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THE YES OR NO GUIDE TO THE MONTH AHEAD
BOOKS Alan Moore Awesome comic combo of beardy Moore and weirdy Lovecraft.
FILM The Iron Lady All the Thatching but with none of the milk snatching.
MUSIC RM Hubbert Thumping your guitar is officially better than plucking it.
TV New Girl Formulaic Scrubsy-com with rent-a-kook Zooey Deschanel.
FILM War Horse Suitable reference: thoroughbred. Unsuitable reference: glue factory.
MUSIC The Saturdays Workmanlike gigging from the not-quite-Girls Aloud.
VISUAL ART Harry Papodopoulos Stunning rock photographer. Paparazz-oulos? No? Snapodopoulos it is then.
Impending tabloid backlash For all the stuff Frankie Boyle’s just said.
WeLike The things making our world just that little bit better
■ As Team List slaved away to produce this issue full of 2012's choicest meaty chunks for you, our bellies still wanting for 2011's Christmas pud, we were heartened to see Time magazine name Kate Beaton's book of her excellent web comic 'Hark! a Vagrant' one of its books of the year. With a certain guileless charm, she draws historical and literary figures and gives them rather silly things to say.
Are we still in the age of political correctness gone mad? Or have we gone full circle back to good old fashioned censorship? It's hard to
keep track but we liked this comparison,
bit.ly/bestwordbookever, of Richard Scarry's kids'
classic Best Word Book Ever in its 1963 and
1991 editions – these days all
'beautiful screaming
ladies' must be referred to as 'cats in
danger'.
And finally of particular delight to our resident crack lunchbreak crossword team was the Christmas card that arrived from the Newhaven Anagram Society just as we went to press, wishing us 'Ashy Chimp Parts'. And now that 2012 has arrived let us be the first to wish you, dear reader, 'A Spoony Purse Wearer'.
NEXT ISSUE Wednesday 1 February
ZACH BRAFF The offbeat indie icon has expanded his horizons into theatre, writing, directing and starring in the all-new production All New People. We’ll be having a chat with him, and clicking our fingers in front of his face whenever he drifts off into a wacky tangential reverie. VALENTINE’S DAY Whether you’re a simpering romantic, creating greeting cards out of macaroni and pink glitter; or whether you’re an embittered loner, spitefully reminding everyone that the real saint had nothing to do with love hearts and chocolates – we’ll have the (anti-)Valentine’s events for you.
112 THE LIST 5 Jan–2 Feb 2012