November 8, 2011 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

I am standing on a crowded train platform in inner west Sydney, sweat slowly trickling down my back, and yet thanks to this perfect Christmas album, I feel like I am walking the snow covered streets of Christmasville (I am sure there is such a place) with chestnuts roasting nearby Continue Reading

Graphic novel review: Alice Ever After by Dan Panosian (writer) and Giorgio Spalletta (artist)

(courtesy BOOM! Studios) SNAPSHOTAlice first visited Wonderland as a child. Now grown up, it’s become her only escape from a cold, harsh world that feels even less real—a distant family, a tormented lover, and a father with secrets he’ll do anything to protect. But in order to return to her Continue Reading

Christmas preview: Character poster art for Red One

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTAfter Santa Claus (starring J.K. Simmons as the Big Man) – Code Name: RED ONE – is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas. Red Continue Reading

Book review: Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Something superlatively wonderful happens when truly beautiful writing comes together with an arrestingly clever narrative. In an ideal world, this would happen in every single book you read, but it’s not always the case and so, when masterfully executed writing and a beguiling storyline rich in Continue Reading

Movie review: Bonnard: Pierre et Marthe

(courtesy IMDb) Wondrous though it often is, the road to true love, and well beyond into the thorny existential thickets of life, is rarely a smooth and trouble-free journey. Oh, there is hope and possibility and a future draped in rose-coloured romance and loveliness, but it really plays out the Continue Reading

Happy 10th birthday to The Boxtrolls! To celebrate, here’s a brand-new trailer …

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTThe Boxtrolls are monsters living below the streets of Cheesebridge, who crawl out of the sewers at night to steal what the townspeople hold most dear: their children and their cheeses. Or so the townspeople have always believed… In truth, the Boxtrolls are just a community of Continue Reading

Book review: Would You Rather by Maggie Alderson

(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) Reinvention is usually seen as something good, an exercise of personal agency that sees the old cast aside in favour of something hoped or believed to be new and different. But what happens with reinvention is forced upon you, usually by some kind of trauma Continue Reading

Will they. Won’t they. Should They? Thoughts on Nobody Wants This.

(courtesy IMP Awards) Ladies and gentlemen, and those who choose not to participate in traditional gender binary systems, of the televisual jury, I give you the perfect romantic comedy. If not perfect, then it’s so damn close that it might as well be given such a gushing shot of appreication. Continue Reading

Movie review: Memoir of a Snail

(courtesy IMP Awards) You could be forgiven for wondering if life has any redeeming features at all in master stopmotion animator Adam Elliot’s lates feature-length triumph, Memoir of a Snail. That’s not because the writer-producer-director is some kind of irredeemable pessimist; he is in fact wonderfully optimistic in the face Continue Reading

Book review: The Book Swap By Tessa Bickers

(courtesy Hachette Australia) We are in love with the road to love being quick, instant and one hundred percent assured. That’s why most romantic comedies strike a chord with us because they say you can have love, it will be immediately recognisable and there will be no guesswork at all Continue Reading

“You’re in my seat” Shrinking debuts season 2 trailer + poster

(courtesy TVPlusUpdates X aka Twitter account (c) AppleTV+) SNAPSHOTShrinking follows a grieving therapist (played by Segel) who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he makes huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives … including his own. In addition to Continue Reading