Writing Is All About Self-Doubt

I had the chance to teach some Steinbeck recently, as part of my PGCE, so I ended up re-reading Of Mice And Men as research. I probably won't end up delivering the lesson I'd planned (for reasons I won't bore you with) but I thought I'd share something I discovered in the novel's introduction... it may offer a little comfort to the struggling and frustrated writers among us.Even when financially secure,...

Two Much Sex & Violence

See what I did there?Issue #2 of my new comic TOO MUCH SEX & VIOLENCE is finally available to buy, in print and digital formats. It's written by me, with top notch artwork from Stephen Prestwood, Neil Cavenham, Dave Metcalfe-Carr, Nige Lowrey, Mark Renhard, Ryan Taylor, Rob Wells and Tony McGee - thanks, gents! Return to the seaside town they ought to close down and catch up with dodgy Dermot...

Movie Review: Shame

Michael Fassbender's cock. Carey Mulligan's muff. Let's get them out of the way to begin with, since both take a starring role in Steve (not that one) McQueen's grim new critic's fave and potential Oscar-botherer Shame. I'm sure both genital organs are very nice if you like that sort of thing. Maybe I'm getting old.For a movie about a predatory sex addict, Shame is a curiously cold and unerotic affair....

Top Ten Seabird Songs

The only reason is just because. I really wanted to find room for Half Man Half Biscuit's 'National Shite Day' which features a guest appearance from a dead wading bird, parcelled up and posted to the "rubber-faced irritant Phil Cool / With a note inside which read(s): 'Is this your Sanderling?'". I have no idea what the story is behind that gag, but it always makes me smile.Anyway...10. Bad Company...

Book Review: The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith

The sequel to my second favourite novel of 2011 is almost as gripping as its predecessor. Almost, because although for the most part I found the pages of The Secret Speech turning just as fast as Child 44, there were a couple of sequences I would have happily left out in the cold.Set a few years after the first book and shortly after the death of Josef Stalin, The Secret Speech finds Leo Demidov facing...

Full Cream Comicy Goodness

Like Robots? Like Vikings? Like Ninjas? Like Pirates? Then check out the new comic from my old Thoughtballoons compatriot, MK Strangeland. Robot Viking Ninja Pirates #0 is just as much fun as the title sounds and it's available now from graphic.ly for just $1 (about 60p, by my reckoning). Here's the full blurb...Robot Viking Ninja Pirates #0 (22 Pages) – What are Robot Viking Ninja Pirates? Exactly...

Movie Review: The Artist

Michel Hazanavicius's homage to the era of black and white silent movies has been lauded as a brave, funny and moving piece of film-making. It tells the story of George Valentin (a star-making performance from Jean Dujardin), a silent movie actor who finds himself dinosaured when the talkies start making a big noise in Hollywood. George's career is on the slide, his marriage is failing and his fortune...

Top Ten Comparison Songs

Nothing Compares 2 U, sang Sinead O'Connor (with a little help from Prince)... but that was before the internet came along and gave us the chance to weigh life's many options without ever leaving the house. Whether we want to compare car insurance quotes, phone plans, holiday destinations or even potential soulmates... we're now just a few clicks from the right answer. Even rock stars are it. Here's ten examples of popular musicians scratching their...

The Mixtape Lives On... Somewhere Else

Keeping two separate blogs running was a nice idea, but much as I've enjoyed writing about my favourite music over at The Mixtapes Lives On, I've had to knock that blog on the head. Which means I'll be writing about my favourite new (and old) musical discoveries here at Sunset Over Slawit again (and bringing back the Top Tens, which should please some of you). But if you want to know what else I'm listening to, you could do a whole lot worse than...

A Good Weekend For Photographs

After weeks of endless rain, we're having some proper winter weather (though thankfully no snow). This has provided some excellent photo opportunities... beginning with Saturday morning's sunrise...(A little blurry because it was taken through the window and I'd just woken up.)On Sunday, we had a proper frosty Sherlock Holmes style fog...I love the way the mist flattens the landscape, making it seem...

Book Review: An Idiot Abroad - The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington

If Karl Pilkington didn't exist, I'd probably have to invent him... then any time anyone ever calls me a "miserable northern bastard", I can refer them to Karl. Compared to him, I'm a children's TV presenter.Karl isn't a great writer, he'd probably be the first to tell you that. Yet the diaries he kept while filming the first series of An Idiot Abroad make for amusing and, at times, enlightening reading....

Movie Review - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

I'm certainly no Tom Cruise fan and although I didn't mind the first one, I hated MI2 so much that wild horses couldn't drag me to watch the third. Louise twisted my arm into going to see Ghost Protocol though... and it turned out to be a mission I didn't mind accepting.Possibly because I watched it shortly after the shockingly awful Sherock Holmes, and probably because I had very low expectations...

The Neverending Meme

Happy New Meme! Stolen, as these things usually are, from Sunday Stealing.1. Song that always makes you sad?I've mentioned this many times before, but it never fails to bring a tear to my eye.2. Last thing you bought?The "new" single from the reborn Ultrasound. 3. Last person you argued with?Probably Louise. I'm sure I was in the wrong.4. Do you put butter on before putting peanut butter on?No, I stop at the butter. Peanut butter is the work of the...

Book Review: A Long,Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

Anna Sheehan's novel retells the Sleeping Beauty fairytale in a futuristic setting. Rosalinda Fitzroy wakes up after 62 years in "stass sleep" (a suspended animation chamber) to find herself sole heir to her parents' empire, a freak in the eyes of her schoolmates and contemporaries, and pursued by an unstoppable robot killing machine to boot. She's missed out on an awful lot during her years of slumber,...

Movie Review: Sherlock Homes - A Game Of Shadows

Let's not dwell too much on Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows. I didn't like the first one, and despite all the reviewers (Steve included) telling me the sequel was an improvement, I found it... sedimentary, my dear Watson. Guy Ritchie's freezeframe-the-action-sequences direction is completely lacking in excitement (God, I'm sick of bullet time). Robert Downey Jr. is wasted... again... though not...

See What Happens When I Take A Week Off...

...my hits go through the roof. The stats are in, and I had more visitors last week than Sunset Over Slawit has ever seen before. And I only bloody posted once! (Thanks for all the votes, by the way.) Maybe it's time I sat back and let this blog take care of itself...Nah. Sorry.Watch the visits go down now I've actually got something to witter on about again......

Too Much Sex & Violence Needs Your Vote!

The longlists for the Eagle Awards 2012 are being compiled - and Too Much Sex & Violence is nominated in 4 categories! Category 1 - Favourite New Writer (me!)Category 9 - Favourite Letterer (David Metcalfe-Carr)Category 15 - Favourite British Comic (B&W)Category 16 - Favourite New ComicWe've been kind of tacked onto the end of each list so you won't find us in the main alphabetical listing......