The Ruining of River Song
Doctor: River, you know my name. You whispered my name in my ear! There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could. - Forests of the Dead, 4.9 Emperor Winston...
Category: Arts & Literature
Review: The Wedding Video
Inside the charm and gentle wit of “The Wedding Video” is an Ira Levin satire trying to claw its way out. Set in the WAG safe-haven of Cheshire, Nigel Cole’s movie has all the right credentials...
The Mindy Project, Female Leads and Showrunners
US network NBC put a lot of energy into developing a strong comedy block with offerings like 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, both of which distinguish themselves by having strong female leads. For...
The World Body Painting Festival
Body painting has such an artistic romantic and dreamy ring to it that when I was invited to sing at the world body painting festival, I couldn't say no. One of the world's most unusual festivals,...
Review: Stars Earn Stripes
NBC’s new reality show, Stars Earn Stripes, premiered this week to epic outcry and unimpressive ratings. The low ratings are hopefully a signal of things to come—if the network is wise, they’ll...
Racism in Olympic Coverage
Gabby Douglas’ hair, female Chinese athletes as stoic automatons, ‘plastic Britons,’ and advertisements featuring monkeys on gymnastic apparatus—if one thing has characterised media coverage...
Review: Arirang and Town of Runners
Faster, higher stronger! The Olympics continue to deliver the most extraordinary tales of endeavour, victory and defeat against the backdrop of a resurgent London. Athletes and pundits litter their...
NBC’s Olympic Coverage Failure
The Olympics are in full swing in London, and the world is tuning in to watch; and, of course, to indulge the fiction that the Olympics are some kind of great leveling field where nations come...
Why Political Animals Lacks Bite
With Veep, 1600 Penn, Scandal, The Good Wife, and Political Animals, fictionalised versions of sex, politics, power, and Washington are taking over the airwaves this year as the real Washington gears...
Review: The Dark Knight Rises
“When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.” Hans Gruber may have misquoted Plutarch but his lament seems perfectly suited for Christopher...