Cara Massimina by Tim Parks
This has one of those irritating cover blurbs where it’s obvious why they put it there, but it’s misleading. ‘Better than Silence of the Lambs,’ says the LA Times. If that would lead you to expect s[…]

A new Channel 4 show entitled The Theory Of Everything is about the search for a unified theory of physics. Current thinking focusses on 10-, 11- or 26-dimensional vibrating strands (superstrings) or sheets (m-branes) of energy. The introduction to t[…]

The Hits, one of the only two digital video channels I get, is a year old. It’s my favourite on the rather weak basis that it seems a bit less likely to play horrid rock/indie tunes than the other one. The vids are chosen by viewer voting, and […]

Bubba Sparxxx – Deliverance
I liked Bubba’s debut, but I only really loved a few tracks on it, some really interesting hints at something new, some fecund mix where Timbaland’s customary brilliance (which we do take a bit for grante[…]

In case you aren’t watching the Rugby World Cup (and fair enough) I thought you would nonetheless like to know that Ireland’s bald and not-cute hooker (equivalent for US readers: there isn’t one) Keith Wood glories in the nickname T[…]

Ain’t Got No Frogs…
There’s a new road safety ad telling you to wear something bright at night. This isn’t terribly interesting in itself, but the jingle is sung to the tune of one of the greatest really obscure records ever: […]

Even if you’re a sports fan you may never have heard of Mildred Didrikson-Zaharias. Here is why she was the greatest athlete of all time.
She was born in Texas in 1914. At 16 she led her basketball team to three national titles. In the 1932 nat[…]

Most comedy records are appalling as music, even if they are funny, which they usually aren’t. That’s why I have to recommend the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz (warning: I suspect he’s not a real Reverend). He’s maybe the funniest l[…]

I’ve mentioned stupid superhero comic covers before, but I have to mention another classically dumb one, from the 1970s, when Marvel Comics had grasped there was such a thing as feminism, without having fully got to grips with its subtleties. M[…]

Louis Armstrong – Hot Fives And Sevens
Tom has talked about the difficulty of switching from modern pop to ’50s #1s for his magnificent Popular project, but I just went from Disco Inferno (the interesting and sometimes impressive indie ba[…]