Tag: Arts

Woroni Radio October Gig Guide
October 2, 2025 11:22 pm Comments Off on Woroni Radio October Gig Guide
Woroni Radio invites you to another month of performances with our October Gig Guide. Feast your eyes on the latest gigs around Canberra, almost all under $50, with gigs performed by the talented musicians in our ANU community being prioritised on each night’s events!
As always, our list is not exhaustive, and there are always new performances sprouting around Canberra, so there will still be plenty of opportunities to see your favourite artists outside our gig guide. As always, if you have a gig coming up, or want to promote your favourite local artist’s upcoming performances, please give us a shout at radio@woroni.com.au or use our Submissions Form. We’re currently accepting submissions for our November Gig Guide (closing on Sunday of Week 12 (26/10/2025)), and want your input to help us promote and amplify talented musicians in our community.
Music acts, venues, times and prices are accurate at time of writing
* = concession prices or pre-booking prices

Recurring Events
Every Monday:
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Every Tuesday:
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Every Saturday:
Wayne Kelly Trio @ Tilley’s Devine Cafe Gallery (6:00pm, FREE)

Week 9
Monday 29/09
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 30/09
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Thursday 02/10
Thirsty Merc @ The Baso (7pm, $56)
Friday 03/10
What the Duck?! (Growing Alder, Goese & Ducks in Trees (CJ Adams)) @ Smith’s Alternative (8pm, $10*)
Dana Hassall Duo @ Floriade (10:30am, FREE)
Joe Mungovan @ Floriade Nightfest (6:45pm, $37*)
Gig for Gaza (Sonic Reducer, Think About You, Vanishing Sound, Jorkhour) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7pm, $10)
Essence 2: A Divergence in Darkness @ The Baso (7pm, $45*)
Sunday Lemonade @ Floriade Nightfest (8:30pm, $37*)
Saturday 04/10
Josh Pyke @ Floriade Nightfest (6:30pm, $37*)
The Bures Band @ Gang Gang (7pm, $11*)
Eliza and the Delusionals @ Fun Time Pony (7pm, $34)
Essence 2: A Divergence in Darkness @ The Baso (7pm, $45*)
Rock n Roll Rampage (Missing Lincolns, Transit Dolls, Echo) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $10*)
Sunday 05/10
Dana Hassall Duo @ Floriade (10:30am, FREE)
Ella Hooper @ Floriade Nightfest (6:30pm, $37*)
Essence 2: A Divergence in Darkness @ The Baso (7pm, $45*)
The Huneez @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $15*)

Week 10
Monday 06/10
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 07/10
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Dept of Rock 2025: BOTB Heat 1 @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, $10*)
Thursday 09/10
Swimming Bell @ Smith’s Alternative (6:30pm, $25*)
Degenerate (with So I says to Mabel & Earth Cadet) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (8:30pm, $10)
Lachie Gill & Reuben De Melo @ Smith’s Alternative (8:30pm, $30)
Saturday 11/10
Daysend @ The Baso (7pm, $38)
This Way Orkestra @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $25)
Acopia @ Gang Gang (8pm, $25)
Sunday 12/10
Lily B @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (4pm, $12*)

Week 11
Monday 13/10
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 14/10
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Friday 17/10
Egoism @ Landspeed Records (6pm, FREE)
PR_01 (Aurpan Kar, Mani Zuko, Zach Parnell, Mixed Signals) @ Shadows Night Club (7pm, $13)
KHAN @ The Baso (7pm, $35)
Mac the Knife @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $25*)
Saturday 18/10
Spring Sessions @ The Pussy Palace (10am, $10*)
Mouseatouille (with Melt & Vanishing Sound) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (6:30pm, $15*)
Wyndfall @ The Baso (7pm, $12)
Shaun Kirk @ Shadows Night Club (7pm, $25)
Sunday 19/10
Smith St Band @ The Baso (5pm, $56
Reliqa & Future Static @ The Baso (6pm, $30)

Week 12
Monday 20/10
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 21/10
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Thursday 23/10
Powerplant (with Shock Treatment & Spouse) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $28*)
Friday 24/10
N.D.A (Gavino, Tino, K4YDEE) @ Shadows Night Club (7pm, $13)
I Exist & No Apologies @ The Baso (7pm, $30)
Marlten (with Spinning Plates & Kicking Pigeons) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $10*)
Paul Kidney Japanese Experience (with The Sugar Beats, Fukno & Dreamlanders)
@ Pot Belly Pub (8pm, $25)
Saturday 25/10
The Pleasures @ Smith’s Alternative (4pm, $25*)
Little Quirks @ The Polo (7:30pm, $25*)
Saturday 26/10
Owen Campbell Band @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (4pm, $20*)

Exam Period
Monday 27/10
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 28/10
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Thursday 30/10
The Maes @ Smith’s Alternative (8:30pm, $25*)
Thursday 31/10
Monster Mosh @ The Baso (7pm, $20)
Gia Ransome @ The Polo (7:30pm, $15*)
Chaperone @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $15*)

