So you think you know about film? Hah. I can prove that you don't. Pop along to Upstairs at the Ritzy on the last Tuesday of every month and have a go at their quiz, You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat. I work in the sodding industry and every month you'll find me banging my head on the table and wailing with frustration at my cinematic ignorance, wondering if I should have followed my dad's advice and done accountancy instead.
Then I realise that actually, I'm just a normal person (well, according to my mummy) but am pitting myself against a bunch of serious, serious, serious geeks. Because this is not just your average movie quiz. This is the creme de la creme of movies quizzes. I know this because my regular partner-in-crime is a colleague who is himself a massive nerd and knows the answers to questions more obscure than the name of the second cameraman from Hungary's award-winning 1928 silent short about ducks, and yet the highest we've ever come is third. Damn you, Mild Peril & Some Sexy Scenes. Why must you be there every month, stealing our thunder, with your indefatigable movie trivia knowledge?????
But on to the location. The bar itself isn't bad. It's not somewhere I'd choose to come on a regular night; the seats aren't particularly comfortable, the drinks and bar snacks are bog-standard and overpriced, and there are a couple of staff members with egos the size of a small country. But they do stage some deservedly popular events and one can only admire the dedication required to collect and stick up the movie posters which quite literally cover the walls. It's nice and close to Brixton station and obviously it's handy for when you've got time to spare before your film starts. But strip away the events and to be perfectly honest, it's nothing out of the ordinary.
Of course, if we ever come second, I'll blatantly award another star. Yup, I really am that shallow. read more