SEEN: The Escapist
A British prison-escape drama told via two parallel timelines: the escape and the events leading up to it. There’s a twist in the tale that you’ll love or hate, but it stars Brian Cox which is all you really need to know. More films should star Brian Cox.

HEARD: Songs from Northern Britain and Grand Prix by Teenage Fanclub
I think I’m about 10-15 years late on these, but they’re just wonderful pop records with a timeless quality to them. I picked the pair of them up for £3 in Fopp, which has to be one of the bargains of the year.

READ: The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Nifenegger
I resisted this for a while as I thought it was just a slushy romance, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Nifenegger breaks all the usual ‘rules’ of time travel to tell a wonderful story about a woman who is destined to marry a man with a temporal genetic condition. It’s sci-fi with heart, and could have even the stiffest lips a-tremble at the end.

temporal genetic condition?

Seen: Finally watched Season 1 & 2 of Mad Men last week and very good it is too. As has been mentioned before the amount of smoking and drinking, at work, makes you jealous. There's a great scene where Don takes his family on a picnic and they shake all the rubbish off their blanket and walk away, shocking to the modern mindset. Saw "I Love You, Man", the latest bromance movie, and laughed all the way thorough. Watch out for the main characters jamming along to the god-awful Rush.

Heard: Tinariwen's new one, The Gaslight Anthem, Paolo Nutini, George Jones' Dispatches: 1990-99, Bunny Wailer's Blackheart Man

Read: A Most Wanted Man - John Le Carre. It's okay I suppose. Muhammed Ali: His Life & Times - Thomas Hauser. Highly recommended, very strong on Ali's connection with the Nation of Islam and the reaction to his draft refusal. The Lovers - John Connolly. Great, as are all his other books.

Seen: Bolt. The first 10 minutes are breathtaking. It's actually quite disappointing when the reveal takes place that it's simply a tv show. Usual 'long journey to find lost loved one' then ensues. Not bad though.

Heard: Have been initiating myself into the work of David Bowie. 'Golden Years' is a brilliant single.

Read: 'Brrm Brrm!' by Clive James. His most entertaining novel so far. Also 'The MagnaFarta' from Viz. Picked up for £2 while on holiday and in a frivolous mood. Coarse and relentlessly filthy naturally but the wit and invention in some of the definitions are brilliantly observed.

Read: Chickenhawk by Robert Mason. A memoir of being a helicopter pilot in Vietnam in '66. Brilliant book and I fully recommend it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chickenhawk-Robert-Mason/dp/0552124192/ref=cm_cr...

Seen: Apocalypse Now for the 10th or so time. I watched up to the first scene with Dennis Hopper, anymore would be a waste of time. It's a film to admire as it's not exactly a thrill ride of simple entertainment.

Heard: Someone took an interest in Tom Waits. He order three albums. Listened to two songs then gave up. He gave me the discs for a listen. I got three songs into Closing Time before giving up. It's not so much bad as just very boring.

Watched: Er... not much, now you come to mention it. There's not really much on TV and I never seem to have enough time for films. You Have Been Watching is probably the weakest thing Charlie Brooker's ever put his name to but it's still one of the best things on the box.

Read: Stuart Maconie's Adventures on the High Teas. Poor title aside, it's a great read and he has a fantastic way with a phrase. The few pages on my university town of Bath made me want to go back there instantly.

Heard: I've discovered The Loves and The Duckworth Lewis Method this month, both of which come highly recommend. However, the revelation of the month - and possibly 2009 - is Actor by St. Vincent. Rarely has an album been so inventive and listenable at the same time - completely captivating.

SEEN
Fargo - for the third time, as brilliant as ever
Amores Perros - not for dog lovers, but wipes the floor with Tarantino
Sarah Connor Chronicles series 1 - entertaining extension of the Terminator franchise
and what he said about Charlie Brooker, a real cult hero at our place

Read
Air by Geoff Ryman - superb imagining of the coming of the web in rural china

Getting addicted to the new UK version of Wired, a kind of geek lifestyle mag if such a thing were possible...imagine portable hard-drives instead of handbags.

Heard
Duckworth Lewis Method, seconded as a fine oddity
Little Boots - stomping eighties poppy revival, seems to have been a bit overlooked in the Florence/la Roux rush

SEEN: 'Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince', the best HP movie thus far. Screenplay is a wild ride through most of the gist of the book, the acting has improved across the board, and it's set things up nicely for a double barreled denoument. Mrs Fox, who has not read the tome, enjoyed it even more than I, though that might have been helped by the mental accelerative effects of the industrial quantities of additives and artifical colourings she wolfed down over two and a bit hours.

