Monthly Archives: October 2013

So you want to be a writer?

Posted on October 31, 2013 by

Just in case anyone still harbours illusions about the business of getting words down on paper, I recommend Rod Dreher’s long but utterly absorbing post. Key sentence: This is why writers drink: because they desperately need to get out of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

It’s on the screen, therefore it must be true

Posted on October 30, 2013 by

So Oliver Stone isn’t the only film director to rewrite history in his own image. That’s one lesson to come out of Prospect’s Q&A with Eric Schlosser, author of “Command and Control”.  (“A beautifully written and utterly terrifying account of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

Thames morning

Posted on October 24, 2013 by

Sunshine. Slight mist. Perfect start to the day.

Posted in Uncategorized

Notebook

Posted on October 22, 2013 by

Soon it became generally accepted that Tutenkhamen had somehow killed Lord Carnarvon. Howard Carter found it necessary to repeat time after time that Tutenkhamen’s tomb contained no biological booby traps, no poison and no curse, but to no avail. The … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Middle East, Notebook

Felix Dexter RIP

Posted on October 21, 2013 by

He was only 52. Far too young. Luckily, Nathaniel is immortal.

Posted in Comedy, Race, Uncategorized

Whatever happened to the old New York?

Posted on October 18, 2013 by

The NY Observer marks a week in which not a single inhabitant of the Big Apple was murdered. Good news, although the paper’s review of the new Norman Mailer biography does leave you hankering for the days when the city … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

A teenage wedding in Gaza

Posted on October 17, 2013 by

From Mohammed Salem’s dispatch for the Reuters Photographers blog. His beach scenes are worth a look too.

Posted in Uncategorized

Notebook

Posted on October 11, 2013 by

[W]riters tend to be very different from other men, both those engaged in what we call the liberal professions and those who labour in the arts and at other callings. The writer must be a little of all of these … Continue reading →

Posted in Brazil, Literature, Notebook

JFK, Dallas & Oswald’s other target

Posted on October 10, 2013 by

The other day, just to prove he is human like the rest of us, the estimable John Rentoul posted what looked suspiciously like an incorrect QTWTAIN (Question To Which The Answer Is No): @JohnRentoul “If Kennedy hadn’t been wearing a back … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, History, Journalism

Notebook

Posted on October 8, 2013 by

Conversation with a clerk at a megastore, May 2003: “Do you carry a DVD of Erroll Garner?” “Oh, I know that. It’s like, um, adventures of Erroll Garner, right?” “Uh, I don’t think so. It’s something like Erroll Garner in … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Notebook, Uncategorized