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Wake Wood
Wake Wood is one of the new breed of Hammer horror films, this one getting a direct to DVD release (as many horror films seem to do). The film that Wake Wood seemingly bases itself on is The Wicker Man. In Ireland somewhere, there’s a community of people who have some slightly unusual beliefs. But…
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The Unthanks
You can only hope that the current Unthanks’ tour must surely be coming to an end very soon. Their website suggest a few days time. The reason I say that is that Rachel Unthank is currently very heavily pregnant! She and her sister Becky shared the singing duties last week at The Junction in Cambridge…
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Piccard in Space
A couple of weeks ago, saw the premiere of Will Gregory’s Piccard in Space at the Southbank. Before you think anything else: no this is not about Jean-Luc Picard, the fictional Star Trek character, but August Piccard (although if Wikipedia is to be believed, there is a link). In 1931, Piccard and Paul Kipfer attempted…
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Yuri Gagarin
On April 12th it will have been 50 years since Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in outer space. There are a fair few programmes coming up devoted to this anniversary, so I thought I’d link to a few. First of all, here’s a great piece from Robin McKie in The Observer a…
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Radioplayer
Radioplayer is finally here! Indeed, if you listen via the internet, you may have already spotted it, since it has been live for a few hours now. I’ve got to say that this is a really exciting development for the UK radio industry, and I don’t just say that because my employer is one of…
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Sony Radio Academy Award Nominations 2011
Well the Sony Radio Academy Award nominations were announced earlier this evening (in a much nicer venue than previously) by Classic FM’s Margherita Taylor and BBC 6 Music’s Huey Morgan. They fairly rattled through the categories, with Morgan in particular entertaining us even if he mispronounced the odd nominee. Once again, Absolute Radio (my employer!)…
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How I Ended This Summer
I’ll be honest and admit that I’m not too up on Russian cinema. Although to be fair, there’s not a great deal that makes it to the UK. What we do get tend to be the more commercial films like Nightwatch and Daywatch alongside the odd fantasy title like Wolfhound. Then there’s the odd breakthrough…
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The Killing
Like many people, I’ve been obsessively watching The Killing for the last ten weeks, and Saturday saw the denouement. Fear not – no spoilers here. Because if my friends and colleagues are to be believed, there’s going to a be a significant demand for the DVDs which are released a week today. I first learnt…
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Where’s The Gambling Commission When You Need It?
We learn that Swoopo has filed for bankruptcy. Good riddance. In case you’re unaware, Swoopo and similar “penny auction” websites work on the basis of selling so-called “bids” to their “auctions.” Say there’s a laptop on offer worth £1000. Bidding might start at £0.01, but prospective bidders must first buy their bids for – say…
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Queuing
We’re told that queuing is a very British thing, although as much as anything, that might be because other countries use their own words like “line” in the US. But what’s clear to me is that it’s not something I enjoy doing. I do it only when I need to. That might be paying for…
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Frankenstein
I had plenty of opportunity to book theatre tickets for Frankenstein, even going so far as to look at seats. But for whatever foolish reason, I decided against it. The production was a hit, and all the tickets sold out. So last night it was off to the Odeon Kensington – the only cinema carrying…
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The Most Incredible Thing
There seems to be a lot of ballet around at the moment. We’ve just had the awesome Black Swan, and on BBC Four at the moment, we’re two thirds of the way into a great behind the scenes documentary about English National Ballet (“Unprecedented access” and all). Sky Arts has been showing a series of…
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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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