Movie Haiku - Pulse

www.uip.co.uk/pulse


Dir: Jim Sonzero


Cast: Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Ron Rifkin, Christina Milian


Ghosts in the machine

and in the tumble dryer

get red gaffer tape


soulmining rating: ***

Movie Haiku - Right At Your Door

www.rightatyourdoormovie.co.uk


Dir: Chris Gorak


Cast: Mary McCormack, Rory Cochrane, Tony Perez, Scotty Noyd Jr


Dirty bombs downtown

seal all your windows and doors

is the ash toxic?


soulmining rating: ****

Movie Haiku - Little Miss Sunshine

www.foxsearchlight.com/littlemisssunshine


Dir: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris


Cast: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Paul Dano


Push the camper van

road trip to beauty pageant

she's a super freak


soulmining rating: ****

Man With A Movie Camera

Back in the summer of 2003 I was working with Chris (pictured) on a short film project by the name of Sunday Matinee... we spent ages working on a script, got a couple of local kids in to read for the two main parts and even managed one day of filming in Peacehaven. But the camera was duff, the actors weren't ready, and then Chris became a dad...

Three years later and the time feels right to revive our project, so yesterday Chris and I went over to Newhaven to test his 16mm camera and shoot some footage. We learnt a very important lesson - shooting on 16mm is NOT a practical or cost effective method for an amateur filmmaker! So, Chris has finally bowed to pressure and has agreed to shoot on DV instead. We now have a newly revised script and a possible new female lead, so what happens next... watch this space!

Movie Haiku - The Sentinel

www.sentinelthemovie.com


Dir: Clark Johnson


Cast: Michael Douglas, Keifer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, Kim Basinger


Shags President's wife

and suspected of treason

good cast weak story


soulmining rating: **

Movie Haiku - Crank

www.crankfilm.com


Dir: Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor


Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam


He's Chev Chelios

injected Chinese poison

keep moving or die


soulmining rating: ****

Nerina Pallot at Regents Park Open Air Theatre

Edited 11/09: Have just found this photo taken by naughty boy Adz!

Something a little bit different on Sunday night... Dave and I went up to Regents Park in the afternoon to watch Nerina Pallot play at the Open Air Theatre. What a lovely venue tucked away amongst the greenery and duck ponds... and the weather stayed fine too! We had the best seats in the house (front centre) but unfortunately weren't allowed to take any photographs :( Nerina was wearing her posh red frock and high heels and played a 16 song set with her band, including a couple of new songs Everything's Illuminated and Heidi which sounded amazing. Another fine concert performance for a late Summer's eve, just a shame I can't share any pics with you... (well, okay I can now thanks to Adz!)

Movie Haiku - The Wicker Man

www.thewickermanmovie.warnerbros.com


Dir: Neil LaBute


Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Beahan, Leelee Sobieski


Cop seeks missing girl

acts so wooden he'll catch fire

12A sacrilege


soulmining rating: *

Serena Maneesh at Madame Jo-Jo's

Last Tuesday then... the day after FrightFest so I enjoyed a very welcome lie-in until midday. Headed into London town and parted ways with my co-conspirator Steve, grabbed a bite to eat and then met James for a drink in Holborn. The pair of us then went to the Knowledge Lab at Birkbeck to take part in a two hour focus group on Ichi The Killer for the University of Wales' Extreme Films Research project which was really interesting. I should have gone for a quick drink with Lisa afterwards, but no, live music was calling me... so I ended up paying a fiver to get into Madame Jo-Jo's in the heart of Soho to catch the very noisy and wonderful Serena Maneesh who I first saw supporting the Dandys last year. Their appearance was to help launch their new single Sapphire Eyes and formed part of the White Heat club night, so they only played for forty minutes - but what a forty minutes! Although they didn't play Drain Cosmetics. Which was a shame. And then, finally, I was free to return home to Brighton...

