So Christmas was enjoyable in a quiet kind of way although TV was pretty rubbish - Doctor Who was good, but hardly amazing and the only other thing I really enjoyed was the ghost stories season on BBC 4 (I love that channel). Even the I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue special wasn't as good as the extraordinary Christmas Carol spoof of a few years ago ( ( Read more... )

I've done loads since last update, as usual. Also as usual is the fact that a lot of it is of largely no interest to anyone apart from me. Here's a digest ( Read more... )

I just got my MA results and apparently I've received a distinction! Yay! That makes the PhD seem somehow more managable now. Not much else to report really. Had a nice weekend, the Blondie musical was about as good as you'd expect it to be (awful by most objective standards, but it did remind me how many good songs Blondie have and they were well- ( Read more... )

Continuing our recent tradition of scavenging for cheap theatre tickets, Chris and I have again been trying to find a West End production cheap enough for us to attend tomorrow. We've seen all the available shows (appart from The Woman in Black - partly because i'm frightened by it and partly because it always sells out really quickly) so we've had ( Read more... )

I'm reading Treasure Island today, since I'm working on Stevenson but have only read one novel and a few short stories of his. I'm also reading Graham Balfour's Life of Stevenson, which is surprisingly enjoyable so far. At the moment, my angle looks like it's going to be to examine why books like Stevenson's, though ostensibly childish, were far ( Read more... )

I was meant to be in Oxford today, wishing Anna and Andrew all the best for the furture at their leaving do. Unfortunately, I'm stuck at home wrestling with the final draft of my dissertation. Obviously, I wish her and the other half all the best anyway. They're lovely people and I hope they're very happy in whatever they plan to do ( Read more... )

I just got Ash's new album through the post. I'm only up to track nine, but I'm very impressed. I really like their last album, but it must be said that there was something lacking - but this is a return to form. It's very nearly as good as Free All Angels. The lyrics are an improvement too - it's no longer a case of just reaching for the rhyming ( Read more... )

'Parti'r Ysbrydion' by Huw Chiswell is one of the funniest songs I've heard. 'Ganja di-stop' indeed.

Gratuitous Salad Days reference there. Marvellous ( Read more... )

Kenneth Branagh's film of Love's Labour's Lost is really, really good. I've said it before, but I've just watched it on DVD, which reminded me. Incredibly sad, but incredibly uplifting at the same time. And I wish I could get hold of the version of 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' that they sing at the end - it's probably one of the most moving ( Read more... )