Madeleine Kay
Two Hacks Review: How To Vote! performed by Fenner Hall
September 25, 2025 11:06 am Comments Off on Two Hacks Review: How To Vote! performed by Fenner Hall
The night before Woroni and Observer hosted the ANUSA election debate, we sat down to watch a quite different student politics affair. Julian Lenarch’s How to Vote! is one of the latest entries into the Stupol literary canon, alongside the 2004 UniMelb documentary State of the Union and Chaser alum Dominic Knight’s 2010 USyd headcanon novel Comrades.
The play follows the ingenious plot of Stupol fixer and outgoing student union president Natasha, who opens the play with a relatable (at least for one of these reviewers) monologue of being a public service brat whose introduction to the halls of power far too young set in motion an obsession with Machiavellian politics.
Interspersed amongst sex scandals, satanic rituals resembling a pre-COVID Young Labor AGM, and subterfuge involving a conniving student journalist, is the trial and tribulations of Natasha’s three victims and the candidates of the night’s election.
The first, Giles, is a drunkard, secretly bicurious third-year private school alum who stands for the residential colleges and the “elite” like him. The second, Lizzie, a third-year arts student whose boyfriend cast her in a solo performance of Mao’s Last Dancer and who targets the “persuadable and involved”. The third, Monica, is a bumbly off-campus first-year who runs solely to “fill the hole” on the road outside a bus stop in which she broke her leg.
Giles and Lizzie target their respective demographics of big-names-on-campus (BNOCs), res-hall committees, finance bros, and clubs and societies, while Lizzie targets the hole, the hole, and the hole (none of which were a “sex thing”, as several characters wondered).
The climax of the campaign comes in the first half of the second act with a chaotic debate in which the seasoned hacks Giles and Lizzie yell over each other about drivel and break out into a physical fight, while Monica zones out and rotely repeats “Fill the Hole!” in response to questions in much like Lois Griffin in an early episode of Family Guy.
The play features a unique viewer interaction experience. As viewers step out into Gorman House’s dingy courtyard for the intermission, they are hounded by pamphleteers for the three candidates. (No orange lanyards in this theatre, sorry.) Later, after the debate, viewers are asked to scan a QR code leading to a ballot to vote for which candidate they think should win.
Whether the results actually affect the ending — the crowning of a new campus president — is anyone’s guess, but it kept the audience on the edge of their seats.
The impacts of stupol on “real” life were on full display, with each of the candidates and Natasha’s relationships with their partners thoroughly undermined by the time demands of political headkicking and Gossip Girl-esque scheming.
Ultimately our main characters are forced to reflect on why they even nominated for the election in the first place, given how much they would lose over the campaign. As many hacks can attest to: “because I was asked”, Giles and Lizzie tell each other during the gut wrenching wait for the returning officer to post the final result.
The play was scheduled for four hours (7pm to 11pm), and ran for about three, but at no point did we feel the need to look at our watches.
The performances, particularly from Mia Gottlieb as Natasha, Marcus Young as the scandalously unethical journalist Figaro, and frequent Woroni poet Christian Panetta as headkicker Warren, were excellent and convincing portrayals of the stock BNOC characters they were written to reflect.
Overall, the show was an enjoyable pastiche of the life of overimportant student politics hacks.
[4/5]

Adriano Di Matteo and Joseph Mann are members of the Australian Labor Party. Joseph Mann was assistant secretary of Australian Young Labor (ACT Branch) from 2019 to 2021.

Joseph Mann
Art, Propaganda and the ANU
September 13, 2025 7:22 pm Comments Off on Art, Propaganda and the ANU
Have you noticed the new artworks hanging around (pun intended) on campus? Artworks by Indigenous artists have been recently displayed in buildings around campus, including in the Marie Reay Teaching Centre, for all to see. While ordinarily I would support the movement of art pieces out of storage and into the community, recent events at ANU concerning the staffing and budget cuts have made me skeptical of their new presence.
The use of art by Indigenous artists from Australia is an intentional choice from the University. On the surface, it embraces Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, but seemingly does nothing beyond the national standard to support Indigenous education and experience on campus. While the steps they take to ensure success in tertiary education may be framed as being progressive and supportive, they merely align with the standards set in the Indigenous Student Success Program delivered by the Department of Education. This is nothing profound, and the addition of these artworks may just be another attempt at virtue signalling to a progressive student cohort.
Just as acknowledgements of Country have been standardised in order to prevent offence, rather than sincerely acknowledge the rights to Country that First Nations people have, artwork from the same cultures is frequently bought and displayed away from the lands they were created on in order to signal a broad-minded persona. Australians may appreciate Indigenous artwork and even display some in their homes, but our culture lacks the insight necessary to appreciate them appropriately. The display of any artworks by Indigenous artists by predominantly white-Australian organisations (such as our own) often seek to benefit the organisation, not the artist.
The piece Dapar (the universe) — A life beyond: the Brian P Schmidt story, displayed on the second floor of the Marie Reay Teaching Building, shows this quite clearly as it was commissioned by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor as a “puff piece”. The work was completed by Jesse T Martin of the Wagadagama and Yuin/Senpol-Lapa peoples.
As the administration undergoes continuous criticism due to the fierce cuts to staff and courses, it feels that all choices are thoughtfully and manipulatively made. The lack of insight staff and students have into the changes is one such example. It is an attempt to control the image of the University, which has been tailored to appear forward-focused, liberal and excellent. Another example, I believe, is the choice to display art from a culture that the ANU has made minimal strides to support in order to portray an image of cultural progression during a time of financial crisis. More than this, recent cuts to the College of Art and Social Science have impacted Indigenous academic courses and access to support systems for Indigenous students, as evidenced in a letter to Woroni from CASS academics. Propaganda has become more complex and more difficult to recognise, and having insight into the images and stories you are being told (and the biases pushing them) grants essential freedom.

Mir Niejalke
Woroni Radio September Gig Guide
September 4, 2025 8:28 pm Comments Off on Woroni Radio September Gig Guide
Woroni Radio once again invites you to find your next night out with our September Gig Guide! Here you’ll find the hottest events in Canberra for the month of September, almost all under $50 (excluding Justice Crew), with gigs performed by the talented musicians in our ANU community being put to the top of the list for each night of events!
As always, our list is not exhaustive, and we know new performances are always popping up, so there is still plenty of gigs in the works for you to explore outside our gig guide. And if you have a gig coming up, or want to promote your favourite local artist’s upcoming performances, please give us a shout at radio@woroni.com.au or use our Submissions Form. We’re currently accepting submissions for our October Gig Guide (closing on Friday of Week 8 (26/09/2025)), and want your input to help us promote and amplify talented musicians in our community.

