I'm a biologist, an Apple/Unix geek, an audiophile, an avid reader and film buff, and an amateur (in both the inept and unpaid senses) photographer.
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12 days ago
June 21st
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Quite good fun, with a great cast. As ever, Andy Serkis makes a great villain and the effects are fun.
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1 month ago
May 31st
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Great, quiet film about people coping in their own ways with life’s slings and arrows.
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1 month ago
May 25th
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Touching film about the friendship between a tough-talking but good kid and a shy, artistic Polish boy. Low budget but funny with great dialogue.
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1 month ago
May 19th
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1 month ago
May 17th
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Quirky, funny film about reincarnation, being a dog and grief. Doesn’t sound a bundle of laughs, but it’s funny and very touching.
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1 month ago
May 10th
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Deceptively simple compositions, but great harmonies on folk songs of the North-east of England. Many of the songs are still relevant today.
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One of those occasions when I wish there was a rating between ‘like’ and ‘dislike’. It was OK, but more slapstick than intelligent comedy.
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Funny and a good satire, but could have had a little more bite, I think. The ending suggested a victory, but the Afghanistan situation is hardly that.
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2 months ago
May 3rd
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What a brilliant, tense thriller! Exceptionally taut and kept me guessing until the very end.
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A very sensitively handled film about a woman who has just been released from prison and is staying with her sister. Kristin Scott Thomas is absolutely superb.
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2 months ago
April 26th
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Stunning debut from Nadine Labaki. The problems of five Lebanese women trying to find the balance between tradition and modernity in their lives.
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2 months ago
April 19th
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An unusual musical, and a lovely story of a platonic friendship. Great music and a low-budget, documentary filming style.
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2 months ago
April 15th
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2 months ago
April 12th
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Light and romantic film, set in the late 1930s. Funny and sweet, and classically romantic. McDormand is great as ever, as is Ciaran Hinds.
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3 months ago
March 29th
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bsag is reading Paradise Lost, with an Introduction by Philip Pullman.
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Not the Cohen brothers’ finest. It starts slowly and ends abruptly, but there are some funny moments in the middle. McDormand saves it really.
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3 months ago
March 28th
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Something I never thought I’d see – a cheerful Mike Leigh film! Terrific performances, and a lovely portrayal of female friendship.
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3 months ago
March 16th
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Ashley could easily be an overblown, irritating character, but Adams plays her just right as a sweet ingénue. Touching film about the tensions within families.
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Incredibly gripping: readers know exactly what’s going to happen on 24 Aug AD79, but you get pulled in by the characters. Great story.
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3 months ago
March 8th
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Visually gorgeous, with an inventive plot. Also wonderful to see/hear so many British actors in a big(ish) budget film. Funny and touching by turns.
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4 months ago
March 1st
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Very satisfying re-watch. The series creates a deeper and more interesting world, but the film is perfect little jewel on its own.
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A very prescient book by Pratchett about the absurd, smoke and mirrors basis of the banking system. Loved Chairman Mr. Fusspot with his rubber ‘bone’!
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4 months ago
February 8th
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Argentinian grifters try to sell a rare sheet of German stamps: the Nine Queens. Full of twists and turns, and some great characters. Who is conning who?
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5 months ago
January 31st
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bsag is reading collection of Henning Mankell Wallander short stories.
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Tragi-comic farce, as only the French can make. Great plot concerning the grief that doing someone a favour and generally being a nice person can bring you.
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5 months ago
January 19th
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Wasn’t expecting to, but I really loved it. Great plot with loads of twists, great characters, excellent acting and a big helping of noir-ish gritty atmosphere.
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Reminded me a bit of Catch 22, but set in an advertising office: obsessive detail, a huge cast of quirky characters and love/hate relationships with colleagues.
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6 months ago
January 3rd
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An album of cover versions so radical, you’d be hard-pressed to recognise the originals. Inspired. Susanna has a pure, strong, haunting voice
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Funny and bittersweet novel about a group of Indian women (and one Irish woman) working in a charity shop. Sharp and perceptive about life’s disappointments.
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6 months ago
January 1st
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A fluffy load of nonsense, but brainless fun. I think that the friends (Hater and Tipper) were a good foil for the main characters.
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6 months ago
December 29th
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Shearwater is new to me, but I love his music. His powerful but crystalline, delicate vocals hang the whole ensemble together very well. Great stuff.
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6 months ago
December 7th
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A classic-to-be. Perfect storytelling with almost no dialogue, characters you empathise with deeply, and a wonderful soundtrack. Even the short Burn-E is great.
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7 months ago
November 30th
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Very quirky film about office politics and an actor who gets unwittingly embroiled in the company owner’s attempt to manipulate his employees into liking him.
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7 months ago
November 18th
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Love the scratchy, complex sounds going on in the background and the fragile vocals. Reminds me alternately of Elliott Smith and early Beta Band. Skewed folk.
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7 months ago
November 16th
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Thoroughly enjoyable nonsense, with a good dose of humour and some very cool effects and gadgets.
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I’m about a third of the way through, and I like it a lot, but finding it a bit scattered – not very cohesive. That’s the nature of the beast, I suppose. There are some very good ideas in it, but I don’t yet feel that I’ve been drawn into its world, if you know what I mean.
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I’m curious how you like Accelerando. It was the novel the sold me on Stross as a writer, but I’m not sure it’s everyone’s cup of tea!
