup group called LGBTQ Culture Lovers - and they're off to a performance of Brahms Symphony No. 1 at St. John's Waterloo. I don't swing that way, but nothing to stop me going on my own! It's called a "rush hour" concert, and certainly it's on early - so I'm eating afterwards in The Archduke.

On Thursday, back with London Social & Cultural Meetups for a talk at the LSE about Trump's Foreign Policy in Historical Perspective. Couldn't miss that..

On Friday, I've booked with TAC for an improv show called Fabled: The Improvised Fantasy Adventure, showing in The Free Association Theatre.

And next Saturday, back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for a reprise of his walk through the Old Jewish Neighbourhood. Yes, I've done it before - but I'm sure I don't remember half of it, and it's been years since.. I do remember it being good, though. Also delighted to see that prepayment is no longer required for attendees, whatever setting was changed!