HEARD: 'Great Day For Gravity' by the excellently named 'King L'. Following a tip off on't blog, I purchased this from Amazon. Just like Del Amitri all over again; great songs, great delivery, why didn't I know about them before? Also worth mentioning in dispatches; Tom Rapp's 'Stardancer' and 'Sunforest' albums, recently re-issued gems from one of my favourite old troopers.

READ: 'Dear Fatty' by Dawn French; I finally picked it up again and finished it off, having paused for a while for reflection after her account of her teenage years in Devon. It's immensely readable and great fun, but I am biased, having known her a little as a teenager. Also consumed following another Word tip off was Don Winslow's aggressively brilliant 'The Power Of The Dog', which is a blood soaked rollercoaster of a cops 'n' druggies fest just begging for a decent movie treatment.

Seen - nothing on TV or film or DVD - I mainly watched waves around Islay, and clouds, and sunsets.

Read - "Pegasus Bridge" by Stephen E Ambrose. This is the story of one company's effort in the vanguard of D-day. It tells the story in excellent detail, how they were developed into elite soldiers, how their competitive edge was honed, and how they led the assault to take and hold 2 vital bridges. Not too long, and it made me want to read more on D-Day. Also "Crazy Horse & Custer" by the same author. Excellent telling of a strong story. Lots of interesting threads to follow up, too. Good background on the changing circumstances of America in the 1800s, and on the naked ambition which Custer lived his life by : his regular toast was "Promotion! Or Death!"
Custer's wife, Libbie, was a strong-minded lady. Her father disapproved of Custer. She wrote to him with words which should be on the mantelpiece of every father of daughters : "Father, you cannot understand, as you were never a girl".

Heard - lots of reggae, because the other part of my holiday is painting the hall. Punky Reggae Party (Trojan Compilation) and Lee Perry's Arkology box set have been on heavy rotation in the last week to keep the painting at a steady tempo. If I listen to The Ramones when I'm painting, it all goes a bit Jackson Pollock. Also been listening a lot to The Grails "Black Tar Prophecies"

Holiday reads - Burial by Neil Cross utterly compelling and The Johnny Cash autobiography. 2 books in a fortnight is something I dont have time for in the normal daily grind so it was a bit of a treat.

Seen - The Street which I love. Unfortunately only saw episodes 1 and 4 - missed 2 and 3 because of a power cut that erased the programming from my TV whilst I was on holiday. Will have to wait no doubt for the DVD. Also, Dan in real life - easy going movie but I really like Steve Carrel who is a great comic actor. Also very good soundtrack by Sondre Lerche.

Heard - Low Anthem, The Duke and the King, Gregson and Collister Last Word which I finally got on cd and, dare I say it, the MOJO World music cd in their current issue which is very very good.

Watched: 4OD - The 1st series of Inbetweeners - good but not as good as other reports suggest. The 1st series of Peep show which is probably the weakest but I've not seen it before and I've just realised that Absolutely is on there too and it's stood the test of time.

Read: Well apart from the Word blog, lots of travel websites and pdfs about the Great Lake area in the states prior to our hols. I don't "do" books.

Listened: Tripwires - Wreckless Eric played a track on one of his shows and I love the album. Also Bill Bryson's Made In America which I think will reduce my shouting at the television to correct the pronunciation while we're away!

SCENE Still trolling through The West Wing, Harry Potter movie at giant cineplex thingy..turned into grumpy old man as teens giggled at non-jokes and talked on their cell phones..keep going back to "Early Doors"..bought Madmen Series one

READ: reading grim "Regeneration"-Pat Barker..part one of WW1 shellshock saga..."Hell To Pay" George Pellacano..First one I've read,liked Richard Price better but maybe I'm starting at the wrong book.

HEARD:time warp time and late at arriving at this months selections..however really enjoying David Bowie's 1972 "Space Oddity"..Keith Jarrett's 1999 "The Melody, at Night With You"..and Captain Beefhearts gloriously bloody awful sounding "mike in a tin box" recording which completely suits the "space aliens in the mud at 4am somewhere over Wigan way" sound of "Live Bickershaw 72" loved every minute of this.

Seen: Man on Wire, which was alright. Watchmen, which was watchable. Cricket, which has now become unbearable...

Read: Very little, struggling through Howard Marks biography 'Mr Nice' (why did I think that would be a good idea) which I am just finding quite boring to be honest!

Heard: Well! Finally went on a spending spree, the choice picks were Onieda - Rated O, Wilco - Wilco (the album) and Wild Beasts - Two Dancers. Wild Beasts especially has captured my imagination with it's funky bass and beats carried by soaring guitars and very high pitched, screechy singing.

