KEVIN ROWLAND – Thunder Road
When it pops up on a compilation which I am unaware of the contents of, I think to myself – is that Thunder Road? It sure sounds like it. Thunder Road is proabably my favourite Bruce Springsteen song, marking […]

Spirited Away is over-rated. (That got you clicking).What is most interesting about it is its reliance on at least a cursory knowledge of the Shinto spirit world and Japanese culture. Consider this one line description of the plot from the Guardian: […]

Brrrrr! Winter has set in and feeling the cold in the pub last night we all pulled out coats tight round ourselves and looked longingly at the fire that had not been lit. How we cowered when a new pubgoer walked through the door, flapping them open a[…]

ED RUSCHA – They Called Her Styrene
I don’t think I have ever seen an Ed Ruscha piece in a gallery. My encounter with the fella I would probably call my favourite artist was in Waterstones on Oxford Street. I am not even a big book buyer,[…]

There are only two reasons to read the Evening Standard in my opinion. This nastily right wing London newspaper is only edged out by the Daily Mail in offensiveness and because it employs two great regular columnists. On of them is Victor Lewis-Smith[…]

Watching the downhill mountain biking on BBC2 on Sunday it struck me that this is what they do in Switzerland in the summer. What to do with ski run when it runs out of snow? Answer knock out a basic trail through the nearby woods and get people padd[…]

The new teacher training ad, with its somewhat child-unfriendly image of headless people wandering around, is unlikely to help recruitment. “Oi” – it is saying – “you, in the braindead masses. Why not do the only job in […]

Some people gave up on the chips in The Calthorpe Arms when the chicken nuggets ran out and they were plainly cold and soggy. Only mine and Steve’s uniquely British eye for hidden fat noticed tiny spots of congealing dripping for chip dipping. […]

I have a US Pocket Book edition of Jeeves by P.G.Woodehouse. I am not sure what Jeeves it is, I am pretty sure there wasn’t a Woodehouse book just called Jeeves, but it is certainly Jeeves and Bertie in their inimitable fashion; the latter gett[…]

Jockeys protest over mobile phone ban. No word yet on whether trainers yelling into hands free kits straight to the horses ear are also banned. It is unclear whether they have been banned as a safety measure, to avoid cheating or if the horses were g[…]