The 2012 Olympics are over. If you weren’t in the UK you might not have been aware of just how transformative these two weeks were. That I’m even talking about it is evidence enough. Like many of my geek and writer friends I’ve often found myself in the position of fighting against the popular attention…
Category: England
Know-vember: Barry Leary
I should be in Dublin with Elena and Rod today, which is just as well considering my current guest here: Barry is shy. He’s also an artist. We may have been standing next to each other at the big Rothko exhibit at the Tate Modern a few years back, both gazing in rapt awe, but…
More Moore but Not Ruthlessly So
Saturday kicked off another trip to the Big Smoke with the aim of seeing Mr Moore and his compatriots re-imagine a journey through the English. Apropos, non? We took the train into Liverpool Street station and then stopped at Hamilton Hall for a pint and lunch with Ruth. I love burgers with slabs of real…
London with Four Essex Lads, Alan Moore, and Ruth
Because no one would want to travel ruthlessly, surely: I zipped off to London this weekend because I could. Is there any better reason? Well, I suppose fun and a couple of Alan Moore performances were also a good reason. I got in rather late, so Friday also got a late start but my pal…
FFB: The Fallen
For the full list of Friday’s Forgotten (or neglected or insufficiently trumpeted) Books, see Patti Abbott’s blog. If you’re in need of reading material, there are always wonderful suggestions. I remember when Marko asked if I had got The Fallen yet and I said, “Nah, I’m really only interested in MES, don’t think I’ll be…
The Fall in Manchester, 3 June 2011
I won’t say I flew into Manchester instead of Heathrow in June just to see The Fall, but once I realised the opportunity existed — well, no way I was going to pass it up. Besides, I’d never visited Manchester and had the chance to meet up with a couple of friends, so it was…
Town & Country
I will get to the Fall concert, but anon. Earlier in the day I had a fabulous lunch with Hannah Priest who ran the Werewolf Women Conference last fall and will be part of the Gender and Punishment Medieval Conference in January (which I’ll probably go to since I’ll be near by). We had a…
Manchester
As always, CCTV is everywhere in Britain. This is on the train from the airport to Picadilly Station. I had managed to get some sleep despite my somewhat disjointed journey that took me to Atlanta instead of NYC due to tornadoes (!?) in western Massachusetts. Oh and then there was the slight “lamination” of the…
Review: Another Year & Fela!
In the middle of watching Mike Leigh’s Another Year, I realised why I usually dislike mimetic films. The reality they purport to capture has nothing to do with their glossy interiors and shiny surfaces. Actors — especially Hollywood actors — do not look like they do in real life without the flattering lighting, makeup and…
Back in Black
I lie — I’m wearing grey at present, but how could I miss the opportunity to put a bad AC/DC tune in your head (okay, it’s not that bad). Seems like LoudTwitter gave up the ghost the last couple days, so you missed fabulous tidbits like: Kate Laity fell up steps Thameside, but did not…
K. A. Laity 