FrightFest Day 4 - Monday

Outside the OWE (photo by Ian Rattray)

And so to the final day of this year's festival! Monday began with a short film Missed Call which was about infidelity and was pretty decent. The first feature of the day was the Spanish serial killer drama H6: Diary Of A Serial Killer which was quite unpleasant to watch but didn't really take the viewer anywhere... it just got boring in the end. Loads of us ended up chatting outside in the interval and Ian was doing the rounds with his camera getting some more snaps for the FrightFest website. With the Pang Brothers' new film Re-cycle turning up without subtitles a last minute change to the schedule was made, with Thai chiller Ghost Of Mae Nak stepping in to take its place. I think I was probably the only person to have heard of this one, let alone seen it (twice!) but I was quite pleased as it gave me the opportunity to catch up with director Mark Duffield who I'd previously spoken to about the film last year. Before Mark introduced the film we were treated to Deadly Tantrum, the short which we'd been given a copy of on DVD - thankfully this comedy/slasher was a hoot and went down very well with the audience! We also saw the new trailers for Transformers and Pulse.

Mark Duffield with Paul McEvoy

I wasn't sure if I'd sit through Ghost Of Mae Nak for a third time, but after ten minutes it had drawn me in and I stayed with it until the end. Crowd reaction seemed mixed, but at least it was something a bit different and in fact was first Asian film of the weekend. You can read my haiku here and my review for Eat My Brains here. Mark returned for a short Q&A with Paul McEvoy so I helped out by asking the first question. As I walked out of the cinema for the next break I spotted a familiar figure by the ticket desk - P director Paul Spurrier who I'd spent quite a bit of time with when I was out in Bangkok in February. He told me about the work he had lined up here for the next couple of weeks and discussed the ongoing saga of P getting a DVD release and the latest happenings with P2 - basically the script is now written but the film all hinges on securing a financing deal, and if that happens then he hopes to begin shooting in February 2007. Back inside we had the surprisingly tasty trailer for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and the Puritan crowd turned up to introduce their film.

Puritan (l-r): David Soul, Georgina Rylance, Nick Moran and Hadi Hajaig

Puritan wasn't a disaster, in fact many people liked it, but it just wasn't my kind of film. To be honest it's something I'd like to see again and perhaps re-evaluate. Alan Jones conducted the Q&A afterwards with director Hadi Hajaig and actors Nick Moran, Georgina Rylance and David Soul and that was certainly a lively affair; one American lady was desperate for Nick to name the American studio movie he'd been shooting in Russia which he loathed (he wouldn't) and another guy simply voiced his opinion that he didn't believe the story which was a bit harsh and uncalled for. David was also presented with a huge card which we'd all signed as it was his birthday, much to his embarrassment! I'd been planning to get a decent meal during the next break but with Paul Spurrier around that got shitcanned in favour of a quick trip to the pub and a chat about all the latest happenings in Thai cinema. We made it back just as Troma's Poultrygeist trailer was playing, and then settled down for more of Ian's Trailer Trash - Red Sonja actually broke in the projector, but once that had been fixed we got a bit of Amin: The Rise And Fall and the always entertaining Death Race 2000. It's a shame director Scott Glosserman couldn't make it for the screening of Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon (he'd broken his leg, or similar...) as this part-
documentary, part-slasher film was an ideal choice for FrightFest and went down a storm. I managed a quick run to Subway and then it was back for the final film of the festival - and a welcome second showing of the Charley Says FrightFest trailer. Korea's mega-box office hit The Host was a fine closing film and sported an amazing first half hour as the creature goes on the rampage (no slow build up in this one) but then settled down into a much subtler family-orientated picture. Good fun though!


Post-FrightFest party at the Phoenix Club

And that was it for another year... well, not quite, as Ian, Paul & Alan had kindly invited us all to a party at the Phoenix Club on Charing Cross Road. This proved the perfect way to wind down, relax, sink a few beers and chat to old and new friends from the weekend. I finally got the opportunity to catch up with Rachael and also had fun talking to Michael, Charlotte, Dave, Paul, Richard, Lauren and Ian. A final thank you speech from Alan and then we were kicked out onto the streets at 3am and reluctantly said our goodbyes. A fantastic end to a fantastic festival! Roll on Halloween and the mooted one day event at the ICA...

