I'm surprised there's not thread for this event yet.

Anyone have feedback/pictures/comments they'd like to share...?
Which stories did John read??

There were some comments posted in the Announcements section under the DNA thread.

Below are some pictures from The Apple Store event...



Mark Gatiss, who introduced John...




John performing The Quiet Man...




John reading A Man Made of Shadows...




John taking questions from the audience...

Rob

Nice pictures Rob,

My view from the back row was a bit obscured:(



Brian

oh no Brian.......did you make it there on time?

Great photos of John.

Nope

Hi Everyone,

Hope all those that attended had a nice evening at the Apple Store on Friday.

John was incredible, as ever.

Had a chat with him after the performace, as usual, and took this rather nice photo of him.

Dave.

Great pics thanks for sharing them.

Bad luck Brian, there would have been more pics/vids no doubt.

This was a fantastic event - John was on great form and seemed to be enjoying himself, which is always good to see. There was a really nice, supportive atmosphere, increased by Mark Gatiss' lovely, touching introduction . It was also great to chat to Rob, Dave, Peter and Gary! Thanks for the pics!

So sorry you couldn't make it, Brian - I wondered where you'd got to, as I thought you'd said you were planning to come . What a shame. I hope everyone who's going to DNA tomorrow (and during the course of the week) has a great time - from what John was saying, it sounds like it's going to be amazing!

Just a note about the event on Friday

The Quiet Man film shown was shown, Foxx played live, whilst the Barton narration played over the film. This was followed by A Man Made of Shadows – a b/w film which John not Justin Barton did the narration for. The text to A Man Made of Shadows is very different from the other Quiet Man texts as it is about the Quiet Man from an outsiders perspective and not from The Quiet Man himself. The footage used was repurposed from old Hollywood movies amongst other films (I think one film used was an early Cary Grant one, but I can’t be sure). Footage from Tiny Colour Movies’ Stray Sinatra Neurone had also been repurposed for the film also.

During the Q&A Session John mentioned that he has nearly finished The Quiet Man book – a subject raised earlier by Mark Gatiss, and did hint that he would try and get it finished and published next year.

The questions then turned to film. Foxx mentioned that, as a child growing up in Chorley his parents had a shop and that when the shop closed early on Wednesdays (a tradition in England until the late 80s), his mum would take him to the cinema to watch black and white films. John said that many of these films had content that went ‘over his head’ and so he would invent his own storylines for them, his favourite being Robot Monster.

He then talked about the beauty of Technicolor, notably the blue of swimming pools in the Burt Lancaster film The Swimmer which John said had made a big impact on him. He also talk briefly of John Cheever who wrote The Swimmer. John said of Cheever that he was “one of the best writers ever”.

Foxx was then asked if he’d considered putting together a requiem for the late J.G. Ballard. Foxx said he had and also for Nigel Kneale – creator of Quatermass, but that other projects meant that this would take time. Foxx mentioned that as a child, he had wandered out onto the street after watching the final episode of Quatermass and noticed that the streets were completely empty, as people had stayed in to watch the final episode.

Wrapping up, Foxx quipped that the Apple event was like a Saturday morning at the pictures, and that he’d see us all next year for Episode Two of The Quiet Man.

A big hello to Rob, Gem, Peter and Dave!

Gazza

Gem I got caught in static traffic on the M6.With hindsight it was the main Friday when people were travelling for their holidays so I should have added an extra 3 hours to the padding of my journey time but then again no one could have really predicted being stuck in the same place for 4.5 hours.

For Today's visit I am leaving very shortly.

Thanks everyone for their comments about the Apple store. Some positive reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Shame you couldn't make it Brian. Thank you for keeping informed about your "non" progress down the M6.
It was also nice to see some familiar faces again.
Peter

I got hold of THe Swimmer after seeing the Quiet Man in Leeds last year.

A great film. Watching it with John in mind made it all the more interesting.

Thanks for the tip off about John's appreciation of The Swimmer, which I'd never heard of or seen but thought about the four 'Swimmer' tracks and after finding a clip I came up with this for 'Swimmer IV' ..

youtube link

Thanks for that summary, Gaz - I'm glad you recapped the Q&A session so thoroughly, as a few of the questions were completely inaudible from where I was sitting!

I hope you managed to get there on time today, Brian...

Cheers Gem - really good to meet you!

I was there, standing at the back.

Sent some pictures to Rob Harris too. He was great, wasn't he.

Shook his hand, got a brilliant close up picture and had no idea what to say to him, as usual. Too worried to say the wrong thing!

Got the Horse Hospital all to myself today. A Gary Numan OsCar, the big brother to my EDP Wasp. Well well. Try and make it tomorrow and give John a graphic comic called MISTER X from Vortex from the 90's. Kinda Neil Gaiman art deco world. Anyone know it?