Thoughts on music, books, films, TV, football…
Recently, I’ve really enjoyed watching Zen on the BBC iPlayer, a series of three dramas about an Italian detective. It is an adaptation of a series of books by the late Michael Dibdin, the detective Zen being his most famous creation – though I’d heard of neither writer nor character before. To start with, the programme…
So, 2010, eh? What a year. Volcanic ash, Nick Clegg, Wikileaks and no doubt other things I can’t quite remember just now. Last year was a pretty monumental year for me, but this year has been just as much so. The first big highlight of the year was the launch of my first book, Up…
When the software update for the iPhone that included iBooks arrived this summer, I had a scout around the iBooks store for some interesting free books to read. I wasn’t necessarily a full convert to ebooks, so wanted to read one or two things on the iPhone to see how I felt about the format…
No sooner are we back from Austria, than I am already pondering another adventure. I returned home yesterday to a delightful piece of news on the Explosions in the Sky mailing list. Not only do they have an album coming out in the spring, but they are touring Europe in May of next year. I…
I’m not sure if you saw the 24 tweetathon by Greater Manchester Police the other week, where the force aimed to tweet every 999 call they received. It was a fascinating insight into the work of the police, and while some of the highlights were amusing, the main themes that came out the day’s experiment…
After reading about Max Brook’s World War Z on book blog The Mountains of Instead, I knew I had to read it. It’s a story of a world war against zombies, and while I am not much of a zombie/horror fan, I am a huge fan of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction. The main attractions –…
I finished Louis Theroux’s The Call of the Weird last week. If you’ve heard of Louis Theroux (who incidentally is the son of the legendary travel writer Paul Theroux), it’s probably for his TV series…es… (what’s the plural of “series” – serii?) Weird Weekends or When Louis Met…, both of which focus on the off-beat…
A while back I had the privilege through a mutual friend of meeting Andrew Howie, otherwise known as singer-songwriter Calamateur. Based in the highlands, Calamateur has churned out an impressive array of songs over the years, and I was lucky enough to be paying attention when it was announced recently that his entire back catalogue…
Some time back I was “followed” on Twitter by MinionTV, an instrumental rock band from Liverpool (who I assume found me in a search for the words “post-rock”). I checked them out and discovered they were right up my street – a thoughtful, energetic guitar/drum sound that I would probably describe as a a slightly…
Well, I say “new”. Pillars was launched in early July, and I was at the spectacular launch event at the Ironworks to see a great gig and pick up my copy of the album (the first physical music format I’ve bought for as long as I can remember). It’s only now, though, that we have…
I went to see “Mogwai: Burning” at Eden Court the other week. It’s a film by Glasgow band Mogwai, arguably among the grandaddies of post-rock, and is effectively a wordless documentary about a series of gigs they performed in New York last year. Shot in a black and white, with blurry, fast-paced camerawork, the film…
Okay, so the last in my summer flurry of book reviews: “Deep Stuff” by New Zealand writer Mike Riddell. “Deep Stuff”, as you might expect, is about just that – deep stuff. It’s the story of five young housemates somewhere in England who gather once a week for food and discussion. In essence it’s a…
This is quite amazing – a haunting, floating thirty-five minute soundscape reminiscent of early Sigur Rós work, particularly their weird, ambient first album. The track is by Shamantis, an American music producer. It’s currently viral on Twitter, because it is not just any soundscape masterpiece – it’s Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber’s song “U Smile”,…
I promise I’m getting to the end of my list of book reviews. The other night I finished the last item in my current “to read” pile, so I’ll have to find something else to blog about soon. My penultimate review for now is Yin Yang Tattoo by Ron McMillan. Now I must declare an interest…
A book that really grabbed me as I dawdled around Amazon in search of holiday reading material was “The Newsagent’s Window” by John Osborne; the tale of one man who decided in an era of eBay and global trade to live his life through the notices in local newsagents’ windows. It struck me as a…
Alerted to this unusual tale earlier this year by Futility Closet, I kept “An African in Greenland” in mind, and finally bought it to read on holiday in Spain. It’s an astonishing story of a young boy in Togo, Tete-Michel Kpomassie, who is about to become an unwilling disciple of a snake cult but reads a…
In many ways a perfect holiday read, “Awkward Situations For Men” is short, snappy, entertaining and easily-digestible. The latest book by journalist, TV and radio presenter, writer, actor and cult leader Danny Wallace is a light-hearted look at the kinds of awkward situations he finds himself in at work, among friends and in everyday life.…
A few months ago, Four Lions hit the cinema screens, and it’s taken me until now – and a late run at Eden Court – to catch it. I’m sorry it took such a long time, because I have really wanted to see it firstly because it is by Chris Morris and secondly because by…
I’ve been quite a voracious reader of late. Partly, it’s an easy way of avoiding the writing I need to do while still feeling somewhat intelligent and literary. Especially when the internet is not yet sorted in our new house. Being in Spain last month also helped me get stuck into my reading pile. Not…
So, the World Cup approaches the finale, and it’s time to wheel out my predictions and hold them to account. I said Brazil would win. Oops, they were swept aside by the Netherlands. I said England would get knocked out in the quarter finals, and was a bit over-optimistic there; and while I was close…