Back in 1955, when television was just hitting its straps, Science Fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote a short story called “Dreaming is a private thing.” The essence of the story was that people didn’t want a shared entertainment experience. He argued that people don’t want to have to get their entertainment according to someone else’s…
We finally got around to watching ‘Mad Max – Fury Road’ last night (yeah, yeah, I know its been out for ages .. but you get that sometimes) It’s not my intention to review the movie (except to say it was lots of fun, lots of ‘splosions, plot holes big enough to drive a War…
A few weeks ago I was accused of being, and I quote, “Another doomsayer doing his level best to kill off commercial radio.” That’s because I had the temerity to suggest that DAB+ Radio, or Digital Audio Broadcasting, risked going the same way as AM Stereo – into the dustbin of ideas whose time never…
I had reason, during the week, to use a famous line of Ralph Waldo Emerson – the one about a foolish consistency being the hobgoblin of little minds. It was from his essay, ‘On Self-Reliance’ – but as I looked it up, it struck me that I hadn’t read Emerson, or Thoreau, or their ilk since high school…
When I was a kid, they still used to show the ‘serials’ before the main feature at the movies – and each episode of The Rocketeer, or Copperhead, or even Hopalong Cassidy lasted around 15 minutes. Which was pretty much the attention span of your average 10-year old. But even for grownups, the average length…
Puppet shows are common the world over – and for those of us in the west, whether its the traditional Punch and Judy show, or something more modern like Thunderbirds, they are mostly meant for kids. Mostly. Of course the Muppets appeal to both children and adults – and shows like Avenue Q are clearly skewed…
I’ve been in Radio long enough to remember the slow-motion train-crash that was AM Stereo – and I have to say, DAB or Digital Audio Broadcasting shows all the signs of being deja vu all over again. To explain: for 50 years, Australian broadcast radio was all AM, or Amplitude Modulation. Stations had whopping great…
I’ve been listening to David Bowie’s new album, Blackstar over the past couple of days, and I have to say – it’s like nothing he’s done for years. Bowie’s one of those unique creatures, who can keep reinventing himself. This current album’s been described as bleakly noir, and inaccessible, and evocative, and introspective. But its…
I was reading an article on adults who read “Young Adult” fiction, when the author asserted that the reason so many of us like reading books ostensibly written for teens is that they have “satisfying” ends. I’ll get to that in a moment – but first some background. It could be argued that the “Young…
Cairns Communications 