Music acts, venues, times and prices are accurate at time of writing
* = concession prices or pre-booking prices
Recurring Events
Every Monday:
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Every Tuesday:
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Every Friday:
John Mackey Jazz Jam @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, FREE)
Every Saturday:
Wayne Kelly Trio @ Tilley’s Devine Cafe Gallery (6:00pm, FREE)

Mid-Semester Break
Monday 01/09
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Local Gold #8 @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, FREE)
Tuesday 02/09
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Wednesday 03/09
Giant Hammer (with Lily Morris & Dog Name) @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7pm, $10*)
Thursday 04/09
The Big BBBBB (with CJ Adams) @ Smith’s Alternative (6pm, $5)
Oliver Djurkovic Quartet @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, $15*)
Being Jane Lane (with Machine on a Break, Box Dye, Sketch Method & Salty Goodness) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $10*)
Friday 05/09
WAAX (with Machine on a Break) @ UB Hub (7pm, $40)
John Mackey Jazz Jam @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, FREE)
Vichyssoise & The Ingredients @ Blackbird (7pm, FREE)
Electrik Sanctuary @ The Baso (7pm, $40)
Rose Tattoo @ Royal Hotel Queanbeyan (7:30pm, $45)
The Femmes of Violence + The Flippers + Freedom of Choice @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $15*)
BLEACH (DJ Please, rRoxymore) @ ONE22 (10pm, $20)
Saturday 06/09
Wayne Kelly Trio @ Tilley’s Devine Cafe Gallery (6pm, FREE)
Sunday 07/09
Jess Ribeiro @ Smith’s Alternative (4pm, $25*)
Shock Corridor @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, $15)
Monday 08/09
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 09/09
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Thursday 11/09
Pacific Avenue @ The Baso (7pm, $45)
Cauterant Zine presents Takoba @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7pm, $20*)
Sycco @ Fun Time Pony (7pm, $34)
Friday 12/09
John Mackey Jazz Jam @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, FREE)
Stiff Gins @ Smith’s Alternative (6:30pm, $35)
HNTR @ Fiction Club (10pm, $20)
C.FRIM @ ONE22 (10pm, $20*)
Saturday 13/09
Los Chavos X Capital Samba @ Smith’s Alternative (9pm, $25)
Australian Chamber Orchestra @ Llewellyn Hall (7pm, $30)
The Inadequates @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, $15*)
Brace @ The Baso (7pm, $25)
Witchskull (with Storms of Steel & Space on Fire) @ The Baso (7pm, $30)
Sunday 14/09
Moonlighting (Spit the Dummy & Ollie’s Garden) @ 131 City Walk (7pm, $15)
Brass Knuckle Brass Band @ Gang Gang (3pm, $20*)
Blood On My Hands (with Fearetical, Ends in Tragedy & Peacemaker) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (5pm, $20)
Hammerhead @ Tuggeranong Arts Centre (7pm, $38*)
Charles Maimarosia @ Smith’s Alternative (4pm, $30*)

Week 7
Monday 15/09
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 16/09
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Daniel Isherwood Trio @ Molly (7pm, FREE)
Wednesday 17/09
The Songwriting Prize 2025: Canberra Semi-Final @ Gang Gang ($20)
Thursday 18/09
Yunggabilli First Nations Open Mic @ Tuggeranong Arts Centre (5:30pm, FREE)
Friday 19/09
John Mackey Jazz Jam @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, FREE)
Jess Green @ Blackbird (7pm, FREE)
Shades and Shadows @ The Polo (7:30pm, $20)
Peter Bibley @ The Baso (7pm, $30)
Justice Crew @ Fiction Club (8pm, $54)
Saturday 20/09
ASHEN (with Anoxia & Complexant) @ The Baso (7pm, $30)
The Genevieves (with Airline and Body Shirt) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $15*)
Sunday 21/09
Tiana Young @ Smith’s Alternative (4pm, $20*)

Week 8
Monday 22/09
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 23/09
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)
Thursday 25/09
Nightswim, Good Lightning & Bronze Age Collapse @ The Baso (TBA)
Friday 26/09
John Mackey Jazz Jam @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, FREE)
ALLY ROW @ Floriade 2025, Commonwealth Park (12:30pm, FREE)
Lakeside at 5 | In2Deep @ Tuggeranong Arts Centre (5:30pm, entry by donation)
Blackwater Bay @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $10*)
Saturday 27/09
Nebula Noise (Kilroy, Suede Effect, Pilot Buffalo, Nuta Mantis) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (TBA)
ALLY ROW @ Smith’s Alternative (6pm, $15*)
British India @ Fun Time Pony (8:30pm, $48*)

Week 9
Monday 29/09
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 30/09
Ben O’Loghlin & Micah Knight @ Highroad Dickson (5:30pm, FREE)

Madeleine Kay
Woroni Radio August Gig Guide
August 19, 2025 3:51 pm Comments Off on Woroni Radio August Gig Guide
Woroni Radio would love to invite you to Canberra’s music scene through our August Gig Guide! Peruse our picks for the hottest events under $50 around Canberra this month, showing you how Canberra’s music scene, despite false reports, is more than thriving.
Please note this list is not exhaustive, and there’s still plenty of gigs out there for you to explore that may not have made the cut. And if you have a gig coming up, or know some frequent acts of your favourite Canberra venue, please give us a shout at radio@woroni.com.au. We’re currently accepting tips for our September Gig Guide, and want your input to help us promote and amplify talented musicians in our community.
Music acts, venues, times and prices are accurate at time of writing
* = concession prices or pre-booking prices

Recurring Events
Every Monday:
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Every Friday:
Friday Night Jazz @ Gang Gang (7pm, FREE)
Every Saturday:
Wayne Kelly Trio @ Tilley’s Devine Cafe Gallery (6:00pm, FREE)

Week 5
Monday 18/08
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 19/08
Stand-up Comedy @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Wednesday 20/08
Classical Capers Open Mic @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, $10)
Comedy Showcase @ Gang Gang Comedy (7pm, $25)
Thursday 21/08
Woroni X Dissent Uni Night (CJ Adams, Good Lightning, Nightswim, Hunnysuckle) @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7pm, FREE)
Kingswood @ Fun Time Pony (7pm, $39.30)
Friday 22/08
Lakeside at 5 | Harry & Imogen Duo @ Tuggeranong Arts Centre (5:30pm, Entry by donation)
Friday Night Jazz @ Gang Gang (7pm, FREE)
The Gruntled (with Dirtbag, The King Hits) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $10*)
Special K @ The RUC (8pm, FREE)
Saturday 23/08
Open Mic Night @ Cypher Brewing (6pm, FREE)
Wayne Kelly Trio @ Tilley’s Devine Cafe Gallery (6pm, FREE)
Cameron Jones Trio @ Smith’s Alternative (6pm, $25*)
The Mighty Hoopsnake (with Spouse and Kilroy) @ Gang Gang (6pm, $20)
Kial Malone and Benny Elder @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7pm, $10*)
Sunday 24/08
Ben Drysdale @ Dickson Taphouse (4pm, FREE)

