A couple of months ago an article came out in the New York Times that made its round all over my social media. It was entitled, ‘There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing’. As many of you might be feeling, and as the rate of published articles on AvidBards might demonstrate, the urge and motivation to produce has been in short stock in recent months, and this article suggests a reason as to why that is. Described as the ‘the neglected middle child of mental health’, languishing is ‘a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels…
Visibility matters. It’s a simple enough concept, one we’ve heard time and time again. And yet, there is still a huge gap in mainstream TV and film media that needs to be filled. While I fully acknowledge that it has taken a long time for LGBTQIA+ stories to make their way to small and big screens, we are now at a point where we need to work harder to normalize intersectional queerness. As such, I expect those in storytelling industries to prioritize underrepresented queer voices, because there is simply no excuse not to make queer people of colour, people with…
Reading books series recommended by BookTok so you don’t have to: Reviews by an English lit PhD student Like most people, TikTok became my saving grace throughout the numerous lockdowns in this pandemic. Need a laugh? TikTok. Need a break? TikTok. Need book recommendations? Apparently, also TikTok. Though is took me almost 6 months before I stumbled across what has affectionately come to be known as BookTok, I have thrown myself fully into the world, which for me translated to fantasy and high fantasy new adult fiction. Always on the hunt for new reading material, I spent the last three…
I'll cut right to the chase: I've been watching a lot of TV shows lately, especially with ongoing lockdown orders in place. As a result, I've put together a list of my latest TV recommendations of shows, ranging from teen dramas to Marvel to sci-fi and more!
Visual arts have always occupied a near and dear place in the hearts of both Z and me. If you did not know, along with being writers, we are also artists having graduated our undergraduate with degrees in visual arts alongside English and History. Not only is it born from a joy of seeing expression turn into tangible pieces of strokes inspired by intention but more importantly from our love of storytelling. Every piece we have ever created have been inspired the stories we want to tell or wish someone could hear but could not find the words for it.…
I am not sure if it’s the current situation or just a morbid fascination, but I have been binge-watching disaster films for the past few months. The disaster film is arguably one of cinema’s oldest movie genres, from the stories about Pompeii to giant monsters, there is no shortage to be found. But what really constitutes a disaster film? There are so many variations, with the relatively new-to-the-stage environmental disasters, the too-close-to-home disease and pandemic outbreaks, and the creature-from-another-world invasions. Often all housed in different categories such as thrillers or science fiction, they are all cut from the same cloth.…
