A brief meditation on a trip to Cambodia back in 2015… To be a mass tourist… is to spoil, by way of sheer ontology, the very unspoiledness you are there to experience, It is to impose yourself on places that in all non-economic ways would be better, realer, without you. It is… to confront a dimension…
One of my slightly more eccentric writing exercises… For a while now, I’ve been fascinated by ‘Meal, Ready-to-Eat’ (MRE) and other self-contained meal products. For example, I’ve tried the infamous ‘meal replacement’ powder Soylent (or more accurately—its Australia knock-offs Aussilent and Oz Soylent), and those ‘One-Square-Meal’ snack bars (which are effectively human chow biscuits, if…
Hereditary (2018) directed by Ari Aster “Scariest film of the decade!”“As good as The Exorcist!” “The spookiest masterpiece of the year!” Or so some film critics have said. I beg to differ. Hereditary is an entertaining and, at times, startlingly beautiful horror film with great cinematography, electrifying acting, and a bold screenplay. But alas, the…
The Things They Carried (1990) by Tim O’Brien They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the…
A mix of my personal travel photos with quotes from some of my favourite authors to get the ball rolling… A journey, after all, neither begins in the instant we set out, nor ends when we have reached our doorstep once again. It starts much earlier and is really never over, because the film of…
As I compose this first post, I realise that I’m already starting to feel a bit sheepish. A bit shy, a bit uncertain. I’ve been blankly staring at my laptop screen for a few minutes now, wondering how best to write this, while a mug of cheap instant coffee is rapidly cooling next to me.…
