Unless you have been sleeping under a great big rock made of some sort of superhero-enervating material, you would have noticed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) likes to go big, very, VERY big. That’s hardly a surprise – it’s there in the name, after all. So, the fact that Continue Reading
Book review: The Maid by Nita Prose
People for the most part do not take kindly to those who do not seamlessly blend with the mainstream. They should because often these people offer, fresh, original perspectives sorely lacking from the usual way of viewing things, but alas, they don’t, too interested in enforcing the security of orthodoxy, Continue Reading
Destructive vengeance and constructive hope: Thoughts on Star Trek – Discovery S4 (ep. 8-13)
There seems to be a widely held perception that Star Trek: Discovery is wildly inconsistent, a newly-installed flagship series for the franchise that never quite manages to do anything remarkable. Quite why that is is open to debate – as the lead series for the new wave of multitudinous Star Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: Peanuts by Schulz – Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown by Jason Cooper & Robert Pope
Going anywhere with Charlie, Snoopy, Lucy and the gang is to feel like you are with friends. That might seem cloyingly sentimental but the truth is that if you have grown up with Charles M. Schulz’s delightful creations, all drawn from the expansively imaginative and heartfelt panels of his justly Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2022: Week 1 – Albania, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark (semi-final 1, part 1)
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 telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading
Book review: The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
If you have been an avid reader like this reviewer, you will know deep inside yourself that books are rare and precious things capable of illumination, escapism, companionship and real empathy and warmth. They matter and they speak to us because they are, by and large, created by people who Continue Reading
Movie review: The Adam Project
One of the very worst things you can call any story is “derivative”, a casually poisonous accusation that inevitably coats the object of the derision in colours both inspired and cliched. But as with anything, it’s not the fact that the cliches and tropes are there in abundance that is Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: Specter Inspectors by Bowen McCurdy and Kaitlyn Musto
Here’s to stories that wonderfully defy expectations! While the media release for Specter Inspectors clearly quotes co-creator Bowen McCurdy describing this delightfully scary but heartwarming five-part tale of the supernatural as one featuring “queer characters on adventures, ghosts, romance, and only a handful of demons”, this reviewer somehow ordered it Continue Reading
Book review: The Keepers by Al Campbell
We wield the phrase “the weight of the world on their shoulders” about someone struggling with a great burden in terms both hushed and reverent, and often, sorrowfully pitying. Drawn from the Greek mythological tale about Zeus and Atlas, the latter whom carries the literal world on his enormous but Continue Reading
Three tantalising TV trailers: Fear the Walking Dead (7B), Parallels + Derry Girls (s3)
My viewing habits are nothing if not eclectic! For proof, I give you this post, exhibit A which features zombies, supernatural teens and wisecracking coming-of-age Northern Irish friends – each series completely and utterly different and inherently, wonderfully watchable. As I type this, I am holed up in my partner Continue Reading