http://www.cynicalreviewer.com Book Review: Hamlet's Blackberry by William Powers||||19||||2011/9/5 The central point of this book is that the human brain needs time to properly distil information; a period of reflection, of downtime. The problem today is that we don't have these moments, these "gaps" as Powers likes to call them. We're constantly moving from email to Facebook to browsing news w... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=05/09/2011&EventID=19 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=05/09/2011&EventID=19 Book Review: Khao San Road by David Young||||18||||2011/7/13 Going through immigration at Bangkok airport, an officer noticed I hadn't completed my arrival card - there was no destination address. "Where you stay for your trip?". "I'm not sure, it's my first time, I'm sure I can find somewhere". He shrugged, and wrote down just three words for my address: ... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=13/07/2011&EventID=18 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=13/07/2011&EventID=18 General Review: Celebrity Pictures and Gossip Magazines||||17||||2010/4/21 I can't find another genre of entertainment that tries so hard to elicit jealousy and envy in the reader than the celebrity gossip magazine. The flipside to the green-eyed monster is schadenfreude. Celebrity journalists know this and like to flip between the two human conditions, telling us storie... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=21/04/2010&EventID=17 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=21/04/2010&EventID=17 Comedy Review: Limmy's Show Episode 3||||16||||2010/2/3 OK so you can tell already I'm probably not going to review every episode of Limmy's Show. I thought Episode 2 was actually pretty good asides from all the boring World of Glasgow characters, which really (for me) dilutes the show. Pity Limmy doesn't go all out surreal, but instead fal... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=03/02/2010&EventID=16 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=03/02/2010&EventID=16 Comedy Review: Limmy's Show Episode 1||||15||||2010/1/14 I managed to watch episode 1 of Limmy's Show (screened on BBC Scotland, 11th Jan 2010) via youtube here (1), here (2) and here (3) As with my review of the pilot show, I found this hit and miss. In fact more miss than hit. First off the hits though:- The supermarket scene was Li... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=14/01/2010&EventID=15 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=14/01/2010&EventID=15 Comedy Review : I'm Alan Partridge||||14||||2009/8/5 Alan Partridge is a Radio Norfolk DJ and long-term patron of the Linton Travel Lodge (series one). He is the caricature of mediocrity (if there is such a thing). His bland, pathetic character is dialled up for maximum comic effect. And it works very well. Seeing him walking along the grassy slo... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=05/08/2009&EventID=14 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=05/08/2009&EventID=14 Book Review: Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky||||13||||2009/5/19 This is the second book I've read from Fyodor Dostoevksy (Crime and Punishment being the first) - and already he is one of my favourite authors - up there in strange company with Martin Amis and Will Self. Notes From Underground is timeless - it was written in 1864 but is still hi... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=19/05/2009&EventID=13 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=19/05/2009&EventID=13 Book Review: No Problem Girl by David Young||||12||||2009/3/30 ***CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS*** This story starts out with two very dispirate threads; one follows Peter, living in Chicago, who is reluctant to settle down. He picks up women in bars using the various strategies laid down by Guy Merrick, his guru-on-a-CD. Peter's locquacious and... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=30/03/2009&EventID=12 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=30/03/2009&EventID=12 Book Review: My Favourite Wife by Tony Parsons||||11||||2009/3/14 Tony Parsons wrote a great book called "Man and Boy" back in 2001, and returns to the same blueprint with My Favourite Wife - a story of a man putting his marriage in jeopardy by having an affair. We see how a man's life unravels because of his affair, and how he tries desperately to partit... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=14/03/2009&EventID=11 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=14/03/2009&EventID=11 Book Review: Exit Ghost by Philip Roth||||10||||2009/3/3 I'd heard many good things about Philip Roth, so I decided to buy "Exit Ghost" - it's a fairly slim novel so if I hated it I wouldn't be wasting too much of my time. It turned out to be a good read. It's written in the first person, and the tone is quite candid and confessional. On ... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=03/03/2009&EventID=10 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=03/03/2009&EventID=10 Music Review: Years of Refusal by Morrissey||||9||||2009/3/1 It's Mozzer's 50th birthday in May, but he still draws deep from the teenage angst themes of loneliness and self-loathing. I've been a fan of The Smiths since the mid-80s, so I've followed Morrissey over a couple of decades. What I've realised is Morrissey is never going to release a con... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=01/03/2009&EventID=9 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=01/03/2009&EventID=9 Book Review: A Fraction Of The Whole by Steve Toltz||||8||||2009/2/27 This is a very seductive book: no matter what page you flip to, you can get immersed in the narrative. This is what tempted me to buy it - I thought, gee this is gonna be a masterpiece! I was wrong. Although 70 pages in, I was still convinced this book was som... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=27/02/2009&EventID=8 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=27/02/2009&EventID=8 TV Review: Limmy's Show Pilot||||7||||2009/2/26 ....if you want to read the review of Episode 1 (screened on 11th Jan), click here ....if you want to read the review of Episode 3 (screened on 11th Jan), click here you can watch Limmy's Show here on youtube) I knew Limmy way back in 2000 on dreamless.org forum, and now ... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=26/02/2009&EventID=7 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=26/02/2009&EventID=7 Guinness Export in Malaysia||||6||||2009/2/20 Earlier this year I was in Malaysia and discovered Guinness Export - available in little stubby cans and with a strength of 8%. Two quick cans of Export leaves you in an inebriated haze that seems almost sentimental - it's like learning to drink all over again. Upon opening my first can, I... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=20/02/2009&EventID=6 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=20/02/2009&EventID=6 Movie Review: Shattered Glass||||5||||2009/2/22 I caught this film on the Star Movies channel the other night. I had no idea what the story was about, which is how you should watch the film (although I feel the need to tell you about it) - this is one of those suspense movies that only works if you haven't got an inkling about how the stor... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=22/02/2009&EventID=5 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=22/02/2009&EventID=5 Book Review: Sukhumvit Road by David Young||||4||||2009/2/23 The story is based in and around Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok - a road that conjours up images of fat pale men drinking mid-morning beers, craning their necks to the sports channel. Another image is of fat pale men drinking beers after dark, craning their necks to tabletop dancers. The main char... http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=23/02/2009&EventID=4 http://www.cynicalreviewer.com/blog.asp?date=23/02/2009&EventID=4