Friday, May 25 2012
Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective
With two TV shows returning Arthur Conan Doyle's creation to our screens, Sherlock Holmes has never seemed more influential. But for the good of detective fiction, it might be time to look elsewhere for our unorthodox investigators...
Friday, April 13 2012
Yes, It’s Genocide: Armenian Artists and the Obligations of History
For many artists of Armenian descent, engaging with the legacy of the 1915 genocide is more than dutiful; it's of crucial importance to how we understand and confront the modern world and its troubles.
Friday, March 2 2012
Exceptional Claims: Principle, Personality and Christopher Hitchens
The late Christopher Hitchens helped define the character and popular perception of Atheism for this generation. But for the self-styled contrarian, where did principle end and personality begin?
Thursday, January 19 2012
Doing The Worst Things Well: What We Can Learn from Anthony Burgess
The 50th anniversary of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, along with the recent discovery of a vast archive of the author's unpublished work, should shine fresh light on one of the 20th century's most prolific, daring and underrated writers.
Friday, December 2 2011
‘Caligula’s Ghost: Why Cinema Needs Epic Failure More than Mediocre Success
Obscene, grandiose and artistically worthless -- such is the monstrous reputation of the 1979 art-porn blockbuster Caligula. Is this most shocking of Roman epics worthy of reappraisal?
Friday, October 28 2011
Art Endures, Capitalism Degenerates: The Evolving Career of Amanda Palmer
The arts have always suffered and survived in times of economic depression. Amanda Palmer has forged a career that has not only weathered the recession, but rejects the received wisdom of the music industry. Is she an exception to the rule, or an example other artists should follow?
Thursday, September 15 2011
The Comics Writer and the Fall of the Superpowers
We often think of comic books as the height of escapism, but recent events point to an industry in a death spiral, due in no small part to how badly it mistreats the writers on which it depends.
Friday, July 22 2011
No One Is Untouchable: Not Federico Garcia Lorca, Not Ai Weiwei
Governments tend to take on their worst form, to devolve to their most horrific manifestation, when they kill artists. Artists look out into the horrors of the world, and inevitably, the horrors sometimes reach back.
Friday, May 27 2011
They Won’t Stay Dead: The Changing Guises of Horror Film and Censorship
The controversy surrounding A Serbian Film is symptomatic of an ominous development in the horror genre's combative relationship with the censors.
