Author: Liz Barr

Words written. Opinions expressed.

No Award’s Handy List of Scary Last-Minute Hallowe’en Costumes

On By Liz BarrIn meta

Ah, Hallowe’en.  It’s the one time of year No Award doesn’t complain about American cultural imperialism.*  Yes, it’s deeply frustrating that you spend all day carving a pumpkin, and 24 hours later it’s covered in fruit flies.  But come on, this is a festival that involves costumes and confectionary.  We’re not complete monsters**.

So if you’ve only just remembered that costume party you were invited to back in August, or if you’ve received a polite letter from a neighbour, letting you know in advance that their children will be trick or treating and asking if you’d like to participate, No Award is here to provide some extremely scary costume suggestions.

Continue reading “No Award’s Handy List of Scary Last-Minute Hallowe’en Costumes” →

Doctor Who 9.05 and 9.06 – “The Girl Who Died” and “The Woman Who Lived”

On By Liz BarrIn media, meta, television2 Comments

How great is Maisie Williams, eh?  People are saying it’s a shame she’s too busy with Game of Thrones to be the next companion, but I say, wait until she’s 40, then she can be the sixteenth Doctor.

I probably didn’t need to review this as a two-parter — synchronicity of titles aside, these episodes didn’t have to be consecutive — but hey, I didn’t know that until it was too late.

(Beyond the cut are discussions of alleged spoilers published in the UK tabloid press — emphasis on “alleged”.)

Continue reading “Doctor Who 9.05 and 9.06 – “The Girl Who Died” and “The Woman Who Lived”” →

Australian YA and kidlit more deserving of screen adaptations than Tomorrow, When The War Began

On By Liz BarrIn australia, books10 Comments

Tomorrow, When the War Began is getting adapted AGAIN. Despite being a) a terrible series and b) adapted for movie in 2010. There is a lot of superior Australian YA and kidlit more deserving of screen adaptations. Liz and Steph bring their pro-am knowledge to give you an overview.

Continue reading “Australian YA and kidlit more deserving of screen adaptations than Tomorrow, When The War Began” →

terrible xenophobic refugee and immigration business

On By Liz BarrIn australia1 Comment

There is a change.org petition for Peter Dutton, Minister For Singlehandedly Deciding Whether Or Not Refugees Who Have Been Raped Can Access Abortion And Counselling Services, to provide menstrual cups to refugees.

Liz has some opinions. (Later, Steph will have some opinions)

Continue reading “terrible xenophobic refugee and immigration business” →

No Award watches stuff: Ready for This

On By Liz BarrIn australia, television

We love an Aussie YA TV series here at No Award, and we also love Indigenous media.  So bring on Ready for This, an ABC3 series about five Indigenous teens from around Australia, who all excel in various fields — “various” here meaning “music” and “sport” — coming to live at a Sydney boarding house while they study.

And, spoilers, it’s pretty great.

Continue reading “No Award watches stuff: Ready for This” →

No Award reviews Melbourne Bike Share

On By Liz BarrIn melbourne, transport5 Comments

One of my goals in life is to not die of heart disease at 51 like my maternal grandmother.  On the one hand, she had a lot of other health problems. But so do I, and since my rheumatologist put me on Endep for pain management, I can’t even say, “Well, at least I’m not taking any dodgy first-generation anti-depressants!”

So I am trying to get … fit.  Fitter.  And it’s going well, thank you for asking!  Thanks to my Parkiteer cage, I can cycle to the station 3km from my house and leave my bike locked and covered for the day.  And thanks to my Fitbit, I have an incentive to walk 10,000 steps a day, even though that is an arbitrary goal invented by the pedometer industry.  I’m basically a pawn of Big Pedometers, but I’m okay with that.

Getting fit(ter) is especially great in spring, with all these bright, sunny, freezing cold mornings.  I hopped off the train at North Melbourne today, thinking, “It’s a nice day, I’ll walk from here to the office.”

Then my eye fell on the share bikes.

“They’re just like riding an armchair,” Official Potato Moya told me a couple of years ago.  I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but every single bike in that pod had a helmet.

It was a sign.

Continue reading “No Award reviews Melbourne Bike Share” →

Clearing up some common misconceptions about Australian dragons

On By Liz BarrIn australia, environmental stuff, lists in all caps2 Comments
Totes real dragon not at all drawn in Paint, curled around a skyscraper.
Here, we see a European Red, also known as the St George, claiming Bourke Place, Melbourne, as its perch.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of myths about Australian dragons, both those native to the continent, and those that were introduced — deliberately or otherwise — by human activity.  So we thought we’d throw together a quick listicle, outlining things more people should know about draconis Australis and other dragons one might find in Australia. 

Continue reading “Clearing up some common misconceptions about Australian dragons” →

Doctor Who 9.01: The Magician’s Apprentice

On By Liz BarrIn fandom, media, meta, television3 Comments

Let’s get some things out of the way first:

  • Yes, it’s really season 35, the proper season 9 had Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning and Roger “no longer the best Master ever” Delgado.
  • Stephanie plays  no part in these posts, due to her moral objections to time travel, and also her general disinterest in matters Whovian except when Liz begs her to write an essay about Peri.
  • This will be a weekly thing, time and energy and the existence of the universe permitting.
  • There will be spoilers.

“The Magician’s Apprentice”, in which the Doctor meets a winsome child on a battlefield, Missy advances the asexual agenda, and Clara/Jane Austen is canon.

(Steph has proofread this post: There really is a lot about the Asexual History of Doctor Who, just fyi)

Continue reading “Doctor Who 9.01: The Magician’s Apprentice” →