Agree about the Piano, and this is from someone who lived in Auckland [where it was shot] at the time I saw it. I didn’t learn my lesson, though, as I made the mistake of going to see Campion’s Portrait of a Lady. […]

I have a friend called Corduroy, but she tells me it is derived from the French for King Heart (Coeur du Roi) rather than the kegs. I used to sell the jumbo variety in my Saturday job at Huggy Bear’s boutique on […]

I also devour rock autobiographies. Recent ones I’ve liked: Wilko Johnson, Chrissy Hynde, and as already mentioned Lol Tolhurst and Viv Albertine. One that I found a bit disappointing was Chris Difford’s. He is […]

And tells the 800 pound gorilla: “I know how you feel”.

May not be comfortable, but it is worth reading old correspondence. My mum sent me a pile of old letters I’d left in the attic. When I read them it destroyed many of the comfortable myths I’d created about my […]

At our office Christmas party I had a drunken conversation with a Scottish colleague who was doing Harry Enfield’s “everything’s better in Scotland’ routine. I was praising the Associates, and this 50-year old […]

Lyon. All the bon things about France without the Paris problems. The food is the best. I think I might retire there.

Get Out: an interesting thriller with an interesting and irreverent angle on white/black cultural clashes, with the added bonus of the Parking Pataweyo actor.

As I get older I find it depressing to see politicians such as Patel who are younger than me and have no apparent experience in real life work. A Google search shows she went straight from uni into a Conservative […]

Very sad news. I saw him performing in London in the 80s – always thought he came across better live than on TV. And then there was Jah Wobb’s ‘slap’ on Never the the Buzzcocks …

I liked the original because at heart it was a 40s film noir reworked with a punk/scifi vibe. The trailers for the 2049 Blade Runner don’t look so noir. Instead, I think I shall re-watch Veronica Lake in a Gun for […]

Could have been him – he describes how he got really sick for a year with some kind of bowel disease. He found the best surgeon in LA and instead of getting his London doctor to send his medical records he paid […]

That would be when he teamed up with the animators of Camberwick Green to build a studio in an old church in Crouch End …

I’d always imagined that people in the bands would live some sort of 24 hr creative bohemian life, scribbling lyrics on bits of paper and hanging out at each other’s performances. Bit of a letdown to see them […]

Definitely John Peel. A band I’d vaguely heard of at the time. Weird to see the portly guy sat opposite me at work as a youth bashing away on the drums in a grainy Youtube clip.

Great stories, but call me old fashioned, I hated the cheap digital look of the 2nd series. I’ve become resigned to the domination of digital format, but I still prefer film.

Could it be the same reason as for all these bike sharing startups that are now dumping bikes on the streets of Sydney? Data mining. They want your credit card … […]

I read the book when it first came out. I don’t remember him getting too fussed about Smith and Jones (is it an urban myth that they gave up after seeing that sketch, knowing they could never be funny for the next […]