“Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.”
– Winston Churchill
The Secret in Their Eyes – Film Review
This gripping crime drama (winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2010 Academy Awards) is the first film from Argentina I’ve seen. I definitely would like to watch more.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie – Book Review
This novel, the world’s best-selling mystery with over 100 million copies, has recently been voted readers’ favourite Agatha Christie novel in a global poll. Though I’d probably struggle to name my own personal favourite Christie novel, I’m not inclined to argue with this honour.
Insomnia – Film Review
I’ve been watching bleak and moody Danish noir lately, so I thought I’d change it up and watch some bleak and moody Norwegian noir instead, namely this 1997 thriller with Stellan Skarsgard.
BlacKkKlansman – Film Review
I finally made time to catch Spike Lee’s latest. The trailers have been selling it as something like a buddy cop comedy based on an incredible true story, but while the movie is very entertaining and imbued with a great dose of humour, Lee’s ambition goes much further than that.
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie – Book Review
This Miss Marple novel has a couple too many convenient coincidences for my liking, but it remains one of the most entertaining Christie mysteries to re-visit.
Educated by Tara Westover – Book Review
Our latest book club reading was this extraordinary, beautifully written memoir about growing up in rural Idaho in a family of Mormon survivalists.
One frequent comment in the discussions I had was that to many Educated felt like reading fiction rather than a memoir. This is in no way a swipe at its credibility, but rather a compliment to the quality of Westover’s writing, which is a few notches above your typical memoir or autobiography. The impression could also be partly due to the voice of the narrator, which is rather distanced, matter-of-fact and remarkably perceptive. Perhaps it comes from looking back at a life that feels like a different life altogether. In many ways, this memoir is a book about memory and its fragility, and trying to piece together a portrait of the family from the often contradictory recollections.
My Cousin Rachel – Film Review
As far as film adaptations of Daphne du Maurier go this is no Rebecca, but at the very least this solid-enough period drama is a fine vehicle for the talents of Rachel Weisz.
New Music 09/2018 – Mitski, Laura Veirs
Idiosyncratic pop from a Japanese-American songwriter; catching up with an old folky favourite.
Dark Souls artwork in progress 09/2018
The background is finished! Compared to the previous piece I’ve done for my brother it was easy-peasy, but then I suspect that every artwork I do from now on will be short and sweet in comparison.
Every one of my artworks involved some luck along the way, and this time I was stoked to find the crinkly silky fabric of just the right ochre shade (finding the right colour can be a bitch). Another unexpected bonus was getting the air bubbles effect on the gold fabric I’ve used for the sky; in any other artwork it would have been a disaster, but with this one the more texture the better. Now it’s time to begin on the main figure and the real fun starts.
