running, reading, nonsense.
Classically Lacking is a series where I tackle classics which have passed me by and pass judgement on them. Have they held up? Are they worth revisiting? This week, I'm taking on a Christmas classic in a genre I - stereotypically - know little about: the Rom Com. On the latest episode of Mark Kermode… Continue reading Love Actually (Classically Lacking)
Photo by Hide Obara on Unsplash In 1843 Charles Dickens read a government report on the employment of women and children, and he was sickened to see the extent to which these people were being subjected to horrific work for equally horrifically lapse pay. To him, they were - in the words of biographer, professor, and all-around Dickens… Continue reading A Christmas Carol
With Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman soon to be upon us I figured now would be as good a time as any to feature ol' Marty on Classically Lacking. With Joker still so near in my rear view, there was really only one film to be chosen. The King of Comedy. Released in 1983 to positive… Continue reading The King of Comedy
There was a time not so long ago when the world was infected with zombie madness. I’m thinking between the mid-noughties to the early tens, starting roughly with Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake and Shaun of the Dead in 2004 all the way to World War Z in 2013 (which also saw the… Continue reading Night of the Living Dead
Classically Lacking is a series of reviews where I tackle some so-called-classics which have passed me by and make an argument either for or against going back and taking them on if you've missed them too, because who has time these days? You know how many shows Netflix has? And I don't mean Friends I… Continue reading Suspiria (1977)
It is difficult to know where to start with a book like this. I see little point in divulging any details of the plot as, for one, I do not believe the nuts and bolts of the narrative are as important as the language, the philosophy, and the general feeling of the novel. It would… Continue reading One Hundred Years of Solitude
In 2018 the world lost William Goldman, writer of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, All the Presidents Men, and The Princess Bride, a movie that, to my great shame, I had never seen. As the industry, and beyond, recalled Goldman’s talent and success, I felt as if I was missing out on something tremendous.
There are few stories as pervasive in pop culture as that of Cathy and Heathcliff, and we can see its retelling everywhere. But how does the original novel fare in 2019?
Why do terrible things happen? Sometimes, there is no reason. Sometimes, terrible things just happen, and we can do little but mourn and move on. Yet, there are some terrible things which should be easily within the controlling grasp of man. War, for instance. Notice I write should. War has happened, is happening, and continues… Continue reading Dr Strangelove – Classically Lacking #5
The Catcher in the Rye is the kind of book which is said to change lives, yet this novel has never crossed my path. I have avoided the hype, so to speak. This week I change that.
run into words 