FrightFest Movie Haiku - The Host

www.thehost.co.kr


Dir: Bong Joon-ho


Cast: Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hei-bong, Park Hae-il, Baeand Du-na


Everyone panics

fish beast swallows his daughter

let's go rescue her


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon

www.behindthemaskthemovie.com


Dir: Scott Glosserman


Cast: Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Robert Englund, Scott Wilson


Film crew follow him

as he explains tricks of trade

you know he'll sit up


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Puritan

www.puritanthemovie.com


Dir: Hadi Hajaig


Cast: Nick Moran, Georgina Rylance, David Soul, Ralph Brown


Other chap from Lock, Stock

travels in fourth dimension

I get all confused


soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Movie Haiku - H6: Diary Of A Serial Killer

www.diarioasesino.com


Dir: Martin Garrido Baron


Cast: Fernando Acaso, Angel Alarcon, Raquel Arenas, Ruperto Ares


Wants to cleanse whore's soul

tied to table in room six

then gets the chainsaw


soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Day 3 - Sunday

Broken (l-r): Abbey Stirling, Eric Colvin, Nadja Brand, Simon Boyes and Adam Mason with Paul McEvoy

One of the best things about FrightFest 2006 is the way the forum community has developed and expanded, so whether outside the OWE or up in the bar there's always a group of like-minded souls ready to swap opinions and stories. On Sunday we arrived at the cinema early as I needed to find Kim and lend her some books which she'd been seeking for her degree course. After a quick chat with the Broken team it was inside for their introduction, preceded by another entertaining short, Snatching Time. Whilst it's no masterpiece, Broken is a huge leap forward from Adam's early work and is quite an achievement considering its tiny £10,000 budget. I spent some time talking to Simon and Eric up in the bar and various proud parents until Alan Jones caught me and asked why I wasn't in watching The Living And The Dead. I really wasn't feeling confident about this one but as I'd only missed a couple of minutes I thought I may as well give it a try. In fact it turned out to be one of the highlights of the festival; a completely different kind of horror which many - myself included - found very difficult to watch.

Simon Rumley and Kate Fahy with Alan Jones

Director Simon Rumley and lead actress Kate Fahy took to the stage afterwards for a Q&A with Alan Jones where they received much praise for their work - I also spotted Jonathan Pryce in the audience lending his support. James had texted me to say he was in town to catch Severance with his sister so I spent the next break meeting him for a coffee. Next up was In The Place Of The Dead, the latest short film from FrightFest favourite David McGillvray whose banter with Alan Jones had us all in stitches. French chiller Them was a tense affair and should play well when Metrodome release it here in the UK next January - we all had to fill in questionnaires giving feedback after the screening.

Guillermo Del Toro meets his fans

Guillermo Del Toro was seated by the Cinema Store stall during the next break ready to meet his fans and sign an array of cards, posters and DVD sleeves. Very affable, talkative and enthusiastic - as indeed he was at the Hellboy signing two years ago - he proved to be a big favourite with the FrightFesters.

Simon Boswell with Alan Jones

Before the next film there was a special appearance by composer Simon Boswell (who did the legendary Hardware score, amongst many others) who talked about his new album Close Your Eyes which mixes music from his soundtracks with newly recorded vocals - and we also got to see his first music video from the album, directed by Richard Stanley which featured the sight of Dario Argento doing a spot of rapping! Fascinating stuff and welcome surprise to the day's packed programme. After another dose of Trailer Trash, including such gems as Abby, Home For The Intimate Ghosts and Vampire Kids, it was straight into Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story, the boring cinematic account of the real life case of the German cannibal who advertised for a willing victim on the internet.

Edgar Wright with Paul McEvoy

The FrightFest team had some more surprises up their collective sleeves before the next film. First NZ director Chris Graham turned up to talk about his forthcoming horror film The Ferryman, and then Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead) took to the stage to introduce two trailers for Hot Fuzz which of course got a great reception. The Lost was one of Mike's tips for the weekend and didn't disappoint, a brutal little film based on the novel by Jack Ketchum bolstered by some terrific performances and a stellar soundtrack. With all the extra guests and surprises which had been squeezed in to Grim Sunday, it was no surprise that the timetable was running late by this stage. Just time for a quick dash to Subway and then back for the midnight screening of Sheitan, a wacky French horror starring a grinning Vincent Cassell which had 'cult movie' written all over it. Bonkers from the first minute I loved every moment! A fantastic finale to a bumper-packed day of entertainment.

