Just Sayin Yet Again

- Armando Ianucci's "The Thick of It" is quality satirical comedy, with a great performance from Peter Capaldi at its dark, bitter little heart, and the forthcoming movie version adds James Gandolfini and Tom Hollander and looks funny enough to go on my short list of comedies not to miss in 2009 (alongside "Black Dynamite", "The Hangover", "Bruno" and "Transformers 2"):



- Tony Gilroy wrote and directed "Michael Clayton" a couple of years ago, and his new film, "Duplicity" opens this week. So The New Yorker give him a long, respectful profile which is full of fascinating tidbits about his role in the creation of the Bourne series (pretty fundamental, it seems) and his views on the work of Paul Greengrass (not so big a fan) together with the usual guff about his approach to writing. Good stuff.

- Juan Pablo Aimar with the most beautiful piece of control...followed by a botched finish:



- Christopher Sorrentino's "Trance" is one of my favourite novels of the last decade, and he's contributed to Granta's "Fathers" issue with this lovely little piece which encompasses a lifetime and a world in one thrilling paragraph. When is that next book due?

- DC Nation features a coy little preview of the new Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely collaboration. But nobody seems quite sure whether its in-continuity or some sort of AllStar project. Whatever, it features the best creative theam in mainstream comics of the last decade or so working on these two characters:



- "Theme de Camille" by Georges Delerue from Godard's "Le Mepris" (also used by Scorsese in "Casino"). Absolutely beautiful. But cut to a load of perfume adverts, to weirdly comic effect. Listen, don't watch, is my advice:



Up top?
Gong Li.
You knew that.