He was, and remains, a comedy legend, and for very good reason. Many, in fact, but one thing that Buster Keaton (1895-1966) did brilliantly well, was execute a gag to near-perfection, his timing always on point and his innate ability to tell how funny something might be, especially done a Continue Reading
Retro French movie review: Hunting & Gathering #BastilleDay
Human beings just weren’t made to be alone. John Donne knew it, Elton John knows it, and deep down, we all know that while solitude and time out is good, being permanently cut off in any kind of meaningful way from the people around us is not good for the Continue Reading
Book review: The Slow Waltz of Turtles by Katherine Pancol #BastilleDay
One of the great joys of plunging into a great deal of French literature is its capacity to be both resolutely true to life and yet quirkily magical at the same time. It’s not an easy balance to pull it off, and while The Slow Waltz of Turtles by Katherine Continue Reading
Christmas in July … Reading Paddington and the Christmas Surprise
Paddington Bear, who first appeared on 13 October 1958, courtesy of creator Michael Bond, in the children’s book A Bear Called Paddington, is precisely the sort of person (and he is in every way that matters) I would want to do anything and everything Christmas-y with. Innocent, free-spirited, determined despite Continue Reading
Christmas in July … Reading Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
It’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. But ask anyone, even those of us who are so enamoured of the festive season that refraining from decorating in early October takes an iron will and ridiculous amounts of self control, and they will tell you that Christmas Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: A cat, a bird and Catastrophe
SNAPSHOTWhen a little bird suddenly drops dead in its cage, all eyes are on the cat. Desperately he tries to make everything right again but actually making everything worse in the progress. (synopsis via Laughing Squid) Have you ever wondered how quickly can a situation get out of control? Wonder Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #11: Florist, Cross Record, Dominic Fike, Gashi, Slenderbodies
It’s tempting to think of pop music as throwaway music that entertains briefly, shimmers and shines for a moment before ebbing away into nothingness. That’s not true, of course, but nowhere is this better illustrated than in the artistic efforts of the following five artists who blend sparse, elegantly-beautiful melodies Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: “The Little Prince” (S5, E6 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND A LITTLE KINDNESS WHICH GOES A LONG WAY … AND REALLY, *REALLY*, CLOSE-UP ZOMBIES … Goddamit but Fear the Walking Dead has made kindness muscular and sexy! That’s quite a feat and not simply because kindness is usually the preserve of Care Bears, Hallmark cards and Continue Reading
Movie review: Booksmart
In the high school system, things divide, more or less fairly neatly, between the cool kids, the not-cool kids, and the ambivelnt Switzerland-like group in the middle who somehow manage, by some act of teenage alchemy, to be all things to all people. Of course, high school being the monstrously-complicated Continue Reading
Book review: Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi
No one ever handles life quite like they expect to, nor the way triumphantly-inspiring feel good Hollywood tales laud or cajole you. That’s partly because life is unpredictable daring you to ready yourself for its almost wilful twists and turns but because we are imperfect beings, our heads full of Continue Reading