This is a) necessary, b) very funny, c) near-comprehensive and - crucially - only requires one simple "reject cookies" click to access.

"Is your kid on cocaine? Is your kid smoking pot?... Or has she got a Bros poster in her room and is she driving you mad, listening to the Bros album every night? Which would you rather have?" Tom Hibbert, pre-empting AFTER THE SCREAMING STOPS in his Q profile of Bros in November 1989.

On PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE [below], POWER BALLAD, BULLET IN THE HEAD, OBSESSION, PASSENGER, ATHIRADI and HUSTLE, plus the weekend charts and picks: shorturl.at/3GDuV

Freeview (UK) #film of the day : Shane Black's excellent crime comedy The Nice Guys (2016 111mins.) starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. [BBC 1 22.30 & iPlayer for 30 days] letterboxd.com/film/the-nic...

On PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE [below], POWER BALLAD, BULLET IN THE HEAD, OBSESSION, PASSENGER, ATHIRADI and HUSTLE, plus the weekend charts and picks: shorturl.at/3GDuV

Ported over from the other place, the pub quiz round of nightmares #totp

Some breakers from the second #totp '99 repeat, starting with The Lightning Seeds going dance. Broudie almost takes his glasses off at one point: youtu.be/3Ep2XyiqXS4?...

Dear Lord, bring on the dancing hamsters #totp

Late breaker from that same November 14, 1999 chart - Suede's "Can't Get Enough", with a video that's so 1999 it stars Max Beesley and Laura Fraser #totp youtu.be/FGeFkrfrHLc?...

New on last week's UK chart - Gracie, Drake and your Eurovision winner: theeartrumpet.substack.com/p/week-21-ma...

Broadsheet feature: "Will YouTubers save the cinema?" The submarine one: dull as fuck. The young-love horror one: misogynist dogshit. The Aussie horror ones: properly nasty, but also not films you really want to sit through once. So: early days and all that, but I'm guessing... probably not?

On John Carney's POWER BALLAD, opening Friday: shorturl.at/8s6cr

Truly Gifted Kids:A Book About A Band Called Prefab Sprout by @nigetassell.bsky.social Nige sets out to uncloak the enigma in this deepest dive ever made into Paddy McAloon’s craft, motivations and methods Personal and poetic, a true labour of love about labours of love 13-08-26 tr.ee/-BLPqLQ27t

Robert E. Sherwood, 6'8" playwright behind THE PETRIFIED FOREST, Academy Award winner for THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, potential double for Ron Mael of Sparks.

On Arun Anirudhan's campus comedy ATHIRADI, now showing: shorturl.at/2tnls

The Brave Little Toaster is now available on Disney+.

Were we all aware the new Wanda Sykes special (on Netflix) is directed by Julie Dash? letterboxd.com/mikemccahill...

I was responsible for this (it was literally my idea while I was Product Manager for Media Playout at the BBC) and it is still my proudest achievement ever

If you do have children, get them hooked on social media from an early age, so that when they reach adulthood they too can spend entire days arguing online about which fucking social media platform is the best.

And the two folks in the back right corner are clearly only there to do hand stuff. (Individual in the back left is clearly only there to watch.)

On HEN, THE CHRISTOPHERS, BILLIE EILISH: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG, NORMAL, CRONOS, DIABOLIC [below] and VOIDANCE, plus the weekend charts and picks: shorturl.at/7rvNq

On HEN, THE CHRISTOPHERS, BILLIE EILISH: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG, NORMAL, CRONOS, DIABOLIC [below] and VOIDANCE, plus the weekend charts and picks: shorturl.at/7rvNq

The high bar for summer setpieces is set by György Pálfi's HEN, opening tomorrow: shorturl.at/DLLq3

ANNOUNCEMENT. The LOST REELS ALL DAY FILM EVENT is on Sunday Sept 13th at The Cinema Museum! FOUR films that exemplify the Lost Reels brand: • Missing in Action • Forgotten Classics • Special 35mm Presentations • Midnight Movies More details coming soon! HOLD THE DATE!!!

On Guillermo del Toro's 1992 debut CRONOS, currently back in UK cinemas: shorturl.at/coSJC

On Ben Wheatley's NORMAL, now showing: shorturl.at/3sH1Q

"Come closer, fellow kids."

For your consideration - the actor Kevin Eldon's Trump impression, which captures precisely the right level of derangement (from 10:33 here, though the whole episode is worth your time): open.spotify.com/episode/2i7d...

Exclusive: I sat down with the SNL UK creative team after Saturday night's finale. We talked about the sketches they need Britain to see, their eye-watering budget, dealing with the haters and the ratings nosedive. #SNLUK

New on this week's UK chart: Madonna reworked, Charli rocks out, and way too much that is AI-adjacent. theeartrumpet.substack.com/p/week-20-ma...

We have an answer re. the LAST WEEK TONIGHT edit. (Was a very messy edit, though - took out half of the next bit with it.)

British viewers (i.e. me) currently looking up what that curious, hamfisted edit Sky made at the start of this evening's LAST WEEK TONIGHT (NOW) was all about.

On Steven Soderbergh's THE CHRISTOPHERS, now showing: shorturl.at/mLZgW

An odd, culturally resonant moment on the second of this week's #TOTP repeats: the voice of Scott Mills announcing a new entry in R. Kelly's "If I Could Turn Back The Hands of Time".

On SHREK at 25 [below], TOP GUN: MAVERICK, LIFEHACK, IRON MAIDEN: BURNING AMBITION and WAKE IN FRIGHT, plus the weekend charts and picks: shorturl.at/szEO0

On James Cameron's BILLIE EILISH: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, now showing: shorturl.at/m2pKG

It's the semi-official anniversary of the time years ago when my brother gave Parker Posey the painting I painted of her. Much to her dismay. Sorry, Parker! Love you! I can't help but laugh every time I see this though...

Yeah if you're only counting scandals where there's personal enrichment (Ecclestone and Cash for Peerages for instance both involved payments to the parties and were significantly bigger in size)

On SHREK at 25 [below], TOP GUN: MAVERICK, LIFEHACK, IRON MAIDEN: BURNING AMBITION and WAKE IN FRIGHT, plus the weekend charts and picks: shorturl.at/szEO0

On Ronan Corrigan's LIFEHACK, opening tomorrow: www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ma...

This, from the country that broke the Enigma code.

People I wasn't expecting to see in the new Iron Maiden documentary BURNING AMBITION: 3) Simon Mayo 2) Javier Bardem 1) Matthew Corbett shorturl.at/jO4Dw

New on this week's UK pop chart: Madonna & Sabrina, Zara & Shakira and, um, "Dexter and the Moonrocks": theeartrumpet.substack.com/p/week-19-ma...

On Ted Kotcheff's 1971 film WAKE IN FRIGHT, returning to UK cinemas from Friday: shorturl.at/cjHVk

"Sounds to me like you don't really respect QuikScribbl." The anti-AI episode of HACKS S5 (NOW) is very good.

On HOKUM [below] and PATRIOT, plus the weekend charts and picks: shorturl.at/xzCIU

Almost funny how the country's geographic right wing is, uh...

I am reminded of Elmer the elephant by the Birmingham political map of 2026 though the quite positive patchwork of harmony message of that storybook may be challenging to emulate in city local politics

On HOKUM [below] and PATRIOT, plus the weekend charts and picks: shorturl.at/xzCIU

New on this week's UK pop chart - brooding country and dance from warmer climes: theeartrumpet.substack.com/p/week-18-ma...