Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion is an unofficial guide to the TV series, the films, the comics and everything else that has made Joss Whedon one of the most important figures in popular culture. In 2011, online popular culture magazine Pop Matters ran ‘Spotlight on Joss Whedon’ a series of articles where some 60 essays, [...]
Features
FEATURE: Australian Contemporary Fiction - Underexposed!
When we think "Australian Literature" an established canon of classics, as well as a standard stock list of high profile, contemporary writers come to mind. Unfortunately, that's about it. April is Aussie Author Month - 30 days of celebrating and exploring Australian literature across all genres. For April last year, I put together a list of My Top 5 personal favourite Australian books. This year I wanted to explore what Australians are reading. What are the best Australian reads? Most importantly, I wanted to think about why, despite our thriving literary scene and interest in local content, there seems to be very little exposure to contemporary writers and works beyond these established standards of classics and high profile writers? I even have an answer to this last point. "Best Australian Books" I asked the oracle…. (Google) Happily, I see my own short article celebrating 2011's Australian Author Month on the front page of ...
FEATURE: Black, White and Red All Over - Looking Back to The White Stripes
In February 2011, The White Stripes, one of the most iconic bands of recent decades called it quits. The White Stripes were Jack and Meg White, a tiny ensemble that at least sounded a lot bigger from the outside. They carved out their sound, a blistering rock steeped in blues and folk minimalism with six studio albums, one live album, countless concerts and an army of adoring fans. The White Stripes: The Early Years and The White Stripes In their early days, before the web was essential and iPods were everywhere, The White Stripes forged a new path through the already well trod grounds of alternative rock. The likes of Nirvana and the grunge movement of the 1990s had brought rough edged, simple rock into the mainstream. Oasis and Blur tinged it with Brit-Pop, Greenday was calling it punk, while the Red Hot Chili Peppers continued to fill stadiums with their funk ...
FEATURE: Interview with Shobana ‘Bob’ Appavu, author of Demon of the Underground
Demon of the Underground is a webcomic, created by Shobana ‘Bob’ Appavu, based around the character Pogo, a cheeky young thief who falls through a hole in the ground and discovers a brutal underground world. The comic is both suspenseful and laugh out loud funny, and the artwork is stunning. It’s only 34 pages in so far, so it’ll be easy to catch up on what you’ve missed, and it’s already had so many awesome moments that it is well worth doing so. But that’s enough from me. Let’s hear what Bob has to say..... Q1. Tell us about yourself. My name is Shobana, but most people call me Bob. It’s a random nickname I’ve had since high school that happened to stick. I’m an animal lover, and I go absolutely nuts over cute (and lovably ugly) critters. I’m a freelance illustrator by profession. I also write prose fiction and have a ...
FEATURE: Interview with Kevin Chapman from Person of Interest
Person of Interest is a new series from CBS, starring Jim Caviezel (The Passion of Christ, 2004), Kevin Chapman (Mystic River, 2003; Brotherhood, 2006-2008), Michael Emerson (Lost, 2009) and Taraji P. Henson (Karate Kid, 2010). Created by Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight, 2008; Memento, 2000) and produced by J.J Abrams (Super 8, 2011; Lost, 2004-2010), the series is built around the idea of preventing a crime before it happens. While developing a computer system for post 9/11 terrorism detection, billionaire genius, Harold Finch (Emerson), discovers it is giving intelligence on all serious crime. With the authorities unwilling to respond, Finch seeks out John Reese (Caviezel), an ex-CIA agent with a penchant for vigilante justice and together they prevent and avenge crime before it has occurred. Their covert operations draw the attention of NYPD Detective Joss Carter (Henson), and in order to control this unwanted attention Finch and Reese organise for Detective ...
FEATURE: Iconic Heroes of the 21st Century
“Where are the 21st Century mass-media heroes and villains? Why isn't anybody even trying to create them?” This question was recently posed by Charlie Jane Anders of io9, in an article titled 'How to Create A Brand New Iconic Hero or Villain.' It is certainly a valid question, well worth asking as our mainstream pop culture is indeed currently saturated by icons from bygone eras – Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Batman, Superman, Spider Man and Captain Kirk. Harry Potter, Anders suggests, is “the only character created in the past 20-odd years who has the same level of cultural relevance as the biggest superheroes and most lasting pulp heroes.” With the end of both the book and the film series the longevity of Harry Potter as our apparent only true 21st Century hero is called into question. The truth of this argument can’t be easily dismissed. What can be questioned, however, are the ...
