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 […]

Daytrippers

This afternoon I was seeing a friend in Shepherds Bush when we noticed the sound of a helicopter overhead. In all the years I lived in west London such a thing was not too unusual, and there were always sirens going off somewhere in the near distance. Police helicopters are always visble above big demonstrations […]

Realm Of Dusk

Like millions of other Britons I’ve been reading the new edition of The Otherwise, a screenplay Mark E.Smith wrote with Graham Duff about 7 years ago. In the lengthy introduction, Duff explains that he met MES when the latter was brought in for a cameo appearance on the Johnny Vegas sitcom Ideal. Duff was the […]

Dream Chambers

I went to Whitechapel Gallery to see the new Eileen Agar exhibition, as well as the other free exhibitions now running. Although restrictions are now loosening, it is still necessary for visitors to book a time slot in advance (including the free shows), and then check-in with the NHS App as well as having a […]

Synthetic Geometry

I went to the Arebyte Gallery to see RGBFAQ. The Gallery is located on the detached Ballardian microcosm of City Island next to Canning Town station. A Palestinian flag was flapping from one of the apartment balconies. I noticed that already there was a crack in the paving, suggesting subsidence. I waited in the dark […]