Angels and Demons

Very funny (well I thought so) comment from the NYT on the director of "Angels and Demons":

Mr. Howard’s direction combines the visual charm of mass-produced postcards with the mental stimulation of an easy Monday crossword puzzle.

To all those planning to go and see this film - did you see the Da Vinci Code? You did? And you mean to tell me you want MORE of that? The film's "star" Tom Hanks, who plays Robert Langdon, is also nicely dispatched:

... his face stroboscopically snapping from wry smirk to worried squint and back again, Langdon is something of a cipher in his own right, a walking embodiment of skeptical intellect who seems, most of the time, not to have a thought in his head.

Kim Gordon is very cool

Just had to link to this photo of Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon.How's that for unassailably cool? I can't believe she is 56. Seen on Matablog, photo taken by David Emery.

Purgatory = Tottenham

I loved this exchange from In Bruges, watched on DVD last night:

Ken:
[looking at a surreal Bosch painting] It's Judgment Day, you know?
Ray:
No. What's that then?
Ken:
Well, it's, you know, the final day on Earth, when mankind will be judged for the crimes they've committed and that.
Ray:
Oh. And see who gets into heaven and who gets into hell and all that.
Ken:
Yeah. And what's the other place?
Ray:
Purgatory.
Ken:
Purgatory... what's that?
Ray:
Purgatory's kind of like the in-betweeny one. You weren't really shit, but you weren't all that great either. Like Tottenham.
[pause]
Ray:
Do you believe in all that stuff, Ken?
Ken:
About Tottenham?

More quotes from the film here. Though on the basis of this season, you could make the same gag about Arsenal.

"Martin Amis does brilliant, world-famous novelist and all this as well." Pass the sick bag

I was absolutely stunned when I read this over Easter. Don't think I've ever seen anything so sycophantic. OK, so I have very little time for Martin Amis. That's probably why it annoyed me so much. But still - Amis and Isabel Fonseca, "one of the most glamorous literary couples in the world"? Amis, "this writer of coruscating, polysyllabic, look-at-me prose, this writer who is one of the most famous writers alive"? (Wow, polysyllabic! How clever to be able to use words with more than one syllable!) Amis, "the sexy one, the hip one, the one who wrote the blistering satires on money and success, but did pretty well at garnering both"?

I could go on, but I fear I might be physically sick. Even Heat magazine would reject this kind of stuff for being too dumb. After the first ridiculous paragraphs, I thought ah, this is obviously some kind of super-ironic joke. She is doing a parody of a star-struck interviewer. But I fear not. She appears actually to be a star-struck interviewer. And a spectacularly brainless one at that. Oh go on then, here's a bit more: "... I'm not on his level. I haven't written a handful of the funniest, cleverest novels of the late 20th century". Ahh, poor little girl. Perhaps you should stay at home playing with puppies, rather than daring to share the same space as the most magnificent, wonderful, sexy, stylish writer around. If this is the kind of thing the Independent sees fit to print, then the sooner it goes out of business, the better. It will be no great loss.

"Tell the boys I loved them"

Very sad article in the Graun recently by Jeremy Gavron, whose Mum killed herself when he was 4. This para is especially interesting:

Observation tells us that suicide runs in families, though whether the cause is nature or nurture is harder to know. For myself, I can say that my mother's suicide has given me knowledge - unwelcome knowledge, but knowledge nonetheless. One element of that knowledge is the possibility of suicide. Like drink to an alcoholic, it is always there in the background, always an option. But another part of that knowledge is an understanding of the actuality of suicide and its consequences for those left behind.

A nation of mindless slobs

Culture secretary Andy Burnham saw an opportunity to score some cheap political points last week, using the success of England's female cricketers to upbraid the media for not taking more interest in women's sport. In doing so, he inadvertently let slip what he really thinks of the people in this country. His words:

"I think the British public can get interested in virtually any sport if it's sold to them in the right way."

Which really means:

"I think the British public are a load of mindless, indolent, curry-guzzling slobs, who spend most of their time slouched on their loathsome, spotty behinds and are capable of taking an interest in almost anything if the telly rams it down their throats aggressively enough."

Cheers, Andy.

The Full What?

Will self reckons that "novels are the full monte". Eh? Shurely shome mishtake?

Morphmania

A fun tribute to Tony Hart. There must be millions of Morph fans in the UK and elsewhere - can he not be made to live on in some way?

Two years

Mum died two years ago today. Still much loved and much missed.

UPDATE: Christine has put an announcement in today's "In Memoriam" section in the Telegraph. Nice work.

The Homer Simpson defence

Could be useful if I ever end up in court.

Some thoughts from David Lacey...

From today's Graun:

Success in football usually involves imposing one style on another or at least having the better of similar styles. There are no absolutes. "Good football does not consist of playing 10-yard passes up and down the pitch and then having shots blocked off in the penalty area," declared Malcolm Allison in his definitive coaching work, Soccer For Thinkers, published more than 40 years ago.

Arsene Wenger take note.

How to make yourself VERY unpopular, especially during a recession

Sarkozy's closest friend said that anyone who didn't own a Rolex watch by the age of 50 was "a failure".

Thanks for that, Jacques Seguela.