To Critique, Inform, Challenge and Entertain
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 8 April 2018 · Last modified 4 October 2023
Reading Time: 5 minutesAlthough a fan of Winton, I have not found his writing particularly easy to read. In this respect his latest novel ‘The Shepherd’s Hut’ is no exception. However, what makes this book a challenge,...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 26 March 2018 · Last modified 28 March 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe Team is an eight episode television police drama produced jointly by Denmark, Germany and Belgium. It is in English, Danish, German, Dutch and French, with English sub-titles. It is about a case given...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 19 March 2018 · Last modified 28 March 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutesRussia’s recent thinly veiled threats against Britain, and its political isolation make the Norwegian television series ‘ Occupied’ particularly pertinent. Norway’s most expensive television series is set in the near future and deals with...
MUSIC REVIEWS / Music Reviews - Alternative
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 17 March 2018 · Last modified 19 April 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutesNoir is a five member Sydney based band led by vocalist Jessica Mincher and guitarist Billy James. ‘Some Kind of Blues’, their first and only album, was released in 2017. The band classifies their...
MUSIC REVIEWS / Music Reviews - Alternative
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 17 March 2018 · Last modified 4 October 2022
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe beautiful and haunting songs on this album are sung in twelve different languages, by singers from different religious, cultural and musical traditions including rock/contemporary pop music represented by Alanis Morissette, Perry Farrell, James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt. This complex and multilayered album deserves to be listened to uninterupted.
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 15 March 2018 · Last modified 5 April 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutesRecently, police drama/crime series have been increasingly adopting the Nordic Noir style of classic television series such as ‘The Bridge’ or ‘The Killings’. While some of these shows have been spectacular successes, the Netflix...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 14 March 2018 · Last modified 4 October 2022
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe first 3 series of ‘The Bureau’ have been described as the most realistic depiction of international espionage and intelligence work. The French seem to excel in presenting characters realistically, and so lacking in Hollywood sheen that they seem real. Perhaps surprisingly, this realism makes the show more, rather than less addictive.
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 14 March 2018 · Last modified 28 March 2019
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe only criticism that I have read of ‘Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri’ is that audiences have not liked the ending. Well I beg to differ and suggest that the ending was possibly the...
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 14 March 2018 · Last modified 28 March 2019
Reading Time: < 1 minute‘The Midwife’ is a 2017 French film starring the two Catherines (Deneuve and Frot). While two hours long, it is so well crafted and the storyline is so unpredictable that The film never drags....
by Daniel Stepniak · Published 13 March 2018 · Last modified 4 October 2023
Reading Time: 2 minutesIf, like me, you were both fascinated and terrified by George Orwell’s unforgettable classics ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’, then Dennis Glover’s first novel, ‘The Last Man In Europe’ (2017) is likely to appeal. ...
Categories & Archive