The pleasures of paradox

Paradoxes are not just an interesting exercise in speculative philosophy, but can also make us realise that good questions can have more than one answer – or perhaps none.

Fire, flints and fiction

Fiction remains one of humanities greatest inventions and we seem to need stories in our lives not only to explain the mysteries of existence but to enhance the fact of existence.

Remembering Ray Lawler

Ray Lawler, who died this week at 103, was one of the key figures in the Melbourne Theatre Company and wrote its best-known play – Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

In praise of Shirley Jackson

Three quarters of a century on, The Lottery and Other Stories remains the perfect showcase for one of the 20th century’s most original, and now, most justly celebrated, authors.

The Siren’s Call

These are difficult times but assuming things will go from bad to worse is a surefire way to make that happen. The future is ours to shape, and envisioning a brighter future is the first and most important step towards achieving it.

Blair Witch turns 25

This year marks the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, a film that popularised the found-footage horror sub-genre, captivated a generation of horror fans and inspired a hundred copy-cats.

A toast to Pyrrho’s Hog

Montaigne was the first essayist, and perhaps the first modern philosopher, who used the different schools of post-platonic Greek thought to turn the lens of philosophy not on the world, but on himself.

The art of war

Like Niccolò Machiavelli ‘s The Prince, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is a treatise of clear-sighted but ruthless realism in the pursuit of power.

A hard day’s night

Pop stars like Elvis and the Beatles were a common staple of cinemas in the 1960s, as well as the radio waves.

Farewell transmission

He performed in bars and small town halls and drank himself to death in relative obscurity, but Jason Molina may just be the best American songwriter of his generation.

Reverse the polarity

British science fiction institution Doctor Who has undergone many changes over its 60+ years, but the latest incarnation of the time traveling enigma has split fandom down the middle.

In praise of Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland never pigeonholed himself as a certain defined type of actor. He could play goofy, dramatic, scary, intense, subtle, tough or gentle and excelled at them all.