Post-modern storytelling is all about bringing together all kinds of disparate elements, or at least not commonly joined together ones, and making something remarkably beguiling out of them. It’s a common feature of fantasy storytelling now and increasingly is making its presence felt in comics such as the gorgeously queer Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: Pixar’s Wind (Sparkshorts)
SNAPSHOTSet in a world of magical realism, Wind sees a grandmother and her grandson trapped deep down an endless chasm, scavenging debris that surrounds them to realize their dream of escaping to a better life.” Wind is both written and directed by animator / filmmaker Edwin Chang, who has been Continue Reading
Book review: Everything is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray
Grief is debilitating no matter what form it comes from; but it is even more damaging to your emotional and mental wellbeing and to the overall forward momentum of your life when it arrives with a slew of question marks hanging over its harrowing arrival. One person who knows this Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: Undiscovered Country: Destiny (Volume 1) by Scott Snyder & Charles Soule
There is such an extravagance of imagination, such an exhilarating deep dive into fantasy and wonder and weirdness on a grand scale, to Undiscovered Country that it is safe to say that it is one of the best graphic novels to come along in some time. The writers of the Continue Reading
Book review: Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram
Returning to spend time with a literary character you love is always fraught with a little bit of trepidation. Much like catching up again with someone with whom you really hit it off, there’s always this nagging worry that the magic won’t be there in quite the same way as Continue Reading
There’s a new world coming: Trailer bows for The Irregulars
SNAPSHOTMeet The Irregulars: Bea, Jessie, Billy, Spike and Leo. Join this ragtag gang as they uncover the demonic and mysterious depths of Victorian London alongside the sinister Dr Watson and his enigmatic business partner, Sherlock Holmes. (synopsis via YouTube (c) Netflix) It is getting very crowded in the world of Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs: #44: Sumner, Kinder, Peach Tree Rascals, Cat & Calmell, CamelPhat + #Eurovision update
It’s been a tough year and while vaccinations are in the offing around the world, we’re a long way from being out of the pandemic woods just yet. So, it’s good that there are five songs by five supremely talented artists who talk about life, love and the human experience Continue Reading
Movie review: The Big Hit (Un triomphe) #AFFrenchFilmFestival
Can art liberate you? It’s a big question but one with a great deal of rich humanity at its heart in the Emmanuel Courcol-directed film Un Triomphe / The Big Hit, which asks if it possible for art to liberate the spirit when the body has no choice but to Continue Reading
Book review: Radio Life by Derek B. Miller
It is pretty accepted by many people these days that the old idea that the evolutionary path for humanity isn’t as idealistically rosy as it once was. Much of that idealism had its roots in postwar optimism, the kind that existed almost because it had to in the wake of Continue Reading
Comics review: Coady and the Creepies by Liz Princes + Amanda Kirk + Hannah Fisher
Coady and the Creepies is one of those delightful graphic novels that you love from the first page. That might make it sound like the introduction to punk music-playing 16-year-old triplet sisters Coady, Criss and Corey is all lightness and exuberantly fun dialogue, a whirl of visual fun and vividly-realised Continue Reading