...This has Been a Shameless Plugs Promotion!

Are you interested in comics at all? C'mon, not even a little? It's ok, now that they've all been made into movies, comic book heroes are cool, honestly. Anyway, if you are at all interested in comics then you'll want to head over to . They've got all sorts of great stuff, reviews, news, message boards, angry columnists. All the great stuff that you might find in a magazine, except it's on your computer and you don't have to pay for it.

The thing is, I love the site but I can't rave too much, at least not without declaring an interest. You see, they've given me my own column! I am the creator of Freshman Orientation, a bi-weekly comics column that I share with a guy called Ted Hurliman that aims to introduce comics to new readers. Now don't get me wrong. Freshman Orientation isn't an excuse for me to talk down to people. I don't consider myself an almighty expert on the subject. I'm fairly new to comics myself. the idea of my column isn't to patronise, but to share my own experiences. To offer my own tentative steps into the world of comics and graphic novels and hopefully help out those who follow.

So, if you're interested in comics but it all seems a little daunting or you don't know where to begin, maybe Freshman Orientation is for you. Especially if you enjoy any of my writing here on my own mistreated little blog. Just click on the link above, click on 'Columns' at the top of the page and then Freshman Orientation. From there, well, that's up to you. You can read it, praise it, slag it off, follow my advice, laugh at me or ignore me. Just remember, I'll be watching you!*



*Don't worry, that's an empty threat, I can't back that up.

Food Glorious Food

Terrible school dinners lie deep in the British psyche. They’re a national in-joke that helps shape our national identity. Regardless of age, race, class or religion anyone brought up in Britain can share reminiscences about lumpy custard, cold chips and horrible cauliflower cheese. Not for much longer however. With recent media attention, not to mention the constant badgering of Jamie Oliver, parents and even the government are increasingly aware of the importance of a healthy diet. The job isn’t done yet, there is still a way to go before all of Britain’s kids have the balanced diet that Oliver and others advocate. Still, it seems the school girls and boys of the future wont really have so much to complain about.

So what now? Where will we look for the next shared national whinge, something to help us bond with a younger generation who all eat their five-a-day? Well, for a start, how about the staff canteen? It’s a little less inclusive of course. The self employed are left out, as well as anyone who eats business lunches on an expense account. Still, most of us at one time or another have experienced the greasy horrors conjured up so affectionately by Victoria Wood’s sitcom Dinnerladies. Sadly, while Jamie is out there doing it for the kids, the food served up to Britain’s workforces have apparently failed to move with the times.

I have recently started work in a hospital and while I’m tempted by the overpriced treats in the café at reception, my pay slip reminds me, rather firmly, that I must stick to the canteen and its staff discount. Sadly, the food is neither healthy nor appealing. Stodgy pie, sausages that are both greasy and gristly and veg boiled beyond recognition. It recall’s nothing so much as those many lunch hours, queuing up with my dinner money. My school diet was, let me assure you, very much the unreconstructed pre-Oliver variety although I do recall one specialty, spaghetti dyed blue to appeal to children.

I may be just a lowly book shop assistant but I’m amazed at the rubbish that doctors and nurses are willing to put up with. Every day the media and the government are telling us that Britain is getting fatter. You don’t need to hear the statistics again, you know the stuff I mean, we are bombarded with it. By 2008 97% of us will be morbidly obese and the rest of us will be dead, that sort of thing. The NHS, we are told, will shoulder the burden, when all of us fatties queuing up with blocked arteries and weak hearts.

So with that in mind you would think medical professionals would be leading the way in healthy eating, setting a good example if you like. Instead, I see them day after day, lining up with me for the chips-with-everything fare at the canteen. Fair enough too probably, these are people who do difficult, tiring jobs, often on irregular shifts. They have more excuse than I do not to prepare a lunch at home. It’s just a pity the food available to them at work isn’t a bit more appetizing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming the canteen staff. God forbid they should read this and start doing horrible things to my food. No doubt, and again, like those we’ve seen harassed on TV, they are doing the best they can with limited resources. The real problems are higher up, the people who hold the purse strings, who are more concerned with speed and efficiency than nutrition. The people who don’t care what their employees have to eat, as long as they can afford their pay rises.

Thinking about it now, hospitals are perhaps one of the few places where they can justify having other priorities. After all, as much as I bitch and moan, I’d feel a little guilty if I found out the NHS trust put off buying a dialysis machine for the sake of my dinners. Elsewhere, better meals would not just benefit the staff as individuals but the company as a whole. If feeding a child a nutritious lunch instead of junk food improves their concentration and learning potential, surely it would have similarly positive affect on your average adult.

If you’ve been reading carefully, you’ll have probably noticed that my desire for healthier lunches has been driven as much by my own desire for tasty food as by altruistic concerns for the British workforce but it does seem, all too often, that whatever suits my whims is also of benefit to the nation. The sooner somebody starts listening to me the better things will be for everybody.

Charlotte Hatherley Interview

The big news today on BBC6 is that Ash might work with their former guitarist Charlotte Hatherley at some point in the future. In fact the BBC6 news team made rather a lot of some vague statements from singer Tim Wheeler, who said there was no bad blood and no reason why they couldn't work together again.

