So just to recap, I'm in Berlin. We awoke to a beautifully crisp Saturday morning with more plans than you could shake a stick at, and within two shakes of a lamb's tail we were waltzing back to the U-Bahn station like Jeremy Hunt running from a crowd of angry doctors. Our first port of call … Continue reading Isherwood’s Berlin
Last Sunday I spent the entire day writing an epic and monumentally boring essay. The Sunday before I was out on research for this post. Well, I say research, what I mean is I was on holiday in Berlin. Berlin was always on my list - not right at the top, but she was there … Continue reading Hello to Berlin
I've been guiding my students through the postmodern maze that is Atonement for a solid six weeks now. It's great watching their reactions to the complicated narrative and the little tricks, which tend to fall on either extreme of the spectrum: faces fall, groans erupt and books slam shut as disheartened students realise they'll have to … Continue reading I Want to Live in a Big House
Hours spent flicking through options; more hours flicking than watching. The hours creep into darkening windows and darkening thoughts and I reach my quarry, subtitled of course. Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar flashes once between faded vignettes of suede jackets and shell suits and we begin. No quiet here, there's no room between fabricated '80s beats. A … Continue reading BBC Feedback Part 2: The Swedish Connection
Is it sad to say that of all the gigs you've been to, you've seen one artist more times than any others put together? Probably - but I'd disagree, not simply because I am one such person, but because the artist in question is truly worth seeing again and again. Over the last 4-5 years, I've … Continue reading Lucy Rose
What better way to re-introduce myself than after a month-and-a-half-long unannounced Christmas hiatus? Well, I'm back to blogging. Did anyone notice I'd gone? Don't answer that. We move forward. This is a new start for me (yes, another one). I want to make a commitment to you and to myself, I'm just struggling to come up with … Continue reading Hello Wembley
Things fall in place And whatever goes wrong, I know that truth is illusion To begin with I know that truth is confusion And whatever goes wrong Things all embrace.
That final word is a godsend. A note of relief or release, Of grief, a new lease, Or different, of life, The will to survive Beyond and behind Something solid, A word so squalid, Meteoric and metaphoric. A moment of liquid magic From that final shot glass For a taste of metaphoria, And as … Continue reading There’s Magic in the End of Things
When did we get so obsessed with celebrity that we started reading and accepting things that simply are not true? I'm not talking about annoying publicity stunts or some made up crap on twitter, but articles published by reputable magazines which are self-confessed fabrications. I'd hesitate to say I like celebrity gossip as much as … Continue reading Imagine This
So this weekend I saw Dawn French talking to Sue Perkins about Perky's new book Spectacles. In case you missed that or simply think I'm a despicable liar, I did indeed say Dawn French and Sue Perkins. I met Sue Perkins. She signed my book. I talked at her face. What made it even more … Continue reading Kill your Darlings
