Wasn't sure about this one. It was an entertaining watch, I suspose, although I've got to a point in my life where I find Jack Black irritating rather than mildy amusing. Still, John Cusack is charismatic enough to rescue most films, it's full of pretty women and has some wonderful songs in the soundtrack which have been moldering in the dust of my record collection for too long.

Strangely, reading the credits, I noticed that the executive producer was Alan Greenspan. Good to have strong support on your side.

I've only ever seen the last five minutes of this film about a decade ago. I hadn't realised that it was written by Meera Syal. Great film; funny, with nice observed social commentary and a few bits of the bizarre. It feels slightly dated now, but seems to improve with age; it now reminds me of history as well.

After that, I watched the X-Men 1 film; perhaps a strange choice; it shares one thing, though, with Bhajee on the Beach which is an excellent ensemble cast. I think I prefer this sort of film to the big star vehicle which is too common these days.

I've seen John Renborn a number of times, but never Robin Williamson. Had seats in the front row, so it lacked the coldness that you normally get in the Sage. The music was beautiful and melodic, but the gig as the whole lacked enough variation. John Renborn did one Booker T number, for instance, which was fast and the audience went wild. Robin Williamson provided some good chat between songs, although he played far too many instruments; his sound was a bit ropey as a result.

At christmas, the stand out film for me was "The Shipping News". So I bought the book. Immediately after this, I mentioned the film to a friend; his response was "don't bother with the book.

Actually, I quite enjoyed it; there is less Hollywood-ism (i.e. the lead characters arn't good looking); the book has more time to meander than the film, which it benefits from. I find it a little overly stuffed with metaphor and similie, which at time jarred a little; othertimes, it was highly effective ("the sky was bruise grey"). Combined with her tendency to use verbless sentances ("The smell of sea damp and paint") gives the book a slightly breathless feel.

Generally recommended. Particularly, as it has lots of short chapters, which makes it good for reading in the bath.

As have others, I said in the past that I don't really like country music; more recently, I realised that there are bits of it I do like, so I try to remain open minded. I happened across the Dixie Chicks "Home" album; I remember they had a lot of hassle over Gulf War II, which is why the name stuck, so I gave it a listen.

It's great; there's some fast and furious bluegrass playing, so pop songs, some delicate ballads. And one or two rather crap love songs. Ah well. Interestingly, all the stand out songs, for me anyway, are covers. I've worked out one, Top of the World. Funnily enough, the middle section has the same chord change to a very bad, slow, folkie version of "Little Red Corvette" that I used to play poorly many years ago.