Author Archive: Guest Reviewer
The Other Boleyn Girl
The other, other Boleyn girl (Anne, 1501-1536)
(Dir. Justin Chadwick) (2008) Anne Boleyn died on 19th May, 1536, in the Tower of London. We remember her and her lost head, and refer you to our account of a visit to Henry’s and her happy home at Hampton Court. We also recall this film (adapted from Philippa Gregory’s novel) about her, her younger sister Mary, and King Henry VIII. A Reformation Days of Our Lives, the inevitable expository dialogue, hey nonny nonny nonsense and sumptuous set pieces cloy early, and while the acting is earnest and worthy, these are historical manikins. Historians generally agree that Mary was not…
Continue Reading →Dami wuz robbed
Eurovision Song Contest, May 14/15 2016 Dateline Stockholm: in the biggest heist since Brinks or Lufthansa, Dami Im, representing Australia for only the second time in the history of the venerable competition, was pipped for first place by a last minute ‘flurry’ of ‘televotes’ that recall the Illinois fraud of the 1960 US election, or the hanging Floridian chads of 2000. We confess an indulgent attitude to winner Ukraine’s “F.U.” to Putinland with their song, 1944, apparently a lament for Crimean Tartars deported by that great guy, Josef Stalin, but we must honour Dami, who had the best song and act…
Continue Reading →The National Gallery, London
Photo by Rudolph Schuba
192 years ago today, the National Gallery opened its doors to a public hungry for culture. Over the 2 centuries since, it has amassed a hoard of art to savour. The Brits were imperialists all right, but the National’s collection developed more by osmosis than through seizure of art hoards via conquest (compare and contrast, arguably, the case of the Elgin Marbles). They started back in the pack compared to the Louvre and the Hermitage but made up for it coming down the straight. For a small example, if you want to see these in the flesh… …
Continue Reading →The Dead Pool
The Dead Pool (by the Dead Sea) (photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/government_press_office/6339649891/)
DISCLAIMERS TVC Dead Pool does not nominate celebrities we necessarily want dead. Nominations do not reflect any actual knowledge, nor do they represent imputations upon a nominee’s lifestyle, health, or associates. TVC Dead Pool © is designed as a parlour game only, and no distress, inconvenience or dread is intended. TVC declares that its past Dead Pool performance has attained 87% correct outcome. But there’s only a 50% chance that is correct. Please post comments below, and remember to speak well of the possibly soon=dead… By the way, what’s going on? We’ve famous musicians dropping like flies! Bowie, Cohen,…
Continue Reading →O, Donna!
We at TVC are prone to elegiac reveries from time to time, against which we struggle man-and-womanfully. But we here, assessing Donna Tartt, must raise a flag of salutary concern about what appears to be the author’s not-so gentle decline. Exhibit “A” – The Secret History Look, it’s a tad superficial, a smidge orotund, and so rich in faux classicism that one clutches the stomach, but this is arguably a wonderfully entertaining and evocative novel, rich, romanticist and vivid. But its also a pudding full of cliches and second hand tropes, which may be why no film-maker has ever managed to re-heat…
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