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Insecurities fraud

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Get Rich or Lie Trying: Ambition and Deceit in the New Influencer Economy by Symeon Brown, Atlantic Books, £16.99 . Born when we were born, and embarking on writing ‘careers’ (LOL) just as the web ripped the financial guts out of the paper industry, my idea of a good time is to phone my best […]

Filed in Journalism, review | Also tagged 50 Cent, Atlantic Books, Black Lives Matter, books, Cardi B, Channel 4, China, Clubhouse, Covid, crime, cryptocurrency, dropshipping, fashion, Fashion Nova, finance, influencing, Instagram, Jordan Belfort, Journalism, Kylie Jenner, LimeWire, LinkedIn, livestreaming, music, non-fiction, plastic surgery, pyramid schemes, rap, religion, social media, Soulja Boy, Symeon Brown, Texas, The Critic, The Wall Street Journal, TikTok, Tottenham, Turkey, Twitter, YouTube | Comments (0)

Zooming windows

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Interview with members of the George Formby Society, as they attempt to break an online ukulele-playing record. — For The Critic

Filed in feature, interview, Journalism | Also tagged Alastair Cook, America, army, Australia, banjos, Batley, BBC, Bette Davis, bingo, Blackpool, Canada, Covid-19, cricket, Cyprus, dating, Ed Balls, Falkland Islands Radio Service, France, Frank Skinner, friends, George Formby, German, Germany, grandmothers, Guinness, Gyles Brandreth, Harry HIll, Hawaii, Humphrey Bogart, Italy, jellyfish, lyrics, mental health, music, naturism, nuclear power, proletarians, Queen Elizabeth II, records, Royal Albert Hall, Russia, Simon Rose, smut, Swahili, The Critic, The Daily Telegraph, the George Formby Society, the Queen Mother, the RAF, Tottenham, ukuleles, Warrington Museum, Welsh, windows, WWII, Yorkshire, Zoom | Comments (0)

In-line, online, and where to draw the line?

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Notes on Colombo’s books and bookmen in the time of Covid-19. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged alcohol, Aleksandar Hemon, Amazon, Ashok Ferrey, B&Q, Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, books, bookshops, Buddhism, Ceylon, Ceylon Bible Society, charity, China, Chuck Palahniuk, clothing, Colombo, Colombo Fashion Week, Colombo International Book Fair, construction, Covid-19, Dan Brown, David Duchovny, democracy, Denis Johnson, Donald Trump, Dr Sudath Samaraweera, Dutch Burgher Union, education, Emma Donoghue, Emmanuel Carrere, England, Eventbrite, Galle Literary Festival, Harrods, health, hygiene, Iran, James Hadley Chase, Jilly Cooper, Kumar Sangakkara, letters, LIDL, Lt General Shavendra Silva, Malaysia, Michael Chabon, Milo, money, music, Nicholas Mosley, Nixon, Northern Ireland, novels, One Galle Face, Ottawan, Panos Karnezis, rain, religion, Robert Knox, satire, schools, Shangri-La, Shehan Karunatilaka, shopping, Sinhala, snacks, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Exhibition & Conference Centre, Tamil, TASCHEN, taxes, TGI Fridays, The Big Bad Wolf, The Critic, the internet, the Sistine Chapel, Tisara Prakasakayo, TS Eliot, tsunami, VIPs, Waterstone's, weddings, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Abdul Halik Azeez

Sunday, September 27, 2020

The Sri Lankan photographer and artist talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Also tagged Abdul Halik Azeez, age, architecture, art, blogging, Buddhism, cameras, citizenship, Colombo, Dambulla, documentary, economics, health, Instagram, painting, Panadura, photography, poverty, Saskia Fernando Gallery, semiotics, spirituality, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL), Tamils, travel, video, war | Comments (0)

The One That Got Away – Ruvin de Silva

Sunday, August 2, 2020

The Sri Lankan actor-director and documentary photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

Filed in column, interview, Journalism | Also tagged acting, Barefoot, beer, cameras, Colombo, Deshan Tennekoon, dogs, Enda Walsh, family, fashion, Flickr, Galle Literary Festival, girls, HSBC, humour, Kilinochchi, Korn, money, Mount Lavinia, photography, Red Bull, Ruvin de Silva, Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (SL) | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, July 13, 2020

. The Irish language still lingers in the Bahamas among the mixed descendants of the Hibernian patriots banished by Cromwell to the West Indies. One can occasionally hear black sailors in the London docks, who cannot speak a work of English, talking Irish to the old applewomen whom they meet, and thus making themselves intelligible […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged anatomy, astronomy, churches, clubbing, Diderot, elephants, fruit, Irish, ironmongery, madness, Nelson Evening Mail, news, Oliver Cromwell, Poetry, Prince Gunarasa Casinader, Russians, sailors, satire, sex, shoes, Sri Lankans, Stephen Joyce, tea, the Bahamas, Turks, twins, urine, walls, Walter Benjamin | Comments (0)

Strength and honour

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

A love letter to 20 years of watching Gladiator. — For The Critic

Filed in column, Journalism | Also tagged Academy Awards, Alain de Botton, army, Classics, Cleopatra, Commodus, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, drink, Edward Gibbon, film, Germans, Hans Zimmer, Harry Sidebottom, history, Holst, Jesus, Julius Caesar, Kent, Loeb Classical Library, love, Marcus Aurelius, Moravia, Morocco, music, Nick Cave, Odeon, Oxford, painting, religion, Rich Hardcastle, Ridley Scott, Rome, Royal Albert Hall, Russell Crowe, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Suffolk, Surrey, tattoos, The Critic, Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, war, YouTube | Comments (0)

May Day, May Day…

Monday, May 4, 2020

A lockdown letter from Colombo. — For The Critic

Filed in correspondence, Journalism | Also tagged Amazon, Argentina, army, beer, children, China, Colombo, coronavirus, cricket, Dominic Hilton, drink, food, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, health, letters, lockdown, May Day, Mel Gibson, money, Osama bin Laden, painting, peacocks, quizzes, Sanskrit, shopping, Singapore, Sinhala, socialism, Sri Lanka, swimming, the British, The Critic, UberEats, work | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, April 8, 2019

. On an average there is only one sudden death among women to eight among men. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Tuesday, September 25 1906 . The Earl of Oxford did not write Fleabag. Hull is other people. Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci chose to stick the with most ridiculous crap name that they could think of. Failure to […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged army, borscht, cars, Cúchulainn, Da Vinci, death, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, horses, Hull, Justin Trudeau, men, Nelson Evening Mail, nomenclature, Ohio, Oxford, Russia, seafood, sex, space, The Incredible Hulk, TV, violin, women, yoga | Comments (0)

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Monday, November 13, 2017

. Throughout Denmark there is not one person over 10 years of age who cannot read or write. — The Nelson Evening Mail, September 4 1906 . There is a whale whose voice is too low to communicate with other whales. Seatbelts do not statistically improve your chances of surviving a car accident. London’s Mithraic temple is […]

Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE | Also tagged accidents, advertising, Aeneas, anatomy, archaeology, Aung San Suu Kyi, Basque, Bell's, Bloomberg, cars, Christmas, cliché, criticism, Daniel O'Donnell, Dante, Denmark, drink, education, Euclid, finance, humans, John Lewis, law, limbo, London, maths, Missouri, Mithras, music, Myanmar, Nelson Evening Mail, Nicholas Lezard, Nobel Peace Prize, nomenclature, philosophy, Poetry, politics, religion, sex, singing, the West, traditions, whales, whisky, women | Comments (0)