It was… fun… sort of… Star Trek Generations, Reviewed. Film reviewers back in 1994 complained that this film demanded too much prior knowledge of the Star Trek universe. I have to say that film reviewers must have been the only people in the cinema wit…

It was... fun... sort of... Star Trek Generations, Reviewed. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/03/01/i...

Happy Birthday Roger Daltrey. I refuse to name the thing that you are. One of my pet peeves is the overuse of the word “iconic”. I promised myself that I would only ever use this word in the context of meditative orthodox worship practices. Whenever I thin…

Happy Birthday Roger Daltrey. I refuse to name the thing that you are. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2024/03/01/h...

My life as an Italian flag: three stripes and I’m out. Home now, and wireless. I’m on oral antibiotics and trying to test and remember the amount of pain associated with various kinds of activity. I can empty a dishwasher now. Huzzah! Right now o…

My life as an Italian flag: three stripes and I'm out. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/m...

The Lost Will and Testament of Jake Thackray. A lovely present. This arrived in the post on Friday afternoon. An old friend of mine had promised that “something lovely” would arrive. Something did. John Watterson has made an album out of Jake Thackr…

The Lost Will and Testament of Jake Thackray. A lovely present. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2021/11/21/t...

This Bounty has the most star studded crew imaginable. Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Daniel Day Lewis, Liam Neeson, Bernard Hill and one of the Men Behaving Badly.

Tommy Robinson welcomed by Trump administration in visit to Washington Tommy Robinson was pictured smiling with a senior adviser at the US State Department in Washington

Where is ICE? Aren't they supposed to be deporting violent foreign criminals? uk.news.yahoo.com/tommy-robins...

Shatnerian acting and Star Trek VI (The Undiscovered Country) William Shatner and Christopher Plummer go way back. They have a long history of playing Shakespeare together in places like Stratford Ontario – Plummer being the slightly senior actor. It is…

Shatnerian acting and Star Trek VI (The Undiscovered Country) conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/s...

YES! I adore this book - the most complex, varied, thoughtful, politically aware, and heartbreaking expression of Romanticism in English prose.

Rasselas.

This is the point. When you listen to an audiobook you are a prisoner of an actor's interpretation - every stress - every pause - affects the meaning of the text. When you read for yourself - various different interpretations remain in play - remain available.

Why does the Far Right despise national distinctiveness? Take flags. Across the UK and even in Ireland, there’s a sudden need to festoon whole neighbourhoods with the national flag – as though people need aides de memoire to remind them of wh…

Why does the Far Right despise national distinctiveness? conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/w...

It’s been a long, long, long time hasn’t it? Happy Birthday George Harrison. It’s an astonishing face really.  You could stare at it for hours.  Plenty did.  Staring at him, I’m inclined to believe press officer Tony Barrow’s verdict that of all the Beatle…

It's been a long, long, long time hasn't it? Happy Birthday George Harrison. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/i...

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Learning to care again. Now I wasn’t altogether down on House of the Dragon. It has had some great scenes and some remarkable performances. But heart? Does it have heart? Or have there been times when we wondered wh…

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Learning to care again. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/02/24/a...

Ah Paroles. I got to play this wonderful part as a student in a production that included Olivia Williams.

Here again, on his birthday, is the entire life of Liam Theodore Cassidy Brunstrom. Save Me Time OR The Life and Times of Liam Theodore Cassidy Brunstrom Part 1 This is something that started to happen to us, over nineteen years ago. Before. There are few things more enjoyable tha…

He would have been 21 today.
conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2018/02/24/t...

Lennon never sought canonisation. He was very confessional and admitted most if not all his flaws. He declared that his own violent tendencies made him a more urgent peace campaigner. A "hypocrite" as I understand it means someone who is self-righteous and judgmental. Not true of Lennon.

The Phoenician Scheme. Considered If you enjoy Wes Anderson film, you will enjoy this. If not, you won’t. This film offers the same stylistic elements of his previous films, applied to a different subject. It does not modify …

The Phoenician Scheme. Considered conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/t...

This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine. The 1939 version of Wuthering Heights William Wyler directs a very atmospheric version of a very truncated notion of Bronte’s novel. And to a greater extent than many subsequent adaptations, it’s a film about racism. Now of course ther…

This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine. The 1939 version of Wuthering Heights conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/t...

Ealing - just outside the studios. Used to take the 65 bus all the time as a kid.

If historical precedent is to be consulted, he will be rowed downstream to the Tower, and then left alone in a room with a vat of Malmsey.

Terrifyingly, all my students know this film and none know the original. The title ‘The Wicker Man’ is seemingly now synonymous with terrible film-making.

Happy Birthday David Garrick. (Some years I miss this one…) I’m increasingly thinking that David Garrick was a tiresome and manipulative egotist – not a man you’d want to know in real life at all.  He was a former pupil of Samuel Johnson, …

Happy Birthday David Garrick. (Some years I miss this one...) conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2018/02/19/h...

Is it too ululate to say we love you? The Yoko Ono discography pondered This month of April, I made a decision (in the face of some domestic opposition) that my household chores would be accompanied by every single album recorded by Yoko Ono. And I’ve reaffirmed …

Is it too ululate to say we love you? The Yoko Ono discography pondered on her birthday .
conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2025/04/22/i...

Bridgerton Season 5 – a Cinderella Story too Far? I’ve finished the episode dump of Bridgerton 5 and can collect a few thoughts at this halfway stage. This season is (or isn’t) all about a servant. Now this is potentially very very dangerous. Brid…

Bridgerton Season 5 - a Cinderella Story too Far? conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/b...

We’re all water from different oceans. Yoko Ono born OTD in 1933. Born into a privileged Japanese family, the horrors of war saw her family begging for food by the roadside. A traveller she became, and a lover. An avant garde artist who refused to acknowledge the…

We're all water from different oceans. Yoko Ono born OTD in 1933. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2023/02/18/w...

Happy Birthday Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary, Bloodied Mary, Muddy Mary. Here’s the Horrible Histories tribute to Mary Tudor whose birthday it is today.  You’ll notice that they thought it would be funny if Mary Tudor was also Kate Bush.   I don’t have…

Happy Birthday Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary, Bloodied Mary, Muddy Mary. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/h...

Severance and Bridgerton Anyone else seen Severance? It’s the logical if nightmarish extremity of a corporate interpretation of “work-life balance”. Advanced brain surgery is involved. Severed employees retain no knowledge…

Severance and Bridgerton conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2026/02/17/s...

A really complex politically demanding story by Malcolm Hulke about how a particular version of environmental activism trends towards fascism… also the first DW I think I can remember seeing. Carmen Silverado is given a really chilling speech.

Remember hearing Jesse Jackson at an anti-apartheid rally in Trafalgar Square. Eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize.

Mary Queen of Scots had her Head Chopped Off. On This Day. Yes, it’s that time of year again.  On February 8, 1587, the former Queen of Scotland, the widow of the King of France, and the distant cousin of the Queen of England, had her head removed in…

Mary Queen of Scots had her Head Chopped Off. On This Day. conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/m...