The first episode after a regeneration sets the tone, but is also a one-off. The Doctor gets the opportunity to be vulnerable in ways he is mostly not the rest of the time. Much of the rest of the cast can be left to drive the narrative given his erratic behaviour, mental confusion and often … Continue reading Doctor Who: Deep Breath of Comedy, Confusion and Action
The Secret Museum – epiphany and review
I attended a book talk-launch type thing the other evening. It was for Molly Oldfield's The Secret Museum. It was a good talk. Oldfield was erudite - full of interesting and amusing anecdotes about meeting international museum curators and seeing first hand all the things they can't display. To her credit, she coped well with woolly … Continue reading The Secret Museum – epiphany and review
Fellowship of the Orb: Review of Guardians of the Galaxy
If you like Marvel films you'll like Guardians of the Galaxy. You may like it even more if you don't like everything Marvel has done. I liked it. It was smart and sweet and nostalgic, with some great performances from the cast, plus with added bonus surprise cameos and shout outs for long-term comic readers. … Continue reading Fellowship of the Orb: Review of Guardians of the Galaxy
Anti-Advice for Writers
If you are writing or thinking about writing, or reading about thinking about starting to write you will, with little trouble, come across a terrifyingly huge amount of advice. It comes in the form of: books, blogs, well-meaning friends, videos, hash-tagged conversations, mime performances, professional organisations and their magazines, software, spam invitations to pay for … Continue reading Anti-Advice for Writers
Messages in the music
Being a person in the world, I have noticed, of late, that it isn't going well. The world, that is. Drought, ice melting, reefs dying, war, famine, poverty, burning this, flooding that, rampant terrible disease things, pillaging hordes of other things, like politicians and media barons, kids being shelled, torture, censorship, kidnapping, rape memes, repression, … Continue reading Messages in the music
Some thoughts on American Gods: a review
Since completing my studies I've got a lil bit more time for recreational reading. Thus, I've made a start on my precarious pile of unread novels. It's largish as there are several handy places to pick up second-hand books near where I live. A while back I started on Cloud Atlas but couldn't get into it. … Continue reading Some thoughts on American Gods: a review
On Being a Writer and a Reader
Been working on the thesis and it's nearing completion. I am both hopeful of and dreading the outcome. What it is forcing me to be is to be a writer and a reader. Mostly you'll say this is easy, writers and readers share things in common, like language, and perhaps a love of and ability to … Continue reading On Being a Writer and a Reader
Answering borrowed questions (about writing)
I'm knee-deep in thesis-land at the moment, which explains fewer posts of late. However I had some time for this. The other day I was inspired by Anna Spargo-Ryan’s blog and her Q and A about writing. She has a way with words. But the questions she answered got me thinking. So it meant I … Continue reading Answering borrowed questions (about writing)
Black Swan of Trespass
The robber of dead men's dreams There is a famous Australian literary hoax, called the Ern Malley affair. Two poets invented the Melbourne poet, you guessed it, Ern Malley to dupe literary journal editor Max Harris. It was all about modernism. This is some of Ern's work, from Durer: Innsbruck, 1495: I had often cowled … Continue reading Black Swan of Trespass
Lessons from ten-ish years of short story writing
I've been writing a while now and studied courses and read a few 'how to' books. They're all helpful in their way. My advice is take advice and don't take advice. Not everything I've been told works for me and I'm ok with that. So if some of this is too obvious you can ignore … Continue reading Lessons from ten-ish years of short story writing
Writing Bec 