Treading The Boards

I’m writing this with an aching ring finger on my right hand, after trying to play goalkeeper for a while. You wouldn’t believe how sporty I’ve gotten in these last few weeks. Paul’s got me sitting up, pushing up, crunching things I didn’t even know existed, constantly pushing my limits. Today he even got me [...]

Reggae Wasteland

Barely recovered from yesterday’s exertions and nursing minor sunburns, we head off to the Notting Hill Carnival. There’s undeniably a lot of work to do, both together with Paul and on my own, writing to accomplish, deadlines to get things in by, flats to chase down. But this is the biggest street festival next to [...]

England Expects

And so, after more than two weeks that nonetheless felt like only a couple of days, the 2008 Olympics have come to an end. In four years London will play host to the world’s greatest sporting event and one of its greatest spectacles. And with any luck I’ll be there to watch it live. To [...]

Rebel, Rebel

Spoilers follow. Watch where you tread. If you haven’t seen the film, go do so now.
It’s peculiar, the kind of tricks memory plays. I had not seen Nicholas Ray’s masterpiece Rebel Without A Cause for some time, and was convinced that it ends with James Dean driving off a cliff, committing suicide after his friend’s [...]

The Merry-Go-Round

And so it begins – again. My lease on this property runs out on the 15th of October and already the landlord has exercised his right to put it back on the market. Which means that both yesterday and today I’ve had brief visits from unnaturally keen and happy Foxtons agents ferrying people about on [...]

Quick Note For Me, Quick Note For You

After a first couple of days of great productivity, the assembling of our TV series Counter Culture has fallen into a bit of a slump. There’s a couple of factors contributing to this. One’s that I’ve been a little under the weather for the last couple of days, with sneezing, a hot head and the [...]

It’s Darkest Before The Dawn

At the time this goes online, The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to his 2005 franchise reboot Batman Begins, has made over $400 million in 18 days of release, and is likely to challenge Titanic as the highest-grossing film of all time. Paul and I booked our tickets two weeks ago and the earliest fairly [...]

Bring Us Your Quick Notes

I love England. Go into a pub men’s room anywhere in New Zealand and you’re likely to see the walls decorated with either a penis or an invitation for the use of one. Here, though, you get thoughtful messages like “Is Ealing a microcosm for the world?” And other people trying to genuinely answer.
So, Paul’s [...]