Thanks to the miracle of Interweb stealery I was able to watch The Changes last week, the ten-part kids’ TV adaptation of Peter Dickinson’s novels from the 1970s. This was always a touchstone of Mr R Carmody’s thinking, so I was eag[…]

Taking sides:
Lars Von Trier’s new film Manderlay is
a) A piece of sub-Brechtian theatricality masquerading as a sophisticated political film whose sophistication seems undercut by the fact that somewhere along the line Lars has got Gone With T[…]

Dungeons and Dragons is the game most identified with roleplaying, but it certainly wasn’t the only option. In fact, once you’d got into the hobby you quickly realised that most vocal gamers had a certain disdain for D&D, seeing it i[…]

On the face of it, this is a simple philistinic story about an American kid who stuck his used chewing gum on an expensive painting. Singlehandedly the unnamed child became either
a) a disgrace
b) the bright new artist in the style of Jake & Din[…]

The Japanese love curry. As such they are very much like the English, who have taken to a non-native food to the extent that it is almost ubiquitous. Nearly all basic restaurants in Japan do a curry: usually a breaded chicken breast with rice and a s[…]

It is great to see a new Tsui Hark film at the cinema. Seven Swords is nowhere near Hark at his best, but since I have only ever seen him on a TV, I relished seeing this in a cinema. Bigger budgets, digital effects and relentless editing though remov[…]

Every so often my local paper runs a ‘dine for £10’ collect the tokens style offer in association with selected restaurants. Having for once actually bothered to a) buy the paper and b) cut out three tokens, I went to Seven Dials in Brig[…]

Not, as it may seem at first, an attempt to rip off Tanya Headon’s excellent if rarely seen feature (possibly because she is apparently stuck in China). Rather a sad and shocking tale of central London pubs. On last nights evidence, it appears […]

Because YOUNG PEOPLE ARE NOT WATCHING THE TELEVISION ANY MORE.
Fear not, this could be for any of the following reasons
a) There are less young people. Remember, this is why the South Will Win in the end.
b) They are downloading television directly i[…]

From the depths of the 80s – a TV advert for the 48k Spectrum+.[…]