Next to Grover, who is my favourite Sesame Street monster bar none, I have a huge amount of affection for Ernie (especially) and Bert, the two diametrically-opposite housemates who have long amused and delighted with their Abbott and Costello-ish antics. Now Ernie is starring in a delightful musical number, Continue Reading
TV
Rick and Morty season 3 has a release date! No, really …
Rejoice and be glad lovers of inter-dimensional travel and those who practise it, for we have a release date for Rick and Morty season 3! It has been a long time coming and frankly some of us doubted it would ever come to pass but on July 30 at Continue Reading
Raise your marmalade sandwiches high: Farewell Michael Bond, creator of Paddington #RIP
Back on one warm Friday morning in late 2014, I walked into a darkened cinema in Sydney, beyond eager (but also a little trepidatious) to watch Paddington, the big screen adaptation of Michael Bond’s much-loved bear. I needn’t have worried because the people who brought this film to life, Continue Reading
A fascinating journey: Adam Driver talks about finding his true vocation as an actor
SNAPSHOT Before he fought in the galactic battles of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Adam Driver was a United States Marine with 1/1 Weapons Company. He tells the story of how and why he became a Marine, the complex transition from soldier to civilian — and Arts in the Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: “Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame” (S3, E5 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND POETRY, DAMN POETRY AND BRAIN-EATING CROWS One of the great existential dilemmas of The Walking Dead franchise as a whole has been whether it is possible to stay human (be tender, merciful, cultured, artistic) in the face of an unrelenting threat that, on the face Continue Reading
Sesame Street: Whoopi Goldberg and Elmo Draw Picture for Pen Pal in Syria
SNAPSHOT Elmo wants to cheer up his friend Laila from Syria—so he decides to draw her a picture. Millions of children like Laila are missing out on education and need our help. (synopsis via YouTube) Though it is justifiably known and lauded for its brilliant work as a worldwide Continue Reading
The Librarians: Saving the world, one comic book at a time
SNAPSHOT Way back in the swinging ‘70s, movie producer Sol Schick was the guy behind such cheesy classics as Quarry: Bigfoot!, Noah’s Ark: Found at Last! and Heavenly Visitors from the Hell Above. But when he’s murdered – at a film festival! – with a piece of Noah’s Ark! Continue Reading
Winter is here – and so is a fearsome new Game of Thrones S7 trailer and posters
SNAPSHOT At the end of season 6 Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) dragons and her immense army were finally on the way to Westeros, where Cersei (Lena Headey) has now become Queen after the death of her children. The Night King’s (Vladimir Furdik in season 6) army is heading south, and Continue Reading
Is there existential depth to Rick & Morty? “Wubbalubbadubdub yes!” says creator Dan Harmon
One of the really impressive things about Rick and Morty, Adult Swim’s incredibly clever animated series about an alcoholic scientist grandfather and his often hapless but EQ-rich grandson, has been the way it merges bright, funtastic visuals, amazingly imaginative worldbuilding and intelligent storytelling that doesn’t just spin out a Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: “100” (S3, E4 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND NO WATER FOR SOCIALISTS … Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. (from Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) Never were truer poetic words committed to the written word. And never were they more pertinent or desperately poignant that in Continue Reading