May 2009
40 posts
2 tags
El Orfanato (The Orphanage)
Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona (2007)
Despite glowing reviews almost across the board, I think that deep down I expected The Orphanage to be a fairly conventional, shocks and creepy-kids horror film. I’m happy to say I was (very) pleasantly surprised.
It’s not that there’s anything staggeringly original, or absolutely terrifying going on: there’s just a subtle,...
“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t be trusted with house...”
– uckyshirt
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
A wonderful book by Mark Haddon, but as I found out tonight (thanks to ITV and Jeremy Brett), the title is a reference to the (Memoirs of) Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze.
I had a most peculiar sense of premonition/déjà-vu just before Mr Brett uttered the phrase, and it rather startled me when it emerged. Every day — as they say — is a school-day.
“Brown comes across as a phony who has spent too much time with his £2.99...”
– Rob Smyth on Phil Brown (The Joy of Six: Premier League 2008-09 season highlights)
“We should become better detectives. That’s how you keep feature creep in check....”
– Matthew E. May, In Pursuit of Elegance
Universal Internet Explorer 6 CSS →
What an interesting idea … instead of spending hours trying to make your site look the same in IE6 as modern web browsers, and instead of filling your markup with workarounds and other paraphernalia trying to appease the lame … simply server all IE6 users a stylesheet that displays all of the information nicely, but not attempting to recreate a design. So long as your markup is...
2 tags
Star Trek
Directed by J J Abrams (2009)
If there’s a more fundamentally enjoyable two hours to be had in a cinema this year than Star Trek at the IMAX then I’ll be very surprised.
The first thing to say (I suppose) is that I’m no ‘Trekkie’ — I think I could count the number of episodes of the original Star Trek series I’ve seen on one hand — so I was...
hard graft™ — Members Club →
Nice touch: call your e-mail newsletter a ‘members club’.
Annals of Innovation: How David Beats Goliath →
It’s quite rare that an article has me glued to my seat (though I was on a train when reading it, so I didn’t have much choice), but Malcolm Gladwell’s brilliant piece — about the balance of effort vs ability, and how underdogs employing the former are far more effective than you may think — had me entralled from start to finish.
Like most New Yorker essays,...
Here's a broom, Mr Speaker →
Mark Thomas’ lawyers serve Speaker of the House Michael Martin with legal papers. I like Mark Thomas.
“I like you so much better when you’re naked and I like me so much better...”
– The wonderful Ida Maria
Ex-Student Says NJ Medical School Discriminated... →
Guy born in Mozambique who then moved to America describes himself as ‘African American’ and gets told not to do so because he’s caucasian. You’ve got to love stupid people .. or have you?
WatchHas to be seen to be believed. — Les Pythons aiment les jambes….
2 tags
In The Loop
Directed by Armando Iannucci (2009)
I tend to find that political satire generally falls into one of two categories: too worthy, and not funny; or on the money and nothing more than mildy chucklesome. It’s very rare indeed that one finds a political satire that’s got something to say, whilst being roll in the aisles funny: barely a minute passed by that In The Loop didn’t have...
1 tag
This weekend, I...
Eschewed the post work Friday drinks in favour of heading home for sundowners on the roof of our apartment building (an old school).
Took a leisurely stroll to Liverpool Street via:
** Broadway Market, for a crepe and to pick up some hot chorizo, which I then left in my bag all day. Sausagy.
** Columbia Road, popping in to a couple of galleries and gawping over Italian deli Campania...
“Stop presuming you can be right in a world of massive uncertainty.”
– The only plan is to learn as you go - (37signals)
