A small and curious exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery This is an eclectic show. How could it not be? A wide remit of three hundred years and the only filter is sex. The photos and paintings of the women fall into distinct groups. The first […]
Strange Appetites I’ve had the flu all week. It’s been getting steadily worse and yesterday I lost my voice completely. Time for a day off. I rang in and grunted to my boss until he worked out who I was and what I meant. I got up, took so[…]
More Shirty Thoughts This is an extremely obvious point. So obvious in fact, I had to check I hadn’t blogged it before, but it seems not. It is far easier to view an offside position if a team’s shirts matches its socks. All the linesman […]
The Second Tale of Glory from Copa America I was off sick yesterday. I needed something to restore my health and ease the grogginess. I needed Copa America. Argentina brushed aside Ecuador, turning on some second-half style to win 6-1. Javier Saviol[…]
Once Caldas win Copa Libertadores TV coverage of the Copa Libertadores is frustratingly hard to find. Eurosport provide brief highlights and Channel 5 occasionally add a segment onto their Argentine league show in the early hours, but it’s not […]
Coma – Alex Garland Has Alex Garland got over his rumoured writer’s block? Well, Coma doesn’t really suggest so. Released without media fanfare, it’s a short story trying to disguise itself as a novella. There are no page num[…]
Dracula (Part Two – Transylvania) The fictional Dracula is a composite character drawn from diverse sources. One part Jack the Ripper, two parts Romanian folklore, but the name Bram Stoker borrowed for his creation belongs to a barbaric and ver[…]
Dracula (Part One – England) I don’t know why I hadn’t read Dracula. I like old-skool horror as much as the next weirdo, but I’d never even picked it up. A few weeks ago I was chatting about family trees to my girlfriend’[…]
First Division Play-Off Blues I think it must have been about 40 seconds into the first game of the season when I realised West Ham wouldn’t get automatic promotion. Preston North End looped a hopeful ball into the area, Dailly fell comically o[…]
Introductions One of the nuisances with novels is the introduction which gives the plot away. The dictionary definition states an introduction to be “That part of a book or discourse which introduces or leads the way to the main subject.”[…]