What is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading (or the last fiction book you read)?
Over the summer i re-read a bunch of Jane Austin novels, finishing off with Mansfield Park. Commentators often claim that Fanny is an insufferable character who is a monster of complacency and it is easy to see why. However i don't think you have to like a main character in a book in order to find the work compelling and Mansfield Park is just that.
What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?
I am currently reading E.H.Gombrich History of Art, it is a fantastic work. Reading it, it is easy to see why it is perhaps the top selling book on art of all time, full of brilliant insights. I would also recommend his Short History Of The World written to be read to a curious ten year old, it certainly did for me.
What is the last live performance (music, drama or dance) you attended?
Down at the Steamboat in Ipswich, the pub is run by Val who is the premier supporter of local bands and talents over the last 10 years in Ipswich (and probably further back than that!) i was watching my son who is a drummer getting progressively more drunk as he played his way through his final gig with a local rock band Blacktop Harrison, before he went to University.
What is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema / online or watched on dvd?
Went to our local UGC to watch the film Inception. I had heard a lot about the film and i did enjoy it, clever special effects, naturally and not a bad plot, it was certainly a great deal better than Knight and Day, which for reasons that had nothing to do with the film i found myself watching a few weeks previously.
How often do you read a newspaper? (which one?)
Read a lot of Newspapers, The Guardian online, but i also enjoy The Sun, i won't bother purchasing it if it disappears behind the Murdoch Paywall. On a Sunday it has to be The Sunday Times, because AA Gill is my favourite columnist. No one can skewer quite so wickedly as he can.
Which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit?
Saw a lot of galleries in Holland over the summer but the last one i went to was the Transport Museum in Hull. They have a good selection of galleries in the town, all free entry (for how long under our new regime remains to be seen). Spent rather too much time in the section where they had bicycles, penny farthings look impossible. But i was fascinated to see that there was a whole culture of Cycling polo, with hundreds of teams up and down the country competing with each other, how difficult must that be to play?
how many hours a week do you spend playing video games?
Not many, at best i am a casual gamer, 3D games do my head in. I have been spending a bit of time on the Amour games website and completed Castle Crush 2 but not in the minimum number of shots. Also struggled with Jumpers for Goalposts, but could not get a successful header and failed to get signed, sometimes art really does imitate real life.
How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?
Not as many as i would like. I really enjoy board games, all time favourites, Sigma File, Diplomacy, Monopoly, Battling Tops (it is in the wrist action) played a lot of Settlers of Catan over the summer, Poker, Chess (rubbish at it)....
