A Rockwork Orange [WIP: In Nature]

Timelapse for building the first set

The Brick And The Dead [WIP: In Nature]

NEW FILM PROJECT

It's been about a decade since my last foray into filmmaking. In the past few weeks I've started work on a new project: "In Nature" a short horror film using LEGO stopmotion.

I have ambitious goals for this project: including zero use of generative AI, and creating a theremin-based score. At the same time I've learned from my previous experience with LEGO filmmaking and have written the script more carefully, using a smaller cast and fewer locations.

Sets were designed in Bricklink Studio...

...and arrived looking like this

Colour-sorted and ready to build

They're Justified, And They're Ancient [Podcast Review: The Harbingers]

While investigating the relics of an ancient civilization, ambitious anthropologists and rivals Adam Blackwell (Andrés Enriquez) and Amy Stirling (Lauren Grace Thompson) make discoveries that bring magical powers back into the world. But when magical power collides with political and financial power, the results can be dangerous.

The Harbingers is a fictional podcast produced by Audacious Machine Creative. As of this month the first season is now complete, with all episodes available on Spotify or other services, and a second season in production for release later this year. 

There is a lot of Harbingers to enjoy. The first season is 16 episodes long, with episodes varying from 30 to 60 minutes in length. Production quality is excellent, as is the writing - the story is structured around a catastrophic event, with both protagonists telling their stories to the lawyer preparing them for a Congressional hearing. The stories begin in the highly competitive world of Harbinger academic study, but develop into globe-spanning journeys involving a Presidential campaign and a tech billionaire's quest for limitless energy. There is real thought about the implications of the different magical powers, how they might be used and how society might react to their existence.

There are a lot of twists and developments and the whole picture is revealed gradually over the season - or is it? While the first season has a satisfying plot and conclusion, there are still unanswered questions, untold chapters and unmet characters of the story. The ancient Harbinger civilization with its architecture, myths, languages and values is also imagined in great detail, even though we only learn about it from the fragments, relics and discoveries that have survived to the present day, and there is definitely more Harbinger history to uncover. I am really looking forward to season 2.

The performances from Enriquez, Thompson and all of the cast are outstanding, and as a result the friendships, relationships, drama and peril, and the tension between the two main characters all ring true. Highly recommended for fans of archaeology, magic, superpowers and lawyers. 

Stuck With You [Review: The WONDERfools Episodes 2 and 3]

Some highlights from episodes 2 and 3 of Korean superhero drama The WONDERfools - minor spoilers only. Three characters have now developed superpowers - teleportation, super-strength and STICKING TO THINGS! but they don't understand how their powers work so can't control them. As a result:

• The teleporter appeared for a few moments on the set of a TV historical drama, so now believes they are a time traveller.
• The super-strength character now has some interesting holes in their walls.
• The character who's superpower is STICKING TO THINGS! finds their arm is stuck to their fridge door, so they have to stand in front of the fridge and persuade their family that this is for completely normal reasons.

So far this series has been an absolute treat, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who likes superhero dramas and needs to break their addiction to the MCU (yes, Geek Twins, I'm looking at you).

The rebellious and chaotic Eun Chae-ni, played by Park Eun-bin, remains the star of the show, but the whole cast is strong, and the arguments between the characters appear to be getting bigger and more melodramatic. I believe the sticking superpower may be unique, and I'm looking forward to see how this power might be used for the good of humanity later in the series.

Meanwhile a series of flashbacks reveal that one character spent their childhood in a 50s style concrete laboratory being subjected to experiments by a sinister scientist. This is a widely used trope, seen in films and dramas from Firestarter to Stranger Things. Here it's just one part of the greater mystery of Haesong City.

As with many non-Western productions there are constant switches between melodramatics, slapstick or farce, and more serious and nuanced drama - there doesn't seem to be a requirement to stick to one tone. This, combined with the complex maze of secrets and twists that are slowly unravelling, makes The WONDERfools difficult to predict. I'm still holding back on the urge to binge the entire series so I can savour it for as long as possible, but I doubt I can hold out for much longer.

And The Beat Goes On [Honkai Star Rail]

Some more thoughts on Honkai Star Rail:

I've played for a couple of years now, with some breaks - still playing through the Amphoreus storyline. Initially I was put off by the Ancient Greece-inspired setting but I've warmed to it over time, and what's really impressed me is the depth of the story. On several occasions I thought I was approaching the end of this chapter - how silly of me to think that completing the Flame Chase Journey would be the end! instead of reaching any kind of finale, the player is thrown backwards and forwards in time, and whole new layers of reality are uncovered, Matrix or Inception style, with new storylines and characters. 

The story also involves themes of death, loss and self-sacrifice explored in a deeper and more emotional way than storylines earlier in the game, although there are still plenty of comedic elements too.

For no particular reason I'll end this post with a video from the recent Honkai Star Rail concert livestream - a performance of one of the in-game songs, Sway To My Beat In Cosmos, by @chevyha , the voice of Robin.

 

Global Superpower [Review: The WONDERfools episode 1]

Started the first episode of The WONDERfools this week and was completely gripped. The episode opens on Eun Chae-ni (Park Eun-bin, star of Extraordinary Attorney Woo) who lives and works in her grandmother's restaurant, dreams of travelling, has a severe heart condition, no money and lots of punk attitude. Within the first 1-2 minutes there's a fantastic, character-defining scene where she takes on a group of street evangelists announcing the end of the world.

This opening episode is about establishing characters - in addition to Chae-ni, her family and friends, we also meet Lee Un-jeong (Cha Eun-woo), a very junior official in a government complaints office. Where Chae-ni is comically loud and punk, Un-jeong is the opposite, facing down the angry complainant that terrorizes everyone else in the office with a calm, deadpan response. It's early in the series but I feel like it isn't going to be a coincidence that these two have complementary personalities. 

The episode also establishes that there are links between several of the characters, and that pretty much everyone is hiding something. This also applies to the setting, Haesong City, on the surface a regular mid-sized modern town but there are hints of mysterious goings on in the past and the present.

Although I've been looking forward to this series for a long time I didn't know what to expect, apart from a superhero TV show with a different tone from the MCU. I'm now fighting the urge to binge-watch and looking forward to wherever this series takes me.

The Visitor - theremin version

"The Visitor" Sienna Spiro

Theremin cover version played at Queen's Head Open Mic, 7.5.2026 on Lost Volts LV4. Accompaniment John Drummond. Thanks to Neil Dennis for the video.