This seems to be the book that makes most people prick up their ears when I mention the title. Which is great, because it is an amazing story, full of humour and surprises. It also provides a lot of challenges to the notion that women were powerless. When trawling through old newspapers some years ago … Continue reading
I heard an interview a while ago with the band British Sea Power who provide the soundtrack to this film, so was glad to finally see it. Funded by Sheffield Documentary Festival, it is a fascinating selection of work from the British Film Institute from early black and white to the modern era. We see … Continue reading
This is from Kilvert’s Diary, told to him by a Miss Child: She and her sister stranded in London at night went to London Bridge hotel (having missed the last train) with little money and no luggage except the owl in a basket. The owl hooted all night in spite of their putting it up … Continue reading
This film follows 13 year old Aishoplan as she becomes the first female eagle hunter in Kazakh history. We see her with her family, helping with the family farm work, and staying in town where she and her siblings are at school through the week. She comes from a long line of eagle hunters, but … Continue reading
This film starts deceptively slowly. Sasha Lane’s Star is a young woman with 2 young kids hunting through rubbish for free food seems to set the story for a tale of modern poverty, a single mum fallen through the welfare net. But she spots a van load of rowdy young men, and is invited by … Continue reading
Despite great reviews, I put off watching this film as I couldn’t figure out what it was. Filmed in New York in black and white, it seemed a quirky tale of trendy young things. So a bit ho-hum, and yet… I think it’s the first film I’ve ever watched that I immediately wanted to see … Continue reading
Most of us think of deafness as just not being able to hear things, but there is a huge spectrum of hearing deficits from high pitched to the very low, often the result of prolonged exposure to industrial noise or rock music- I know of a dentist who struggles to hear women’s voices. Must be … Continue reading
This is from the i paper, 29 December: Revellers dressed in mock military garb take part in the Enfarinats battle in the south eastern Spanish town of Ibi yesterday. During this 200-year-old festival participants, known as Els Enfarinats (those covered in flour) dress in military clothes and stage a mock coup d’etat using flour, eggs … Continue reading
This is one of the strangest buildings I’ve ever seen, and I thought it was a folly, though odd for it to be so central – between the train station and a big shopping centre in Trowbridge. Apparently it was built by a local man in protest against the council refusing him planning permission. The … Continue reading
This is from Friday’s i paper, a reminder that English eccentricity is still alive and well – at least up north. A meat and potato pie was “Sent into space” yesterday, attached to a weather balloon. The pastry lifted off in Wigan in advance of the World Pie Eating Championships, which begins on Tuesday next … Continue reading
