Archives – 2012 – April  

inuit science and the commodification of victory: scott versus amundsen a century on
Read post

(WARNING: Very VERY wordy piece still in a rough-ish state: really REALLY don’t read unless you’re an obsessive too! And to explain a little: all this is an ancient passion for me, the tale of how Captain Scott was beaten to the South Pol[…]

Split And Polish
Read post

So what was that poll all about then? (This poll, the one I linked on Twitter and Tumblr – a basic tick-the-box job on the best-selling music acts of last year)
Well, the truth is it was trying something out for my day job. I wanted to try out […]

Image

13 Worst Films Of 2011: 2: About That Radiohead Embargo
Read post

Expectations are often the problem, rather than a bad film, when you go to the cinema a lot, like I do. And many a time I have drifted out of Screen 1 at the Renoir disappointed that a favourite boutique arthouse director had not lived up to his prev[…]

Image

Lost Property Office 8: Hawk-Ado
Read post

This week in the Lost Property Office I have an actual real life guest, so no talking to myself luckily. And even more luckily the guest is the inestimable Mark Sinker, writer about music, film and crisps as he has billed himself elsewhere (the excel[…]

Image

Lost Property Office 7: Apple Armbands
Read post

There is a rule wherein every newspaper columnist is allowed one “Get Out Of Jail Free” card, where they can write a column about the process of writing a column. It is fantastically self serving, self indulgent, and an easy well to go to[…]

Image

Beer-encrusted carpet, why hast thou forsaken me?
Read post

I shall quietly grumble about this no more. The time has come for a wobbly to be thrown ungracefully across the laminated floor tiles of the internet about a terrible injustice being done to our nation’s fauna and flora.
As the hedgerows are de[…]

Image

Lost Property Office 6: Jacobean Photocopiers
Read post

This weeks Lost Property Office takes on a decidedly theatrical flavour as I invite Kerry Lambeth to do battle with the assorted umbrellas and notebooks. And in the course of our discussion we consider a Brighton Beach Memoir (Sussex not Long Island)[…]

Expansion pack ‘The Floor’ released May 2012
Read post

(Apropos much social media rumbling on Erotic Choose Your Own Adventures and the appearance of whatever Heineken think this is)
1. You enter the club and head to the floor, roll a 3 or higher to light a fire and make it hot (proceed to 3 or if roll t[…]

Image

Lost Property Office 5: Five Do Nothing
Read post

The most significant thing lost in this weeks Lost Property Office could well be my voice! Luckily I have an excellent guest in the form of Rock Star, Playwright, Validator and Edinburgh Smash MJ Hibbett, who does allow this episode to drift slowly i[…]

Latest comments on FT

  1. Firstly thank you for the work you do in starting this blog and keeping it going. I first discovered it…

  2. A good article, and all praise to your great endeavour over the last two decades. Though I should hope that…

  3. One of the best things I've read about art all year. Congrats on the first 1k and looking forward to…

  4. Well done for getting this far, and capping the first 1,000 with these essays. I discovered FreakyTrigger and Popular through…

  5. Astonishing read. I don't know if any of this is going to make sense, but thank you, Tom, for this…

  6. Thank you, Tom, for many years of enjoyable, insightful, reading. Really something that has endured and has proven its worth…

  7. Tom, thank you for such thoughtful reflections on Popular and the charts. I really enjoyed them, just as I’ve really…