Film: Roar

Just started six consecutive days of Meetup! Tonight, I was back with The Hideout, for Roar, a comedy documentary about Tippi Hedren, her daughter, Melanie Griffith, and her husband, who directed and co-wrote it.. and some lions. Apparently Tippi Hedren is a real lover of animals. And as the blurb says, no animals were harmed in the making of this film - 70 cast and crew, including all of the above, were! It looked ridiculously OTT - and as someone says, this makes a mockery of Tippi Hedren claiming she was traumatised by Hitchcock attacking her with birds on the set of The Birds! Anyway, showing in The Nickel.

My company gives an extra hour off on Fridays in summer, so I got off early and headed for food in The Sun Wharf, which is on the way - was lucky to get a table when some people got up - then got a bus, and as usual, ended up waiting outside the cinema for the bar to open:

I was literally the first person in the bar - met the organiser when he arrived, but there was no sign of the other person who'd signed up. Anyway, it was quick to get my first drink, but there was a helluva queue for my second, and by the time I returned to the organiser, we agreed it was time to take our seats. In the front row.

I have to say, I loved this. I love cats, I love big cats.. they have a black panther, they have cubs, and I was in something like heaven. Having said that - WTF were they doing?! We can read about all the injuries they suffered - but nothing of that appears in the film, which is pretty much sweetness and light, the family initially scared and later learning to live with the lions. You also have to consider the camera crew etc., who were placed right in the middle of a pride of lions that had the run of the house.. The whole thing is bonkers, and I wasn't the only one shrieking at the things that happened! Would never have recommended them to do what they did, and the film is obviously a whitewash, with no mention of injuries - but it's also very entertaining.

Good to see the organiser again too, who waited with me till my bus came.

Tomorrow, back with Museum, Art & Culture Socials at the Museum of Soho for an exhibition, The Magnificent Mr. Mole, about a local artist. Meeting at Cafe Boheme beforehand, and with a quick look at The French House bar & restaurant, where the late Mr. Mole used to hang out, afterwards, before a pub social.

On Sunday, hosting my first ever Meetup event, woo! It's with London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ), and hey, it's where I've finally found an outlet to advertise storytelling, which regular readers will know that I love. So, this is a Crick Crack Club event, which I was going to anyway - it's Agni & Amor: Tales of Love & Fire, and happening in The Master Shipwright's House. Ben Haggarty and Steph Brittain will be performing, but there'll also be music and food - a real end-of-summer festival. Part of the Thames Festival Trust. We're meeting in the Dog and Bell beforehand, and optionally afterwards as well. A lot of newbies coming to this one - hopefully they remember to buy tickets, which are limited.

Monday is a bank holiday, so I managed to slot in my friend Helen, who wanted to come visit. We're having a long lunch at Bella Italia Cranbourn Street.

And that evening, and indeed on Tuesday as well, I'm with Up in the Cheap Seats. On Monday, we're at Holy Fool at the Park Theatre. It's the story of Shostakovich, who trod a tricky line living under Stalin.

And on Tuesday, we're seeing How the Other Half Loves, a romcom at the Old Vic. Eating beforehand at Bar + Block Southwark - which looks like to be my last time there, or in any Bar + Block, as the chain is closing down on Thursday!

On Wednesday - I'm hosting another LoMAZ event! This one is part of our Dracula series.. The Nickel is showing Dracula in Istanbul, and I said I'd run an event. Made in 1952, it's apparently the first film to depict Dracula with fangs.. and has Mina as a showgirl! Should be fun. We're headed to The Wilmington afterwards. Connor has signed up, which is nice.

On Thursday, I'm back with CT for Never Let Go, part of the Fringe Fix at Underbelly Boulevard. It's a comedy, one-man, gay retelling of the film Titanic.

And then - with a last-minute reschedule of what I was supposed to be doing - I finally have a weekend free to get back to Ireland, phew! Took me ages to get the flight booked, mind - the Ryanair app was down, I had to use the browser. And both Ryanair and Stansted Express have forgotten my account, I book so seldom any more.. hopefully meeting the friend I usually lunch with when I go back.