In my perennial search for decent telly, I'm keenly watching The Hollow Crown, a star-studded adaptation of four of Shakespeare's history plays. In order to sell these landmarks of timeless poetry to the viewing masses, the BBC have taken the strategic step of packing them to the brim with hot guys getting their swords out, and being a shallow soul ( Read more... )

According to this interview in the New York Times (see page 2), Benedict Cumberbatch has seen my post about the otters who look like him, and says they are “brilliant” and “fantastic”.

That noise you can hear is me fainting very, very loudly.

After several days of non-existence, Livejournal seems to be functioning again. Quick, quick, let me tell you a few factlets before the forces of oppression make it fall over again!

• Issue 437 of Doctor Who Magazine is in the shops now! It contains many interesting things, and as a free bonus to all readers, also includes my very own review of ( Read more... )

Earlier this week I finished reading The Easter Parade by Richard Yates. It's a relentlessly miserable novel and I wouldn't particularly recommend it*, but it did have one line that I particularly liked: at one point, the female lead meets a man with "a voice that made her want to curl up and ride in his pocket like a kittenOkay, maybe it's not ( Read more... )

I'm afraid I haven't been posting much lately, a state of affairs that probably frustrates me more than it frustrates you. But alas, my brain has sunk into a sort of blancmangelike inertia and my creativity levels are scrawny at best. It's all a bit sad, really.

Nonetheless, in the interests of squeezing something out of my head, here is a ( Read more... )

In my sophisticated ongoing pursuit of aesthetic interests, I wandered down to Leicester Square tonight for the Star Trek premiere, hoping to catch a glimpse of the lovely Zach Quinto on the red blue carpet ( Read more... )

It's now the season for round-ups and flashbacks and endless lists of things that everyone ought to have heard, seen, eaten, poked or fondled over the last 12 months. Personally, I've done little of great note in the past year, but there are a few cultural fields which can still kindle the raging fires of critical enthusiasm within me, and so I ( Read more... )

anw wrote an interesting piece today about the latest artworks to be proposed to fill the empty plinth in Trafalgar SquareAs a renowned cultural commentator (hem hem), I'm rather surprised that they haven't asked ME to submit a suggestion, but perhaps my invitation has been lost in the post. To rectify this egregious omission, here is my finely ( Read more... )

Well, it's shaping up to be a miserable grey week, the summer is gone, the weather is cold, there's nothing on the telly, and I'm feeling very grumpy. Therefore, I've decided that I need cheering up, and I'd like you to help me. There's one thing I'd like you to do, and this is it.

SHOW ME PICTURES OF LOVELY BOTTOMS.

( They could be tastefully clothed bottoms, like this. )

Here's a linguistic challenge, courtesy of my friend Khadija. It has come to her attention that the English language needs a term for "male harem", because the word harem by definition means the part of a palace or house where only women can go ( Read more... )