tvsI’ve been scraping the bottom of the pop culture barrel recently. All in the name of journalistic research, you understand. Television is fascinating precisely because it’s so popular, there is no better representation of general human preoccupations: this is who we are. And yet, my fascination is also a sort of macabre masochistic experiment: how [...]
I’ve immersed myself in JK Rowling’s fictional world for the past while, escaping to a fantasy realm that has been richly satisfying on many levels. Prior to this Potterfest, I had only read the first one when it came out, and enjoyed it for what it was: a fantastic read for 11-year-olds. Its intriguing [...]
There’s a moment described in Mark O’Rowe’s new play Terminus, where a woman has been battered over the head with a chair. As she comes to, she realises that a man is wanking over her comatose body. That comes as close as I can get to describing the experience of watching this production, the moment [...]
One of my favourite DVDs, that I take out every now and again and shamelessly hum along to, is Once More, With Feeling, the musical episode from the TV series Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. As well as great show tunes, excellent production values, and wonderfully subtle character development, I love it because it superbly [...]
Written in October 1999, it was originally called “I want to be on The Jerry Springer Show”.
This is what I read at the launch of Diary of a Man. Listen:
Ex-Gay Watch is an interesting site, keeping an eye on the ex-gay movement, with a discussion here about “Sad to be Gay”. It turns out Akinsanya has had a 7-year-long relationship with a woman! Puts the programme in a slightly different light, if he chose to conceal that for the documentary. For what purpose?
Watching Sad to be Gay was a strange experience. I was irritated by Akinsanya’s belief that his childhood traumas caused his sexual orientation – he’s got a bad case of causality, there. Damaged relationships in childhood lead you to doubt yourself on such a deep level that you end up in fundamentalist ex-gay groups, offering [...]
My friend Hilary is reviewing Sad to be Gay tonight at 9 on BBC2. I heard him on the radio this morning. I must say it’s refreshing to hear someone critical of the gay “lifestyle” talk like this. But unfortunately he’s a bit of a blamer – he can’t blame his life on what a [...]
Interesting
