Broadway Market, Hackney
On 8th May 2004, this ancient chartered market in East London was reborn. The market straddles an old drovers path to the City. London Fields was the last common grazing area for livestock before the final leg into town and t[…]

BRITNEY SPEARS – “I’ve Just Begun (Having My Fun)”
The intricacies of Britney marketing relegate this to an In The Zone bonus track in some countries; a non-release in others. Which is odd, because you could imagine it being a[…]

Introduction: Methodology
Last year Sight & Sound returned to a perennial subject, the top ten films of all time. At the same time Channel Four happily filled six hours with a very similar (in theory) list show, which soon got devolved into the […]

The Scar – China Mieville
I’d been meaning to try Mieville for a while, due to recommendations and reviews. Weirdly, I found the book pretty different from what the critics has led me to expect. The first one inside the cover has the Tele[…]

Fundacio Miro and other Barcelona notes
One major point about this excellent museum: don’t think you can walk up there from the nearest metro station – it’s a long way up. Anyway, it restructured Miro in my mind: this has some magni[…]

Portrait Of An Artist, As An Old Man – Joseph Heller
I’m a sucker for metafiction, and this is full of it. Heller, in his last novel before his death, tells of an old writer who started with a critical and commercial smash, who is trying […]

Gates Of Eden – Ethan Coen
I didn’t know that one of my favourite filmmakers ever had written a book until I came across this. It’s a collection of short pieces, a few reading like radio scripts, and it has all the strengths of his […]

HUR HUR HUR
Diagram from the news story that Pete links to (below) LOOKS A BIT RUDE. (Tilt head to left)[…]

o tempora o meerkats! As a child the little painted pirate heads I only ever saw in shops on the Aberdovey sea-front somewhat fascinated me – you put them up on the wall (eg like flying ducks) but I have never discovered the proper name for the[…]

The days of private spaceflight are almost upon us. Which means that perhaps my ambition of going into space before I die still may happen. If I managed to become a billionaire. But before we cheer the incoming privateers of space (and the attendant […]