FILM SYNOPSIS THE WAY, WAY BACK is the funny and poignant coming-of-age story of 14-year-old Duncan’s (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2013: Week 1 – Austria, Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Denmark, Russia
WHAT IS THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST? Started way back in 1956 as a way to draw 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
Love sure can be funny: My 5 favourite sitcom couples (part 1)
I have always loved sitcoms (“situation comedies”). There’s something about these 22 minute comedic explorations of life in a particular place that charmed me from the get-go of my TV viewing life. While there were usually multiple characters living out their online-filled lives, all the truly great sitcoms, and Continue Reading
Come “Alive” with Empire of the Sun’s new music!
Walking on a Dream by Australian electropop duo, Empire of the Sun, was one of my favourite albums of 2008. The songs from Nick Littlemore and Luke Steels, already major figures on the Australian music scene in their own right, were possessed of the most beautiful otherworldly melodies and Continue Reading
“Warm Bodies” (movie review)
Life is a tricky thing. Wondrous yes but profoundly difficult to navigate at times and that’s if you’re alive and completely aware of who you are and what makes you, you. R (Nicholas Hoult), who we meet at the start of Warm Bodies, a film written and directed by Continue Reading
Can’t wait to see: “Only God Forgives”
MOVIE SYNOPSIS (via AFM): Julian, an Englishman living in Bangkok, is a respected figure in the criminal underworld. He and his brother Billy run a Thai boxing club which is in fact a front for smuggling drugs to London. When Billy is murdered, their mother Jenna arrives from London Continue Reading
Get ready to light up with David Iserson’s book “Firecracker”
BOOK SYNOPSIS (via Goodreads): Being Astrid Krieger is absolutely all it’s cracked up to be. She lives in a rocket ship in the backyard of her parents’ estate. She was kicked out of the elite Bristol Academy and she’s intent on her own special kind of revenge to whomever Continue Reading
“I’ll have a zombie with that”: The pop culture mainstreaming of sci-fi and fantasy
I was thrilled to be asked to guest post on an amazing site called inclassicstyle.com and naturally the topic was television in some form. In this re-post of my article, I wax lyrical about my history of watching TV before moving onto an examination of the way in which sci-fi Continue Reading
Now this is music #4: My 5 favourite songs of the week
Turn up your amps! Strum those guitars. Make love to your synths like Duran Duran. Or just listen. Yes, listening will work too. Here are the five songs that have enthralled, seduced and made love like an over eager Chihuahua to my ears (hmm perhaps I should rethink that Continue Reading
“The Walking Dead”: episode 16 ‘Welcome to the Tombs’ (review)
Two weeks, two glaringly different life philosophies borne of the zombie apocalypse. In last week’s penultimate episode, Rick affirmed to his beleaguered group that “we are the greater good”, invoking a sense of The Three Musketeers‘ mantra, “all for one, one for all,” and recanting his season 2 ending declaration Continue Reading