Laughter in the Dark
(by Vladimir Nabokov) Also known as Kamera obskura, “meant as an elaborate parody” but “one of my worst novels” is in fact a pitilessly cruel, slamming-door joke on a cuckold who is morally, aesthetically and physically blind.
Continue Reading →A Likely Story
(by Donald E. Westlake) (1984) Very funny tale of hack writer (of “The Pink Garage Gang”, “Coral Sea”, “Golf Courses of America”, etc.) trying to get up a Christmas Book with contributions from various real celebrities that respond with a mixture of indifference, misunderstanding or hideous enthusiasm, while contending with a mother-obsessed editor (‘I’m fine…I’m peachy. Destroyed at f****** lunch with a writer. Home a basket case.’)
Continue Reading →Atlantic City
Image by Bordercolliez
(directed by Louis Malle) (1981) Atlantic City, a style-free Las Vegas with saltwater, is the perfect place for Malle to probe America’s dark corners, with Burt Lancaster (a small time chiseller and errand-boy, seeking an emotional resurgence) and Susan Sarandon (a cocktail waitress down on her luck) playing a great pair of losers. How something so seedy can bloom so sweetly is a tribute to the entire cast and crew.
Continue Reading →Animal Crossing – 3DS
I have 5 million bells in the post office bank but that old meerkat or whatever he is, is not impressed with the state of my house. Everytime I start doing the place up, inspired by the show houses, I get distrac- ooh look, a new snowdrop! there’s a sheep with earrings! I’d better go sell some fruit. The game does raise some moral questions. I have a second character whom I created solely for the extra storage space. Poor, neglected little Freesia. It’s like having a clone who’s kept only for body parts. A pointless, repetitious, sickeningly cute must-have game for…
Continue Reading →Lou Reed
(2/3/42 – 27/10/13) “When Lou Reed sings, a child somewhere dies.” This horrible statement, attributed to our good friend Matthew R, has a black truth in it (like all good and unfair epigrams). Reed’s records were not for everyone and definitely not for children. Jewish, polysexual, extremely troubled as a youth (his parents committed him to shock treatment at a psychiatric hospital when he was 17) and artsy, he spurned the comfortable Long Island existence and devoted himself to his trade. With some diversions, that is: incredibly, after the release of the Velvet Underground’s Loaded, he was working as a…
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