Backchat Backwoods Special

So welcome back to Backchat, a feature on Parallax View so ancient, it's developed a curly ginger beard of its own. Long-suffering Wolves fan Gisbourne has taken the time to write in following a hard day toting that bale, following my request for an insight into why Wanderers supporters are widely characterised as 'Dingles' despite being based over a hundred miles away from the Yorkshire location of the rustic soap. Carefully removing a stray strand of hay from between his teeth, Gisb divulges -

'Of course as you've known me for at least 25 years you have no doubt come to regard me as a leader in sartorial elegance and style, but weirdly this is not a reputation my fellow Wolves fans enjoy. A survey in one of the lads magazines, Loaded, FHM et al...can't remember which, had Wolves fans as 90th out of, of course, 92 in the best dressed football supporters. This was picked up by the [Albion] fans, who likened us to those loveable Emmerdale rogues. What made this even more irritating is that they were 88th!!! As this was about 3 or 4 seasons ago, I can only guess that you rascal Hammers have also picked up on it. I also know that Blackburn fans refer to Burnley supporters as Dingles too.'

Football fans, eh? The tinkers. Anyways, just time to update a few previous stories. First up, some good news as Jorn Barger (aka Mr Robot Wisdom) appears to be safe and well. Next week, Metafilter will no doubt unearth Richie Edwards, and in a pre-planned Xmas special will pinpoint Osama Bin Laden's zipcode.

Meanwhile, the Monica Ali backlash continues apace with Bangladeshi community leaders stepping into the fray by criticising her depiction of them as 'economic migrants' in the novel Brick Lane. Most of the people joining in the backlash don't seem to have actually read the book, and in her defense Ali does a bloody good job at reflecting a wide range of motivation and experience from within the immigrant communities it depicts in the novel, so I think the criticism isn't just disingenuous but plain wrong. For my full review of the book though, go here.

And finally, via this excellent Kill Bill fansite I can reveal that the official trailer for Kill Bill: Volume 2 will be premiered ahead of showings for the third LOTR movie Return Of The King from December 17.

Fans of the Mason and Dixon Watch feature can rest assured there will be further updates on Pynchon's punning linguistics at the weekend.