Conor Bateman
@norbateman.co
video making / film programming
norbateman.co
norbateman.co
gameObject Permanence explores lost, cancelled, abandoned and shut down video games, from less-storied entries in the Sim franchise and a Superman clone for the NES to a window into the final day of The Matrix Online.
Game Worlds runs until early February 2026: www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/gam...
Game Worlds runs until early February 2026: www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/gam...
September 18, 2025 at 6:53 AM
gameObject Permanence explores lost, cancelled, abandoned and shut down video games, from less-storied entries in the Sim franchise and a Superman clone for the NES to a window into the final day of The Matrix Online.
Game Worlds runs until early February 2026: www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/gam...
Game Worlds runs until early February 2026: www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/gam...
My new video work, gameObject Permanence, is now on display in Melbourne as part of the massive @acmimuseum.bsky.social exhibition Game Worlds, curated by @astroblob.bsky.social + Bethan Johnson: www.acmi.net.au/works/125360...
September 18, 2025 at 6:53 AM
My new video work, gameObject Permanence, is now on display in Melbourne as part of the massive @acmimuseum.bsky.social exhibition Game Worlds, curated by @astroblob.bsky.social + Bethan Johnson: www.acmi.net.au/works/125360...
saw rRoxymore play at the Royal Exhibition Building tonight. entrancing stuff, though it did occur to me that you could describe some of the sound as an ambient dub take on Max Richter's Blue Notebooks
August 22, 2025 at 12:54 PM
saw rRoxymore play at the Royal Exhibition Building tonight. entrancing stuff, though it did occur to me that you could describe some of the sound as an ambient dub take on Max Richter's Blue Notebooks
you know what they say, one LSD: dream emulator day a day keeps the doctor away
August 15, 2025 at 12:07 PM
you know what they say, one LSD: dream emulator day a day keeps the doctor away
this afternoon I took myself to Docklands (cursed) to check out a secondhand bookshop (wonderfully chaotic)
August 15, 2025 at 9:32 AM
this afternoon I took myself to Docklands (cursed) to check out a secondhand bookshop (wonderfully chaotic)
finally sent this in, probably wavered the most on which Mondo Rock track to select
July 16, 2025 at 8:10 AM
finally sent this in, probably wavered the most on which Mondo Rock track to select
A proto-Twilight Zone episode, PKD's Time Out of Joint (1959) is entertaining and slippery on paranoia and the surveillance state before grounding out with a disappointing exposition dump twist.
April 16, 2025 at 7:03 AM
A proto-Twilight Zone episode, PKD's Time Out of Joint (1959) is entertaining and slippery on paranoia and the surveillance state before grounding out with a disappointing exposition dump twist.
The Wrong Case: a booze and pill-filled detective story riffing on Hammett; the content belies the form, it's messy, woozy, and eventually, even brutally, sharp.
April 16, 2025 at 7:02 AM
The Wrong Case: a booze and pill-filled detective story riffing on Hammett; the content belies the form, it's messy, woozy, and eventually, even brutally, sharp.
After Charlotte Wood, another strong lockdown story from Australia. The Burrow is a moving novel of family ties and miscommunication, both without and within. Some characterisation is a bit on the nose but still, it works.
April 16, 2025 at 7:01 AM
After Charlotte Wood, another strong lockdown story from Australia. The Burrow is a moving novel of family ties and miscommunication, both without and within. Some characterisation is a bit on the nose but still, it works.
A host of Flannery O'Connor feeling in Angels until it veers abruptly into territory of its own. Bracing and upsetting, with a frankly remarkable final stretch.
April 16, 2025 at 7:00 AM
A host of Flannery O'Connor feeling in Angels until it veers abruptly into territory of its own. Bracing and upsetting, with a frankly remarkable final stretch.
I got my sister the Giramondo reissue of Alone last year, and she loved it, so I decided to read Milk. It's a strong and moving, if recursive, collection - file under: Greek diaspora, neglectful parents, lifelong sorrows.
March 21, 2025 at 7:05 AM
I got my sister the Giramondo reissue of Alone last year, and she loved it, so I decided to read Milk. It's a strong and moving, if recursive, collection - file under: Greek diaspora, neglectful parents, lifelong sorrows.
The Children of Dynmouth is funny, nasty stuff, reminiscent of Muriel Spark and, at times, Saki. A very strange pulled punch of an ending that gets better the more I think about it. Definitely keen to read Trevor's short stories from around this period.
March 21, 2025 at 7:04 AM
The Children of Dynmouth is funny, nasty stuff, reminiscent of Muriel Spark and, at times, Saki. A very strange pulled punch of an ending that gets better the more I think about it. Definitely keen to read Trevor's short stories from around this period.