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Sheitan

www.lesheitan.com


Dir: Kim Chapiron


Cast: Vincent Cassell, Olivier Bartelemy, Roxane Mesquida, Nico Le Phat Tan


Visit her village

goat farmer and doll maker

Cassell's gone bonkers


soulmining rating: *****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - The Lost

www.thelostmovie.net


Dir: Chris Sivertson


Cast: Marc Senter, Shay Astar, Alex Frost, Robin Sydney


Crushed cans in his shoes

he'll flip out and kill again

while flies keep buzzing


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story

www.senator.de


Dir: Martin Weisz


Cast: Keri Russell, Thomas Kretschmann, Thomas Huber, Rainier Meissner


German cannibal

seeks willing victim online

based on true story


soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Them

www.ils-lefilm.com


Dir: David Moreau & Xavier Palud


Cast: Olivia Bonamy, Michael Cohen



French couple at home

suffer invasion by them

who or what are they?


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - The Living And The Dead

www.simonrumley.com


Dir: Simon Rumley


Cast: Leo Bill, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Kate Fahy, Sarah Ball


Trigger's stately home

his son is mentally ill

harrowing to watch


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Broken

www.brandmason.co.uk


Dir: Adam Mason & Simon Boyes


Cast: Nadja Brand, Eric Colvin, Abbey Stirling, Megan Van Kerro


Girl wakes in coffin

he keeps her chained up for days

what a nasty man


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Day 2 - Saturday

Billy O'Brien with Paul McEvoy

I'd forgotten to set my alarm, so we were late getting up on Saturday, and late getting into central London to meet some of the others for breakfast. This was then compounded by sluggish service at the pub, which meant we completely missed the introduction to Isolation from director Billy O'Brien. Luckily he returned after the screening - which was great, imagine Alien with cows - for a short Q&A with Paul McEvoy and then we were free to collect our FrightFest goodie bags which this year included a couple of DVDs, a Lady Vengeance t-shirt, a Them stress ball, the featured short Deadly Tantrum on DVD, The Wicker Man matchbook and a few other assorted bits and pieces.

I'd already taken the decision to skip Earthlings: Ugly Bags Of Mostly Water (a documentary about Klingons) long before the weekend started, so instead had arrangements to go for a meal with about a dozen other FrightFesters in order to celebrate Lauren's birthday (left). Preceding the formulaic The Marsh was the Cut! Competition Showcase, the ten best short films submitted for this two minute horror film competition with Robert Tapert, Lloyd Kaufman and FrightFest's own Alan Jones making up the panel of judges. The standard of entries was pretty high but the deserved winner was Aloysha Saari's Kasting, a dark satire on the audition process, and a special mention should also go to Jahari's A Very Grimm Fairytale for its jet-black humour which was another popular finalist with the audience. Director Jordan Barker appeared afterwards for a short Q&A with Alan Jones although sadly Gabrielle Anwar was unable to attend as she was reportedly suffering from laryngitis. After discussing the merits of The Wicker Man remake in the bar with Christopher Fowler and Graham Humphreys it was back into the auditorium for this year's devilish FrightFest quiz, a chorus of Happy Birthday for Lauren who'd been dragged on stage by Ian Rattray, and then See No Evil starring WWE wrestler Kane. After a few year's sabbatical Ian's Trailer Trash made a welcome return to this year's FrightFest programme, with his first selection of trailers including such gems as Karate vs. Tiger and Island Of The Fishmen - which ironically the Eat My Brains guys had just watched recently as part of their latest Zombie Club double feature! Adrift was up next with director Hans Horn going AWOL (possibly for the best judging by the muted reaction from the FrightFest audience) although I much preferred it to Open Water, despite the repeated stupidity of the main characters. The next scheduled short was a no show so instead we had a bonus dose of Trailer Trash, this time featuring the enticing Gwendoline (causing the Cinema Store stall to sell out of all of its DVD copies) and a trippy teaser for The Exorcist. Despite many laughs from the trailer selection, the hilarity unfortunately didn't extend to the final film of the day, Snoop Dogg's Hood Of Horror which was a major disappointment, particularly coming in the coveted midnight slot which Monster Man and 2001 Maniacs had filled so triumphantly in previous years. And so to the madness of the night bus and home to prepare for 'Grim Sunday'.

