The inherent ability of the ordinary to turn, without warning, into the extraordinary and take everything else along with it in a status quo-unsettling melee, sits at the centre of a great many stories, especially those in the fantasy and young adult genres. Inherent in these sorts of narratives is Continue Reading
Just dance! TV show characters get their groove on in Timberlake mashup
A deftly executed mashup is a viral thing of great joy and so it is with the latest superlative effort from What’s the Mashup? which blends dance footage from 75 television shows ranging from Friends to Sponge Bob Square Pants, Mr. Bean to Happy Days and The Simpsons to Continue Reading
Book review: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Jason Dessen has it all. Well, almost everything. He hasn’t even come closing to realising the impressive potential he showed at university as one of the most promising astro-physicists to come along in years, a man destined for great things. But while that nags at him, and he wonders Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: The animated sweetness of The Wishgranter
Even the best of us get jaded. It doesn’t matter how exciting our jobs are, or how emotionally-fulfilling our relationships might be, or whether we are engaged in the most altruistic of earthly pursuits, at one point or another ennui will dejectedly raise its seen-it-all head and wonder at Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: “Date of Death” (S2, E13 review)
*SPOILERS AHEAD … AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF FOOLISH ACTIONS, GOOD AND BAD … AND FRAT BOYS WITHOUT CONSCIENCE* “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mr. Amorality 2017! In a contest which is sure to create a talking point within the apocalyptic Twitterati – now confined to using actual birds Continue Reading
Hidden Figures: The amazing women who helped make space flight happen
SNAPSHOT Hidden Figures is the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe)—brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into Continue Reading
Want Nick Offerman to read Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” to you? Of course you do
Nick Offerman is one of the most talented actors working today. Adept at deadpan comic delivery – a talent enhanced all the more when he’s acting opposite his immensely-funny life partner-in-crime Megan Mullally (they played ex-husband and wife Ron and Tammy in Parks and Recreation) – and deft written Continue Reading
Comics review: The Flintstones (issues 1 & 2)
No matter how well-educated we might be, all of us have a tendency, to a greater or lesser degree, to interpret other cultures, peoples’ situations or even ancient civilisations through the lens of our modern worldview. We might have all the facts or evidence we need at hand but Continue Reading
The Best of Adam Sharp: The new book by Graeme Simsion (The Rosie Project)
SNAPSHOT On the cusp of fifty, Adam Sharp has a loyal partner, earns a good income as an IT contractor and is the music-trivia expert at quiz nights. It’s the lifestyle he wanted, but something’s missing. Two decades ago, on the other side of the world, his part-time piano Continue Reading
Road to Gilmore Girls A Year in the Life #1: “Pilot” (S1, E1 review)
Premiering on 5 October 2000, Gilmore Girls was one of those rare shows that many people, myself included, loved right from the start. Crafted with a very strong sense of time and place, and an exquisitely good eye for characterisation, by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Gilmore Girls was inspired by a Continue Reading