Sesame Street does so many things right. From its brilliantly-imaginative teaching of the ABCs and 123s to its hilarious parodies of pop culture touchstones through to its life lessons, it is the gold standard in education for kids (and more than a few adults too). To that illustrious list. Continue Reading
TV
Bright eyes return: New Watership Down animated series
As a kid, I read a lot of books. A LOT OF BOOKS. Despite the vast number, quite a few of them made a real impact on me including Richard Adam’s 1972 novel Watership Down about a burrow of rabbits struggling to survive as their beloved habitat faces destruction. Continue Reading
Determinism vs. free will? The Good Place S3 asks the hard questions … and has fun doing it
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND A WHOLE LOT OF FORKING GOOD FUN … Much as I am a fan of sitcoms, there is a dearth of entries in the genre that manage to be both hilariously funny and immensely clever. When you think of shows that satisfy both criteria, shows Continue Reading
There’s a rang-tan in my bedroom: The banned Iceland Foods festive ad that will move you deeply
I have been both an ardent conservationist, thanks to the holy trinity of Gerald Durrell, National Geographic and David Attenborough, and a Christmas fanatic since my childhood. There was no reason to expect these two disparate passions would ever intersect but they have, thanks to the planned festive ad Continue Reading
It’s Our Planet and David Attenborough is narrating its praises
SNAPSHOT The groundbreaking, eight-part series will showcase the planet’s most precious species and fragile habitats, revealing amazing sights on Earth in ways they’ve never been seen using the latest in 4k camera technology. Filmed in 50 countries across all the continents of the world, with crew capturing more than Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: Tom of Tom and Jerry squished, rolled and generally bent out of shape
I watched a lot of cartoons as a kid. A LOT. One of my great favourites was good old Tom and Jerry, created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbara, in which a persistent cat (Tom) was always bested by a wily, cheeky mouse (Jerry) and ended up Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: Scavenger and the case of the well-disposed alien
Watch the average movie that tells the tale of our imagined encounters with extraterrestrial life and it becomes readily apparent that we don’t expect the meeting to go all that well. There’s an inherent expectation that we will be invaded or annihilated or enslaved or accidentally expunged, or all Continue Reading
Goodbye Rick Grimes: Review of The Walking Dead, S9E5 ep “What Comes After”
SPOILERS AHEAD … IS RICK ALIVE OR DEAD? OR MERELY INDISPOSED? TRUST US, WE’LL SAY SO BEST BACK AWAY NOW (BY HORSE OR ON FOOT) IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW … So this is the end my friend the end for Rick (Andrew Lincoln) right? Well, yes and Continue Reading
It’s #StrangerThingsDay – why not hang out with something hungry for blood?
If you look at the average current calendar of events, it’s crowded with a variety of commemorative days celebrating everything from pancakes, cats, auras, shopping and vegans. That’s a lot of celebrating my friends, and now thanks to Netflix, you can add Stranger Things Day to the mix. But Continue Reading
TV review: Russia with Simon Reeve
Who doesn’t love to immerse themselves in a good travelogue? After a day spent battling mindless-rushing commuters and immutable deadlines at work, with no prospect of leaving, Peter Paul and Mary-like, on a jet plane for anywhere exotic anytime soon, there is something inordinately appealing about seeing somewhere beyond Continue Reading