Archive for April, 2017
How many films have you seen?
April 7th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Since childhood, I have been a massive movie fan and, since the age of 13, I’ve kept a diary which includes a record of every film that I’ve seen at the cinema, on rental, or on television (I’m a man – I like counting things!). I’ve just reached the grand total of 2,500. With luck, […]
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
36 once-popular names that have fallen very much out fashion
April 7th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Online resource BabyCentre has compiled a list of 36 once-popular names that are yet to be registered on its database in 2017. Of course, this is not a statistically accurate sample of the whole baby population in the UK, but it’s probably quite a good indication of some broad trends. These are the names that […]
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A review of the science book “The Big Picture: On The Origins Of Life, Meaning And The Universe Itself” by Sean Carroll
April 6th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Carroll is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology and an award winner for writing science books. As the title suggests, this book is hugely ambitious with a vast and complicated subject matter. At 440 pages, it is probably longer than it needs to be and at points is a struggle to comprehend, […]
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A short history of the Easter egg
April 5th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
In the midst of the ridiculous row over whether the National Trust’s “Great British Egg Hunt” has neglected the religious significance of Easter, in this article the “Guardian” newspaper offers a potted history of the Easter egg as follows: “Eggs at Easter are thought to have their origins in pagan rather Christian traditions. Now the consumption […]
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A review of the new sci-fi movie “Ghost In The Shell”
April 4th, 2017 by Roger Darlington
Beginning in 1989, there was a Japanese manga serial by Masamune Shirow. Then in 1995 there was a Japanese anime movie by Mamoru Oshii, said to be one of the best ever in this genre. Now we have a Hollywood remake directed by the British Rupert Sanders. I have no familiarity with the original series […]
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Who will speak for liberal Britain?
April 3rd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
“In the film adaptation of James Ellroy’s LA Confidential, Officer White (Russell Crowe) makes a home visit to an elderly woman whose daughter is missing. There’s an unpleasant smell coming from the basement. “A rat died behind a wall,” the woman, who is called Mrs Lefferts, says. Crowe investigates and discovers a decomposed body hidden […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How ‘dark money’ is undermining democracy in Britain (as it already has done in the United States)
April 2nd, 2017 by Roger Darlington
In today’s “Observer” newspaper, there is a news item about how unregulated political expenditure – especially online using social media – seriously influenced the outcome of last summer’s EU referendum and threatens to undermine the fairness of future elections in the UK. The piece opens: “An urgent review of “weak and helpless” electoral laws is being […]
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Happy April Fools’s Day
April 1st, 2017 by Roger Darlington
in the age of Trump and fake news, it’s getting harder to work out what is genuinely an April Fool’s Day story and what is just bizarre reality. The BBC has a compilation of recent stories that seem crazy but are true. I’m pretty sure that this story in this morning’s “Guardian” newspaper is their […]
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