The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The dwarves have all the best songs. Whether they are singing raucous ditties about smashing Bilbo’s best crockery or low, mournful…
'Prometheus' Raises Big Questions
Some thoughts about the film Prometheus and the human search for meaning.
Brontes' "Eternal Powers"
The most recent strain of Brontemania, at large throughout 2011, included major film versions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and the…
Margaret Atwood - Life Without Certainty
Margaret Atwood is one of the most important and influential writers alive today. Her fiction explores and reflects the current cultural…
The Hunger Games
According to the Romans, ‘bread and circuses’ were the key to keeping a population content. As long as their immediate physical…
A Vogue for Vincent
Vincent Van Gogh is now a solid fixture in our cultural vocabulary. I need only mention sunflowers or a bandaged ear to conjure up his life…
Route Irish - Corruption and Conscience
What happens when people are given free reign to do what they want with impunity? When there are no consequences for their actions because…
Surrogates
‘You can live your life without limitations and become anyone you want to be.’ Disease and injury, ageing and ugliness, death…
The Blind Side
Big Mike walks as though every step is an effort. Head and shoulders taller and a good few inches broader than everyone he passes, dressed…