Tom Lennon • Freelance Writer: comedy and pop culture

Freelance writer specializing in comedy and the geekier end of the pop culture spectrum.

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Latitude Diary: Day 2, Part 2

Friday highlights included:12.35 Robin Ince at the Comedy Arena. Very funny. Here he is at one of his Latitude Book Clubs, having an impromptu "Peel-Off" with Ross Noble:15.00 Micah P. Hinson. Throaty Americana music. Good shit.15.45 Bearsuit. Say it after me: "Jupiter FORCE! Jupiter FORCE!" Fucking awesome. More about them later.20.00 Death Cab For Cutie. Clare's a fan. I'm being won over. They were good.Here you go, Clare:21.30 Franz Ferdinand(?) Guilty Pleasures: late night cheese. No wonder I couldn't get to sleep.Stuff I missed:My old pal Nicky arrived on Friday so I helped her unpack, pitch her tent and lose [...]

Latitude Diary: Day 2, Part 1 – Just a Bloody Minute

09.45 Emerge from sleeping bag.10.20 Emerge from tent.10.30 Make way from camping area to catch 12 .30pm recording of legendary Radio 4 panel game 'Just a Minute'.10.45 Arrive at arena. Wake up. 10.50 Discover the Just a Minute queue is already about sixty-three miles long. The irony is not lost on me. 10.52 Reluctantly join queue. Have never seen so many Radio 4 listeners in one place. Am reminded about those movie legends about The Wizard of Oz: during filming, the Munchkin actors were said to be so overwhelmed by the unprecedented availability of like-sized people they lost all inhibitions [...]

W For Watchmen

During my absence a couple of rather yummy trailers have turned up on the Interwebs. First, there's this:James Cromwell as Daddy Bush? Richard Dreyfus as Dick Cheney? Mr Fantastic as Tony Blair? Oliver Stone, I salute you!Then, there's this:As a huge fan of the original 'graphic novel' (God, I hate that phrase), I've got real mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, I'm fascinated by Zack Snyder's almost pornographic attention to detail. I've read Watchmen many, many times. I know that particular fictional world pretty much inside out. On a visual level at least, it looks as though [...]

Latitude Diary: Day 1 – Thursday, 17th July 2008

Clare and I arrive at the campsite early in the evening. Brother Younger and his pal Chris have already arrived and set up the tents so we inflate the inflatable beds. To me, this seems like a reasonably civilised and mutually beneficial division of tasks, but Brother Younger thinks otherwise. This will become a recurring theme over the weekend: experience has taught me that when Brother Younger thinks, he invariably thinks otherwise.10.15pm In the arena now, sitting on the grass with Clare and drinking cider. We've already lost Brother Younger and Chris. In the distance, there's a full orchestra providing [...]

The Holiday is Over

Well, I'm back.Over the last week and a half I've driven from Birmingham to Kent, from Kent to Sussex and then back to Kent again. I've taken the Eurostar to and from Paris and, today, have driven from Kent back to Birmingham. At the Latitude Festival I've seen performances by (amongst others) Grinderman, Breeders, Bearsuit, Death Cab For Cutie, Franz Ferdinand, Noah and the Whale, Sigur Ros and Micah P. Hinson, I've partially caught performances by The Mars Volta, Blondie and Eli 'Paperboy' Reed & The True Loves and have seen stand-up acts by (amongst others) Rich Hall (and Otis [...]

The Littlest Raindog

I've made no secret of the fact that next week's Tom Waits gig in Paris has put me in a state of perpetual chomping-at-the-bit excitement. What I've now found out, however, is that this manic enthusiasm seems to be rubbing off on my nearest and dearest, too. I was driving my car to someplace or other this evening with Clare and her astonishingly-bright four year-old daughter, Lily, as passengers. On the car stereo was Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man album, which Lily took a strong disliking to. Fair enough, I though: Leonard Cohen is a bit of an acquired taste. [...]

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