Counter Culture

5-21 November 2021

Edinburgh Short Film Festival, Summerhall Cinema

Short films are a great art form in their own right. This is the chance to see a range. https://www.edinburghshortfilmfestival.com/

Saturday, November 6, 2021

There’s quite a bit of ABBA on Channel 5. It starts with ABBA: Then and Now In Their Own Words at 9:10. This is a celebration of the band with interviews archive footage and music telling the story of the Swedish superstars. Contributors include singers Neil Sedaka and Barbara Dickson. After that, there is ABBA live in concert and ABBA the movie. All this coincides with the release of a new album (Abba Voyage – their first studio album in 40 years) and planned virtual shows which are sure to delight fans. Benny and Bjorn even offered to write a Eurovision Song contest entry for Britain – but only if someone like Dua Lippa can be signed up to sing it!

Monday, 8 November 2021

Dexter: New Blood, Sky Atlantic 10:05 pm

Many years following his supposed death we that anti-hero Dexter Morgan is living a quiet life. Dexter was last seen disposing of his dead sister and faking his own death once his crimes became known. Dexter was lumberjacking in Oregon and now works in the garden and bait in a small town in upstate New York. He’s even dating the local police chief. But how far can he keep his ‘Dark Passenger’ in check?

Tuesday, 9 November 2021

Chi-Owi Nwanoku on Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Sky Arts, 10:15 pm

I know only a few facts about Coleridge-Taylor. That he was a composer/conductor. That his mother was English and his father was from Sierra Leone. That he was born in Lond and that he wrote three cantatas on the epic poem Song of Hiawatha by American Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This programme will be an opportunity for me to discover more.

From 11-14 November 2012

The Radical Book Fair at the Assembly Roxy

This four-day event is themed around ‘Futures Worth Fighting For’. Magpies are said to steal shiny things. I will be channeling the Magpie and looking for interesting ideas and books amongst the ‘self-indulgent, liberal, Woke nonsense’. Who knows, if I keep an open mind some of that might even be interesting or entertaining!

https://www.facebook.com/RadicalBookFair/

From 12 November 2021 on Amazon Prime Video

Lioness: the Nicola Adams story is available from Friday the 12th of November on Amazon Prime Video. Nicola won fame when she became the first woman ever to be crowned Olympic flyweight boxing champion at the London games in 2012. She won Gold again. During her professional career, she also claimed the WBO championship. Nicola who came from adverse beginnings and had many obstacles to overcome is an inspiring figure. She’s smart too. When she was asked what people should take from her story she said: “I’m hoping they’ll be inspired and have the courage to pursue their dreams and do whatever they want in life and I hope they realise that you’re only on the planet for a short space of time.” Truly a British Lioness!