The very best science fiction stories are almost always searing explorations of what it means to be human. It doesn’t matter if they are set on a future Earth, out in the depths of interstellar space or on an alien planet, we bear witness to the very best and worst Continue Reading
TV
Breathing life into our world: The Green Planet
SNAPSHOTDive into a world where a single life can last a thousand years, with David Attenborough. See things no eye has ever seen, and discover the dramatic, beautiful plant life of Earth. (synopsis courtesy BBC) There’s a lot going on in the world right now capable of crushing the human Continue Reading
‘An idealised Australian ethos’: why Bluey is an audience favourite, even for adults without kids
Liam Burke, Swinburne University of Technology; Djoymi Baker, RMIT University; Jessica Balanzategui, Swinburne University of Technology, and Joanna McIntyre, Swinburne University of Technology Bluey, the Emmy award-winning animated series about a family of anthropomorphized cattle dogs, has become a ratings phenomenon since it was first broadcast on the ABC in Continue Reading
A very Peanuts New Year’s Eve: Snoopy Presents For Auld Lang Syne
Coming up to the start of a brand new year is always fraught with expectation, and yes, that seems to hold true even for Charles M. Schulz’s wonderful creations in his immortally iconic comic strip Peanuts. Even 21 years after its creator’s death, Peanuts holds a place close to many Continue Reading
Small screen, big stories, much bingeing: My 25 favourite TV shows of 2021
2021 has been a very long year. Now, those of you of a more pedantic bent might casually respond that it had 365 days, just like any other year (except those delightful leap years which the Gregorian calendar throws in every four years just to keep us on our timekeeping Continue Reading
Wrapping up the season with a bow: Thoughts on Hawkeye
Superhero stories by their very nature often dwell in the big and the expansive, their appeal often lying in the epically macro, not the intimately micro. They are the very epitome of escapist massiveness, good fighting back against evil on canvases so large and all encompassing, that we can lose Continue Reading
Merry pop culture Christmas to all … and to all a goodnight!
Well, hello and goodbye to 2021, thank you very much! As I sat writing my brief thoughts for 2020 on last year’s Christmas Eve post, I thought we were free and clear of COVID; well, not completely obviously since an outbreak and partial city lockdown in Sydney meant we couldn’t Continue Reading
Up, up and festively away! Shaun the Sheep – the Flight Before Christmas
Who’s going to save Christmas? It’s a pretty big question at the moment with COVID once again laying waste to the best laid festive plans of elves and men, and one that can be answered quite simply, and for some, unexpectedly – Shaun the Sheep (Justin Fletcher). Yes, that Shaun Continue Reading
On 11th day of Christmas … I watched 3 retro festive sitcom eps: Newhart, RHODA, Mad About You
I love sitcoms. I love retro sitcoms. And I especially love sitcom episodes set at Christmas when the whole world seems to take a break from being a great big, burning dumpster fire and acts like all those gorgeous, wonderful, fabulous things you always thought life could be, might just Continue Reading
Do opposites festively attract? We find out in Christmas Flow (TV series)
Do opposites ever really attract? Not as often as you might think in real life, but often enough it seems for many a romantic comedy to hang its divergent storytelling upon the premise and see where competing life views may take it. It certainly works Christmas Flow, a French limited Continue Reading