Week 6
Monday 25/08
Open Mic Night @ Dissent Cafe and Bar (7:30pm, FREE)
Tuesday 26/08
John Mackay Project @ Smith’s Alternative (7pm, $25*)
Thursday 28/08
Splinter and Starve @ The Baso (7pm, $30)
Maggie Carty @ Smith’s Alternative (7:30pm, $20*)
Chuckle Force Comedy @ Smith’s Alternative (7:30PM, $10)
Friday 29/08
Wayne Ryder @ The RUC (8pm, FREE)
Club Sandwich Comedy 2 @ Tuggeranong Arts Centre (7:00PM, $20)
Crowns and Chaos (Theatre Cabaret) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $15)
Saturday 30/08
Chimera (Femme Normale, baby hope, TBA) @ Blank – 15 Moore St (7:30pm, $15)
ANU Music Theatre Collective Open Mic @ Smith’s Alternative (6pm, $10*)
Wayne Kelly Trio @ Tilley’s Devine Cafe Gallery (6pm, FREE)
Flowermarket (with Kye Hallson and the E.T.s) @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7:30pm, $15*)
Sunday 31/08
Buckingham Triad Trio @ Smith’s Alternative (2pm, $15*)
Spouse, all that’s left of you, BODYSHIRT and proxy diver @ Dissent Cafe & Bar (7pm, $15*)

Message from Woroni’s Head of Radio:
We here at Woroni Radio, as avid musicians and dedicated music lovers, wholeheartedly and unequivocally support our fellow students affected by the unprecedented cuts to the School of Music at ANU. Music is a fundamental part of society, integral to the progression of art, activism and public discourse. Music does not just entertain, but engages with, reflects on, and calls to action crucial issues in our communities and around the world.
As a musician myself, and a firm lover of all things music and audio, I believe that the cuts to the School of Music, and music-based courses across Australia’s universities, are a method of censorship for student artistic expression, following outdated ideas of what parts of education are ‘meaningful’ to our future.
If you are a School of Music student, an Arts student, or a casual musician studying at the ANU, we want to hear from you! In addition to this gig guide and our future gig guides this semester, Woroni Radio are pursuing further opportunities to amplify the voices and talent of our community of musicians at ANU. If you’d like to be involved, or have your voice heard across campus, reach out to us at radio@woroni.com.au.
Lots of love,
Grace

Madeleine Kay
If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller Read the Book If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller
August 7, 2025 3:37 pm Comments Off on If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller Read the Book If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller
[1]
You are about to read a review of Italo Calvino’s 1979 novel, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought from your mind.
[If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller]
The bustling world above fades into nothing but a whisper as you descend the writhing stairs to deep below the Earth’s rotten, molten crust. You are released from your downwards spiral unto the subterranean aedeficium of today, a sweet labyrinth without a minotaur, and a place you find yourself serially returning to with the dual predicament of having both too much and not enough time to spare. You breathe in the scent of fresh paper and celebrate your arrival at Boffins Books. Immediately, you ascertain your reason for being here as being beyond a regular routine, indiscriminate browsing — rather, you have come here for the sake of administering a very discriminate selection.
Today, you are here to buy a book, on the sole condition that it be a book which you have never heard of, by an author who you regard similarly. And so you wander haphazardly past Books You Haven’t Read, Books You Needn’t Read, Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category of Books Read Before Being Written, Books You Would Read But Your Days Are Numbered, and, most certainly, Books Everybody’s Read So It’s As If You’ve Read Them Too.
You are charmed by the varying colours of the pages, by the contrasting spines rubbing up against each other as they nestle together on their shelves. However, despite it all, in the very corner of the room, hidden amongst piles of vintage fiction, you find that you cannot resist the call of a novel bearing the name, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller. You pick it up, you turn the book over, you immediately like the fact that it isn’t a thick book — only 240 pages or thereabouts. The cover, which prominently features a train, a table and a still-smoking cigarette, now faces away from you as you indulge in that tantalising reading of the blurb. Ah yes — you cannot help but think to yourself — I have found my book.
[2]
But what sort of book is this?
We follow a Reader, one who himself acquires and begins to read Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller. Unfortunately, the Reader’s reading is interrupted by a printing error which sends him back to the bookstore in search of the complete novel, but which ultimately results in increasingly bizarre encounters with ten different novels which always, and for unforeseen reasons, become unreadable when they are at their most interesting. We alternate between these novel fragments and the meta-narrative of our Reader’s search for the true novel, and by extension — the authentic reading experience.
Our Reader is joined by an excellent cast of colourful characters. Another reader, a beautiful Other Reader, Ludmilla, as well as her sister Lotaria, Professor Uzii Tuzii of the last living-dead language Cimmerian (or was it Cimbrian?), the elderly Mr Cavadagna of the publishing house, the artist Ernio who has taught himself how not to read, the tormented Irish author Sinnas Flannery, and perhaps, behind it all, Ermes Marana — the adventurer-translator who knows not a word of the texts he seeks to translate but who, with prophetic zeal -– dreams of proliferating a world of literature inseparable from Apocrypha and illusion.
[Outside The Town of Malbork]
Such were the many elements of the novel which drew you in — which made it one of those novels which you can proudly say you devoured voraciously and finished in only a handful of days.
And then once you had finished it, you made the terrible mistake of saying to a group of friends, “I’ve just finished this excellent book which I unconditionally recommend, so much so, in fact, that I’m thinking of writing a Woroni review of it.”
[3]
So, you are to write a review — but how? You’ve never written a review of a book before, so perhaps it would be best to consult with those who have. You decide to turn to academia. Surely, you say to yourself, surely someone will have articulated in perfect English precisely what I felt when I read this novel!
But this turn to academia, almost as suddenly as it was taken, you realise was foolhardy — was undoubtedly a misstep. Why? Because as you read through one article, and then through another, you fail to understand what anything anyone is saying means at all!
Take this passage for example:
“Underlying Calvino’s metafictional agenda is faith in a literary cognitive potency, which thrives regardless of epochal interrogation of the written word’s subject-object terminal nexus. Calvino’s deposition of modernity’s proclivity unto scepticism and silence in favour of a neohumanistic, voluptuous array of writing’s signatures engages multiplicity and density in intellectual human activity, one which strives for a complete vision of existence as an aesthetic being.”
[On the Steep Slope]
It’s hopeless! It’s no good! Certainly, some out there can decipher the intended meaning to be communicated, but you are certainly not one of them.
However, you seem to remember having had grand ideas as you read the novel, so perhaps all you need to do is reread, and as you are rereading and re-remembering those ideas, you need only write them down so as to re-re-remember them.
[4]
And so you reread. And what ideas do you find?
Lotaria invents a machine which allows her to ‘read’ a novel by looking at the frequency of words. This reading of Lotaria’s is denounced by Calvino, who terms it pseudo-scientific, ideologically motivated, devalued, and degenerate. But how much in common does Lotaria’s way of reading have with the way that so many of us do our weekly readings? What proximal relationship exists between Lotaria’s machine and those LLM systems that probabilistically guess which word comes after the next?
And what about Ludmilla’s reading? That reading which Calvino presents as the most pure, ideal and perfect — a reading which is interesting! This beautiful Other Reader reads because she likes to read and nothing else!
What of the Reader’s reading? Aha — now you appear to have it! The Reader strives for the impossible — the complete understanding, that satisfying ending which imposes upon the multiplicity of novels before him something generic and intelligible.
Perhaps this is your angle?
Textual misreading is bad living. To read badly is to live badly is to interpret incorrectly, which is to enforce a single rule of interpretation that governs all that is.
You could write about how Calvino refrains from pursuing the one exhaustive book, how he instead tends towards partial images inscribed at the end of increasingly concentric circles.
There is not one story to be written, but many.
Do not endeavour to write the one, true book — for any such attempt entails only failure and frustration. Instead, write many books, and look to pursue the whole through its parts ad infinitum — in the style of Calvino, Flannery and Marana.
You collapse into your own hands. After poring over the chapters and text of the book, you have very quickly found yourself encumbered with too many ideas. But isn’t this always the case? Either nothing at all or everything all at once!
[Around an Empty Grave]
You once more despair. This is no good! How are you to write a review of a novel such as this? A novel which itself contains ten other novels? A novel which you enjoyed with all of your heart, a novel with so very much to say about reading and readers, about books and authors, about means and ends and revolutions and lovers and metaphysics and telephones and….
And despite all of this you don’t even know where to begin.
You turn inwards — you focus on a single thing — just one:
Why am I writing this? What is it that I am trying to say by writing this?
[5]
You are about to finish reading a review of Italo Calvino’s 1979 novel, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller. The novel is one that I very much enjoyed reading. In addition, it says a lot about so many things which matter so very much to so very many of us. If you have the time, and I really implore you to find it if you don’t — please read Italo Calvino’s 1979 novel, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller.

