The Known Universe

Why not let your mind briefly drift away from the delays and lockdowns this Christmas period and take a flight of fancy around the known universe in this little video produced by the American Museum of Natural History.

Hope Sandoval: Suzanne

Her voice is heavenly.

Mary and Max

Directed by proudly gay australian director Adam Elliot, this unconventional claymation movie is a treat and heading straight for an Oscar! It chronicles the friendship of Mary, an excitable and curious australian girl, and Max, a middle-aged american living with Asperger syndrome. Narrated in Barry Humphries mellow tones, and spiralling through 20 years in shades of grays and browns (with the odd touch of red) we see how this long-distance friendship evolves as week by week, month by month, Max and Mary wait for each other's letters.

There is a lot to enjoy in this movie and it's a safe bet that it will tickle your funny bone and stir your emotions in equal measure. The soundrtack features two wonderful tracks by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra although it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the whole film is beautifully themed. The use of Puccini's "Humming Chorus" from "Madama Butterfly" was well placed and achieved almost the same impact, though in a different context, as when Peter Jackson used it in the defining scene of Heavenly Creatures back in 1994.

Well worth a viewing if you can find it.

9/10

A Universe from Nothing

An accessible and entertaining introductory talk by Laurence Krauss on the subject of Cosmology. If you're a little bit curious about how the Universe will end, watch this.