SEEN: the forthcoming Woody Allen movie Whatever Works with Larry David (already out in France) isn't quite the second coming, but will do to be getting on with. If you have the time, I fully recommend the brilliant Veronica Mars currently running every weekday morning on E4 - basically a teenage private eye in an LA high school, but don't knock it 'til you've tried it, it's clever, funny, and has a great soundtrack...

HEARD: the purchase of a 2nd-hand iPod exposed me to the previous owner's collection, and amongst no small amount of rubbish sat the entire recorded works of Jake Thackray, very underrated (some sexist & misogynist lapses notwithstanding), and a revelation for someone like me who just remembers him from That's Life. Also, their output has never made it to CD, but I was overjoyed to find The Farmers Boys on Spotify this month (http://open.spotify.com/album/2ONeDrazuxoDBkDbDoTaTC)

READ: I came across the latest issue of Ugly Things, the psychedelia-powerpop fanzine, whilst in New York recently, and spent the last few weeks reading it cover-to-cover (it's a few hundred pages long and in small type, so "fanzine" is a bit of a misnomer!) I'm a sucker for the kind of enthusiasm that leads to 16-page articles about bands who only ever released 500 copies of 1 single in 1966 before splitting up...

Listening to the new UFO album ('The Visitor') excellent bluesy rock;

Watching 'The West Wing' - gradually making my way through the complete boxed set (just started season 6)

Reading John Reed's '10 Days That Shook The World' a commie US journalist's account of the Oct 1917 Russian Revolution.

Not many laughs down my way then...still, there's always beer!

SEEN:
Finally watched Frost/Nixon after meaning to for some time now. Really enjoyed it, and excellent performances from all concerned.

HEARD:
After having itunes on shuffle for so long, I decided to listen to a few long players. Plumped for the Basic Channel off-shoot Rhythm & Sound w/ The Artists . When there is no noise around, it's wonderful to lie back and let it flow over you...

READ:
After deciding to subscribe to The Wire, despite never actually reading an issue before, I was really pleased I did.

It's good to find out about different artists I'd not previously come across, and I did enjoy the Invisible Jukebox interview with Sleazy Peter Christopherson.

Watched - Mad Men Series 2 which is bubbling away so well, if made by Fox I would put money on Betty going on a shotgun rampage, but I know this is in more capable hands...
Dexter Season 2,a great combination of easy entertainment and a more intellectual undertone and finally Six Feet Under now on series 3 and wish I had watchedd this when it first came out because I'm know looking forward to Alan Balls next creation True Blood.

Read - Man in the Dark by Paul Auster, something completely different for me and an easy enjoyable read. Am now in the middle of Lovely Bones wbhich I avoided at first due to hype - halfway through and I've already welled up once.

Heard - Finally bought Bowies' Low and can see the influences in so many other contemporary bands. Really like Florences' Lungs Deadmau5 Random Album Title think I'm about to take the plunge with The Duke & the King

Watched - Entourage season 2, which I find hugely watchable if not hysterically funny. Pineapple Express, which was everything a stoner comedy should be, with a particularly excellent fight between three men in a confined space. And Ice Age 3, with the young 'un, not bad as these things go.

Read - More than halfway through TC Boyle's `Budding Prospects' - the story is okay but the language has a richness all its own. Before that was Sebastian Faulks' `Engleby', not his best but a decent yarn.

Heard - Been grooving to James Brown's `Love, Power, Peace - Live at Paris Olympia '71'. If there's ever been a live band more on `it' than the JBs then I'd love to hear them. Also the Major Lazer album, which is terrific.

Watched - Caught up on a few films with the family. Speedracer was better than expected as was Kung Fu Panda. Flight Of The Conchords was a joy. Enjoying the return of Dragons Den as well.

Read - Celebrity: How Entertainers Took Over the World and Why We Need an Exit Strategy by Marina Hyde on Mr Valparaiso's recommendation. Very good indeed. Last Shop Standing by Graham Jones was very good as well. Now onto Homicide by David Simon and have the new Christopher Brookmyre saved as holiday reading.

Listened - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix is getting a lot of play in our house. Good summer pop. Duckworth Lewis Method is also great. I have been playing both of The Ruts albums again and they are as good as I remembered them.

