2017 in Review
Hot damn if it isn’t New Year’s Eve once more. This means I must be 43 today. 11 and a half years since I was first published, but I still feel a little strange describing myself as a writer… 2017. Well, it’s been a gruelling year one way or another. A year of inside-outs and […]
2016 in Review
New Year’s Eve, people, and you know what that means. Yes, indeed, I am 42 years old today. Can it really be a year since I reviewed last year? Apparently it can. 2016, then. Bloody hell. It’s been quite the year for deaths and political upheavals. The blog continues to be in a fairly moribund […]
2015 in Review
New Year’s Eve, and you know what that means? Happy birthday to me. Yes, indeed, I am 41 years old today and this is my 7th yearly review post. Time marches only one way, my friends… I’ve been hugely blog-lazy this year. There are still many authors blogging very effectively, but it’s not quite the standard tool […]
Recent TV
Sons of Anarchy Season 7: Sons of Anarchy has been a frustratingly mixed bag for me right from the start. At its best it’s been tough and twisty as a mean rattler with some great characters and jaw dropping shocks. At its worst it’s been nonsensical, melodramatic, and really quite silly. Without Ron Perlman’s gravelly presence to counterbalance […]
Recent TV
Sons of Anarchy Season 6 – My love/hate relationship with the Sons somewhat continues, but hey, I’ve made it this far, so they must be doing something right. It’s still an odd mix of the rather cliche, silly and wearyingly sexist and the utterly clever, shocking and unpredictable. Charlie Hunnam has grown into his increasingly […]
2014 in Review
New Year’s Eve, my friends, and you know what that means? Yes, indeed, I am 40 years old today. You would never think I used to be young. Truly horrifyingly, this is my 6th yearly review post. I’ll have to have a review of my best yearly review posts one of these new year’s eves… A YEAR […]
Fury
Fury, ladies and gentlemen, is a war film. Of this there can be no doubt. Some heavy spoilers ahead though, I would argue, nothing you can’t see coming from the opening few scenes… Hard-bitten Brad Pitt steers a tank-crew of dehumanised veterans plus one raw recruit through a World War II shitty, gritty, and horrible […]
Recent TV
Recently watched, that is… Vikings Season 2 It’s as if a set of TV Executives sat down with the express purpose of making a show Joe Abercrombie would really like, and they largely succeeded. Love, hate, violence and pagan strangeness abound as Scandinavia’s shiftiest opportunist, Ragnar Lothbrok, becomes embroiled not only in Viking blood-feuds but Saxon politics. […]
Breaking Bad
Phew. I have, of course, entirely missed the boat on this, as ever, and no doubt it’s all been said already and the Sauron’s eye of popular culture moved on to fresh pastures. But I just saw the final episode of Breaking Bad last night, and felt the need to muse a little on this […]
The Walking Dead Season 3
I like the fundamentals of the Walking Dead a lot (zombies and extreme cynicism, what’s not to like?) but found the 2nd season, though enjoyable, not without its considerable flaws, chiefly some annoying characters, some treading of water, and a lot of attempts to squeeze drama from extreme stupid. I’m pleased to say they cut […]