Charlotte left the band this January, to concentrate on making her second solo album. A couple of years ago, when she was releasing her first solo effort, I was given the chance to interview her over the phone by the editor of a fanzine. There wasn't any money on offer but it was a good opportunity and I was promised a free copy of the album. Unfortunately, the fanzine, Keep On Keeping On, never got off the ground. My interview was never published and I never got sent the album. I can't do anything about the free album, but I might as well put the interview here, for the sake of anyone who likes reading two year old interviews with indie guitarists. You lucky people, you!


KOKO: Hi, is that Charlotte?
CH: Yep Speaking, how ya doin?

KOKO: Good thanks, how are you?
CH: Yeah, not bad

KOKO: What have you been up to today?
CH: Some more interviews! Just sitting at home talking about me, its not too bad.

KOKO: Your new single “Kim Wilde” is available as a free download on your website. Was that your idea?
CH: Yeah, I think because I thought it would be slightly audacious to come out with a proper single first. I thought it would be nicer to start with a download thing and it coincided with my website going up as well so it just kinda gauged people’s reactions to it really. ‘Cos its quite a scary thing releasing a new single for the first time ever, putting yourself out there. But fortunately it’s gone really well. Several thousand downloads in the first week.

KOKO: It’s had some very positive reviews.
CH: Yeah, that’s given me loads of confidence actually to persevere with the rest of it.
KOKO: Your vocals on the single have been compared to Bjork...
CH: Yeah that’s a bit weird; I think that was nme.com or something?
KOKO: A number of places, and also The Corrs have been mentioned.
CH: The Corrs? That’s interesting...I don’t really see the Bjork thing because I don’t think I sound like Bjork. Someone also mentioned The Cardigans. I guess it’s a lot higher than most of the stuff I do with Ash. Someone else also mentioned Julianne Hatfield, the singer out of Lush. Anyway, it’s all good! I don’t really care as long as people like it!

KOKO: In Oyster magazine in 2002 you did an interview where you said you were going to record a solo album. You said your material was “big on tuning and sounds” and would be influenced by PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth and Guided by Voices. Now its 2004, you’ve made the album, do you think those comments still hold true?
CH: Ermmmm, I can see the Guided By Voices thing, I think people expected it to be more of a PJ Harvey-esque record, quite raw and a bit rockier. I guess it’s a bit more accessible, a bit poppier than that. Those are bands that I listen to a lot but I don’t necessarily think it sounds like that. I like bands like XTC and The B-52s, sort of pop songs that have a lot going on in them. I read a lot of old interviews. I’m always going on about it! It seems like I finally got round to having a finished product so I’m very proud of that.

KOKO: You’re not doing any shows or touring to promote the album but touring with Ash still. Might you be doing any of your songs?
CH: I might do some acoustic stuff on radio and maybe play some instores. I might do something like that but I haven’t really had time to get a band together.
KOKO: You won’t be having a little acoustic moment in the middle of an Ash show or anything like that?
CH: I don’t think so. I’d quite like to keep it quite separate, as separate as I can.
KOKO: Have you had quite a positive response from Ash fans about it all?
CH: Yeah it’s been pretty good actually. One of the reasons I decided to go ahead with it is I recorded Grey Will Fade as the B-side of There’s A Star and that got such a great response from the fans online it made me think well maybe I should just get on with it and do it instead of waiting around. They’ve been really supportive and they seem to be quite into it.

KOKO: You’ve had some good reviews and the albums out soon. What will you do if it’s more successful than [Ash’s last album] Meltdown?
CH: (laughs) I don’t think that’s gonna happen! I like the fact that I can just kinda do my own thing and I don’t really want to make a massive deal out of it. I’d like to go on and make some more records really but I do love the fact that I can play with Ash which is a bigger band. It’s not a competition for me anyway.

KOKO: So you’re not gonna become a diva and start demanding bigger dressing rooms...
CH: ...get my own tour bus? Erm, I might do, you never know. Sounds like good fun! But I doubt it very much.

KOKO: Your mum had a cameo in the Shaun of the Dead movie, how did that come about?
CH: Well, the director, Edgar Wright is my boyfriend actually, a little bit of nepotism there! No, my mum used to be in Carry On films and was quite a serious actress back in her day but she hasn’t really had much work recently after having three kids. When Edgar met her, she was just perfect for the role of lead zombie so that’s kind of how that came about.

KOKO: So will there be more Ash music in Edgar’s work in the future? (Ash covered Everybody’s Happy Nowadays by The Buzzcocks for the soundtrack of Shaun of The Dead)
CH: Yeah, yeah. It was his idea to do the Buzzcocks song which is a really cool cover. He was a big Ash fan prior to us meeting so maybe, maybe, you never know! I think he’s starting writing some new ideas now with Simon Pegg.

