Don’t Give Me A Break.

To be honest, I’m getting sick of turning on my TV. I’m sick of turning it on and instead of being able to watch a continuous stream of adverts I have my fun spoiled by utter crap such as quality programming, original content, thought provoking documentaries and as many classic films as I can manage […]

Ever decreasing circles.

When Marianne Faithfull died this week the press were quick to wheel out a series of gushing obituaries and reflections, determined as they were to ensure that they appeared to know and love her almost as well as she knew and loved herself. Of course, you can never really know someone like Marianne Faithfull as […]

Mr Scaredy Pants.

Last night I found myself watching the first hour or so of ‘The Shining’. It’s an evergreen, really. A film you can flick onto at any point and just roll along with. If it’s not a perfect film then it can’t be far off it, and while it may not be my favourite film ever, […]

Tied Up In Knots.

I can’t really remember the last time I went to a wedding. Well, I can, because it was yesterday, but I can’t reliably remember the time before that. I’ve been to a generous handful of weddings in my time – a few of them have been good, a few have been ok and the rest […]

A MegaTon Of Hot Sun Fun.

Have you ever wondered how the sun works? Perhaps it would be better to ask why the sun works, or why it even exists. Or perhaps instead it would be better not to ask such inter-galactical, super-celestial questions, just in case the sun hears you thinking, starts to feel objectified and decides not to bother […]

R.I.P Quality Control.

I wonder what Jane Austen would make of her fame, if she could be brought back to feature on a special Christmas edition of ‘This Was Your Life: Beyond The Grave’. I wonder if she would have the faintest idea just how influential her body of work was to become in the centuries since her […]

Tis The Season. Again.

A load of pointless nonsense that goes nowhere and says nothing. Much like everything else at Christmas. In case you hadn’t noticed, Christmas is just around the corner. In fact, Christmas has been just around the corner since the middle of June but now it’s really, really around the corner, like a big, shiny mugger, […]

What Price Sanctity?

In an effort to stop the rot I’m just going to throw out the best I can muster, though I’ve never been much of one to triumph over adversity. There’s a fair share of adversity to deal with at the moment so if triumph can be measured by a bit of a ramble that no-one […]

Death, And So On.

Keith Moon was the drummer for The Who. The Who weren’t quite as big as it got, but they were almost as big as it gets, and for a band of such stature they demanded a drummer with considerable clout. Again, Moon wasn’t quite as big as it got but he was still up there […]

By Greatest You mean……

What makes a great band? Well, good looks, style, imagination, chemistry, chops, a sense of humour, a scattering of mystique (but not too much, we shouldn’t expect a great band to also be a member of the magic circle) and longevity can all play a part. Consistency helps too, more so than volume of output; […]