Like most kids, I got into comics in a big way growing up. But unlike most kids in Australia, instead of avidly following the adventures of Spiderman and Batman, I gravitated mainly to British comic books that celebrated a very idiosyncratic type of English humour. It obviously struck a Continue Reading
“Brady Bunch” reboot: Has TV caught Hollywood Disease?
When I first read the news that there are plans afoot to reboot The Brady Bunch, which ran from 1969 to 1974 and starred Robert Reed and Florence Henderson, I thought “Why not? It worked well for Battlestar Galactica, and Dallas.” But as I digested the news, I realised Continue Reading
Sonic Bliss #12: My favourite songs of the week
It has been one of those weeks where I got a dreadful cold and didn’t do much besides sleeping, reading, and eating of comfort foods. So my choice of songs is resting heavily on music I heard last week. But hey they’re great songs and I would like to Continue Reading
Book review: “The Long Earth” by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
The Long Earth, the first in a planned series of novels by these two giants of the British publishing scene is an expansively imaginative work. Flavoured more by Stephen Baxter‘s high-concept reckonings of future realities, with only traces here and there of Terry Pratchett‘s warmth and whimsy, it Continue Reading
Review: Opening ceremony of London Olympics 2012
I did an extraordinary thing this morning. I set the alarm on a Saturday morning for 5.30 am, at my boyfriend’s behest, so we could lie in bed and watch the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics 2012. It wasn’t so much the early hour of our “rising” (to be Continue Reading
RETURN TO: “Parks and Recreation”
It’s been three years since this superbly-written show debuted as a mid-season replacement on April 9, 2009, its initial six episodes introducing us to the perky, optimistic and ambitious Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her almost Herculean plan to turn a giant pit in Sullivan Street, Pawnee, Indiana into a Continue Reading
Book review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon was published in 2003, and since then has sold more than two million copies making it the third best-selling book of the last decade in Britain, sandwiched, somewhat uncomfortably you would think, between four Dan Brown novels. Continue Reading
Theatre review: “Entertaining Mr Sloane” (New Theatre)
Entertaining Mr Sloane by the oft-acknowledged master of black comedies, Joe Orton, is a journey to the dark side of humanity. Albeit one disguised with such witty, euphemism-laden banter that you’re apt to forget you are witnessing people, desperate for the best in life, behaving at their very worst. And Continue Reading
EMMY on down: nominations for the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards are in!
… and Jimmy Kimmel wore pyjamas to announce them. As you do. His unusual attire, which fits perfectly with the late night talk-show host’s larrikin spirit, was a joking reference to the fact that he was seconded at the last minute to assist actress Kerry Washington with hosting duties Continue Reading
Opera review: “Die Tote Stadt” (performed by Opera Australia)
Die Tote Stadt, by feted composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, which fell into obscurity for much of the 20th century after it was banned during the Nazi regime to Korngold’s Jewish ancestry, is one of those operas that is immediately accessible and attractive to anyone without a natural predilection for Continue Reading