Arts Reviews Archive

  • <p>English has definitely become the lingua franca of the world. I was appalled at the ability of the participants at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to speak not only very good English but current everyday, infomal, even colloquial English. (Unlike like my still formal and rather stilted French.)</p> <p>Gone was the dual English/French repetition of every statement by the the hosts (although the scoring remains bilingual). Most countries sang in English and those who did not sang in their native lingo. The only real clanger was Latvia whose entry only served to prove that Google translator is not foolproof:</p> <blockquote><p>“What </p></blockquote><p> […]</p>

    Operation Cultural Imperialism: Complete

    Posted on 4 June, 2010 | 4 Comments

    English has definitely become the lingua franca of the world. I was appalled at the ability of the participants at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to speak not only very good English but current everyday, infomal, even colloquial English. (Unlike like my still formal and rather stilted French.)

    Gone was the dual English/French repetition of every statement by the the hosts (although the scoring remains bilingual). Most countries sang in English and those who did not sang in their native lingo. The only real clanger was Latvia whose entry only served to prove that Google translator is not foolproof:

    “What

    […]

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  • <p><strong>Title</strong>: The World of the Troubadours: Medieval Occitan Society, c.1100-c.1300<br /> <strong>Author</strong>: Linda M Paterson<br /> <strong>Paperback</strong>: 384 pages<br /> <strong>Publisher</strong>: Cambridge University Press, 1995<br /> <strong>Language</strong>: English</p> <p>This is a book of lists which concentrates on the topics of:</p> <ul> <li>the nature of feudalism and vasslage in Languedoc and Provence</li> <li>medieval medicine and surgery and their Arabic influences</li> <li>the place and role of women in society which contrasts sharply to the north of France</li> <li>religion and heresy, especially the reasonably well-known Albigensian Crusade and the Gregorian Reforms</li> </ul> <p>Scholarship in English on the south of France in the high medieval period […]</p>

    The World of the Troubadours

    Posted on 14 May, 2010 | 1 Comment

    Title: The World of the Troubadours: Medieval Occitan Society, c.1100-c.1300
    Author: Linda M Paterson
    Paperback: 384 pages
    Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1995
    Language: English

    This is a book of lists which concentrates on the topics of:

    • the nature of feudalism and vasslage in Languedoc and Provence
    • medieval medicine and surgery and their Arabic influences
    • the place and role of women in society which contrasts sharply to the north of France
    • religion and heresy, especially the reasonably well-known Albigensian Crusade and the Gregorian Reforms

    Scholarship in English on the south of France in the high medieval period […]

    Continue Reading...

  • HP Lovecraft and the Myth of the Golden Age <p>I started reading H.P. Lovecraft again after a break from his work of far too many years. Specifically, I re-read Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, one of the Randolph Carter cycle. The story itself was published posthumously and HPL intended it as nothing more than a writing exercise. It was never a finished work. Regardless – or perhaps because – of this, it highlights the central themes in all of Lovecraft’s writing, Progress and the Myth of the Golden Age.</p> <p>Lovecraft struggles to reconcile the ideas of progress, that science and technology […]</p>

    Cthulhu Dreaming

    Posted on 30 April, 2010 | 1 Comment
    HP Lovecraft and the Myth of the Golden Age

    I started reading H.P. Lovecraft again after a break from his work of far too many years. Specifically, I re-read Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, one of the Randolph Carter cycle. The story itself was published posthumously and HPL intended it as nothing more than a writing exercise. It was never a finished work. Regardless – or perhaps because – of this, it highlights the central themes in all of Lovecraft’s writing, Progress and the Myth of the Golden Age.

    Lovecraft struggles to reconcile the ideas of progress, that science and technology […]

    Continue Reading...

  • <p>I just realised that it’s Sunday and I’m two days late in posting. The schedule may be meaningless and self-imposed but it quietens the stabby-stabby thoughts. And to get it out of the way: Christmas was great. Kathi and I spend it alone and reconnecting with each other. It’s been a very valuable time for both of us.</p> <p>Now to television and the best sci-fi show you’ll never see: Defying Gravity. This show is just plain awesome, not least for being targetted at adults rather than teens, but also for not being a <em>Star Trek</em> clone. This last point is […]</p>

    For Your Listening Pleasure

    Posted on 27 December, 2009 | No Comments

    I just realised that it’s Sunday and I’m two days late in posting. The schedule may be meaningless and self-imposed but it quietens the stabby-stabby thoughts. And to get it out of the way: Christmas was great. Kathi and I spend it alone and reconnecting with each other. It’s been a very valuable time for both of us.

    Now to television and the best sci-fi show you’ll never see: Defying Gravity. This show is just plain awesome, not least for being targetted at adults rather than teens, but also for not being a Star Trek clone. This last point is […]

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  • <p>I’ve been watching. And with watching come thinking. Which leads inexorably to blogging.</p> <p><strong>Paranormal Activity</strong>: This is a standout. Shot for US$15,000 and somehow managing to get a cinema release, this film is scary as hell, despite suffering from too much Blair Witch handycam camera work, precisely because of the low budget. Apparently, the filmmakers decided that because they had such a small budget they had to suggest the horror rather than spend their cash on special effects and such to show the horror. The film has nothing new to say but it is very, very creepy. I expect big […]</p>

    TV and Movie Roundup

    Posted on 11 December, 2009 | 2 Comments

    I’ve been watching. And with watching come thinking. Which leads inexorably to blogging.

    Paranormal Activity: This is a standout. Shot for US$15,000 and somehow managing to get a cinema release, this film is scary as hell, despite suffering from too much Blair Witch handycam camera work, precisely because of the low budget. Apparently, the filmmakers decided that because they had such a small budget they had to suggest the horror rather than spend their cash on special effects and such to show the horror. The film has nothing new to say but it is very, very creepy. I expect big […]

    Continue Reading...

