Coming to grips with you really are is a massive rite of passage for most people. (Not everyone; some people choose to remain blissfully unaware of their true selves or repress if they can’t stand the uncomfortable truth of it all.) This is a particular challenge for members of the Continue Reading
Wanna get away from your family? Come join The Willoughbys
SNAPSHOTConvinced they’d be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children (Tim, Jane, Barnaby A & B) hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family. The Willoughbys is directed by animation filmmaker Continue Reading
Book review: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
You have to hand it to humanity – no matter where we go, or what we accomplish or how grand and impressively expansive we become, we never really relinquish the inherent things that make us human, good and bad. Just how stubbornly we cling to the building blocks of our Continue Reading
A Douglas Adams trio of TV shows: Upload, The Midnight Gospel, Never Have I Ever, What We Do in the Shadows (s2), Nailed It! (s4)
COVID-19 is a nasty piece of work and as such does not have a lot of redeeming features and precious few silver linings. One of the few things it does have in its favour is that it offers the chance, with cinema offerings gutted down to just about zero and Continue Reading
Book review: Sharks in a Time of Saviours by Kawai Strong Washburn
There are novels that quite happily skim the surface of the deep well of emotions that make up most people and then there are novels like Sharks in the Time of Saviours, the immersively impressive debut novel from Kawai Strong Washburn, which dive in, hard, deep and long, unafraid it Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: It’s not a yolk – cute cartoon characters end up on eggs
SNAPSHOTJapanese mom Etoni Mama turns fried and boiled eggs into adorable cartoon characters. Etoni Mama is also a culinary artist in her own right and a published author. The title is “Saiji-ki Foods For Children” This book is full of recipes that offer a fun and delicious take on seasonal Continue Reading
COVID-19 strikes again – #Eurovision 2020 has been cancelled
To my great sorrow, COVID-19 has claimed yet another event – the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. It is nothing compared to the suffering it has caused countless people worldwide and you could well argue it’s cancellation is a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. But it’s something I Continue Reading
Movie review: Queen and Slim
All of us come to a point in our lives where a decision is made, often a bad one, where life is never even remotely the same again. In his recently-released book, Sharks in the Time of Saviours, Kawai Strong Washburn captures with poetic truthfulness what it is like in Continue Reading
Book review: Wolfe Island by Lucy Treloar
Life can be tough so it makes sense that there comes a time when we want to hide from it, push it away and create a haven, as much as that is possible, that feels safer, kinder and less reflective of our past. But as Kitty Hawke, the protagonist of Continue Reading
Star Trek: Picard review: “Nepenthe” and “Broken Pieces” (S1, E7 & E8)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND A HEADY MIX OF NOSTALGIA AND THE FUTURE … JUST LEAVE YOUR SYNTH AT HOME OKAY? Your mobile phone is a threat to the galaxy. Well, that’s not strictly speaking true but if it were to suddenly to develop sentience and start talking back to you Continue Reading