‘The Artist’: Kind To The Culturally Cretinous?

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Liverpool’s Odeon One. A little too quiet for some. Image: multibuild.

Cinema-goers in Liverpool have apparently demanded refunds from their local Odeon after failing to realise that ‘The Artist‘ is a silent film.

I can only assume that these are essentially the same people who enhance my viewing pleasure during movies by discussing their sex lives and chicken dinner plans in graphic detail on their phones.

Surely loud cinema dialogue is a distraction to diarising? You’d imagine they’d be grateful for the peace.

Justin Bieber: A User’s Guide

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Image: Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

Masterful puppetry from behind the scenes plus an unhealthy preoccupation with the crotch from fans who insist its all about the music?

In other words, Justin Bieber’s career to date.

Dearest Nephew… Please. Just Don’t

Posted on by Kelly Welles

 
When I was sixteen years old, I really, really, really wanted a tattoo as well. I understand and empathise with your feelings completely.

But cool your boots, man. At the time, I thought Ian Astbury (lead singer of The Cult, seen above sporting large hat, headscarf and improbable white leggings) was the cutting edge of sophistication and sartorial elegance and, given half a chance, would have covered myself in artwork reflecting this.

My point, as Ian succinctly (and may I say, artfully) articulates, is that the choices one makes in one’s teens don’t necessarily stand the test of time.

I don’t expect you to get it. I didn’t listen to the warnings either, and just waited until I was eighteen, when I could legally cover myself with ill-conceived crap.

I just thought I’d mention it so when you’re whinging about it in ten years time, I have my smugness on record. This is my compensation for being a dinosaur.

Lots of Love, Auntie.

Movie Watch: ‘Paradise Lost 3 – Purgatory’

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley  & Damien Echols at the time of their arrest in 1994. Image via webpronews.

Having watched the other two documentaries in the ‘West Memphis 3 – Paradise Lost’ trilogy, I was fairly sure there weren’t going to be too many surprises in store when I sat down to watch the third.

I was already aware of the inconsistencies in evidence gathering, the frequently bizarre interpretations of information collected and witch hunt-like tone to an investigation that had resulted in eighteen-year -old heavy metal fan Damien Echols being sentenced to death for the murder of three eight-year-old Arkansas boys, while his friends, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr (sixteen and seventeen respectively) received life for their involvement.

If that wasn’t enough, my interest in the case after watching the Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky directed films ‘Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills’ & ‘Paradise Lost 2: Revelations’, was such that I learned through their support network that the men had been freed as part of a plea bargain in August 2011.

I was confident that my shock and awe muscle would remain relatively unmolested throughout the viewing.

Wrongly.

Continue reading “Movie Watch: ‘Paradise Lost 3 – Purgatory’” →

Andrew Stone: Scientific Genius Or Massive Burk?

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Andrew Stone. Bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘virtual reality’. Image: Tim Whitby/Getty Images.

For people of a certain age, the sight of a hapless individual wrestling with a ludicrously unwieldy plastic prototype of a future piece of ‘everyday’ technology was staple of Thursday evening  TV.

The BBC’s flagship science show ‘Tomorrow’s World’ spent almost forty years predicting the advent of the mobile phone, the home computer, astro turf and many other things we can’t live without now, although at the time, I seem to recall spending most of the show hoping someone would set themselves on fire while testing a flame retardant suit.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Continue reading “Andrew Stone: Scientific Genius Or Massive Burk?” →

Diane Abbott: A ‘Penny’ For My Thoughts

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Image via dailymail.co.uk.

Although I love the 24- hour immersive information culture we now live in, it does have it’s down sides. Just because everybody has the ability to express their feelings in a public forum, whether on a blog, a social networking site or a newspaper, it doesn’t necessarily mean they should. The proliferation of subjective, ill-informed interpretations of news events hasn’t increased the quality of opinion in a capitalist, cream-rises-to-the-top kind of way.

It has merely made it even harder to locate informed, educative information on a subject.

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Amir Khan: Nefarious Twiddling Or Great British Bitching?

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Image: via @AmirKingKhan‘s twitter.

Photo evidence supplied by Amir Khan seems to suggest that an unauthorised individual was lurking in the ringside area during the boxer’s recent defeat to Lamont Peterson in Washington. If it can be proved that the gentleman in question was engaged in nefarious twiddling with judges scorecards, as is being alleged, then Khan should, of course, receive an apology and the opportunity of a rematch at a neutral venue.

Unfortunately, bitching and moaning about the circumstances of defeat has become a bit of a habit for British boxers recently.

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Margaret & Louise: Don’t Mensch-tion It

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Images: GQ via digitalspy.

‘The Iron Lady’ opens in UK cinemas this weekend, and with all the interest the movie is generating in Mags, it’s a clever PR move for the Tory it-girl-in-waiting to bathe in some reflected glory.

Continue reading “Margaret & Louise: Don’t Mensch-tion It” →