READING, WATCHING AND LISTENING TO

THE WRITER

LISTENING TO: Send Away The Tigers, Manic Street Preachers: Arcade Fire and Radiohead aside, the Manics are the only band whose music gets me really excited anymore, so it's a relief to be able to say that new album Send Away The Tigers is easily their most complete effort since the criminally overlooked This Is My Truth. The title track is a brilliant opener and obvious choice for a single, while Autumn Song and the snarling Imperial Bodybags display the band at their most melancholic and angry respectively. Obviously the flaws are still there, with Nicky dropping a lyrical clanger every now and then (“send away the tigers, because they’re creeping up and dangerous”) and one or two of James' solos feeling a little indulgent, but overall it's a superb return from one of the country's best bands. Now, if only they could tell me what the artwork is all about…

WATCHING: Army of Darkness. The last thing I saw at the cinema was the slightly disappointing Spider-Man 3. Great middle hour full of brilliant Sam Raimi stuff, rubbish last act full of idiotic action forced in by the studio. So, in a bid to remind myself of just how great Raimi is, I'm watching the Evil Dead trilogy, starting, because I'm a back to front kind of guy, with threequel Army of Darkness. Bruce Campbell? In medieval times? With a chainsaw? Hail to the king, baby!

READING: Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil. This four-part comic from graphic novelist Jeff Smith focuses on Billy Batson and his alter ego Captain Marvel. It’s as brilliantly cute as you’d expect from the guy behind Bone and with DC presenting it in premium format without those irritating adverts for products you can only get in America, it’s well worth getting into. Better be quick though, last week saw the release of part three and everything's set for a thrilling conclusion.


THE EDITOR

READING - The Dream Life Of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin. Set in the dying days of Communist Russia, Grushin's first novel tells the tale of Anatoly Sukhanov, a successful art critic with a very comfortable life who starts to have visions of his childhood and realises that he abandoned all of his ideals and dreams and has become someone he never intended to be. The writing's very evocative and the story hooks you in quite quickly even without anything really happening. It's a familiar tale of a mid-life crisis, but the setting is intruiging and it's just a very enjoyable book.

WATCHING - Last film at the cinema was the impressive Bridge To Terabithia, which deals with grief in a very mature and moving way for a Disney film. Last film on TV was Heirloom, a Chinese horror film full of the usual foreboding cliches of scary children and ghostly visions, but with a decent plot about family loyalties and revenge that at least keeps you watching until the end. Aside from films, both 24 and Lost have been really very good recently...

LISTENING TO - Quite a lot of music recently that would be called 'guilty pleasures', not that I care much for that classification. Sure, the likes of Journey, REO Speedwagon and Foreigner aren't exactly cool and never really were, but there's nothing guilty about liking a certain kind of music or a certain band. It's much worse to listen to something just because everyone else tells you that it's amazing rather than enjoying something in spite of criticial derision. Conversely, I'm also loving Asobi Seksu, Tara Fuki and Azam Ali...