Liberty Nation libertynation.com Perhaps this year when so many feel so betrayed by the media, searching for solid conservative news sites takes on a new meaning. From spin merchants to sites carrying poorly-sourced “clickbait,” the sifting and sorting has become a challenge to navigate. Nevertheless, we persevered and
David Jarratt University of Central Lancashire During the first UK lockdown I received an email from my son’s primary school with a list of webcams we might enjoy having a look at. We particularly enjoyed watching and identifying the animals at a particular African watering hole that we could
Abigail C. Saguy University of California, Los Angeles You probably know what it means to “come out” as gay. You may even have heard the expression used in relation to other kinds of identity, such as being undocumented. But do you know where the term comes from? Or that its
Leslie McMurtry Adam Fowler University of Salford A young man named Rob hears a voice in his earbuds. It belongs to his favourite true-crime podcast host, Matthias. Like all good podcast hosts, Matthias takes pride in addressing his audience as individuals, developing a rapport and a trustworthy intimacy. So
Janet M. Gibson Grinnell College Amusement and pleasant surprises – and the laughter they can trigger – add texture to the fabric of daily life. Those giggles and guffaws can seem like just silly throwaways. But laughter, in response to funny events, actually takes a lot of work, because it activates many
Diana Wallace University of South Wales Georgette Heyer kept only one fan letter. It was from a Romanian political prisoner who had raised her cell-mates’ spirits over a 12-year incarceration by retelling the story of Heyer’s Friday’s Child. “Truly,” she wrote, “your characters managed to awaken
David Ireland Dana Kai Bradford CSIRO Clara Gaff Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Allow us to introduce Edna — Australia’s first “genomics chatbot”. Edna (short for “electronic-DNA”) helps patients make informed decisions about seeking “additional findings” testing. Additional findings testing looks for variants in patients’ genes that aren’t
Maria Flood Keele University The backlash against the backlash has begun. Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips of Hangover trilogy fame, has opened to conflicting reviews and negative press. Having been hailed as a masterpiece when it first screened at the Venice film festival (and drawing an
Christopher Ruthe waikanaewatch.org Update: The date of the quoted NZ Listener article was incorrect. It has been corrected from the 12th of December to the 19th. This was written as a riposte to an article in The NZ Listener — but it refused to publish it. “The great enemy of
Sung-ae Lee Macquarie University Parasite, the South Korean film directed by Bong Joon-ho, received four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. It was an historic moment. Parasite is the first non-English-language movie to
Tom Lawson Northumbria University, Newcastle My children watch Horrible Histories on television every day. And they are not alone. So thanks to the extraordinarily talented people who make the programme – and the creators of the books that spawned it – every single day children actively engage with the past. It’s
Ann Vickery Deakin University Growing up in Australia in the 1970s, I much preferred the hijinks of Han Solo and Chewie to Princess Leia’s sexualised damsel in distress. My sister and I spent an entire summer pigging out on Choc Wedges and Barney Bananas so we could collect the
Ari Mattes University of Notre Dame Australia People often roll their eyes when they hear about a major Hollywood studio re-releasing a film from its back catalogue to cinemas. Director’s cuts, “reduxes” and remastered prints can seem like cynical corporate moves, re-commodifying a long dead vision of
Adrian Danks RMIT University It’s hard to imagine that Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas is 30 years old. A massive influence on contemporary filmmakers ranging from Quentin Tarantino and Fernando Morales to David O. Russell and Paul Thomas Anderson, it remains one of the peaks of Hollywood genre filmmaking. GoodFellas
Daryl Sparkes University of Southern Queensland Ten years on from its release, and hitting cinemas again, Christopher Nolan’s Inception still puzzles and intrigues. It is one of those films in which you discover something new each time you watch it. Or, more likely, it makes you reinterpret what you
Matthew Jordan Penn State Since the start of the pandemic, the film industry has been in free fall. As deaths have continued to climb, so have studio losses, with crowded theaters – once a source of collective entertainment and escapism – now seen as petri dishes for the virus. Familiar blockbuster franchises
