Monthly Archives: February 2012

19th-century Paris and the Net

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Strange the way we misinterpret. An essay by Morozov in the New York Times (discussed by John Naughton in the Observer, 120212) compares (by the by, as far as this post is concerned) the net to 19th-century Paris: the labyrinthine … Continue reading →

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“The Tao Of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff; “The Secret Message Of Jesus” by Brian Maclaren (the latter only skimmed)

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Both try to explain how life should be lived, and to that extent are self-help books. Maclaren writes from within an orthodox US Christian perspective, but reinterprets Jesus’ message as a call to a radical politics and a suspicion of … Continue reading →

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“He’s Just Not That Into You”

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

The kind of set-up that you find in foreign films at Curzon cinemas: the lives of several young people come together in different ways; subplots cross over and merge, weaving a meditation on love and humanity. This one though doesn’t … Continue reading →

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“Are We There Yet?”

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Awful comedy with some very funny gross bits (man holding a boy who’s urinating in a woman’s face; boy (same one) causing a near-pile-up by projectile-vomiting over a windscreen; and the man fighting a deer is funny too, albeit ungross. … Continue reading →

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“The Invention of Lying”

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Ricky Gervais weaves together Gulliver’s Travels and the Midas myth to create a funny and provocative anti-religion story, yet as usual one which attacks merely the straw man of Sunday-School religion: no worries for the modern C of E… ;-). … Continue reading →

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Fictional characters’ worlds

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Houyhnhnm

Sherlock Holmes lives in a London identical to the one in which Conan Doyle’s books about him were published, except that it contained no books about him by Conan Doyle. Doctor Who couldn’t watch Doctor Who. Novels, in the very … Continue reading →

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