Gig Etiquette: How Not to Be a F**king A**hole at Live Events
Over the weekend I went to my first gig in a long time. I work a lot of hours and have been busy. Gigs weren't exactly a priority. Also I'm getting on a bit. I have a dodgy knee which makes standing...
View ArticleNoah - The Review
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of biblical epics I've seen on the big screen over the past 40 years. Not that there have been many such big budget movies over that time, but the...
View ArticleMiss Representation - a Worldly Woman Takes on the Media
I recently attended the opening night of the WOW Festival at the Southbank Centre in London. They showed a screening of the documentary film Miss Representation, followed by a panel discussion...
View ArticleBruce Dern Hits the Road in Nebraska
Veteran Hollywood actor Bruce Dern discusses his Oscar-nominated performance in Alexander Payne's melancholy road movie, Nebraska Nebraska's a road movie. Did you do much actual travelling? "We stayed...
View ArticleThe Raid 2 - The Review
Put simply The Raid 2 involves the simple formula of bloke A hits bloke B for 2.5 hrs, alternating bloke B every 10 minutes. Taking place a few hours after the first movie, it sees returning hero Rama...
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A View From the Bridge, Review: 'Gut-Wrenching, Heart-Breaking, Perfect'
Image credits: Cast A View from the Bridge at the Young Vic, Photo by Jan Versweyveld (c) Young Vic Theatre It's brave at any point to say that one show, one production, is unequivocally better than...
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On the Streets: Street Art With Phlegm, Jaz, Pixel Pancho, RONE, Borondo
This week's 'On the Streets' tries to capture the fine balance between painted fantasy and reality that appears on the city walls. Leading off this short but sweet review is Phlegm with his newest...
View ArticleAlfie Boe - Trust: Best Ever Album Due for US Release
Alfie Boe's latest album, Trust, hit UK stores in November 2013 and quickly went gold. For US fans, their chance to own Trust comes towards the end of April when Capitol releases the album in America....
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Warren United - A Sign of Things to Come for UK Animated Comedy?
Here's an easy question - Can you name the last three animated comedies you last watched on telly? You can? Great. Now let me guess... Family Guy, The Simpsons and American Dad? Thought so. OK, here's...
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Merrymouth and the Food of Love
Talking of the pre-Ocean Colour Scene days when he and Steve Cradock were on the dole in Birmingham, Simon Fowler is reminded of a joke. "A joke in Moseley back then was, what's green and gets you...
View ArticleOn Depression - A Suggestion
I'm wary about harping on about depression. People glaze over; you can see them thinking, 'Oh here she goes again, jawing on about "the darkness".' Once you couldn't say 'gay' and before that it was...
View ArticleDo You Have What It Takes to Be a Millionaire Author?
We often hear the romantic story of J.K. Rowling penning her first Harry Potter novel in her local coffee shop, her baby daughter sleeping alongside her. The atmosphere sounds friendly and familiar. It...
View ArticleWhy Do I Comedy?
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is now in full swing, and as a comedian, the most common question I'm asked is, 'How do you do it?' Basically people want to know how I manage to overcome...
View ArticleThe Met Office Goes Into Space
What comes to mind when you think about the Met Office? TV and radio Weather bulletins bringing rain to the UK?! Airports and shipping? Or maybe the meteorologists at their Exeter HQ, providing...
View ArticleLove Your Literature
Nowadays, everything is being digitalised. Everything we used to do 10 years ago, we can now do from the comfort of our homes on our laptops, tablets, and Smartphones. It's a pretty revolutionary...
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LIfe in the Arts Lane - Week 71 - Shopping and Sipping in the South
On Sunday it's goodbye to the Oval, London, and hello to Montpellier, Languedoc, where Michael, my carpet dealer friend and I picked up a rental car and drove to Avignon. The latest iteration of the...
View ArticleStraight Outta Scranton
Jon Bon Jovi has an irritating habit of describing his multi-million selling, stadium filling comrades as a 'bar band', a nod perhaps to the bands blue collar heritage, or porbably just a shameless...
View ArticleAn Ode to Children's Books
There is something magical about the stories of our childhood - the books we read as children and the books that were read to us retain their fairytale appeal. Last year I took part in an exhibition at...
View ArticleThe Most Emotional Advert in the World
A track I wrote with Max Cooper called Fragments of Self has just been used on the latest Vodafone advert, The Call, about the emergency services. We refer to this as a 'sync'- namely the granting of a...
View ArticleInspiring the Next Generation of Scientists Through Citizen Science
When I was young I was probably like a lot of kids, - not really sure what science was, why it was important, and disengaged. I've since learned that science is one of the most engaging, inspiring and...
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