About eighteen months ago, I stopped washing my hair. OK, let’s walk that statement back slightly—I stopped using any sort of soap or shampoo. Instead, I made do with a daily swoosh under the shower, trusting the old saw about the natural oils in the scalp balancing things out.
Continue reading Lockdown Lifestyle And GroomingCategory: Art
Out Of The Depths
Between 1844 and 2013, HMP Reading was the involuntary home for thousands of people who had caused offence to the state. From its original aim as a new model prison, with design features considered progressive for the time, the building changed, grew and mutated. Over the decades it became shabby, gradually less fit for purpose. Finally, after service as a young offenders lock-up, it was closed three years ago.
And that would have been the end for this unlovely, haunted building, if not for the fact that it is world-famous under its original name. Or rather, because of one particular inmate. Between 1895 and 1897 Prisoner C.3.3 suffered, wrote movingly of his torments, and immortalised the building whose walls enclosed him.
We know the man as Oscar Wilde, and the building as Reading Gaol.
The A To Z Of SFF: H Is For Hard To Be A God
Over a decade in the making. Three hours long, black and white, an uncompromising political allegory and treatise on the dangers of anti-intellectualism.
Sounds like a laff riot, right? But Aleksei German’s Hard To Be A God has a lot to offer, if you’re prepared to put in the effort. Let Rob and Clive be your guides through a visit to Arkanar…
The A To Z Of SFF: W Is For We3
It’s been described as a mecha-suited Watership Down or The Incredible Journey on acid. But Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s We3 is a beast of a very different colour. It has its flaws, but the book is also a bold and brilliant example of proper comics storytelling.
Join Rob and Clive as they take a walk on the wild side…
If I Had A Pound: DocoBanksy Goes West
It’s been an interesting few weeks for the international art-seditionist DocoBanksy. Continue reading If I Had A Pound: DocoBanksy Goes West
Five Favourite Bunnies For Easter
Happy Easter Rabbit Day! As I hope the Readership is aware, I have something of a thing for the humble Lagomorpha Lapodirae that I find tricky to either explain or justify. I just like ’em, OK?
As today is the day when the little critters are most in the mimetic spotlight, I thought I’d run down a short list of my personal faves. Please feel free to chip in if you think I’ve missed any.
Un teaser
Bonjour, mon Readership. A little photographic tease to get you in the mood before I talk about the weekend TLC and I spent in the South of France. There’s a lot to show you.
