A political rant that only barely belongs here…
I had hugely mixed feelings about something I saw outside the Spurs ground earlier today, when I walked past while Tottenham were beating Man City. It was one of those weird narrow vans with sides[…]

(an occasional series reviewing all of music* a few seconds at a time)
The late ’50s were an awkward time for Louis Prima. He’d had a terrific career as the Italian-American answer to Louis Armstrong, but rock ‘n’ roll was gro[…]

Great Moments:
‘I Can Never Go Home Anymore’ by the Shangri-Las 2:06-2:09
(an occasional series reviewing all of music* a few seconds at a time)
It’s a bittersweet little song about a girl defying her mother’s advice and runni[…]

Slaine The King
Music Zone (there’s one on Oxford Street) is having a sale, and I picked up this nice hardback comic album for under a fiver (they also have the complete Halo Jones at the same price, among many other things, lots of Judge Dredd[…]

The Last Dragon
I can’t decide whether this was a phenomenally stupid or fantastically brilliant idea. Obviously we are used to drama-doc versions of scientific discoveries, and we are accustomed now to CGI versions of wildlife documentaries &#[…]

Call that an ‘influence’?
It’s odd and unpredictable, the personal influences that can mar a film. I just watched Nasima Oshima’s Gohatto, a rather lovely and tense film of love and jealousy among a samurai corps. There’[…]

I was recommended this by Luna of ILX, and when I started reading I feared it was going to be unbearable: right from the start, the very first sentence, the fact that he is trying to write as exactly like Wodehouse as he can is very overt. This is a […]

The competition is obviously a fierce one (not just handbags at ten paces), but my least favourite came up again tonight, watching Norwich vs Manchester City. Dean Ashton scored a really delightful goal, a high ball coming in while he was moving acro[…]

The Way To Paradise by Mario Vargas Llosa
I’m a big admirer of Vargas Llosa, but this one isn’t much fun. It’s two separate narratives, one of Gauguin, not a painter or person for whom I have much admiration, and one of his grandmot[…]

four art shows
I was nearly put off writing this by Tim’s superior piece below, but as I saw these today, I’d like to mention them. Order of my attendance rather than preference…
Mark Tobey at Robert Sandelson
Tobey’s work kin[…]