"HAIL TO THE KING, BABY" Busy weekend. Yesterday we went to Windsor just to get out of London for the day. I hadn't been there since I was a kid so we paid our extortionate fee and had a wander around the castle: As usual I got bored pretty damn quick and left Jess to look at all the historical crap while I sought out some American tourists to entertain me - it didn't take long: "So do you figure that castles were this medieval phenomenon all over Europe? Gee, these benches are neat - are they for sale?" This evening and tomorrow I'm going to drag over what�s left of the old site into the new format - a few things I was going to abandon have recently been the subject of quite a few emails so I'll be updating pages as well. Thanks to Vince for the corrections on Unforgiven - I'll never mistake a shotgun with a Spencer repeating rifle again. Thanks to Bill for sending me his list of Moviedrome films and for letting me know that I'm not the only nutter who remembers Alex Cox. Lynne just sent me a package of bumf on the BBFC which looks pretty interesting - lots to comment on I'm sure, especially the 1916 'grounds for deletion, which included "indecorus dancing...references to controversial politics" and "scenes holding up the King's uniform to contempt or ridicule". Good stuff. Metropolis was stunning - the animation was beautiful, a kind of hybrid of early Japanese comics like Astro Boy and the very European Tin Tin. The story was a nice update on the original but it was the music that stood out; some really beautiful early jazz pieces that were used to great effect especially when a certain button was pressed. It's just come out on DVD and is probably worth a look. I'm meeting Phil for lunch later today, who should be congratulated as he just finished his novel - I get my grubby little mitts on it straight away which is exciting. How much of an update I get done later depends on if Frank turns up - we'll probably watch a couple of movies if he does but I�ll try and get something fresh up anyway. The other thing that has kept me busy is a new story about a blind dog that is going really well. It�s been a while since I was on a roll with the fiction so it�s a good feeling to get it going again. I just noticed that the Ottakar's website has one of my old reviews up on the Clapham homepage - that was a nice gesture - makes me feel like I never left. You should check out the other reviews too - those guys know their stuff. Speaking of bookstores - I got a call from Borders on Oxford St last week so I'm going in for a chat on Thursday. I was talking to Mark last week about how I miss working in a bookstore so it was odd to get the call the same evening. Not sure if anything will come of it yet but I've been thinking of getting a bookselling gig in Amsterdam next year and then aim for City Lights in San Francisco when we land there. The Fugazi dates have finally been rescheduled - Sunday 3rd November is the new date - I have eight tickets from the first dates that are still valid so drop me a line if you are interested. Mike is blogging to: Troublegum by Therapy?