Masculinity, like so many societal constructs, perpetually teeters on the edge of a thousand shaky assumptions. We may think we know what it is, and what it is not, but the truth is, it’s a hazily grouped together set of ideas that when put to the test, often come Continue Reading
Dark Ark: Noah wasn’t the only one saving the condemned beasts of the earth
One of my favourite things in this postmodern pop culture world of ours is when someone of great imagination takes a well-known and well-loved story and inverts and subverts it to an entirely new end. Apart from the fact that it’s a cleverly creative thing to do, it offers Continue Reading
Let the holidays begin! Time to go on Olaf’s Frozen Adventure
SNAPSHOT Featuring four new original songs, the 21-minute featurette welcomes the original cast and characters back to the big screen, including Olaf (Josh Gad), who is on a mission to harness the best holiday traditions for Anna (Kristen Bell), Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Kristoff (Jonathan Groff). Directed by Emmy-winning Continue Reading
Movie review: Gifted
On narrative face value alone, there is hardly anything exceptional about Gifted, directed by Marc Webb to a script by Tom Flynn, which gives us the much-told story of abandoned child being looked after by an “unsuitable” guardian whom is challenged by someone more ostensibly capable of providing for Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: The beguiling sidewalk figures of Damon Belanger
Who doesn’t love a little magic injected into their everyday life? Sure there’s comfort in our routine, but without those remarkable little moments when something utterly unique and pleasingly different comes across your path, life can get more than a little pedestrian (wordplay most definitely intended when you see Continue Reading
Now this is music: Scandipop special (Iffy Orbit, Highasakite, Peg Pavernik, Nelli Matula, MY)
Ever since ABBA seduced me with their wholesome catchy pop back in the mid-’70s, I have had a thing for the inestimable pleasures of Scandinavianpop music, often referred to as Scandipop. It’s not hard to see why it’s so catchy for me and many other people – it’s usually Continue Reading
A queen beats a straight every time: Will & Grace returns (new trailer)
I am always torn when a TV show I once loved or a long-dormant movie franchise comes back from the pop culture dead. On the one hand, my inner fan boy/girl/pop culture tragic is cartwheeling its way across the park, exuberantly happy to be reunited with old televisual friends. Continue Reading
Movie review: God’s Own Country
For something that can be so vibrantly tenacious, the human spirit can also be astonishingly fragile. One step, or many, away from the happy middle, from the sweet spot in life’s fortunes, and what was potentially a blessed existence, can quickly feel like some sort of existential hell. You Continue Reading
MANAMANA! Feast your eyes and ears on the original 1969 version of the iconic song
(image via YouTube (c) Sesame Workshop) Sesame Street is justifiably famous for a great many things. Its still-necessary mission to educate the children of the world through bold and imaginative means, its hilarous parodies of all kind of pop culture moments (complete with rteachable moments) … and of course, Continue Reading
Book review: A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall
Grief is the enemy of many things. Forward momentum, a belief in a rosy future, creativity, laughter, renewal and rebirth, a sense that if you put one foot in front of the other, even just for a short while, it will lead somewhere meaningful. The exquisitely-wrought debut novel by Continue Reading