Succession: All heart on an Armani suit sleeve
The tale of an amoral media tycoon and his conniving offspring, set in a capitalistic world where loyalty means nothing and empathy is viewed as weakness, Succession is a story that audiences shouldn’t want to relate to. And yet here I am – a Bernie Sanders’ mittens-loving socia…
The Lighthouse: a damned delight
Black and white and weird, The Lighthouse serves as a noir allegory for the mental cost of isolation. Pretty pertinent lockdown viewing then, but not the escapism you might be seeking. Originally meant as a contemporary version of Edgar Allan-Poe’s unfinished short story, the fi…
The fairy-tale of internal narrative
My mind deals in stories. I don’t write them so much these days, who has the time? But I do like to imagine these stories, to make grand narratives in my head neatly explaining what the hell I’m doing with my life. I revise character arcs in my head like the post-production of k…
Dismiss society; embrace your own reality
Adults debate about media representation; ‘let’s have real women on Cosmo , less airbrushing in ads, older women in film’, but it seems to me, the value we put on representation outweighs the value we put on reality. Sure, fight for equal representation, but first, let’s teach o…
Westworld: Where Ethics Reign?
I was an early onboarder of the Westworld fan bus and, as I ride into this third season, the excitement is still very much within me as we settle into the journey that follows vengeance-hunting robot Dolores, now set free into a sleek future society in which an AI system …
Ad Astra and the Pursuit of Nothing
A story about a man in space, sure, but not just a story about a man in space. Rather, Ad Astra is an existential thrill ride about what it means to be a man in space. And what does it mean really? For Brad Pitt’s Roy McBride, directed by James Gray, it means a life …
The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore by Benjamin Hale
If you’re not someone totally shut off to the idea that animals aren’t so different from humans, and that primates in particular can tell us a lot about humans’ own evolutionary process, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore is a book you must read. The novel, written as a memoir …
Thailand: Exploring the Historic Ruins of Sukhothai
As a cultural overnight trip from your Bangkok base or as part of a longer journey up towards Chiang Mai, Sukhothai is a must-see for history geeks and culture vultures alike. A kingdom once ruled over by the Khmer empire, Sukhothai is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site home…
To Fight Climate Change We First Must Tackle the Lobbyists
When we think about the devastating effects of climate change, current and future, it’s easy to feel so helpless as to want to forget. Am I to blame? Are my cheap light bulbs accelerating the destruction of our ecosystem? Is my carbon footprint the only lasting impact I’ll have…
Jim Carrey Gives us Truth as Children's TV Host in Kidding
Post-spiritual awakening Jim Carrey is Carrey at his best. It’s further than you ever thought he could get from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and yet Jeff Pickles, the central character of Kidding , still holds a similar sort of intrigue. Distant from anyone we know, yet relata…
On Trusting Instincts: The Kavanaugh Assault is All Too Real
Comments sections are bitter lands. They run by different laws where no one’s safe and everyone’s a prisoner of their own poor grammar. An opinion, it seems, needs to be caps-locked in order for it to be valid. Bandying insults of nationality and lowered intelligence has be…
The Terror: A Journey into the Darkness of the Self
How do you get a boat load of 19 th century young men to agree to risking their lives (real big time) for nothing but a state salary and a pat on the back? You make them believe in something; in their country’s goals, in the knowledge and the power of the British empire, in En…
Puppies for Sale: The Truth About the Global Pet Industry
It's 2017, the age of social responsibility, mindfulness and environmental awareness. Supposedly, we treat animals better than we've ever done before. At this point, over half of all households in the USA own a pet and the pet industry now nets over US$60 billion a…
TTIP Stands For Corporations Not People
TTIP could be the corporate Trojan horse of the 21 st century, giving more rights to self-interested international corporations, and less to those in favour of a future Britain that isn’t shit and reliant on mindless consumerism. So you should be taking notes. Opinions on T…
Millennials Have No Time For Thinking
Ice caps are melting, tuition fees are rising, health services are privatising, arts funding is diminishing, attention spans are shortening and no one cares. Except perhaps for the 30 or so minutes they’re trending on Facebook. Activism on social media goes as far as a o…