One of the great joys of going to see a Pixar film, and there are many, are the sweet nuggets of storytelling that proceed them, five-minute animation shorts that manage to introduce characters, make you care about them and tell at utterly immersive story in less time than it Continue Reading
Book review: Happiness for Humans by P. Z. Reizin
As we lurch somewhat uncertainly to the end of the second decade of the 21st century, fearfully drunk on the spectre of apocalyptic everything, it would be easy to see civilisation-ending reds under every bed, to co-opt some old Cold War anti-communist lingo. To some extent Happiness for Humans Continue Reading
Stay dry. Stay alive. The perils of getting wet in The Rain
SNAPSHOT The world as we know it has ended. Six years after a brutal virus carried by the rain wiped out almost all humans in Scandinavia, two Danish siblings emerge from the safety of their bunker to find all remnants of civilization gone. Soon they join a group of Continue Reading
Monsters real and imagined: I Kill Giants trailer
SNAPSHOT Barbara Thorson is your new hero. A quick-witted, sharp-tongued middle-schooler who isn’t afraid of anything. As the only girl in school carrying an ancient Norse Warhammer in her purse and killing giants for a living, why wouldn’t she be? I Kill Giants is the sweeping, bittersweet story of Continue Reading
Star Trek Discovery: “The War Without, The War Within” (S1, E14 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND A STRONG SENSE THAT EVENTS ARE RUSHING LIKE CLOAKED KLINGON FLEETS TO THE POINTY END OF THE SEASON Whoosh! That sound you heard, at Warp 10 with a mycelium push, is the penultimate episode of Star Trek Discovery‘s first season screaming past you, clutching a Continue Reading
The original Torchwood team is returning! You have to Believe!
SNAPSHOT The Church of the Outsiders believe that mankind is about to evolve, to reach out into the stars. Owen Harper believes that Torchwood has to do whatever it takes to stop them. (synopsis via Big Finish) It’s been awhile (10 years in fact) since the original Torchwood team Continue Reading
Magic in the everyday: THE MA(D)CHINES invests the banal with the wonderful
I’m going to be honest with you – for all my optimism, carpe diem-ness and willingness to see the best in life, there are times, oh lordy there are times, when real life seem considerably less than magical. Getting on and off trains on my daily commute, making breakfast, Continue Reading
Watch out for Siren – You can’t escape her song
SNAPSHOT What if there was something sinister swimming beneath the sea’s surface? In Freeform’s next epic tale, Siren, the coastal town of Bristol Cove, known for its legend of once being home to mermaids, is turned upside down when a mysterious girl (Eline Powell) appears and begins wreaking havoc Continue Reading
Comics review: The Jetsons (issues 1-3)
Most of us will far too young to recall those headily optimistic days when everyone envisaged the future as a time of limitless potential, a paradise-in-waiting given form by flying cars, machines doing all the drudgerous tasks that take us away from the doing the things we love, and Continue Reading
Chilling out – take a nice Slow TV trip on Norway’s snowy railways
There’s no getting around it – life in the 21st century is frenetic and only gathering steam as it powrs along like a bargain hunter at post-Christmas sales. It wasn’t supposed to be like this of course – thanks to the marvels of technological advancement, we were supposed to Continue Reading