shitake attack

I had a few days off and I saw some films. For example: King Kong Versus Godzilla. I saw this as a kid and particularly remember the giant octopus. The octopus is still quite impressive, possibly because it's real. Not really giant, of course, just not a man in a rubber suit. As an adult, I can now appreciate other aspects of the film too, such as the curious sight of a small Japanese boy in blackface (one of the natives of Kong's island) being plied with cigarettes. Or the splendidly stilted linking scenes added for American audiences - a TV newscaster interviewing a world-renowned scientist who pontificates on the nature of Godzilla while brandishing a children's book about dinosaurs.

This was followed in the very same cinema (Prince Charles) by Matango: Fungus Of Terror, in which some shipwrecked Japanese holidaymakers turn into mushrooms. Not just any old mushrooms, obviously: these are 'laughing mushrooms'. And they have to eat them first before turning into them. So you see it's all perfectly logical, and treated with commendable seriousness.

Some people think that this film is about drugs. Well, who knows? The boat's passengers (including a playboy, a singer, and a novelist) are dismissed as 'parasites' by the skipper, so perhaps their transformation is a natural consequence of their sybaritic lifestyles. 'They're half-mushroom', the as-yet-untainted hero remarks, witheringly, when his girlfriend decides she wants to join the fungus-munching brigade, who are always happy to recruit new members. 'You're half-mushroom!', I felt like saying to passers-by, as I left the cinema on a high. Obviously I restrained myself, but sometimes it worries me that one day I will simply disappear into a world of offbeat cultural references, and they'll need a team of experts to, if they can be bothered, deprogram me.

But for the moment I am still - just about - part of society. The other night as I was walking up Queens Road, a drunk guy high-fived me. As did I, him. The prelude to this on my i-pod was some sinister ambient music which I identified afterwards as by Starving Weirdos: Pagan Unity Ritual. Pagan Unity Ritual! Like a dry little comment on what had just happened. Can it be that my i-pod is controlling events? And I haven't even 'turned on Genius', as I-Tunes always seems to want me to do. I wonder what would happen if I did?