Louise

The Brothers

31 January 2012 by Louise Leave a Comment

As most people who keep up to date with reading trends know, Scandinavian crime fiction is the fashion of the moment. I’m not immune…

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Anne Holt, Asa Larsson, Asko Sahlberg, Camilla Lackberg, Emily Jeremiah, Finnish writing, Fleur Jeremiah, Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo, novellas, Peirene Press, Scandinavian literature, Stieg Larsson, Swedish Russian War, The Brothers

Brendan Cole Live and Unjudged

30 January 2012 by Louise Leave a Comment

A couple of weeks before Christmas I entered a competition to win tickets to see Strictly Come Dancing star and self-styled “bad boy of ballroom”, Brendan Cole’s show Live and Unjudged. I then forgot all about it…

Filed Under: Theatre Tagged With: audience participation, ballroom dancing, Brendan Cole, Brendan Cole Live and Unjudged, cha cha cha, Craig Revel Horwood, dancing, latin dancing, Len Goodman, Live and Unjudged, Lulu, Paso Doble, Scott Cole, Strictly Come Dancing, Viennese Waltz, Vincent Simone

The Iron Lady

27 January 2012 by Louise Leave a Comment

According to those in the know Meryl Streep is absolutely certain to win the Best Actress Oscar this year for her performance of Margaret Thatcher in the biopic The Iron Lady. But is her performance really that good….

Filed Under: Movies Tagged With: Abi Morgan, Academy Awards, Alexandra Roach, Anthony Head, Best Actress, Brighton bombing, Carol Thatcher, Denis Thatcher, Falklands War, Jim Broadbent, Mamma Mia, Margaret Thatcher, Meryl Streep, miners' strike, Olivia Colman, Oscars, Phyllida Lloyd, politics, Richard E Grant, The Iron Lady

Skokie

26 January 2012 by Louise Leave a Comment

January 27th marks Holocaust Memorial Day, remembering 67 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by Soviet forces in 1945. Here in the UK the aim of the Day is to remember all of the victims of Nazi persecution….

Filed Under: Movies Tagged With: ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, Danny Kaye, freedom of speech, HMD, Holocaust, Holocaust Memorial Day, Holocaust survivors, John Rubinstein, Nazis, Schindler's List, Skokie, Speak Up Speak Out, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, The Pianist

Oscars 2012 Trailer

9 January 2012 by Louise Leave a Comment

Awards season is fast approaching, the Golden Globes ceremony is only a few days away and excitement is building in Hollywood. I’ll admit it, excitement is building here too….

Filed Under: Movie News Tagged With: Academy Awards, Academy Awards 2012, awards, Billy Crystar, Brett Ratner, Eddie Murphy, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox, Oscars, Oscars 2012, Robin Williams, trailers, William Fichtner

New Year Resolutions

4 January 2012 by Louise Leave a Comment

I’ve had a little bit of break from the website for a couple of weeks, I had lots of plans for articles to write and publish over Christmas and New Year but work, family visits and festivities all conspired to get in the way…

Filed Under: Other Features Tagged With: Alfred Hitchcock, books, Carry On, DVDs, films, Iain M Banks, movies, New Year, Reading, resolutions, The Magicians' Guild, The Player of Games, Trudi Canavan, World Book Night

A Christmas Carol

21 December 2011 by Louise 1 Comment

This entry is part 10 of 10 in the series The 12 Days of Christmas

I only have a couple of Christmas traditions, not many but I do like to stick to them. I watch certain films, I insist on seeing the Queen’s Speech at 3pm on Christmas Day and I enjoy some indulging…

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Christmas books, Christmas traditions, Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim

Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

20 December 2011 by Louise 1 Comment

This entry is part 9 of 10 in the series The 12 Days of Christmas

Last week I wrote about my favourite movie Santas and as usual I ranked my top ten in alphabetical order. Had I ranked in order of preference there would have been no problem at all in choosing my number one…

Filed Under: Movies Tagged With: Christmas, Christmas movies, Dylan McDermott, Elizabeth Perkins, Father Christmas, John Hughes, Kris Kringle, Mara Wilson, Miracle on 34th Street, remakes, Richard Attenborough, Santa Claus

The Santaland Diaries

19 December 2011 by Louise Leave a Comment

This entry is part 8 of 10 in the series The 12 Days of Christmas

One of my favourite memories from childhood is of visiting House of Fraser in Glasgow every Christmas Eve. Normally the Salvation Army brass band would be playing at the entrance…

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: David Sedaris, department stores, essays, Macy's, Santa, short stories, The Santaland Diaries

Top Ten: Movie Santas

16 December 2011 by Louise Leave a Comment

This entry is part 7 of 10 in the series The 12 Days of Christmas

Christmas is a time for giving and sharing, and being with family. Most Christmas movies tend to focus on this sentiment, others are more action packed and involve buildings blowing up. It doesn’t matter to me which camp they fall into I love them all…

Filed Under: Top 10 Tagged With: Bad Santa, Billy Bob Thornton, Christmas, Christmas movies, Dan Aykroyd, David Huddlestone, Ed Asner, Elf, Father Christmas, Hot Fuzz, Jack Skellington, James Cosmo, Mara Wilson, Miracle on 34th Street, Peter Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Santa Claus, Santa Claus The Movie, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Polar Express, The Santa Clause, Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Trading Places, Will Ferrell