I am thrilled to share that Carsten Knox invited me on his podcast, Flaw in the Iris, to talk about this blog and my film perversions in general.  You can listen to my episode here:

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/carsten-knox/flaw-in-the-iris-the-film-podcast

I’ve been friends with Carsten for more than a decade (!), meeting him initially when our shows were back-to-back on Sunday morning CKDU radio. The less said about my failed experiment in shock jockery the better, but Carsten’s show, The Love & Hate Movie Show, was a superb platform for his gifts for producing and hosting as well as his exemplary taste in films and music.

(His theme tune was the music from The Warriors combined with audio of the Love/Hate speeches from Night of the Hunter and Do The Right Thing. It never failed to get me pumped to talk about movies.)

The directions Carsten’s writing have gone have always surprised and delighted me. Currently you can read his regular reviews of new release movies on the accompanying Flaw in the Iris blog. (His Cult of One series is his personal Who Speaks Of, though with more maturity.) His work with Mindful magazine expanded my understanding of who he is and how he relates to the world around him.

I want to go back even further to Carsten’s work with Halifax’s alternative weekly, The Coast. In 2005, just as we were getting to know each other, he was working on a long-form piece on Halifax’s comics scene. It was around this time that I was also introduced to Dave Howlett, now my spouse. Carsten’s final piece featured Dave, in his capacity as manager of Strange Adventures, but also served as a valuable window into a community I was just starting to get ensconced in via Dave. Many of the people in the article were (and are still) regular guests at my home I share with Dave and Carsten’s article is a time capsule of happy memories of them.  Don’t let my sentimentality cloud your evaluation of this piece! It is broadly sourced and superbly written. I reread it in prep to write this post and I was blown away at Carsten’s overall analysis of a community of artists who were truly at the start of something big. In other words, everyone is still making comics! (Sadly, Darwyn Cooke has passed away, but his presence is often felt as the swapping of Darwyn stories is a favourite pastime amongst this crew.) It warms my heart infinitely to reread my friend’s feature about my spouse and his industry colleagues.

So, Carsten, here’s to our long friendship. Your insight and ideas have always been welcome, but especially now when I am in the midst of this project. I can think of no better endorsement of your contribution to my writing or to your taste and experience than when I came up with the idea of an off-kilter celebration of 80s and 90s era erotic dramas, I knew instinctively that you would be a primary source for titles, direction and understanding. I’m just about finished with your copies of Malice and The Last Seduction, so we should schedule a meet-up sooner rather than later!

Hillary