The world is rather neatly divided into two groups of people – those who hate Christmas with a passion and would rather be flayed alive by an invading army than sing “Joy to the World” or eat a fruit mince pie, and those who, like Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk (and Continue Reading
Music
Songs, songs and more songs #51: bülow, Em Beihold, Tones and I, John Errol, Baby Queen (feat. MAY-A)
As the city I live in hurtle into a third straight week of lockdown with more to come, it’s heartening that there is so much great music to keep spirits higher than they might otherwise be. Even better, this music comes with thoughtful, observant and playful lyrics that poetically reflect Continue Reading
Weekday movie poster art: Unhappy to see you again with The Addams Family 2
SNAPSHOTEveryone’s favorite spooky family is back in the animated comedy sequel, The Addams Family 2. In this all-new movie we find Morticia and Gomez distraught that their children are growing up, skipping family dinners, and totally consumed with “scream time.” To reclaim their bond they decide to cram Wednesday, Pugsley, Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #50: BSÍ, OhEm, Chemical Brothers, Kele, Lauren Aquilina + find out How to Eurovision with Ukraine …
Good times or bad, we all need music. Lots and lots of meaningful, thoughtful, heartfelt music, the kind that can make sense of the world around us and make even the worst of things not feel so quite impenetrable or hard to understand. These five artists have clearly thought hard Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #49: AUDREY NUNA, George Gretton, Cannons, Supertaste, Ben Phipps and CAPPA + #Eurovision Song Celebration 2021
It’s been busy. You need some peace and quiet BUT you also want to think … to feel … to ponder. Another one of life’s wondrous contradictions which lends itself to being soundtracked by people who get the human condition, who have lived it and who have the talent to Continue Reading
It’s time to Dance Alone with THE ROOP #Eurovision
Regardless of your thoughts about who won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest – it was Italy by the way with “Zitti E Buoni” by Måneskin and yes, for the record, I actually quite liked its glam rock intensity though I was not so secretly hoping France or Switzerland might win Continue Reading
#Eurovision 2021 cultural festival movie review: Just Say Yes
Like most genres of cinema, really all if we’re being totally honest, romantic comedies march solidly and determinedly to a set and little varied formula. It makes sense – if people are watching you for an idealised vision of falling in love and the romanticised delights of happily ever after, Continue Reading
#Eurovision 2021 cultural festival: 5 Dutch music artists – Pink Oculus, De Staat, Fatima Yamaha, My Baby, BEA1991
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 is delivering a ton of great and quirky music in the Netherlands’ city of Rotterdam but what about music made in the country itself? Some of it will be featured during the semi-finals and grand final, a nod to the Eurovision tradition of showcasing the Continue Reading
#Eurovision 2021 cultural festival TV review: Toon (season 1)
If you have ever felt that life is sweeping you fiercely and rapidly along to some great moment that is undeniably wonderful but most definitely not of your choosing, then you will find much with which to identify with the titular protagonist in Toon, a 2016 TV comedy from Dirk Continue Reading
And the possible Eurovision 2021 winners are … my top 10 picks for semi-finals 1 & 2
In one of the many wonderful scenes that make up 1965’s The Sound of Music, the nuns muse at great musical length in one scene about how exactly you solve a problem like Maria; it seems like an impossible thing to fix, far beyond the reach of even, it seems, Continue Reading