At first glance there may not seem to be much of a connection between Divergent, the first film in a planned cinematic trilogy based on the much loved young adult series by Veronica Roth, and one of the most famous quotes about the Vietnam War. But as the story Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2014: Week 3 – Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy
WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
The things we do to SURVIVE: New The Walking Dead season 5 poster
You may well be thinking to yourself “Did we not just finish season 4, and isn’t season 5 an agonisingly long seven months in the far off wilds of October when we could well be up to your necks in the chomping undead for real?” You would be right Continue Reading
Movie review: The LEGO Movie
Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt), the delightfully uncertain heart and soul of The LEGO Movie, is a thoroughly unremarkable construction worker. Which is, of course, exactly as it should be, in a film that happily takes just about every trope and cliche of the fantasy world, and with more Continue Reading
Haven’t you ever wanted to Begin Again (poster + trailer)
SNAPSHOT The latest film from writer-director John Carney (Once), Begin Again is a soul-stirring comedy about what happens when lost souls meet and make beautiful music together. Gretta (Keira Knightley) and her long-time boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine) are college sweethearts and songwriting partners who decamp for New York when Continue Reading
The history book on the shelf: 40 years since ABBA’s historic Eurovision win
When ABBA, Sweden’s youthful and highly unorthodox entry for 1974’s the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England, walked on stage in all their extraordinarily tight glam pop glory, it was clear that the staid world of Europe’s post World War Two musical experiment in good neighbourliness, was in for Continue Reading
Movie review: 300 – Rise of an Empire
One thing is readily apparent within minutes of Noam Murro’s 300: Rise of an Empire portentous exposition heavy opening and that is its origins as one of the legendary Frank Miller artfully designed graphic novels. Graphic it most certainly is, almost immediately in fact (although in no way a fitting Continue Reading
Dreams do come true: Community within reach of #SixSeasonsAndAMovie
Way back in 1965, Mitch Leigh (music) and Joe Darion (lyrics) penned the song “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” which went on to become the most popular song from the musical Man of La Mancha, the story of Don Quixote by novelist Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It was variously used Continue Reading
Now this is music #26: Talos, Lucy Mason, Sleep Thieves, Porter Robinson, Zella Day
Ah the sweet, sweet sound of new music on my ears! While it is always good to treasure the old songs that have got us through breakups, celebrated new love or simply helped us to dance and celebrate a joyously good mood, trying on some tunes for size is Continue Reading
Book review: Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
The two most charming things about Téa Obreht’s assured debut novel The Tiger’s Wife, a captivating mix of real life and the delightfully fantastical set in what was once Yugoslavia, are revealed almost immediately by the evocative, descriptively-rich opening paragraph: “In my earliest memory, my grandfather is bald as a stone Continue Reading