The collected edition of Mick Farren’s DNA Cowboys trilogy is a fascinating social document. You can tell a lot about a time from its bobbins gonzo fantasy novels. And here we have a trilogy, steam written fuelled by drugs, coffee and an urge t[…]

An Open Letter To Trailer Producers Of British Comedy Films:
It has come to my attention that nearly any time a British comedy act make a film, for the big screen, there is only one trope that trailer makers seem fit to exploit. Namely how unlikely i[…]

I used to go to school with a girl called Saffron, whose family was not from the sub-Indian continent. This is apros of absolutely nothing, except that I went to the worst Indian restaurant I have ever been to in my life the other day, and it was als[…]

Lame Secret Identities in Superhero Comics
There are plenty of unlikely villainous names – “You mean the Riddler is really Mr E. Nigma? Holy stupid fucking contrivances, Batman!” – but since a lot of them were probably created[…]

TV Diary: everything I watched on 25/3/05
Zatoichi is covered in the Blind fighters post below. A very good movie.
Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas: An odd mix of animation styles, making some parts look as if they are in different realms of reality,[…]

I have never been to a Dr Who Convention, BUT…
It’s time I told you that I once attended something affectionately called an “Olympiad”. In my own head this is much, much less sad than a (say the word while spitting) “con[…]

Blind fighters
Warning: some spoilers.
There seems to have been a fair bit of this going around of late. I recall Rutger Hauer in Blind Fury as an ex-soldier who lost his sight and was trained to fight in Vietnam, but until recently I can’t thi[…]

The Physics Detective Part Ten — The Mystery Is Solved (and I Hate to Say I Told You So, But …)
I told you so.
We have now reached the end of this two-month mini-blogging journey. Now I can go back to writing to amuse others rather than t[…]

Is it cynicism that drives local voice casting in animated films? I felt it was in Shrek 2 (but then as one of the few anti-Shrek people I find almost all aspects of those films cynical). In Robots though the cynicism is probably so up-front and cent[…]

Hostage is Die Hard with Bruce Willis outside the enclosed space. Which kind of takes the point out of the whole affair. It is also the first season of 24 without any sense that the moral dilemma Willis is put in will ever really be put to the test. […]