Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 449

Beneath London's Tackiest Statue

Paul Day's gigantic and appallingly twee statue 'The Kiss' (probably a bad idea to invoke a comparison to Rodin) has had enough exposure without me putting another shot of it on this site. It's been described as 'an Athena poster come to life' and 'a three dimensional H&M sale window', both of which pretty much [...]

London Rings

As you get off the train at St Pancras International Station now, these immense rings are the first thing you see. I'll be back at night to see if they light up.

Building Gremlins

The homunculi in hard hats adorn a building site in Gower Street – there are about thirty of these vaguely sinister guys running around the site, and I've a feeling I've seen them in other places in London…

I'll Be The Judge Of That

Once upon a time, judges looked like this.

Now they look like this.

I suppose the main difference is the amount of moisterizer they use – well, that and the education, judicial acumen, knowledge of law etc. But clearly, I seem to be hitting the age where people stupidly think I'm experienced enough to judge things. I've [...]

Sit Down, London!

They're small and sweet and local, rather than grand statements of greenery, but it's great that they still keep coming. This winter garden has just been opened in Battersea Park.

But what we really need is for developers to rethink their endless windswept concrete plazas – the latest, inside the Lego buildings off Tottenham Court [...]

Man Tragically Born Without Spine

That'll be the 'Culture Secretary' Jeremy Hunt, then. Boyish smile, and the cold dead eyes of a serial killer. He's just paved the way for a Fox News-style Conservative monopoly by approving News Corporation's plan to spin off Sky News, clearing the way for its proposed £8bn purchase of the 61% of BSkyB it does [...]

You Know You Want One

…to go with your Donnie Osmond Sleepover Vanity Case, your Jedward PJs and your Ricky Schroeder Sponge Bag.

The Peculiar Crimes Unit Comes To Life

Keith Page has been hard at work on the finished script of the Bryant & May graphic novel, 'The Soho Devil'. As soon as I get a chance, I'll be creating a graphic novel section for the Peculiar Crimes Unit site here.

The artwork has to be seen in its entirety to be fully appreciated, but [...]

Re:View – 'White Material'

Isabelle Huppert makes interesting choices.I don't think I've ever completely disliked one of her films, although this, for Claire Denis, is fairly flawed. The project began life as a version of Doris Lessing's 'The Grass Is Singing', but morphed into something else.

The ends of regimes are fascinating, terrifying times. Maria (Huppert) runs a coffee plantation [...]

Hollywood Remakes The King's Speech

Hey, if ever there was a film that leant itself to parody, it was this one…Thanks Jen for the forward!