Ah, the giddy joys of falling in love. All the wining and dining and dating and kissing and the glittering possibilities of things yet to come; it is hard not to be swept into the starry-eyed dance of romantic back-and-forth, culminating, if Cupid is smiling upon you, in getting together Continue Reading
Give a little love: John Lewis / Waitrose debut their very kind 2020 #Christmas ad
2020 has been a tough year. Tens of millions of people around the world have contracted COVID-19 or found themselves in lockdown to avoid hastening its spread or have been unable to see close friends and loved ones for much of the time. So what’s the world need in a Continue Reading
Star Trek: Discovery – “Die Trying” (S3, E5 review) / The Mandalorian – “Chapter 11: The Heiress” (S2, E3 review)
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY SPOILERS AHEAD … AND PLANTS RUN AMUCK …. If you ever wanted a Star Trek episode, no matter the series, and you’re likely well aware their number is legion, or soon to be at least, that absolutely, perfectly and completely encapsulates how this most idealistic of franchises Continue Reading
Book review: Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
It was Lysander, in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream who remarked that “The course of true love never did run smooth” but it’s Ollie, the protagonist from Sophie Gonzales’s passionately heartfelt tale of young gay love, Only Mostly Devastated, who can issue a hearty “Amen!” some 400 years after the Continue Reading
Movie review: Corpus Christi
There are very few genuine second chances in life. Oh, we love to mythologise and celebrate them, holding them up as proof positive that one mistake in life does not a condemned existence make. But as Corpus Christi (Polish: Boże Ciało) demonstrates with a quietly nuanced but furious intensity, opportunities Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #38: Tate McRae, Aluna, Astrid S, Alex Porat, London Thompson
Being honest about your feeling is hard. Damn hard. If you’re like most people, you fear being judged or misunderstood or seen as weak or immature; the truth of the matter though is that there is a freedom in baring your soul and asking whether anyone else feels like you Continue Reading
Book review: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
In one sense, there is nothing in The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix that you haven’t read a thousand times before in any number of fantasy books where an ordinary everyday mortal discovers they have a far richer and more fantastical inheritance than they could ever have imagined. Continue Reading
Weekday pop art: What if Wes Anderson had designed The Simpsons?
SNAPSHOTWes Anderson is a genre of film unto himself. One of the biggest reasons is that he has his own signature aesthetic. His meticulously crafted, often symmetrical sets with a distinct pastel color palette are like quirky living dollhouses. Nothing else resembles them, so you can always identify one of Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: “Honey” (S6, E5 review) + The Walking Dead: World Beyond – “Shadow Puppets” (S1, E6 review)
FEAR THE WALKING DEAD SPOILERS AHEAD … AND THE WORST MASK PARTY *EVER* … Life is woefully short on fairytales. That’s even more the case in the zombie apocalypse where the scarcity of happy-ever-afters and princesses finding and kissing their princes (or princesses) is all too apparent. So, you have Continue Reading
Book review: Lucky’s by Andrew Pippos
Life can be so unremittingly bleak at times, 2020 being a perfect case in point, that it’s important to be reminded of the opportunities it affords for salvation, redemption and fresh starts. These are not exactly lying on the ground for us to gather up as we will, but as Continue Reading