I saw the Rich Hall documentary on California (I do love his documentaries) - this one took in the California gold rush, the building of the railway, San Francisco + the Beat poets + the hippies, the rise of Silicon Valley, the dust bowl migrants + the country music style that developed out there. It touched on Hollywood briefly (I think he could ( Read more... )

I didn't get to read all the books I wanted in 2013 but I did fairly well. (Some of the books I mention didn't come out in 2013 but I still mention them because this is the year I read them 1st).

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Back from a fabulous trip to London ( Read more... )

Got the new issue of BUST - it had a couple of interviews w/Neko Case and Kathleen Hanna (interviewed by Kim Gordon). There was also some interesting articles on being a witch and communal living and foraging for edible plants. Plus an all too short look at menstruation in the movies ( Read more... )

Got the new issue of Nylon which had an interview w/Little Boots (I still haven't got her new album) and a gorgeous photospread on aquatic influenced beauty products. They also had The Runaways (the film) as beauty icons and Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains as fashion icons ( Read more... )

One of the books I got for Christmas was the new biography of Joan Jett. It covered all her career (I was pleased they wrote a bit about the early 70s glam scene in Los Angeles centred round Rodney's English Disco tho' Sabel and Lori or any of the other groupies weren't mentioned by name) and had a comprehensive discography at the back but didn't ( Read more... )

Got the new Marie Claire which had an article on Lee Alexander McQueen and a bit on Brix Smith-Start (I still think they should give her her own show instead of having to play second fiddle to Gok Wan). And next month they are giving away a choice of 6 Cowshed Body Lotions ( Read more... )

Got the Times last week and it had the most fabulous interview with Donald Sutherland (who I still have a bit of a crush on after all these years) plus a bit on Paul Kaye's 5 most Disturbing influences (and yes, I've had a crush on him for years as well - shame we didn't get to see more of him in Being Human). And they had a review of the Emma ( Read more... )

I read a really good book recently, Women of the Underground: Music by Zora Von Burden which is a collection of interviews with various female musicians (she's also done one covering female artists). They're arranged in roughly chronological order starting with the likes of Wanda Jackson and Maureen Tucker and going up to Kembra Pfahler. Also ( Read more... )

Got issue 47 of Bitch (I can't wait to get issue 48 as it has an article on reworkings of Alice from Alice in Wonderland and I'm dying to see if Syfy's Alice gets a mention) - had loads of good stuff to read including articles debating the use of words like lesbian and MILF in popular culture and how they rise and fall in popularity plus reviews of ( Read more... )