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BookPirate
Despite being raised in a household where trips abroad were the stuff of dreams, I harbored a deep wanderlust and appetite for adventure. In an effort to satisfy this insatiable desire, I turned to the technological hellscapes of Philip K. Dick, the fantastical worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien, and Raymond Chandler’s gritty, urban jungles.…
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You & Me Review
With the one-two of Russell T Davies’ executive producing and a stellar cast featuring some of Britain’s most promising talents in Jessica Barden, Sophia Brown and Harry Lawtey, one might anticipate You & Me to be a knockout. However, clunky dialogue, unearned emotional turns, and wafer-thin characterisation prevent the ITV drama from landing any real…
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Giri/Haji Review
The minute the titles end, Giri/Haji appears from the shadows, grabs you by the lapels, and slams you into your seat. It then holds your eyes and breath hostage and forces you to watch a horrifying opening scene. What unfolds is a near-balletic performance of violence and bloodshed. After the explosiveness of its starting pistol,…
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Dear Diary
Yes, I know, it’s been a while, you don’t have to tell me. But, can you blame me? In an attention economy consumed by social media, online gaming, and video streaming, having the time to sit down to put pen to paper is a luxury I have not had in a decade or two. God,…
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The Spheres: Indonesia, 2041
Indonesia, 2041… With fingers as delicate as a harpist caressing harp strings, Ze stood naked before the public bathroom mirror, and began tracing the miles of 1s and 0s that now snaked their way around the meat bag that they had been conditioned to call theirs; crisscrossing over moles, stretch marks, and the self-harm scars…
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Catching Fire
This is what winning an Oscar must feel like, I think, as the room explodes with cheers, whoops and rounds of applause. As the appreciation builds and builds, I take care to pocket every last hand on a heart and teary eye so that when this day has faded, I can pull this moment out…
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AI: Artistic Intelligence
As a tide of phones drowned him in their camera flashes, Rohan fought harder and harder to keep a thin-lipped, ear to ear smile plastered over a tightening jaw and a throat drying and cracking like parched earth. Soon enough, the tide of flashes ebbed, reuniting Rohan with the desperate need to sift through the…
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Forum
Looking through the tinted window was like watching a silent film for Maddie. One in which she was a damsel in distress, crying that all was lost as a horde of zombified photographers, reporters, and White nationalists in disguise, licking their lips with ravenous delight encircled. However, in the heartbeat before the undead sunk teeth…
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Typing…
It is on silent. It is face down. It is underneath her pillow. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Except it is never out of mind – it is all she can think about. But it is not the phone itself that leaves her insides twisted and knotted like earphones forgotten and buried in…