Humanity, well most of us anyway, like to think of ourselves as a laudably progressive lot, constantly pushing up living standards, lengthening lifespans and generally behaving ever more like the inclusive, caring, beautiful people we like to think we are. But as Chen Qiufan’s magnetically-readable novel, Waste Tide (translated by Continue Reading
Comics review: Coda (TP issues 1 & 2)
There’s something gloriously enlivening and bracing about come across a story that is a breathlessly good take on something reasonably hackneyed and overdone; in this case, the apocalypse. No matter or what you slice it with – be it zombies, aliens, epidemics, sterility or any one of a thousand other Continue Reading
Stranger Things’ Hopper as Magnum P.I.? Yes, please and thank you
Stranger Things 3 is the current undisputed watercooler king of Netflix. Attracting a record 40 million Netflix account views, the show has a lot going for it, including one Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour) who, once again, when he’s trying to stop his daughter Jane/Eleven/El (Milly Bobby Brown) and Mike (Finn Continue Reading
Christmas in July … listening to Christmas With Friends by india.arie and Joe Sample
If Christmas ever gave you a great big gorgeous warm and fuzzy chestnuts roasting over an open fire Family all around you hug, it would sound a lot like India Arie’s Christmas album, Christmas With Friends. Released in 2015, this is a lush, masterfully-arranged album thta captures the intangible sound Continue Reading
Christmas in July adventures: Prep & Landing / Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice (review)
One of the great mysteries of our time, or any time really, is how Santa manages to get to every boy and boy in the world in just one night on Christmas Eve. Granted, thanks to time differences, he has more than the average 8-9 hours to get the job Continue Reading
Mutants, job obsolence, and new phones: Rocko’s Modern Life – Static Cling
SNAPSHOTAfter being in space for around 20 years, Rocko and his friends attempt to conform to an even more modern life in O-Town, where coffee shops are on every corner, food trucks offer multi-layered tacos, touch-screen O-Phones are being upgraded on a near-constant basis, an instant-print kiosk has replaced Rocko’s Continue Reading
Book review: DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD BUT I DO MY BEST TO LIMIT THEM, TRUST ME The apocalypse may not seem like the best place to ask the big questions of life – who am I? Why am I? Who are my real friends and why? – but in Jay Kristoff’s pedal to Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: “Still Standing” (S5, E7 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … RADIOACTIVE ZOMBIES AND SCARED KIDS AND HOPE DYING … AND NOT … We all like to think of ourselves as good people right? Cross at the lights. Give old ladies our seat on the train. Stand up to demented racists with orange hair (no one in particular; Continue Reading
50 years of Sesame Street: It’s always time to “Sing”, sing a song
Apart from its commitment to teaching kids ABC and 123 basics in a way that’s creative, fun and meaningful, and being the absolute boss of pop culture pop culture videos, Sesame Street has always placed music front and centre over its 50 years of time on the year. A parade Continue Reading
Dialling up the horror and growing pains: Thoughts on Stranger Things 3
That sound you hear as you hit “play” on episode 1 of Netflix’s mega monster hit (literally in ever sense of the phrase) Stranger Things 3 – the Upside Down world of this franchise, you don’t have seasons, just numbers, as if the new episodes are breeding up a storm Continue Reading