August 30, 2016 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

*SPOILERS AHEAD … BUS RIDES TO HELL … AND A SALUTORY LESSON IN NOT DRINKING AND ZOMBIE-SLAYING* It’s hardly surprising in a show called Fear the Walking Dead that you would have an episode devoted to death. In fact, it would be entirely reasonable if that’s all anyone Continue Reading

Festive short film review: An Almost Christmas Story

(courtesy IMDb (c) Disney+) SNAPSHOTAn Almost Christmas Story (produced by five-time Academy Award® winner Alfonso Cuarón & directed by David Lowery) is inspired by the true events of a tiny owl rescued from the New York City’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 2020. The short’s trailer reveals Moon, a curious Continue Reading

On 9th day of Christmas … I read The Merry Matchmaker by Sheila Roberts

(courtesy Harper Collins Canada) If you’re going t do a festively fun take on a novel as loved and revered as Jane Austen’s Emma, then you need to be up to the task of doing it justice. Thankfully, Sheila Roberts is more than up to the task with her new Continue Reading

Santa Bilby saves the day in a very unusual Aussie Christmas!

(courtesy Scholastic Australia) SNAPSHOTWhen Santa gets stuck delivering Christmas presents, he calls his friend the Easter Bilby to help! Can Bilby deliver all the presents before Christmas morning, or will her wild approach to gift-delivery create all kinds of hilarious Christmas Eve chaos? (courtesy Scholastic Australia) Poor Santa! He’s done Continue Reading

On 8th day of Christmas … I listened to When I Think of Christmas by Amy Grant & Vince Gill

(courtesy Apple Music) For many years, Amy Grant, an artist I have loved and admired back when I was in the church, and one of the few who came with me on my way out of it, was Christmas for me. Her Christmas albums – A Christmas Album (1983), Home Continue Reading

How do you make a dream? Find out with four-part limited series from Pixar, Dream Productions

(courtesy IMP Awards) Dream Productions is another triumph for Pixar, an animation powerhouse that knows full well the power of marrying whimsy with emotional impact, of being silly and serious in one flawlessly execute package. Position as an interquel, and yes, apparently it is a word, the four-part miniseries, developed Continue Reading

On 7th day of Christmas, I added 15 more ornaments to my Christmas tree … The Sound of Music + Winnie the Pooh’s Rabbit, Linus + Snoopy, Nemo, Frozen, Snoopy, Big Hero 6 + more!

(via Shutterstock) More ornaments?! Did you really buy more than 15 ornaments in one year? Readers, I bought close to 60 and while that likely suggests a tad too much compulsive purchasing by someone who’s reached an age when they should be making more sensible buys, I love how happy Continue Reading

Roar ho ho ho! It’s time for A Very Dinosaur Christmas by Adam Wallace

(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) Now, if dinosaurs hadn’t died out some 65 million years ago when a rather big life-ending asteroid – well, almost life-ending; clearly the mammals dodged a bullet there – hit the earth, then it’s highly possible yoy might have been able to invite them to Continue Reading

On 6th day of Christmas … I read Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist by Codi Hall

(courtesy Sourcebooks Casablanca) Reading a series of books, festive or otherwise, in other than the intended order, is always a risk. If the author is good at their craft, then plunging into books two then three before bouncing back to book one, isn’t even remotely the end of the world; Continue Reading

Songs, songs and more FESTIVE songs by Eurovision artists (#120): Poli Genova, Daði Freyr, Måns Zelmerlöw, Subwoolfer, Anna Bergendahl … plus “Happy New Year” by ABBA

(via Shutterstock) The artists who are selected to presented their countries at the Eurovision Song Contest like a festive song as much as the next person. When they are done with the glitter and the pyrotechnics and the big LED screen visuals, they often parlay their newfound popularity, and the Continue Reading

On 5th day of Christmas … I watched That Christmas

Saying that something “feel like Christmas” is at once profoundly and definitively true, and yet gloriously and warmly intangible too. Such is the season which all but dominates the final two months of the year, and realistically longer if you count the eagerness of retailers to make the most of Continue Reading

Fear the Walking Dead: “Los Muertos” (S2, E9 review)

Everybody wants to rule the world: Gloriously good Game of Thrones montage video