ARCANE TAX FAX
You pay VAT on Crisps, but not on Pork Scratchings. This is, due to my VAT book, because Scratchings are “by-products” rather than a foodstuff in themselves. They are also k-num.[…]

Marseille(s) is the most exciting city I’ve ever spent time in – to drive into, to walk around in, to gaze across. Why: “Bcz it’s full of pirates like a GIANT BIG OLD PLYMOUTH!” sez Dr Vick (who as u know grew up in the […]

The Limits Of Photography: overheard on the tube. Speaker – teenage sloane on way to Camden to buy a T-Shirt (circumstantial detail provided by same, at high volume).
“I hate people who won’t be photographed, it’s so stupid. T[…]

2004 Man Booker Shortlist and Profiles[…]

After the relative aesthetic success of “ABBA in Hindi” I was delighted when someone on Slsk was sharing something called ABBA Metal. Readers prone to stereotyping will be delighted to discover that this CD comes from Germany, spiritual h[…]

When it has Arbeit Macht Frei written above the entrance and harbours the apparatus for millions of executions. Auschwitz has been open to the public for a good number of years. Do you need to justify a visit? I guess some tourists have a conscience[…]

Lumbering propaganda piece Hero is of high interest if you like colour-coded interior design or CGI madness involving arrows. Otherwise it’s gorgeous cobblers, a waste of five or six great pop videos. The portentious narrative style may be an a[…]

Brain damage
I wrote here a while ago about some aphasias, linguistic losses due to brain damage that say perhaps surprising things about the way the brain processes language. I’ve been reading about some other losses, not just around language,[…]

i don’t know, FIRST they say it’s bad for you, THEN they say it’s good for you[…]

THE RULES OF THE GAME
Dir. Jean Renoir
A few months back I had the chance to pick up La Grande Illusion, a film by a filmmaker I had heard much about but never seen outside of a still or two. A lucky used find — then again I’m always happ[…]