Book signings galore are available this week across the North West.
Olympic diver (three bronzes, one gold) Tom Daley will be signing his knitting book in Manchester Deansgate Waterstones on Tuesday night. Details and tickets.
Bez from The Happy Mondays is also signing his own book in The Trafford Centre Waterstones on Wednesday night.
On Thursday I uploaded For the Love of Horror '22, a review of said horror convention over in Bowlers last week Sunday. What a superb day. Obviously when I share it I want to show the best parts, so organisers will like it. Something, however, got left out…
During the Halloween 2010 panel, when Scout Taylor Compton was playing Never Have I Ever, some of the audience were kids. I can’t remember exactly how old they looked, but I’m not sure their parents would have been too happy about threesome conversations. The site says ‘If your child is over the age of 14 then yes, they may attend the convention without adult supervision, any younger than this and a full paying adult MUST attend with them.’
Next year’s FTLOH already has Tim Cappello and Ray Wise booked as guests. It will probably sell out fast.
I was on leave a few weeks ago. 2 of my tasks for my time off were recipes: one from The Roasting Tin, one from The Hairy Dieter’s Cookbook.
From BBC’s The Hairy Bikers, this is the book I’ve probably cooked from the most. Their breakfast section has notably quick recipes. I wanted something not too carb-based, so went for Pan-Fried Bacon with Poached Egg and Balsamic Tomatoes.
Simple and tasty. I don’t own a pastry brush for keeping oil even in the pan, but survived. Is it worth another utensil clogging up my kitchen, that then needs to be cleaned? I also hadn’t realised I’d ran out of white wine vinegar, something I only use for recipes.
The poached eggs came out just right. Took me 20 mins, perhaps longer than some.
When I walk into Bowlers at around midday, I find the Halloween 2007 movie cast playing ‘Never Have I Ever’ with a seated audience. Scout Taylor-Compton (Laurie Strode) is asking the us which of us had had a threesome. One or two claimed to have done.
It’s the second day of For the Love of Horror, a horror movie convention in Manchester. There are panels like the one currently taking Q+As (The cast of Dream Warriors are up next), there are cosplayers, photo opportunities, stalls with an array of movie stars signing autographs, a small cinema showing classic horror movies, set builds from films like Scream and The Thing, and a trader’s market with horror memorabilia.
Next up: a photo op with Lisa and Louise Burns, The Grady Twins from the 1980 movie The Shining. They seemed nice.
Tim Cappello, saxophonist from 80s vampire classic The Lost Boys, takes the stage after this. He explains that he missed the audition for Lethal Weapon, for the role of head bad guy Peter McAllister (not to be confused with Kevin’s dad in Home Alone, a totally different character with the same name). This went to Mitchell Ryan (whom you might recognise as Fletcher’s boss in Liar Liar and Debbie’s dad in Gross Pointe Blank).
Producer Joel Silver took Cappello on for Lost Boys, where he’s seen singing his cover of The Call’s hit I Still Believe, providing his own saxophone accompaniment.
“I Still Believe,” Cappello clarifies, “is not a religious song.”
After a Q and A session of his own, he grabs his sax for a one-man performance. Religious or not, the song and artist – not to mention the movie – all have a following.
He rounds off his set by switching his sax for, if I’m not mistaken, a kazoo.
Monopoly Events are consistently bringing together great media shows like this one, For the Love of Sci Fi (happening in December), For the Love of MMA (next April) and Comic Cons across the north of the UK. Get involved!
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| William Ragsdale, Charley Brewster off Fright Night |
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| American Werewolf in London wasn't a blog reader |
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| The Thing set |
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| Zach Galligan, Billy from Gremlins |
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| The back of David Arquette's head, Officer Dewey in Scream |
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| Roger L Jackson, Ghostface in Scream |
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| Slipknot's Corey Taylor |
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| Liverpool Comic Con lineup next month |
I’ve got bags of #psychologysaturday posts ready to go up, a weekly trend I'm trying out. I’m working on the post from last weekend’s For the Love of Horror event. I’ve also got my ticket for the upcoming Saddleworth Santa Dash, a 5km run through the Oldham countryside featuring 500 Father Christmases, ending in food, drink and music in an Uppermill park. Get your tickets. They include your Santa suit, medal and participant number. Saturday, 3rd December. Plenty of time to train!
The Santa Dash clashes with the first day of For the Love of Sci Fi 2022, a science fiction convention in Bowlers, Trafford Park. The 6th event to run will include appearances from Back to the Future, Mandalorian and Stranger Things cast. Don’t miss this! I’ll obviously be buying Day 2 tickets. Another event to keep an eye on, also brought to you by Monopoly Events: Liverpool Comic Con. Expect cast from Sons of Anarchy, Stranger Things and Vampire Diaries. If all goes well I’ll be meeting Vikings’ Katheryn Winnick, Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito, Joe Pantalonio from Bound and The Matrix, and Probably Robert Davi (Sanchez from License to Kill). Tickets are flying out though. My poor wallet.
Here are my latest Teatime Bookshop subscription books – they’re piling up! This was a present from a relative – 2 crime novels a month with hot chocolate and biscuit supplies. What a treat!
This week I also starred in a music video for a colleague. When that’s online, I’ll share it.
Next up in Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin: this quick steak dish, Mexican-style.
Cook time was down as 23 mins. Took me 45. Forgetting to preheat the oven was a factor there. Still, a simple recipe full of traditional Mex ingredients: cumin, coriander, paprika etc., oven baked then transferred into fajitas. Really tasty.