Emanuel Foundas
Print is Not Dead: The Art of Junk Journaling with Martina Calvi
July 30, 2025 9:06 pm Comments Off on Print is Not Dead: The Art of Junk Journaling with Martina Calvi
The crafty renaissance appears to have taken the internet by storm, with the major rise of junk journaling — a form of scrapbooking and physical memory collecting that encourages you to create with ‘trash’ and mementos you already have. For many, this looks like using materials like travel tickets, movie stubs, receipts, napkins, packaging or business cards to create one-of-a-kind journal spreads.
I had the opportunity to ask the internet’s resident queen of craft and expert on all things junk journaling, Martina Calvi (@martinamartian), about her experience as a creative, both off and online. Much of her inspiration stems from her childhood, 2000s rom coms, Tumblr, Sofia Coppola, art and craft books, and “objects of the past” found in flea markets and vintage stores. I discovered her profile through photos of her zine, “The Other Italy,” and her flow of sentimental and whimsical creations and kind personality have kept me following along. She has inspired me to get back in touch with my hobby of scrapbooking, and pouring into my creativity has been incredibly fulfilling.
Martina is excited by the rise of offline creative hobbies and notes how junk journaling encourages everyone to “[embrace] imperfection, spontaneity, and memory collecting in a way that resonates with people right now. We’re all craving something a little messier, slower, and more human.” The act of slowing down and creating something physical has been calming for me, and many of my friends, who I’ve roped into junk journaling.
Martina has always been passionate about print, as her father worked in newspapers for four decades. “I’ve always grown up hearing about the rise and fall of the print industry. I grew up collecting Frankie Magazine and picking up free copies of Vice, making zines and keeping stacks of books by my bed,” she says.
Martina is a staunch believer that print will never die. “If anything, it’s becoming more of a nostalgic novelty to us, a place for slow and considered storytelling to live,” she argues. “Print media asks us to pause and get offline, which is something we’re all craving more and more.”
Last year, Martina also published her first book, The Art of Memory Collecting. This was her “childhood dream come true” as a girl who always maxed out the library loan limit and wrote novels on her family’s computer. Her book is dedicated to “all the crafty, creative and sentimental people” and stands as a love letter to handmade projects and preserving memories. Sharing her junk journaling spreads on an Instagram reel led to her first international book deal, and she was soon offered another after The Art of Memory Collecting sold out almost immediately after her launch. Her next book, A Year of Junk Journaling, will dive into a year’s worth of pages from her personal journal. The success of her first book allowed Martina to approach this book with far more confidence; “I was much firmer on some design choices and including more tiny details for my readers to discover, that I didn’t feel brave enough to push for last time,” she notes. Her success is also a testament to the rising popularity of this genre and how alive-and-well physical media is.
Earlier this year, Martina launched her own print magazine, Tiny Zine. She wanted the magazine to feel like it was made by your crafty best friends: “Playful, 100 percent human made, and authentic.” It champions analogue creativity, spotlights artists and writers from their community, and is “like Rookie Mag meets your pen pal’s collage meets Interview Magazine.” Their first edition was carefully hand-designed, and stars Lola Young. It stands as a reminder of the cultural relevance that can be found in independent publishing, and the fun, collectible nature of print.
Balancing an online presence with offline creation is not always easy for anyone, even Martina. But this has just pushed her to protect some of her creative moments even more, keeping some of her journal private. “My internet presence has definitely amplified my work, which I’m so grateful for, but it’s also made me more intentional about carving out time to make things just for me.”
For anyone looking to start junk journaling, Martina recommends you “start with what you already have. A receipt, a bus ticket, a piece of packaging you like. Creativity doesn’t have to be loud or perfect — just create for you.” She insists that “junk journaling is not something to be ‘good’ at. Just start collecting little souvenirs of your life. That’s where the magic is.”
Moving forward, Martina hopes for more in-real-life crafty community events. “Craft clubs, junk journaling meetups, crafternoons with your friends. I want the crafty community to keep growing into something joyful and real, where people feel connected through creating and playing with paper together.” She has even been sponsoring craft clubs with her small business, Martina’s Tiny Store, to support the ‘crafty renaissance’. I have found it particularly fun to junk journal alongside friends, as a sort of creative parallel play. There is so much delight to be found in creating with people who are just as passionate about a hobby you adore. It really is “a kind of gentle rebellion against the digital noise.”
In a world moving online at a dizzying speed, with AI becoming more prevalent in everyday life, carving out the time to create something with your hands has never been more satisfying and important. As a Martina-converted-crafter, I can testify to the level of gratification creativity can bring to your everyday life. I guarantee you would be surprised by how much you’d like whatever you dream up.

