December 18, 2013 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

SNAPSHOT Springfield is inundated with holiday revelers after the nuclear power plant springs a radiation leak, causing snow to fall all over town. When the tourists drive up Christmas shopping prices, Marge (Julie Kavner) opens up the Simpsons’ house to boarders in the all-new “White Christmas Blues”. If there Continue Reading

Book review: Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

(courtesy Allen & Unwin) No one wants to think they’re a terrible person. If we’re honest, we all want to be the hero, the saviour, the flawlessly giving and selfless person that people laud and talk about with breathless wonder, someone people want to be friends with and love and Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2024: Week 6 – Malta, Netherlands, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland (Semi final 2, part 3) + Eurovision stage revealed!

What is the Eurovision Song Contest?Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading

Off to the movies we go! Enjoy the trailers for Summer Camp and Cora Bora

(via Shutterstock) Movies that combine a sense of escapist fun and some meaningful, if light, explorations of love and humanity are always just what this cinema doctor ordered. This time around there are not one but two movies on offer, both of which diversionarily delightful and guaranteed to put a Continue Reading

Book review: Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Working out when you should walk away from something you love is always tough. The reason you’ve stuck out a particular gig for so long is the very thing that keeps you anchored there, and while longevity of occupation in a particular place or occupation doesn’t always Continue Reading

“I don’t know anything about saving worlds, but you do!” Trailer and posters drop for Deadpool & Wolverine

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTDeadpool will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine. Or will he?! The third movie in the Deadpool franchise, Deadpool & Wolverine, formerly known as just Deadpool 3, is directed by the American producer / filmmaker Shawn Levy, director of many movies including Just Continue Reading

The short and the short of it: The reality-bending truth of Regular Rabbit

(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTThe good name of a seemingly regular rabbit falls victim to an unstoppable tide of disinformation. [YouTube intro] This Regular Rabbit short is created and 3D-animated and written and directed by animation filmmaker Eoin Duffy – originally from Ireland, now based in Vancouver, BC. You can see more Continue Reading

Comics review: Dunce – Arctic Tales by Jens K Styve

(courtesy & (c) official Jens K Styve site) Discovering a new gold standard comic strip is always a rare and precious joy. While there are a lot of very good comic strips out there, few merit a “drop everything and look here!” response with this reviewer’s attention only being seized Continue Reading

Star Trek: Discovery S5 review: Episodes 3 (“Jinaal”) and 4 (“Face the Strange”)

(courtesy IMP Awards) EPISODE 3: “Jinaal” While treasure hunts are lots of fun and give a competitively frenetic sheen to birthday parties and even weekends away with friends, they’re not the most efficient way to find things. But then, a party host is not trying to fill a streaming season’s Continue Reading

A trio of enticing trailers: Trap, Hit Man and I Used to be Funny + a sneak peek at Kinds of Kindness, the new film from Poor Things’ director Yorgos Lanthimos

(via Shutterstock) As the years goes screaming up, its calendar days begging to be filled with content, there’s absolutely no risk we’ll run out of things to watch. While the writers’ strike of 2023 may yet create some kind of short-term content storage, for now there’s more than enough to Continue Reading

Book review: James by Percival Everett

(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) When you consider a classic book like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, first published in 1884/85, it’s hard to imagine that the much-loved and adapted story could have any new light shone on it. It’s so well known and it’s lead character so well Continue Reading

‘Twas the couch gag before Christmas: The Simpsons’ title sequence gets its festive on

On the 6th Day of Christmas … Hey Carol listen to this! 3 Christmas songs I love and their origins