A tribute to every writer's best friend first published in The Guardian to mark the closure of UK's last manufacturer of typewriters: They say if you gave an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters, one would eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare. If you gave those same monkeys a laptop you'd… Continue reading Typewriters: An Illustrated Guide and a Debt of Thanks
Author: James Robinson
The Last Waltz
The Sixties sink into the abyss in Scorsese’s seminal concert film: It’s a common refrain of the serial gig-goer, particularly among those who were around in the 1960s and 70s: ‘you had to be there, maaaaan.’ Although probably nothing could match the experience of having a ticket to the Band’s legendary farewell concert on Thanksgiving… Continue reading The Last Waltz
Nick Waterhouse – Nick Waterhouse
Hep cat Strat: Old school rock’n’roll albums are now so common that the ‘retro’ genre could arguably be described as incredibly modern. Nevertheless some do it better than others, and Nick Waterhouse does it about as well as anyone outside of the 1962. Every track on his self-titled fourth album is a perfect a facsimile of… Continue reading Nick Waterhouse – Nick Waterhouse
Jack Savoretti – Singing to Strangers
Un ucelllo canoro triste in una maglia di lana: With his windswept hair and taste in chunky knitwear, Jack Savoretti is every inch the heart-throb, but he has a fathoms-deep voice and a melancholy bent that belies his cherubic appearance. As befits such a voice, many of the tracks on Singing to Strangers are bathed… Continue reading Jack Savoretti – Singing to Strangers
Skinny Lister – The Story Is…
Ska Fowk: Folk-rock, particularly folk punk rock, can be a bit of hard sell. As a genre it conjures up images of crusty hippy types in cargo pants being tiresomely political. The Story Is..., the fourth album from cult folk-rock band Skinny Lister, threatens to head into the heart of that territory with the Ska-infused… Continue reading Skinny Lister – The Story Is…
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
REVIEW: Yours insincerley.... Melissa McCarthy puts her stamp on the role of author-turned-forger Lee Israel in this love letter to New York. Whatever happened to New York movies? Is it the films that have changed or the place itself? Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a reminder of a genre and a place that seems… Continue reading Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Red Rum Club – Matador
Dustbowl Disco: For anyone who was nostalgic for 80s and 90s indie music, but also disappointed by that genre's general lack of Mariachi trumpets, Merseyside's Red Rum Club have arrived at last. Debut album Matador offers ten artfully crafted rock songs, all of them intriguingly augmented with the under-appreciated brass instrument. This isn't pure gimmick.… Continue reading Red Rum Club – Matador
Vice
REVIEW: Veep Pies – Christian Bale beefs up his gut but nothing else in this thin political satire that is hitting screens ten years too late . Maybe their job offers got mixed up in the post, because it seems like a real missed opportunity that Christian Bale didn’t pile on the pounds to… Continue reading Vice
Mary Queen of Scots
REVIEW: The Queen's Nose: The cast are upstaged by their own make-up in this soapy historical melodrama from theatre-director Josie Rourke. The pedants have had a field day picking holes in Mary Queen of Scots, a revisionist take on the famous 16th Century rivalry between British monarchs. With its lavish vistas of dramatic Scottish countryside… Continue reading Mary Queen of Scots
Stan & Ollie
REVIEW: A fine mess – Stan & Ollie struggle to capture the old magic in John S Baird’s gloomy recreation of their early 1950s tour of Britain & Ireland. It seems to be the fate of all dead comedians, if they are remembered at all, to be remembered for their failures. Stan & Ollie is… Continue reading Stan & Ollie
James JW Robinson 