Brooke Corkhill
Art @ ANU
July 25, 2025 4:39 pm Comments Off on Art @ ANU
On Thursday, 17th of July, an exhibition of the work by students from the Exquisite Corpse — Insight into the Human Body course, which runs in the winter session, opened for the public in the gallery of the School of Art and Design. The work crosses the boundaries between art and science and reveals an inventive peak into the workings of the human condition. Pieces include a focus on anatomy, mental health, chronic health conditions and biological function.

Conversations with course teaching staff Associate Professor Krisztina Valter-Kocsi and Ms Elisa Crossing revealed a culture of satisfaction in imperfection, which is a feeling foreign to many of the STEM-focused students in the course. The challenging nature of the course broadens the horizons of art and science students alike, which is reflected in the exhibition. It works together as a cohesive collection of work, ranging between a representation of the molecular level to the holistic level, and truly gives a glance into the inner- and outer-workings of the human body.

With the wide range of mediums, perspectives and subjects the one consistency is the talent and exceptional work poured into the works, this exhibition is not to be missed. It is open to the public during opening hours of the gallery (10:30am to 3pm Tuesday to Friday) until its closing on the 1st of August. If you have a free hour while on campus head over to the School of Art and Design gallery and participate in keeping art at ANU alive.

Mir Niejalke
Autumn with Mozart: A Showcase of Choral Talent at the ANU
July 18, 2025 5:04 pm Comments Off on Autumn with Mozart: A Showcase of Choral Talent at the ANU
Happy listeners filled the pews of All Saints Anglican Church in Ainslie, hugged warm by the music of two choirs while leaves fell gently from the trees outside. On Saturday 24 May 2025, the ANU Choral Society (SCUNA), conducted by Veronica Thwaites-Brown, and the ANU Chamber Choir, conducted by Tobias Cole, presented a selection of works in the vaulted nave. The location enhanced the timelessness of the repertoire, which ranged from medieval to contemporary classical music.
Ave Verum Corpus KV618
The performance began with the SCUNA and Chamber choirs performing Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus KV618”, conducted by Tobias Cole. We were delighted to see a range of variations on the classic black choral songbooks held by the singers, including one performer with an iPad that, to the untrained eye, blended in unnoticeably with the others. The singers stood united with autumnally coloured scarves over their traditional concert blacks. The combined strength of both choirs produced a resonant and harmonious yet gentle performance, emphasised by the acoustics of the church. The tenor singers were a particular stand-out in this piece, and the alto harmonies blended well with the choir.
SCUNA
After the Mozart introduction, the ANU Chamber Choir left the stage, the SCUNA choir remaining for their repertoire. The choir’s conductor, Veronica Thwaites-Brown, began by speaking of a time of renewal in the society, with new members, collaborations and songbook pieces. The pieces selected for their performance that night were lifted from SCUNA songbooks of the past. There have been many songbooks over the years and every conductor contributes something.
They began with “Never Weather-Beaten Sail” by Thomas Campion (a well-known poet, composer and physician from the 16th- to 17th-century), which uses nautical imagery as an allegory for the journey to the afterlife. The choir’s artistic choices complemented and reinforced the original seafaring lyricism. The dynamics felt like waves, evoking the sensation of drifting through the ocean and eventually arriving at the shore. Elongated phrases supported the lyrical imagery and coordinated well with the other musical elements. The sopranos in particular were a highlight, carrying the choir through the piece like the song itself describes the water carrying a passenger to the safe harbour of the afterlife.
SCUNA contrasted Campion’s piece with the lively “Dindirin”, described in the program as “a charming song, composed around 1500…adapted from a 15th-century Spanish/Catalan text.” It follows a married singer and a nightingale passing her a message from a lover. This item was upbeat and refreshing, with the choir balancing percussive diction with its signature reverberance. The lively rhythm gave character to the nightingale described in the lyrics, lending it a distinct voice in the piece. It was easy to imagine the dialogue between the nightingale and the other figures in the story.
“Dindirin” flowed seamlessly into SCUNA’s next piece, “So Ben Ch’ha Bon Tempo” by Orazio Vecchi, a canzonet (or madrigal written as words to a dance) which translates to “I know well who is having a good time”. The piece was a similarly spirited choice by Thwaites-Brown. Its cadence mirrored the dance it’s intended for: vibrant and playful. Impressively, they performed a cappella, with a chorale quality that enhanced the melody and counter-melody. Each section was highlighted at different points in the piece, but the altos stole the show, asserting their independence with difficult runs while maintaining a balanced blend and skilled intonation.
SCUNA concluded their repertoire with “Four Seasons in One Day” by New Zealand composers Neil and Tim Finn. Contrasting their largely Renaissance-era performance, this final choice was a classic modern choral piece, with diverse syncopation and dynamics, and utilising a wide vocal range from all the voices in the choir. SCUNA’s unity as an ensemble featured in this final piece, sounding like one mass rather than a group of individual singers.
ANU Chamber Choir
