Recently updated blogs

I’m always interested in expanding my bookish horizons, so when I was approached by a new-to-me publisher about a forthcoming release I was very interested. The publisher is The Irish Pages Press, an award winning outfit based in Belfast, and they’re a non profit organisation; as well as issuing “Irish Pages: A Journal of Contemporary Writing”, they also put out some very intriguing sounding books with an Irish angle. The …

The poem featured in this post, Autumn Leaves, is found in Mary A. Maitland's book by the same title, published in 1907. Amidst the autumn gloom and the sad sight of fallen and crushed leaves, the poet is reminded that seasons will change again, ending the sense of grief and pain.

Roald Dahl evokes mixed feelings. He’s one of the greatest children’s storytellers, whose macabre books have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide; he was also anti-Semitic, and used racist and sexist stereotypes in his work. So despite the huge theatrical success of the musicals Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Witches, Dahl exudes a very unpleasant personal vibe. It is this that is the subject of director …

My discoveries made during my rewatch of CHINATOWN on the big screen of Cameo One are maybe REdiscoveries of things I noticed before and forgot. But here they are. I might write something about the sound design. It’s very simple in that pre-80s way, but each atmos and spot effect has an emotional, thematic or […]

Me, tracing my fingers in and out of the coarse surface of cupmarks on a stone in the sun, with red paint marks on the rock beside me. Again. Not in Faifley, but Oslo. To be precise this happened on a walk with fellow archaeologist Ingrid Mainland in Ekebergparken, on the south side of the harbour fjord of the Norwegian capital city. The park is better known for a stunning …

Team Ratings for Week 9 The basic method is described on my Department home page. Here are the team ratings prior to this week’s games, along with the ratings at the start of the season. Current Rating Rating at Season Start Difference Wellington 7.81 10.63 -2.80 Waikato 6.16 5.30 0.90 North Harbour 5.63 3.06 2.60 Hawke’s Bay 5.48 6.09 -0.60 Bay of Plenty 5.31 3.52 1.80 Taranaki 3.64 5.21 -1.60 …

What’s on Edinburgh’s stages this week? It’s a slightly calmer week, but there is still plenty going on, even if the only big show in town is Rambert with their dance version of Peaky Blinders at the Festival Theatre (Tue – Sat: tickets). There are hot happenings at the Traverse, with a Burns-related PPP: Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard (Tue-Sat: tickets), the return of EdFringe-forged Rukus (Tue -Thurs: …

25th Sept. Another very fine day. We must have nearly reached 10 good days this Summer/Autumn. Well if we include the Springtime too. Surprisingly Mary and I have resisted booking any holidays abroad yet. Mainly because we are having work done in our flat and we don't want to head off at a crucial moment. It is not grand designs; the windows have arrived and been fitted. The roof has …

I’ve been casually playing Palia on my Switch for the past couple months. I’d heard it described as a “cozy” game, and I’m all about the cozy. You are a human in a fantasy realm, and you build a little house and farm. You hunt; you craft things; you cook food; you go fishing. There are some quests and puzzles along the way, but you don’t have to do those …

Due to popular demand, the Treasury of British Comics Annual is back!Last year’s sold out hardcover returns this November with three brand new stories from industry superstars, including Simon Furman (Transformers) and Mike Collins (Doctor Who) on Kelly’s Eye, Alec Worley (Hook-Jaw) and Anna Morozova (Lowborn High) on Black Beth, and Paul Grist (Jack Staff) and Simon Williams (The HOFF: Heroes of

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The film is the first traditionally-animated 2d feature produced in Pakistan.

Attacking more of…wait, that’s too aggressive for a friendly site like mine. “Tip-toeing gently” through more of your questions today…. Joe Cabrera hails me with the following “In general, do you enjoy today’s comics as much as those of yesteryear? If not, why? Is it nostalgia coloring your opinion, stories getting worse, unappealing plot directions, etc.?” There…may be a difficulty now, particularly now that I own my own comic shop, …

I recently took a trip to the Yukon (and two days in Alaska) with my partner Elaine. The trip was mostly hiking focused and generally enjoying the nature. We took almost two weeks which was a good amount of time for us. Enough to not rush and soak in a lot of nature but not so long that our legs really started hurting and we started missing the comforts of …

Flames of Sam​ū​mOut 8th September on Dark Adversary Productions Black Funeral are perhaps the unlikeliest latter day acolyte for such staunchly conservative, by-the-numbers black metal. One of the US’s earliest adopters of the form, pillars of the third wave along with Judas Iscariot, Krieg, and Demoncy, their run of albums from 1995 to 2010 delights as much as it divides. Veering between highly traditional, mournfully melodic suites to aggressively abrasive, …