Tonight was the first practice for the Falcons, my daughter’s U-10 soccer/football/whatever team. Ten players of varying ability and personality type. We have our talented but mercurial striker, great scavenger of other team’s mistakes, l[…]

HERO
dir. Zhang Yimou
(There are spoilers a bit, so be warned.)
As a preface, consider The Phantom Menace. Say what you will about it (I actually rather like it but no question, post-Gollum in particular, that Jar Jar Binks was the blown opportunity[…]

Some totally unconnected things:
1) Wayne Rooney was unsettled in Merseyside, and life became harder for him there after he was signed to write a column for The Sun which attracted much anger towards him. Rooney was said to have been advised on this […]

On Hellboy

The opening voiceover describes a day 60 years ago when the world was changed – cut to Andrew hoping that the film will take the opportunity – and his hopes crushed as it finishes “FOREVER!”
Epic is still a viable […]

The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner route between Santa Ana and Los Angeles-Union Station
The (semi)regular route that I use for getting somewhere which I enjoy the most, hands down, is the one where I get to wait, on either end, in two of the loveliest tra[…]

Best holiday drink
Pete’s piece below about best meals didn’t evoke any holiday meals with me, but it did bring back the greatest drink I have ever had. We (my wife and I) had arrived in Calcutta early in the morning, and our train down t[…]

FT Top 100 Films
36: DUEL
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the central reservation…
There is something wonderful about early Spielberg films, and that something is simplicity. Up until 1941 (the film, not the year unless it was t[…]

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
It took bloody ages to read this. I’ve not finished any other books this long (it’s about a thousand pages plus a hundred of small print notes) that I haven’t absolutely loved – 1001 Night[…]

POP FACTOR: 624 CONTROVERSY RATING: 263
Sometime in the endless pre-release life of “These Words” I decided I loved the disarming ending. A little while later I decided I loved the beginning too – so confident, so cute. And the mi[…]

Budget Boozing – The Lord Nelson, Urmston
Like many of the London-based Publog correspondents, I’m a fan of the Sam Smith’s pub. Leaving aside the tastiness of their beers and the pleasing trad interiors, the winning factor for a sk[…]