Here lie various thoughts on a variety of subjects. Expect travel entries, random literary musings, TV show reviews and stuff I simply made up.
Recent Posts
Living with Hearing Loss, the Invisible Disability
January 12, 2021My hearing loss has had a profound effect on my life. The vast majority rarely encounter people under the age of sixty who have this disability. Those who live with it face a daily struggle. Others do not notice the struggle. […]An Overture To His Coy Mistress (or how to write like Mozart)
January 4, 2021My composing sessions frequently extend to eight hours, with plenty of breaks for coffee and stretching. The title, To His Coy Mistress, likely entered my head because I’m a mid-forties bachelor who love has not yet called […]Becoming a full-time composer
December 27, 2020A 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 […]Bountiful Blessings review – Quirky Chinese Singaporean sitcom
November 14, 2020Year: 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 […]The Dream Job review – Singapore drama
October 16, 2020A 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 […]Left out of the Federal Budget, still no job and a Centrelink catastrophe
October 11, 2020The 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 […]Five great YouTube science channels
September 18, 2020In 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 […]An open letter to my friends, from Mona Clenlow
September 4, 2020Hi. How are you? Like how are you really? I’ve been thinking about you. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. I don’t know what to say really. I haven’t been doing anything much. Probably the same as […]Ashes of Love review (2018) Season One
September 2, 2020Childlike 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, […]Ice Fantasy review (2016) Season One
August 23, 2020Let’s start by saying that Ice Fantasy, or 幻城 (Huànchéng), is a guilty pleasure. The sets are creative, backgrounds and special effects are impressive, and later there are some […]Jenessa Abernathy on Quilting in the Time of Covid
August 20, 2020I’ve been sewing lately. It brings me peace. With all the hate and ignorance spouting forth I need to arm myself with knowledge and do things that make me calm and focused. I usually make dance costumes but lately […]Tientsin Mystic review 河神 (Season 1) Make way for the River God
August 10, 2020Fog 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 […]- Wanted: Communication skills, social responsibility, effective leadershipAugust 7, 2020How to mitigate a covid crisis In Sydney we breathe a sigh of relief, having avoided a coronavirus second wave. Melbourne has not been so lucky. And at this stage of the pandemic’s development, “lucky” is not an […]
- Cosmogony 67: the ZentriansAugust 4, 2020It 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 […]
Robert Schumann: Advice to Young Musicians
August 1, 2020The 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 […]Unpacking a Life – The Wanderer’s Art of Moving (Part 1)
July 27, 2020I’ve moved a lot over the years, maybe more than I should have. Perhaps this makes me a wanderer. I am less of a physical wanderer now, at least at the moment, but over fifteen years I lived in four different cities, often […]- Cosmogony 766: Bad EndsJuly 25, 2020Not to be confused with Badass, which is located in a different (and not even parallel) universe. Seventy kilometres north of Crete 581d’s capital, Reticulum, lie the Bad Ends, easily reachable from the city by northern […]
- Cosmogony 1243: Binary LoansJuly 21, 2020A money lending chain founded by Nostradamus Noke in 2910, in ninety years Binary Loans has grown from a small payday loan business to a successful franchise operating on both Crete 581d and Crete 581f. It avoids the Cretan 581d […]
Testing the Law: Historical Crime and Deviance – Roy Maloy
July 19, 2020On Wednesday, 14 August 1935, an article appeared in the Herald in Melbourne with the title “HAD URGE TO DRESS AS WOMAN”. The article stood out in contrast from others of its time, which had sensationalised cases of […]Sascha Percuoco on what makes a man
July 13, 2020A man comes in many forms, short, fat or tall. But is it his stature? Or the attitude? Or is it any of that at all? Because some men are crazy, they’re murderers and thieves, but in their minds they are men, for in god they […]Reducing demand for Arts degrees is a step back for Critical Thinking
July 8, 2020As you’re likely aware, the Australian Government recently doubled the cost of arts/humanities degrees. Its reasoning? Universities should focus on vocational degrees so students are job ready. I did a humanities […]Thanks for the music: Canberra, Ornette Coleman, Brenton Holmes
July 7, 2020I spent five years of my life in Canberra. It was here I really began my journey into jazz. Having taken jazz piano lessons with Paul Dal Broi, I advertised in the classifieds as a pianist and received a response from […]The Lost History of the Tablet – from Athens to the iPad
June 4, 2020On October 17, 2011, I had a satirical piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Heckler column. It can no longer be found online. Down with you Archivists! The article was a little nod to the great Steve Jobs who had […]Modern mass surveillance as religious experience
May 11, 2020By Lindsay Winkler with Dave Singer “I will be the gaoler. You will see … that the gaoler will have no salary – will cost nothing to the nation” So said Jeremy Bentham in 1786 after visiting his brother […]- Getting a handle on complex verbs in Mandarin Chinese – by Kurt VallApril 27, 2020Kurt Vall is a postgraduate student in International Relations and has completed undergraduate studies in linguistics and Chinese language. Here he presents his thoughts on Mandarin grammar, offering insights into the […]
Work, mortality and coffee
April 14, 2020It’s been several weeks since my last update and to be honest, Covid-19 has hit my motivation like a punch in the stomach. It’s a shock on a global scale, flooring health services around the world and sending […]From the castle to the office – Charlene Cat
March 26, 2020With the world shutting down as we navigate a viral menace on a scale not scene for generations, writing is still the go-to way to unveil our deep anxieties and inner struggles. For Charlene Cat, a young lawyer from Foshan […]Another Life review – Netflix science fiction original
