As a kid, I read a lot of books. A LOT OF BOOKS. Despite the vast number, quite a few of them made a real impact on me including Richard Adam’s 1972 novel Watership Down about a burrow of rabbits struggling to survive as their beloved habitat faces destruction. Continue Reading
Book review: The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
One of the curiously unexpected aspects of deep and prolonged grief is an unnerving sense of becoming unmoored from your life. One minute all the touchstones are in place, the things that give your life a sense of time, place and meaning, and the next? One crucial piece is Continue Reading
Some gifts are more than just a gift: This year’s John Lewis Christmas ad
SNAPSHOT Titled The Boy & The Piano, the 12th version of the department store’s iconic ad … tells the true story of how a Christmas gift – a piano belonging to Elton’s grandmother – went on to inspire the music icon’s life, working backwards chronologically from the present day Continue Reading
Movie review: Stan and Ollie
Comedy is one of the great joys of life, a chance to sit back and ignore the serious business of life for a moment in favour of poking fun at, musing on its ups and downs, and sometimes just being plain silly and goofy in a way that is Continue Reading
Now this is music #118: Wafia, Kero Kero Bonito, Dillon Francis, Demo Taped, Raleigh Ritchie
We’re in love. Out of love. Trying to find it. Watching others find it. Wishing we had some time in a tree (this will make sense later, trust me). As always, music has a way of taking myriad emotions, all of which swirl in and out of hearts and Continue Reading
Meet Ducky and Bunny! Toy Story 4 drops 3 new posters and a very meta trailer
SNAPSHOT Woody has always been confident about his place in the world and that his priority is taking care of his kid, whether that’s Andy or Bonnie. But when Bonnie adds a reluctant new toy called “Forky” to her room, a road trip adventure alongside old and new friends Continue Reading
Movie review: Set It Up
There’s a good reason why falling in love is so popular in the movies – real life romance, lovely though it can be at times (most of the time if you find the “right” person), rarely comes close to the magnificently-confected perfection of the average romantic comedy or rom-com. Continue Reading
My Grandfather’s Memory Book: A touching tribute to a much-loved artistic heritage
SNAPSHOT …the memory book was different. It was like all his sketchbooks compressed into one — an impressionistic retrospective stretching back to early childhood. There were stories of long-lost friends next to struggles at work, moments of historical significance flowing into prosaic family vignettes: kaleidoscopic portals into moments of Continue Reading
Once Upon a Deadpool: Way less raunch, far more charity fundraising
Deadpool 2 returns! But it is not as you remember it; specifically it is coming back into theatres, sans the expletives, the raunchiness, the hilariously crass irreverence and yes, everything that made it the scourge of conservative parents groups everywhere. What you might ask is the point of all Continue Reading
Determinism vs. free will? The Good Place S3 asks the hard questions … and has fun doing it
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND A WHOLE LOT OF FORKING GOOD FUN … Much as I am a fan of sitcoms, there is a dearth of entries in the genre that manage to be both hilariously funny and immensely clever. When you think of shows that satisfy both criteria, shows Continue Reading