Swimming Pool? Is that title supposed to make us think that it is deep? Why can’t it just be a good, old fashioned mystery thriller without attempting to get all existential on our ass? The plot: English mystery author Charlotte Rampling (playi[…]

Listening to the first volume (The Youthful Hero Turned to Fall Like Blossom) of Momus’s creation years comp “Forbidden Time Machine” while driving to Ikea in a 1979 Firebird with my new room mate Bryan:
Bryan(B): Is Momus Queer ?[…]

A lot of old comic fans are very keen on the intelligence and comparative realism of modern superhero comic books, but I miss the heroic stupidity of the old days. The Atom, DC’s superhero with shrinking powers, is a terrific example.
His origi[…]

KEVIN SHIELDS — “Are You Awake?” and “City Girl”
It’s part of a slightly cartoonish self-image I create, I admit, but my mania for the work of Mr. Shields and My Bloody Valentine isn’t feigned, really —[…]

Moving house is usually a pretty hideous process. At the moment we’re pretty much restricted to moving to “any area which we can afford”. However, Simply Indian has now limited my choices to the following postcodes: SE1, SE16, SE11,[…]

Memorably grim nightspots #1: a double birthday celebration, maybe five years back, at the Troy Club in Hanway Street, and one of the birthdays – we didn’t know this till we got there – was the landlady’s. OK, you’ve rea[…]

Whilst we all soak our knickers with the cinematic masterpiece of Pirates of the Carribbean and it’s zombie pirate monkey over on certain other FT associated blogs, let us not forget the grebt historical precedents of pirates in wot one might c[…]

“The Pope is getting Married” is, in theory, a cracking opening line. Things look even better when, within ten pages we get this crisp piece of dialogue: ‘ “How could you even think of defying me? I’m the fucking Pope!&[…]

Tom talks about San Miguel below – I had the privilige of driving past one of its main Spanish breweries last night (a welcome adjunct to Malaga airport). I must admit however it is not a beer I favour. There is a very metallic tang to its tast[…]

Birth Of A Hit: lengthy and quite interesting article exploring how one of the UK’s best-selling singles of recent years was produced. (Thanks to Alan for the link!)[…]