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[…]

Olympic Quiz
This was a quiz I put together for a work charity night, with a roughly Olympic theme. Because it was a charity/fun quiz there are a higher than normal proportion of questions which require (unless you’re a complete obsessive or sh[…]

Sounds Of Sweden: unsurprisingly, I approve.[…]

I never realised until last night how totally physically exhausting doing a pub quiz is. Standing up shouting at a room of pissed people for two hours: nein danke. It seemed to go pretty well, though by the end I was so knackered that my response to […]