REPOST: VidBinge 2005

Originally posted on The Unpleasant Lair Of Spank The Monkey 21/12/2005

Last year's VidBinge report came some six weeks after the event itself. This year, I've pulled my finger out and managed to get it up on the web just four days after it happened. Hey, maybe now I've lost my job, at least the updates on here will be more regular.

REPOST: VidBinge 2004

Originally posted on The Unpleasant Lair Of Spank The Monkey 01/02/2005

Ha! And you thought the writeup of my Pick Of The Year 2004 CD was late? Well, yes, I suppose it was. Though it's nothing like as bad as the six weeks that elapsed between my traditional end-of-year movie roundup party, and the date when I finally got around to writing about it.

REPOST: VidBinge 2003

Originally posted on The Unpleasant Lair Of Spank The Monkey 20/01/2004

They pick 'em, I flick 'em (or something): the annual get-together of Spank's Pals over four of the most interesting movies released in 2003, as revealed by that picture over there.

REPOST: VidBinge 2002

Originally posted on The Unpleasant Lair Of Spank The Monkey 12/01/2003

Once again, Spank's Pals assemble for their annual vote of the best movies of the year, and then watch as many of them as they can over one day. What did they choose this time? Well, that image to the left may be some sort of clue, obviously.

REPOST: VidBinge 2001

Originally posted on The Unpleasant Lair Of Spank The Monkey 01/01/2002

Five of the best films of 2001 - oh, all right, four of the best films of 2001, plus Quills - as watched by Spank's Pals during our annual DVD slobfest.

REPOST: VidBinge 2000

Originally posted on The Unpleasant Lair Of Spank The Monkey 22/12/2000. Following on from VidBinge 1999, and leading up to VidBinge 2006, I'll be reposting all the ones in between on a daily basis between Christmas and New Year.

A look at the year 2000's best cinema releases, or at least the ones that have made it onto DVD. Warning: contains imagery that may be unsuitable for young children and fan clubs of female singer/songwriters.

VidBinge 1999 Revisited

Now it can be told! The full shocking truth about the first ever VidBinge event, and what happened when I tried to recreate it some seven years later.

Wild Japan: Outlaw Masters

Japan! It's still the new Hong Kong, or something. Which is why a second collection of outlandish Japanese genre movies from the 60s and 70s is making its way around the arthouses of the UK at the moment. Here's what to expect if and when it reaches your town.

Rising Monkey III: The Scoffening

Following on from the earlier posts relating to our 2006 Japanese holiday (Earth Celebration and Rising Monkey III: The Snoozening), here's guest writer The Belated Birthday Girl to tell you about the current state of food and drink in Japan. Links to restaurant sites, maps etc are provided where available - if you need any of the Japanese sites translating into English, Babelfish may be of some use. But only some.

For me, one of the main pleasures of travelling is eating, and in Japan there is always plenty of excellent food to be had.  The trickiest thing about writing about it is deciding which places to leave out - there were many other great meals we had.  But I've decided to take my lead from Spank's list of 10 places where we slept - only I couldn't quite limit myself to that, so here are 10-plus-1 places where we ate.

REPOST: The Line Between Stupid And Fun: Pick Of The Year 2005

Originally posted on The Unpleasant Lair Of Spank The Monkey 01/02/2006

No-one could accuse us of being party poopers here at The Unpleasant Lair. And that's why our end-of-year roundups drag on until February of the following year, keeping the New Year's Eve spirit going. Or something like that.