Michael Jackson came in for some stick at the 1996 Brit Awards for dressing up like Jesus and surrounding himself with children, but he never pulled the groundbreakingly presumptuous move of speaking in the first person as Mr Christ himself. Somehow,[…]

Shoot ‘Em Up was a action movie piece of fluff in the style of Crank, basically ridiculous gun porn in an over-the-top situation. Clive Owen played our grizzled anti-hero, surly and angry for no obvious reason. A man who is exceptional with gun[…]

To read the story, click here; to read about our ‘hauntography’ project, click here.
“In March 1644 [Matthew Hopkins] had some seven or eight of that horrible sect of Witches living in the Towne where he lived, a Towne in Essex called Manin[…]

Poptimism is back! Back! BACK! This Friday, upstairs at The Horse Bar on Westminster Bridge Road, just across from Lambeth North tube. FREE entry, 7 ’til Midnight, hopefully the first of many.
If you don’t want to miss out on future Popti[…]

The Young Vic is an exciting sort of place with a wealthy, sensual bustle to it. The lighting in the bar is of the kind that a friend once told me was “dark, so that everyone looks beautiful.” I was there, alone, to see Pete Postlethwaite[…]

This lacklustre ad for a festival (via Popjustice Twitter) for some reason reminds me of nothing less than how Trad Jazz bands used to advertise their niche wares in the late seventies. Much like much of the worst excesses of CAMRA, the affair seems […]

I like a writer who defies real comparison with anyone else in their genre. The closest to Jim Thompson would be Dostoyevsky, I think, except Thompson is far bleaker, far more negative about human nature. He’s also a stranger and more experimen[…]

Wendy And Lucy is a tinycore mood piece about poor, struggling Wendy (Michelle Williams) trying to drive up to Alaska with her dog Lucy. Wendy is looking for work and has a plan, but to get to Alaska she has to stick to a strict budget with very litt[…]

Two important bits of business:
For Popular fans – friend of the blog (and real actual pop star) Bob Stanley is curating the Britain Learns To Rock! season at the Barbican, which starts tomorrow with Fan Fever and Calling All Cats, two of the f[…]

You may or may not be aware that I’ve been spending a fair bit of time on Twitter lately. This began as a work exercise – “what’s the point of this then?” – but has become something more as my enthusiasm has grown.[…]