DVD Club

Tonight's the first meeting of my new DVD club.  I'd tell you more about DVD club, but the first rule of DVD club is....... no, wait.  I've done that joke already. In which case:

DVD club is a bit like a book club, but with films instead of books.  It was my friend Dan's idea, and it's a pretty good one, I think. Which wouldn't surprise you if you knew my friend Dan.   Every month we're going to watch two DVDs which are connected in some way, and then get together to talk about them.  Think Only Connect meets Film 2011, with less eye-liner.  And some dinner thrown in.

Films for tonight are both to do with obsession: one is the brilliantly named I Think We're Alone Now which is a documentary about two men who are obsessed with 80s pop-sensation Tiffany (see what they did there?).  And by obsessed, I don't just mean knows-every-single-lyric-and-has-a-tendency-to-jump-up-and-down-screaming-"omygodILOVEthissong"-far-too-loudly-in-a-public-place. We all know those people.  Let's face it: some of us ARE those people.  These guys are properly obsessed - it's jaw-dropping stuff. Very well handled; it's the kind of story which could easily stray into "let's all have a good laugh at the freaky people" territory, but manages not to.

The other is a film I'd seen before - in One Hour Photo Robin Williams plays a photo-kiosk employee who becomes obsessed with one of his customers.  I was slightly reluctant to watch this again, to be honest - I remembered being very underwhelmed when I saw it a few years ago.  As it turns out I couldn't have been more wrong.   It was brilliant.  Robin Williams is also briliant, and strangely sympathetic. 

 On a different note, I went on a historical treasure hunt around London at the weekend.  We didn't win, but we did pick up a prize for having the best team name:  Raiders of the Lost Plaques.