November 24, 2013 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

Doctor Who turns 50: Review of Day of the Doctor

Posted on November 24, 2013November 28, 2013 by aussiemoose

*SPOILERS, SWEET, SPOILERS!* There are many days in which it is very good to be a lifelong fan and companion of Doctor Who, the mysterious, enigmatic, currently bow-tie loving hitherto last of the Time Lords but today … well, today was a very good day indeed. For today Continue Reading

Chow down on Sesame Street’s spot on Hunger Games parody

Posted on November 24, 2013November 20, 2013 by aussiemoose

Sesame Street have always had their hands on the pulse of pop culture, delivering up timely parodies of the shows, movies and songs of the moment, that are both charmingly irreverent while also containing a valuable teaching lesson of some sort to their impressionable young demographic. It’s hard to Continue Reading

Kerrrr-mieee! It’s The Muppets Most Wanted new trailer! Wocka wocka wocka

Posted on November 24, 2013December 10, 2013 by aussiemoose

We have a trailer for Muppets Most Wanted and I’ll bet even Statler and Waldorf would approve of it. OK quite likely not but the fact remains that we have a brand spanking shiny new madcap trailer for the next Muppets movie, a movie that I have been looking Continue Reading

Festive book review: A Merry Little Christmas by Cathy Bramley

(courtesy Hachette Australia) OOOO OOOO OOOO (courtesy official Cathy Bramley Facebook page) OOOO OOOO OOOO

Movie review: And Mrs

(courtesy IMP Awards) When my parent died within 3 1/2 years of each other, the grief that enveloped me was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. It felt as if all the old certainties had been swept away and that all the things I knew and could count on were Continue Reading

Happy Christmas ads to all! John Lewis, Aldi Australia, Barbour, M & S Christmas Food, Sainsbury’s + Deutsche Telekom

(via Shutterstock) Yes, yes, I know, I know, Christmas os commercialised, we’ve lost the true spirit of the season etc etc blahedy-blah-blah and on and on … But honestly? I love Christmas ads. The good ones anyway. Sure, they’re trying to get you to buy something but they are often Continue Reading

Festive movie review: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

(courtesy IMP Awards) As a child of the Church (thought failed, ultimately, to stick in childhood), it’s always fascinated this reviewer how something as pure as belief in the goodness of a higher power, which should always elevate and enliven can somehow become a tool for oppressive, punitive religious expression. Continue Reading

Book review: A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas

(courtesy Penguins Books Australia) Life is full of “It seemed like a good idea at the time” moments. We can, we believe anyway, have all the wisdom of Solomon and the insight of a god, in one crystal moment of absolute clarity and act accordingly, only to find not that Continue Reading

Festive movie review: Hot Frosty

Having your festive viewing expectations subverted is a rare and precious thing indeed. Much of the time in Christmas viewing land, what you see is what you get, and that is usually a good thing since you want fun, escapist entertainment with a heartwarming moral core, and that is precisely Continue Reading

Comedy review double: Season wrap-ups of Frasier (S2, E9-10) and Only Murders in the Building (S4, 9-10)

(courtesy IMP Awards) Frasier (S2, E9-10) If you’ve been paying attention , and for the sake of my robustly fragile writer’s ego, I hope you have, you will have noticed how thrilled I am that Frasier 2023, as it’s often termed, has well and truly come into its own in Continue Reading

Book review: The Secret Christmas Bookshop by Cressida McLaughlin

(courtesy Harper Collins Collins Australia) If there is one universal theme in the rich and varied storytelling of humanity, it is the need to belong. Sure, we all want to fall in love, to know connection and find our village, but at the heart of all these story types, is Continue Reading

Something big and loud this way comes: Sneak peek at the Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special, “Joy to the World”

(courtesy BBC/Disney+ via The Gallifreyan Newsroom) SNAPSHOTBridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan will be starring in the title role of “Joy to the World” as a traveler checking into a London hotel over the festive period. Before long, Joy’s quiet holiday is interrupted by a Silurian wandering into her hotel room and the sudden arrival of The Continue Reading

Movie review: Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point

(courtesy IMDb) In popular culture at large, Christmas is often seen in very distinct, sharply-realised ways. It is variously a season of miracles or healing or wondrous discovery, and there is always some sort of point to proceedings whether it’s saving Christmas itself by helping Santa or doing a life-changing Continue Reading