Due to last year's heightened activity in Charlie Chaplin events and products (and I believe the late Chaplin Society had some bearing on this, to what degree I don't know) I have redesigned, updated and given a fresh home to the Chaplin UK Video and DVD Guide.

This is a reliable guide to most of the DVDs and videos that are available in the UK featuring Charlie Chaplin, and can tell you which editions are good quality, which ones are cheap and cheerful, and which ones are badly produced. If you're new to silent film in any form (comedy or drama) then watching a badly produced video can turn you off them for good, whereas watching a film that has been lovingly remastered, rescored and given its due care and attention can realise the beauty of this art form for you. Sadly, many volumes are of the former variety, often because the film rights are either free, cheap, or no one cares and it gets put together on a budget, often along with a lack of knowledge. Things are getting better, with the MK2 editions of Chaplin's classics, and Eureka have improved greatly since their early releases, most recently to give us a stunning edition of the wonderful Sunrise .

Yesterday I managed to see the contents of an 8mm tape I've had in my possession for over ten years but had never seen. It was recorded at a Steerpike gig in 1992 (I was the bassist) and isn't at all bad. The surprising thing was, while rooting around in old box I found another 8mm tape with yet more Steerpike on, this time from a gig at the now defunct 101 Club, from about the same time. I initiated myself into the delights of Apple's iDVD and now have the highlights on disc, complete with menus and chapters. Some frames are reproduced below.

I know this blog has mainly been updates recently (but that was always the main purpose of Nucleus since I started the page in 1997), so apologies for another one. Not having the time to organise my small collection of Brambletye House pictures into some kind of display at home, I'm inflicting them on the web. Learn more here .

The biggest update has been an overhaul, re-edit and graphical make-over for my article on the film A Woman of Paris, which has been getting quite a few hits. I have also done maintenance work on a few other pages, plus I uploaded some thumbnails I drew in September (2003) for Buck Zero (written by Darryl Cunningham), and added more information to the Anglo-Afghan War project page.

Regie Rigby who has a weekly column at the Silver Bullet Comics website has named The Rainbow Orchid the Fool Britannia Small Press Comic of the Year 2003. Marvellous.