FEATURE: Sympathy for the Devil ~ Interview with the Vampire and The Last Werewolf and the Changing Nature of the Monstrous Human
It’s perfectly normal to love monsters these days. Millions of teenage (and not so teenage) girls have spent the last few years swooning over a particular poufy haired vampire, or his muscular nemesis werewolf. Before those vampires and werewolves Buffy had her Angel, Willow had her Oz. The explosion of the paranormal pop culture genre over the last few years has vampires, werewolves, succubi, incubi, and even zombies (yes, there is such a thing as Zombie Romance eeww!) turning on the charm and being characterised as all together human. This trend has turned the monster on its head, removed the fear and made us all sympathise with these not so devilish devils. I want to look at two “Sympathy for the Devil” (thank you Mick Jagger) novels. Glen Duncan’s recent werewolf book The Last Werewolf, and the novel that arguably started it all, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. Both of these ...
FEATURE: Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos: The Life and Death Antidote to Contemporary Vampire Culture
Who else is bored with vampires? Such a question, not that long ago would have seemed, to this horror fan at least, a travesty. How can one ever become bored with vampires? When there is too many of them? When they’re just not monstrous enough? All of the above? While contemporary popular culture may be a while off reclaiming the vampire from romance back to horror, one can always look elsewhere to find vampires with meaning, menace and true innovation. Jesus Gris from Guillermo del Toro’s masterful work of art-horror, Cronos (1993) is such a vampire. Deeply rooted in religious and folkloric archetypes, this profoundly symbolic film is the first feature for the Mexican director and it is a vampire story unlike any other. Cronos delves right into the heart of vampiric lore, forging new and fascinating paths into its own folklore as it examines the bleak and very human sadness ...
FEATURE: Interview With Eureka's Colin Ferguson
It was at the ungodly hour of 9:30 on a Friday morning that I found myself walking to Sydney's Sibel Hotel to chat with Colin Ferguson, the Star of the Sci-fi Channel series Eureka. As I enter the Hotel lobby I am caught completely off guard to see a cheerful and friendly Colin waiting for me in the lift. As we start talking I'm refreshed and surprised by how down to earth, open and funny Colin is. Before I've even turned my recorder on we've already chatted about politics, Australian history, Colin's acting career and even had a brief delve into his love life. Admittedly once I switched my recorder on things got a bit more like a conventional interview: Christof Bogacs: So what do you think of Australia, and how are you liking it so far? Colin Ferguson: Yeah I love it. I loved it even before I sat down. No its true, ...
FEATURE: Dungeons and Dragons ~ Culture and Psychology: A Player's Perspective
Dungeons and Dragons seems like a drug: an addictive practice that transforms the mind and soul of the players, leaving them wanting more and more fantasy, more adventure, more escapism, more fun! In our last article on Dungeons and Dragons, Adam ran down a brief history of the game and described the formation of his personal addiction to D&D. Since we published the article, we’ve spoken to a few fellow role players about their experiences and opinions of the game and what it is that makes Dungeons and Dragons such a unique and satisfying experience. The World of Dungeons and Dragons Dungeons and Dragons is a world unto itself. In this, I’m not talking about the fantasy world that takes place within a gaming session. In his discussion, Adam only touched the tip of the iceberg with a few of the extensions and campaigns that stemmed from the original Dungeons and Dragons ...
FEATURE: The Conflict of Buffy - Examining the Good and Bad of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Remake
The word that Joss Whedon’s super hit television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer was being adapted into a new feature film has been circulating on the web for a couple of years now. The news continues to be met with a mixture of excitement and dread. Mostly dread. Even Joss Whedon isn’t looking forward to it. I am a Buffy the Vampire Slayer devotee and I believe, in many ways, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a perfect television series. When I first heard the news, I was appalled and devastated, especially for the fact that Joss Whedon would not be involved with the project. While I still harbour no doubts that the film will be an absolute train wreck, recently I have been thinking that perhaps a new movie is not such a bad thing for Buffy Summers. Surely though there has to be a better way to get the Buffyverse ...
