Welcome to the Guest Room

Twenty years ago, I got into the El Mariachi trilogy/Once Upon a Time in Mexico fandom and spewed out the longest thing I ever wrote - a 230k word series set in a batshit crazy world.

I'd always intended there to be more one more short story in that series to wrap it up, but I got bogged down after only 4,000 words and I officially abandoned it early in 2009. Then a few months ago, a reader went through the whole series, leaving long, enthusiastic comments on every chapter, and as we chatted back and forth my love for these characters and this insane universe reignited with a vengeance. So I went back and I finally finished it - another old story removed from the list of those that haunt me 😁 The best readers are absolute gold ❤️

Here, for the edification of myself and the one other person who still cares about this insanity more than two decades later 🤪 Beware the tags, because Sands is an arsehole.

Tapestry (17k words)

It's been too long again, shocker - time to play a bit of catch up on stuff.

Becoming Led Zeppelin (Netflix). What it says on the tin. A documentary about the formative years of Led Zep, with extensive interviews with the three surviving members and some excerpts from the few interviews with John Bonham before he died.
This is the perfect time to make this documentary - the three still alive are old enough to have a lifetime's perspective on their youth, but still very much alert and coherent. The early parts of this documentary are the most interesting, when they're talking about their teenage years. Robert Plant talking about being homeless because his family wouldn't let him sing. Jimmy Page talking about playing guitar as a session musician, gazing starstruck at Shirley Bassey. The concert footage from early performances is interesting too, because there are distinct differences between those versions of the songs and the album versions, and some insane improv sessions. The last 20 minutes or so is mostly footage of their bigger concerts and not saying anything new.


Train Dreams (Netflix). The tale of a Pacific Northwest logger from the end of the nineteenth century through the next sixty decades of his life. It's the story of one man through America's history of cultural change and societal change, some of it brutal, some of it confusing, all of it inescapable. It's also a detailed story of love and loss and grief and dealing with all of that while still having to go on living. Slow moving with beautiful cinematography, involving and sad.


The Handmaiden This has been on my list of 'I should watch that at some point' for nearly a decade, and I finally got around to it. All I really knew about it was that it was the Korean lesbian porn thing, but it's so much more than that! It's really good (which I had heard, that's why it was on the list, but still it's good good.) Gorgeous cinematography, unreliable narrators all the way, twisty plotting with everyone trying to manipulate everyone around them to their own ends, and quite a commentary on societal hierarchy and hypocrisy. Also, I have to mention, towards the end there is a torture scene that is quite graphic. The person being tortured is an unpleasant scumbag, but it's still a lot. So maybe avoid if you're not going to stomach that.


Pillion I did not like this at all. It's promoted as a gay black comedy, and it has some funny moments here and there, but mostly I couldn't begin to enjoy it because the central relationship is thoroughly abusive.
Let me be clear here - it's not abusive because it's BDSM, it's abusive because it's BDSM with zero negotiation of boundaries or limits, which means there is no informed consent. Colin isn't just naive to BDSM, he's a virgin with no clue about anything gay sex, which makes him easy to exploit. And when Colin starts to get a clue and attempts to set limits and negotiate boundaries, that's when his boyfriend who only wants sex and is terrified of anything that might be a relationship, pitches a fit.
If you want to see Alexander Skarsgard with his kit off, go for it, you'll see a lot of him. I can't recommend this film for anything else.


The Brutalist (HBO) Historical epic about a Hungarian Jewish architect who comes to America after surviving the Holocaust. It's a story about the American immigrant experience, about starting over in a land where you have nothing and all your intelligence and experience is worthless, and even though you are technically accepted you are very much ostracised. It's about assimilation vs retaining your own culture, about the hypocrisy of American society, commitment to a dream and the exploitation of the working classes.
Adrien Brody is fantastic. The cinematography is superb. It was interesting but left me at an emotional disconnect. Technically clever but not engaging.