Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 367

Strange Shops

This month’s selection of strange shops comes to you from Andalucia, and range from wholesale creepy religious paraphernalia to a sewing shop with a crucifix made from cotton reels, and a shop in Cadiz that sells – well, I have absolutely no idea what it sells, but its window display looked as if it hadn’t [...]

Sod The Staycation

Friends have asked me why I would go to Jerez (see columns passim) for a weekend when it’s so awkward to get to – there’s only one flight on the revolting Ryanair, or else you have to change in Madrid – but I think it’s one of the best-kept secret destinations in Europe. There are [...]

The Letter Of The Law

A curious little story by Paula Cocozza in the Guardian today: A care home manager has been fined £1,118.62 after he paid an £804 debt to his accountant with five crates of 1p and 2p coins.

According to the Royal Mint, 1p and 2p coins are legal tender only if you are paying for something [...]

Yet More Creepy Amusements

My obsession with creepy things in glass cases has been further fuelled by my mate Porl, who has found some more on Southport pier, including what appears to be a Madame Blavatsky model straight out of ‘Bryant & May and the Memory of Blood’. He’s also found a ‘Grip Test’ of one’s manhood upon which [...]

Re:View – ‘Snow White & The Huntsman’

There are two ways you can go with fairtytales on film; you can make them camp and primary-coloured, like ‘Mirror, Mirror’ (which was a fail) or – to paraphrase Monty Python – you can cover them in shit. This is of the latter type, where the villagers squelch about in mud and fleas, and even [...]

E-Writing – That’s Not Real Writing, Is It?

The next time I buy a DVD or CD (as opposed to downloading it, which is something I’m morally against) I’ll just walk out of the store with it, is that okay? Or Virgin Media. who organise the carriage of programmes into homes (and are better at it than Sky), let’s not pay them either. [...]

More From The Future

Perfectly timed to coincide with the piece below, this press release just came into my inbox from some nerdy TV techs;

Supposedly within five years, TV will have changed out of all recognition. Instead of a box in a corner, you’ll have a big matrix of six bezel-less flat-screen TVs combining to form a huge, almost [...]

When The Future Arrives, Tell Me

An article in The Guardian today discusses the downside of 3D printing, the computer technology that recreates objects as 3D wireframe models so that they can be manufactured as single units.

For some time now, this has been seen as a ‘magic bullet’ for manufacturers, who will no longer have to worry about economy of scale. [...]

Trains From Hell

Here’s another fantasy train that would have made a great cover for my Gothic thriller ‘Hell Train’, this one spotted on the side of a Spanish funfair ride. I still prefer Graham Humphries’ take on it, though.

Unlike British funfair rides, European ones offer real value for money and seem to last for about twenty minutes. [...]

More Creepy Amusements

Last year I posted some creepy amusements from the Prater in Vienna. Now my ‘Eyes In The North’ Porl Cooper has spotted this Victorian Jolly Jack Tar at the end of Southport pier, and pointed out how much it looks like the one that features in the story ‘Oh, I Do Like To Be Beside [...]