  • <p><em> </em></p> <p>Last Sunday was the twelfth anniversary of the day we were married. Yay us! After all we’ve been through it was a bit of a shock to realise that we’re still together and that we actually like hanging out with each other. To celebrate, we did two things: dinner at a new (for us) french restaurant called C’est Bon on Saturday night, traipsing around the Glasshouse Mountains looking at rocks and stuff Sunday. Both our Satruday night and our Sunday wanderings were brilliant.</p> <p>C’est Bon has earned itself a good rep both generally and within the french ex-pat community in […]</p>

    C’est Bon and the Glasshouse Mountains

    Posted on 18 September, 2009 | 4 Comments

    Last Sunday was the twelfth anniversary of the day we were married. Yay us! After all we’ve been through it was a bit of a shock to realise that we’re still together and that we actually like hanging out with each other. To celebrate, we did two things: dinner at a new (for us) french restaurant called C’est Bon on Saturday night, traipsing around the Glasshouse Mountains looking at rocks and stuff Sunday. Both our Satruday night and our Sunday wanderings were brilliant.

    C’est Bon has earned itself a good rep both generally and within the french ex-pat community in […]

    Continue Reading...

  • <p>Lately, I’ve become entangled in a number of debates with others about the quality of various films and novels. Only now have I realised that I approach these media in a manner which seems completely at odds with the way other approach them. Therefore, it’s time I explained myself.</p> <p>I have a couple of fixed ideas on what makes a movie, novel or short story good. These have developed out of a cloud of different inputs such as: </p> <ul> <li>four years of studying film and literature at university,</li> <li>a strong interest in learning other languaes and reading foreign literature,</li> <li>a strong </li></ul><p> […]</p>

    I Feel a Manifesto Approaching…

    Posted on 28 August, 2009 | 4 Comments

    Lately, I’ve become entangled in a number of debates with others about the quality of various films and novels. Only now have I realised that I approach these media in a manner which seems completely at odds with the way other approach them. Therefore, it’s time I explained myself.

    I have a couple of fixed ideas on what makes a movie, novel or short story good. These have developed out of a cloud of different inputs such as:

    • four years of studying film and literature at university,
    • a strong interest in learning other languaes and reading foreign literature,
    • a strong

    […]

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  • <p>Given the glowing reviews and praise this film have been receiving, anyone who does not follow suit appears as a curmudgeon. So, I feel the need to explain a couple of things before I launch into my review.</p> <p>First, I liked the film. I liked it very much and expect to see great things from this director. Second, it has only gathered such marvellous reviews because all the other current offerings, especially any other recent sci-fi, are sooooo bad. The vast fields of crap to which we (particularly sci-fi) fans have become accustomed to putting up with means that anything […]</p>

    District 9: Not Bad

    Posted on 22 August, 2009 | 1 Comment

    Given the glowing reviews and praise this film have been receiving, anyone who does not follow suit appears as a curmudgeon. So, I feel the need to explain a couple of things before I launch into my review.

    First, I liked the film. I liked it very much and expect to see great things from this director. Second, it has only gathered such marvellous reviews because all the other current offerings, especially any other recent sci-fi, are sooooo bad. The vast fields of crap to which we (particularly sci-fi) fans have become accustomed to putting up with means that anything […]

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  • <p>A Canticle for Leibowitz<br /> Walter M Miller, Jr  </p> <p>A wholly remarkable book but not for the reasons usually trotted out by its fans:</p> <ul> <li>it is not about Catholicism or the benefits bestowed by religion,</li> <li>it is not about trite cliches such as ‘those who do not listen to history are doomed to repeat it’ or ‘with great power comes great responsibility’,</li> <li>it is not about power of faith in the face of destruction.</li> </ul> <p>The novel outlines a thesis which describes humanity as fundamentally and irredeemably broken. Humanity, after global nuclear war brought it to the brink of extinction, has been […]</p>

    Book Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz

    Posted on 31 July, 2009 | No Comments

    A Canticle for Leibowitz
    Walter M Miller, Jr 

    A wholly remarkable book but not for the reasons usually trotted out by its fans:

    • it is not about Catholicism or the benefits bestowed by religion,
    • it is not about trite cliches such as ‘those who do not listen to history are doomed to repeat it’ or ‘with great power comes great responsibility’,
    • it is not about power of faith in the face of destruction.

    The novel outlines a thesis which describes humanity as fundamentally and irredeemably broken. Humanity, after global nuclear war brought it to the brink of extinction, has been […]

    Continue Reading...

  • <p>You know how it is, you’re sitting in the cinema watching a film and dying to go to the loo. Do you go now and miss the rest of what could be the pivotal or even the only good scene in the film? Do you wait just that little bit longer? Either way your enjoyment of the film is shot for good.</p> <p>Never fear! Here’s the site for you. RunPee lists all the points in various films that you can dduck out to the bathroom without missing anything significant.</p> <p>The site has an added benefit. The list of three minute […]</p>

    Public Server Announcement: Peeing in Public

    Posted on 25 May, 2009 | No Comments

    You know how it is, you’re sitting in the cinema watching a film and dying to go to the loo. Do you go now and miss the rest of what could be the pivotal or even the only good scene in the film? Do you wait just that little bit longer? Either way your enjoyment of the film is shot for good.

    Never fear! Here’s the site for you. RunPee lists all the points in various films that you can dduck out to the bathroom without missing anything significant.

    The site has an added benefit. The list of three minute […]

    Continue Reading...

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