Susannah Straughan

Labour of Love: The History of the William Morris Society

I recently gave a fellow volunteer at the William Morris Society a few tips about Twitter. Even if you’re a William Morris aficionado, you probably haven’t heard of the eponymous Society that boasts only a handful of followers on the… Continue Reading →

2012/02/01

We'll Take Manhattan

“Shrimp is right. Wet, pink and needs dressing.” It was worth watching We’ll Take Manhattan just to hear Helen McCrory deliver the most withering put-down since Downton Abbey glided off our screens last month. McCrory was playing Lady Clare Rendlesham,… Continue Reading →

2012/01/27

Like Crazy

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTUvX_pYNBM&w=560&h=315] Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2011, Drake Doremus’s Like Crazy is the story of a transatlantic love affair that falls foul of the visa regulations. It doesn’t pay to get on the wrong side of… Continue Reading →

2012/01/26

The Abominable Margaret Court

Margaret Court is rapidly turning into the tennis equivalent of Lars von Trier. While the Danish director’s comment about “being a Nazi” caused a ruckus on the French Riviera last spring, at least he was joking. Court, the Australian tennis… Continue Reading →

2012/01/17

Trash Talking on Twitter

“If you can’t say something nice… don’t say nothing at all.” (Thumper, Bambi (1942)) Wouldn’t the world be a nicer place if we engaged in a bit of self-censorship and followed the maxim handed down by Thumper’s father? No, the… Continue Reading →

2012/01/12

The Iron Lady

It’s taken me a long time to forgive director Phyllida Lloyd for the cinematic abomination that is Mama Mia! (I only got through it by watching the musical numbers on fast-forward.) Now she’s courting controversy with The Iron Lady, a… Continue Reading →

2012/01/06

My A-Z of Humphrey Bogart

Dorothy Malone, Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep

A year ago I reviewed The Big Sleep, one of my favourite Bogart films, when it was re-released by the BFI. More recently I wrote about how my teenage fascination with the Bogart/Bacall romance was my entry into the world… Continue Reading →

2011/12/29

The Dumbest Sports Personalities of 2011

Tonight the BBC will host its annual Sports Personality of the Year awards, from the glamorous surroundings of MediaCityUK, Salford Keys. This year SPOTY has even bigger problems than living up to one of broadcasting’s most unfortunate acronyms. Women up… Continue Reading →

2011/12/22

My Worst Films of 2011

Later this month Sound on Sight will publish a list of the best films of 2011 as voted for by its contributors. I’ve already submitted my top 10 and I’ve put The Artist at the top, closely followed by Tomboy… Continue Reading →

2011/12/18

Glad to be Gray

This year I’ve given myself an early Christmas present by (belatedly) installing the Firefox CommentBlocker Add-On. It cost nothing to download, and just a few seconds later the Comments sections on every site in my browser had disappeared — as… Continue Reading →

2011/12/10

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