MUSIC REVIEW: The Cars - Move Like This
Can a band from over thirty years ago still rock? If the band is The Cars, the answer is absolutely. Disbanded since 1988, this year Ric Ocasek, Greg Hawkes, Elliot Easton and David Robinson released Move Like This, their first album in nearly a quarter century. Only missing bassist Benjamin Orr, who died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer, the band has resurrected their hypnotic new wave rock sound on an album that easily bridges their 70s hits to 1980s chart toppers. On the finger-snapping single “Sad Song”, I’m transported back to their heyday, as if listening to “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” or “Don’t Cha Stop”, and I have to stop myself; these guys are still rocking as if time has magically wound backwards! One might wonder; does the current music scene need another retread from the past? I asked myself that question when learning of this release, wondering what had ...
FEATURE: Anna Scott Graham - A Tale of An Independent Novelist
Even the most causal of book readers will have noticed a revolution occurring in the publishing industry of late. No, I’m not talking about the glut of paranormal romance filling the shelves of bookshops. Digital Publishing. More specifically, self-publishing. Ebook publishing has brought us an entirely new world of reading experiences, new ways and means to not only access books but to publish them as well. While there is still a stigma attached to independent or self-published books the impact the movement is having on the traditional publishing industry is undeniable. Writers of all walks of life are getting their words and stories out into the world some of them with enormous amounts of success. Anna Scott Graham is a Californian writer taking full advantage of the digital self-publishing explosion. Anna writes, and writes, and writes. She is the author of three published novels, Drop the Gauntlet, The War on Emily Dickinson ...
FEATURE: In Theory - A Response to Socio-Political Themes in The Smurfs
J Marc Schmidt’s essay, Socio-Political Themes in The Smurfs has been attracting the attention of cultural theory fans since it was written in 1998. Since it has been published on Vivid Scribe, Schmidt’s essay has become one of our most popular and provoking articles. In this article, I do not attempt to argue against Schmidt’s overall claims. His essay raises numerous valid theories that can be backed up with textual evidence, and despite a select few points that I believe deserve rethinking and even correction, Schmidt’s argument is relatively sound. My issue with Socio-Political Themes in The Smurfs rests on the nature of cultural theory built on textual observation. It is an argument against the particular type of cultural analysis employed in Socio-Political Themes in The Smurfs. By offering a variety of theoretical readings of The Smurfs, I aim to demonstrate the fallibility of smothering cultural texts with blanket theories and ...
FEATURE: Socio-Political Themes in The Smurfs
This is a discursive analysis of the television programme The Smurfs, created by Peyo, and first aired during the greater part of the eighties. In other words, it is an analysis of some of the socio-political themes I have noticed in the show. The Smurfs is a unique programme. It is, first and foremost, a cartoon, and as such it is aimed at children. The discussion could end there, however, unlike many other cartoons, or indeed other television programmes, The Smurfs is about an entire society and its interactions with itself and with outsiders, rather than the adventures of just a few characters. Hence I believe it is, in short, a political fable, in much the same way that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a fable about Christianity. Rather than Christianity, however, The Smurfs is about Marxism. I am not accusing The Smurfs of being some kind of subversive ...
FEATURE: The Phantom - Why I Still Walk With The Ghost
Like many Australians, my first comic was a Phantom comic. My father enjoyed the Phantom when he was a lad; when he saw his nine year old son was interested in comics, he picked up the latest issue from the newsagent. 22 Years later, and I’m still hooked on the Ghost Who Walks. I’ve read other comics and followed other characters as well, but The Phantom is the only one I’ve stuck with. Sure, Frew still prints their comics on low quality paper with terrible covers and yes, they do reprint a lot of material I already have in my collection. But none of that matters; with The Phantom, you get something no other comic offers. Who is The Phantom? The Original Superhero. The Phantom, for those who came in late, is a masked man, clad in purple tights. Working from the Skull Cave in the deepest jungles of Bengali, he fights ...
FEATURE: Tales for Canterbury - New Zealand Earthquake Appeal Fund Raising Anthology
On February 22, 2011 a cataclysmic 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. It was the second major earthquake in the area in less than six months. The earthquake tore apart the New Zealand city of Christchurch. The ground liquefied. 181 people died. Hundreds more were injured. Buildings were levelled, others damaged to such an extent that demolition was the only solution. Cassie Hart, a writer from New Plymouth, Taranaki on New Zealand’s North Island, watched the annihilation on the news, chatting to a Christchurch friend online while the city was devastated, offering her support, trying to get through to people on the phone. “It was nerve wracking, and as I watched the clips on TV, heartbreaking as well. I was desperate to find something that I could do,” Hart said. The initial idea of the fund raising, Tales For Canterbury anthology came to Cassie Hart during ...
