- Game of the Week: UCF vs Ohio State — The View from England
Posted on 09 Sep 2012 in Movies & TV, Sports, Television
Paying or not paying student athletes is a labor issue, just as the term “student athlete” was invented in an early twentieth-century court case to prevent them from claiming certain employment benefits whilst participating in a lucrative and physically risky industry. PhD students who undertake teaching within their department, and part-time contingent lecturers, are becoming increasingly vocal after the way they underpin the entire higher education system, and I’d like to see more discussion across the sports-academics line about the common causes to be made.
- Upcoming Season at the National Theatre, London: Sept. ‘12 – Feb. ‘13
Posted on 05 Sep 2012 in Blog-Theater, Theatre
Arthur Wing Pinero is another British talent getting a lot of attention at the moment, though sadly he is somewhat too dead to enjoy it. He lived from the 1850s to the 1930s, and seems to be having a bit of a revival at the moment.
- Theatre Review: Three Men In A Boat, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, England
Posted on 31 Aug 2012 in Blog-Theater, Theatre
There are laughs to be had, but this feels more like a sketch than a fully-fledged work.
- Twenty Twelve Recap: ‘Loose Ends’ (Season 2, Episode 7)
Posted on 29 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
The main loose end seems to be the ground-to-air missiles which may be triggered by the fireworks during the opening ceremony.
- Twenty Twelve Recap: ‘Inclusivity Day’ (Season 2, Episode 6)
Posted on 29 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
So the last episode ended with the head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission being shot in the foot. Given Twenty Twelve’s history of quietly pleasing metaphors (the symbolic wind turbine so symbolic it had to be plugged into the power to make it rotate spring to mind) one wonders whether this is a comment on the success of the bid to hold the games in London.
- Twenty Twelve Recap: ‘Catastrophization’ (Season 2, Episode 5)
Posted on 22 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
There’s a brilliant sequence right off the bat when he tries to help the meeting go well by offering to fetch coffees, but just prompts a round of competitive beverage-ordering from Siobhan (Jessica Hynes), Fi (Morvern Christie) and Kay (Amelia Bullmore).
- Twenty Twelve Recap: ‘The Rapper’ (Season 2, Episode 4)
Posted on 22 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
The campaign for Getting It On may have hit a snag, vis-a-vis the distribution of bags of flavoured barrier methods to athletes from Catholic countries.
- Merlin Recap: ‘The Last Dragonlord’ (Season 2, Episode 13)
Posted on 22 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
The longer this series goes on, the more likely it seems that someone might raise a hand and suggest that this scorched earth policy on slightly enchanty locals has been the source of almost every problem for the regime in the last three series.
- Merlin Recap: ‘The Fires of Idirsholas’ (Season 2, Episode 12)
Posted on 22 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
After lurching entertainingly around medieval legends and high-school romance plots for most of the season, the show seems to have snapped into a more straightforward fantasy mode.
- Twenty Twelve Recap: ‘Clarence House’ (Season 2, Episode 3)
Posted on 15 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Anyway, the royal flunkies have called because they want to talk about a possible co-branding opportunity, given that this year includes the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations. I like this. It has the crass ring of truth about it.
- Twenty Twelve Recap: ‘Boycott: Part 2’ (Season 2, Episode 2)
Posted on 15 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Particularly laughed at her agreeing so wholeheartedly with Ian Fletcher’s ideas that she prevents him from actually managing to say them.
- Merlin Recap: ‘The Witch’s Quickening’ (Season 2, Episode 11)
Posted on 15 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Mordred is being smuggled into Camelot hidden in a barrel, whilst he psychically gives directions to the adults carrying him, and Merlin finds himself in the position of a roadie picking up the local police scanner on his guitar amp.
- Merlin Recap: ‘Sweet Dreams’ (Season 2, Episode 10)
Posted on 15 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
The rulers in question are converging on Camelot for a peace conference of the kind I have a strong suspicion never happened, either in the Arthurian legends or in medieval history, but Merlin has cunningly wriggled its way into one of my many historical blindspots this week, and I’m not in a position to condemn it.
- Twenty Twelve Recap: ‘Boycott, Part 1’ (Season 2, Episode 1)
Posted on 08 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
And they’re off! Another series of the BBC’s relentlessly gentle satire on the absurdities of the Olympic year.
- Twenty Twelve Recap — Season 1, Episode 6
Posted on 08 Jul 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Someone has dumped a pile of horse manure for the Olympic Deliverance Team to clear up. Not a metaphor, there is an actual heap of ordure outside the office. This is a sign that the use of Greenwich Park to stage the equestrian events has raised local ire.
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