Sunday Girl

Beggars of Life, the 1928 silent classic starring the absolutely gorgeous Louise Brooks, was showing yesterday afternoon in town. I say silent; the Dodge Brothers, Mark Kermode's pick-up band, provided the soundtrack. Live!

And with the brilliant Neil Brand tinkling the ivories. I know - the perfect way to idle away a couple of hours on a freezing cold Sunday afternoon.

In case you're wondering what it sounded like, here's a taster:

Louise Brooks (1906-1985)

Can you pull a few strings?

Could this seat be any bigger?

He doesn't walk like a Thunderbird puppet

Yesterday was kind of special: I'd got tickets for Thunderbirds Are Go at Broadway Cinema including a pre-screening Q&A with the late Gerry Anderson's son, Jamie.

There's something about sitting on the front row at the pictures - if it's good enough for Jamie Anderson and Scott Tracy, then it's certainly good enough for me. Scott was very quiet all afternoon, however Jamie was more articulate; he told me afterwards it was the first time he'd ever seen the film on the big screen.

Knee high

I also asked him how cool it must have been as a kid to have Gerry Anderson as your dad. "Kind of," he said, "But, between the ages of 11 and 16, never a day went by without someone at school asking me why I didn't walk like a Thunderbird puppet." A small price to pay, I'd have said.

"Have you planned your vacation yet?"

Gibson takes centre stage

So said Alfred Hitchcock in this personal theatrical trailer to his 1959 classic North By Northwest. It being my birthday today, I'm going to see it on the big screen for the first time this afternoon. I'm very excited.

And in true Cary Grant style I may be celebrating later with a Gibson or two. It's shaping up to be a great day.

Slippery Slope

Caution indeed

A short story I am currently knocking into shape has the working title 'Slippery Slope'. However, following my recent Screenwriting course at Broadway Cinema, I may well write it as a screenplay for a short film.

As I often do when I've got an idea on the go, and especially when I'm giving it a title, I'll look up the word/words/phrase in Urban Dictionary to see if there are other, earthier, meanings or definitions accredited to, usually, an innocent/harmless phrase such as, in this case, Slippery Slope. (It's good to cover all bases.)

Ironically, when looking up the definition in the aforementioned alternative online dictionary, my search turned into a slippery slope all of its own. Yes, the first two were as you'd expect, but 3, 4, 6 & 7 were, ahem, new to me.

Whilst we're on the subject of slippery slopes, give this a coat of looking at: it's the new Japanese game show that's sweeping, well, Japan. It's hilarious.