Mark Grassick
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Freelance writer, screenwriter, editor and author
The HotCorn • 16th May 2019
The Virtues – Stephen Graham is superb in Shane Meadows' new drama
In this game, it's rare that an interview is truly harrowing. But when Miranda Sawyer spoke to Shane Meadows about his new Channel 4 series The Virtues, I don't think anyone involved – except maybe Meadows – could have anticipated the dark places upon which their conversation would touch. What was abundantly clear from that interview is that Meadows knows deep psychological pain, the kind that leaves a scar on your soul. We might have already been able to deduce that from films such as Dead Man'
Dapper Confidential • 15th May 2019
The Ballad of Ryan Bingham
America's not getting a huge amount of love right now. There's certainly no long line of wordsmiths waiting for their turn to craft odes to a nation made great again. So, it might seem a strange time for someone like Ryan Bingham to call his new record American Love Song.
The HotCorn • 8th May 2019
Chernobyl – Sky Atlantic's new miniseries is startlingly grim
In our May preview, we warned that Chernobyl probably wasn't going to be a laugh riot. That turned out to be something of an understatement, as the season premiere of Sky Atlantic and HBO's new miniseries unleashed its dark, despondent chaos. The opening scene alone deposits a crushingly heavy boulder of doom. Two years after the disaster, Jared Harris's Valery Legasov sits at his kitchen table, recounting the mistakes made at the Vladimir I. Lenin nuclear power station on 25 April 1986. In his
The ten best kids' TV shows on CBeebies - Part two
Now, we'd never advocate spending long hours in front of a screen with your kids. There are so many more valuable things to do with your time together, even if it's just getting them to help you clean orange marker off the white walls. But there are certain times (6 a.m. wake-ups, for instance) where it's the only option.
Dapper Confidential • 22nd April 2019
How To Wash Out Pomade (& 5 Easy-to-Remove Pomades)
How do you remove pomade from your hair? Every man has their story. A couple of years ago, my wife and I were on our merry way to spend a long weekend in Barcelona. At the airport, I discovered I'd forgotten to pack one of my many tubs of ludicrously expensive wax, clay, paste and pomade, so I made a detour to buy another one to tide me over. The old-school pomade I picked up was one of those tins of oil-based, heavy duty gloop that goes in and doesn't come out. At least, not without a fight. I
Dapper Confidential • 21st April 2019
Josh Ritter on Speaking Out and Dressing with Intent
The first time I met Josh Ritter, he was a young man bashfully accepting the effusive praise of a room full of Irish music fans. Forty minutes earlier, few people in that room had even heard his name, but every single one left as a devoted fan, copies of his two self-released albums tucked in their pockets. With every return visit, the venues got bigger, the crowds got louder and Ritter transformed from a man who blushed at each round of applause into a consummate entertainer. By the time his th
Dapper Confidential • 15th April 2019
Murder By Death's Adam Turla on Space Operas and Haunted Hotels
What's in a name? Cannibal Corpse, Cradle of Filth, Morbid Angel… you don't need to be a genius to have a guess at what they're going to sound like. Some might assume a band that would call itself Murder By Death would fit in the same bracket, but the Indiana quintet couldn't sound more different to the punishing assault of death metal. In fact, for a band that can prove impossible to define, it's something of a masterstroke to choose a name that completely wrongfoots listeners from the off. You
Dapper Confidential • 29th March 2019
How to Style a Quiff: 10 Iconic Celebrity Quiffs
The quiff has had one hell of a resurgence in the last ten years. For a while, it dropped out of sight, save for some dedicated rockabilly folk who kept it alive alongside brothel creepers, bowling shirts and enough pomade to squeeze a whale through a keyhole. Now, everyone from soccer players to movie stars have sky-high styles that would make Elvis weep with pride. We decided to pay homage to the most iconic pompadours in hair history. How to Style a Quiff in 6 Easy Steps Andrew Fitzsimons, c
Robin Wilson's new cheerful experience
No decade feels special when you're in it. That's especially true of the 90s, a decade that felt dated, uncool and unfashionable even when we were knee-deep in undercuts, flannel and Matchbox 20. For those of us who were there first time around, it's inconceivable that when the fashion and cultural carousel came back around to 1990, it didn't just carry on to the 00s. But the 90s are back with a bang, bringing with them fashion that you'd tried to forget and a whole host of bands you once though
Dapper Confidential • 25th February 2019
Best Dressed Men at the Oscars 2019
In case you recently found yourself vacationing on Mars or comfortably ensconced under a rock, the Oscars happened on Sunday night in LA. The 91st hosting of film's biggest annual night out endured a bumpy road en route to the Dolby Theater, but the stars dutifully arrived dolled up as ever, some very impressively so. And while Rami Malek and Mahershala Ali took the big acting awards, there were many more winners on the red carpet…
The HotCorn • 11th February 2019
Remembering Albert Finney