Under the baton of Tobias Cole, the ANU Chamber Choir performed a beautiful compilation of sacred music from the 16th and 19th centuries. Chamber choirs are fully a cappella. For the ANU Chamber Choir, composed of students from the School of Music, vocals alone were most certainly enough, with a collective voice both powerful and resonant despite being a smaller group.
They began with “O Quam Gloriosum” by Tomás Luis de Victoria, a piece published in 1583 and dedicated to celebrating the saints. The tone of the choir was beautiful and unfalteringly united, especially in the tenor section. This was followed by “Ave Virgo Sanctissima” by Francisco Guerrero, a piece dedicated to Mary, Mother of Christ. The beginning was ever so slightly shaky, but they quickly regained confidence and were once again in smooth conversation with one another to create a sense of lament and sorrow passing between vocal sections. Reminiscent of a Gregorian chant, it was simple yet timeless and beautifully executed.
A slightly more modern piece of music compared to the other composers in this part of the program, Anton Bruckner’s “Virga Jesse” nonetheless fit perfectly with the religious themes in the rest of the music. The haunting, sacred and ephemeral ambience of the piece was thoroughly suited to the venue. The beautiful application of dissonance and resolution gave the feeling of shivering in awe before something all-powerful before shifting towards a sense of peace and joy at the end of the piece. It was everything you look for in a chamber choir selection: dynamic, mournful and dramatic, making for the opus of the set — the “Bravi!” from an enthusiastic audience member was appropriate, and we concur wholeheartedly.
The two choirs combined — Vesperae Solennes de Confessore KV339
The two choirs united once again at the end to perform Mozart’s “Vesperae Solennes de Confessore”, a piece that sat neatly alongside the theme of the divine, yet with the distinct flavour of Mozart. Thwaites-Brown, who conducted the choirs, spoke of her interpretation of the piece as showcasing Mozart’s excitement and insatiable hunger for freedom, having finally made it to Vienna and far away from the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg, with whom he’d had an antagonistic relationship. While vespers, or evening prayers, are usually quite reverent and peaceful, Mozart, of course, decided to put his own spin on it, resulting in a scene of drama, making masterful use of canon, call-and-response and dynamics. The piece was sung in Latin, with each part being a psalm.
The drama Thwaites-Brown mentioned was certainly evident. The vesperae opened on a triumphant note, jumping between pitches, dynamics and emotions with great force, leading to that sensation of emotional whiplash which makes music so thrilling. This was followed by a vesper in which the solo soprano parts were incredibly sweet and well unified between choristers. The unity and contrast provided by the choir and ‘orchestra’ throughout truly brought the music together. Our compliments to Anthony Smith on the piano, who took on the job of the entire orchestra for the afternoon, and did so marvellously. The combination of the two choirs was very powerful, particularly in the third vesper, in which SCUNA rejoined towards the end in a wall of sound that bounced off of the pews, windows, stone archways and pillars. The fourth vesper was more solemn but with dynamics and a canonical structure that ensured the piece was a paragon of dramatic contrast. The diction was especially remarkable and much training and practice must have gone into making this piece what it was.
This blended well into the fifth vesper, highlighting the night’s soloist, soprano Ella Craig. Craig sang masterfully with a crystal-like voice imbued with sweetness. She showcased her immense skills as a lyric soprano, singing with a clear and light tone, and cleverly adopting a delicate vibrato at the end of phrases. The runs in this vesper weren’t completely perfect, but that is to be expected with a composer as malicious as Mozart. Any listener would appreciate her effort to master this solo, balancing a light timbre with firm projection across the church. The tutti section’s backing towards the end of the piece supported her voice, with a beautiful blend and dynamic control by the larger choir.
After the performance, Craig, who studies Classical Music at the ANU School of Music, told Woroni, “[Mozart is] not a style I’m used to singing,” adding later that the composer’s penchant for high Gs was particularly difficult.
The finale was bouncy and playful while still challenging — quintessential Mozart — and was an excellent culmination of the rest of the set. They finished with an encore by the name of “Gaudeamus Igitur”, a drinking song and a jubilant celebration of the two choirs’ works, free from the pressure and technique required in the Mozart. On the challenges of conducting, Thwaites-Brown noted SCUNA is composed of members with differing musical backgrounds, so in order to bring the choir together it is important to cater to all choristers by adapting rehearsals and making sure that the complexity of the rhythms and the Latin is addressed. She also emphasised that in music, the challenge is what makes it rewarding — what feels better than watching months of hard work come together into a wonderful concert such as this one? The choirs also sang a surprise “Happy Birthday” for Thwaites-Brown’s mother Rosemary, and there was a burst of spontaneous song at supper afterwards. Musicians are truly brimming with creativity and passion for what they love. It was a terrific concert and we offer our congratulations to all of the musicians and people behind the scenes involved. We would recommend any ANU student or member of the community to explore these choirs in the future.

