Arrested Development, a clever, literate sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz which featured the dysfunctional travails of the once wealthy Bluth family and ran from 2003-2006 is back from the dead! It was a critical darling from the moment it was broadcast into peoples’ living rooms, but alas, though it was Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2012: Week 3
Yes it’s time to review this week’s crop of Eurovision hopefuls and what have I gone and done? Left my Ukrainian grandmother at home! Now she won’t be able to burst into the blog post at a completely unexpected moment and dazzle you all with her totally surplus-to-requirements writing (much Continue Reading
The high cost of being Eurovision fabulous
Ever since ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the aid of an upbeat pop song “Waterloo”, the dulcet tones of Agnetha and Annifrid, and the tightest lycra pants known to man, the contest has been widely seen by the artists who participate in it as the perfect Continue Reading
I love my Scandinavian pop! 3
The siren song of Scandinavia has seduced me again and I cannot hold off bringing more of the talented artists from northern Europe. My love affair with all things Scandipop began innocently enough back in the, ahem, 1970s when ABBA burst onto the scene and I fell completely head over Continue Reading
Review: “The Smallest Show on Earth” (video)
Expectation can be a curious animal. One one hand it can fill you with joyful anticipation, your mind and pulse racing as you consider how wonderful the show you’re about to watch/the album you’re about to listen to/the book you’re about to read etc will be. The possibilities seem limitless, Continue Reading
Ira Glass on storytelling
Ira Glass, host of the acclaimed radio show, This American Life, which broadcasts nationally on Public Radio International in the United States, is the first person to admit it took him a while to find his storytelling voice. He began work at the age of 19 in 1978 at National Public Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2012: Week 2
I have thrown on my hoodie, corralled a group of buff young dancers, fired up the pyrotechnics machine, and with handfuls of glitter ready to throw liberally at the slightest hint of a key change, I am ready for this week’s review of the songs that will make or break Continue Reading
“Falling Skies” is back soon!
Shows that focus on an apocalypse of one sort or another are all the rage at the moment – literally in the case of the runaway hit show, The Walking Dead, which features zombies with the usual anger management issues – and I have become as enamoured of them like Continue Reading
Sonic Bliss #5: My favourite songs of the week
Another week and while I am up to my ears in kitschy Eurovision pop at the moment (and loving it!), I have not forgotten all those other pop gems gliding down my aural canals. So here they are…. five more slices of perfect unforgettable pop! “How Long Have You Continue Reading
Review: “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the sort of movie I am supposed to love. It has the handsome but geeky married fisheries expert, Dr Alfred Jones (the ever delectable Ewan McGregor) whose marriage died long ago, who deserves a second chance at love. The driven but likeable investment consultant, Continue Reading