Books with quirky premises are always a challenge to execute successfully. Either you don’t make the most of the idea underpinning the narrative and the story falls flat, taking the ascendant expectations of your readers along with it; or, you over-egg the concept and the book ends up feel so Continue Reading
COVID-19 retro movie festival: Adult Life Skills #MovieReview
With COVID-19 cutting a swathe through just about everything worldwide, it’s no surprise that cinema is being as affected as anything else. In just one day, one of my favourite cinema chains temporarily closed, the Sydney Film Festival was cancelled, the French Film Festival was postponed and my other favourite Continue Reading
COVID no more! A mash-up of film and TV clips that playfully address life in a time of pandemic
SNAPSHOT“Here’s a fun little video I cut amongst these strange weird times we’re in.” (producer at Austin, TX post-production house Cut to Black) We live in wild and crazy times. A single powerful virus is currently taking the lives of thousands of people who deserved many more years with their Continue Reading
Re-sleeving again: Thoughts on Altered Carbon 2
In a world where changing your appearance is as simple and as dispassionate as taking your “Stack”, which houses the essence of who you are, and placing it into another “sleeve” or body, cultivating and retaining a sense of self is a very real and vital thing. Especially if you Continue Reading
The COVID-19 sitcom you’ve been waiting for: Staying at Home
COVID-19 is really making a mess of our world at the moment. One of the many consequences of its unceasing trampling of normalcy are the lockdowns which have taken place in countries as diverse as India, France and the UK, forcing people used to a life of restaurants, farmers’ markets Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: The raw, aching longing of Raymonde or the Vertical Escape
SNAPSHOT“Raymonde is really fed up with peas, aphids, dirty panties and her kitchen garden to dig. After all, she would prefer sex, and love, and the immensity of the sky…” Raymonde or the Vertical Escape (also titled Raymonde ou l’évasion verticale originally in French) is a stop-motion animated short film Continue Reading
Weekday pop art: When pop culture and reality seamlessly merge
SNAPSHOTI visit film locations and re-create scenes through the use of a camera & some imagination! …Film has been a huge part of my life since I was small and the passion has only increased as I’ve grown. I’ve always had a thirst for adventure and creativity so it was Continue Reading
Book review: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Coming to grips with you really are is a massive rite of passage for most people. (Not everyone; some people choose to remain blissfully unaware of their true selves or repress if they can’t stand the uncomfortable truth of it all.) This is a particular challenge for members of the Continue Reading
Wanna get away from your family? Come join The Willoughbys
SNAPSHOTConvinced they’d be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children (Tim, Jane, Barnaby A & B) hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family. The Willoughbys is directed by animation filmmaker Continue Reading
Book review: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
You have to hand it to humanity – no matter where we go, or what we accomplish or how grand and impressively expansive we become, we never really relinquish the inherent things that make us human, good and bad. Just how stubbornly we cling to the building blocks of our Continue Reading