Archive for the ‘Cultural issues’ Category
A review of the new political film “Peterloo”
November 5th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
On 16 August 1819 in St Peter’s Field in central Manchester, around 60,000 pro-democracy reformers gathered in a peaceful protest that turned savage when it was attacked by armed cavalry, resulting in 18 deaths and over 600 injured. Until recently, the only public commemoration of this historic event was a plaque on the wall of […]
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A review of the new film “Bohemian Rhapsody”
November 3rd, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This film of the British rock band Queen has had a troubled journey to the screen with a change of lead actor (Rami Malek replacing Sacha Baron Cohen) and, late in the shooting, a new director (Dexter Fletcher taking over from Bryan Singer). American-Egyptian Malek is outstanding as Indo-Parsi Freddie Mercury (originally named Farrokh Bulsara), […]
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A review of the important new film “The Hate U Give”
November 1st, 2018 by Roger Darlington
What a change and what a delight to see an American mainstream movie where virtually all the characters are people of colour: young as well as older, female as well as male, gay as well as straight. And how impressive that a film with a young person’s focus addresses so directly and fairly the issue […]
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A review of the novel “Prague Fatale” by Philip Kerr
October 26th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Kerr – who died in March 2018 – was a writer of both adult fiction and non-fiction who is known for the Bernie Gunther series of historical thrillers set in Germany and elsewhere during the 1930s, the Second World War and the Cold War. “Prague Fatale” is the eighth novel in the Gunther series and […]
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A review of the new space movie “First Man”
October 25th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
The ‘Space Race’ between the USA and the USSR took place in the 1960s when I was an impressionable teenager and I followed avidly every exciting development. NASA’s Apollo 11 mission – the concluding segment of this movie – was in July 1969. At the time, I was president of my students’ union at university […]
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Word of the day: the fear of long words
October 24th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest words in the dictionary — and, in an ironic twist, is the name for a fear of long words. Sesquipedalophobia is another term for the phobia.
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Word of the day: the longest in the English language
October 24th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
The longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis.
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Ever heard of “up-lit”? Sounds like a good idea to me.
October 14th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
So many fiction books and television series seem to be about crime and violence. Although I’m current reading the thriller “Prague Fatale” by Philip Kerr and recently watched the hit BBC series “Bodyguard”, I’m not generally attracted to such dark material. Apparently, I’m not the only one which explains the growth in popularity of so-called […]
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A review of the new film “The Wife”
October 10th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
This is a quality film with outstanding acting but it won’t appeal to all because it is a character-driven, dialogue-rich work with no action sequences or special effects. Indeed it could have been a play. In fact, it is adapted by Jane Anderson from the 2003 novel by Meg Wolitzer and, together with the eponymous […]
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Word of the day: myrmidon
October 9th, 2018 by Roger Darlington
It means “a person who executes without question or scruple a master’s commands”. The word comes from classical mythology as the Myrmidons were one of the warlike people of ancient Thessaly who accompanied Achilles to the Trojan War. I came across the word while reading “Prague Fatale” by Philip Kerr which is set in Nazi-occupied […]
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