Today's film industry seems to allow little room for anyone to be larger than life. Watching the speeches veer between politely dull and uncomfortably self-aggrandising at last night's BAFTAs, you can't help but pine for the unpredictability – for better and worse – of yesteryear's more vividly drawn stars. I didn't know Albert Finney, who sadly passed away on Thursday, but there was little about the man that ever came across as blank or boring. Finney the man always seemed as fascinating…
'Hunters In The Dark' – True Detective season 3 episode 6 review
There are elements to this season of True Detective that work and some that are starting to feel like they're getting in the way. It may be that they're all heading towards the same point on the horizon but so far, some feel slightly irritating and unnecessary, like that passenger who wants to pull in and use the toilet when you're 20 minutes away from your destination (full disclosure: that's usually me). 'Hunters In The Dark' is a hard episode to review for that very reason. I feel myself groa
Dapper Confidential • 21st January 2019
Dylan, Springsteen and Trapper Schoepp…
We all have heroes, but not all of us get to co-write a song with them. Trapper Schoepp got to do just that on his latest record, Primetime Illusion, and not with just any old hero. No, Schoepp has co-written a song with none other than Bob Dylan. The young songwriter from Wisconsin has three great rock and roll records under his belt already, but combining with Dylan across the decades to complete a long, lost song seems to have raised his game even further. Schoepp took some time out of a trip…
Dapper Confidential • 11th January 2019
10 Best Beards and Moustaches in Rock Music
Touring is a tough business, especially if you value personal hygiene. For most bands and musicians, long stints on the road make showers a luxury and shaving a distant memory. That might be why so many wandering minstrels through history have had such impressive beards. We previously ran through the actors who, in our humble opinion, boasted the finest beards and moustaches, so it's only fitting that we turn our attention to those fine fellows whose facial hair is as impressive as their musical
The HotCorn • 28th December 2018
What to binge watch this weekend (and New Year's) – Cheers
Just before Christmas, my wife and I welcomed our second child into the world. Needless to say, the occasion was a joyous one and our daughter has been as well-behaved and easy-going as a tiny, remorseless, burping, pooping and feeding machine can be. We loved her immediately, but good God is it exhausting having two kids, especially at Christmas. Life is now a kind of waking stupor (even when we're asleep) wherein anything that requires more than minimal brain power is overwhelming and upsettin
The HotCorn • 21st December 2018
HOT CORN Awards | The best TV of 2018… The full list
20. FOREVER – It's not exactly new to examine how even the most exciting relationships turn stale, but Forever took the concept and came at it from a completely unexpected angle. To say any more would ruin the impact of the superb second episode – Amazon gave strict instructions to press on what they could and couldn't say prior to release, which was a little out of the ordinary for a dramedy about marital ennui. Twists and turns aside, Forever was frequently charming, sometimes moving and alway
Dapper Confidential • 20th December 2018
Bill Heck on the Tender, Dusty Romance at the Heart of Buster Scruggs
Picture a cowboy. Some of you might see John Wayne, walking across a saloon like his legs are made of tin. Some of you might have conjured up Clint Eastwood, the tail end of a smoke clinging on to the corner of his lip, a dirty poncho draped around his shoulders. Or the more romantically inclined might see a ruggedly handsome young man in denim and boots, the kind of man who's seen hardship and cruelty, but somehow kept it at bay. Bill Heck fits firmly into that latter category. In 'The Gal Who
The HotCorn • 7th December 2018
'Janet(s)' – The Good Place season 3 episode 9 review
Have you ever felt like the universe is listening to you? Have you ever said, "I'd give my right arm for some pizza" and then walked right past someone handing out free slices of pizza? Have you ever taken a free slice of pizza from a stranger on the street and thought, "I really hope this isn't drugged" and then not woken up tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse? Have you ever sat dejected after a crappy date with a 4-foot sack of racist jokes and cat puke (who claimed to be 6'4" and a dead
Dapper Confidential • 26th November 2018
The Rise and Fall and Rise of Fantastic Negrito
Most of us have one story to tell. Xavier Dphrepaulezz has several, any one of which would be more than enough for the rest of us. Whatever he's been through (crime, near-stardom, near-death), the word that keeps coming back is "survivor". One of 15 children of a Somali-Caribbean immigrant, Dphrepaulezz has risen and fallen enough times to cause serious motion sickness. His brush with fame came in the 90s, signed as Xavier to Interscope records until a car crash broke both his arms and legs…
The HotCorn • 20th November 2018
If you only stream one thing this week: Soul Of America
In Alanis Morissette's 'Ironic', a man wins the lottery and dies the next day. Another takes his first ever flight and dies in a plane crash. To Alanis, these situations – while ironically not being ironic – are as shit as it gets, the brief tastes of joy that bring the whole thing crashing down. And while Alanis would no doubt consider soul singer Charles Bradley's life in keeping with the characters in her song, the whole thing overlooks the value of even the briefest joy and the price…
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