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Snoop Dogg's Hood Of Horror

www.myspace.com/hoodofhorror


Dir: Stacy Title


Cast: Snoop Dogg, Ernie Hudson, Danny Trejo, Pooch Hall


Three tales from the hood

artist becomes own painting

should have shot this dog


soulmining rating: *

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Adrift

www.adriftmovie.co.uk


Dir: Hans Horn


Cast: Susan May Pratt, Richard Speight Jr, Niklaus Lange, Ali Hillis


Open water too

six f*ckwits jump off the yacht

forget the ladder


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - See No Evil

www.seenoevilthemovie.com


Dir: Gregory Dark


Cast: Kane, Christina Vidal, Michael J. Pagan, Steven Vidler


Clean up old hotel

big bald wrestler lives upstairs

pokes out their eyeballs


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - The Marsh

www.jordanbarker.com


Dir: Jordan Barker


Cast: Gabrielle Anwar, Justin Louis, Forest Whitaker, Joe Dinicol


Writer sees some ghosts

her tight white top distracts me

world's loudest movie


soulmining rating: **

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Isolation

www.isolationthefilm.com


Dir: Billy O'Brien


Cast: John Lynch, Essie Davis, Sean Harris, Marcel Iures


Barnyard alien

cows go mad on Irish farm

who wants a burger?


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Day 1 - Friday

I wasn't overly fussed about catching the day's Hammer films retrospective which was perhaps just as well when I awoke after the Severance party with the hangover from hell. That was The Hound Of The Baskervilles wiped out right there. After a much needed fry-up with Steve we managed to get ourselves to the Odeon West End in time for Countess Dracula but I was still feeling very hungover so instead spent the duration of the film sat in the centre of Leicester Square talking to an elderly lady from Oregon while nursing a large bottle of water. After posing for Rachael so she could take some pictures of my Snakes On A Plane t-shirt I met up with a number of FrightFest regulars who were also planning to skip Twins Of Evil so joined them for a bite to eat in the aptly named Crypt café adjacent to Trafalgar Square. I was still feeling queasy but thankfully Dolores took pity on me and was on hand with a stash of tablets to get me through the evening. Back outside the cinema I caught up with the EMB guys who were also feeling the worse for wear. Mike (top left) was doing good business trading his original FrightFest-approved GIVES YOU THE WILLIES! t-shirts which he'd designed especially for this year's event.

Alan Jones with Guillermo Del Toro

Guillermo Del Toro received a rapturous welcome as he took to the stage to introduce Pan's Labyrinth, the first public showing since its Cannes screening received a twenty minute standing ovation. Guillermo was joined by producer Alfonso Cuaron (director of the forthcoming Children Of Men) who explained his working relationship with the director. As the lights dimmed we got our first treat of the weekend - a FrightFest trailer put together by sponsors Zone Horror which faithfully recreated an old seventies Charley Says public information film. In this hilarious clip Charley and the young boy are playing in the park when the Grim Reaper approaches and invites the boy to FrightFest. The boy is about to go with him when Charley stops him with his usual miaow... and so the boy and the Grim Reaper tie Charley to a tree and chop off his head. Honestly, this was hands down the funniest thing I saw all weekend! This was followed by trailers for Saw III and The Wicker Man, the latter of which was greeted with a chorus of boos and a loud cry of "sacrilege" from the guy sitting along the row from me. Pan's Labyrinth was simply amazing, the best film I've seen all year - part fantasy, part civilwar drama - it was a magical experience. Guillermo then returned for a lively Q&A with Alan Jones after the screening in which he talked about working with the various actors and how he's relying on our word of mouth to help market the film in November.

Adam Green with Alan Jones

After a short break it was the turn of director Adam Green to take to the stage to introduce Hatchet which was a real old school comedy/horror. He returned for a Q&A directly afterwards and then Mike and I caught up with him for a quick chat in the foyer, before going back into the auditorium for the first short film of the festival - a fairly routine zombie piece entitled Gasoline Blood. Final film of the night was Frostbite, a Swedish vampire flick which featured some talking dogs. A great start to the weekend!

