I don’t own a television. The one I had broke four or five years ago and with technology being as it is (with smartphones and the internet and so on) I could never really figure a good enough reason to replace it. Which is likely the reason I only recently saw this commercial (see below)… Continue reading Who Do You Think You Are?
Thrilling, moving, visceral - at some point you run out of words to explain the feelings that run through you after watching Michael Buffong's stunning adaptation of King Lear. I went to the showing at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre last night and loved pretty much every minute of it. The dark, modern soundscape, the ridiculously… Continue reading King Lear: A World Where Race Doesn’t Matter?
So I finally plucked up the courage to go and see Batman v Superman. I'd done my best to avoid the mounting number of mixed reviews. I'd held the negativity surrounding the release at arms length. I told myself, whatever my misgivings about the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, and whatever the film's flaws,… Continue reading 3 Surprising Reasons Batman v Superman is the Worst Superhero Movie Ever
Let me explain… I was directed recently to this clip on youtube. Take a look first (it’s just over a minute long), then read on. So here’s the thing. I’m not ashamed to say that after watching it I couldn’t breathe for a full minute from the laughter. You know the kind of laughter I… Continue reading Laughter: The Uncivilised Friend
So I recently had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Haris A. Durrani’s debut novella, Technologies of the Self, for Media Diversified. Durrani’s stories, memoirs, and essays have appeared in a variety of publications including Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The University of Toronto Undergraduate Journal of Middle East Studies, The 2014 Campbellian Anthology and… Continue reading Book Review: ‘Technologies of the Self’ by Haris Durrani
So, in the lead up to Christmas I stumbled upon a drawing set someone had given me the previous year; a neat shallow tin of sketching pencils which, I thought, was a pretty cool gift, the kind of nostalgia-laden offering that had conjured up notions of taking stock and adjusting my lifestyle, i.e., I used… Continue reading Anatomy of a Self Portrait
Now I suppose you could say I am sitting here for a number of reasons. For instance I’m sitting here because a car accident some years ago pushed my insurance premiums to such extortionate levels that to have kept the car anyway and paid them would’ve seemed somehow immoral. And so I didn’t, I got… Continue reading Smelling the Roses
Uncommonly sunny weather today so thought I’d share some brief snaps I took in and around my beloved hometown of Manchester (and Salford) in north-west England. Starting with the unusual emblem you see above. It’s the Worker Bee. Since the Industrial Revolution it has become one of the city’s most enduring emblems; created to commemorate… Continue reading Love Your Streets
Is art just not a big deal to people these days? This is the question I found myself asking last week after opening an email from one of my favourite charities, IdeasTap. I’ll explain… IdeasTap was founded nearly seven years ago by Peter De Haan with the aim of helping creatives build careers in the arts.… Continue reading Who Cares About IdeasTap?
So here’s the thing. Charlie Beckett is a former news editor with more than 20 years’ experience of international journalism. He’s worked in established mainstream outlets including the BBC and ITN’s Channel 4 News. He is also a professor at the London School of Economics and the founding director of POLIS; a think-tank for researching the… Continue reading Why is Good News No News?
The Mancophile 