I believe The Tin Can Tree was the last of Anne Tyler’s novels that I had not read, until she releases a new one. My reading of her novels follows my usual arc for authors that I really like. Upon discovery, I devour all her books I can find i[…]

I believe it was Lee and Herring who posited the idea of a sitcom based on the experiences of Brian Keenan and John McCarthy. Trivialising what for them was a massive ordeal obviously did not go down well at the BBC and hence it was never made. Inste[…]

GUESS MY THEORY #2!![…]

Much has been made of my flinty personality. Tanya, people say couched in the armour of booze you seem to be a pretty tough cookie. After setting them straight vis a vis the provenance of cookies and the far more preferable biscuit, I admit to their […]

Survivors Series 2 finally released on DVD
I really do only pop up on FT’s blogs to mention two things: Survivors and Graham Nelson. This DVD release is presumably quite an (economic) feat by DD Video considering that the BBC never managed to g[…]

Speedier Dating. Want to go speed dating but
a) Put off by the expense
b) Put off by the (really non-existent) stigma that hangs over the whole billy-no-dates deal
Well just go to the nearest pub to a speed dating venue half an hour before the event […]

The British love the underdog. But the British have long memories. So in the FA Cup final puts the neutral in a difficult situation. It being the battle between Man Utd (no-one likes them except their couple of million supporters, they don’t ca[…]

The rule of the comic horror movie is simple. The monster is not funny. This is what An American Werewolf In London and Shaun Of The Dead understand. The remarkable thing about Shaun Of The Dead is it understands this whilst co-opting one of the funn[…]

Profoundest apologies for the Easter shutdown – nothing to do with religion, everything to do with leaving my job, the attendant hangover, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to actually get the flat tidied up. I’ve also had the pedantic[…]

Who the hell queues?
Good food in comfort trumps ‘happening scene’ any day for me, though I’m not actually inverse-snob allergic to the latter: trendiness happens, and instant abreaction is as much a prison as kneejerk attraction
BU[…]