The Wretched Timesheeters

I watched Anything More Would Be Greedy, the 6-part drama series shown on ITV in the summer of 1989, telling the stories of 6 friends over the previous 15 years. I saw 1 episode on first broadcast. The script was written by Malcolm Bradbury, the academic and novelist who had a great success with The […]

Cottonmouth

I read Kristin Hersh’s latest book Seeing Sideways. This is a memoir of her life from about 1990 up till 2020. During which time she had problems with her record companies, whilst releasing and touring many new albums. She had a custody battle over her first son and also had 3 more children with her […]

Supporting Features

I watched the BFI edition Short Sharp Shocks. This is a collection of short films shown as “supporting features” in cinemas, made from the 40s to the 80s. Lock Your Door (1949) It is a very strange experience for anyone born after 1970 to realise that at one time cinema audiences were expected to listen […]

Polymorphous Polyester

I was going to see an event in which Isabel Waidner talks about their new novel Sterling Karat Gold. Unfortunately, all the jobs I had to get done by mid-afternoon were not ready until evening, so there was no chance to even have the event chattering away to itself on my smartphone while I worried […]

A Stranger Calls

Today I finally got around to watching The Passing Of The Third Floor Back (1935) all the way through. I have had a very low-level obsession with this film ever since I saw about the last 10 minutes of it broadcast on Channel 4 in the daytime about 30 years ago. To be honest, I […]

Terra Incognita

I went to see In The Earth. It is terrible. It is specifically terrible in the way when several quite good ideas are being thrown away without getting useful employment. Martin Lowry turns up at a lodge on the edge of a forest. He has to undergo medical testing and some attempt at masking and […]

The Heavy Mob

I watched all 5 seasons of Strangers (1978-1982). This centres around the actions of the detective George Bulman, played by Don Henderson. I wanted to see it all as I had dim memories of seeing an episode long ago, and also some of the follow-up series Bulman (1985-7), featuring the character after he retired from […]

The Magnetic Fields

I went to the White Cube Gallery in Bermondsey to see 2 new free exhibitions. As usual with galleries at the moment I had to book a slot to attend in advance, even for free shows. On arrival I was checked as present and thus registered for tracking. All the usual pandemic precautions are in […]

White Spiral

I went to see the free shows at the South London Gallery. First I went in the main building to look at the Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2020. Some of these are video displays which don’t come out well in pictures (but see below). Friday Evening by Nimmi Hutnik: Fat Fingers And A Crustacean by Sophie […]

Those Barren Leaves

In the last month I’ve read Double Blind, the new novel by Edward St Aubyn. I understand this did not get good reviews, but I have not read them. I do not think this is as good as his best work but it is an interesting snapshot of the concerns that have been running through […]