FEATURE: Beautiful Losers - Summer Blonde
I hadn't read Tomine in a long while before I picked up this book. He's one of my biggest influences. My first published comic, in 2000's Tango #4: Love and Death is very Tominesque. I'll tell you about it sometime. A couple of years later, when I was deciding what kind of longer comic I would write and draw, my first idea was for a serious, unhappy, Tomine-flavoured comic about Themes and Motifs and other stuff of which I thought my 12th grade English teacher, Mr Cremer (whom I hated passionately), would approve. I was visualising something like Craig Thompson's Blankets, I think, and just as long. But I rejected that idea and went with another idea that had been gnawing away at me for the past six months or so, something funny, silly and light; Egg Story. As I sat there in Otago University library, writing dialogue and plotting ...
FEATURE: Who’s Who of The Hobbit Cast – The Details So Far...
The Hobbit has been filming for a little over a month now with confirmed details of the cast chopping and changing all of the time. The actors in the role of the 13 Dwarves were among the first to be announced late last year, as well as Martin Freeman as title hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. This week, Hugo Weaving was confirmed to return to his role as Rivendell Elf, Elrond. This is everything we know so far about The Hobbit Cast....... UPDATED June 21, 2011 - Lots of new updates this time; Benedict Cumberbatch has been confirmed, Barry Humphries, Luke Evans and Evangeline Lilly have been added and a rumour has been squashed. Sir Ian McKellan - Gandalf the Grey Reprising his role as the wizened wizard, Sir Ian McKellan was among the first of the confirmed cast and we couldn't be more pleased. Martin Freeman - Bilbo Baggins “I’m in the fucking Hobbit,” Freeman exclaimed at ...
FEATURE: WTF is a Twabble? Twitter and Fiction for a New Age
What do Twitter, Japanese poetry and nonsense verse have in common? This is not a joke…. A quick literary history lesson for context. Centuries ago, Japanese poets developed type of collaborative poetry known as a Renga. The Renga opened with a hokku, a short starting verse that would form the foundation for the following collaborating poets to build on. The hokku was considered the most important and most respected section of the Renga, and only the most masterful poets were permitted to compose it. In the late 1600s the hokku began to emerge as a stand alone piece, and in the late 19th Century, poet Masaoka Noboru, more famously known as Masaoka Shiki, renamed the form Haiku. The delicate art of haiku expanded as a poetic form and spread across the world. From the kigo (a seasonal theme), the kireji (a contrast or comparison between two themes or images), or the modern free ...
FEATURE: Why Everyone Should Know Paul Bedford
Paul Bedford is an eclectic kind of creator and one of the more intriguing writers going around. Bedford is the author of the critically acclaimed horror comic The List, as well as numerous other comics. He’s a game designer, he’s a script writer, he’s a self confessed nerd and he doesn’t like Manga. A Melbourne man, born and bred, Bedford was a creative kid, and his talents and obsessions with popular culture were evident early on. “I suppose it came from being an only child until I was seven. That, and I was a somewhat shy kid being raised by a single mum in a pretty poor part of Melbourne, so a lot of the time I had to make my own fun, which I am now very grateful for. “I was, and still am, very content with my own company. I recall sitting in my room creating massive battle scenes ...
FEATURE: Spotlight on Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro gets it. The 47 year old Mexican director has more than 35 feature films, shorts and animations behind his name either as director, producer, script writer or all of the above, with at least another five currently in production. He is the co-author of the best selling novel series, The Strain and he is working on production of a video game, Insane. His films have won and been nominated for more than 50 international awards including numerous Academy Awards and the Festival de Cannes' Palm d’Or. Fans and critics alike regard del Toro as a master of the horror and wider speculative fiction genres. His films are less movies and more delicate, visual events crafted within often chilling, always entertaining tales. His work is rich with religious imagery and themes, delving deep into the archetypes of horror, and how and why monsters and the fantastique affect us both culturally ...
FEATURE: Who’s Killing Fantasy? Don’t Blame the Writers!
