tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44504093814807149142009-10-16T07:50:26.591ZFootling culturally through life.Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-60711756419414101102008-07-29T10:51:00.004Z2008-07-29T15:58:47.935Z

Peter Hall's production of Pygmalion transferred to The Old Vic this summer after a successful run in Bath. And while it's watchable enough to explain this staying power, it's also an uneven and slightly disappointing production. The sharply observed comedy of manners and morality sees Henry Higgins - portrayed in a more sprightly and capering fashion than usual by an excellent Tim

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-39361189934373229292008-07-21T10:17:00.004Z2008-07-21T10:32:49.216Z

Pixar is, very likely, my favourite company in the whole world. From the heights of Toy Story to the not-quite brilliant but still exceedingly watchable Ratatouille, they have never produced a dud. Some have been three star wonders, others have zoomed straight to five. WALL-E is one of the latter.I'm going to hold back from saying that it's as good as Toy Story because I do think WALL-E slightly

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-84370745243609644002008-05-04T18:31:00.002Z2008-05-06T14:13:38.990Z

To a certain extent, I know it's my own fault for watching BBC Three. But in my defence,I thought Being Human was quite good. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the trite, unoriginal and above all offensive car crash that was Scallywagga.Maybe I'm saying this with a haze of nostalgia, but the sketch shows of my youth seem to have been quite imaginative. The Mary Whitehouse Experience is

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-17805848858007012642008-02-17T12:23:00.004Z2008-02-17T12:54:14.429Z

"It's astonishing. Frankly astonishing. The man actually has charisn'tma." "Your meaning?" "I mean he's so dreadful he fascinates people."Terry Pratchett - Feet of ClayCan there by a young "actor" around at the moment who has less talent and charisma than Hayden Christensen? Granted, he's extremely pretty, but so is a tree, and that has more personality. Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-29592804219604501212007-12-21T14:19:00.000Z2007-12-21T14:22:31.238Z

Sturdy Beggars Theatre Company is a non-profit group that produces seasons of plays grouped around a theme, in this case a study of the outsider in society. Princess Ivona, an Absurdist play, is the story of a bored prince who chooses to spice up his languid existence by proposing marriage to the ugliest, most uncommunicative girl in the kingdom.The overwhelming impression I was left with after

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-46398049821132914272007-12-17T12:32:00.000Z2007-12-17T13:14:25.757Z

There was always going to be some pressure for Chris Weitz to deliver a film that did justice to Northern Lights / The Golden Compass. As first in a fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, which falls into the category nauseatingly labelled "kidult", there are several areas to be mindful of: strong, beloved characters, complex interweaving plotlines and spectacularly imaginative settings. Two of

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-25198043723162409902007-12-14T13:20:00.000Z2007-12-14T13:44:30.744Z

I'm far from being a food critic, so it's unusual that I would want to review a restaurant. But this was such an amazingly good evening that I feel duty bound to do so!For Weasel Day celebrations (our first anniversary), my boyfriend decided to surprise me with the dinner venue, and in fact I'd never really noticed Asia de Cuba despite attending press events in the weirdly wonderful hotel

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-85956357817060169302007-10-19T10:41:00.000Z2007-10-24T16:02:00.205Z

This large and broad collection of art sexual, seductive and provocative in nature has attracted a lot of attention, mainly because we are, as a society and species, completely fascinated by the S-word, but also because of it's rare over-18s certification.This was justified by some of the more explicit entries, but the barring of a woman toting her oblivious 10 month old child was definitely over

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-55835615637974513052007-09-13T10:36:00.001Z2007-10-19T10:17:52.933Z

We wanted to see Atonement, but we got the times wrong, and this was on instead. Oy.I think what makes Death Sentence so utterly annoying is the fact that a potentially powerful and moving storyline is reduced into an unfocussed tale that can't even be labelled a morality tale due to its lack of cohesion.The story of a quiet, mild-mannered underwriter who sees his favourite son brutally murdered

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-16516650341552820652007-08-16T10:42:00.000Z2007-09-13T10:35:46.673Z

As intelligent action films go there are fewer than you might think. To my way of thinking "intelligent" applied to action films doesn't necessarily mean the loss of rather tawdry product placement or even the ruthless excising of action stereotypes, but a solid plot, a bit of character ambiguity and some well-choreographed set pieces. The first two films in the Bourne trilogy more than met this

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-29151152314358603702007-08-15T16:09:00.000Z2007-08-15T16:27:43.391Z

"Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig, does whatever a Spider-Pig does..."In theory, I could just leave that as my entire review as no matter what else you take from the film several days of humming the Spider-Pig theme tune is guaranteed.The Simpsons Movie is thankfully exactly what it should be; it's a movie-length episode of the television show. It takes advantage of the film format here and there to toss

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-36978851644736996422007-08-13T09:16:00.000Z2007-08-13T10:38:17.298Z

Yesterday was, bizarrely, my first visit to the British Library. I've no idea why it took me so long to pootle down to King's Cross but I'm more than happy that I did; despite the unprepossessing (or just damn ugly) exterior brickwork, the inner space is airy, light and beautiful, a perfect mix of modern clean lines and fusty bookworm sensibilities.The Sacred exhibition, taglined "Discover what