WATCHED :
Loads of great stuff : Dominic Savage's extraordinary credit crunch drama Freefall on BBC2 - fantastic acting from Savage, The Wire's Dominic Cooper and the whole ensemble, and shame on the BBC for hiding it in the summer schedules because of its 'edginess'; Breaking The Mould (featuring Dominic West) and The Forgotten Fallen on BBC4 - brilliantly well made dramas about, rspectively, the discovery of penicillin and the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918; Young, Dumb & Living With Mum on BBC3 - the funniest thing on TV if you have teenage kids; and the soap opera that is The Ashes.

READ :
Not much - blame the cricket and this site, though this extract from Byron Rogers' autobiography is amazing and a hoot. I can't urge the massive to read this too much
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/men-women/byron-rogers-...

HEARD :

Frankmusik's Confusion Girl is top pop, yer man Nutini's album is great, John Cale's Paris 1919 is still a classic and Tony Bennett's I Wanna Be Around is my new favourite song.

Seen - Harry Potter 6 has been my only cinema trip. I liked it. Just done The Wire series 3. Anyone seen The Wire? It's quite good you know.

Read - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was my last novel. It's brilliant and I can't believe I got to my mid thirties without ever reading it.

Heard - finally getting into The Hazards Of Love by The Decemberists ages after The Word praised it. I downloaded it from emusic months ago and thought it sounded like Misplaced Childhood with the odd child murder thrown in there. I now realize that this was a rather hasty conclusion to have made.

Nothing there which your average Word-phile will be unaware of. Next time I will try to have something more interesting on offer...

SEEN: Le Notti di Cabiria by Federico Fellini. An episodic, tragi-comic tale of a prostitute's attempts to improve her life with an absolutely magnetic performance from the unforgettable Giulietta Masina.

HEARD: Sunday's Child by John Martyn. One Day Without You, Spencer the Rover, You Can Discover... three reasons to love it, but there are plenty more.

READ: Mistero all'Abbazia by Maria Luisa Banfi and Simona Gavelli. A very entertaining Italian audiobook about a young couple who discover some mysterious goings-on in an abbey. There are friars who wear army boots, crates of guns and a drunkard who shouts about the impending end of the world. Top class.

Seen: Dollhouse, the New Joss Whedon show, Fantastic Sci-Fi, with all of the various Whedon Themes developed furtehr and deeper. Well done who ever shockingly commissioned a second Season. And the Final season of the much underrated The Unit. I enjoy spotting which episodes hahave been written by david mament, before the credti appears.( Its too easy)

Heard: seeking out interweb Previews of the New Loudon Wainwright album, Only a few days till its released. Listening to much Lee Perry, as well. I will make this summer arrive.

Read: First Boredom, Then Fear;The life of Phillip Larkin by Richard Bradford.

seen - Antichrist - refer to the 'that's entertainment' thread.
read - 'Sunnyside' by Glenn David Gold - excellent fictional recreation of the life of one Charles Chaplin among other things. Also 'Big Babies' by Michael Bywater - illuminating examination of the blame culture and why everything that goes wrong today is someone else's fault.
heard - rediscovering the work of early - late 70's Genesis and many other things prog.

Read: As with Elhombremalo, I've just read Pegasus Bridge and concur with his comments. I'd add that I disturbed the GLW when I couldn't help shouting out "You f****** idiot" when I read how Lord Lovat marched his paratroops across the bridge, despite being warned not to, and a dozen of them got shot, some fatally, by German snipers. It's also amazing how the course of the war may have hinged on a small thing. Ambrose posits as a worst case scenario that if this strategically vital bridge had not been held the invasion as a whole might have failed. Hitler had retained control of the armoured divisions because of jealousies in the high command and a lack of trust in his generals. Von Luck, the panzer commander, was ready to attack at 0300, but nobody in Berlin would wake Hitler in case it was a false alarm. By the time they could go they were exposed to air attack and it was too late.
Also, as with Pat Carty, I've read A Most Wanted Man: good but not great Le Carre. A huge improvement on The Mission Song. I think the problem lies in Le Carre not deciding which of his protagonists would be the axis of the plot. At first it appears to be British Banker Tommy Brue, then seems to tilt in favour of German lawyer Annabel Richter; or maybe German intelligence man Gunther Bachmann. Consequently the narrative thrust gets diffused.
Heard: Madness, The Liberty of Norton Folgate which despite the plaudits heaped upon it has yet to grab me. All the right elements seem to be in place; maybe a few more listens are required. Definitely not written off yet, but expectations lowered.
Bruce Cockburn, Slice O' Life. Very good solo live career retrospective.
Seen: True Blood, I like it but I don't love it.
Life, Damien Lewis as wrongly convicted LA detective Charlie Crews, who has been massively compensated but has rejoined the police. It's always more interesting when he's running down the conspiracy that put him behind bars than chasing the murder that occupies that episode. His partner played by Sarah Shahi is possibly the most gorgeous sight currently on TV, if I may be excused a slightly sexist comment.
As noted in the film thread elsewhere I've Loved You So Long is wonderful. The more I think about it, the better it seems. I feel a second viewing coming on.

