My sister and I ventured out to Old Street to see the exhibition, Not For Rental at 71A. The home of Little White Lies and Huck magazines. It is a marvelous place. Office on the ground floor, complete with a small shop front, then a gallery/screening area in the basement.
The room was set up like a video rental store. With all the video cases displayed (some empty). All the artwork was on the covers. There was also a game to guess the film from the artwork, most cases had the answer on the back. We, unfortunately had missed the public viewing and had arrived on the day the artwork was being sold. So there were a few gaps and as we looked around, videos were flying off the shelves. The exhibition was for a good cause, charity. The money was going to the Macmillan cancer support charity. At the back of the gallery there was a projection set up, playing an odd looking film on the back wall. After being distracted by it we realised it was Conan the Barbarian, with Schwarsenegger.
Looking at those videos made me think of the old video store that used to be up our high street. It was crammed full of videos, with little room between the shelves (floor to ceiling), it was great! But then a chain took over, Apollo, then they went bust and one night all the stores in the area were cleared out, left abandoned. Blockbuster did the same, except slowly, at least the one near me did that.
After the exhibition, it was onto The Book Club for brunch! I had never been there but my sister has and she recommended it. We had amazing ice coffee and I couldn't resist the pancakes, a small stack packed with berries and maple syrup. So good! Thinking of it now makes my mouth water.
After those pancakes we wondered over to one of my favourite places, Drink Shop Do. We indulged in more ice coffee and shared an amazing piece of victoria sponge. It was such a hot day more ice coffee and water was needed. On the way to the refreshments we stopped at a bookshop that had a trolly outside saying 'Books £1 each) so we had a rummage through. There were some ancient film journals and some even older copies of BFI Sight and Sound magazine from the 70s! Of course I picked up a copy, for £1, it was bargain to come across this history!
Anyhoo, to round up the day here are some of my favourite video cover artworks. See if you can guess the films.