March 20, 2020I knew I’d seen Captain Niko Brekinridge somewhere before. Her feistiness reminded me a little of Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland. Even when the end credits rolled after the first episode I couldn’t […]Review of The Untamed – 2019 Chinese fantasy series
March 9, 2020陈情令 Chinese fantasy epic drama At first it seems that not much is happening. The show strolls along for a few episodes as we get to know the characters and background. But something is different about this […]Nice doggy – guest post by Blue Collar Lawyer
March 8, 2020Lawyer, Accountant, Consultant and observer of wry things, Sam – otherwise known as the Blue Collar Lawyer (also known as the International Man of Mystery) grew up in 20 countries as his parents assumed a variety of UN […]Justice in the City review 庭外和解 Accomplished Malaysian drama
February 25, 2020Year: 2012Rating: MEpisodes: 30 x ~42minCountry: Malaysia, Singapore Sometimes translators insist on creativity where none is needed. The direct translation of 庭外和解 (tíng wài […]Wu Assassins review – Netflix fantasy original
February 21, 2020Miniseries started flourishing in the 1950s. Now Netflix is breathing new life into the genre. I’m not a fan of spoilers. But I’ll reveal that this series is 10 episodes. The length of a miniseries generally […]Once upon a time in Lingjian Mountain review
February 11, 2020Updated: 16/10/20 It takes a while to say the title (从前有座灵剑山) and this series takes a while to get going, but its quirkiness shines through. So did the warm, interesting […]My first trip to China revisited
February 7, 2020The outbreak of the coronavirus has focused the world’s attention on China. Much of the Western media have been well-behaved and have avoided politicising the situation. Not all. Sinophobia is making a comeback, aided […]- Lindsay Winkler: We need to remove our low-pass filtersFebruary 6, 2020Guest post from Lindsay Winkler, musician and writer, on how society filters information. Today’s global challenges mean we may have to adjust our low-pass filters. Electrical engineers are familiar with the concept of a […]
Against the Tide review – Singapore drama
January 30, 2020Here’s another one that takes a few episodes to find its feet, then you’re sucked in and the next 20 episodes are engaging viewing. I’m not quite sure what the title, Against the Tide, actually means, but then […]Yes we can! review 我们一定行 Singapore drama
January 21, 2020The Netflix overview for this show reads, “When a frustrated businessman starts his own firm, it soon morphs into a way to help senior citizens refresh their dying traditional trades.” Who writes these blurbs? This is […]Mind Game review – Malaysian drama
January 14, 2020This 2015 Malaysian production hits all the right buttons. It maintains flow, suspense and plot development over its 30 episode run. I began watching this at the same time as Unriddle, which also features a handsome female cop as […]The Oath review 行医 Singaporean medical drama
December 10, 2019It would be very hard to make a bad show when the four leads are Christopher Lee, Jesseca Liu, Ix Shen and Ann Kok. I can watch Ann Kok and Christopher Lee all day. Lee has presence, attitude, charisma. Ann Kok is feisty, […]The Legend of the White Snake review (2019 TV series)
November 29, 2019I recently watched The Legend of the White Snake and it’s one of the best Chinese fantasies I’ve seen so far. At 36 episodes the length is just about right. It’s one fault – and something has to be […]Breakout review 破天网 – Underworld Singapore drama
November 20, 2019Singapore’s acting scene is one happy family. I was led to Breakout (破天网, Pò tiān wǎng) (2010) by following the link for Jeanette Aw after watching The Dream Job (2016). […]Top 10 Mandarin shows on Netflix
November 11, 2019For us Mandarin learners, TV on demand is a bountiful blessing. Now we can binge watch and not feel guilty, because we are learning Chinese! I’ve been learning Mandarin for three years, and the list below reflects my […]- English country cuisine — Dorian WildNovember 4, 2019Following is a guest post from none other than my father, Dorian Wild. He wrote this while holidaying in the English countryside two years ago. I found it while rummaging through my email archives in search of a backup for my […]
- Living in LondonFebruary 18, 2019I didn’t really know London until I’d been there about 2 years, just when I started getting homesick for sunny Sydney. The excitement of being in the big smoke was starting to wear off, the daily commute was becoming […]
- Dublin: A Trip Down Memory LaneFebruary 11, 2019I used to have another blog. Technically speaking I still do. It has the rather Byronic name: Wild Dan’s Pilgrimage. For those unacquainted with nineteenth century poetry (and why would you be?), this is a reference to the […]
- Cosmogony 213: Proxima CentauriFebruary 7, 2019Closest star to the sun. Part of a triple star system. Several trading outposts orbit Proxima Centauri, drawing their power from large arrays collecting magnetic and solar energy from Alpha Centauri A and its twin. Proxima b, a […]
The origins of John Polidori and The Vampyre: Byron’s greatest work
January 31, 2019I really started becoming fascinated with the Shelley-Byron circle during my English honours year at the University of Sydney. My mother read me the poems of Shelley as a teenager and I had already encountered William Wordsworth […]My mysterious origins
January 7, 2019I am often asked where I am from. I have lived in four cities now. Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and London. Or three and half cities, for those of you who don’t grant Canberra city status. I’ve learnt to say a […]- Cosmogony 121: Betelgeuse BurgerSeptember 9, 2017The contents of these burgers are a closely guarded secret. It is rumoured that no one knows the recipe in its entirety, but once a year five executives from Betelgeuse Corp gather on a satellite orbiting Betelgeuse VII. Each […]
- Cosmogony 553: Grulos JandySeptember 9, 2017In 2420 Grulos Jandy began a series of experiments aimed at limiting the side effects caused by long interstellar hyperjumps (jumps with a distance greater than 10 parsecs). Jandy’s experiments were known for their […]
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