Top Ten Uptown / Downtown Songs

We'll get sexual next week. I promise. Meanwhile, for no reason other than I thought it'd make a cool playlist...When I started compiling this top ten, I had the notion that 'uptown' and 'downtown' were more American concepts than British. Then I remembered that here in Yorkshire it's quite common to hear someone say "I'm going up town" or especially "I'm off down town". If someone not from Yorkshire...

Book Review - The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex by Mark Kermode

"All you really need to know about The Oscars is that they're the awards that didn't give a Best Picture gong to Citizen Kane, but did give one to Driving Miss Daisy. Just think about that for a moment and try to imagine a world in which Driving Miss Daisy really was the best film you were going to see all year. Be honest. You'd throw yourself off a bridge, wouldn't you?"As I said when I reviewed...

Countdown To 40: A Song A Year - Teenage Wasteland

So the countdown to March 19th continues (one in the eye for all those who believe we'll have to wait till December 21st for the 2012 apocalypse) and I'm back to picking one song for every year of my life so far.These were my choices from 1972 - 1982... and now, on with the show. 11 (1983) Yes - Owner Of A Lonely HeartWhat!? I hear you scream. You chose this over A New England or any of the songs...

Movie Review: Ghost Rider - Spirit of Vengeance

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...Like most sane moviegoers, I didn't have a great deal of time for the original Ghost Rider movie. OK, it was a stinker. So why, pray tell, did I plunk down my hard earned shekels (well, I.'s hard-earned shekels, since we went on Orange Wednesday and he took pity on my unemployed ass and gave me the GOF of his BO) on the second one? My defence goes thus...1....

Top Ten Sexy Songs

If you were here a couple of weeks back when I did sex, you'll understand the rules. This time it's ten great songs with 'sexy' in the title. In tribute to the second issue of Too Much Sex & Violence, out now...10. The Beatles - Sexy SadieThe original title was 'Maharishi', written by John after the Beatles' India experience. I don't mind including the occasional Beatles track in these lists,...

Book Review: Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

In pre-WWII London, Jack Miller, a penniless young office clerk is offered the chance of a lifetime - to join a scientific expedition to Gruhuken on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Circle. But circumstances conspire to leave Jack alone and stranded at this remote, frozen camp... alone among the living, anyway. The first adult novel by former children's author Michelle Paver, Dark...

Countdown To 40: A Song A Year - The First 10 Years...

So, March 19th 2012. That's the date. The date my life finally begins. I can hardly wait. Maybe Marvel will call me up and ask me to write Spider-Man, Morrissey and Bruce will pop round for a coffee and Kate Winslet will pop round for... unlikely, really, what with Louise's shotgun and everything. Or perhaps it'll just be another day like all the rest.To mark the countdown to this momentous milestone,...

I Am A Whinging Student (Hirst, 2012)

As part of my PGCE teacher training, I'm not just teaching... I'm also studying. For the most part, I find I'm enjoying being a student again. It's certainly better than the 9-5 drudge of office work that swallowed the last 20 years of my life. I like going to seminars. I enjoy class discussions and activities (though I can do without some of the "this is rubbish, why are we doing this, how is it...

Top Ten Valentine Songs

We'll get back to sexy next week... today though, we're going with soppy. Or not, as many of these songs look at the darker side of Valentine's Day. Which is good because I've never been a fan. If you're not in a relationship, it's just another kick in the ribs. If you are... well, not everything's roses, is it?10. The Humms - No One Wants To Be Alone On Valentine's DayGoes without saying really.9....

Book Review: I, Patridge by Alan Partridge

There were sections of Alan Patridge's autobiography (ghost-written by Rob & Neil Gibbons, Steve Coogan and Armanda Iannucci) which I found heartbreakingly sad. The foreword, for example, is little more than a bland employer's reference which describes our hero as "honest and trustworthy... a relatively good ambassador for the station... with an average of 1.5 sick days taken per year of employment"....

Movie Review: Carnage

Should you be the sort of nihilist who believes that pleasant society is a "waffer thin" masquerade that threatens to crumble at any second... that all human relationships are built around insecurity and resentment rather than love and trust... and that everybody secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) hates everybody else... then Roman Polanski's adaptation of the blackly comic Carnage by French...

Top Ten Sex Songs

In honour of the new issue of Too Much Sex & Violence (get your copy here), here's ten great songs that directly mention S-E-X in the title. Of course, there are millions of songs about doing the wild thing that don't mention the S-E-X word... but if I started sorting through all those, we'd be here forever...And no, I didn't count 'sexy' songs. Or 'sexual' songs. Those will be on separate lists....

More Great Comics You Should Buy Now

The second issue of Rob Jackson's "It's A Man's Life In The Ice Cream Business" is just as engrossing as the first, though I swear I'm confounded trying to explain why. It's more of the same action we enjoyed in part one as Rob and family continue to make their way round the farmers' markets of the North West selling home-made ice cream, sheep & goats' cheese, soup and even sorbet. Along the way...

Book Review: Player One by Douglas Coupland

A typically self-aware bunch of Coupland characters find themselves stranded in the bar of an airport hotel while in the outside world the price of oil reaches $350 a barrel... and society implodes. Rick is a reformed alcoholic about to give a large cheque to a self-improvement guru who's promised to change his life.Karen has flown half way across America to meet her blind date, Warren, after they...

Movie Review: Haywire

Gina Carano kicks ass. The former pro martial arts stars and American Gladiator spends the majority of Steven Soderberg's tense action film Haywire knocking seven bells out of the likes of Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender (yep, him again) and assorted extras - and it's a pleasure to see. As Louise pointed out, it's good to see a woman beating up tough guys in a movie, especially as...

Top Ten In Between Songs

I'm in between a great many things at the moment. In between jobs. In between ages (hey, kids - Rol's life begins on March 19th... apparently!). In between... oh, I'm sure I'm in between some other stuff. Just go with it, will you? It's ten great songs, that's all you need to know.10. Idlewild - The Space Between All ThingsThere's something about the lyrics to this particular Idlewild track that reminds...