You cannot libel the dead. Which is why it always suprises me that bio-pics are often completely reverantial towards their subject. For example Finding Neverland is a film designed to rehabilitate the reputation of a man whose reputation is, since hi[…]

Neo-Coms
Rich Johnston’s comics gossip column reports an upcoming book from Marvel, Combat Zone: True Tales from GI’s In Iraq. How true, precisely? Here’s what Johnston has to say about the credentials of co-writer Karl Zinsmeister:[…]

EXTREME SCIENCE LIVE
1: Being shot by a firework
AIM: To discover what happens when someone is shot by a cherry bomb style firework at a distance of five metres.
APPARATUS: A “Five Stars” Firework, some slighly softer ground than expected[…]

Bonfire night food: I went to a bonfire night party Saturday (frankly mentioning Guy Fawkes seems pointless). All the usual food suspects rocked up from our extremely generous hosts including the baked potato and sausages. There was however a grand a[…]

The Last Dance by Ed McBain
This may be as inconsequential 87th Precinct novel as I’ve ever read, and I’ve read nearly all of them. Nothing changes for any of the regulars, no character development that amounts to anything, a very dull my[…]

No, I didn’t mean to type Klimt…
Who was the first abstract painter in the western tradition? Some people will argue for Mondrian or Malevich or Kupka, but most people give the title to Kandinsky, who reached this milestone with a composi[…]

We went to Regent Street yesterday to see Busted switch on the Christmas lights, little suspecting that we were to be plunged into a Conservative party rally. “You asked us to join the Euro / AND WE SAID NO!” sang the three well-off young[…]

I think ‘Mean Girls’ is my favourite American film of the year, and one of my favourite ever teen movies. Like ‘Cruel Intentions’ it has an 18th century feel which I probably why I also relate it to Eric Rohmer, whose latest, […]

Kurt
I couldn’t place the song at first. It was drifting across the courtyard and flaking in the breeze. I wondered where the radio was and why it was playing gringo music. I roused myself and followed the source of the noise.
It wasn’t […]

I’ve just realised the point of the theme song from Alfie*. It is not just a question: “What’s it all about Alfie?” Rather it is a question which contains its own answer: “What’s it all about? (Its all about) Alfie.&#8[…]