Redbelt is a strange movie. “Written and directed by David Mamet” is the only reason I would watch a film about martial arts, and may also be the only reason I am actually thinking a bit about the film. The “simple” idea is that the martial arts instructor -- Mike Terry, beautifully played by the E...

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It is pathetic, I know, to seek inspiration in the errors of others, as I have done now two posts in a row. But it really is such a source of pleasure, even when I know I am surely setting myself up for retribution. But who can resist the Daily Telegraph getting Richard Dawkins’ name wrong? And ev...

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Proofreading too?

From a job opportunity (that I happened to glance at)

I went to an excellent talk last night by Gordon Bowker, the one who came up with the name Starbucks, not the biographer of George Orwell. He describes himself as a “recovering serial entrepreneur,” and his theme was the random events, utterly unpredictable in any business plan, that can make...

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I’ve been a little bit amused by some discussion over a recent US Postal Service stamp commemorating the wonderful Bette Davis. People missed her glamorous cigarette, removed by The Authorities to protect The Little ’Uns. But the story is much, much better than that:

The trouble is not the cigar...

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