Despite being raised Catholic, I have been an atheist since I was around nine years of age. I had read enough about the world and the universe by that point to figure out that the idea of an anthropomorphic deity that simultaneously cared whether or not you ate fish on a Friday, while at the […]
What’s so great about “The Big Lebowski”?
The title sounds a little provocative, as if I’m questioning the Dude’s greatness. I’m not; “The Big Lebowski” is one of my favourite films of all time. But I’ve heard a lot of crap over the years about why exactly it’s so great, so I feel the time has come to set the record straight. […]
World Cup Review 6: the glut comes to a halt…..plus, Algerian flag waving
So the second round of the World Cup has concluded. This officially ends the “shitloads of matches on all the time” portion of the programme; there are only seven games left in the entire tournament, eight if you include the third place match. I suppose they theoretically increase in quality from here – although this […]
Werner Herzog and my Chicago Connection
One day, almost exactly ten years ago, a friend of mine whom I will refer to only as the Chicago Connection and I were hanging out near the Franco-Spanish border. We had come to a town called Puigicerda on the recommendation of a random bloke we’d met in a Barcelona bar (how all of the […]
World Cup Review 5: holiday in France, Brazil v Chile, plus thoughts on diving and Albert Camus
Apologies to start off with for being quiescent this past week; I was on holiday with the family, in France. There are so many things about France I adore, but chief amongst them is the fact that despite only being twenty-two miles distant, the place feels a world away from England. At one point we […]
The greatest motion picture in the history of cinema: Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil”
Watching the World Cup on TV and hearing Ary Barroso’s “Brazil” at every ad break has reminded me, in a strange way, of what I used to adore about cinema, back when I did. You see, I sort of fell out of love with movies. The reasons for this are complex and I won’t bore […]
World Cup Review 4: dealing with melancholia, the Crash Test Dummies, and FIFA, the Motion Picture
I’ve been feeling glum this past week. Don’t worry, it has little to do with England going out of the World Cup; the emotions are rooted in something more personal that I shan’t share with you right now, if that’s all right. The thing about feeling melancholy for an extended period of time is that […]
World Cup Review 3: Spain tamed, England all but eliminated, and where a nation has been and where it goes from here
First to the really big news: Spain is out of the World Cup after only two matches played. Seven days into the tournament, no less. Already my prediction for the whole shebang is in tatters – I had Spain going out to Argentina in the semis. It should also be noted that they are the […]
The Left should watch itself over ideas around a “Health Tax”
I am always suspicious when key elements of the Left and the Right come to the same conclusion. Sometimes of course, this is simply because an idea has “come of age” and is so obvious it gets embraced across the political spectrum. But more times than not, it is because the Left has been slightly […]
World Cup Review 2: England v Italy review, why Rooney should be dropped, England v Uruguay preview, and Chiles and Dixon for England
So England lost to Italy. This was not wholly unexpected, at least to those of us who live within the boundaries of reality. There was a lot of talk afterwards about how England weren’t that bad, actually, that there was a lot to build on. I suppose I see their point. It wasn’t the mauling […]