Archive for November, 2024


A review of the book “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey

November 26th, 2024 by Roger Darlington

It won the 2024 Booker Prize, it is short (136 pages), and it has a great cover – all reasons why I was attracted to this strikingly unconventional and utterly original novel, the fifth by British writer Samantha Harvey who is a tutor on the MA course in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. It […]

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A review of the new blockbuster movie “Gladiator II”

November 20th, 2024 by Roger Darlington

Ridley Scott is an outstanding director with a terrific canon of work. Many of his films cry our for sequels and he regrets now not having directed the sequels to “Alien” and “Blade Runner”. He’s been working on a sequel to “Gladiator” for decades and now, 24 years later, here it is. The guy is […]

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What is time?

November 17th, 2024 by Roger Darlington

Now there’s a question and a cold and wet Sunday is as good a time as any to attend a course on this topic. It was at London’s City Literary Institute and just one day. It was delivered by Radmilla Topalovic and it was mind-blowing. We spent a lot of time looking at how time […]

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A review of the classic 1975 film “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”

November 2nd, 2024 by Roger Darlington

This classic film won all five of the top Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Screenplay plus Best Director (the Czech Milos Forman), Best Actor (Jack Nicholson as rebellious inmate Randle P McMurphy) and Best Actress (Louise Fletcher as the acidic Nurse Ratchet). It is based on the best-selling novel by Ken Kesey, which he […]

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