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Frostbite

www.frostbiten.se


Dir: Anders Banke


Cast: Petra Neilsen, Grete Havnseskold, Emma Aberg, Jonas Karlstrom


It's Swedish vampires

take pills have bloody party

now dogs are talking


soulmining rating: ****

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Hatchet

www.hatchetmovie.com


Dir: Adam Green


Cast: Joel Moore, Tamara Feldman, Mercedes McNab, Kane Hodder


Bored of Mardi Gras

boat breaks down in haunted swamp

meet ghost with large axe


soulmining rating: ***

FrightFest Movie Haiku - Pan's Labyrinth

www.panslabyrinth.co.uk


Dir: Guillermo Del Toro


Cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Ariadna Gil, Doug Jones


She might be princess

given three tasks to complete

no, don't eat the grapes


soulmining rating: *****

September Live

Wahey, it's the start of a new month... and now that the Summer festival season is drawing to a close there ought to be a lot more gigs to look forward to! Here's a few to look out for in Brighton this month:

11/09 - A regular on the Brighton music scene for some time now, Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes looks set to hit the big time any day now. With the imminent release of her new album Fur And Gold she's gigging at the Komedia.

15/09 - It's a welcome to return to Brighton for Bic Runga who I last saw at the Spiegeltent during the Brighton Festival in May - she plays this time at the Concorde. Maybe I'll get my silver pen back?

22/09 - Another Brighton success story, The Pipettes go from strength to strength and play thier biggest hometown crowd to date at the Corn Exchange. I'm on guest list duty that night so might see you there.

26/09 - Gig of the month for me must be Juliette & The Licks at the Concorde. There seems to be a crowd of us going, no-one knows what to expect... aside from some good old fashioned rock, and indeed, roll.

28/09 - Probably the biggest local band of the moment are The Kooks and they're here at the Dome celebrating their successful year. Tickets sold out the day they went on sale... should be a pretty mad night.

Severance Charity Premiere

Severance (l-r): Claudie Blakley, Danny Dyer, Christopher Smith, Tim McInnerny, Andy Nyman and James Moran with Alan Jones

The charity premiere of Severance took place last Thursday at the Odeon West End in Leicester Square in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. Director Christopher Smith was on hand to introduce the screening along with actors Danny Dyer, Tim McInnerny, Andy Nyman and Claudie Blakley and writer James Moran - who deservedly got singled out by Chris for being a FrightFest regular. The audience really got the film, laughing and gasping in all the right places and it was a hugely enjoyable experience to see the film again with the enthusiastic Frightfest crowd. As the end credits rolled everyone came back on stage for a Q&A which was really laid back and funny - you could really see the camaraderie between the cast. Even James looked relaxed and cracked a few jokes - and you can read his account of the evening here!

Afterwards I met up with the Eat My Brains guys and we managed to get into the aftershow party at Ruby Blue. I still don't know who put my name on the list but I'm guessing it could have been FF organiser Paul McEvoy - so many thanks to whoever was responsible! We'd only planned to stay for a couple of drinks... needless to say, a couple of large glasses of wine later and I was feeling very sociable, so started looking around for familiar faces to go and say hello to. There was no sign of the Severance mob (apart from Andy Nyman) so I went and chatted to Simon Boyes and Nadja Brand (Broken), artist Graham Humphreys and then Jake West and the gorgeous Emily Booth (Evil Aliens), all lovely people - as I repeatedly told everyone in my drunken state. It's here that things start to get a little hazy... I remember meeting Steve and Payne outside at 11pm, but rather than doing the sensible thing and going home, I managed to get them into the party where we hung out with the FrightFest drunks™ and Chief Brody for a while. The next thing I remember is being on a dancefloor with Paul and the girls, but I have no memory of actually leaving Ruby Blue... or the fact that it was a karaoke bar and I kept staggering in front of the screen... or singing Comfortably Numb... or trying to use my umbrella as a microphone... or "bouncing off the walls" (Chief Brody). Luckily there were plenty of people who were only too happy to remind me of my drunken antics the following day. On the way to the bus stop I managed to whack a car with my umbrella which set off its alarm, and then I threw up and tried to sleep on the pavement once we reached Oxford Street... It's just as well Steve was around to get me home in one piece - thanks mate!

The Dandy Warhols at Islington Academy

So last Wednesday night Andy and I braved the driving rain and headed up to Islington to see The Dandy Warhols. The Academy was smaller than I'd imagined, only a 800 capacity venue so nice and intimate and afforded a great view of the stage. Support came from The Morning After Girls who sounded a lot like the Dandys and were pretty solid although their sound mix wasn't perfect. Only one girl in the band though, so that name's a bit of a misnomer. The Dandys came on at 9pm and played for nearly two hours without a break - although Zia had to dash off stage twice, allowing the rest of the band to improvise in her absence. With nothing more than the download-only single Have A Kick-Ass Summer (Me & My Friends) to promote, the band were able to pepper their set with whatever they liked - and some of their choices were inspired, especially cool album cuts like Lou Weed, Cool As Kim Deal and Solid mixing it up with favourites like Boys Better and Bohemian Like You. An effortless performance and quite simply the best two hours of live music I've experienced this year.

