September 2011
1 post
April 2011
1 post
“But can’t be! Without hot tomato soup for lunch on freezing afternoons?...”
– Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint
August 2010
1 post
July 2009
1 post
May 2009
1 post
April 2009
3 posts
“It is St George’s Day here in England. I’m off to celebrate by...”
– Warren Ellis (Say what you will about Twitter, but it bloody well brightens my day!)
March 2009
5 posts
“What sort of woman had written the letter? He tried to picture her by...”
– A Birch Tree, A White Fox by Elena Arsenieva; translated from the Russian by Michael M. Naydan and Slava I. Yastremski
The long change
It’s very strange: daily living against the backdrop of a big change that’s still many months away. There are many things to do, and my motivation ebbs and flows as you might expect; but, frankly, some significant stretches of time bring the movie Groundhog Day strongly to mind.
This feeling is stronger this week, and I think the new paint on the walls and boxes in the rooms are...
“Terror was always just behind her shoulder: she was wasted by the effort of not...”
– Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory
“Failure’s hard, but success is far more dangerous. If you’re...”
– Po Bronson
February 2009
3 posts
The Interview
If you’re on the fence about seeing this one — maybe unsure about Hugo Weaving’s calibre — stop reading right now, run down to the local video shop (or library, as I did) and rent (or borrow) it.
From here on out, I’ll assume that you: a) have seen The Interview, b) aren’t susceptible to having movies spoiled (as I certainly am), or c) can’t be bothered...
“‘[I]t is the custom of each community to form the minds of its young in a...”
– John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids
Låt den rätte komma in (or Let The Right One In)
Just back from seeing Let The Right One In at the Mayfair Theatre. (The new seats are excellent!) Very intense, and charming. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Early on, I could see moments of brilliance, and even those that seemed clumsy on first blush — the introduction of the bully’s older brother, for example — play better in my head now. Spoilers ahead! The...