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-34925218249777859072007-07-20T09:30:00.000Z2007-08-13T10:53:20.017Z

Lamb and Lynx Gaede are no ordinary American twins. Their mother, April, teaches their brother the alphabet as "A is for Aryan, B is for Blood - our ancestors fought and spilled their blood so the white nation could be free." She encourages their band, Prussian Blue, to write songs about "white pride" and dressed them up in Hitler smiley face t-shirts when they were barely into their adolescence

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-8214745405300591592007-07-18T14:11:00.000Z2007-07-18T14:42:56.558Z

You know how sometimes you watch a film from a series and there's something about it that feels... different? It's not the cast, and the change of director in the Harry Potter films, while noticeable, really only divided them into pre-Cuaron childishness and post-Cuaron darkness with a hint of sweaty adolescence. Anyway, it was like that throughout what turned out to be a very fair summary of

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-68306132913087886982007-06-08T22:03:00.000Z2007-06-08T22:17:06.509Z

As any purveyor of a "threequel" knows, the third film in a trilogy has to have more, better, bigger and louder than before. This is accomplished by POTC: At World's End.However, as any viewer of a film knows, true enjoyment comes from a coherent plot, engagingly presented, that takes precisely the time it needs to tell the story and no more. Hmmm. Not so much.It's not that it wasn't enjoyable.

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-59644503132020948612007-06-08T21:39:00.000Z2007-06-11T08:37:21.738Z

I'm certainly not the first person to tackle this topic, and I won't be the last. But as blogging has now become my profession as well as a personal habit, I feel it necessary to take a look at the reasons (individual, rather than commercial, for the most part) why blogging has such appeal.Firstly there's the diary element. Who didn't rip open a new, pretty notebook as a child and start

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-60149576081389645392007-06-04T17:18:00.000Z2007-06-04T18:28:45.200Z

Bertrand Russel in 1952 wrote an essay encapsulating a concept which became known as "Russell's Teapot" (sometimes known also as the "Celestial Teapot"). In it, he posited that if one were to state that there was a teapot between Earth and Mars, the statement would be utterly disprovable provided that it came with the disclaimer that the teapot is too small to be detected by our best telescopes.

Sam.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12714869460799409646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-39706290387238274822007-05-18T19:11:00.001Z2007-05-18T19:31:47.871Z

Well, I was right about one thing; Dangerous Parking doesn't get any less depressing.But it does change in tone. The tone has been one of drifting backwards and forwards through time (the different characters introduced at focal points - Ray, Kirsten, Tiny - making it almost vignette-like in tone) and now the boundaries become ever more blurred. The halo of pain and disaster that descends around

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-47929314439439368452007-05-14T18:51:00.000Z2007-05-14T19:09:54.188Z

Perhaps it's folly to start a review with the conclusion, but I saw Spidey 3 with three others who had the exact same reaction to it, namely: "Well, I was expecting a lot worse."The Spider-Man trilogy started with a stunningly watchable, enjoyable film and then, for my money, took a rapid nose-dive into preachy territory with a patchy sequel in which the only redeeming feature was the (underused)

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-35562447987318424542007-05-13T11:35:00.000Z2007-05-13T11:42:11.257Z

“One lazy grey afternoon, as I was sitting in my studio, my imagination, apparently angry at being ignored, took a holiday – and never returned.”Such is J. Patrick Lewis’s introduction to one of most exceptionally lyrical, beautiful and complex books I have ever come across… and it’s a picture book for children.Roberto Innocenti tells, through his stunningly simple and evocative illustrations, a

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-61518104187717161312007-05-12T11:24:00.000Z2007-05-13T11:26:18.948Z

It's unusual of me to write a book review before I've finished the book. But I'm having such a visceral reaction to it that I feel the need to record it and compare at the end.Dangerous Parking was Stuart Browne's only novel before his death in November 1999. We know this the minute we open the book and read the author notes. Does that have an impact on a book about an alcoholic struggling with

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-17927924184119687532007-05-11T19:45:00.000Z2007-05-11T19:56:03.068Z

I came to Chihuly late and, metaphorically, sweaty. It never really occurred to me to look at artists whose medium was glass beyond the odd beautiful vase or ornament in a shop. Then Chihuly crossed my path and I've never seen superheated sand in the same way again.Chihuly's prolific output has seen regular worldwide exhibitions including venues such as London's Kew Gardens. His elegant, twisted

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-28892467605792421082007-05-11T17:08:00.001Z2007-05-11T19:59:25.497Z

300 is, on a number of levels, a very silly film. Being a movie of a graphic novel, it's probably best to leave historical accuracy at the door. The only comment I'll make about that is that it's surprising how much WAS accurate (at least in terms of Spartan practices if not remotely in terms of Greek battle plans). It's also a very beautiful film. Alternately windswept, ethereal, burned

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4450409381480714914.post-68424676551617372172007-05-11T15:44:00.000Z2007-05-11T15:48:53.122Z

Culturenoun1. the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.2. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.3. a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture.4. development or improvement of the mind by education or training.5.

Alex Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17732231279974455138noreply@blogger.com1