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There are not many festivals where you could easily cross paths with a Nobel Laureate or a Pulitzer Prize winner while queuing for some food - unless you are sauntering around HowTheLightGetsIn festival that is.

Something of an ideological lucky dip, HowTheLightGetsIn, the biggest philosophy and music festival in the world, is known for its eclectic line-ups. Previous speakers at the event span from Noam Chomsky, renowned academic, to Brian Eno, the English musician, Ed Milliband, former Labour Party leader, Philip Pullman, best-selling author, to two authors both famed for whipping up controversy, Richard Dawkins and Slavoj Zizek.

Update - due to the passing of Queen Elizabeth 11 on September 8 the festival is now taking place on October 1-2.

At its core, HowTheLightGetsIn is about trying to liberate philosophy from the far-flung elitist ivory tower of academia and make it more digestible and rousing for wider audiences. And it is Hilary Lawson,...

New York — "Brother against brother," says The Governor fiercely. "Winner goes free. Fight to the death."

Is this any way to run a town?

AMC's zombie drama "The Walking Dead" ended the first half of this season with a wrenching faceoff: roughneck brothers Merle and Daryl were pitted in a bloody test of loyalty to The Governor as he rallied his flock – the residents of Woodbury, Ga. – to goad them on.

That was last December.

Things haven't settled down as the hit horror serial returns for another eight episodes Sunday at 9 p.m. Est. The death match continues. The Governor, played by David Morrissey, is increasingly oppressive, even deranged.

"With Woodbury, he has built a sanctuary, a place of safety where humanity can start again," says Morrissey. "But the negative side of power is like a wobbly tooth for him. He just can't stop sticking his tongue in there. There's something gloriously painful about it,...

Esther Freud is a smart and underrated novelist, with a fleeting, little-known connection to Dr. Who: in her acting days she once had a tiny part as an alien on the show. As I point out on my review of her new novel Lucky Break (in Sunday's New York Times Book Review), the career change was a good idea. The novel, which follows a group of drama students, is witty and sly about the deep lure of acting and the unlikely chances of fame. You can read the entire review here. And to answer the obvious Freudian question: she is…...

Esther Freud is a smart and underrated novelist, with a fleeting, little-known connection to Dr. Who: in her acting days she once had a tiny part as an alien on the show. As I point out on my review of her new novel Lucky Break (in Sunday's New York Times Book Review), the career change was a good idea.

From Crosby beach to a big match at Anfield, actor David Morrissey takes Amy Raphael on a tour of his hometown – and explains why it has inspired him to direct a new film

Past the Hillsborough memorial and beneath the legend "You'll Never Walk Alone" atop the Shankly Gates, through the creaking turnstile and into the main stand. A subdued Liverpool team warm up on the pitch. Freezing fog swirls in the floodlights. David Morrissey warms his hands on a cup of hot chocolate and wishes he hadn't left his gloves back home in north London. Two officials stare and nudge each other, but no one else even glances at him.

We are sitting five rows from the pitch and, for the first half of this Premiership game against Birmingham City, all the action is at the other end as Liverpool attack the Kop. Morrissey – 6ft 3in, broad of shoulder,...

... or at least the wife of a man who thinks he's the Doctor. Esther Freud is married to one David Morrissey - but she has another link to Doctor Who, having appeared in Attack of the Cybermen which was finally released on DVD in March. As a result of this, Freud - now an author - was invited to a signing event in Barking, East London recently and relayed her experiences of meeting fans and signing photos (not to mention receiving royalty cheques for 79p) in the Times this weekend. Esther...

For her first screen outing since her grueling "Titanic" experience, Kate Winslet apparently wanted to be as far away from water as possible.

In Marrakech for "Hideous Kinky", based on English novelist Esther Freud's childhood Moroccan adventures with her sister and mother, Winslet looks somewhat parched but pleased.

Part exotic travelogue, part meditative quest for spiritual redemption, Gillies MacKinnon's screen adaptation ultimately, like its characters, spends a little too long wandering aimlessly in the sun.

Despite bright performances and quaint, post-Woodstock clothing and music, the picture is destined for modest art house business.

Odd as it may seem given her previous role, Winslet is believable as the mother of an 8-year-old and 6-year-old caught up in the adventurous hippie spirit of the late 1960s and early '70s. The film and novel's title refers to a game kids play involving the juxtaposition of unrelated but funny-sounding grown-up words.

With the girls' unreliable poet father in London, Julia, pleasantly precocious Bea (Bella Riza) and wide-eyed Lucy (Carrie Mullan) have pitched a tent at the Hotel Moulay in bustling Marrakech.

At the mercy of the erratic Moroccan postal system, Julia struggles to make ends meet between frugal support payments from home by taking an occasional translation job or selling handmade dolls in the teeming marketplace.

Planning to make a pilgrimage to a Sufi temple in Algeria, where she hopes to find spiritual enlightenment, Julia is sidetracked temporarily by the arrival of Bilal (Said Taghmaoui), a charismatic street performer with a shady past.

He becomes part of their household, serving as Bea and Lucy's surrogate dad. But as with all soul-searching journeys, the road to metaphysical salvation is paved with miles of uncertainty.

MacKinnon ("The Playboys") does a good job capturing the pungent flavors of the place and time, but the initial sensation of free-spirited wanderlust becomes stifled by a purposefully languid pace and repetitive shots of serene vistas.

While Winslet does strong work as a woman treading a fine line between independence and selfishness, Riza and Mullan spark the picture with credible portrayals of playful sisters. Riza is particularly good as a child who, more than anything, craves a normal life with all of its mundane trappings.

Credit frequent MacKinnon collaborator cinematographer John de Borman with indelible visuals that effectively draw the viewer into the exotic terrain. You'll swear you can feel the sand between your toes.

HIDEOUS KINKY

Stratosphere Entertainment

Director: Gillies MacKinnon

Screenwriter: Billy MacKinnon

Based on the novel by: Esther Freud

Producer: Ann Scott

Executive producers: Simon Relph, Mark Shivas

Director of photography: John de Borman

Production designers: Louise Marzaroli, Pierre Gompertz

Editor: Pia Di Ciaula

Costume designer: Kate Carin

Music: John Keane

Casting: Susie Figgis

Color/stereo

Cast:

Julia: Kate Winslet

Bilal: Said Taghmaoui

Bea: Bella Riza

Lucy: Carrie Mullan

Santoni: Pierre Clementi

Charlotte: Abigail Cruttenden

Ben Said: Ahmed Boulane

Eva: Sira Stampe

Running time -- 99 minutes

MPAA rating: R...