Columns
War for the Planet of the Apes: Review
I have lovely memories associated with this film, so I hope I don’t sound dramatic when I say it’s the greatest work of art in the history of cinema. I concede this is a bold statement, but my reasoning is sound. Matt Reeves’ stunning science-fiction epic, War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), is […]
26 May 2021
Parasite: Review
It’s incredible to think how much joy and destruction one small family can inflict. Bong Joon-ho’s dark comedy thriller Parasite (2020) is held together by a strong cast and slick directing, and the take-home message is clear: bonding with your family causes death. I feel I reserve the right to criticise this cynical view of […]
5 May 2021milkbar
content warning: violence. it starts in the middle of the milkbar with me staring at the lolly wall, the colourful sweets locked inside their plastic compartments, allowed freedom only by their little scoopers and the hands of sweet-toothed teens – the freckles, the gummy babies, the milk bottles, the snakes – and i’m thinking of […]
30 April 2021
The World of Dragons: The Gnawing Tree Dragon
“Níðhöggr lived beneath the great tree Yggdrasil. He gnawed on its roots, growing bigger each day. The roots were so tangled that they twisted around his body; the more he ate, the bigger he became; the bigger he became, the more the roots curled around him, trapping him where he lay. And from where he […]
26 April 2021
An Artist’s Struggle
And on a hot, 33-degree day She sat in her room And wrote half a play. It wasn’t very good But it wasn’t very bad Yet she knew in her heart that really she had let herself down, left it too last minute. There were barely any scenes or characters in it. “But it’s experimental! […]
2 April 2021
Being John Malkovich: Review
What makes a consciousness independent? Evidently, not much according to Spike Jonze’s 1999 ‘classic’: Being John Malkovich. Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is an unsuccessful puppeteer who discovers a portal into the head of John Malkovich (John Malkovich). Schwartz mostly plods along as an asinine protagonist, only to be challenged with fanciful moral dilemmas and philosophical […]
12 March 2021
The World of Dragons: The Burrowing Sand Dragon
“Apep was so long and large that, even laid flat, he was taller than any human. His roar was so loud and so powerful that even the earth would shake at its sound. The enemy of Ra and order, he emerged from below to bring darkness, thirsting for chaos and destruction. Many tried to stop […]
5 March 2021
Politics
Politics is a dirty Word Mind frame Existence But remember: If you’re not interested in politics, Politics will be interested in you Imprisonment in death? Inevitable Imprisonment in politics? Avoidable I will never ever Lie Others will never ever Stop Why? Life is unfair Hold up my sign at the parade Careful! The […]
5 March 2021
The Trees in My Street
Arthritic hands line my street, Creaking and aching in the wind, Stiff knotted claws arcing warily away From the hum and snap of telephone lines. Leaves flicker and wave at the sky, Quickly breaking from stems to flutter away. As the wind takes these papery children, The trees whisper hushed goodbyes, Groaning and reaching […]
5 March 2021
Drowned Icarus
The light that drowned Icarus, when his freedom he found, was the sweetest ignorance that sent him to ground I was the quiet water the dark and silent receiver I was the waves on fire when his body was found Damp wax and melted feathers Gold like a sun half-downed Heat-struck he bore […]
5 March 2021