What is content supposed to be for? The audience that they cater to? An algorithm that perpetuates and muddies creativity? Human nature says that this is what content is designed to be. And I refuse to accept it because the work that you put out is art. It shouldn’t degenerate into trivial fodder, nor appease whatever consists of the overlords that make that content popular in the first place.
In 2023, I have published more than ten pieces at different avenues from different walks of life. I have been published in print. I’ve avoided looking at my metrics or seeking out how many people read my work, to be needlessly validated. For that, I am grateful to my editors for believing in my ideas and I believe there will be more in the future.
Blurred Lines: Ten Years of Moral Panic at the Washington Examiner
I have written an extensive version of this essay and how this song spearheaded a moral panic about lyrics not seen since the heydays of Tipper Gore and the Parents Resource Music Center. For now, what I’ve written for The Washington Examiner should suffice, given its impact on songwriting, copyright and the increasing shrillness of ‘the discourse.’
The Myth of the Larrikin
I wrote an obituary in tribute to Barry Humphries, one of Australia’s greatest comedians, whose irreverent larrikinism does not match with the kind of humour that Australia now demands: a progressive-oriented one that is not afraid to punch up but is fearful of punching down.
How ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Bad Santa’ Ruined Christmas
I have written a lot of reviews and pieces for The New York Sun, and this one happens to be the best one for the year, published right at the tailend. While I did leave out the fact that Elf was released twenty years ago, embracing all of the traditional tropes of a Christmas movie, Love Actually and Bad Santa are striking because it is showing a shift in tone with the genre that we see nowadays.
What Attack on Titan says About Civilisation
A broad overview of one of the world’s most popular anime, being a cautionary tale of civilisation and how war can radicalize a young boy and his trauma. I also look at how it’s innate ambiguity proved to be so controversial among a subsect of Western anime watchers. Overall, the series’s impact should not be minimized, as it set the artistic standards for much of the medium and its industry.
Film Club with Samuel Kronen
Of all the Film Clubs, the one I revisit is the one with Samuel Kronen, a writer suffering from MECS whose pieces on race and philosophy are moving. But Kronen is also a passionate cinephile and I have linked his Substack - much of which is centred around human suffering - because I think he deserves more attention.
Literally Me: Falling Down, Tar and Lost in Translation
A three-way tie but I am genuinely passionate about these characters - William Forster, Lydia Tar, Bob and Charlotte - and their state of mind, as they are either in purgatory or lost themselves from the world that shaped them. I find each of these to be genuinely fascinating.
The Criterion Collection Gets With The Times
My debut at The Spectator World sees me reporting on the physical home video niche that is shaped in part by the Criterion Collection’s reputation as the home for high-brow film culture. It also sees me questioning the ethics of restoration, to which Criterion is not immune, as well as the pressures of a boutique to keep up with the trends of film culture that are not in line with its mission of preserving film.
The Artistic Case for Historical Accuracy
Another piece at The Critic where I push back against the idea that artists have the free range license to take creative liberties in depicting real life subjects, when they should be using that to depict the truth. My focus was on Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, which I grew fond of less than when I last saw it upon release, in part due to the director’s stubbornness to acknowledge historical basics.