FairgroundTown.co.uk

Source Safe

Okay... okay... so we use Source Safe! We know - it is ugly, unreliable, and so old that it probably has a few Elvis "78"s in the loft. But what we have to say applies to ANY Source Code Control [SCC] system, so quit giggling and listen up!

Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

FairgroundTown is not a "blockbuster movie" kind of guy. The last one we saw was Spiderman I, which got reasonable reviews at the time, but which left us feeling like we were maybe just getting too old for this sort of thing. Interestingly enough, "too old for this sort of thing" is exactly what people have been saying about Harrison Ford in the new Indiana Jones film; but when an old school friend suggested it might fill a few hours on a lazy Sunday afternoon, we said "what the hell".

Billy Bragg - Mr Love & Justice

It must be over twenty years now since Billy Bragg admitted that he no longer wanted to plant bombs at the last night of the Proms - he is, after all, only human; and radicalism in most of us diminishes with age! But can it really be true that the Bard of Barking has joined the aristocracy?

Tales From Earthsea

Tales From Earthsea, the new Studio Ghibli movie, has been the subject of much controversy among fans of anime. Some, including his own father, believed that Goro Miyazaki was too young and inexperienced to direct the film; and subsequently the movie topped both "best" and "worst" film polls upon its release in Japan. So, is it any good? Well, as Alan Hansen might say, it's a game of two halves.

Beatrix Potter

Our grandmother will tell you that the tales of Beatrix Potter are timeless classics; but we recently pulled them off the shelf to read to our four-year-old, and we were shocked.

John Mellencamp: Freedom's Road

By the time they are approaching their sixties, most rock starts are either working on their pension plans (see The Rolling Stones) or have been reduced to churning-out sad parodies of their former glories (see Bruce Springsteen). John Mellencamp, however, is still trying to change the world... one chord at a time!

Heroes

Heroes (Wednesday, 9PM, BBC2) is rubbish - the plot is preposterous, the special effects are comically bad, and the dialog makes the Teletubbies look like great literature. So why are we still watching?

Kate Atkinson: One Good Turn

There is an old adage in the game of cricket: Form is temporary, class is permanent. And while this might not be up there with "42" in the list of great answers, it does at least explain why Andrew Strauss is still playing test cricket for England. But what does it tell us about Kate Atkinson?

20-TWENTY

Many years ago, FairgroundTown spent the better part of a year living in Atlanta. We dated some nice girls, and ate some fine pizza; but looking back, I think we must have spent most of the time watching baseball. Having grown-up on cricket, we fell instantly in-love with America's Pastime. It seemed to share cricket's elegance and sense of history; but it was also some things that cricket wasn't - big-hitting and fast-moving! So what's our problem with 20-TWENTY?

What About Brian

What About Brian?, the thirty-something drama now showing on E4, is more 'pleasant diversion' than 'artistic masterpiece'. And that's fine by us! There is, however, an elephant in the room...