The Costumes of 2023 That Made Us Say ‘Hot Damn’

You can use many techniques to help build your world, ground your setting, or give dimensions to your characters. You can use music and create elaborate sets, but one of the best ways is through the costumes you make.

People instantly judge a character within moments on the screen, and the outfits are essential to that first impression. More than this, you can also use costumes as a way of storytelling. What do they say about this world? What do they say about how a character is progressing? 

Costumes can build worlds and tell us details we can only see, but also they can make us say, ‘Hot Damn’, look at that beading on that dress. That must have taken hours to do!

Our Highly Commended in 2023 are The Creator, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Oppenheimer, Red, White & Brass & Women Talking

Our Best TV Costumes in 2023 are Ahsoka: Season 1, Foundation: Season 2, Loki: Season 2,  Shadow and Bone: Season 2 & Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season 2

So without further ado, these costumes made us say ‘hot damn’ in 2023. Be warned that there may be slight spoilers for the films in question.


The Nominees Are –

Continue reading

Cinematography That Made You Go Wow in 2023!

Cinematography is an art form that can be as bold as a gong crashing after a moment of silence or as subtle as the tide coming in. It elevates a film to the heights of accolades or becomes frustrating when it misfires.

While at the heart of cinematography is the Director of Photography or Cinematographer, to get something from the script to the final shot takes a whole team of professionals, and it is their talent that we champion today.

Our Highly Commended in 2023 are The Creator, Godzilla Minus One & John Wick: Chapter 4

Our Best TV Cinematography in 2023 are Deadloch: Season 1, Foundation: Season 2, Jury Duty: Season 1, The Last of Us: Season 1 & Ted Lasso: Season 3

So, without further ado, these moments of cinematography took our breaths away in 2023. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers for the films in question.

The Nominees Are –

Continue reading

Explosions, Guns, and Punches, Oh My. The Best Action of 2023

A good action sequence is genuinely impressive to watch, as it can be as expansive as explosions crashing across the screen or more intimate, like a duel between two people. This gives the best action scenes such a range, and in 2023, we were given some unique spectacles.

For me, the best action scenes excel in every element, whether that be live actions, special effects, digital effects, or animation, and bring every facet to shine. It is also the category that looks at some of the department’s people don’t often fully understand, like stunt coordination or the 2nd unit.

2023 was the year of action. From personal punch-ups to climatic brawls, we got it all and more.

Our Highly Commended in 2023 are Bring Him To Me, Extraction 2, Godzilla Minus One,  Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant & The Killer

Our Best TV Action in 2023 are Ahsoka: Season 1, The Last of Us: Season 1, Letterkenny: Season 12, The Night Agent: Season 1 & Twisted Metal: Season 1

So, without further ado, these are the moments of action that awed us in 2023. Be warned that there may be slight spoilers for the films in question.

The Nominees Are –

Continue reading

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 5 – Explore-It

TL;DR – We dip our toes into what Melbourne has to offer a little more with round 2.

Disclosure – I paid for all products featured or mentioned here.

PAX 23 Logo. Image Credit: Brian MacNamara.

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 5

It was the final day in Melbourne, but unlike last year, I had my flight positioned for the end of the day, so I had some time to explore the city more, which is when I found the most depressing garden in Melbourne.

Continue reading

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 4 – Explore-It

TL;DR – We dip our toes into what Melbourne has to offer a little more with round 2.

Disclosure – I paid for all products featured or mentioned here.

PAX 23 Logo. Image Credit: Brian MacNamara.

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 4

The ship in Melbourne.

It is day 4 of our trip to Melbourne and the last day of PAX, and of course, this was the day that Melbourne decided to turn on the charm with a delightful morning.

Continue reading

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 3 – Explore-It

TL;DR – We dip our toes into what Melbourne has to offer a little more with round 2.

Disclosure – I paid for all products featured or mentioned here.

PAX 23 Logo. Image Credit: Brian MacNamara.

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 3

Right next to where I was staying was the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens, so if there was ever a time to have a wander, a calm Saturday morning was the time. Unfortunately, that was also the same time as a Park Run, so there was much dodging.

Continue reading

Musings on The Leftovers (or did Nora Lie?)

TL;DR – In which I wax lyrical or ramble about the series The Leftovers and its exploration of faith and truth.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this series.

Two men on a roof after an apocalypse that didn't happen.

The Leftovers Review

Today, we will do something a little different than usual in that we will be less of a review and more of a retrospective on a series. Well, it’s not quite a retrospective, but more some musings that have been rumbling around in my head for months and that I better put down on paper somewhere so I can let them go rather than pondering on them all the time. With that in mind, we delve into the world of guilt, trauma, religion, faith, and crisis.

So to set the scene, three years before the start of the series on October 14th, 2011, two per cent of the world’s population vanished instantly. One hundred forty million people were gone in a moment of time, with no rhyme or reason as to why they were chosen. A child was screaming one second, gone the next. A family was eating breakfast one moment and gone the next. The person you were holding hands with during a science experiment, the person you were making love with, all gone. How do you move on after an event like this? Can you? Can society? Can the town of Mapleton and the Garvey family? Now from here, we will be looking at the whole series as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 2 – Explore-It

TL;DR – We dip our toes into what Melbourne has to offer a little more with round 2.

Disclosure – I paid for all products featured or mentioned here.

PAX 23 Logo. Image Credit: Brian MacNamara.

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 2

The Yarra River. Image Credit: Brian MacNamara.
The Yarra River. Image Credit: Brian MacNamara.

Well, one good night’s sleep later, and it was a slightly more welcoming day that greeted me in the morning as I made my way down the Yarra River to the Convention Centre.

Continue reading

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 1 – Explore-It

TL;DR – We dip our toes into what Melbourne has to offer a little more with round 2.

Disclosure – I paid for all products featured or mentioned here.

PAX 23 Logo. Image Credit: Brian MacNamara.

PAX Australia & Melbourne 2023 Day 1

When you work in the games and pop culture space, you hear of the joy of PAX, but I have never experienced it myself, until I got there in 2022. Well, it is time for Round 2, where I know Melbourne/Narrm a touch better than before, and I see a couple of things I missed that I needed to make up for. So, in today’s and the next few Explore-It’s, we will look at our time down past the daylight savings divide to a city with an entirely different seagull-to-pigeon ratio than I have ever seen.

Continue reading

Old World Cartographic Educational Database –

TL;DR – Links to every geographical feature mentioned in Old World so you can explore them if interested

Northern Europe.

Educational Database –

A while back when working on our Civilization and Humankind maps, I decided to put together a Cartographic Educational Database to allow you to explore the features in our world. Well now that we have finished our Old World Map, it is time to do the same as we explore the many different geographical features of the Mediterranean region. Below you will find links to Nations and their Cities, and Wonders. As well as, all the geographical features in the game.

Most of these links will be to the relevant Wikipedia page, just because that is probably the most practical option for most people, but there are some links to other sites where it was the best fit. Also, while I have tried to find easily accessible links to every feature, some of them don’t have that access. There is the odd one here and there, which you can see below.

To assist with searching, you can jump to

So let’s dive into the geographical world of Old World.  

Continue reading