KOKO: You’ve got the drummer from PJ Harvey’s band on your record and you’re known to be a big fan of her but her new album has had a muted response and some mixed reviews...
CH: I’ve only heard [PJ’s latest single] The Letter, I need to get buying some new records.
KOKO: What did you think of The Letter?
CH: What I’ve heard is really cool. We did Jools Holland together. I think she’s such an amazing performer, she’s really cool. I don’t think it really matters if this album comparatively does as well. Her last album [Stories From The Sea, Stories From The City] is quite mainstream in a way I think she’s gone back to her blues roots. I can’t imagine she’d be too bothered.
KOKO: returned to her core audience?
CH: Yeah, I don’t that for somebody of PJ Harvey’s stature and reputation that it really matters what your chart position is.

KOKO: Do you think she’ll see you as competition?
CH: Erm, I don’t think so, I hope not! I think we’re doing quite different things. There’s plenty of room for female musicians out there, there aren’t really that many.

KOKO: Your new single is named after 80s pop star Kim Wilde. Are you not worried that Kim Wilde fans will think she has a new single out called Charlotte Hatherley and get very confused?
CH: (laughs) No! It would be quite cool if she did do something like that though. I’d be very chuffed if she’d returned the favour. I’d love to get a load of Kim Wilde fans buying Kim Wilde! It’d be good!

KOKO: Eric Drew Feldman, of The Magic Band and producer of Frank Black produced your album what’s he like to work with as a producer?
CH: He’s cool you know? Really laid back guy and we actually recorded it at his house he’s got a studio he built in his garden so it’s like a really relaxed month of recording. I think cos I came to him and I had everything written and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. All he had to do was sit back and give me advice, y’know? He’s done so many amazing things that he knows exactly how he wants the record to sound too. So yeah we got on really well and he’s a really cool guy, loads of stories.
KOKO: Do you think if the solo career is a success you’ll consider dropping your last name and become a single name star like Cher or Madonna?
CH: Yeah, Charlotte Hatherley is not the coolest name. It’s too long I think. Sound’s more like a romantic novelist than a rock star. Maybe if I was gonna aim for the rock star league I’d probably have to change my name.
KOKO: This is what happens when people start solo careers after being in a band. They haven’t been using stage names so they get stuck with their real ones! Like...(I struggle to think of a good example)..Erm, Robbie Williams.
CH: Yeah, I didn’t really want to hide behind a stage name or a project name or anything. Maybe if I do some other things I’d like to go under a different name cos it just sounds cooler. Something like Head, or something like that.

KOKO: What do you you think about Napster and the BPI and paying for downloads and stuff like that?
CH: I don’t see there’s a lot of point in pretending its not out there. With Ash especially we tend to do a lot of free stuff. We go into it with the idea that if we give you free stuff you have to buy the album or the single. Sort of return the favour really. I know anything I download for free that I’ve really enjoyed I’ve wanted to go out and buy so I’m not really worried.
KOKO: Charlotte, thanks.

Turning Japanese

The other day I was watching Jonathan Ross's Japanerama on BBC 3. There was a short segment in which it was explained that children were taught, as a sign of respect to their parents, never to whistle at night. My first thought was that Japanese kids must be incredibly well behaved. Does it really matter if your kids are whistling away in the dark. At least they're not out nicking cars. Is whistling at night really the worst Japanese parents have to put up with?

Thinking about it though, perhaps it's not a bad idea. Maybe it could be adopted over here by parents who cant handle their out of control kids? After all, if your kids, or your own parenting skills, don't meet the high standards you expected what's the simple solution? Lower the bar! Think about it. "Oh yeah, well, you know, my boys are very respectful of me. I mean, they're abusive, they take my money, they go out happy slapping, drinking and smoking and I've never got any idea when they'll be home at night but at least I know that they'll never whistle at night."

Blame it on The Weatherman

Right, time for another up-to-the-minute, expert movie review. This time it's the Nic Cage flick The Weatherman. Singer-songwriter Jesse Malins, whose main claim to fame is being mates with Ryan Adams, once told me in an interview that Nicolas Cage is, "a dick."

Perhaps he is, perhaps Malins was just trying to drum up publicity for his latest album. If so, it didn't work, my interview never made it into print. Either way, Cage has made some fine movies and I was drawn to The Weatherman by a trailer that made the film look both funny and intelligent.

Of course, you can't always trust a trailer and shortly after putting the DVD on I felt like I had been duped. The Weatherman starts really slowly. Nic plays Dave Spritz, a put-apon divorcee dad, trying desperately to prove himself to his ex-wife, his kids and his own successful but aloof father.

He has an easy, well paid job reading the Weather and he's looking for a promotion but he still feels unable to measure up in the eyes of his dying father. There aren't too many laughs at the start, nor anything else to hook you in really. I was beginning to think that this was another comedy trying to be clever and arty to cover up a lack of funny material.

However, as a series of indignities build up against Cage, you begin to root for this awkward underdog, delighting as he makes an emotional connection with his daughter, or beats up the predatory creep who's been preying on his son. The core of this film is the relationship between Spritz and his terminally ill father. Michael Caine is excellent as the emotionally remote father whose constant criticisms mask a deep affection for his son. The laughs come too, as Spritz messes up time and again but this is an emotional film, not a cornball comedy and it is affecting without being melodramatic.