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"Sebastian Faulks's latest novel, set in one week in December 2007, is very ambitious. It aspires to be a state-of-the-nation book, a satirical comedy of metropolitan literary life, a sweeping, Dickensian look at contemporary London, a serious examination of Islam and the reasons for radicalism among young Muslims, a thriller, a satire on the Notting Hill Cameroonians and a detailed look at the sharp financial practices that led to the collapse. There's London football, reality TV, cyber porn, a love story or two. As if all that weren't enough, it is a roman a clef, which has already provided fun for metropolitan journalists as they speculate about the identity of the various characters."
I never was big on the divine right of kings n' queens, but as far as entertaining stories go they sure can whip up a frenzie of interest. I just watched The Young Victoria last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not really good history, yet really great fun to watch the dazzling array of historical figures engage each other in plots n' intrigues. The Iron Duke Wellington, salty old King Willy and the snake oil salesman Lord Melbourne, they're all here to enjoy. The music's exceptional except for the closing credits song by Sinead O'Connor which really does not fit at all... I think I'm in love with Emily Blunt though...ha ha..recently seen in The Wolfman and before that The Devil Wears Prada. Nice twist with Albert taking a bullet for Vicky too! Tons of fun and dazzling costumes and sets to boot! I highly recommend it if you enjoy this sort of thing.
I must say that the long wait for a new studio recording from the brilliant Jeff Beck was certainly worth it. What an experience to hear the Fender bendin' Stratocaster version of Puccini's gem Nessun Dorma, and if it does not bring a tear to your eyes or at least some semblance of a sentimental buzz, you may be dead. Also, hearing Joss Stone sing the daylights out of the Screaming Jay Hawkins' classic I Put A Spell On You is worth the price of admission.We even get to hear Jeff play the wonderful wizard's Somewhere Over The Rainbow in his own inimitable style.There's a wah-wah infected real gritty rocker/jazzer called Hammerhead that should suitably curl your toes! Give it a listen and you won't be disappointed. I'm enjoying it more than the Ronnie Scott's live cd!
"Philip Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ was bound to become something of a hornet’s nest. Known for his dislike of organised religion and the unflattering portrait of God in his trilogy His Dark Materials, Pullman has been branded as a latter-day anti-Christ by those who evidently feel that the Christian spirit is best served by threat and unreflective antagonism.
Written at the prompting of one of Pullman’s admirers, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams - who asked Pullman during a public debate why having tackled God he had neglected to write about the figure of Jesus - the Pullman version of the Gospel stories is inevitably, well, unchristian. What it is certainly not, however, is anti-Jesus – which is the book’s main point."
What happened at the Velodrome? The Vélodrome d'Hiver (or Winter Velodrome) was an indoor stadium situated on the rue Nélaton, near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Famous cycling races were held here. The building was generally referred to by its contracted name : "Vel' d'Hiv". In June 1942, the French government of Vichy working under Nazi orders planned to arrest 30,000 foreign adult Jews with the help of 9,000 French policemen. Arrests started at dawn on July 16th. The round up's code name was ironically poetic: "Operation Spring Breeze". 13,000 Jewish people were arrested that day (including 4,000 children, most of them born in France). According to all accounts one can read, inside the Vel d'Hiv was sheer hell. People went crazy, committed suicide, died, women gave birth. Some people, but only very few, were able to escape.
