Happy New Year 2024

 

New Years Day 2024

Well, it’s that time of year when we are all supposed to be looking to the future to see what new opportunities await us in the current year. As I write these words though, it’s actually a couple of days before New Years Eve and my mindset is in that terrible time between Christmas And New Years Eve when we are all surviving on Turkey and are filled with too much Tunis Cake and excess (if you are lucky enough to be able to get your hands on a Tunis Cake these days... why the heck don’t McVities make those things anymore?).

The time of year when people like me are dreading going back to the office and increasingly questioning the reasons why we do this... or perhaps, why we all allow a truly terrible government that can’t pull itself together and realise the work environment has changed in many people’s minds (for the better, during the pandemic, when we were all saving time and money and were a lot fitter for all those walks) and that we’re fed up with the powers that be trying to con us in this and so many other ways. I've actually been more miserable the last few days than I have in a very long time which, honestly, should not be happening when I'm on holiday. But anyway...

It’s also the time of year when I tell you some of the things I hope to be reviewing on the blog for the next 52 weeks (assuming I am still in good enough shape to type) and, that’s tricky actually because, it sometimes takes me a good few years after I’ve declared that... to get the films watched, the books read and so on... before I can get it up on the site. But, let’s not be cynical and I’ll try my best to predict once again. In terms of books there will be, hopefully, all of Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula books, some more of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers Of London books and maybe I’ll get to revisit some Michael Moorcock too. In terms of movies, aside from the obvious tent pole cinema releases coming (although... they kinda look dire this year so, maybe not so obvious), there are all kinds of movies and boxed sets coming up which I hope to get up on the blog. So, at the very least, I hope to finish off the Basil Rathbone series of Sherlock Holmes reviews, get a bunch of Hammer Dracula movies up and, alongside a bunch of Shaw Brothers classics, I also have to finish off the All The Haunts Be Ours folk horror set, finish watching The Sensual World Of Black Emanuelle set and watch the Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest set. Not to mention a healthy dose of genre movies from around the world including Mexican, Italian and Bollywood horror movies.

So yeah, lots to come and some of the stuff mentioned above is already written and awaiting publication here. So, I’d better get on with it all and just take this opportunity to wish everyone, possibly against all odds, a very Happy New Year. Thanks for reading the blog and... oh yeah... there are now only eight days left if you want to join in with this year’s Annual Cryptic Movie Quiz, right here