"She hid in the loft last night, I thought we had burglars. She dropped down, completely naked - apart from the strap on. It's like living with a dirty Cato."

95. Flags Of Our Fathers (torrent, 2006 - Clint Eastwood) I saw this on a double bill with Letters From Iwo Jima and I remember being impressed. It must have been the latter I liked because this is fairly unremarkable, although the war bonds PR angle is interesting.

Beverley Knight is annoying, Matthew Parris is a dick, but nonetheless this is a passable look at Sister Rosetta BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Beverley Knight on Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock and roll share.google/8LovOibgeP0Y...

Happy birthday to the best to ever do it youtu.be/6RjvUnBbY-4?...

Here she is in 2026! This neatly bobbed, elegantly coutured lady in her 60s, steps forward in the manner of someone who might just as easily address an international conference held to improve the efficacy of PPE rollouts in future pandemics. And then she sings: “It’s a fine day/People open windows”

11. Susan Cooper - The Dark Is Rising (1973) This was great, I'm pleased I finally got round to it. It's epic and Cooper's creativity is remarkable. My aphantasia was sorely tested. Guess I should order the rest.

Gnight folks youtu.be/KnJxQwzISQI?...

I was listening to Cillian Murphy years ago on 6Music and he played a slow, limpid, heartbreaking piano tune. I stopped from almost the first note, mid tidying, with laundry in my arms. Didn't move for nearly seven minutes. Absolutely mind-blowing. youtu.be/Nv2GgV34qIg?...

One thing you should know about me is that I like to scream, “MARCIE! YOU MADE EGG SOUP!” as a way of describing someone fucking up beyond belief. …and it’s a quote from It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.

94. Ice Cold In Alex (Amazon, 1958 - J. Lee Thompson) It's what Easter Sundays are for. (Read a review which offered an interesting comparison to The Wages Of Fear, which had never occurred to me)

And posting that Judee Sill track always leads me to this dream of a song... youtu.be/NK52bA7zOyc?...

Because it's traditional... youtu.be/kTAesI73E1U?...

93. Hi How Are You, Daniel Johnston (YouTube -  Gabriel Sunday) A bewildering, time shifting, oneiric short about Johnston. Kinda lovely. Kinda sad. And weirdly partially funded by Lana del Rey.

92. Reservoir Dogs (Amazon, 1992 - Quentin Tarantino) I saw this 3/4 times at the cinema, but not since. Watching it almost 35 yts later you have to forget decades of Tarantino's douchery + bad movies but despite some elements becoming clichés, there's still the lean thriller that was so impressive

91. Sunlight (Amazon, 2024 - Nina Conti) Conti's doc Her Master's Voice is a gem but I had no idea if she'd be able to make a fictional movie. Well this is glorious. 1/2

After reading two Riley books in quick succession that were brilliant but very much working through the same issues, took a break but the reviews for this are *so* great...

Let's hear it for the @fitzcarraldoeditions sale...

Gnight folks youtu.be/Zhh7A_gqr-g?...

90. Natural Born Killers (torrent, 1994 - Oliver Stone) Somehow I'm not sure I ever sat down and watched this properly. It's a weird one - there's nothing as dated as state of the art filmmaking and satire, and Stone isn't subtle. It's even naff in places. 1/2

Best youtu.be/dDDUlRLWDWQ?...

I read very few kids books - Philip Pullman, Alan Garner and the like - but always thought I should probably have read this. So...

10. Sabbahattin Ali - Madonna In A Fur Coat (1943) A strange and frustrating book. I found the account of interwar Turkey and then Berlin interesting, and the book has some unusual elements , but mostly it was just overwrought and indulgent.

Mood youtu.be/L2UzKWC9CfY?...

Hey kids, you might have thought those polka dot wankers Angiogram de Poutine were cool but it's game over because now Rick fucking Beato is into it and he's the Death Of Cool youtu.be/zO8bt94-ybg?...

Mood youtu.be/fv2PjbEmJV4?...

New Irked 🖤 youtu.be/wpnhm5cppbw?...

Hours of fun

89. La Grazia (Tyneside, 2025 - Paolo Sorrentino) After Everybody To Kenmure Street and Two Prosecutors, I really wasn't in the mood for this. A wry, talky thing, overrich like a tiramisu. Some remarkable moments but way too pleased with itself.

Another great thing about Everybody To Kenmure Street is the Barry Burns soundtrack, especially this Lee Hazlewood cover youtu.be/uqLq8aIWG-0?...

88. Two Prosecutors (Tyneside, 2025 - Sergey Loznitsa) Rusty bars, flaking paint, cabbage soup, the claustrophobia and implacability and bureaucracy of Stalinism. This is almost a child's fable in its simplicity. Grim but brilliantly made.

87. Everybody To Kenmure Street (Tyneside, 2026 - Felipe Bustos Sierra) I've never had a physical / emotional response to a film like I did with this. I was on the verge of tears from about 5 minutes in and found myself shaking throughout. 1/2

A bold look for the mean streets of Heaton. < eyes roll so far back in my head they just pop right round >

I just spent the last 100 minutes on the verge of tears. Literally shaking. This is one of the most powerful and inspiring films I've ever seen and you should all see it too. youtu.be/JOY5T03hHbk?... Fuck the police.

Frizzy fucking twat

I've been neglecting the Tyneside this last couple of weeks but I'm back on my bullshit...

Good post day

I reviewed Interrobang‽ and Jim Bob at Anarchy Brewery narcmagazine.com/live-review-...

86. The Lives Of Others (torrent, 2006 - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck) Small, precise, devastating.

85. The Hit (Amazon, 1984 - Stephen Frears) This is a strange one. Like a lot of Brit movies of the era, in some ways it feels badly made - hacky acting, ropey dialogue. But there's a strange alienated mood to it, somewhere between Antonioni and Leone, that gets to you.

Happy Trans Day of Visibility ❤️🏳️‍⚧️❤️

Watching The Hit. The crime boss seemed weirdly familiar. It's only Lennie Peters from Peters & Lee, who apparently had underworld connections in real life. Funny ole world.

Woke up thinking about the incredible face of Walter Matthau

83. One Who Set Forth (Netflix, 2007 - Marcel Wehn) Wenders is a boring man from a boring family. I don't know how this relates to his films because I literally fell asleep after 30 minutes.

Having played it several times last week, I figured it was time to replace my long gone OG copy

Gnight folks youtu.be/TAqZHe-ZFs8?...

This is a much better version youtu.be/MorgJwbBhe4?... Gnight folks

82. A Quiet Place Day One (netflix, 2024 - Michael Sarnoski) This had a lot going for it - strong leads, interesting ideas, some fresh visuals. But somehow it adds up to a great big shrug of a film

My love for almost everything Nick Cave has done means he's got to do a lot of terrible things, artistically and personally, to fully erode my good will. But he seems determined to do so. youtu.be/73P2drWXulM?... Fuck right off.