Sunday, 26 January 2020

RIP Manchester Cool Bars and Clubs / Cold Storage review

It's the end of an era: Meetup group Manchester Cool Bars and Clubs has folded. Neither me nor Silvia were running events through there any more, and when we did something always got in the way of a good night out: either people didn't respond to the event, or they did, but then didn't turn up, or they turned up dressed inappropriately or without ID meaning we couldn't get into the clubs. It became more hassle than it was worth.

Over the past 5 or so years I've had some good times with the group and met some great people. We went to many a celeb haunt, saw some impressive DJs and singers perform, and bumped into a few other famous types too. See the album. Most importantly, we just had good nights out with good people.

There are still plenty of Meetup groups active in Manchester, despite their turnover. Many like Manchester Minimalists have disappeared too, but Young Professionals in Manchester, Socialising in the City, Happy, and After Work Drinks are still active. I've enjoyed their events, and may do again.

In other news, I finished Cold Storage, the first novel from Hollywood screenwriter David Koepp. After containing a deadly virus, Pentagon worker Diaz locks it away in a storage facility for decades, only for it to break out. Now, teaming up with a couple of mismatched security guards, he must contain it again. The virus, Cordyceps Novus, takes over any creature it can, dead or alive, zombifying it, making it climb high structures or find other creatures- most recently humans- and exploding it to spread itself.

A story heavily influenced by movies like the 70s zombie trend, Night of the Living Dead etc, plus also Dustin Hoffman film Outbreak, Cold Storage has a very movie-like plot: gung-ho Americans with guns, a short time period, an unconvincing attraction between 2 completely mismatched characters, and lots of visual twists and turns. It's fun, but hardly original and even clumsy in places. 





I met Mr Koepp in September last year. 

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