In two weeks time (October 14th), we have another POPTIMISM night – hurrah! This is the good news.
The bad news is, it’s our last at the Polar Bear, as they don’t need us any more. We don’t know whether this is just us, or a w[…]

RIP Helen Cresswell, author of The Bagthorpe Saga, which made me larff so much as an 11-year old that I’ve never dared go back and try reading it again.[…]

Alix Campbell writes:
Statues, icons and paintings cry and bleed all the time. It can happen to almost any figure – the Virgin Mary, Jebus, any number of obscure saints, and even a Dutch statue of Elvis. Liquids exuded include blood, tears and oil.[…]

I am listening to a track by THE ROOGALATOR! Another tiny ambition fulfilled, it’s called “Love And The Single Girl” and it’s a bit ‘jazzy’, like a naffer Joe Jackson maybe. It will not be being played at the next […]

Racial puppetry in right-wing comics – fascinating and well-researched stuff, right-wing strips (as opposed to editorial cartoons) have never really caught on in the UK so it’s hard to think of an equivalent for this kind of thing. Also j[…]

Bits of Nick Southall’s latest Stylus essay fits comfortably into a growing trend, anxiety over download culture and the hyperconsumption it allows. The cynic in me suggests that critics worry about this new world because it’s harder to f[…]

Seen at Victoria this morning, an advert for Holiday Inn with a picture of an egg and the text:
“Poached. Boiled. Scrambled. Then fried?”
the idea being that Holiday Inn will do your eggs any way you want, even the atomic way! Quite how t[…]

On the cover is the smiling face of Al Martino. Sorry ladies, he’s 78.
The theme is ‘underrated number ones’
1. LORD ROCKINGHAM’S XI – “Hoots Mon”: Big end-of night feelgood stomper.
2. FLOYD CRAMER – &[…]

The Nu-Guardian reaches Friday and so it’s time for the new look Review, or rather Film & Music. And something leaps out at me. They’ve replaced the old “at home with…” feature, in which musicians talked about their[…]

A few weeks ago a copy of the first ever biography of Belle And Sebastian landed on the FT doormat. The FT doormat gave it to me, and I decided that I would use my extensive contacts amongst reformed members of the feared Sinister ‘massive&#821[…]