Rome 2.5 Heroes of the Republic

Spartacus dir. by

Watch the story of history’s greatest gladiator unfold with graphic violence and the passions of the women that love them. This is Spartacus. Last week I finally finished watch the whole...

The man in the picture by

Part of my RIP VIII reading. Oliver is visiting his old Oxford tutor when Theo begins to tell him a story. It is a cold January night, perfect for huddling round...

The Black Opera by

Conrad Scalese’s latest opera was a great success. Unfortunately the theatre in which it was performed has just been stuck by lightening. And since the composer and many of the performers...

Ghosts of Vesuvius by

It is hard to blurb this book. On the one hand it is about Vesuvius and volcanic explosions and disasters both natural and man-made. But it is also a book about the origins of the earth, of the universe, and about how precarious our existence is. How so much of what we are today is dependent on natural events a thousand years ago, or a millennia ago, or so long ago that it is almost pointless to count the time because it is so difficult to grasp those sort of numbers.

Spartacus : Gods of the arena dir. by

First things first, this is an awesome show. Awesome! Anyone who says different is just plain wrong!

When I first started watching Spartacus : Blood and Sand I have to say that I wasn’t overly impressed. Obviously influenced by the style and look of 300 it seemed to be a show that existed only to show glossy violence and sex. And boy did it ever show that. But after the first few episodes it developed into a very enjoyable, almost addictive, show. But then its star was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and so film making was delayed as he underwent treatment. And so instead of a second season we got a prequel. Spartacus : gods of the arena. Don’t be fooled by that name in the title, this has no Spartacus as all, instead it tells the story of how John Hannah’s Lentulus Batiatus comes to run the family ludus, and how Crixus becomes a gladiator.

Blameless by

ISBN: 9781841499734 An Alexia Tarabotti novel, The Parasol Protectorate: Book the Third Read for RIP challenge If you haven’t yet read Soulless and Changeless then I am afraid that this review...

A Thread of Grace by

ISBN: 9780552772884 This book I loved. Loved. But I should have guessed, I’ve loved most of Russell’s books. I wasn’t hugely fond of part of Children of God, as I recall,...