On Sunday I went to the Memorabilia fair at the NEC in Birmingham. For those of you that do not know, Memorabilia is a glorified fan convention centred around movie memorabilia though it is increasingly incorporating sports memorabilia too. I have been going to these events since I was 16 and usually come back feeling disappointed or ripped off. Admission to the event is getting more expensive each year. The tickets are now £11 each and parking, on the railway station car park, is £6. £28 for a few hours out is a tad extortionate but still makes for a fun afternoon out where you can stare at z-list celebrities who want over £10 for a signed photo and laugh as people push and shove each other a DVD stands paying hugely inflated prices for discs that can be purchased online for over half the price. There is also the odd Darth Vader and StormTrooper lurking around and clearly in their element.

What I noticed about Sunday's event was that there was hardly anyone there which is hardly surprising considering the rising admission costs. I actually had a good time and thought this was one of the best Memorabilia events that I had been to. I managed to pick up the latest issue of 'Is it Uncut?', the best British horror magazine/fanzine period, direct from Midnight Media and met David Kerekes and co at the Headpress stand who were very friendly. Headpress are an independent publisher famous for their excellent journal of sex, religion of death also called Headpress. Kerekes is an authority on the mondo film, his books Killing for Culture, which is being rereleased in an updated version, and See No Evil are must haves for anyone with an interest in the darker side of cinema.

I also met Craig from MovieTyme who kindly let me have the HD-DVDs of Clerks 2 (2006) and Enter the Dragon (1973) for £24. I cannot recommend MovieTyme highly enough, they are the best supplier of High-Definition titles and offer an excellent, friendly service. I managed to cut a deal with another seller and get some back issues of Video Watchdog for a cheap price and finally found an extremely rare poster of V for Vendetta (2005) for £10 which is now worth four times that if not more (pictured above). A good haul for once, could have spent much more but was happy with what I found.

I did not manage to find to the German DVD release of the horror film Rituals (aka The Creeper) (1977) but ordered that on Monday from Chainsaw Video in Holland or the Another World Entertainment release of The New York Ripper (1982) which I also ordered Monday from Absurd in Denmark. Also purchased the uncut Dutch release of Abel Ferrara's Fear City (1984) from eBay. This is a film I have been wanting to see for quite some time now. In addition to the Mario Bava boxset, I should have plenty of viewing to keep me busy over the Easter holiday!