Girls are so vain about their hair

the past/the present

TO STEAL, OR NOT TO STEAL? THAT IS THE QUESTION

What’s the most compelling piece of theatre you’ve ever seen? Some may name a legendary production of Hamlet they once saw, others might maintain that nothing will ever be more dramatic than the latest groundbreaking one-man play, more people would probably cite a scene from a gritty American box-set like Breaking Bad or The Wire.

Me, I can say with absolute certainty that the best and most compelling piece of theatre I’ve ever had the fortune to witness is this short six and a half minute clip from the popular television game show Golden Balls.

Film Review: Dunkirk

I was slightly apprehensive going into Dunkirk. I was worried that I would feel bored as I had heard it was mostly action with barely any dialogue, that it would repeat the same war-movie clichés and exalt some kind of quasi-mythical patriotic British-ness that would totally alienate me.

I forgot these worries within the first few minutes of the film.

Ramblings on tropes

We all have tropes that we can’t resist.

Whether it’s in books, graphic novels, television shows, films, whatever- if this trope is present and it is well executed (or even if it’s not, to be honest) you will be unutterably, inexplicably, drawn towards that piece of media.

Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone by G.S Denning

I had just finished reading Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard and was trawling through Goodreads when I came across a review that compared Johannes Cabal and his brother Horst to Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, and it was like a cartoon lightning bolt of epiphany had struck me (I understand that I’ve alienated most of you with this sentence but trust me, it’s accurate).

On Reading

I have a problem.

I don’t read books; I devour them.

It may seem like it’s an exaggeration to call this a ‘problem’, but I assure you, it is very much a serious issue. Let me give you some context.

Grantchester Series 3

Murder at the cricket, afternoon tea with the Archdeacon and a country home asylum exposed. Hold on to your straw hats, Grantchester is back.

Doctor Who: The Pilot

Doctor Who used to be my favourite television programme. Every Saturday evening my dad, my sister and I would sit down in front of the TV and watch David Tennant fighting aliens on some strange alien planet or talking to William Shakespeare in Elizabethan England, and I would love each and every episode, then go into school Monday morning and discuss it with my friends during morning registration. It was a simpler time.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

-spoilers-

If you are like me a fan of the supernatural, the weird and the wonderful; Dracula is a must read. It offers a fascinating look at a critical moment in the evolution of the genre, and you can trace the threads leading from it to all subsequent writing and film and television about the supernatural, specifically vampires.