We wandered into St Sulpice in Paris the other weekend. As my delightful travelling companion went off to light a candle for her Grandmother, I put on my specs and started having a glance around the old place. It’s nice in an not-very-demonstra[…]

ZZ TOP
Everyone knows one fact about ZZ Top.
The one without the beard is called Frank Beard.
Everyone should know this other fact about ZZ Top.
They are not top in any way. Except perhaps top of my hitlist.
Think about it. Many a plumber or a air-co[…]

END-TIMES WATCH MUSIC THEME ISSUE : i. a co-worker just came in to announce he has tickets to the POP WILL EAT ITSELF reunion show ii. a second co-worker then told EVERYONE IN THE ROOM that he once SHARED A BED with CLINT of pwei iii. :O :O :O :O :O […]

Received wisdom on Layer Cake was the shock that Matthew Vaughn (erstwhile Guy Ritchie producer) turned out to be a better director than Ritchie himself. LAZY LAZY LAZY! Yes, Layer Cake is a striking effort, but considering where Vaughn is in his car[…]

PICASSO and POLITICS:
“Guernica represents something recently demonstrated in this year’s passionate torrent of anti-Bush agitprop, namely art’s ineffectuality in the production of concrete political results.” I wonder if the[…]

FT TOP 100 FILMS
8: REAR WINDOW
Martin Skidmore says:
This film has become oddly topical in recent years, with its pre-echoes of reality TV, since it is about sitting there and watching ordinary people go about their lives. The filming of this is bri[…]

Ukraine
The Ukrainian election coverage by the BBC surprised me. Lead item for the last two nights and highly detailed in terms of context.
Why is this? Other elections in former Soviet Republics this year received far less BBC coverage. Georgia (whe[…]

POST INTRO 1: I just saw a man as I got off the bus with a tiny little moustache shading the philtrum twixt nose and lip but no wider than his actual nose. I do not believe I have ever seen a moustache like this on a live human being.
POST INTRO 2: I[…]

Economic Temple of Doom! Monkey Brains Solve Game Theory
I am wondering if this headline (loosely based in recent neuroscience, even!) beats Tom’s latest.[…]