Sally Lockhart Mysteries: The Shadow in the North (review)

It’s a few years after the events of *Ruby in the Smoke,* the first of novelist Philip Pullman’s stories of the spunky Victorian girl detective, and star Billie Piper is even more spectacularly confident in her second outing as the young woman now daring enough to set herself up in the City, London’s financial center, as a consultant…

‘Pushing Daisies’ blogging: “Frescorts”

(previous: Episode 3: “Bad Habits”) Do you smell pie? I smell pie. Mmmmm, pie… [spoilers after the jump!] I was horrified to discover this morning that my DVR had not recorded last night’s episode of Pushing Daisies. I think I’ve fixed what I think was ailing the stupid machine (we’ll see if it records Life … more…

‘Pushing Daisies’ blogging: “Bad Habits”

(previous: Episodes 1/2: “Bzzzzzzzzz!”/“Circus, Circus”) Do you smell pie? I smell pie. Mmmmm, pie… [spoilers after the jump!] Goodness. Nuns talking about sex? A dead nun who had talked about sex? A suicided dead nun who had talked about sex? A suicided dead nun who had talked about sex who swears like a sailor when … more…

Eastern Promises movie review: viva Viggo

Movies about gangsters: You expect a lot of noise. Shouting and screaming. Barrages of gunfire. Not here. Here we have somber reflection, the lurking gray peril of an urban underbelly, shifting shifty glances and unspoken threats. ‘Eastern Promises’ is almost silent — even its title sounds like a shush.