Literature Archives Page 3 of 5

Stereotypes and Swiss Interns: An Academic in Africa

22/07/2012

You move to a country like Nigeria, and you instantly don’t want to conform to, or believe any of the stereotypes that your pinko-lefty-post-colonial-post-modern-feminist-queory-post-structuralist...

Rock and Roll Poet – Mike ‘Stick’ Tyler.

20/07/2012

Something of a mystery, Mike Tyler has a sort of brash appeal that comes close to being the ironic supernova of the archetypal hipster. With Erection Mike Tyler’s latest ‘release’,...

The Return of the Return of Fu Man Chu

18/07/2012

‘Yellow peril gets nearer’ is a newspaper headline I remember from my distant youth. In those politically incorrect days it may have referred to a new strain of Asian Flu or a Chinese incursion...

Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill signing

25/06/2012

GOSH IT’S A HIPPY Sightings of the world’s best known comic writer are rarer than hen’s teeth these days. Gosh were honoured by his presence on a cloudy Saturday afternoon, seated...

Students and Strops. An Academic in Africa

24/05/2012

'she was overtaken with flouncy teenage indignation'. DR meets the students. The students are turning out to be the usual mix of committed, disinterested, pleasant, arrogant and outright...

‘Offensive’, ‘Repugnant’: An Academic in Africa

08/05/2012

'the senators asked to vote on this bill must have been mystified', DR reports on the fight to make homosexuality in Nigeria even more illegal. I read an interesting story the other...

Trace Elements: Weakending

01/05/2012

As the week draws to its close, that trusty old question “What are you getting up to this weekend?” will doubtless be asked in workplaces across the land. Weekends are the pay-off after...

Slimey Guys and Cuddling Homophobes: An Academic in Africa

30/04/2012

'when she walked out she did so limping heavily and ostentatiously, when she’d walked in not limping at all'. Things get a bit 'domestic' in Nigeria. In other news, Julius has...

Trace Elements: Happy?

24/04/2012

Throughout jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald’s extraordinary career, awards and applause acclaimed her talent. What Ella really wanted to hear though – was that she was beautiful. Problem was,...

Trace Elements: Scribble

17/04/2012

The Gershwins served up “poe-tah-toe” in their pronunciation-divide ditty Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off for a roller-skating Fred and Ginger to deliver in the movie Shall We Dance...

An Academic in Africa: Red Lights and Runarounds

16/04/2012

Last week I almost got arrested. Actually, that’s not quite true. It would be more accurate to say that I drove a policeman around for about half an hour asking him to arrest me...

Trace Elements: Together

10/04/2012

A few years back, a female friend of mine married a man who was/is bisexual. I remember she told me – that if they walked along the street together and a hot woman passed by who caught his eye,...

Newark State of Mind

08/04/2012

'They say Newark is the new Brooklyn, which was the new East Village, a re-birthed and post-cool SoHo.' Scott Laudati sums up the Newark art scene....

Trace Elements: Humour

03/04/2012

I was hissed at once in a comedy club (I was performing stand-up) for telling a gag that went something along the lines of “My neighbour’s finding it difficult to come out of the closet....

Prayers and Promises: An Academic in Africa

29/03/2012

Our resident screamer has been upping the ante of late and I heard a live performance for the first time the other night. George had just finished moving to the third bedroom (a saga in itself,...

I caught the closing minutes of a TV property show last night. A couple had chosen (for couple, read girlfriend) the new home they were going to move into, with the main criteria being she wanted a...

‘Someone who has seen the world, and doesn’t much like it’ : An Academic in Africa.

23/03/2012

Trebuchet's Academic in Africa is amazed by the talents of Nigeria's ambulatory merchants and sedentary guardsmen. Plus nostalgic reflection on Wine Gums. There are a huge number of things...

Trace Elements: iLove

20/03/2012

Neuroscience reveals the brain’s love pleasure chemicals are usually released for 1½ to 3 years max. In other words, being in love should last you roughly as long as your next mobile...

Bill Drummond Presents: SURROUND: Damascus in London

15/03/2012

Bill Drummond - My Arab Spring - Part Two...

Trace Elements: Mars & Venus, Mum or Dad?

13/03/2012

There are countries where little boys and little girls grow up to marry their mums and dads. The UK is one of them. It may sound wrong, very wrong, but it’s human nature. So that includes you....

Trace Elements: Romance

06/03/2012

When writing fictional characters, a basic rule is females say it, males show it. In the real world this reveals itself most dramatically when men and woman date, then stop. He’ll often just...

An Academic in Africa: Plagiarism

03/03/2012

Second week of term, and we start to acclimatise ourselves to having all of these damn students around. Although the first intake (ie. the 17 that have already done one term) have been pissing...

Trace Elements: Trying it on

28/02/2012

Picture a clothes shop: A customer walks in, eyes a garment, tries it on, says they love it, tells the assistant they’ll definitely be back tomorrow to buy. They’re never seen again....

Trace Elements: Can I Have A Word?

21/02/2012

Several months back at an advertising agency I won’t mention (coughs Billington Cartmell) I was pitching potential straplines for a Panasonic camera campaign. Its artwork featured a suited City...

Decapitation: An Academic in Africa

16/02/2012

I’d like to share a story with you. It comes from an online newspaper here. Suspected ritualists on Tuesday in Lagos beheaded an unidentified man and chopped off his manhood. Residents of...

Trace Elements: Catch My Pitch

07/02/2012

Picture this: An Oscar-winning super producer, a TV network super suit, their brand new Central London indie offices, and me in the hot seat (it’s still warm from the legendary actor...

Trace Elements: Namedropping

31/01/2012

Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson Name-drop a celebrity in a digital headline and extra clicks are guaranteed. They’re like the sugar that tempts mouse-holders to nibble at your...

Wikithink: An Academic in Africa

25/01/2012

The first week of term has arrived, and with it about 100 students. Frankly, this is a bit of a shock to the system. And not just mine, the whole delicate ecology of the university is...

Trace Elements: Marketing Copy

24/01/2012

“How old are you? And are you married with children?” I was asked by a potential client last week in Canary Wharf. My top of the range anti-wrinkle cream allowed me to subtract vainly for...

Trace Elements: Off Course

17/01/2012

I used to live across the street from Hamburger University, where McDonalds teach staff the innermost secrets of the McMuffin, Happy Meals and Going Large. Unusually for a seat of learning, it was...

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