'Who’s Killing Fantasy? You Are!' is an essay, recently published on Mythic Scribes. In the essay, the author, under the pseudonym ‘At Dusk I Reign’ (ADIR) laments the demise of the fantasy genre (specifically books) and places the blame squarely on the head of the fantasy writers. Now, it is not that I totally disagree with ADIR. The fantasy genre is indeed overloaded with clichés. J.R.R Tolkien imitators, Stephanie Meyer imitators all the worse for Stephanie Meyer herself being an imitator. It seems as though recently any time a new fantasy book hits the shelf, we’ve got another girl in love with a vampire (alternate angel, incubus, werewolf etc at will), or a young boy or girl discovering they have a destiny linked to a great evil they alone must defeat, adventure ensues. I do read some of these books, and I even enjoy some of them but I also agree, ...
FEATURE: Some Theories on Cultural Memes and True Blood Season 4
First, a quick bit of cultural theory. In 1976, Richard Dawkins coined the term ‘meme’, as a way of explaining the way culture, an idea, a behaviour, any kind of trend, is formed. In much the same way as a gene gives us our physical blueprint a meme forms our culture, embedded in society and reproducing itself as it transmits from person to person, group to group to become an accepted cultural reality. Step forward to the 21st Century, and the Internet has become the most potent avenue, or vector for meme transmission we have ever seen. I’m not specifically referring to Blog Memes– the repeated formulas of information such as a weekly post of Current Reads or Current Favourite Films posted across a blog network, although these are memetic by definition. The type of memes I’m specifying here are any kind of forwarded email (quite often humour), shared Facebook posts, things ...
FEATURE: Anticipating Inner Demons
I had the pleasure to meet with and speak to Ryan McCalla and Susan Gosper, creator/director/writer and score composer respectively of Inner Demons, a new web based series launching in October, 2011. This innovative new series follows a small group of intertwined characters, each trying to battle their own demons and attempt to make the world a better place. Based on the previews, the production values of the promotional material and the enthusiasm of the creators this should be a series well worth watching. Inner Demons takes a cast of the usual characters - vampires, werewolves, demons and spins them in an extraordinary new way, which gives a glimmer of sci-fi hope in an entertainment world drowning in supernatural creatures. While the trend is to write about vampires, and other supernatural creatures, Inner Demons does it with a twist that makes it fresh and interesting. There appears to be a well ...
FEATURE: J Marc Schmidt - Comic Creator, Essayist, and Pursuer of Passions.
Jonathon Marc Schmidt has a lot going on in his head. He’s a prolific comic writer and artist, has dabbled in animation and his essays on popular culture have been published internationally. He currently lives in Kansai, Japan. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Schmidt’s passion for drawing was evident from a young age. “I liked that I could give flesh to my thoughts and fantasies that way,” he says. “I've always liked the feeling of having a finished drawing to look at.” From there a comic artist was born. “I enjoyed the film Akira when I was still pretty young and impressionable”, he says. Based on reviews comparing Akira to Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, and Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta and Watchmen, Schmidt sought out these other forms of graphic narrative and his rapturous fascination with comics grew. His first comic, the critically acclaimed Egg Story was published in 2004 by ...
FEATURE: Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone - A Humanist Ghost Story
“Never fear the dead. Fear the living. They are the real danger.” ~Guillermo del Toro The Devil’s Backbone (El Espinazo Del Diablo) is the third feature film for Mexican auteur director, Guillermo del Toro. Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, The Devil’s Backbone is both a chilling ghost story and a tale of the triumph of good and innocence over the evils of the darkest human behaviours. The Devil’s Backbone also gives us an unsettling insight into the nature of ghosts. This article delves into this nature in the attempt to understand why ghosts are such a prevailing supernatural force in our otherwise rational culture. The Devil’s Backbone - Plot summary. It is 1939. The Spanish Civil War is tearing the country apart. Poverty, hunger, and disease are rife and trust is hard come by. When his father is killed in the war, Carlos (Fernando Tielve) is taken to live ...
FEATURE: 3D vs. 2D Animation - A Preference of Nostalgia or Aesthetics?
These days, animated films are more often than not 3D CGI (computer-generated imagery). 2D, or traditional animation, is still popular but not as popular or profitable as 3D. I do wonder why, though. What is it that makes 3D more popular than 2D? I recently saw the 3D CGI Disney movie Tangled (2010). It's pretty fun, but rather than talk too much about it, I'd like to compare it to the 2D Disney movie it superficially most resembled, Sleeping Beauty (1959). Both are about a princess who is taken away from her home and family as a baby, and raised in isolation. In particular I want to think about the difference between a drawing and a 3D computer-rendered image. Is there any difference in how it affects the audience? Growing Up With 2D Animation My first reaction to Tangled was that the CGI simply 'didn't look quite right.' It was an instinctive reaction. ...
