Last week, I did...

On Tuesday, I was cultured: watched the performance of Orange - a play set in Cardiff, written by Alan Harris. Of the three in the cast, two were relative unknowns, and apart from each occasionally lapsing into being an ex-member of Goldie Lookin' Chain, they were very good and believeable.

Wednesday, I received the dvd boxset of Nigel Kneale's Beasts - I was due to go for my first scuba-diving lesson (!) but 'twas cancelled, so watched the first episode, which scared the crap out of me, and made me realise just how shit today's television is.

Friday was big launch day: drove to the Dylan Thomas Centre, to sell some books and witness Rhys Hughes's gradual descent into red-wine drunkenness. Around thirty to forty people turned up, I sold quite a few copies, met up with Brian Willis again after a couple of years, along with Mike O'Driscoll (who was also there launching his collection Unbecoming), Bob Lock and Steve Redwood, along with D and Gavin Salisbury from Whispers of Wickedness.

Sadly, since I was driving and despite paying for the wine, I drank just one glass. :( Mind you, all that will change this weekend: Fantasycon - once that car is parked up on Friday afternoon, it ain't moving until Sunday! :)

Saturday? Saturday... couple of drinks in the afternoon, continued to watch Beasts in the evening. Sunday: watched The Black Dahlia which I found a little disappointing: as a 1940s noir pastiche, it was spot on - the voice-over, blonde bombshell, femme fatale, the whole nine yards - but has a modern piece of film-making, it felt pedestrian; the voice-over overblown, the cast all beautiful, and trying their best, but it didn't feel natural.

On technical level, it displays De Palma's usual directorial extravagance, and the set design and art direction were superb, but it was no Untouchables nor LA Confidential (based on another James Ellroy novel). Perhaps the plot-line was just too dense, and two hours is nowhere near enough to give the story justice, which is a pity since the actual true story it was inspired by - the murder of Elizabeth Short - is quite brutal, nasty and engrossing.

Sunday night? I finished watching Beasts, and my favourite episodes were: "Baby", "Special Offer" and "During Barty's Party". Despite all the episodes being essentially studio-bound, Kneale's superb writing coupled with expert direction and a cast who could act, each episode were great pieces of suspenseful drama. For a series that is now thirty years old, it is criminally under-rated for not being repeated once and the dvd release almost going un-noticed. If you have a spare fifteen quid burning a hole in your pocket, then click on the earlier link - I'm pretty sure that you won't regret it.

Don't ask me to give you your money back if you do.

Oh, and if you're going to Fantasycon this weekend, mine'll be a Guinness. :)