Escape to the stars! Or stay here on Earth … Either way science fiction offers the kind of thoughtfully intriguing escape many of us are craving right now in world that often feels altogether too dystopian for anyone’s taste. In these three films, we see the world in which we Continue Reading
Book review: For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten
People often live and die by the power of their beliefs. So enduring are they in many instances that even when there is evidence that they may not be as true as has been preached and believed, people hold to their faith doggedly, preferring entrenched belief to palpable evidence on Continue Reading
Fun weekend mash-ups: The imaginative cleverness of Frasier looking at video games
I love people who come up with left-of-centre, out-of-the-box way of reinterpreting a much loved character. It’s a takes a lot of imagination to step away from the known and expected, and it’s apparent that video game designer Eagle McGill from London, profiled in Laughing Squid, has that in spades, Continue Reading
Star Trek Day 2021: Trailers and news and panels … and onwards to the stars and lots of new viewing opportunities!
If ever we needed a time where we could escape to the stars it’s this one. To be fair most of human history – oh, who are we kidding? ALL of it – would likely have benefited from a future in which inclusiveness, diversity and social and economic equality are Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #55: Frances Forever, Ella James, Bathe, Ruby Haunt, Lucky Idiot + #Eurovision update!
Good lord but the current pandemic-addled state of the world is anxiety inducing isn’t it? As you survey a world where normal is no more, and is constantly abruptly and messily changing, it’s hard to imagine how you could possibly ever sit back, relax and watch life go by. And Continue Reading
ABBA: An exploration of old fandom and new music
ABBA had previously been voted the band the British public would most like to see reunited. Alamy Shanika Ranasinghe, Royal Holloway University of London It may have been almost 40 years since their last single, but ABBA are now back in the charts with two new songs – “I Still Continue Reading
His biggest adventures are in his own backyard: Thoughts on Dug Days
There is a great deal to love about Pixar’s 2009 masterpiece Up, which still stands 12 years later as a stellar of example of how big hearted, narratively rich and character-driven animation can be. Chief among its many delights is the character of Dug, voiced by Bob Peterson, a sweetly Continue Reading
Movie review: The Suicide Squad
If you think of the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU, for all its angst and blockbuster bombast, as the glossy, pretty member of the superhero family where bad things happen but it’s all reasonably tidy by the end, then the DC Universe is its scrappy, angry, dark and messy sibling, the Continue Reading
Rutherford Falls: a laugh-out-loud funny TV show about colonisation
First published in The Conversation Bronwyn Carlson, Macquarie University In a new series, writers nominate the TV series keeping them entertained during a time of COVID. As the lockdown continues, I find myself looking for Indigenous content to watch on TV to feel a sense of nourishment and joy I Continue Reading
Book review: Still Life by Sarah Winman
If you take a good hard look at love in the real world, it is far from the light, fluffy confection of romantic comedy legend. Sure, that’s appealing and who doesn’t want to feel wafted along on Cupid’s lighter-than-air ministrations, but the reality is that love, real love, is muscular Continue Reading