FEATURE: Dungeons & Dragons - A History of the Game and A Personal Addiction
Introduction – How to Play Dungeons and Dragons Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a Role Playing Game (RPG), inspired by miniature warfare games but rather than a focus on military strategy, Dungeons and Dragons focuses primarily on character. A Dungeons and Dragons game is an adventure undertaken by a group of people playing fantastical races and professions (called classes), while a ‘Dungeon Master’ weaves the fabric of a fantasy world all through imagination and communication. It is a game of the mind, a game of imagination and escapism. Dungeons and Dragons is not played on a board, but uses manuals, a character sheet, polyhedron dice and, most importantly a vivid imagination. In a game of Dungeons and Dragons, players enter a world, enter a role and enter a most remarkable adventure. Dungeons and Dragons – A History of the Game and Personal Addiction Dungeons and Dragons was established in 1971by the brilliant Gary ...
FEATURE: Ray Harryhausen - Godfather of Special Effects Cinema
Before Avatar, before Inception, before Pixar, before The Weta Workshop and digital 3D cinema, there was Ray Harryhausen. While he’s not exactly a household name, Ray Harryhausen revolutionised special effects cinema, pioneering the art of dimensional stop motion animation and creating some of the most magical scenes in cinematic history. Born in Los Angeles in 1920, Ray Harryhausen was fascinated by mythical creatures and dinosaurs from a very young age. As a five year old boy watching Harry O. Hoyt’s The Lost World (1925), Harryhausen was hooked on the magic of cinema, a revelation that would propel his life’s work into a career spanning seventy years. His first experiments in model animation took place when he was thirteen, using his own models and marionettes to recreate scenes from King Kong (1933). Soon after he moved onto making wooden models and shooting experimental films on a 16mm Victor camera around his parent’s ...
FEATURE: Community Service: Humour and Friendship in TV’s Community
Community is an unusual show. It’s part The Breakfast Club, part Friends and part one of those curious conversations you have with a pop culture obsessed weirdo. Created by Dan Harmon, Community first aired in 2009 on NBC and is currently nearing the end of its second season. In March 2011, Community was renewed for a third season to air in 2012. There isn’t an easy way to describe Community, but here goes: Take a group of seven completely different students at Greendale Community College, put them in a study group and let them at first begrudgingly associate with each other, and then eventually become close friends. Populate the college with an assortment of weird and often unlikeable side characters, add a couple of love stories, a few morality tales, some downright bizarre scenarios and generous helping of popular culture in-jokes and meta-humour and you start to get an idea of ...
FEATURE: An Alternative Version-The Fairytale Trend and Hollywood
Hollywood works on trends. Remakes of 1980s horror franchises, comic heroes, rock and roll biopics, Beowulf, penguins - movies follow trends and come in batches. And the current trend is fairytales. Fairytales are not in any way new to the silver screen having long been a source of rich material for all sorts of film makers. Disney lead the world during the Golden Age of animation in the first half of the 20th Century with their animated fairytale features such as Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) which was the first feature length animated film. These animated adaptation of traditional folktales defined fairytales for a lot of people, with many thinking of the narratives in these adaptations as the canonised versions of the traditional tales. Remaking and retelling fairytales in movies is not a novel concept either. Films such as The Company of Wolves (1984), ...
FEATURE: The Philosophy of Philip K.Dick and The Adjustment Bureau
Think Philip K. Dick, think questions. Big questions. Questions of self, questions of society, ethics, and questions of the very fabric of reality. Dick referred to himself as a fictionalising philosopher and continuously questioned human experience to a depth matched by few other 20th Century writers. In his 30 year career Dick published 121 short stories, 44 novels, numerous poems and non-fiction essays. To date there are 12 feature films adapted from his fiction, the most recent The Adjustment Bureau, directed by George Nolfi and starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Dick’s work typically focuses on paranoid questioning of the self in relation to the rest of the world and our individual perception of reality. Characters are frequently fractured from reality. In Total Recall, based on Dick’s short story “We Can Remember it For You Wholesale”, A Scanner Darkly based on the novel of the same name, and Blade Runner adapted from ...
