Tom Lennon • Freelance Writer: comedy and pop culture

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

Latest Stuff

Disney’s ‘The Wire’

I came home from work today to find my wonderful stepdaughter Lily on the Internet. She was visiting the Disney Channel website, and - as one of those unfortunate people burdened with a certain kind of political temperament - I found myself experiencing an involuntary muscle spasm somewhere in the region of my social conscience gland. This soon passed, however: I may be relatively new to this parenting malarkey, but if there's one thing I've learned is that smart, 6 year-old girls like Lily have little time for humourless lectures on the evils of cultural imperialism. Plenty of time [...]

Sesame: Life on the Street

This evening’s Archive Hour on Radio 4 celebrated the 40th anniversary of the seminal children’s TV show Sesame Street. The programme featured healthy dollops of insight about the visionary goals that underpinned the show and how the Children’s Television Workshop revolutionised children’s TV through the medium of animation, bad puns and felt glove puppets. The one thing that wasn’t discussed, however, was an aspect of the show that most media pundits are either blissfully unaware of or would prefer just to ignore. I’m talking, of course, about the way in which the seemingly benign and wholesome inner city world of [...]

What if Wes Anderson directed the new Spider-Man film?

Or, The Life Arachnid with Peter Parker. A slyly clever parody by Jeff Loveness which - like Anderson's actual films - you'll either get or you won't. (Thanks to zenbullets for the heads-up.)

Armando Iannucci’s Questions for Mr Tony Blair (Updated)

Updated 30th January 2010: this may seem a bit overdue, but I've now added Armando Iannucci's 9th and 10th questions that were Tweeted after I wrote my original post. In light of how yesterday's events played out, it now seems as though my additional question for readers was a wee bit optimistic. It was based on the assumption that the former vicar of St Albion would receive a thorough grilling and be deftly evasive. In the event, a deft evasion wasn't required as the "thorough grilling" turned out to be, at best, a gentle simmering, or possibly even a fricassée. [...]

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