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Books

Only Human (Book Three of the Themis Files)

“We’re not heroes. No one is. Every movie we watch, every book we read, we see people who can solve every problem, face every danger all on their own. But in real life, Vincent, we just call the cops. That’s what I did.” Only Human* Author: Sylvain Neuvel             ⭐⭐⭐.5                      Publisher: Penguin I have been meaning to get to this book review for weeks now, having finished the book in September, and even featuring it in my September Reads. However, the full review just never seemed to want to get written. After some pondering, I realised why that was. I wasn’t…

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Reviews

Series Review: “Wanderlust”

To those that keenly subscribe to Netflix, you may have heard of or seen a trailer for the U.K. show entitled Wanderlust. A show about a mostly functional family, Wanderlust is predominantly focused on a couple named Joy and Alan as they make a massive relationship change. Suffering from romantic and sexual ennui with each other, they decide to open their relationship to other partners. Mimicking the aura of the Netflix anthology show Easy – a show that also outlines the human experience through various interactions and relationships – Wanderlust doesn’t try to be a glamorized or overtly scandalous depiction…

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Movies

“Venom” Movie Review: Are Critics Always Right?

Warning: major spoilers below! Though perhaps somewhat of an underdog in the Marvel comics universe, Venom has longtime been a highly cherished character, who appeared predominantly in the Spider-Man comics, especially to die-hard fans. For those of us who aren’t as much into the comic books, you might remember the titular amorphous alien symbiote from the film Spider-Man 3 back in 2007, absorbing itself first into Peter Parker’s spider suit, and later into the character journalist Eddie Brock. Essentially, the concept of the alien symbiote is that it takes on hosts; giving its host immense power but simultaneously (and sinisterly)…

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Reviews

“Atypical” Season 2 Highlights

Warning: major spoilers for “Atypical” Season 1 and 2 below! Netflix original show Atypical, created by Robia Rashid, quickly became one of my  favourite shows almost immediately into watching Season 1 (released in 2017). It presented itself as a world that you can both escape to as well as relate to, which is something I always enjoy. Atypical balances real, raw content with quirky fun, all wrapped up into half-hour episodes in relatively short seasons; a tactic that always leaves you wanting more. Of course, the main reason why I love this show is because of the representation. Focusing on…

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Books

Book Review: “Warlight” by Michael Ondaatje

The Trauma of the Post-War Generation In the second review from the Man Booker longlist, Warlight by Michael Ondaatje proved a much more intense read than the crime-thriller Snap by Linda Bauer. A Canadian writer born in Sri Lanka, Ondaatje is an author of high regard, having won the Man Booker prize once before for his internationally acclaimed novel, The English Patient, and similarly winning the Golden Man Booker Prize in 2018 (the prize conceived to celebrate 50 years of the Man Booker which awards one book per decade a prize) for the same novel. To all those who know…

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Movies

The Past and Present of BlacKkKlansman

Last weekend, I went to an open air cinema to watch Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. I had heard nothing about the film, except for a rather vague explanation from my brother who was watching the film with me, and was frankly slightly apprehensive about watching the movie. The reason simply being that it’s not usually the style of film I would watch. BlacKkKlansman, a modern age Blaxploitation style film, is a telling of the real life (“based upon some fo’ real, fo’ real shit”) infiltration of the Klu Klux Klan by an African American cop, Ron Stallworth (played impeccably by John…

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