I recall that shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, a rumour went round that Sylvester Stallone was thinking about creating a “Rambo IV”, which would involve the muscled warrior going back into Afghanistan, this time to fight against the very same people he fought side by side with in “Rambo III”. Wisely, Stallone […]
Archives for July 2014
Cher Lloyd’s apology as another nail in rock and roll’s coffin
I have ranted many times about the death of rock and rock, here and in other places, and I can say with regret that a further spike has now been driven into the mausoleum that hold the remains of the concept of teenaged rebellion as glorious experience. Cher Lloyd, the singer who made the 2010 X Factor […]
Syria: the unholy alliance between al-Assad and ISIS
Faisal Mekdad, Syria’s vice foreign minister, has popped up in the western media this week. Talking about how his government, the one commanded by Bashar al-Assad, is the only group capable of stopping ISIS from wreaking havoc. He urged western powers to help the Syrian government defeat the Sunni extremist group – but of course […]
Wes Anderson’s best film: “Bottle Rocket”
About twenty years ago, a young Texan upstart named Wes Anderson managed to convince a major studio to give him the money to make a film about a bunch of misfits who try and become professional thieves yet fail miserably. To star two brothers who had never been in anything before. Impressive, but partially due […]
World Cup Review 9: Putin, Blatter and The End
Gary Lineker, not given his full due as a philosopher, once said, “Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end the Germans always win.” It’s as true now as it was in Gary’s prime. After an inexplicable twenty-four year gap, Deutschland finally lifted Jules Rimet once […]
The end of jazz music: the late 1960’s and the deaths of Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane and Albert Ayler
I was depressed a lot when I was younger. A lot of this had to do with the fact that I was living somewhere I loathed, wanted to escape from, but did not yet know how. I filled a lot of space listening to music, and when I was really down I would turn to […]
Pull My Strings: the Dead Kennedys and the American “Left”
When discussing one’s political influences, as a general rule people like to upmarket their antecedents. The more heavy weight, obscure and abstruse the person or group who supposedly shaped your politics, the better it reflects upon you. Supposedly. Unless of course you’re going for an Arnie Graf, grassroots-y type of vibe. Then it has to […]
More on atheism: the parent complex
An opinion I often hear from friends who are also atheists is that the reason for the continued presence of religion in western lives, despite all the pressures for it to recede at a faster rate, is down to one simple thing: fear of death. That the religious are so scared of their own demise, […]
World Cup Review 8: Holy crap and the House of Commons
Last night was one of those matches that every football fan will be able to recall exactly where they were when they saw it unfold. I was in the House of Commons, at a work function, and the match was twenty minutes in already when I started to get edgy to see what was happening. […]
World Cup Review 7: bring on the semis
In my initial World Cup prediction, I said the semi-finals would be Brazil v Germany and Argentina v Spain. All right, I was completely wrong about Spain, but I got the rest spot on, not to mention the fact that my Brazil v Argentina final is still on – and looking more and more likely. […]