Ever since Punk came on the English scene, it was never characterised by particularly good-looking groups (although The Smiths may be fronted by the charismatic Morrissey). It was about making rock 'n' roll filthy again; its edge lost to the degeneracy of glam rock and other watered-down, über-polished forms. In England, it was your average... Continue Reading →
En route to meeting friends, I was in the consumerist paradise of Tokyo, Ginza, and happened upon a pipe shop. But firstly... I was aghast to find that Japan was full of smokers. Sydney-and maybe all of Australia-has successfully pushed smoking to the fringes of society. Pubs, one of the bastions of beer and cigarettes,... Continue Reading →
From the legacy of Japan's Studio Ghibli comes sister company, Studio Ponoc, with their debut film, Mary and the Witch's Flower. From the opening with a Ghibli-esque logo of Mary, rather than Totoro, the comparisons between the studios was inevitable. After all, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi was an animator under the supervision of the great Hayao Miyazaki,... Continue Reading →
I first came across David Martyn-Lloyd Jones in a season where I was experiencing considerable spiritual difficulty. 'Spiritual Depression: It's Causes and Cure' was the book I first encountered by the man - a series of sermons delivered in the mid-20th Century on how defective spiritual understanding can affect one's relationship with God. The book spoke... Continue Reading →
Through the Eye of the Needle 