Stuart A Blair wrote about competing Star Trek shows in the first issue; this time he has a look at the sub-cultures of fans that dedicate their lives to the celebration of their favourite hero.
2016 marked anniversary celebrations for a lot of the classic pop culture TV shows that many of us have grown up watching as adolescents or have discovered via re-runs or on DVD.… Read the rest
Roman was in Melbourne recently to catch one of the offerings at the Melbourne Arts Festival.
“Watt” was the second of Beckett’s novels in English, written while he and his partner were on the run from the Nazis in France. He wrote it as a way to stay sane in the face of the trauma of war.
This hour-long production, adapted and performed by Irish actor Barry McGovern, is a mesmeric delight.… Read the rest
Written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu, The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Nebārando) is a weekly manga series published by Shonen Jump. The series has climbed rapidly in the popularity rankings, and is now regarded as one of the most popular of the Weekly Shonen Jump mangas … Read the rest
I’ve been playing video games since the Atari VCS first hit the market and watching movies for even longer. I still spend way too much time on both. However, the combination of the two has not proven to be quite as appealing as I might have hoped.
The problem is, (with a few significant exceptions), video games aren’t noted for providing great cinematic plots.… Read the rest
Every week there’s only one TV series which brings everyone in our house into the same room (technically, what this actually means is that it draws my son away from his computer, but it is the same end result) – My Hero Academia (also known as Boku no Hīrō Akademia). We’ve been watching it almost every week since it first aired.… Read the rest
We’ve got a few comments from readers of the first two issues
The first to respond was Swajax Johnson, who enjoyed Chris Pyman’s article about a female Doctor… Read the rest
When David commented that the three Ridley Scott Alien movies made a fine trilogy, Roman suggested he might like to expound further.
I first saw Ridley Scott’s movie Alien in London in 1979,
not long after it was released. We were on our way back home from the Worldcon, which had been held in Brighton that year. Filling in time before we had to head to the airport, we went to see the movie, which had been talked about a good deal at the convention.… Read the rest
Roman: As we mentioned last issue, one of the reasons we’re producing an online ’zine is to experiment with the possibilities of time-based media. Adam’s article this issue includes some videos of robots in action, and I’ve added a snippet of acrobatic Angels from Womadelaide.
We’re pleased to have some more pieces from Lynelle Howell and David Faber this issue, and a fairly lengthy article from longtime fan Leigh Edmonds.… Read the rest
I thought I’d read the novel before seeing the film. (Red Sparrow is just the first novel in a trilogy)
This novel is by an ex CIA agent, so we would presume the spycraft is accurately described. There’s an interesting touch: whenever some dish is mentioned in the text, there’s a recipe at the end of the chapter, should the reader wish to try and replicate the dish.… Read the rest
Red Sparrow (2017)This may well be the best Hollywood propaganda film made since Hitchcock’s North By North-West during the First Cold War. It comes as no surprise then that it’s based on a 2013 novel by former CIA operative Jason Mathews. Spies never retire so they say, and as a writer Mathews would appear to vindicate this saying.… Read the rest
Colours of Impressionism:
Masterpieces from the Musee D’Orsay
Art Gallery of South Australia
North Terrace Adelaide
Open until 29/7/2018
It is something of a cultural miracle that we in Adelaide are privileged to view these paintings from Paris. As the title suggests, the exhibition is aesthetically colour co-ordinated. Descriptive panels inform visitors about the colour theories and science and the critical interpretations which swirled around the Impressionist school of painters, so called polemically by critic Louis Leroy (1812-1885) after the title of a painting exhibited in 1874 of an impression of sunrise by Claude Monet.… Read the rest
Salvation, a US science fiction thriller TV series filmed in Canada, is a surprisingly enjoyable yet odd show. It starts with Liam Cole (played by Charlie Rowe), an MIT student who discovers an asteroid that is due to collide with the earth, creating an extinction-level event that will destroy all of humanity.… Read the rest
Robots are inherently cool. Accordingly, I’ve long wanted to build robots, but until a few years ago I wasn’t making any progress. The big problem for me (other than cost) was the skills required. Robot construction requires a mix of mechanical engineering, electronics and programming. The third I could do, but the first two were much more of a challenge.… Read the rest
As in previous festivals, images were projected onto building facades. This time, a more interesting sequence of animations on the Institute Building, Mitchell Building, Elder Hall and Bonython Hall. Here are samples from the Mitchell Building… Read the rest
Roman continues his look at Max Gladstone’s Craft sequence, looking at books four to six.
Forty years after the God Wars, Dresediel Lex bears the scars of liberation—especially in the Skittersill, a poor district still bound by the fallen gods’ decaying edicts. As long as the gods’ wards last, they strangle development; when they fail, demons will be loosed upon the city.… Read the rest
Leigh Edmonds is a long-time SF fan with a keen interest in fanzines; we were lucky to score this convention report.
Like most people, I imagine, I live in more than one community. There is work, where I live, family and the people I chose to associate with for fun. They form a kind of boolean diagram of my life in which many of the facets intersect and others do not.… Read the rest
The cover this issue was snapped by Roman on his phone camera, slowly removed from a coat pocket, focussed and taken without scaring off the curious fox checking out the bucket at Joseph & Judith’s allotment. This issue unexpectedly covers the themes of fans, fanzines and conventions. And how to build robots!… Read the rest