Joss Whedon’s new series, Dollhouse: Yeah or meh?

Oh dear. As I watched the first episode of Joss Whedon’s new series, Dollhouse, a sinking feeling came over me.
 
 
 
Joss Whedon is the creator of cult tv series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. His work is regarded as some of the cleverest, wittiest and engaging tv of the last 15 years. So, with expectations [...]

Want to publish a book? Become a passionate expert

When I was a bookseller I was always being asked the insider’s tips for getting published. I’m not sure why they asked me. I wasn’t a publisher. But I suppose I knew what was being published, what the publishers liked and I often knew the backstories to a bestseller’s success.
Of all those books with [...]

What next? A lesbian Prime Minister?

Why, yes, actually.
While the rest of us are still shaking our heads, amazed that the US actually has a black president, Iceland is pushing the social engineering envelope with the world’s first openly-gay Prime Minister being sworn in this week.
According to The Independent, “former air hostess”, Johanna Sigurdardottir, will take the reigns of a caretaking [...]

What breakthrough discoveries will we see in our lifetimes?

That international club of provocative thinkers, The Edge, released its 2009 Question earlier this month at its World Question Centre. 150 of the sharpest pencils in the, um, pencil-case of contemporary thought were asked:

WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?

“What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see?”

Cool activism for hot times

 
Hot enough for ya?
I can’t believe how many “climate change doesn’t exist” bits n pieces I’ve read in the last few days. I put it down to buying the local paper (and then making the mistake of reading it), but I wonder if it’s just the last hurrah of the climate change deniers as the [...]

Vale Bettie Page: 1923 – 2008

It’s hard to imagine fetish culture without the iconic 1950s photos of Bettie Page. In a time when women were most commonly seen bending over a new kitchen appliance, Ms Page was demonstrating a, um, different kind of horizontal posture. I’m not sure if her modelling days were a totally empowering experience, but Bettie Page’s [...]

Goodbye Kaftan. Hello Slanket!

Okay, it’s hot and humid here in the mountains today but I must admit I had a twinge of “must have” when I saw a picture for the “best blanket ever – The Slanket“.
Or maybe it was because I just couldn’t stop laughing at the blankie that strangely resembles all my childhood nativity costumes.
 
I love [...]