Seen - A Wednesday. Indian film, we seem to rent a lot of these. Bit of a thing about India, we have. It's like 24 with a Bollywood sensibility, but no singing and dancing - can't take much of that. Kind of jokey yet with serious intent. Gripping and entertaining.

Reading - The Final Murder by Anne Holt. More scandinavian crime fiction that's been translated. Convincing characters. Interesting idea behind it but am a bit weary of these bizarre and gross presentations of corpses, when serial killers (or is it?)strike, that is prevalent in modern crime 'entertainment'. Still a fine novel though.

Heard - The new Noisettes 'Wild Young Hearts' single impresses me as top pop tuneful fun. Also Bowie 'Man Who Sold The World' single is getting a lot of play. Have come back to this and think it remarkably good. Got Paolo Nutini, as persuaded by Mr Fitzpatrick. It's very good but can't see myself listening to it a lot. It's just a bit too reminiscent of old things, a bit too like them - Rod Stewart and Dylan, for example. But very well played and sung. I am probably being overly picky.

READ The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Nifenegger - excellent. The film is out on 14/8 so may go see it. Also a George Pelecanos novel (he's always good) and now reading the new as yet unpublished James Lee Burke book (proof copy off eBay) Rain Gods, which has started strongly (although I've read 50 pages and he hasn't mentioned "the false dawn" once yet, although we had "stucco" twice in three pages at the start).
HEARD The new Church CD Untitled #23 - it's a bit of disappointment actually. May investigate some of the "new prog" on another thread here.
SEEN Franklyn on DVD (off eBay) having read reviews thought it might be a bit like V For Vendetta; it wasn't. It was awful; avoid at all costs. Ploughing through series 3 of The Wire without subtitles, which makes it hard going. Luckily we've been lent series 4 and 5 on DVD.

Seen...two in flight films - Madagascar 2 and Seventeen Again. Both a load of crap but I'm a grumpy old bugger. My wife and kids chuckled all the way through both. I also watched John Hiatt Live At Austin City Limits and a couple of Transatlantic Sessions on my mp3 player. Not really the best way to watch but fantastic music nonetheless.

Read...nothing but that's because I had audiobooks with me: so -

Heard...Carl Hiaasen - Scat. Just what you'd expect from Hiaasen i.e. a mystery set in the Floridan everglades. Quite good actually....a perfect book for teenagers.

Carl Hiaasen - The Downhill Lie. This one from Hiaasen isn't a novel. He takes up golf after packing it in over 30 years ago. Has its moments but it'd only be of interest to golfers.

Frederick Forsyth - 10 short stories. I think most of them were written in the '70s but they still work well today.

Jefferey Archer - Paths Of Glory. I don't know a thing about Sir Edmund Hillary apart from what everybody else knows but my guess is that this is a piece of fiction based on the life of the mountaineer. The protagonist is George Mallory. Easy to read (or listen to in my case).

David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day. A collection of funny essays and memoirs mostly about trying to communicate with others. From his early days trying to get rid of a lisp up to trying to learn French whilst living in France as an adult. Funny!

Frank McCourt - Teacher Man. Following on from 'Tis and Angela's Ashes we get McCourt's account of his 30 odd years as a secondary school English teacher, mostly based in vocational schools in New York City. Very good and funny in parts but I'm not sure if this is the book for you if you fancy a career teaching English!

Saw: Desperate Romantics on BBC2. I don't expect it's in any way a realistic history of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but it's lovely to watch in a trashy fun sort of way. And there are plenty of good looking people in it to entertain those of any persuasion.

Read: 'I'm A Man: Sex, Gods and Rock 'N' Roll' by Ruth Padel. She looks at the history of rock and draws comparisons with the Ancient Greeks. No wait, it's better than that sounds - essentially it's about the idea that there are no new stories, and also that all music ever (rock/ jazz/ opera) is about sex. Some interesting points about gender and race as well. Worth a read I'd say, and it's very well written with some (perhaps unsurprisingly) poetic turns of phrase.

Heard: Fleet Foxes album. Bought online apparently while watching the BBC Glasto coverage, drinking red wine, and commenting here. Turned up in my postbox to my slight surprise, but is really rather good. And perfect to have on while lying in the sun.