Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts and Mutts aside, is pretty much my favourite comic strip of all time. Drawn by the enigmatic almost J D Salinger-esque Bill Watterson, who has been the subject of a recent movie and book, both of which were aimed at finding out more about the Continue Reading
The glamour of 0s and 1s: HBO’s Silicon Valley (poster + teaser trailer/trailers)
SNAPSHOT Richard (Middleditch) is an introverted computer programmer living in the Hacker Hostel start-up incubator along with his best friend, Big Head (Brener), pompous Gilfoyle (Starr) and dry-witted Dinesh (Nanjiani). These social misfits live under the watch of Erlich (Miller), a self-satisfied dotcom millionaire who lets them stay in Continue Reading
Marvellous massing of movie trailers: Paddington, Hide Your Smiling Faces, Guardians of the Galaxy + 3 more
So the Oscars-worthy rush of movies is over for the most part, and you could be forgiven for wondering if there are be any movies even remotely that good still in the offing. Well, thankfully there are with a rich bounty of both mainstream and indie movies coming our Continue Reading
Book review: The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
Melanie, according to the invitingly brief dust jacket blurb of The Girl With All the Gifts (based on the Edgar Award-nominated short story Iphigenia in Aulis), “is a very special girl”. And the novel of which she is the moral and emotional core, is extraordinary too, a highly original take on Continue Reading
Now this is music #24: Betty Who, Neneh Cherry/Robyn, Annie, Mr Little Jeans, Peking Duk
Music is good for you. According to Psychology Today, “listening, and creating music of any kind will provide an immediate biological and psychological benefit for everyone. In fact, music can be a salvation and antidote to most psychological challenges: that’s why people sing in the shower and while driving Continue Reading
Movie review: The Wind Rises
“Le vent se lève! … il faut tenter de vivre!” (“The wind is rising! We must try to live!”) The Wind Rises is as close as a movie can come to being a masterpiece. The reputedly final feature film from master animator Hayao Miyazaki (Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, Continue Reading
Less and less alone: New mini-trailers and teasers for Orphan Black season 2
Orphan Black is a rarity on TV these days. In an age of fractured demographics, time-scattered viewing patterns and sub-genre piled upon sub-genre, the show from BBC America about a woman, Sarah Manning (played by Tatiana Maslany who plays multiple parts on the show) who discovers she is one Continue Reading
A Mouthful of Megapixels: Why Binge Watching TV is the New Big Thing
This post first appeared on inclassicstyle I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not but life has gotten crazy busy of late. Like rushing out the door to work eating a bagel and finish getting dressed, juggling the finishing touches on three presentations on your laptop while calling your Continue Reading
Pizzas and selfies! My 5 favourite things about the 86th Academy Awards
It’s not often you walk away from an awards ceremony, whether it’s the Grammys, the Golden Globes or the local sports club’s annual pats on the back, and think to yourself “Damn, that was fun!” Yes you wanted to know who won, and that’s why you sat through the Continue Reading
The Walking Dead: “Still” (S4, E12 review)
It was a case of burn, baby, burn in latest The Walking Dead episode “Still”. But not in the way you might think. No, this was a case of burning old memories and finally moving on, with Dr Beth (Emily Kinney), she of the newly acquired moonshine liquor habit Continue Reading