From the Vaults - Ava, Miss Gardner

This was originally posted on the Obsolete Blog That Is Obsolete on 12 July 2004...

I'd put money on nobody else giving a flying fuck about this, but it needs to be said

OK, so I'm off to see Grandad tomorrow to fit a new belt on his record player - it's so old the rubber perished and got loose so I bought him another one. I thought to myself that I should go to sleep nice and early. However, there was a Paul Newman film on TV: The Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean which I decided to tape. Set up the video and all... waited until it started just to be sure... and then found out that Ava Gardner was in it as Lily Langtry.

So I kept watching to see what it was about - I knew it was a sort of comedy western, and you know, John Huston is one of the best directors to ever pick up a viewfinder....

From the Vaults - Buying Rolling Stone for once

This post originally appeared on The Ancient Blog on 1 May 2004...


I don't like Marilyn Manson. I don't like his music and I think there are better ways of grabbing the world's attention than looking like a total twonk... but I have always had respect for him in a way I've never had for people like Robbie/Kylie/Justin/Britney/Phil Collins. I get that he's a clever guy who looks like he does and sounds like he does because he's making a personal statement that isn't ever going to be a really popular one. I also rather loved what he said to Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine.

So yesterday when I bought Rolling Stone's 'The Immortals' issue (April 15 2004) and found he was the one writing the piece about the Doors (of course they're on the list, doubters!) I was caught between thinking 'God, I have the Doors in common with Marilyn Fucking Manson? and 'let's see what the dude has to say'.