We Want Our Dinner!
Was the most important news story of the week that Boko Haram had pledged their allegiance to ISIS to create an international swivel eyed House of Crazy? Was it that Ed Miliband has two kitchens, or...
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Try These Paddy Pizzas for St Patrick's Day
Happy St Patrick's Day, everyone! St Patrick's Day is the ideal time to treat yourself to some tasty Irish cuisine, like traditional Irish breads. One of my favourite Irish breads is buttermilk soda...
View ArticleIn the Theatre, I'd Almost Always Find That the Story Was Told Via Male...
About five years ago I was working as a freelance theatre director and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable about how much longer the list of actors I'd worked with was than that of actresses. I'd...
View ArticleWhy We Can't Afford to Lose IdeasTap
It's not easy to survive as an artist. But if there's one thing harder than making ends meet in the creative professions it's getting a foot on the ladder in the first place. That process is about to...
View ArticleLibraries: It's Not All White and Gold, Or Black and Blue, Out There...
Sad world the one where there is not a week without hearing that more public libraries are about to close or have just closed. Yet, of course, this type of news doesn't appear on TV and doesn't make...
View Article'The Voice' 2015 The Knockouts Show One
Blind auditions. Over. Battle Round. Over.... The remaining singers must face their biggest test to date. One 90 second song for a place in The Voice 2015 live shows. Like the coaches, Team Midas pick...
View Article'Top Gear', RIP
I enjoyed Top Gear. You would think from the reaction I get to this statement from some of my friends that I was voicing support for Islamic State or something. But when my kids were younger it was one...
View ArticleLife of Luxury
Bursting out the fertile Leeds scene, aggressive but classic rock minded noise mongers Super Luxury are a breath (or a blast) of fresh air the UK rock scene. Noise bands in the past have focussed on...
View ArticleSaturday Night TV Just Got Great Again...Or Did It?
Recently it's seemed as if Saturday night television would never improve, leaving viewers forever destined to look back to a golden age of programming that doubtless only ever existed in their minds....
View Article'The Voice' 2015 The Knockouts Show Two
Team Rita and Team Will can now relax in their big red swivel chairs having picked their three acts ready for the live shows. Sunday night and the stress and pressure is now on for Team Ricky and Team...
View ArticleIs ITV's New Game Show 'Back in the Room' Really That Bad?
Well it has been a dramatic week in the world of hypnosis and hypnotherapy. The launch of ITV's new game show 'Back in the Room' where a hypnotist supposedly hypnotises game show contestants, has...
View ArticleTales From the Middle of Nowhere: The Good, the Bad and the Bubbly Pt 5
That Italian TV show was a fucking struggle. The miming I don't mind, it's the interview. You have an actual person in front of you asking questions in Italian and a phantom in your ear translating...
View ArticleGoing Academic - Behind the Scenes in an Actors' Agency
An actor's agent does not step into the spotlight; he or she is a figure in the shadows, buoying and navigating many dazzling careers. But what does shedding light on the figure of the agent tell us...
View ArticleA View From The Fence: Written by Mrs Bach?
Johann Sebastian Bach is recognised as a figure of genius in the history of western music, but his daily life is shrouded in mystery. His second wife, Anna Magdalena Wilcke, was the copyist of many of...
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Ringling Elephants and the Ankus - Is It Time to Let Circuses Off the Hook?
Me and the Elephant: Author Douglas McPherson meets one of the last elephants to appear in a British circus. The news that the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus is to phase out its iconic...
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Unlikely Coming Of Age Movies
I never used to think of myself as a 'film person'. Growing up, I had a minimal movie diet and even TV sessions were scarce as I spent more time talking to the cat, climbing trees and bullying my...
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Game at Almeida Theatre is a Game-Changer
If theatre is going to thrive then it must take risks. And the Almeida Theatre takes a risk with Game, a thrilling - and chilling - examination of the tipping point of our humanity that doesn't just...
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Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
I first saw the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art back in 2011, and it stuck with me as one of the most awe inspiring demonstrations of talent I have...
View ArticleChina
China is a prominent themes in X plus Y. Nathan travels to Taiwan to train with the Chinese squad. He meets a girl in the Chinese team - Zhang Mei. The film also highlights the mathematical dominance...
View ArticleBullying in 'The X Factor' NZ
If you don't live in New Zealand then this may have passed you by, but there has recently been a bit of controversy surrounding our version of The X Factor. I don't mean some manufactured drama between...
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