Adopt a Seamonkey

My friend Andy has launched his new website where you can - for a small fee - adopt your very own seamonkey. You can choose from a number of characters and receive a personalised certificate and t-shirt...

www.adoptaseamonkey.com

Also...

Not content with his two Zazzle pages for cartoons and photography and his recent addition to the MySpace community, my mate Justin has finally started his own blog...

www.worldofgingerbloke.blogspot.com

And finally...

Remember the Eat My Brains Zombie Club - Forced Entry night which I went to a couple of weeks back? Well, the official write up (now retitled The Jay And Sean Show) has just been published on their site here.

London Calling...

Me with Christopher Smith at FrightFest 2005

In a few short hours I'm going to be on my way to London for this year's FrightFest event, running from Friday until Monday at the Odeon West End. Then on Tuesday - once I've recovered - I'm attending a focus group for the Extreme Films Research project, and then if I've got any stamina left, I might catch Serena Maneesh who are playing at Madame Jo Jo's later that night.

Most importantly though, tomorrow is the charity premiere for Severance (also at the OWE) with director Christopher Smith, members of the cast - and writer James - all in attendance for a Q&A after the film. And rumour has it that I might be on the guest list for the aftershow party too! The film opens nationwide on Friday and I hope you'll all go and see it! In the meantime Eat My Brains have just published an interview with Christopher Smith and leading lady Laura Harris on their site here and there's also a competition to win some props from the film!

I'll be back next week with all the FrightFest gossip, all my FrightFest movie haikus and everything else that happened in between - plus a report on tonight's gig by The Dandy Warhols which was effortless and brilliant!

Movie Haiku - Monster House

www.monsterhouse-movie.com


Dir: Gil Kenan


Voices: Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee, Kathleen Turner


House steals all their toys

with red carpet for a tongue

dare they go inside?


soulmining rating: ***

Movie Haiku - A Scanner Darkly

www.warnerbros.co.uk/ascannerdarkly


Dir: Richard Linklater


Cast: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder


He spies on himself

and acts all animated

we are all on drugs


soulmining rating: ****

Movie Haiku - Snakes On A Plane

www.snakesonaplane.com


Dir: David R. Ellis


Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies, Nathan Phillips, Sunny Mabrey


There's snakes on a plane

do not siphon the python

you can kiss my asp


soulmining rating: ****

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake?

Happy birthday to me! I got cake!

Thanks to everyone who's sent cards or messages today, you're all lovely people! I'm actually having a quiet day today (well, so far...) after celebrating all weekend. On Saturday night I had a couple of beers with Mike talking fantasy football stuff, caught up with Hannah and Fran in the Waggon, and then met up with Dave, Andy and Gary for more beers. Onto Red Snapper for a delicious Thai meal and six bottles of wine, then continued drinking at Gary's flat until I was sick, left at 5am (so I'm told...) and then managed to f*ck up our internet connection when I stupidly tried to get online in my drunken state. Spent Sunday in Shoreham with Troy and Rom, along with Steve and Chrissy, although I had the hangover from hell and was barely coherent all day. We ate lots of yummy food, Chrissy baked me a lovely chocolate cake and we watched Blue Crush. :)

I've got two friends with birthdays today, so Sean and Rob - happy birthday guys!

White Panties Haiku

White Panties
Image © Emma Delves-Broughton
www.artscapeonline.com


Steve bought me this card for my birthday and insisted that I compose a haiku review of it for my blog...


Young girl reads her book

stop staring at her panties

she'll get a cold bum

Play It Cool in August

Mmmmm, some new music at last! Here's what's on my stereo this month:

• Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther (Bella Union)
• Nouvelle Vague - Bande A' Part (Peacefrog)
• Metric - Live It Out (Drowned In Sound)
• The Kooks - Inside Out/Inside In (Virgin)
• The Like - Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? (Geffen)