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Stephen Poliakoff
Last night saw the first part of the new Stephen Poliakoff drama, The Lost Prince. I’ve enjoyed his work since I first saw Caught on a Train (repeated tonight on BBC4) some years ago. He’s always though provoking, and has interesting characters and subject matter. In this case, about a little known royal prince who…
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Blair Still Gung-Ho
Maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement, but Blair is sticking to his guns over taking us into war. He told the press conference today that Saddam should disarm, and seems certain the UN Arms Inspectors will find something. Whether Hans Blix finds anything or not, I don’t know, but it seems that something or…
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The Ring
Saw a preview of The Ring today, and was pleasantly surprised. I saw the original Japanese version a earlier last year on Filmfour. This version is very nearly a shot-for-shot remake of that earlier film. I wouldn’t go to say that it’s superior to the original, but it doesn’t fall far short, and doesn’t sell…
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Star Trek: Nemesis
In short, very disappointing. This seemed to be an average two part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode with a bigger than usual special effects budget. The script was poor from the outset, and it was just dull overall. Certainly, Patrick Stewart’s a fine actor, but this was Star Trek by numbers. Right down to…
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ID Cards
Get over to Stand to register your interest in ID Cards. The Home Office seem to think that everyone wants them and their consultation is nearly up. Tell them what you think.
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L.A. March
Good to see the numbers game is alive and well. I mean of course, estimating the number of marchers at a protest rally. The BBC are saying 5,000-20,000, while CNN are saying 2,000. Associated Press (via ABC) has the police putting numbers at 3,000 with organisers saying 20,000, and finally the LA Times has police…
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Classic Telly
Sunday mornings are worth getting up early for at the moment. At 8.00am we have The Adventure Game (also on Saturday mornings) being repeated for the first time since it was last shown in 1985. Challenge TV have shown 4 so far, but they’re scheduled for the next couple of weeks at least, and there…
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Gangs of New York
This new Martin Scorcese epic has famously been in production for a long time, and in the editing suite even longer. Now it finally reaches our screens (after a Christmas Day release in the US), but has it been worth the wait? Well a qualified yes. It is undoubtedly a spectacular film, and Daniel Day-Lewis…
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The New Rulers of the World
I picked this up in the Waterstones sale quite cheaply. I quite like John Pilger, but was annoyed with myself when I missed his last TV documentary – a documentary that Michael Green, Chairman of the TV company that made and aired the programme, attacked! The book is in four sections, covering many of the…
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Causa Belli
Latin still has so much to offer us. Today the poet laureate, Andrew Motion, published a new poem on the front page of The Guardian. “Causa Belli” translates as “causes, motives or pretexts of war”: CAUSA BELLI by Andrew Motion They read good books, and quote, but never learn a language other than the scream…
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When Internet Recommendations Go Bad
Just had the shock of my life. I went to Amazon and because of cookies and what not, it knew who I was. Nothing unusual there. And knowing who I was, it tried to recommend stuff to me. Fine. I have no objection to this. And what was number one? Freddy Got Fingered!!!! Possibly the…
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Balham to Bollywood
I must admit that the only reason I bought this book was because I saw it for just �2.99 last Thursday when I was shopping in Tesco (incidentally, this seems to have been an instore only deal). Well the subject matter interested me – an Englishman making a Bollywood epic, and it was serialised on…
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Yellowface/All The Lovers In The Night
Yellowface by R F Kuang I first came across R F Kuang with last year’s very enjoyable Babel, an alternate history of the British Empire told in a world where magic exists and is controlled by an elite group of individuals. Yellowface is very different, but no less enjoyable. It’s a book about books, and…
Hadrian’s Wall
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