Sunday 14th June, 6pm, and it was time to watch a Western, drink some Wine and eat some Wotsits for a third week..........
Perfect Preparation? Cheese City!
If you read last week's blog, you'll know that the key to a successful #WWWSI evening is all in the preparation, and after a blog reader who we'll refer to simply as 'Matthew' for legal reasons suggested I neck a load of full fat milk to line my stomach, I thought I'd give it a whirl.
To show my dedication, I'd gone out in the heavy rain on Friday lunchtime to locate some .....
More terrifying than anything on the forthcoming film. Shining-esque. One glass in, I was feeling sicker than I usually do after a bottle of red wine so I gave it up as a bad job.
My preparation was further hampered by evil Sainsbury's, refusing to give me more than one delivery slot per week, the implications of which were no yummy buffet which served me so well last week. Luckily, I had a frozen pizza in. Unfortunately, it was 'Four Cheese' flavour.
In a totally unrelated move, I then rolled a '4' on the Wotsits dice. Result, I'd be eating four bags of Wotsits alongside a Four Cheese pizza as you can see above. Bloody hell! No wonder Colin and Alex look doubtful.
Whining about the Wine
Today's wine was called Jam Shed from Clare in South Australia originally, though I don't know, it's probably made in an industrial unit in Milton Keynes these days, who knows?
I chose it cos the label was fabulously vintage looking, and being a Shiraz / Syrah at 13.5% and 'on offer', it felt a safe bet, sort of.
I entered their online lucky dip raffle and failed to win a prize. Bad omen.
I didn't enjoy the wine at any point of the night, far too sweet. Jam? I don't know, it is called Jam Shed because the wine making premises in Clare used to be a jam factory. My Grandad worked in a jam factory, they called him the jam man. But that was Elsecar. True story. And fascinating.
But if you want to get to Clare to pay homage to Leasingham Wines, fly to Adelaide (you might need an internal flight), trot to Franklin St, and catch the bus north. Two and three quarter hours it is, 46 Aussie Dollars it'll cost, ignore Saddleworth, Stockport and Penwortham along the way. Mon, Wed or Fri. Probably not worth it til a Good Beer Guide pub opens up there.
The Film - Near Dark
A cult 80's classic with a Vampire theme, I wanted to create an 'atmosphere' with minimal blood letting (though aptly, it was National Blood Donor day). It was a glorious sunny Sunday evening at 18:30, and no Vampire would approve / survive these conditions.
Therefore, I tried to close my blind but the rail is 'warped' (a bit like me) so I couldn't shut it all the way. Oh well, it was 'near' dark. Kinda fitting.
The DVD menu music sounded like 'Higher Love' by Steve Winwood, which I hope you agree is a classic, though not particularly spooky.
The film was a hit for me. Not quite a 'classic'. Not quite 'brilliant' or 'excellent', but certainly 'very good'. I'd recommend it to anyone under the age of 55.
The bar scene where the Vampire family and main character go in to cause carnage was happily, the most memorable.
Ever been to the Freebird in Newcastle Under Lyme, the Ploughman on the outskirts of Peterborough, and tried to get a pint at Gorilla in Manchester during a punk gig? Yes? Well then you know exactly the kind of bar I'm talking about.
Tried to adda couple of images from the film but due to the whole 'no reflection' (or perhaps some copyright issue?), it won't let me.
I know you have to suspend your disbelief in any film like this, but the whole blood transfusion to de-vampirise someome back to human, knocked up in an old blokes shed, was a bit too much of stretch for me, even in this genre. I'm just glad the film wasn't 'cheesy'. Geddit?
Glad for a 45 minute DVD bonus extra, as I'd only eaten one bag of Wotsits by then, my arteries labouring under the strain, and when I woke 5am for a second pint of water amidst fever dreams and with finger ends strangely numb, I wondered yet again 'is WWWSI really worth it?'
The answer of course is 'yes', and see you at the slightly earlier time of this coming Friday (Father's Day commitments on the Sunday) for Week #4.
Si