The first film not originally included in my top 100 Westerns was Hang 'Em High, and I'm pretty sure it is quite famous. In fact, our follower Pauline Sharp recently recommended it. So I'm not quite sure why it didn't make the original cut.
I'd taken a couple of days annual leave just to 'get me through' the seemingly never ending monotony of Lockdown 3.0. As such, I'd turned into a lazy, ill disciplined slob, and because I didn't get around to having my Full English Breakfast until 3pm, I wasn't particularly 'ready' for #WWWSI night when it arrived!
To try and work up an appetite, I had a walk around 'Micklegate Ward' in the sub zero (but nowhere near as bad as Minneapolis) night air.
Two chavs chuckled by the swings, I passed a couple of shuffling old crones, and the only real drama came when I returned to my flat and made the little Twog who lives below me bark like crazy.
There has been a spate of dog thefts in my area of late, but this little urchin who I affectionately refer to as Colonel Tossface is the only mutt that no one has attempted to nick, on the grounds that he is such a little shit bag.
With the icy air / warm flat contrast of temperatures stinging my face, and this amusing thought passing through my mind, the time was nigh to begin the preparation.
I weighed out 3 (THREE) bags of Wotsits, equating to 49.5g or something. In an unexpected manoeuvre (and WWWSI first), I ate all the Wotsits before I'd even left the kitchen, as I danced around, posed, drank wine, and listened to Aussie folk punkers The Go Set whilst I waited for my Ciabatta to heat up.
The wine in question was a Petit Verdot, which my book thinks is hilarious as it means 'little green one' which perhaps shows humour is limited in the world of red wine. Just like craft beer, it MUST be taken seriously, by serious people, and must NOT be laughed frivolously at under any circumstances. If you wanna enjoy beer or wine, go to Aldi and choose the cheap stuff you uneducated commoners.
The above map of the world shows this wine in French in origin, but Spain, California and South African varieties are acceptable too.
So what a rebel I am for choosing an Australian one, from somewhere along the Murray River called Kingston (not upon Hull). Now, I really enjoyed it, despite only drinking two glasses, as I did not want to be ill for beers whilst I watched Hull City thump MK Dons (ummmm) 18 hours later. BUT I'm sure a Frenchman would tell you a French Petit Verdot is better. But then again, imagine if France had made Neighbours, Prisoner Cell Block H or Round the Twist. Would be dreadful wouldn't it? EXACTLY!
'What is he wittering on about?' I hear the few of you still reading, ask. No idea, but I was happy.
My laissez-faire approach (look, I CAN do French) at least gave me time to hone the cheeseboard. I'd promised myself 'smoked sausage' too (wa-hey!) but after all the meat earlier, I was happy to go veggie for this one.
The ciabatta was out of the oven, we were finally good to get going.
The star of the show was a new hard cheese I'd got but never heard of before, a bit like a slightly 'easier' to eat Parmigiano Reggiano.
My new apple & pear chutney went great with the cheeses on some crackers, Mum had loaned me some Benecol spread (does she want it back?) and I was finally in the right WWWSI headspace to go through and enjoy the film, the time well past 9pm.
DVD this week (only turned up that morning) as those bar stewards at Amazon Video wouldn't let me rent it but tried to make me buy it for £7.99! Bugger that, when you can get a used copy online for like £1.49.
GOOD film, as you'd expect from the name and anything starring Clint Eastwood. I do feel he steals a living though, as he just wanders around looking mean and moody, snarling, occasionally dispatching a baddie, but doesn't do much. But you'd miss him if he wasn't there. The Richie Smallwood of Westerns.
A bit like 'Seven Men from Now' which we watched recently, the premise is that NINE men tried to unjustly hang Clint, but (big mistake), they didn't finish the job and he survived, vowing to track them all down, apart from the one from Swansea, Taffy Jenkins, who didn't think it was fair.
Well, there's lots of justice, injustice, hanging, a couple of ladies that catch Clint's eye, a picnic, two blonde kids, and whilst I can't spoil it under 'Basic's Law' (2020), I'd recommend you give it a watch.
It struck me how much public hangings were probably the football matches of their day, and it was sad to read the main lady Inger Stevens committed suicide two years later (I always like to go on Wikipedia to help me follow the plot, but mainly to see if any of the actors in these films are still alive).
Pubwise, we had this 'straight outta Wilmslow' gin boutique effort, Flour & Feed , likely to be the only brand new entry in the soon-to-be-much-maligned 2022 Good Beer Guide.
Three handpulls was too many for Clint #Pubman but luckily the baddie with one eye (no, not George Boyd) was sat at the bar so he shot him in anger before having to decide between Doom Bar, Tribute and some insipid pale from Cheshire (he rightly chose Tribute).
And with that, I called it a night, trying to drink a couple of glasses of water before bed to stave off inevitable hangover next day.
WWWSI TROPHY ROUND THREE RESULTS
You may or may not have watched my YouTube videos through your fingers, but if didn't, we now have our quarter finalists decided. Here are the results:
Tim Thomas 1-3 Becca Robertshaw
Ellie Fin 0-2 Dave Southworth
Glasnevin Beers 5-3 Katie Fuller
Citra 0*-0 Joydip Basu (Citra wins 1-0 AET)
About Western Movies F.C. 1-2 John Watson
Scott Johnson 3-2 Chris Baldwin
Pub Ticker 1-2 Duncan Mackay
Si Everitt 2-0 Emily Keith
The draw for the quarter finals will happen next Sunday (21st) at 3pm, and the matches will be played the following weekend. The Golden Wotsit Cup is up for grabs nowwwww!
NO actual WWWSI night this coming week, you really can have too much of a good thing so I'm having a break but will hope to be back Fri 26th.
See ya then, Si