E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Apparently, according to a new book, Sylvia Plath , whose morbid anniversary is tomorrow (50 years since her cold Winter London flat suicide), was mentally disturbed from the age of 8 when her father died, and "dated" hundreds of men, sleeping with as many as five or six the same week, during her pre- Hughes time at Vassar in the 1950s; she also "self-harmed" and displayed rages of envy and perfectionism.  There is sexism in the fuss about this - many male poets - including her future husband - have been, or are, sexually voracious; and many poets teeter on the edge of mania, despair, or some unsteady cocktail of ambition, drive, and foreboding loss. Plath On The Beach One is hardly likely to forge an entirely new style of poetic utterance otherwise.  Plath, the evergreen poster girl for the madness-genius thin line, continues to sell papers, and books.  She is the flip side of Marilyn Monroe - the sexy, smart suicide herself - indeed, became as iconic as he...

I have been a member of a gym for about a year now, and see a personal trainer from time to time.  I run, swim, lift weights, and stretch, three to four times a week.  And, due to genes, a love of food, and some medicine I need to take, I am still about ten kilos over the suggested weight for a man my age (46).  Then again, having neither won nor lost Lee Child 's lottery of life (I am exactly medium height, at 5-9, neither short nor tall), and being a middle-aged man, most of the excess baggage appears around my midriff.  This has got me so down it was beginning to look up to me, and then the other day - zap! - I had a thought.  Who hates me this way, other than me?  I am loved by wife, and friends.  More vitally, some of the best guys ever, guys I loved, were love-handled or even fat - Orson Welles, Dylan Thomas , and Babe Ruth spring to mind.   Wallace Stevens , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Diego Rivera - all had a bad BMI.  If being a chu...

Eyewear has been biting its tongue, biding its time, and being mum, on the topic of the American-Russian spy scandal that has gripped certain sections of the media and public this past week.  Given the relative ineptitude of these Rocky and Bullwinkle -style spooks, and the lack of any atom-smashing-secrets purloined, the focus of the story has increasingly been on the pneumatic young Russian, Anna Chapman , pictured, formerly married to a British chap, who described her as the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.  This red-haired 21st Century Fox, with her Wonder Woman physique (described in the Guardian , tactlessly, as "bowling balls") - or, as one paper gushed, "Victoria's Secret figure" - seems to have raised eyebrows merely by fulfilling a casting couch need for a Russian Spy - in short, she is a Central Casting wet dream. But drop those arched brows, lads and ladettes - and stop licking thy lips.  Many -perhaps most - women are attractive, ...

Eyewear saw Shutter Island last night - how could I not? Scorsese is one of the best Hollywood directors of our time, and his sense of film history is second to none. Hearing he was doing a genre picture (which Sight & Sound observed is his " The Shining ") from an auteur/ homage angle - referencing Fuller, Lewton , and Hitchock - was thrilling. The film itself is disappointing, if only because expectations were raised it might be a masterwork. Instead, Shutter Island is a slow-moving, at times melodramatic, thinking-person's movie, with disconcertingly various elements - including ultra-violent depictions of Dachau, child murder, suicide, and mutilation; psychoanalysis; film theory; and 50s retro kitsch. Spoiler alert : the main problem is, anyone who knows the sub-genre of sane-men-in insane-asylums is likely to guess the "twist" - hardly a twist and more a foregone conclusion. There is, as a writer, only one binary option when putting a fish into a ...

Sad news. Mark Linkous , who suffered from depression, and was Sparklehorse , has killed himself. This follows the recent suicide of his friend, Vic Chesnutt . Linkous, who some critics felt possessed near-genius, famously wrote spectral, eerie, fragile songs, in a low key, that sometimes remind one of Mercury Rev . Or Elliot Smith . But they have a texture all their own.

Mental illness - especially depression - is far more common than some people accept - and remains a stigma, when other diseases (such as cancer) no longer seem a mark of Cain (despite what Sontag wrote on the subject). Recently, Little Episodes , a platform for artists, musicians, writers and other creatives, was put online, to establish an interface between mental health concerns and creative endeavours. It is an impressive project, and I am proud to say students from Kingston University are involved with the work.