The great Arthur C Clarke once sagely remarked, in what has become known as one of his three laws, that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. In Robert Dickinson’s The Tourist, that threshold has long since been transgressed with the people of 24th century earth routinely back and forwards Continue Reading
Living Level 3, South Sudan: Graphic novel shines an important light on a desperate situation
It’s been well-documented that art and pop culture can have a powerful effect in spreading information and awareness, creating a groundswell of understanding and motivating action that leads to real change. One quite striking way this is being demonstrated at the moment is a 48 page graphic novel, Living Continue Reading
Colony: “Ronin” (S2, E13 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND THE END OF THE WORLD … KIND OF If you are ever looking for a master class in how to end a season of taut, nuanced drama in the most tense and gripping way possible then you should immediately turn to “Ronin”, the finale of Continue Reading
Master of None? In name only as Aziz Ansari returns for season 2 (trailer)
There is something inherently likable about Aziz Ansari. He embodies a genuine warmth and friendliness – that smile alone makes you want to be his friend – and he brings his innate likability to his characters, along with a great sense of humour and a bright, effervescent intelligence. He Continue Reading
Get Ur Freak On with Missy Elliott and the Teletubbies
It’s true what they say – you can’t keep a freaky good Teletubby down! Actually no one likely says that at all, but they should with a brand new mash-up video, by YouTube user Robert Jones, giving the Teletubbies, who ran for 365 episodes in 1997-2001, before being revived Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: Joey Spiotto’s pop culture Little Golden Books
My love for Little Golden Books knows no bounds. A key part of my childhood, they are the stuff of joy and nostalgia, a reassuring touchstone that there are some great and wonderful things in this world that are inherently simple and uncomplicated, and intensely rewarding. The only thing Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2017: Week 4 – Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia
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 telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
Saturday morning cartoons: The Funky Phantom
Show business has had a long and productive love affair with the axiom “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, happy to keep churning out variations on a theme, or even the same theme itself with minimal changes, if the viewers kept turning up to consume it. Everyone is Continue Reading
Movie review: A Country Doctor (Medicin de campagne)
The Country Doctor is a deceptively, disarming film. Directed by Thomas Lilti, who spent 10 years working as a GP in the French health system, and sensibly writes and directs what he knows (he co-wrote the screenplay with Baya Kasmi), the film, at first glance, comes across a gentle Continue Reading
Saving the universe Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 style, one LEGO brick at a time
I think it is pretty much a given that everything in the world is better when it’s LEGO-fied? The Mona Lisa? Of course. Wandering through the park on a fine summer’s day? It goes without saying? What about saving the universe, for a second time no less? As if Continue Reading