Science Fiction Monthly (1974-76)

 The Seventies was the golden age of monthly and weekly magazines which crowded the shelves of WH Smiths and John Menzies as well as local newsagents. One of the most visually memorable was Science Fiction Monthly. Due to being tabloid size (sixteen inches by eleven inches), like the weekly music magazines, rather than the conventional magazine size it stood out already. Yet what really made it dazzle were the covers. Gloriously colourful and evocative works depicting strange aliens, unusual planets, asymmetrical spaceships and much more were ideal images to stick on your bedroom wall! Which actually was the point!

Harold and Maude (1971)

 When Harold and Maude was first released in 1971 it bombed at the box office yet ever since it’s grown in reptation through repeat screenings in smaller cinemas and eventually physical media. Nowadays many film aficionados rate it as an all-time classic and I tend to agree with them while acknowledging its not a film for everyone. It’s eccentric narrative heralds individuality over conformity via two individuals whom you would think have nothing in common and showing what they do have.

Top of the Pops 28th February 1991

 Words: Chris Arnsby

Jakki Brambles: “Hello, good evening, and welcome along to Top of the Pops. This is the nation’s top TV music show and we’re linking up live with Radio 1FM to broadcast across the nation some audio bliss into your living room. It’s a bit of a groover tonight groovers and we’re starting off at thirty two. This is N-Joi and Adrenalin.”

 [32] N-JOI: ADRENALIN. [Deleted loads of stuff about the 2000AD series Zenith, and Phase III in particular. The series transformed stuffy old sixties comic character Robot Archie into an acid-house aficionado called Acid Archie who would do things like riding around on a T-Rex decorated with flower power symbols while shouting “MAD MENTAL CRAZY!” It’s not remotely relevant to Top of the Pops but the moment this performance started I thought it would be the kind of thing Acid Archie would love. Buy all four Zenith books if you’ve never read them*].

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms review

 It’s been a while since I’ve engaged with Westeros. Maybe it was the disappointing ending to Game of Thrones but I’ve skipped the spin off.  This series, set a hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, however is a lot of fun and when the inevitable action happens it is filmed very inventively so it seems different. More than anything it is more relatable than the lives of Kings and Princes and fronted by two likeable characters.

Top of the Pops 14th & 21st February 1991

 Words: Chris Arnsby

 14/02/1991

 Gary Davies: “Hello. Very good evening to you. Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope you got loads of Valentine’s Cards. Welcome to Top of the Pops. We’re in Stereo on Radio 1FM and we have five acts in the studio tonight. Now with it being the most romantic night of the year it’s only right that we start off with a little bit of devotion, here’s Nomad. MC Mikee Freedom.”

 [3] NOMAD: (I WANNA GIVE YOU) DEVOTION. Gary Davies is on a stage festooned with heart balloons. Just for a moment it appears that Top of the Pops has gone all out on Valentine’s Day decorations. Right up to the point the camera pans away and it’s clear all they’ve done is put £20 (1991 value) worth of balloons around the Neon Tube stage and stood Gary Davies in the middle of them. Cheapskates.

"Wuthering Heights" review

 Those quotation marks, deliberately placed around the title on posters, tell you a lot about the latest big screen version of Emily Bronte’s classic. Their presence is both somewhat pretentious and also a suggestion that aficionados of the story may find this film not quite what they expected.  Not so much the Wuthering Heights as a Wuthering Heights. Even those of us who’ve never read the book are familiar with it’s beats and its mix of bleak landscape and unbridled passion that has inspired a number of versions, shameless copycats and even the famous pop song.

Small Prophets review

 

In his more recent work as both a writer and director Mackenzie Crook has drawn vivid portraits set within rural surroundings. His latest project relocates to the more urban locales of Manchester with equal success. The story may be surrounded by semi detached houses, alleyways and large shops but the focus of Crook’s lens and scripts remains intricate and hopeful. He combines the rich character work and easy conversation of Detectorists with the whimsical fantasy of Worzel Gummidge to create something both unique yet strangely familiar.

Top of the Pops 7 February 1991

 Words: Chris Arnsby

Bruno Brookes: “Good evening. Welcome to another fabbo Top of the Pops. The music brilliant as ever. We’ve got New Kids On The Block a little later, Gloria Estefan, The Simpsons, just to name a few. First of all we’re gonna start with a new entry at number twenty one, the song G.L.A.D. and the singer Kim Appleby. Yo!”

 [21] KIM APPLEBY: G.L.A.D. The BBC1 schedules have returned to normal and Top of the Pops is back to a running time of 30 minutes. However, this week there’s a greater reliance on music videos so it looks like this edition was planned with one eye on the assumption that it might need to be cut down to 25 minutes. The increased use of videos might reflect viewer demand but I suspect its because it’s simpler to snip out The Night Fever Megamix if the BBC goes War News Crazy again and tells the programme to lose five minutes.