Author: Dan Wild

An Overture To His Coy Mistress

My composing sessions extend to eight hours, with plenty of breaks for coffee and stretching, which is why I don’t compose when on contract. The title, To His Coy Mistress, entered my head because I’m a mid-forties bachelor who love has not yet called to her bedside, or fireside, or beachside. I can’t think of …

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Becoming a full-time composer

A month has passed since I last posted. I’m still learning Chinese and pondering the deep well of life, so 2021 should see more TV shows reviewed and more random posts from the fringes of consciousness etched onto this virtual stone tablet that is my blog. Lately I’ve been occupied by music. I’ve never devoted …

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Bountiful Blessings review – Quirky Chinese Singaporean sitcom

Year: 2011Rating: MEpisodes: 20 x ~43minCountry: Singapore Bountiful Blessings has lost none of its charm on a second viewing. Learning Mandarin led to an unexpected attachment to the Singapore-Malaysia drama scene, starting here. I would not otherwise have encountered such underrated shows as Mind Game and Justice in the City. When Netflix partnered with Singapore’s …

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The Dream Job review – Singapore drama

A lot of effort has gone into this show, reflected in its high production values. The messy family drama pulled me in but the constant toxicity wore me down. Its greatest sin though is its ending: simplistic and maybe morally questionable. The Dream Job 绝世好工 starts well with a device reminiscent of notorious Japanese film …

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Left out of the Federal Budget, still no job and a Centrelink catastrophe

The Federal Government’s 2020 budget released in October has a particular segment of the population worried, and I am in this segment: people over 35 years old. The government has incentivised employers to hire people under 35, subsidising those who hire in the 16-30 age bracket $200 a week, and $100 a week for 30-35s. …

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Five great YouTube science channels

In a quest to buff my sci-fi novels with more (ahem) science, I’ve been watching science-related channels on YouTube. The quality has been exceptional. I’ve given ample space on this site to Netflix, so hopefully they’ll forgive me when I say, in the documentary space, YouTube is light seconds ahead. Documentaries on Netflix have high …

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Ashes of Love review (2018) Season One

Childlike innocence and first-love blended with dark magic and high fantasy is a staple in Chinese drama. Like Ice Fantasy (2016), Ashes of Love is also based on a novel, in this case, Heavy Sweetness, Ash Like Frost, by Dian Xian. The Chinese title of the TV series, 香蜜沉沉烬如霜 (Xiāngmì chénchén jìn rú shuāng) could be similarly translated. Google opts for “Fragrant Honey …

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Tientsin Mystic review 河神 (Season 1) Make way for the River God

Fog swirls over a bridge in 1920s Tianjin. A well-dressed young man is fleeing a group of ruffians. He runs onto the bridge. He’s trapped. He jumps into the river. He struggles underwater, trapped by some seaweed. A long-faced man appears in front of him, upside down. The next day Ding Mao, son of the …

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Cosmogony 67: the Zentrians

It is believed the Zentrians tie in with the multiverse theory, although no one has been able to prove this. Indeed, there is no scientific proof that the Zentrians even exist. Whether they are a race, an entity or a collection of spiritual beings is pure conjecture. The favoured explanation of conspiracy theorists is that …

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Robert Schumann: Advice to Young Musicians

The Gutenberg Project has made available to the general public many rare and obscure literary works. One such trinket is Advice to Young Musicians by composer and writer Robert Schumann (1810-1856). Schumann is an eccentric and interesting figure in Western music, known today for his varied output of lieder (songs), piano works, orchestral compositions and music …

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