To Critique, Inform, Challenge and Entertain
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 24 January 2019 · Last modified 1 April 2019
Reading Time: 3 minutes In today’s The Australian Caroline Overton writes about high profile Saudi asylum seeker, Armin Navabi – (see attached article). In her page-long opinion piece, Overton considers Navabi’s brave, but provocative statements about the plight...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 12 January 2019 · Last modified 25 April 2019
Reading Time: 9 minutesCold War is a love story se in Cold War Poland between 1949 and 1964. The social and political context of the period sheds light on both the progression of Zula and Wiktor’s love story and the role of music in Polish society. It has been suggested that the film’s Cold War title also relates to the passionate, fiery and on and off relationship between Zula and Wiktor. But perhaps, the story may just as satisfactorily be regarded as a Shakespearean tragedy, or as a story of a relationship in which both parties feel they can’t live without the other while ultimately conceding that they also cannot live with them.
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 5 January 2019 · Last modified 28 March 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutesFavourite is set in the early 18th century reign of Queen Anne and tells the story of her documented relationships with Lady Sarah the Duchess of Marlborough and Abigail, and their all female love triangle....
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 27 December 2018 · Last modified 1 April 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutesIt is the silly season. And, we did something very silly this morning. We attended a screening of ‘Holmes and Watson’, the ‘comedy’ starring Will Ferrell as Sherlock Holmes and John C Reilly as...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 24 December 2018 · Last modified 28 March 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutesA matinee screening of ‘Colette’ provided welcome relief from both Christmas shopping and the debilitating humidity of FNQ in late December. ‘Colette’ is cinema to be savoured. It is also a showcase for the...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 24 December 2018 · Last modified 4 October 2023
Reading Time: 2 minutesLast June, I read and reviewed ‘The President is Missing’, my first James Patterson book, almost entirely because It was co-authored by Bill Clinton. This time I am reviewing Patterson’s most recent novel, ‘The...
Reading Time: 4 minutesJanet Albrechtsen’s column in the current Weekend Australian warrants reading, if only to test the efficacy of your blood pressure medication. The target of her opinion piece is the #MeToo movement and associated implications...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 8 December 2018 · Last modified 4 October 2023
Reading Time: 2 minutesA book to savour, and re-read with pleasure. Having just completed reading this book, I find much on which to reflect. This book tells the story of Count Rostov, a Russian nobleman, sentenced...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 23 November 2018 · Last modified 27 March 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutesThat the President should disagree with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by insisting that American judges are not independent and either support or oppose the President, ought to come as a great...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 23 November 2018 · Last modified 27 March 2019
Reading Time: < 1 minuteNews headlines over the last two days highlight the need to distinguish ‘public interest’ from ‘what may interest the public’. The saturation coverage of Renae Lawrence’s release from prison and her arrival in...
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