Culture

Louis CK's honest depiction of divorce and single fatherhood on the FX series Louie is poignant and, frankly, a rarity on TV.

Screenwriting guru Robert McKee is seen as the patron saint of hack writing, the world's foremost proponent of writing-by-numbers. His influence even extends as far as public radio shows like Radiolab and This American Life, and novelists. But maybe McKee knows exactly what we need.

Reality TV and Latin American soaps have one thing in common: they satisfy our deep need for sap.

Though keen to acknowledge the power of art to inspire and influence in profound ways, critics and creators continue to deny there is any link between art and the real world violence it sometimes begets. But after this summer's shootings at a cinema in Colorado, and a spate of other copycat crimes by Joker-wannabes, perhaps it's time we confronted movies that turn psychopathic characters and their acts of violence into stylish spectacles.

Warren Kinsella, Liberal Party stalwart and punk rock veteran, shops for vinyl at a dying record store and talks about his latest book, Fight the Right.