So, Stephen King is thinking about a sequel to one of his most famous books, The Shining: “Jack Torrance’s little boy Danny was last seen recuperating in Maine after escaping the insane evil of the Overlook Hotel, but Stephen King is now plotting a sequel to The Shining which would age the clairvoyant boy to 40 and transport him to a New York hospice.” Nothing new in writers revisiting old haunts, so to speak and I have a lot of faith in King’s story telling abilit... Read Full Story

(Hot stuff…?) Do we like hot girls on this blog? In the privacy of our fantasy life we may do so, yes. On these blog pages, hopefully not overly so – and some of them we like as much as we would enjoy finding Hitler meatballs in a kosher chicken soup: “A blog hosting an offensive image of Michelle Obama with monkey features has removed it and posted an apology. The image, which has been appearing at the top of search results when the words “Michelle Obama” are put ... Read Full Story

Last week was not a very good week for two of the world’s major religions, what with a troublesome  priest shot down in Moscow and a coke & crotch sniffing rabbi standing trial in Britain. So, there was not much reason to hope that this following bit of news would give the world anything more to sheer about: “The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope agreed to seek closer relations between Anglicans and Catholics at a meeting in Rome, the Vatican has said.” On the othe... Read Full Story

(Singing, ‘Fuck you, I can do what I want to’ or something…) In the aftermath of what should now, I suppose, be officially called Thierry Henrygate, we can only hope that the two countries involved can get over themselves. Maybe some sort of Truth & Reconciliation Commission is in order – under the benevolent eye of Sepp Blatter and Nelson Mandela, perhaps. (Well, we know that at least the latter of those two actually cares about football…) Not that ever... Read Full Story

It is, no doubt, of no concern to anyone but me and a few handsful of people who read what I write but it’s been a few months now that I haven’t written anything but blog posts. I’ve had these periods of inactivity during my whole writing life, so they don’t worry me, per se. With me it’s never writers’  block: It’s sheer laziness. Still, it’s always nice to feel these dry periods coming to an end. Yesterday, I started jotting down the old but ... Read Full Story

I really have no time today to spend on this blog. I have to cook for six people – and do the shopping as well… … and just four-and-a-half hours to do all of that… … and post my daily column… … so I better get my house in gear, my shit in order and more of that good old running-around-and-waving-my-arms-and-going-I’m-late-I’m-late-I’m-bloody-late type of stuff… … but not before I have shown you why cats make poor police dogs ... Read Full Story

Yesterday, I had a go at television. Very short recap: I don’t like what’s on offer very much. There have always been exceptions, of course. A medium that has given us both Blackadder and QI can’t be all bad. Of course, what binds both those programmes is the benevolent genius of Stephen Fry. He’s one of those sparse arguments in favour of Western civilisation – or what’s left of it. Which ain’t all that much. For every Stephen Fry – or for every great ... Read Full Story

Now, I haven’t owned a TV set for the last ten years or so but this article still had me smile a bit: “Sony aims to finally meet its cherished profitability target in three years by staking a claim in the growing market for next-generation 3D televisions and lithium-ion batteries, the company said today.” I wish them luck with the lithium-ion batteries, whatever these are precisely but I do have my doubts about those Tvs. I’m not the only one who’s no longer... Read Full Story

While it is true that I love the language of Shakespeare above all others, I have to admit that the French language is quite beautiful as well. Granted, compared to my Dutch mother tongue any other language becomes the oral equivalent of Angelina Jolie in a wet T-shirt competition but anyone who ever listened to Jacques Brel’s ‘Ne me quitte pas’ will probably agree that the French language can do pretty pretty damn well. It’s not the easiest language to master, of co... Read Full Story

I’m back in Prague – and I can inform anyone who cares about these things that the neighbourhood pubs are still going strong. I’m getting too old for this pub crawling game. Meaning that I’m not in the mood to read (and comment on) any newspapers today. So, here are some links to a few other old stories, if you feel the need to spend some more time at this blog today. I really need to go and spend some quality time in the shower house. Enjoy: 1) Setting fire to dicks 2) Ge... Read Full Story