Al Kitching

It’s amazing to think Nigel Farage was once exactly the same.

Absolutely over the moon with my new slip mat from @gailmyerscough.co.uk. You should go check her stuff out, it’s aces.

Blu-ray box set slip cover for All The Haunts Be Ours, a secondary descriptor declares that it is a compendium of folk horror. The cover graphic depicts a golden tree, before it standing stone and image of a magpie.

Images from the movies Witchhammer and Viy.

Images from the movies Il Demonio and Dark Waters

After too long hemming and hawing, picked up All The Haunts Be Ours, an astonishing compendium of folk horror containing 20 movies from around the world. Started the centrepiece documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched and wondered how I’d get on (it’s 3’15”). It flew by; amazing piece of work.

A tiny kingfisher gleams out from dense overarching willows bordering a narrow river

“On a willow twig a kingfisher perches. It watches the eels with interest, but these are well-grown and too big for him to catch”

‘What to Look for in Autumn’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe Writer:
EL Grant Watson

Yeah, with you there, but for me it’s “Doubt.” I thought she was phenomenal in that.

Talk by Lev Parikian: Birds and Flight Join nature writer Lev Parikian for a fascinating, entertaining talk about the marvel of flight, focusing on a variety of bird species

I’m giving an online talk on Thursday evening at 8pm (UK time) about Birds & Flight. It’s free to RSPB members but anyone can join for a donation. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talk-by-le...

Gail is great, for proof look at all her cool stuff FFS.

A scene - gluttony, if you must know - from David Fincher’s Se7en.

And now…It’s been a while since I last watched Se7en, but here we are.

I’m rewatching Late Night with the Devil (which is great- David Dastmalchian is *fantastic*) and I’ve just realised it has a great mirror in the contemporaneous “3x3” episode of Inside No.9 (the one with Lee Mack, also brilliant).

The driver "managed to contact the control centre at Network Rail and get the train diverted onto the slow line", Calder says. "That was absolutely crucial because this train was scheduled to be travelling through Huntingdon station on the tracks with no platform at 125mph." "It didn't stop in the middle of nowhere, which would have been very difficult." Calder thinks this was handled in the "safest possible way" thanks to the "incredible professionalism from the driver and the police". Train drivers are trained on how to take appropriate action, he adds,

Next time someone tells you that train drivers "just push buttons" show them this from the BBC

“I heard the music of true forgiveness filling the theater, conferring on all who sat there, perfect absolution. God was singing through this little man to all the world, unstoppable, making my defeat more bitter with every passing bar.”

Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) looking imperiously down at everyone as they enjoy The Marriage of Figaro in Amadeus (1984).

I may have missed a memo, but Amadeus still (ahem) rocks. Almost zero cultural footprint these days, but it’s still wonderful.

Someone once told me they breed pretty much the whole year round? They certainly seem to have families at any time of the year.

Reminds me of a story a mate told, where the guy in front of him at the till needed to write a cheque. He asked the date and when the cashier said 20th April, he declared with some delight, “Oh! Hitler’s birthday.”

I feel like if you had to ban social media for any group of people for their own protection, you should probably start with people over 60.

One consistent thing this time of year is that there are crows everywhere. I spend a lot of time thinking about crows. They have the most obnoxious vocalizations of maybe any animal, they’re aesthetically unpleasant and feel like a harbinger of death, and they know when they’re bothering you and they enjoy doing it. Drives me crazy how well they’ve adapted to LA. I saw one just this week going through a garbage can, methodically picking items out of it one by one and tossing them on the ground, looking for foodstuffs. It was making a horrible mess, a mess you’d normally associate with humans. They’re such a pest, and the worst part is you have to respect it. They’re fat and happy and they thrive. They’re annoying in a way that suggests profound intelligence. If they could get around to inventing money, they should get tickets for littering. Treated like equals. I have met crows that should be in jail. There’s one in my neighborhood that seems to have a problem with me personally. They’re my favorite bird.

Revisited this spectacular Kaleb Horton paragraph about crows this morning. "I have met crows that should be in jail" is one of those sentences that's so good you're initially furious you didn't write it yourself before circling back around to just being glad you got to read it.

Thank you and the accent would indeed be spot on 😌

I have a confession; I have never bought a Criterion release. I fear it’d set off a landslide of this-this-and-this purchases.

You can’t go wrong with Big Mick.

I have not, but I’ve heard good things and understand it is back to his beautifully-orchestrated best. Also, that whole chanson thing is like catnip to me.

Yeah, just about fit for purpose I think!

Thanks Pat, hope all is well with you?

Thank you Susan, and for spreading the message. Cheers!

That makes you a star, Steve! All power to you.

That’s fantastic to hear, Wayne. It’s really such a simple thing to do. All power to you.

No, thank you. I was hoping for engagement…I hope you get a positive response!