Dangerous Liaisons – Film Review

What to do when you’ve got an NBN outage and can’t stream? Go back to your DVD collection of course. I thought I’d re-watch one of my all-time favourite movies, this witty and brilliantly acted period drama that starts as deliciously wicked and ends as a tragedy.

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Toy Story artwork finished

Life got in the way for a while, but I finally found the motivation and momentum to complete this project! The finer details, like the trimming on Woody’s cowboy hat, really brought it to life. Now I’ll have to see if my artwork meets the approval of the harshest critic, my three-year-old niece.

In Bruges – Film Review

I’ve been watching a lot of crime drama/comedy recently for some reason. In addition to Hot Fuzz and Leon: The Professional, plus re-visiting Godfather I & II and all five seasons of Breaking Bad, I’ve now watched Martin McDonagh’s 2008 black comedy caper. And yes it made me want to go to Bruges.

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Chang Tuan’s Cats – A Poem

Scholar Chang Tuan was fond of cats,
And had seven of them,
Wonderful beasts with wonderful names.
They were:

Guardian of the East
White Phoenix
Purple Blossom
Drive-Away-Vexation
Brocade Sash
Cloud Pattern
Ten Thousand Strings of Cash

Each was worth several pieces of gold,
And nothing could persuade Chang
To part with them.

— Wang Chih (c. 1100 C.E.)

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie – Book Review

This is only the second Christie novel in my re-readathon that I genuinely don’t remember ever reading before. I had the right instinct about who dunnit all along, but this Poirot mystery still boasts plenty of surprises and twists.

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Mean Girls – Film Review

Somehow I spent the last fifteen years without ever once seeing this high school comedy classic, while still knowing its catchphrases (Stop trying to make Fetch happen). Watching it for the first time now, it still feels fresh and as deceptively effortless as a perfect pop song.

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The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie – Book Review

I couldn’t recall much about this stand-alone murder mystery other than a few stray details, but that’s an unfair reflection on the novel. While it may not be one of Christie’s true classics, it definitely deserved to be remembered better.

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