All times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; ...I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
I went to see Skyfall, the new James Bond. This is a brief spoiler-free overview. I dunno, I will cut it in case you are utterly allergic to seeing anything in advance, but there's nothing ( Read more... )

I am watching Brick, by the same director as Looper, and also starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's a very black comedy, one of the many, many versions of Red Harvest that have been made over the years. Red Harvest is a fascinating novel, probably in my top ten, and it has been made into several great films, but funnily enough none of them are called ( Read more... )

For national poetry day, here is my own translation of part of The Heights of Macchu Picchu by Pablo Neruda. Oh Wilkamayu, oh you loom of sound.

Sube conmigo amor AmericanoRise up with me, American beloved ( Read more... )

I have seen three films recently, but because I am working literally seven days a week right now, I haven't had time to post here about them. In case you are trying to decide whether to see them, here is a quick blast of opinion. No spoilers.

Anna Karenina: starring Keira Knightley, script by Tom Stoppard, and directed by Joe Wright (also directed ( Read more... )

In the UK, since John Major's privatisation of the railways, the railway system was split up into overlapping sections, and private companies have to bid to run them. They 'bid' by offering to pay the government money during the life of the franchise. This year the contract to run the West Coast rail was taken away from Virgin and given to ( Read more... )

I am supposed to be writing but I have been wasting time this morning looking at lindy-hop and jitterbug videos on YouTube. I love Swing music, and I like the dancing that goes with it. I think the women are assertive and uninhibited ( Read more... )

In Seven Types of Ambiguity William Empson unpacks multiple meanings from eight words of Macbeth: 'The crow makes wing to the rooky wood'. In addition to the overt meaning 'I see a bird going from a to b' he says, I think rightly, that the words suggest something like ( Read more... )

Some of you might remember that 2 or 3 years ago I was looking after my parents' cat while they were on holiday, and it was pretty clear to me that it had diabetes, which they would not acknowledge. I started him on insulin without asking their permission. I thought they might not be able to cope with the injection regime. However, once I had taken ( Read more... )

When I was young, like a lot of British SF fans, I used to read the comic 2000AD. The main character in that was Judge Dredd, who is a future cop of fascistic disposition and severe demeanour. He patrols Mega City 1, an urban nightmare. He generally arrests and/or kills young scallywags not unlike the readership of the comic itself, as well as ( Read more... )

toft_froggy pointed to bironic's multifandom video Starships, to 'Starships' by Nicki Minaj. It is terrific if you like SF. Link given here.

Another video: the Madmen rickroll

A Breaking Bad video: The transformation of WW. (ETA - has many of my favourite Walt+Jesse moments, including Jesse handcuffed to the meth equipment. Here's a follow-up video from the same ( Read more... )