Apologies for the lack of updates -- I've been making the most of the Easter weekend to get my freshly-decorated study into some sort of order. I've also been out stretching my legs, real and artificial, in Richmond Park and catching a couple of films, including the extraordinary Capturing the Friedmans.

It's a breathtaking piece of documentary-making -- unsettling, disturbing and at times almost unwatchable. It reminded me of all the reasons why I never read fiction -- because non-fiction is more compelling and it's grounded in real life. To watch "Capturing the Friedmans" is to watch a middle-class suburban family self destruct in front of the camera.

What's most amazing is the fact that director Andrew Jarecki was originally making a film about New York party clowns and stumbled across the secret past of the Friedmans almost by accident (read his explanation of how the film came about here.)

I won't spoil the film by saying too much about it (there's plenty of background here) but it's a real must see movie.

One other piece of news...I'll be taking part in a discussion about blogging with Persian super-blogger Hoder this Thursday for the BBC World Service programme The Word. We'll be talking about blogging, journalism and censorship -- among other issues.

I'm not sure of the transmission time and date yet...but I'll keep you posted.