J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (London: Bloomsbury, 2005). 7/10 I’d hotly anticipated this latest in the Harry Potter series. Even though Rowling is a poor prose stylist, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban showed that, possibly with the aid of a good editor, she can be a great storyteller. As [...]
Irvin D. Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept: A novel of obsession (1992; repr. Ringwood, Vic.: Penguin, 1993). It’s sometimes argued that Friedrich Nietzsche‘s philosophical work demonstrates an interest in psychology, introspection, and relations of power and desire, that in some way prefigures the development of psychoanalysis. As a Nietzsche fan who’s also read a moderate amount [...]
Watanabe Shinichirô, (dir.) Samurai Champloo, subtitled by AnimeForever, 7/10 Watanabe Shinichirô’s new series follows the precedent set by his earlier series, Cowboy Bebop, building a style by merging a historical period with an incongruous musical style. In Bebop, it was the far future and jazz. In Samurai Champloo it’s the Edo period and hip-hop. While [...]
Kagemusha, directed by Kurosawa Akira (1980), DVD. 6/10 Kagemusha is set in the 1570s, towards the end of Japan’s Sengoku period (1467–1615). It draws on the uncertainty surrounding the death of the historical Takeda Shingen, one of the great warlords of the period shortly before the unification of Japan and the beginning of the Edo [...]
Sixteen Candles, written and directed by John Hughes (1984). 8/10 Tomorrow night a friend from high-school is having an 80s-themed birthday party. I had this lying around, and I hadn’t seen it before, so I put it on to rekindle my memory of the fashions of yesteryear. In 1984, apparently, big hair, brightly-coloured t-shirts, knits, [...]
Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass (2000; repr. London: Point, 2001), 549pp. 8/10 This is the last in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, notable because its characters’ main quest is to destroy the god of Abraham. It’s a splendid thing for a book aimed at children to include, and I hope it convinces thousands of [...]
CLAMP and Madhouse Production, Chobits, animated series (2002), 26 episodes, subtitled by a4e. 7/10
What if there were cute girl robots who could fall in love?
Such is the question that, no doubt, thousands of male rônin students living in Tôkyô guest houses have asked themselves. Motosuwa Hideki, the protagonist of Chobits, is one such man.
The answer to the question, if you’re unfamiliar with anime, may strike you as surprisingly sensitive. In the near-future that Chobits is set in, there are sexy girl robots, one of whom can fall in love, and it’s bad news for human women and the usual mix of heartache and joy for all concerned.
Donnie Darko. DVD. Written and directed by Richard Kelly, 2001. 9/10 I am bewildered. I do not want to sleep. I do not want to do anything else. I just want to sit and think about it. I don’t understand this movie, but I love it. This is some kind of cult movie, as far [...]
The Incredible Melk’s Spanking Fashion Parade. 9/10 Last night I overcame a bout of lethargy to go out to the Kitten Club and see a show my friend “Mel”:http://wildyoungunderwhimsy.blogspot.com/ was putting on. It featured some outrageously stylish catwalking from the models (including at least one who really looked like an actual, perfect ten, model), as [...]
Before Sunset. DVD. Directed by Richard Linklater. Warner Bros. Entertainment, 2004. 7/10 This movie is the sequel to Linklater’s earlier Before Sunrise (1995), in which Jesse (Ethan Hawke), an American, meets young a young French woman, Celine (Julie Delpy), on a train to Vienna, and spends a night with her before they have to part [...]
About
Ben Hourigan is an indie novelist, the author of Kiss Me, Genius Boy (2011). He is also the manager of digital operations at a Melbourne design publisher, a freelance writer and editor, and the founder of ebook label hourigan.co.
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- â@lilithia: @benhourigan You're cool.â Just saw this. Can't remember if this was our spoiler discussion? <3
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