Is the British TV chat show dying? I ask as The Claudia Winkleman Show has just finished- to varying reviews – on BBC 1, while, like buses, another one pops up on Channel 4. However, unlike Claudia, this isn’t another virgin voyage, it’s TFI Friday Unplugged . Yes, Chris Evans is back to try toContinue reading “Talk Talk Talk”
Category Archives: Pop culture
Overlooked Classic: To Die For
Ordinarily, there’s something about Nicole Kidman that gets under my skin. Perhaps it’s the vocal fry, the somewhat tired vampish persona, or the fact that she’s really rather limited as an actor. She lacks a little presence, she seems vapid and a little dead behind the eyes onscreen. So perhaps this is why the onlyContinue reading “Overlooked Classic: To Die For”
Gallery Review: Curtain Call, McManus Gallery,Dundee
This exhibition has many beautiful costumes from stage and screen, with a particular emphasis on Scottish designers. Jane Petrie, from Newport-On-Tay has many glorious costumes included here, such as the regal gowns from the hit series The Crown starring Claire Foy, and The Essex Serpent with Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes. A reproduction of JackieContinue reading “Gallery Review: Curtain Call, McManus Gallery,Dundee”
Margo Channing Was Badass
Has there ever been such a brutal takedown of Hollywood- and the agency and ageing process of actresses- as Joseph L Mankiewicz’ peerless 1950 classic All About Eve? Margo Channing, portrayed by the immortal Bette Davis, is usurped in her signature theatre role by her most ardent fan, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) a passive-aggressive andContinue reading “Margo Channing Was Badass”
Has Pop (Culture) Eaten Itself?
Have we finally reached saturation point with internet culture? I ask as I stumbled upon The Kiffness (pictured above) the other day, aka. the musician David Scott on YouTube who creates songs based around “singing cat” videos, playing an actual gig, with a proper audience, all of whom were singing along to him, and theContinue reading “Has Pop (Culture) Eaten Itself?”
Overlooked Classic: My Bloody Valentine -You Made Me Realise EP
The swooning gods and goddesses of noise, My Bloody Valentine created this EP in 1987, when bands like Sonic Youth has already laid down the blueprint. Melody and harmony was given a kicking in an alleyway. You Made Me Realise EP is a masterpiece, from artwork to tracks. It’s everything I love about art: melancholic,Continue reading “Overlooked Classic: My Bloody Valentine -You Made Me Realise EP”
Lost In Music: David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes
The best art often frightens me. When I was five, Kate Bush doing ‘Wuthering Heights’ made me think she was a witch. Now I love witches. Two years later, David Bowie freaked me out in ‘Ashes to Ashes’. It wasn’t him, per se, in his little Pierrot clown outfit, It was the strange space ageContinue reading “Lost In Music: David Bowie – Ashes to Ashes”
It’s War!!!
The French have a saying: “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme”, which translates as “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. So it is with politics. Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris remain two of my favourite satirists and their classic 90s news parody The Day Today still holds up well, asContinue reading “It’s War!!!”
The Great Performance Debate
Commedia Dell’arte Dr Gareth K Vile, great friend of mine and brilliant thinker, recently ruminated on the great Scottish theatre debate, because some critics hadn’t been invited to the musical version of ‘One Day’ : is it dying? I can’t speak to a broader academic discourse, as I’m a university dropout, and not a doctorContinue reading “The Great Performance Debate”
Book Review : Twee by Marc Spitz
Marc Spitz was a fine writer, and it’s clear he had an eye for the vagaries of pop culture, but Twee didn’t always convince me. What he described wasn’t a tribe, but an aesthetic. This would have been okay, were it a style guide (he was no stranger to a cute bow tie and fiftiesContinue reading “Book Review : Twee by Marc Spitz”
Hit The North 