New member

[tomball]

Hi everyone! I'm Tom, and it's nice to have joined the forum. I have been a Shane fan for many years. Having grown up in the East Midlands it's hard not to be! Been a massive fan of kitchen sink and British cinema all my life, my first real encounter being 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning', a classic of the genre, then moving on to such solid material as Alan Clarke's unflinching 'Scum', and social realism classics such as Loach's 'Poor Cow' and 'Riff Raff'. Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson being two class acts in my opinion, along with the harsh realism of Mike Leigh, of which I saw his superb 'Secrets and Lies', and I knew this was the area of interest for me. Then Shane grabbed me by the throat with 'Small Time' and 'Romeo Brass', and I've never looked back!
I know I've not been on here before, but I'd never really known of it untill the lad who works in my local video store in a midlands town told me of it and said to check it out. He featured in 'This is England '86', and I had a nice chat with him. I told him how I had my 'This is Shane Meadows' DVD box set signed by Shane at HMV in Nottingham, and by Andrew Shim and Vicky McClure. I stole a birthday card early and took the money to buy the box set and meet them, then saw Shane upstairs afterwards talking to HMV staff, and remember being too star struck to talk to him, tongue tied, but wanting to speak as he was next to me, now regretting not doing. That HMV is sadly no longer there, due to there being two in Nottingham, and the one in Vicky centre reigns supreme. Been back home recently to take a look at Hyson Green, the Forest, and Mansfield Road, if any of you know Notts. Next stop next time I'm up is Sneinton and Sneinton Market! I know how to live!
I am hoping to put on a horror film night at my University in Bristol over Halloween (horror being another passion of mine, as are all genres, as I have well over 2,500 films). If all goes well, and it's popular, I will propose I put on a kitchen sink night, or even a back-to-back run of Shane's films in conjunction with the film society. I'll keep you posted if all goes well, and I hope that it does!
That's all, thanks for taking time to read my blog! All the best, Tom.

[saffy]

Hi Tom. Nice to hear from someone so into films. You're going to have loads to read on this site.

Welcome! Pull up a chair and all that .. and have a shandy!

[jill]

Hi Tom,

Welcome to the site. I lived in Hyson Green for quite a long time (went to Berridge)-that was a while ago now though.

Speaking of the Forest-was just thinking this morning that I might go to the fair on Friday, haven't been for yonks.

Good to have you here.

[cliftonestate]

Oct 4, 2010 10:47:45 GMT jill said:

Hi Tom,

Welcome to the site. I lived in Hyson Green for quite a long time (went to Berridge)-that was a while ago now though.

Speaking of the Forest-was just thinking this morning that I might go to the fair on Friday, haven't been for yonks.

Good to have you here.

Try them Hot Mushy Peas there fantastic and the guy who runs the stall is a Nottingham chap.

[tomball]

That's funny Jill, my mum lived on Berridge Road, that's why we went for the walk, a sort of nostalgia trip for her as well as me looking around. Sadly, I am in Bristol now, so miss the fair altogether, but would love to go next year all being well, as well as pulling in the trips to various Notts locations. My family are all from Nottingham and mum has practically lived everywhere, the Meadows, St. Anns, Broxtowe, all the best areas.
I would like to ask the film society at Uni about a film night on kitchen sink or social realism, or possibly a Shane night as I said, because I have lots of mates who love Shane but are not fully aware of the genre as a whole. They love his work but watch no other kitchen sink stuff, and I would like to educate them, for example if they like 'This Is England', get them to watch 'The Firm' (Gary Oldman version of course) and 'ID', or even Loach's coming of age drama 'Sweet Sixteen'. But a back-to-back Meadows night sounds good if I can fix it up, spread the word and get people to come who perhaps aren't familiar with his work down this neck of the woods. Thanks for your reply before, let me know what you think of the film night idea! Thank you. Tom.

[GR]

Welcome aboard, Tom. ;D

[lboropie]

hi tom, just a quick question, how many people go to shane's signings and have you heard if he's doing one again, cheers

[tomball]

There was loads at Nottingham, I queued for ages, but Shane and co got through the crowd pretty quickly once proceedings commenced. I've not heard of other signings happening, but keep an eye out on this site, there may be one announced at some point. It's how I found out about the last one. Hope this helps, regards, Tom.

[jj]

lah lah woteva......

[PatrickCoyle]

Welcome to the forum, Tom! I think a film night idea is good to try and broaden people's horizons. I always fancied getting something like that going when I was at university, but I never bothered because I'm violently misanthropic and I doubted any students would turn up to anything other than a pub crawl. So I just watched them on DVD in my room, fists clenched, swearing vengeance.

[Dazza]

Hi Tom

[tomball]

Thank you for the reply Patrick, nice to see someone believes it's a good idea. By the way, sligtly jealous, I love both Liverpool and Birmingham, my parents lived in an area of Birmingham called Perry Barr years ago. Not Beverley Hills I know, but ok. Nice of you to get in touch, maybe I'll do film nights after Uni too if all goes well!

[jill]

Sorry Tom, always intended to come back, but got side-tracked. The Halloween Night is a great idea, assuming there are no problems with broadcast licences and what not (no idea). I would have thought you'd get plenty of takers at a Uni the size of Bristol. Good luck with it.

Btw, I assume your mum lived on Berridge Rd West or Central? I lived on West for most of my childhood/early teens, so who knows maybe I know/knew her

[Phil]

Welcome to the forum, Tom! At my first year at uni, we organised foreign film night, which at times had a few dozen people turn up. Good luck with your venture.

[micren]

Hi everyone am new to the site. I got bitten by the Shane Meadows bug a while back from This is England. Wanted to learn more and then This is England hit the scene. Just bought A Room for Romeo Brass too and am looking forward to watching other previous films and new films to come.