WEEK 6 - eXistenZ

Phil Windsor again dictates the intro of a #SiFiPieFri review. Did you know he once ordered a can of John Smith's Smooth from Papworth General? And I'm not even joking.

His funeral was on the Saturday at 3pm, meaning the football (Hull City v Fleetwood) started 12:30pm, which meant a DaddyFry pick up time of 10:30am, which meant I'd have to be awake, lively, sober and raring to go much earlier than usual, so I needed to get drunk up, finished and to bed earlier on the Friday. Butterfly effect. Or something.

Rolling a 5 on the Scampi & Bacon Fries dice was not the ideal start.

Further rolls revealed that the 'split' would be Scampi Fries 4-1 Bacon Fries. Further trauma, as the Scampi ones are definitely heavier bags, and a more pungent, salty snack to digest.

Time to get back on Deliveroo following 'Devonly Pies' successful deboo last week (wasn't funny then, isn't funny now), and although the App said 'oi mush, we're busy', it still let me order for 7pm which was (begrudgingly) fine.

Apologies to the Twitterati who like to vote for my beers. I didn't do that this week. Not cos I don't trust them (though the selection last week was brutal) but I had some I was determined to drink up, starting with Shoom by Zapato which sounded incredibly Sci-Fi, but was actually from Marsden. Light and easy.

Time to crack it open with the first bag of SF's and get in the mood. This was helped immeasurably by a new tape arrival from our ole' mate 'Uncle Matt' - a sci-fi mix done on a very appropriate Memorex 'out of this world' tape which I'm sure I had back in the days when tapes were cooler than records, and CD's were modern and untrustworthy. Don't ask about my foray into Minidiscs, we'll be here all night.

I must admit, as much as I'd love the Western themed tapes, I was unsure Sci-fi was going to be able to provide music I'd 'enjoy', but from that very first 'mash up' (I'm down with the kids) which is 'The Flying Saucer'. Side A produced a nice mixture of classics and oddities (of which Space Oddity wasn't an oddity, confusingly!)

My intercom buzzed early, just as I was getting into the swing of things.......

I shouted down from my balcony where a young bearded man on a bike peered upwards. He looked like a Deliverooer, but instead asked me if anyone lived in Flat 5. 'Hermit Beth' with her fat cat 'Angry Jasonette' was the last person who'd lived there, she moved out mysteriously in mid December.

"So she wasn't there on March 21st?" he squeaks, explaining he's from the Census and checking up and forms that haven't been returned. So there you go folks, the census IS policed.

Five minutes later, 'Jordan' (English, friendly, looks like a microbrewery owner) appears in a car so I go down to street level to meet him. Six angry babes (as that sexist monster BRAPA might call them) walk past just at that moment, ready to go on the lash, and I'm worried they are going to kidnap my pie, but they don't cos young English people don't eat English cuisine, we all know that. Beneath them.

Back upstairs, I get prepped, keeping the pie warm in the oven as I swig off my Shoom, grab a 'Silent Echoes' from Turning Point (challenging) and Shazaam this delightful duo whose song I'm enjoying:

Sadly, I only get as far as Track 2 on Side B so I left it tantalisingly before I got chance to listen to 'The Eggplant That Ate Chicago' or do the Cha Cha on the Moon, both of which I am very looking forward to this coming Friday.

Here was my scran:

A nice nob of Lurpak and a strangle of the pepper pot livened up the mash which had looked a bit dry and sorry for itself, I'd chosen mash as last week's chips hadn't convinced. My own mushy peas. The pie was called 'Foraging Chick', which is chicken and mushroom in béchamel sauce and was DELICIOUS, better than last week's Drunken Cow.

The big disappointment was the gravy. Last week, rich and thick like a mug of bovril, this week it was about 90% onion. Where was the liquid? Poor. We'll be back with them next time though.

And we were good to go .....

Film #59 on the list as we'd rolled a lower 17. Good film! Weird. Very weird at times. That's Kronenburg for you, and I'm not sure whether I mean the lager or not. But more enjoyable than last week's disastrous manga thing.

Jennifer Jason Leigh (she's got a pineapple on her head .... oh sorry, wrong Jason Lee) is this famous nerdy game designer. She's got all these geeks assembled in the village hall to try it out. We're slightly into the future, so 'gaming' now involves implanting the game in your spine so you can 'live the experience'. Weird, but you could see it's not the craziest jump from reality.

Jude Law acts like he isn't a gamer at all, just some bloke working at the 'event'. But he gets roped in.

He gets a faulty implant off Jermain Dafoe, so soon JL and JJL don't really know what is reality and what is the game. To say she designed it, she seems surprised by a lot that happens. There's lots of weirdness on a mutant trout farm and in a Chinese restaurant, before we're all done and 'back in the room'. 'How was the game?' asks poor Christopher Eccleston who I thought had been shot in real life, but it was only part of the game.

There's lots of laughing and joking about each players role in it, until JJL and JL reveal themselves to be baddies all along , but I'm so confused by this point, it doesn't really surprise me. I've broken Basic's Law so sorry.

I forgot to put a light on, it soon got dark in York, and I finished my scampi/bacon fries without being able to see them, accidentallly sticking my hands in the onion mess.

Enjoyable stuff though, and I went through to grab my final beer (a cherry Saison, acquired taste!) and roll the dice for next week's film, the closest I get to feeling like I'm at a Vegas casino.

An 'upper' 20 means it'll be film #38, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Another Japanese animation. Nooooo! But the premise sounds errrm full of promise! Eastern promise? Or is that Turkish Delight? And at least you hopefully won't feel you should've watched a 24 part TV series to 'get' this one like The End of Evangelion.

I then took my cherry saison over to my Football Manager desk, where Hungerford Town have FINALLY been promoted at the third time of asking. Hurrah! Thanks for caring. Now how will we fair in the Vanarama National League? Tell me you care.

17th May isn't far off so this Friday will be our penultimate SiFiPieFri night before the final one on Fri 30th April, unless we have a Lockdown 4.0 of course at any point in the future. I'm ruling nothing out.

We will have beer voting and some more sci-fi style options so look out for that on Twitter (can you spot the 4 that will definitely feature?)

On Thursday 6th May, Wine, Western & Wotsits return! And we will then have a final #WWWSI night on Friday 14th May, before I embark on my first #BRAPA jolly holiday of the year on the Sunday/Monday. Then I hope it is BRAPA all the way til 31st December (AND TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!)

But for now, see you all here next Friday for more SiFi fun. Thanks for reading, especially if you've never been to Reading.

Si