Dept. of Speculation is short, sharp, propulsive and didn't necessarily go where I expected it to. Immediately started on it again as soon as I finished. The capsule prose reminded me of Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking About This.
March 21, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Dept. of Speculation is short, sharp, propulsive and didn't necessarily go where I expected it to. Immediately started on it again as soon as I finished. The capsule prose reminded me of Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking About This.
Mirrorshades was a chance op-shop find when I was in the midst of my cyberpunk video project. It's all over the place, low strike rate in quality and more a showcase of writers than subject.
March 13, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Mirrorshades was a chance op-shop find when I was in the midst of my cyberpunk video project. It's all over the place, low strike rate in quality and more a showcase of writers than subject.
My first Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth, is Simenon by way of Paul Auster's City of Glass. Entrancing stuff.
March 13, 2025 at 3:59 AM
My first Modiano, In the Café of Lost Youth, is Simenon by way of Paul Auster's City of Glass. Entrancing stuff.
The Railway Station Man is so elegantly told and constructed. Funny, moving, evocative - very keen to read more Johnston.
March 13, 2025 at 3:58 AM
The Railway Station Man is so elegantly told and constructed. Funny, moving, evocative - very keen to read more Johnston.
The Human Stain was my first Roth, and it was pulpier than expected. Didn't really care for the detective windowdressing but I enjoyed the messiness of genre nonetheless.
March 13, 2025 at 3:57 AM
The Human Stain was my first Roth, and it was pulpier than expected. Didn't really care for the detective windowdressing but I enjoyed the messiness of genre nonetheless.
Have been meaning to read Gass for so long. A strange and beguiling collection - the titular story deserves all its acclaim, Mrs. Mean has transfixing sentences, The Pedersen Kid carries the Modernism baton. Icicles was a bit of a slog. The introduction in this edition, though, is essential.
February 27, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Have been meaning to read Gass for so long. A strange and beguiling collection - the titular story deserves all its acclaim, Mrs. Mean has transfixing sentences, The Pedersen Kid carries the Modernism baton. Icicles was a bit of a slog. The introduction in this edition, though, is essential.
A.S. Byatt's debut owes a lot to Elizabeth Bowen (as she notes in her intro), though it really comes into its own in the back half. Knotty, messy, interesting. Amusing how often possess/possession pops up in the prose.
February 27, 2025 at 12:54 AM
A.S. Byatt's debut owes a lot to Elizabeth Bowen (as she notes in her intro), though it really comes into its own in the back half. Knotty, messy, interesting. Amusing how often possess/possession pops up in the prose.
The Thin Man: Lighter fare by design, not a bar on Confidential Op stories but a mildly entertaining diversion nonetheless. Couldn't help but picture William Powell.
February 27, 2025 at 12:52 AM
The Thin Man: Lighter fare by design, not a bar on Confidential Op stories but a mildly entertaining diversion nonetheless. Couldn't help but picture William Powell.
My first Laing, and one that had been on my list for many years. Not sure it fully comes together in the end but the Wojnarowicz/Darger section is excellent, and there are many lovely (and often moving) sentences throughout.
February 11, 2025 at 10:58 AM
My first Laing, and one that had been on my list for many years. Not sure it fully comes together in the end but the Wojnarowicz/Darger section is excellent, and there are many lovely (and often moving) sentences throughout.
Sarah Hall's Madame Zero: Mrs. Fox and Evie are worth the price of entry alone, the former absolutely floored me. Less sold on the future dystopia stories (though the wind one landed).
February 11, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Sarah Hall's Madame Zero: Mrs. Fox and Evie are worth the price of entry alone, the former absolutely floored me. Less sold on the future dystopia stories (though the wind one landed).
My first Nicola Barker and already it's very clear why she and Ali Smith are mutual (and mutual Muriel) admirers. Funny, often visceral, and shot through with a multitude of abandonments, not least our attachment to a sense of self.
February 4, 2025 at 11:48 PM
My first Nicola Barker and already it's very clear why she and Ali Smith are mutual (and mutual Muriel) admirers. Funny, often visceral, and shot through with a multitude of abandonments, not least our attachment to a sense of self.
The Son of Man by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo: didn't do much for me. Cinematic pretensions saddled with distractingly florid description and clunky dialogue. Seems to want to be a literary mesh of On Dangerous Ground and Leave No Trace, doesn't touch either. Neatly designed (and very tense) ending.
February 3, 2025 at 4:02 AM
The Son of Man by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo: didn't do much for me. Cinematic pretensions saddled with distractingly florid description and clunky dialogue. Seems to want to be a literary mesh of On Dangerous Ground and Leave No Trace, doesn't touch either. Neatly designed (and very tense) ending.