Top 5 books of 2021
The top 5 Honourable Mentions Robert Goodman For more of Robert’s reviews, visit his blog Pile By the Bed
Read More
Music news round-up (week ending 14 June 2015)
US soul sensation Leon Bridges is releasing his new album, Coming Home, this week (on Friday, 19 June) on the Hallux label. The singer’s stage presence and soulful tunes are garnering comparisons with the great Sam Cooke; despite the fact Bridges is still only 25. You can judge for yourself come Friday. In the meantime,…
Creed III – movie review
After retiring from the ring three years ago, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) lives to fight another day in Creed III. The film starts back in the day when 15-year-old Creed (Thaddeus James Mixson Jr) was running around with his best friend, 18-year-old Damian Anderson (Spence Moore II), a boxing prodigy. Then a violent incident…
Bill & Ted Face the Music – movie review
Dudes, welcome to the most bodacious time-travel, rock music, metaphysical mind-warp of the year. Bill & Ted Face the Music – the loooooong (30 years or so) awaited sequel to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) – brings laughs, weirdness and “the greatest song ever written”. Director Dean…
A French Wedding by Hannah Tunnicliffe – book review
I loved Hannah Tunnicliffe’s Season of Salt and Honey, so I was more than happy to add A French Wedding to my review list. Here’s the blurb: Max is turning forty. All he wants for his birthday is for his six oldest friends to come to France to eat, dance, drink and laugh for one…
Identity (The Australian Ballet) – ballet and dance review
Two new and very different works, each lasting just under an hour, constitute the opening of the 2023 ballet season in Melbourne for The Australian Ballet. Named Identity, in a nutshell it is contemporary dance versus traditional ballet. While there were elements of both that I admired, I felt there was too much repetition in the first,…
See You at the Toxteth (Peter Corris; ed. Jean Bedford) – book review
It’s more than fitting that the final word from Peter Corris would be curated by his wife, and long-time editor, Jean Bedford. The chosen short stories are perfect examples of his work, and the ‘ABC of Crime Writing’ is every bit as insightful, acerbic, funny and thought-provoking as you’d want it to be. The columns…
The Mystery of Henri Pick – movie review
While a largely enjoyable romp, The Mystery of Henri Pick becomes too convoluted for its own good. Henri Pick made pizzas for a living in France’s Brittany region. No one could have guessed was a gifted author (so much so that he could juxtapose Russian novelist Alexander Pushkin with the last throes of a relationship)?…
New music round-up (for w/e 16 August 2024)
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 16 August 2024. Paradise State of Mind is the long-awaited fourth album from multi-platinum group Foster the People. This is the 3-time GRAMMY Award-nominated band’s first new release in over three years. The record had its origins in the…
Moonfall – movie review
Artificial Intelligence turns on its creator in Moonfall. The stakes for Earth and its inhabitants, not to mention the Moon, couldn’t be higher. It starts with an incident in space in 2011. Three astronauts – Jo Fowler (Halle Berry), Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and Alan Marcus (Frank Fiola) – are in space on a satellite…