Westeros So White
The old leftie George R R Martin discovers that you can never be woke enough. Because the world of the Chronicles of Fire and Ice can hardly be criticised for …
Read MoreCulture
Sully versus Hollywood
Act 1 The scene: “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation is a new annual event that aims to connect writers and content creators with activists, non-profits and thinkers with ties to …
Read More
No, “Blade Runner” and “The Running Man” did not predict 2019
I normally rate “The New York Post” as far as tabloids are concerned but this feature on the prophetic side of the 1980s dystopian science-fiction reads more like something out …
Read More
Is it me or is music shit?
It’s day after Australia Day, so Australia’s taxpayer-funded hipster national radio station Triple J has run its Hottest 100 songs of the previous twelve months. They are voted by the …
Read More
What will be the classics of today?
Just the other day I was again browsing at Lifeline Bookfest, the twice-yearly largest charity book sale in the world, which takes place – of all places – in Brisbane, …
Read More
A View from the High Castle
December 1942. The Imperial Japanese Army, having cleared the Allied resistance across Papua New Guinea, invades the Australian mainland. Japanese armies land in Darwin, Cairns and Townsville. There is a …
Read More
Baby It’s Woke Inside
In this week’s chronicles of outrage and offence: “Radio stations around the U.S. and Canada have dropped the 1944 Christmas tune from their lineups over lyrics including, ‘I ought to …
Read More
Should we laugh at evil?
Theodor Ardano had once famously written, “After Auschwitz, no poetry”. One can understand the sentiment even today. But there is poetry. And there is comedy. But not about Auschwitz, of …
Read More
But is it any good?
Paul Tassi at “Forbes” notes an important pop-culture milestone being reached: This week we got a look six years into the future of The Walking Dead, a timeline after the death (well, disappearance) …
Read More
Nothing Compares to Insh’allah
An artist formerly known as Sinead O’Connor becomes a Peace* Symbol: Irish singer Sinead O’Connor has revealed she has renounced Catholicism and converted to Islam, taking the new name “Shuhada’ …
Read More
Star Wars vs Troll Wars
Does a movie really suck or is it all just a big Russian conspiracy? Don’t ask me – I haven’t watched any of the new Disney “Star Wars” franchise movies …
Read More
Happy 70,000,058th birthday, the Flintstones!
On September 30, 1960, at 8:30 PM, ABC network aired the first episode of Hanna-Barbera-produced “The Flintstones”. The late broadcast hour was a recognition that initially “The Flintstones” were made …
Read More
What do metalheads and Papuans have in common?
A lot apparently, according to an anthropologist: Heavy metal fans have evolved to communicate with each other like remote tribes in Papua New Guinea, a study by anthropologists has found. …
Read More
Christian Devil’s Music
A much maligned music genre has a long history and an interesting present: In 1972, when Larry Norman was still feeling optimistic about his musical career, he set out on …
Read More
Equality of nudity
Brit ladies and gentlemen will now have the equal opportunity to perv on Renaissance babes and hunks, thanks to the equalitarian initiative by the UK’s premier art institution: The Royal …
Read More
One small step for man, one step too far for Hollywood
There are still some nutters (mostly harmless) out there who think that the moon landing in 1969 was faked by NASA in collaboration with Hollywood, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. …
Read More
Fighting racist stereotypes with gangsta rap
I don’t know how well thought out this strategy is: The video for KUDZAI’s 4 Deep In The Suburbs starts off menacingly — a police siren wails, and four figures …
Read More
Ramsey Bolton becomes a Polish pilot
For the sake of the movie I hope that Iwan Rheon who played the arch-bastard (literally and metaphorically) Ramsey Bolton in “Game of Thrones” is good enough actor to go …
Read More
Elba. Idris Elba.
Maybe, maybe not: British actor Idris Elba is stoking speculation he may take over the role of James Bond when Daniel Craig steps aside, offering an enigmatic Twitter post that fueled the buzz about him becoming …
Read More