Therefore, for me, Boxing Day became Christmas day. As with almost any reasonably inclusive family gathering I found myself keep almost silent for fear of saying something that would upset. The fault would likely be all my own if I did as I have a habit of resorting to sarcasm. However, Emma remained a useful distraction as always so the spotlight was rarely turned on me.

All going to plan I’ll head back down the road tomorrow. Much as I’d quite like to chat to family (in small groups), the last few weeks of December have left me knackered which is probably partly to blame for my invalid turn yesterday. The lure of getting more acquainted with the new sofa in my lounge and reducing the pile of unplayed games and unread books. Maybe even some running in the snow.

Apart from that I’ve been trying out a couple of new TV shows. After four episodes of Dark Blue I’m really not sure it’s worth any more of my time. Having shouted at the screen twice for poor writing I’m not sure pushing on would be of much use. There’s no interesting overall arc just a motley collection of stereotypes. And it’s exec-produced by Bruckheimer so it’s very unlikely to ever tax my brain. Nah, it’s dumped.

The second show is Defying Gravity which immediately wins lots of brownie points for being sci-fi and populated with many faces I recognised from various shows and films. Like Dark Blue though, it loses points for poor writing. They might as well have had a character standing in the background of every scene shouting “There’s a mysterious entity controlling the mission! Why won’t anyone listen to me?”. Oh, and if your show is set in 2050, a ten dollar bet is very unlikely to seem worth it. Aside from that it remains reasonably interesting after two episodes so it’s staying on for the time being.

Bad Movie Roundup

Right, since I’ve got nine films I’ve yet to note down I’m going to do them in clumps. Clump one will be those that I’ve seen at the various bad movie nights around Edinburgh.

Last month’s Zombie Club consisted of two of my own discs; Contamination and Lifeforce. I’ve seen Contamination a couple of times but Lifeforce was a new one on me. Turns out it’s something of a favourite amongst sci-fi fans of a certain age as the leading lady is quite fetching and spends most of the film butt naked. The film is great fun and is shlocky, violent sci-fi of the highest order. I was laughing heartily as Patrick Stewart writhed around on the ground being possessed by aliens.

At the last B-Movie Club before the Festival, Gordon and I sat down to watch Shock Waves which is something that’s been on my To Watch list for many years. I really should have watched it sooner because it’s a piece of very entertaining shit but maybe being in the presence of other gore hounds made it that much better. Apparently, genetically modified SS troops like to lie down in rock pools and then sit bolt upright. Great stuff.

This month’s EZC only had one film screening due to a cock-up with reserving the back room of the Brass Monkey. It was my first Jess Franco movie and I now understand why some people were moved to sing “There’s only one Jess Franco!” at Dead by Dawn some years ago. Thank goodness! As I expected, the film is an absolute mess and a hoot at the same time. Franco, for some reason, likes to zoom in just about every shot and seems to do this manually causing the frame to jump around. Pat and I sat at the back of the room in fits of giggles, intoning “zooooom” every time it happened. It kept us entertained. As Pat said afterwards, “Franco has an amazing directorial talent in that he can make an eighty minute movie feel like two hours.”

Gave some computer advice to the parentals tonight to help them out with their internet connection troubles; turn it off, open a bottle of wine, worry about it next week when you get back from holiday. It seemed the best advice under the circumstances