“And they all lived happily ever after” would have to be the most loaded phrases ever attached to any story ever. It’s a lovely idea and one we clearly want to embrace since everything from the fairytales to romantic comedies to Hallmark cards like lovestruck limpets to the idea that Continue Reading
Book review: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Rather fittingly given the precarious viral-afflicted times in which humanity currently finds itself, Emily St. John Mandel is best known for a book which examines the aftermath of a pandemic that sweeps across the globe in a frighteningly fast timeframe, taking over 99% of people with it, leaving civilisation in Continue Reading
COVID-19 retro movie festival: Away We Go #MovieReview
With COVID-19 cutting a swathe through just about everything worldwide, it’s no surprise that cinema is being as affected as anything else. In just one day, one of my favourite cinema chains temporarily closed, the Sydney Film Festival was cancelled, the French Film Festival was postponed and my other favourite Continue Reading
Our COVID-19 addled world may be grim right now but John Krasinki has Some Good News for you!
SNAPSHOTThe Quiet Place writer and director recently asked his Twitter followers for uplifting stories that might be getting lost in the deluge of bad news. Their responses inspired him to make his own new show, filmed safely from his home. And the stories he shares genuinely made us feel better. They Continue Reading
Book review: Gulliver’s Wife by Lauren Chater
In our modern age, we have become accustomed to the idea that equality and justice are, if not always in palpable evidence, then at least attainable in some form, however incomplete. No one would argue (apart from some deluded misogynistic men on Twitter of which there are sadly far too Continue Reading
M*A*S*H ended its TV run 37 years ago but it has something to say about COVID-19, trust us
“I have sincerely believed for a long time that whatever issue life puts in front of us MAS*H had a solution. I had some pent up creative energy today, so I did this while you were all cleaning your closets and such.” (Frank Vaccarriello via Laughing Squid) M*A*S*H was, and Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2020: Week 1 – Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus
This is normally how I begin these review posts … 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 Continue Reading
Try some COVID-19 social distancing Wes Anderson style
Want to practice safe social distancing? It’s easy: just pretend you’re in a Wes Anderson film. (synopsis (c) Little White Lies via Laughing Squid) There is a gorgeous artistic sensibility to every Wes Anderson film, one that manifests in snappy, quirky dialogue, idiosyncratic visual flourishes and characters who seem to Continue Reading
Six Seasons … and a reunion? Not quite the hoped-for movie but pretty cool even so
If you are a fan of Dan Harmon’s brilliantly quirky sitcom Community, you will be well acquainted with the idea of Six Seasons and a Movie, the rallying cry from fans everywhere who dream of the perfect send off for one of the best and most original comedy shows of Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #24: Coach & Ref, I Break Horses, Jadu Heart, Boys Noize (+ Rico Nasty), AJR + Eurovision 2020 update
Do you feel like life has an unsettlingly otherworldly feel to it at the moment? COVID-19 has well and truly put the pandemic cat among the pigeons and it’s easy to feel like life is so mixed up that there’s no hope of it resembling normal ever again. But as Continue Reading