Highlights
I hate this
But does it matter? I don’t usually say that sort of thing here. I try to be more measured, less personal. I’m talking about the police face recognition vans obviously. This might not surprise you: I mean that I don’t like them. I’m an old git after all, a man who’s written here before about […]
Nearly half a bicycle
The atomic theory in Kilburn This place (on Kilburn High Road) has been morphing steadily from dry cleaner’s to bike shop over the last few years. I remember being surprised one morning to see a few kids’ bikes lined up for sale outside but I’d say the shop is now approaching 50% bike shop. You […]
Where is my patriotism?
Come, love of country, fill my heart… I do love Britain. I guess I love England more. London most of all. I hope that in my life I’ve honoured the place I live and not disgraced it or undermined it (I support England and GB in sporting events – I fly a little flag on […]
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A 1918 double bill: pathos and perfect slapstick followed by a mind-expanding account of the Russian revolution
Mabel Normand and Vladimir Lenin, together at last I’m watching every year’s top-grossing movie, since 1913. You can get these chronological reviews in your inbox over here. MICKEY, F. RICHARD…
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A fairytale, a comedy, a fantasy – and a Disney princess 20 years before Snow White
Mary Pickford was famed for playing childlike parts, flighty young women with spirit. In 1917’s The Poor Little Rich Girl, she broke new ground by playing an actual child. I’m…
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This review turned into a disquisition on underwater storytelling
This adaptation of Jules Verne’s great submarine romance was the top-grossing film of 1916 – and it wasn’t even the first movie version 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, STUART PATON…
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Technofeudalism, neofeudalism, political capitalism and old-fashioned capitalism
It is possible for geniuses to explain things in ways that non-geniuses can understand but sometimes they need to switch formats to do it. Microverses: Observations from a Shattered Present…
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Bus drivers, bus conductors and the spirit of Tobruk in Sloane Square
Loyalty and transgression on the number 10s. I’ve been reluctant to share this story over the years because I’ve always suspected it’s a bit too perfect and that it might…
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A visionary work of art, a hateful apologia for slavery and Jim Crow… and a really bad film
The Birth of a Nation was the top-grossing film of 1915… THE BIRTH OF A NATION, D.W. GRIFFITHS, DAVID W. GRIFFITH CORP., 1915 So I did it, I watched the…
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An organised crime drama with a dramatic police raid and an ultra-modern remote surveillance storyline
It’s called Traffic in Souls and it’s an extraordinarily modern movie – a prototype for a whole new category TRAFFIC IN SOULS: WHILE NEW YORK SLEEPS, GEORGE LOANE TUCKER, UNIVERSAL,…
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Music that satisfies completely
From music we get all sorts of things. And one of them is completion. I love jazz but even after decades of exposure to every different genre I’m still basically…
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Trump’s epic disdain
Trump the innovator is back on the campaign trail, diagnosing and mocking his audiences. And they love it. I can’t stop watching this video. It’s a random tiny clip from…
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I am as a poet, apparently
UPDATE: it’s finished. Here’s the PDF (it should be accessible to screen-readers and so on – let me know if you see any problems with the format). Or is it…