Blogs

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01sd320/sex-drugs-rock-roll Sex - yes, I’ve tried it, but the latest research finds our parents did it more and enjoyed it more. I don’t find that hard to take. Drugs- not really. Rock & Roll - not my cup of tea. I guess I’m not fitted for this biop of singer Ian Dury played by Andy Serkis. Well, let us pop to near the end. Mr Dury returned to talk to the other spazzies (his world and his word, not mine...

Marvellous BBC 2, 9pm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04jmx7l/marvellous Marvellous really was marvellous. Writer Peter Bowker mines magic and Toby Jones performance playing Neil Baldwin was not outdone by the appearance of the real-life, but older, Neil Baldwin. If you’ve not seen it, give yourself a treat and watch - and listen. There’s some natty hymns. Neil’s mum was a committed Christian. It gave her life meaning. Her son Neil took it a stage further. Ask...

Story, Poem and Inspiration Point of the Week

If you have been following the picks of the day this week you will have seen scorpio88's excellent 'September 18th' and now you will know that she/he has had a real red letter week because the poem of the week is scorpio's as well with 'C=D/F' http://www.abctales.com/story/scorpio88/c-df Our story of the week as usual is very difficult to choose but a choice has to be made and it goes to celticman for his latest post 'Radio Static'. http://www...

Derren Brown: Infamous Channel 4

Derren Brown burst onto the scene by shooting himself in the head. It’s difficult to top that, but if he told his audience (including me) that birds fly upside down at night, you would have to take him seriously enough to open the curtains and look outside. You wouldn’t see anything, because it was too dark. He would explain that what he was saying wasn’t true, tell you how he did it and then birds would fly upside down. Derren Brown is a god of...

Some Sadness and Great Joy

I am sorry to report that Luke Neima has left us for the Granta but he goes with my lasting appreciation for a great job done. Luke will still be about to help to promote our Unbound books (so if you haven't signed up yet please do so now!). In his place scratch and insert, aka Peter Hitchen and Claudine Lazar, are taking over as the main Editors in a job sharing arrangement. I am delighted that they feel able to take on the onerous task of...

Happy Holidays

Just in case we don't meet again for a while

Story, Poem and Inspiration Point of the Week

There have been some fantastic pieces this week. Congratulations to Rhiannonw and thornwood - both very different, but equally well-deserved picks: http://www.abctales.com/story/rhiannonw/no-ties-ip http://www.abctales.com/story/thornwood/legal-high-2-0 This week's Inspiration Point in a way follows on from last week's. It's from a vox pop on the top deck of a bus in Edinburgh this morning: " ..it's still another day". Poetry or prose around...

Let peace prevail

Yesterday I met a couple named Joe and Mary in Boston downtown. I had been to them, exchanged pleasantries and asked if I could donate some monies for the peace and the yeomen service they are doing. The couple who also spoke in Hindi gave a big smile and said, "we are just giving a message of peace to our fellow Americans." I was nonplussed for a while and the smile meant that I could help them by standing with the placards for a while. They...

Alice Munro (2006) Runaway.

I read the introduction by Jonathan Franzen. I can’t remember much of what he said. I’d guess that he talked about the way she makes a long story a short story. I’d guess that he talked about the way characters come to life on the page and just when you figure you’ve got a fix on them they do something that throws you, a poetic volte, and the story switches direction, goes on a different track that lets the reader see the characters—their...

Streetcar Named Desire (live cinema)

Hard to do; to make a play with 3 main characters which is confined to one room into a production which works on widescreen cinema. The Young Vic made a cracking good job of it. It helps that Blanche, Stella and Stan do not simply talk, they drink themselves insensible, shout, fight and screw with clothes on. Physical stuff. At least one person in the cinema last night walked out, she did not know the story and the title tells us little. Perhaps...

Pages