October 22, 2017 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

The Library is alive! Let the amusing chaotic fun begin … (S4 trailer)

Posted on October 22, 2017October 19, 2017 by aussiemoose

I have longed shows with a quirky, comedic bent that know they’re goofy and over the top and unselfconsciously run with it. Shows like Warehouse 13 and Eureka gave us punchy, emotionally-engaging storytelling and characters you cared about all bedded down in a wildly and colourfully zany premise, and Continue Reading

Book review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Posted on October 22, 2017June 24, 2019 by aussiemoose

We are the products of our life experiences. Even the most empathetic among us is subconsciously influenced by personal worldviews which inform how we interpret everything that anyone says or does to or around us, complicating how we respond to another’s life circumstances that divert greatly from our own. Continue Reading

Animation Evolution: How CGI profoundly changed the way cartoons tell stories (video essay)

Posted on October 22, 2017October 19, 2017 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOT When CGI took over animation in the late 1990s, it didn’t just upgrade the visuals of the medium: it helped transform the way animated stories are told. In this video, I trace the progression of American animated films from conservative fairy tales to liberal allegories. (synopsis (c) Just Continue Reading

Festive holiday short review: The Boy & the Octopus

(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTThe film follows the journey of a child who discovers a curious octopus has attached to his head during a seaside vacation. After returning home, the boy forms a true friendship with the octopus by introducing his new companion to his life on land – harnessing the power Continue Reading

On 12th day of Christmas … I read Christmas at the Little Bookshop by the Sea by Eliza J. Scott

(courtesy Storm Publishing) Whenever you plunge into a festive romcom, you rightly expect that you will feel like you’ve given the warmest and cosiest of hugs. One made of love and redemption and healing and all the trappings of the season from decorations and mulled wine, snowmen and wreaths string Continue Reading

Festive animated feature film review: Santa’s Apprentice

If you watched a fair amount of festive programming, you will be well familiar with the idea that there are not a lot of new ideas under the Christmas storytelling sun. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; we like our festive tropes and cliches held close and to pop up Continue Reading

On 11th day of Christmas … I watched new The Simpsons festive special “Oh C’mon All Ye Faithful”

(courtesy IMDb (c) Disney+) The Simpsons are known for their irreverence and willingness to skewer all the weird and strange and bombastically expressed pomposities of life. But for all the propensity of the 36-season-long, Matt Groening-created show to parody and satirise and push the critical envelope, it has demonstrated over Continue Reading

Festive book review: Finding My Elf by David Valdes

(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers) Life crises, especially those of a more existential variety, are never a loot of fun. All of the things you once took as gospel, the certainties you could count on in a world not exactly sporting them in profusion, are suddenly well and truly up in Continue Reading

On 10th day of Christmas … I listened to Sleigher by Ben Folds

(courtesy YouTube) I am, for all my love of upsetting apple carts and pushing envelopes, especially creatively, quite traditional when it comes to Christmas music. That’s not to say that this reviewer wants choral extravaganzas or hymn-drenched carols, though they can be delightful in a sparing context; no, traditional in 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