Afloat in a sea of boredom

Waikato

Some shows are dead easy to review. If I love a programme, the review practically writes itself. If I hate something ... well, to be honest, that's far more fun to write about. Coming up with fresh and inventive ways of telling you a show sucks is entertaining. The toughest reviews to write are for the shows that are neither good nor flat-out awful. They are inoffensive in every way, but also fail to entertain or enlighten much. They just kind of hang there on the screen while I periodically check my watch and try to come up with a fresh and inventive way of telling you that a show is kind of nothing-ish. The Simpsons coined the best word to describe shows like this: "meh".

Beowulf updated for 21st century

Waikato

The other day, I noticed a bookshop with a whole section devoted to what are called graphic novels, narratives told in visual rather than verbal terms extended comics, really, but with a degree more sophistication and wit. Ray Bradbury wrote about books without words in Fahrenheit 451, where the need to read had disappeared from society. But graphic novels do some things words cannot, and this film is the visual equivalent of a graphic novel.

Reggae superstar tunes in to NZ

Waikato

The man who produced one of the biggest hits in reggae history is set to perform in New Zealand for the first time, writes Jeff Neems.

Movies in festival debut

Waikato

Next year's Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival will include film screenings for the first time.