Japandroids, Laneway Festival (1 February 2013)

Japandroids have been one of my favourite bands since their incredible debut Post-Nothing. Their Australian fanbase has expanded rapidly since the recent release of Celebration Rock – a damn good thing, since it meant that the duo finally made the long trip over from Vancouver to play their first-ever Australian show in the gentle warmth…

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

The early Nightmare on Elm Street films – whether they’re good (one and three) or bad (the rest) – focused on maximalist scares – full of big special effects, buckets of gore and a sneering Freddy centre-frame. In New Nightmare the scares are subtle, building upon real fears – a child’s fear of the boogeyman…

Triple J Hottest …200? (2013)

Last Saturday, my partner Jae and I spent a day liveblogging the Triple J Hottest 100 at TripleJae. We spent the day finding out our predictions were half-good, half-terrible, comparing the infamous Warmest 100 to the actual results, and, of course, our thoughts on all the songs in the countdown. We were both baffled by…

Justified – “The Bird Has Flown” (Season 4, Episode 4)

Justified has been pleasantly understated and understatedly pleasant over the first episodes of this already-impressive season; even moments like Boyd cleverly poisoning (and, as we found this week, killing) his preacher rival felt almost light-hearted. “The Bird Has Flown” brings some weight and consequence back with two plotlines, each wringing genuine pathos out of situations…