May 16, 2012
BOOK REVIEW: A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (1982)
A strange star marked sheep, like none that has ever existed before, takes possession of people’s minds in order to control the flow of social and political power in the world and a young, unassuming translator has one month to find it without knowing where to start looking. Yes, we’re in Haruki Murakami territory now, [...]
May 14, 2012
BOOK REVIEW: Defending Jacob by William Landay (2012)
Defending Jacob by William Landay is a family-based mystery thriller, told mainly from the perspective of a father, Andy Barber. In other parts we also see the story told from the view of a district attorney, and transcripts of Grand Jury testimony. The author is a former assistant district attorney from Massachusetts, and so his [...]
May 9, 2012
FIVE BY SCRIBE: 5 of the Worst Cover Songs of All Time
Last week we looked at the five particularly excellent covers songs. Now it’s time to turn the tables and look at the worst. When choosing the Best Covers, the chosen tracks all had their own way of interpreting the originals and making it their own. These five terrible cover versions do the opposite. These are [...]
May 3, 2012
FIVE BY SCRIBE: 5 Great Cover Songs
Adapting someone else’s art to your own style is risky business, and cover versions of tracks are always a point of contention among music fans. Some covers do downright suck, but sometimes some artists get it right. These Five Great Cover Songs may not be the absolute best cover songs of all time in everyone’s [...]
April 26, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW: Hugo (2011)
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo caused quite the buzz in the digital cinema world when it came out last year, picking up a swag of technical Oscars and nominated across the board. All 3D digital hype aside, Hugo remains an enjoyable tale about friends, family, adventure and the magic of cinema. ~spoilers~ Adapted from the 2008 novel, [...]
April 19, 2012
BOOK REVIEW: Cricket Kings by William McInnes (2006)
William McInnes is best known for his acting work. His roles on Sea Change and Blue Heelers have made him a more than familiar name and face in Australia. McInnes’ other books, A Man’s Gotta Have A Hobby: Long Summers With My Dad (2005); That’d Be Right (2008); Worse Things Happen At Sea (2011), and [...]
April 16, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW: Griff the Invisible (2010)
Griff the Invisible is an Australian take on the increasingly popular ordinary guy turns superhero genre. Starring True Blood‘s Ryan Kwanten, Griff the Invisible is a charming, funny and quite odd film about finding a place in the world and the power of imagination. Griff is an ordinary, not-much-of-anything kind of guy. He’s a shy [...]
April 13, 2012
BOOK REVIEW: The Return Man by V. M. Zito
The Return Man by V. M. Zito is a dystopian adventure set in America in the year 2018. Zombies have taken claim to half of America, leaving the East safe and a stronghold. No one, not even though ‘un-infected’ are allowed in. We meet Henry Marco, a man who has remained out in the Evacuated [...]
April 11, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW: The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
If there’s one thing scarier than psychotic, killer hillbillies, it’s psychotic, killer mutant hillbillies. And The Hills Have Eyes does an OK job at bringing that horror to life. The Hills Have Eyes is Alexandre Aja’s 2006 remake of Wes Craven’s 1977 original of the same name. A remake of the original, now a cult [...]
April 10, 2012
BOOK REVIEW: The Spell Book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty (2007)
From the title alone it’s clear that The Spell Book of Listen Taylor is going to be a curiously different read. Australian author, Jaclyn Moriarty has created a novel filled with mystery and intrigue, absolute hilarity and poignant sympathy. This is a whimsical world populated with bizarre yet utterly believable and familiar characters and situations, [...]
April 4, 2012
MUSIC REVIEW: MDNA by Madonna (2012)
MDNA, the latest offering from Madonna, is a curious beast. The album was released worldwide at the end of March to mixed, though generally positive reviews. It has charted and sold as any other Madonna album does, amazingly well, topping Australian, US and UK charts in its first week and taking Madonna into yet another [...]
April 3, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW: The Reef (2010)
With so many nasties lurking in such varied and often extreme environments, Australia is a great place to set an animal attack horror film. And The Reef is indeed a great addition to the genre and the long tradition of Australian horror cinema. Maybe not so good, however for Queensland tourism. The Reef starts with [...]
April 3, 2012
BOOK REVIEW: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #2)
Blood Bound is the second instalment to Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series. Where the first book, Moon Called had Mercy and readers thick in the world of the werewolves in the Tri-State area, Blood Bound takes a trip through the vampire communities. Moon Called was enjoyable in a junk-food-for-the-brain kind of way, but [...]
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