A touring exhibition of genuine Star Trek gimcracks reminds Mark Simpson of the virile greatness of the original Shatner/Nimoy series/love story – and the p.c. limpness of all the spin-offs (Originally appeared on Salon.com Feb. 26, 2003) The first thing that greets me is Capt. Kirk’s package. Jim’s intergalactic manhood… Read More »Captain Kirk’s Bulging Trousers
Mark Simpson on the search for ‘The North’ (Independent on Sunday, 28 January, 2007) Stuart Maconie is looking for the north. It’s not really so difficult to find, but we’re only a few pages into his new travelogue Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North and he’s already hopelessly lost.… Read More »The Smell of Chip Fat at Teatime
Mark Simpson on the childish-mannish nature of men When I was a boy in the languorous 1970s I looked forward to Christmas not just for the prezzies but the boredom that only cold turkey and another repeat of The Sound of Music could produce. I calculated that the more bored… Read More »Unleash the Geek
So David Beckham, the uber-metrosexual, the photogenic English athlete who transfigured himself from mere professional soccer player into global me-dia, is leaving Real Madrid Football Club, his home for the past three years, and is now heading for the City of Signs. Beckham became a Hollywood footballer years ago (around about the time of… Read More »Beckham the Virus (Goes To Hollywood)
(Originally appeared here 10/1/07) First the Tory party, now the BBC. Is there any daggy British institution that isn’t scrabbling for a sweaty piece of Mozza’s gold lamé shirt, like an especially wild-eyed fan at the end of a gig? You can hardly have escaped the news that, after last year’s grinding nadir… Read More »A man of great Euro-vision