Welcome to the Group D finale! Here’s how things stand.
Uruguay (managed by Matthew) have 5 points. A win or second place will certainly see them through – even with other results qualification is still possible.
England (managed by Ronal[…]

Michele Kirsch is a friend from NME days; Mama K’s True Stories began as a column devised for City Limits in the mid 80s. It suited her writing style — and the need for it perhaps marked the accelerated dwindling in that time of the range of […]

Welcome to the final Group C match. Let’s see how things stand.
This group is a 3-way scrap. Japan (managed by Patrick St Michel) sit precariously on top with 4 points and a strong %-point difference. Cote D’Ivoire (managed by Garry) also[…]

This is a review (sort of) of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It is VERY FULL OF SPOILERS almost as much as it is full of FEELINGS. And it won’t make any sense if you haven’t seen it yet.

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Welcome to the Group B finale. Let’s see how things stand.
Actually, this is a game where I wish I’d picked a less permutation-filled scoring system. Summary: everything to play for.
AUSTRALIA (Matt) have 4 points. A win or second-place m[…]

“Unless we can somehow recycle the concept of the great artist so that it supports Chuck Berry as well as it does Marcel Proust, we might as well trash it altogether” — Robert Christgau
“But rock criticism does something even more interes[…]

Welcome to our last Group A game. Let’s see how things stand.
Cameroon (managed by Chris) have QUALIFIED from the group with 5.5 points. Either they or Brazil will now top the group.
Brazil (managed by Matt DC) have 4.5 points. Anything other t[…]

I’ve spent the last month or so quarter of a year thinking a lot about what I’m going to write in my last thing about Young Avengers. I had thought I was done, mostly in the sense that although the series had more to go, I’d got so […]

Even men with steel hearts love to see a dog on the pitch – except when it holds up a vital second group game in the Pop World Cup! In this case the rogue canine was cleverly disguised as a market research conference – sorry everyone. Bac[…]

Group G’s middle game sees Ghana (Jonathan Bogart) in front after narrowly beating the USA (The Lex) last time. Behind them come Portugal (Weej) and Germany (Tak) who will be looking to make more of an impact on this very tough group.
As ever, […]