I have a confession to make. I am a little bit in love with David Mitchell. All right that’s an understatement. I am completely head over heals obsessed with him. My obsession started in 2004, by which time I had become a huge fan of the incredible sitcom Peep Show, in which he co-stars with Robert Webb. Despite the fact that David Mitchell’s character was and is neurotic, annoying, and pedantic, I felt strangely attracted to him. Going to see Read the rest of this entry »

Marketing, as I am sure you’re well aware, is the holy-grail of business practice. You’re more likely to get the blood out of a stone than get a company to spill all the details on their views on marketing and advertising. Yes, they’ll tell you a version of the truth, but it will have been edited to the extent that it’s more a distant cousin of the source material than a direct representation. Which begs the question–why should they have Read the rest of this entry »

Morrissey has started what looks like a bidding war, with a letter from Faber and Faber this week begging him to sign over his memoirs to them. This will not come as any surprise to Morrissey fans who already think that he’s the Bard of the misunderstood, the lonely, the plaintive, which we’ve all been at times.

Morrissey is a funny one. (Both peculiar and ha-ha). Many regard him as a poet, but even as a huge fan of his, Read the rest of this entry »

Morrissey has started what looks like a bidding war, with a letter from Faber and Faber this week begging him to sign over his memoirs to them. This will not come as any surprise to Morrissey fans who already think that he’s the Bard of the misunderstood, the lonely, the plaintive, which we’ve all been at times.

Morrissey is a funny one. (Both peculiar and ha-ha). Many regard him as a poet, but even as a huge fan of his, Read the rest of this entry »

I was about 14 when I first heard a song by ’Japan’ and I’ve been hooked ever since. There was something different about the band back then, that didn’t quite fit into anything else around it. My friends didn’t get my instant obsession until they saw ’Japan’ singing ’Ghosts’ on Top of the Pops, then suddenly they all wanted in.

I read every interview going with David Sylvian and I wrote my English exam based on one of the band’s Read the rest of this entry »

If I tell you this, you have to promise not to tell anyone. I do, after all, consider myself a fairly intelligent and well-educated person. My shelves are lined with literature, and I enjoy going to the theatre. Really, it’s true.

So it may come as somewhat of a shock if I tell you that I have a secret fascination with Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton. I know, the two have never been in the limelight for the good that Read the rest of this entry »

Since I was a child, I have been crazily obsessed with Madonna. I wouldn’t call myself a stalker, because I live too far. But my actions are quite those of a stalker. Not a day goes by, that doesn’t see me Googling her or trying to find the latest news article about her. It is as if I want to know each and everything about her.

Why am I so obsessed? Well, I often wonder about this. Perhaps it is Read the rest of this entry »

Being a movie fan I watch almost anything that is on TV or any DVD I can pick up, always with an open mind (my advice to all - don’t listen to the up themselves, self styled film critics like Mark Kermode or whatever his name is, watch a movie and form your own opinion!).

Of course you will find yourself watching some awful stuff but you have the power to push the eject button or switch channel. You will however come across some that you like, be it in the story, cinimatography, writing or acting. This brings me to the point I wish to make today - Actors.

An actor in a role has to convince you that you are watching a character not the actor himself and this is where I establish whether the actor is indeed an actor or a star. There are those that you see on the silver screen that automatically draw you to them, you love watching them, you generally like the type of films that they are in or, and let’s be honest, you just fancy them - I will watch anything with Nicole Kidman in for example, though she is just "Nicole" to me, she just doesn’t know we’re on first name terms!

So, for example, any films made by Tom Cruise over the last 15 years or so have, generally, been extremely similar. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, but since his early work - Rainman, Born on The Fourth of July for example - he has rarely stretched his acting ability, which is a shame, because I actually think he has got some. However if you’re going to watch almost any Tom Cruise movie made in the last 15 years you can be sure of one thing - he’s going to do some running in it - see Collateral, Minority Report - both good films. It is my opinion that Cruise has become a film Star when he started off as an actor.

There are few that can claim to be actor as well as star but the currently leader of this rare bread has to be Johnny Depp who, apart from when doing sequels, manages to take on a different role, and I might say brilliantly, with almost everything he does! How different can Willy Wonka be from Captain Jack Sparrow or Sweeney Todd.

Al Pacino and Robert De Nero are regularly placed at the top of the "best Actors of All Time" lists and I won’t dissagree that they have both done some excellent work playing a wide variety of characters. All I would say to those people who write these lists is to remember Johnny Depp - look at his whole body of work - if he keeps going as long as Pacino and De Nero, then he will certainly depose them at some time!

I have just updated the illustrations on the homepage for bio diesel fuel, I know that it may surprise you that I am doing some stuff for an oil company; but I don’t think they are as un-green as I once surmised. Plus, I’ve sold out, I need the dinero (ha)!

‘The Night Gallery’ was a excellent programme that only ran for a relatively short time. Exactly why this was is a little bit of a mystery…

Rod Serling was a very talented man and when he created, ‘The Twilight Zone’ it had been hugely successful all around the world. Five seasons of the show were made, comprising of an impressive 156 episodes and 92 of these were actually written by Serling himself. When ‘The Twilight Zone’ was finally cancelled in Read the rest of this entry »

I am completely nuts about music. I cannot imagine what it would be like not being able to listen to my CDs. If I have got a ‘greatest fear’ then it would be of going deaf. Obviously I would not choose to be blind, but I think that it would be easier for me to deal with than not being able to hear my music.

My record collection is the result of me being crazy on music for twenty-five years. Read the rest of this entry »