“They say retirement’s a time for leisure / But not necessarily for pleasure”.

January 22, 2025

They say retirement’s a time for leisureBut not necessarily for pleasure. The little iambic couplet I composed, with obligatory soft and feminine rhymes (don’t blame me though for the sexist nomenclature of the discourse of poetic technique where double rhymes are named both feminine and weak), for this sad blog is meant to look at … More “They say retirement’s a time for leisure / But not necessarily for pleasure”.

Leslie, the Rent Boy, offers five things to his new punter, Herbert.

January 21, 2025

In the 1964 comedy,Rattle of a Simple Man, a Northerner (in 1964 a synonym for a simpleton to the London elite) goes to visit a prostitute because of a bet he has with his mates (down in London to watch a football match) who think he he is impotent with fear. He spends the night … More Leslie, the Rent Boy, offers five things to his new punter, Herbert.

‘Gladiator II’ is a turkey – not least because it goes to great lengths to avoid being a queer turkey!! The inheritance of heroic Roman Republican virtue, aptitude for bearing a sword, and heteronormativity in Ridley’s Rome.

January 20, 2025

‘Gladiator II’ is a turkey – not least because it goes to great lengths to avoid being a queer turkey!! The inheritance of heroic Roman Republican virtue, aptitude for bearing a sword, and heteronormativity in Ridley’s Rome. Posted on January 20, 2025 by stevendouglasblog Weighed down with excess swordplay in the best cine-poster for Gladiator II , Paul Mescal’s … More ‘Gladiator II’ is a turkey – not least because it goes to great lengths to avoid being a queer turkey!! The inheritance of heroic Roman Republican virtue, aptitude for bearing a sword, and heteronormativity in Ridley’s Rome.

Why offer me a dream of doing what might be better never done.

January 19, 2025

The idea of winning the lottery – or winning the pools as was the norm when when I was a child and before the advent of a state lottery in the UK – may have appealed once as an means of evoking impossible resolutions to real problems – real or relative poverty, economic insecurity and … More Why offer me a dream of doing what might be better never done.

The queer artist, Charles Ricketts, wrote: ‘There is something Latin in the fibre of Titian, in his sense of reality and sense of control. … he belongs to a patrician people to whom experience is met by the force equal to control it’. Could such a judgement relate to the experience of queer life in a Britain certain of its Imperial pretensions?

January 18, 2025

The queer artist, Charles Ricketts, wrote: ‘There is something Latin in the fibre of Titian, in his sense of reality and sense of control. … he belongs to a patrician people to whom experience is met by the force equal to control it’. [1] Could such a judgement relate to the experience of queer life … More The queer artist, Charles Ricketts, wrote: ‘There is something Latin in the fibre of Titian, in his sense of reality and sense of control. … he belongs to a patrician people to whom experience is met by the force equal to control it’. Could such a judgement relate to the experience of queer life in a Britain certain of its Imperial pretensions?

How many therapists does it take to change a light-bulb?

January 17, 2025

The answer is, of course: ‘One, but FIRST the light-bulb has got to WANT TO CHANGE’. This story was told to me when I first trained as a social worker but it was not told in a spirit of antagonism or resistance to what therapy does in meeting the goals that a therapist might help … More How many therapists does it take to change a light-bulb?

Fables for the age: The ambition of Tim Winton’s (2018) The Shepherd’s Hut London, Picador.

January 16, 2025

First published in Open university blog Tuesday, 10 July 2018, 15:06 Visible to anyone in the world Edited by Steve Bamlett, Wednesday, 11 July 2018, 07:42 Fables for the age: The ambition of Tim Winton’s (2018) The Shepherd’s Hut London, Picador. I read every word of Tim Winton as it falls (in the UK) from the press. … More Fables for the age: The ambition of Tim Winton’s (2018) The Shepherd’s Hut London, Picador.

Of a ‘chert the size of an olive pit’, that travels with the narrator through the spaces and times of the novel ‘Juice’ [2024] by Tim Winton, the narrator says that ‘… a stone is an expression of the earth, a signal of time. … but its journey isn’t over, and neither is its destiny fixed’. In the dystopia imagined by Tim Winton whether destiny is fixed or not at any point in the globe’s political and environmental history is the central ethical problem of the novel.

January 16, 2025

Of a ‘chert the size of an olive pit’, that travels with the narrator through the spaces and times of the novel Juice [2024] by Tim Winton, the narrator says that ‘… a stone is an expression of the earth, a signal of time. But it’s also a relic of experience. A thing propelled into the world. … More Of a ‘chert the size of an olive pit’, that travels with the narrator through the spaces and times of the novel ‘Juice’ [2024] by Tim Winton, the narrator says that ‘… a stone is an expression of the earth, a signal of time. … but its journey isn’t over, and neither is its destiny fixed’. In the dystopia imagined by Tim Winton whether destiny is fixed or not at any point in the globe’s political and environmental history is the central ethical problem of the novel.

“Inside me is an ocean like those tears / The just lock inside them when greed overtakes / The best of them, whilst worse men grow and thrive.”. The earth, which some call Erde, speaks to her abusers.

January 15, 2025

Atlas shivered as he held aloft the frame he thought once held the weight of Earth.Not blown away by some drive from Northernwinds, but wasted by the flow of waterColder than the ice at its poles: FluidThat flows from inside her. Being in doubtOf lasting long,Earth spoke of their spiritBroken by heart-ache at how men … More “Inside me is an ocean like those tears / The just lock inside them when greed overtakes / The best of them, whilst worse men grow and thrive.”. The earth, which some call Erde, speaks to her abusers.

‘Soon I will no longer be a shadow to you’. says Bill Skarsgård in an imagined thick ‘Transylvanian’ accent and within a dream fantasy to Ellen Hutter in Robert Eggers’ 2024 film ‘Nosferatu’. What’s added by the fleshly consummation of a vampire?

January 14, 2025

Philip Sledge pulls no punches quoting his own take on Robert Eggers new film Nosferatu (2024) in a MSN notice detailing the back catalogue of Nosferatu films [in one of which William Dafoe, playing the absurd Paracelsian vampire hunter Professor Alvin Eberhart von Franz in this film, played vampire Count Orlok himself] as “bloody, sexy, … More ‘Soon I will no longer be a shadow to you’. says Bill Skarsgård in an imagined thick ‘Transylvanian’ accent and within a dream fantasy to Ellen Hutter in Robert Eggers’ 2024 film ‘Nosferatu’. What’s added by the fleshly consummation of a vampire?

Remembering John Burnside. All he wanted to do ‘was tell one story my own. … something that begins in the world, but ends up somewhere else, as an entirely mental event’.

January 13, 2025

I am still attempting to catalogue my library and have just completed the section containing works by John Burnside, a writer who died recently but whose work I followed since I first read, in a whirl his The Devil’s Footprints, working my way backwards in his oeuvre as I and he moved forwards. I would … More Remembering John Burnside. All he wanted to do ‘was tell one story my own. … something that begins in the world, but ends up somewhere else, as an entirely mental event’.