Last night, I dreamed I went to Manderley again…. no, wait a minute…. Last night what I actually did was go on my first serious night ‘out’ in a very long time, and my first genuine all-nighter since around 1997. It was to a club called Sankeys, and the occasion was a night called Wonky Pop, which had an interesting selection of live acts (most interesting of which was upcoming electro-pop act Little Boots). It was mostly fun, and it’s a long time since I’ve seen any live music… and yet it was also the kind of experience you have to do in order to find out that you don’t necessarily have to do it again. It’s just another area where I feel like I don’t quite belong – for various obvious reasons I’ve been feeling somewhat lacking in a sense of belonging for a while, and last night didn’t really do anything to help. But one day, something will. And I am going to keep looking.

The whole night was pretty much fun until 3am – the final act turned out to be a somewhat tuneless electro-pop duo fronted by a guy who looked like he’d just wandered in from waiting tables at a Greek restaurant, and who also proved that while some people have stage presence, some other people don’t and all the posing and effort in the world won’t help. After that the DJs proceeded to play a selection of clashing and unattractive house music (interrupted by occasional oddities, like the 12” of ‘Controversy’ by Prince, or ‘Push It’ by Salt ‘N’ Pepa), and it was a bit of an effort making it to 5AM when I finally made a break for Picadilly Gardens and was able to catch a bus. Like I said – I’m glad I did it, but I’m not going to be in a rush to do it again.

As a completely seperate aside, one thing I located today that really made me laugh: blogger MightyGodKing has been doing a regular look at the old edition of DC Comic’s Who’s Who, plucking out some of the more obscure entries and ripping the hell out of some of the truly ridiculous heroes and villains who have populated the DC Universe. As a pointed look at the sheer insanity of superhero universes, it simply can’t be beat – have a look, and goggle in wonder.