There is a popular perception of ABBA out in the general public of a Swedish group who were perpetually upbeat and sunny and whose music, composed of rich melodies and luscious harmonies, courtesy of the combined superlative vocal talents of Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, was the stuff of endlessly Continue Reading
Book review: Five stories from Star Wars – From a Certain Point of View by various authors #Maythe4thbewithyou
It has been a long time since I first saw what has been retroactively titled Star Wars: A New Hope, but at the time I saw it in a small one-screen cinema in coastal Ballina, NSW (Australia) was simply good old Star Wars, and you would think by now that Continue Reading
What makes Chewbacca tick? Looper entertainingly explores his backstory this Star Wars Day #Maythe4thBeWithYou
SNAPSHOTWhy is his weapon so different from almost everyone else’s? Why does he talk like that when he clearly understands different languages? Is Chewbacca his actual given name? We took a deep dive into Star Wars lore to find what makes this Wookiee tick. (synopsis via Laughing Squid) Poor Chewie. Continue Reading
Book review: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
On the surface of it, society looks a fairly straightforward set of exchanges. You have ideals, you act them with nobleness of intent and efficacy of action, you witness injustice, you stand up against and hopefully right the wrong, you get to know someone, become their friend and possibly even Continue Reading
Do ideals ever really die? Star Trek: Discovery tests this out in season 3
We like think to that ideals are pretty touch and enduring. Sure, they represent the very best of us, which seems to fall prey to very worst of us far more often than we want, but they mean something, they’re inspiring and surely they can last for 930 happily intact? Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2020: Week 5 – Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Latvia
This is normally how I begin these review posts … What is the Eurovision Song Contest?Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is Continue Reading
Comics review: Mutts – Hot Dogs, Hot Cats by Patrick McDonnell
Reading MUTTS, by cartoonist, playwright and author Patrick McDonnell, is never not a joy. To co-opt a phrase popularised by Snoopy from Peanuts by the legendary Charles M. Schulz – this is okay you would surmise since Schulz called Mutts “one of the best comic strips of all time” – Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #26: Dagny, NZCA Lines, Gorgon City, PVRIS, Lemaitre
COVID-19 has taken quite a lot of the expansive fizz from the world, making us feel that as we retreat into our homes, that our lives are following suit. But the thing is, as these songs remind us, that life, love and the pursuit never diminishes or is lost and Continue Reading
COVID-19 self-isolation getting you down? Stress not – Kermit the Frog’s is here to sweetly cheer you up
Kermit the Frog has always the Muppet balm for a troubled soul. And it’s not exaggerating things to say that with COVID-19 troubling a great many souls in some fairly big ways, we need someone as kind, insightful, calm and sweet as Kermit (voiced since 2017 by Matt Vogel) now Continue Reading