Monthly Archives: March 2014

The real John Wayne

Posted on March 31, 2014 by

Seems there was more to him than we thought.  A new biography wins praise from Peter Bogdanovich: The portrait Eyman paints very much resembles the Wayne I knew for nearly 15 years: extremely likable, guileless, exuberant, even strangely innocent. Hawks, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film

The toilet roll as sketch book

Posted on March 27, 2014 by

Classic Stanley Spencer: a scene from painter Lachlan Goudie’s thoroughly absorbing TV documentary about the Clyde shipyard paintings. (You can watch a short clip on the programme’s website.)  About 15 years ago, another of Spencer’s famous toilet rolls, from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History

Notebook

Posted on March 26, 2014 by

Etonians, it is alleged, have problems with such banal conventions as the traffic code. In the old days they disregarded licensing laws. Among Etonians (the accusation has been levelled at myself) the existence of a servant class is taken for … Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Education, Notebook

Christ Church

Posted on March 25, 2014 by

Peering in, Oxford.    

Posted in Architecture, Photography

Notebook

Posted on March 24, 2014 by

Then he said meanwhile, what about we take in a film this evening? But that was no good to me, because you don’t go into Soho to see films, because Soho is a film, and anyway, most times I go … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Notebook

Stately

Posted on March 21, 2014 by

I spent yesterday evening at Hatfield House — home to the Folk By The Oak festival —  where Bella Hardy, Martin Simpson & Co premiered The Elizabethan Session, the fruit of a week-long “incarceration” in a house in deepest Herefordshire. … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Music | Tagged , ,

The murder of Kitty Genovese & the making of an urban myth

Posted on March 20, 2014 by

Nicholas Lemann, incisive as ever, in a New Yorker article about the 50th anniversary of the case that changed the way New Yorkers looked at their city and themselves: The fact that this crime, one of six hundred and thirty-six murders … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Journalism, US politics

Virtuoso

Posted on March 19, 2014 by

Jeremy Denk brings his version of the Goldberg Variations to London soon. Can’t wait. Here he is, indulging  in a little of his “nerd speak”.

Posted in Music

The search for MH370

Posted on March 18, 2014 by

As the world begins to run out of theories, one of James Fallows’ readers wonders if Hergé got their first: The numerous parallels are quite interesting…it’s a crew takeover, they drop out of sight of radar, it all takes place … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology

Artificial intelligence, genuine attitude

Posted on March 18, 2014 by

Introducing Victor, the trash-talking, Scrabble-playing robot: When he is winning, Victor is likely to be boastful, uttering such lines as: “I am the current king of Scrabble, Victor the Mechanical Marvel. That’s Victor the Brilliant for short.” When losing, he … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology