All Forms of Art

One of the most interesting things about Aegon's story in House of the Dragon Season 3 isn't whether he is actually capable of ruling. It is whether people believe he was chosen to rule. And those are two very different things. Aegon ( Tom Glynn-Carney ) has been physically broken by the war. He is increasingly unstable, increasingly desperate and, at times, almost frightening to watch. Yet somehow, his political position may be becoming stronger. Why? Because his story is becoming bigger than him. People Don't Always Need Proof. They Need a Story. Aegon's dragon returning at such a crucial moment is exactly the kind of event that can become a legend. Imagine being an ordinary person watching this war unfold. You don't know what the king is thinking. You don't know which political arguments are true. You don't have access to the private conversations between the people fighting for the throne. You see powerful families claiming that they have the righ...

  Some actors become strongly associated with one particular kind of character. Domhnall Gleeson has somehow managed to avoid that. Across his career, he has played romantic leads, villains, anxious intellectuals, historical figures, comic characters and deeply troubled men — often without looking quite like the same actor twice. Born in Dublin in 1983, Gleeson is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, but his career has developed very much on its own terms. He studied media arts before becoming involved in acting, writing and directing, and his early work included theatre as well as short films. He even received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in the Broadway production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore . His first major exposure to a global audience came through Harry Potter , where he played Bill Weasley in the final two films. It was a relatively small role compared with some of the franchise's central characters, but it introduced him to an enormous audience. Then came...

  Ex Machina is one of those films that seems, at first, to be asking a relatively simple question: can we create artificial intelligence that is genuinely conscious? But the more interesting question is what comes after that one. If a machine behaves like a human, understands us, manipulates us and even makes us feel empathy for it, does it matter whether there is actually a conscious mind behind it? The Test Caleb ( Domhnall Gleeson ) arrives at Nathan's isolated home without knowing what he was going to find, but he becomes fascinated almost immediately.   Nathan (Oscar Isaac) is a technological genius, and Ava appears to be the ultimate achievement of his work. But something about Nathan feels uncomfortable almost immediately. He is arrogant, unpredictable, and clearly enjoying having control over both Caleb and Ava. And while Caleb is fascinated by Ava, we are encouraged to question her from the beginning. Intelligence Isn't the Same as Consciousness This is pr...

  Dorothy Koomson is a British author whose novels have evolved considerably throughout her career. Beginning with relationship-focused stories such as The Cupid Effect and The Chocolate Run , Koomson gradually developed a reputation for combining emotional storytelling with secrets, difficult choices, and psychological tension. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and she has sold more than two million copies worldwide. What makes Koomson particularly interesting as a writer is that her novels rarely fit neatly into a single genre. Romance, family drama, friendship, guilt and suspense frequently overlap in her stories, with apparently ordinary relationships concealing much more complicated histories. From Childhood Stories to Published Novelist Koomson's interest in writing began remarkably early. She says that her mother taught her and her siblings to read and write when she was still in nursery, and books quickly became an important part of her childh...

There is something almost unsettlingly ordinary about Charles Manson. We tend to imagine people who inspire others to commit horrific crimes as extraordinary in some way. They must be brilliant, charismatic, frightening, or somehow obviously different from everyone else. But Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes presents a rather different picture. Manson wasn't a great intellectual. He wasn't particularly educated. He didn't possess some extraordinary understanding of the world. What he seemed to understand exceptionally well was people . From Ted Bundy to Charles Manson This isn't my first experience with the Conversations with a Killer documentaries. I had previously watched Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes , and the comparison is interesting because the two men represent very different kinds of killers. The Bundy documentary focuses heavily on the man himself: his personality, his crimes, and the disturbing contrast between his ...

  Lola Tung became known almost overnight as Belly Conklin, the central character of The Summer I Turned Pretty . It is a difficult introduction to the screen: three seasons, a complicated love triangle, grief, family conflicts, and a character whose emotions are constantly at the story's center. It is also worth remembering that Belly was Tung's first credited acting role. Before landing the part, she had studied acting at LaGuardia High School and Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama . She was still very early in her professional career when she was cast as the lead of a major streaming series. That makes The Summer I Turned Pretty an interesting starting point for looking at her career. Tung has had to grow into a character while the character herself was growing up. A Complicated First Role Belly isn't an easy character to play. She can be insecure, romantic, selfish, vulnerable, angry, confused, and occasionally incredibly frustrating. Her emotions als...