Chiara Hackney-Britt
Adolescence: Review
June 18, 2025 10:01 am Comments Off on Adolescence: Review
Do you remember being an adolescent? Did you wake up on your 13th birthday and feel like everything had suddenly shifted? Acne. Periods. Voice cracks. Mind racing, body changing, 13 was big. It was the year you were made painfully aware of how different girls and boys were. Suddenly, you were told to act differently around the guy you’d been sharing lunch with since kindergarten. 13 was messy: so much happening inside your head and under your skin, and absolutely no manual on how to handle any of it.
I remember the weirdness. I remember boys being loud, rude, sometimes mean, teasing girls for fun. I remember starting to feel self-conscious. But I do not remember animosity. I’ve always thought it was just awkwardness that comes along with growing up, coming to terms with ourselves and others, nothing more.
Unfortunately, 13 isn’t what it used to be anymore.
And this is what Netflix’s 4-part series is all about.
Adolescence is no murder mystery. From the very first few minutes, we know that this 13-year-old boy has killed a girl not much older than him. What’s the show about, then? you might wonder. What prompts this review? you might think. It’s about the why.
Why do men hate women?
Why do YOUNG BOYS hate girls?
How is this hate developed?
I wish we didn’t have to ask these questions. I wish we didn’t have to sit with the weight of it. I wish, on watching this show, this review and our thoughts could end at the brilliance of the craft: the staggering performances, the haunting cinematography, and the technical feat of shooting each episode in a single take. I wish we could just fixate on how Owen Cooper (Jamie) delivers a performance so raw it makes your stomach turn; his first-ever role, and somehow already one of the most chilling portrayals of a child on screen. I wish we could talk only about the eerie stillness of certain scenes, the razor-sharp pacing, the sound design that pulls you into bedrooms, classrooms, and silences you didn’t expect to sit in.
But alas, that would be a bit of a cop-out, wouldn’t it? Because this show doesn’t let you look away. It doesn’t let you retreat into aesthetics. It drags you, gently at first, then all at once, into the dark corners of the internet where kids get lost. Where a search for confidence turns into content on “alpha energy”, and before you know it, your sweet, awkward 13-year-old cousin is quoting Andrew Tate like it’s holy scripture. It sounds dramatic. But Adolescence shows you how undramatic it really is. How terrifyingly casual it is. How it’s just one video, one thread, one “harmless” joke.
Across four episodes, we watch Jamie spiral, not because he’s evil or broken, but because he’s bruised and online. And that’s what makes it hit. He’s not an outlier. He’s familiar. He’s the kid next door. He’s someone you knew. He’s someone you thought you knew. And that’s what’s haunting about the show. It doesn’t give you villains. It gives you people. Real, painfully real people. And it forces you to ask the questions you’ve been dodging: How did we let this happen? Why were we so busy laughing at the red-pillers that we didn’t notice how many kids were actually listening? Why are we still so scared of talking to boys—really talking to them—before the internet does?
“I read an incident in the paper and it was about a young boy killing a young girl, stabbing a young girl to death and then not long after that I saw on the news on the television that you know it happened again in a different, completely different part of the country and a young boy had stabbed a young girl and if I’m really honest with you, both of those incidents really hurt my heart in a way and it just made me think what’s going on…”
Creator, Executive Producer and Actor Stephen Graham speaking to Yahoo UK
The first episode starts with a brigade of police officers swarming what seems like this perfectly normal, loving family’s home. The horror is that they’re here for the boy. They think 13-year-old Jamie has killed Katie, a girl he went to school with. You don’t know the why, when, or how; all you see is this scared kid sitting alone in his room, looking completely lost. He’s peed his pants. He’s shaking. And you think, no way. It’s difficult to reconcile this image with the crime he’s accused of. Surely there’s been some mistake. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe someone’s lying. One minute, this family’s going through their usual weekday routine, breakfast and backpacks. Next, their home is being torn apart, and they watch helplessly as their little boy is being called a murderer and dragged to the police station.
By the end of the first episode, all doubts shiver and crack. There’s no speculation, no ambiguity: Jamie killed Katie. Then you see his father laying flowers where she died, while Through the Eyes of a Child, sung by the girl who plays Katie, plays in the background. And suddenly, it’s all real. A girl is dead. A boy killed her. And nothing will ever be the same.
It’s the third episode—short clips from it, I’m sure, have flooded your feed—where Jamie meets with a psychologist. We’re tossed in a brutal wave of horror and disgust. Now, with each layer being stripped away, you’re left to face the bare truth. A 13-year-old boy, bullied and isolated, pulled into the ugly corners of the internet, kills a girl simply because she didn’t like him back. And the hardest part? He probably doesn’t even fully understand what he’s done. Or maybe this is what you want to believe. That he doesn’t understand. Because that would make it all just a little less sickening.
And that’s the most concerning part: you want to blame everyone but him; society, parents, school, anyone but Jamie. You don’t hate him. You’re terrified of him. Terrified of how social media twists kids today. You’re disgusted when he tries to justify it, claiming other boys would’ve done worse. But hate? No. I hated that I couldn’t hate him. A boy who thinks so little of women that he kills a girl, and still, I can’t hate him. All I could feel was pure shock.
And you hear these stories every single day: women stalked, assaulted, raped and murdered. But you never expect that kind of rage from a teenage boy. Still lanky, still growing into his voice, still figuring out algebra, and yet filled with that much hate. You never expect the misogyny to run so deep, so young. But it does. In a world where the manosphere thrives on TikTok algorithms, where influencers spew bile dressed up as confidence and success, where boys are fed a steady diet of “alpha” nonsense, where podcasts teach that empathy is weakness and women are objects to win or punish—a digital underworld festers. Where masculinity is measured in control, cruelty, and silence; where boys are handed scripts that tell them being human is pathetic, and rejection is humiliation worth avenging. Maybe we should’ve expected it. Maybe we haven’t been paying enough attention.
And this isn’t about villainising men, because of course not all men, but it’s too many and too often. It’s about confronting a culture that’s failing them and, in turn, failing us. It’s about the quiet radicalisation happening in bedrooms behind closed doors. And it’s horrifying, not only because a girl is found dead every now and then, but because we don’t know how to stop it.
And you see the family wrestle with this, too. They know they went wrong; they just don’t know where or how. They did everything by the book: they were present, supportive, and loving. And yet, right under their roof, a boy learned how to kill. Jamie’s dad blames himself. Maybe if he hadn’t pushed him into football. Maybe if he’d shown him that gentleness is also strength. Maybe then Jamie wouldn’t have ended up here. Maybe then he’d have had a better blueprint for what it means to be a man. And that final scene, the parents collapsed in each other’s arms, grieving something they don’t have a name for, leaves you gutted. Because it asks the question no parent wants to face: how do you raise a child in a world like this? How do you keep them safe from what seeps in through the screen? From voices louder, meaner, and more convincing than yours?
Adolescence is raw, it’s intimate, and it is unflinching. It forces you to confront the discomfort, the grief, the rage, the confusion; not just of what happened, but of how easy it was for it to happen. It isn’t easy to watch, and that’s the point. So, if there’s one thing you can watch, let it be this. If there’s one thing you can ask your parents, your brother, your boyfriend, your guy friends, any man you know, to watch, let it be this. Please.

Anuva Rai