Month / February 2007

by Edward Champion

The Only Couch Potato Who Wears a Trenchcoat

“The Radio Times speaks of ‘swearing and nudity… in skiploads right from the opening scenes’, but I’m not getting my hopes up too high.”

“My instinct is that this one-off final episode will be a skin-free zone (apart from maybe some of those ultra-realistic prosthetics that allow the series to show all those grizzly scenes of childbirth going wrong!), but I will tune in on the off-chance that Tamzin Malleson will finally show some flesh.”

“ITV4 has Carlito’s Way at 11.00pm. Another movie that makes an appearance regularly, this was only on a few months ago, but features Penelope Ann Miller’s best nudity, which makes it worth seeing in my opinion.”

These and other film and television musings can be found at the blog, In the Best Possible Taste.

by Edward Champion

Support Your Local Indie Bookstores

Los Angeles Times: “This is the paradox of modern bookselling. Even in an entertainment-saturated age, people still buy books. But the casual reader has many other places to get bestsellers and topical books, from warehouse stores to the mall. Meanwhile, book nuts — the ones who simply must buy several volumes a week — are lured online. Few businesses can survive that lose customers from both ends of the spectrum.”

by Edward Champion

Never Underestimate the Humorlessness of the Internet Public

John Sutherland: “The piece was, I believed, mildly sarcastic. YouTubers were not amused. For a day or two, I was YouTube-famous. The contents of their video responses – which at the time, could all be summoned instantaneously from the Wikipedia entry – are bruisingly abusive. ‘Die! You asshole!’ rants one paunchy YouTuber, jowls quivering with homicidal rage. ‘Your head is so far up your arse you can see your tonsils,’ offers another, with a show of that less-than-Wildean wit for which YouTube is justly famous. (They seem for some reason to be obsessed with the rectal tube.)”

by Edward Champion

More Butler Interview Excerpts

Again, when I tell you that you must read Jack Butler’s Jujitsu for Christ, and when I point out that the Rake ain’t lying when he says “everyone should go out and buy a copy of Jack Butler’s Jujitsu for Christ,” this is a bona-fide hot reading tip for you — nay, an entreaty!* That is, if you give at least ten good goddams about literature! Butler’s work is criminally neglected by the cool kids. (I’m looking at you too, Good Man Park!) But what I’m thinking is that some of us Butler boosters might be able to restore the good man’s graces into the echelons that they belong.

With this in mind, you can read a few more excerpts from the aforementioned Butler interview, courtesy of Jeff Bryant and Prof Fury!

* And really I have Tangerine Muumuu to thank for all this, since she was the one who got the book in my hands. Inexplicably, Jack Butler’s work is about as impossible to find as a Saturday Night parking spot in San Francisco. As soon as I track down another copy, she’s getting one.