8th March 2007 Friday Night Lights is an American TV series which started airing in the US in October 2006. It has been showing in the UK on ITV4 for the past three weeks. I wanted to write about it now because my feeling is that the extraordinary originality of the first couple of episodes will …
John Clare : ‘strange death of life’ (OP)
7th September 2005 At the ECW list we are reading Bate's biography of John Clare. I was not too sure about the earlier parts of the book, both becuase it seemed to me that Bate was failing to provide an adequate context for the political and literary world which formed the backgorund to Clare's emergence …
Cranford and Other Events
18th December 2007 There have now been two superb television series this year - Rome Part 2 (and I have written extensively of Rome) and now Cranford. It is hard to imagine two more superficially different series -Rome is blood and thunder, exploitation, over-the-top drama; Cranford quiet, understated. David (as in the painter) against Vermeer …
Funeral Music (OP)
11th March 2005 Widely reported in the British press has been a 'survey' of people's choice of song to be played at their funeral. As with many 'surveys' of this kind the actual basis is extremely thin - it is a result of a poll by digital TV channel Music Choice (of which I have …
Nanci 2007 (OP)
17th July 2007 We went to see Nanci Griffith on Sunday (15th). A wonderful night as usual - I am often close to tears when listening to and watching Nanci live. She played at the Alexandra Theatre rather than Symphony Hall - so we swapped the airiness and light and modernity and perfect sound quality …
Of Place and Memory (OP)
16th November 2007 On 4th October we attended the concert for the re-opening of Birmingham Town Hall. We were actually very lucky to get tickets for this heavily oversubscribed event - the wonders of Internet booking! The Town Hall is one of oldest purpose built Concert Halls in Europe, completed in 1834 (long before The Albert …
When In Rome (OP)
4th July 2007 Continuing to watch Rome, the second series, and reading a lengthy discussion on ECW about classicism, I fell to musing on these topics. The problem with the discussion was the lack of definition of 'classicism'. What do we mean by this? In the context of talking about the Eighteenth Century we use the …
Of Romans and Tudors (OP)
16th November 2007 I have written about Rome before - and no doubt will again. I have now got both series on DVD and watched it through continuously once, and a second time rather more cursorily. I know that it will become a Depression staple, like The Lord of the Rings. So it works for …
Dreamgirls (OP)
2nd March 2007 Dreamgirls is the best film I have seen at the cinema for a good while; this may not be that much of a recommendation since sadly we rarely go the cinema nowadays! But most trips over recent years have left me sadly disappointed so it was a wonderful change to walk out …
Me from myself – to banish (OP)
22nd August 2005 Here is another poem that was posted on the Women Writers list... Me from Myself -- to banish -- Had I Art -- Impregnable my Fortress Unto All Heart -- But since Myself -- assault Me -- How have I peace Except by subjugating Consciousness? And since We're mutual Monarch How this …
Moving Toyshop 