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  • Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside) – “shoegaze” 1988 – 1993
  • La Flamme et le Lys: Métal Noir Québécois
  • The Lucky Ones Were The First To Die! The 1980s post-Mad Max Apocalypse
  • For Whom The Cowbell Tolls…
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  • Constructive Misanthropy: Wyndham Lewis – Tyros & Portraits
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A Motley Miscellany of Oddities, Buffoonery, Criticism & c.

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shooting the messenger; moral panics, the 1980s, American Psycho turns 30

  Happy New Year! I’ve written about the way that new decades seem to bring their own distinct identities with them before (probably too often; here was I think the most recent time) and as we ascend/descend/just go into 2021 an auspicious anniversary approaches; 30…

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RSS A Motley Miscellany of Oddities, Buffoonery, Criticism & c.

  • the cult of maimed perfection February 5, 2021
    *firstly, may change this title as it possibly sounds like I’m saying the opposite of what I’m saying* That western culture¹ has issues with womens’ bodies² is not a new observation. But it feels like the issues are getting stranger. Recently there have been, both on TV (where the time of showing is important) and […]
  • ghost cities of cyberspace January 11, 2021
      Tell me now, I beg you, where Flora is, that fair Roman; Archippa, and Thaïs rare, Who the fairer of the twain? Echo too, whose voice each plain, River, lake and valley bore; Lovely these as springtime lane, But where are they, the snows of yore?¹ François Villon, Ballade des dames du temps jadis(1461)¹ […]
  • shooting the messenger; moral panics, the 1980s, American Psycho turns 30 January 1, 2021
      Happy New Year! I’ve written about the way that new decades seem to bring their own distinct identities with them before (probably too often; here was I think the most recent time) and as we ascend/descend/just go into 2021 an auspicious anniversary approaches; 30 years since the publication of Bret Easton Ellis’s classic novel American […]
  • the law won – police academy and 80s pop culture November 25, 2020
      The police in 2020 may feel beleaguered by the pressure to account for their actions and act within the boundaries of the laws they are supposed to be upholding, but despite the usual complaining from conservative nostalgists about declining standards of respect, the question of ‘who watches the watchmen’ (or, ‘who will guard the […]
  • inside the doll’s house August 31, 2020
    The dying man glows with sickness in his mildewy-looking bed, the light seeming to emanate from where he sits, crammed into the airless, box-like room. He signs his will while his friend looks on intently with concern and restrained grief. The artist who painted Thomas Braithwaite of Ambleside making his will in 1607 may not […]
  • dancing about architecture: the non-art and non-science of music reviews August 23, 2020
    On the rare occasions that anyone asks me anything about my writing, it’s usually about music reviews. The consensus seems to be that a good review (I don’t mean a positive one) should either be ‘listen to the music and say if it’s good or bad’, or ‘listen to the music and describe it so […]

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