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SparklyPrettyBriiiight

Andrew's wonderful world of pop culture

Who put the ’80s into Stranger Things? Why the Russo brothers, of course!

Posted on September 7, 2019September 7, 2019 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTIf you’ve ever seen the show Stranger Things, you’ve probably noticed a movie reference or two. Series creators Ross and Matt Duffer are huge film buffs, and they’ve used every opportunity they can to reference some of their favorite movies in Stranger Things. (synopsis via Laughing Squid) One of the Continue Reading

Posted In Movies, TV

Book review: The Rig by Roger Levy

Posted on September 7, 2019September 7, 2019 by aussiemoose

There is something utterly beguiling about walking (literally or figuratively) into what feels like nothing and watching it grow and grow until it is most definitely something. This is true of novels as much as anything, and especially true of Roger’s Levy deceptively simply-titled The Rig, an economically-named book that Continue Reading

Posted In Books

That was your life: The Good Place promos its final season

Posted on September 7, 2019December 12, 2019 by aussiemoose

Anyone who says modern sitcoms aren’t bristling with humour (pretty importance since it is the “com” that goes with the “sit”), thoughtfulness and intelligence clearly has not laid their jaundiced eye on the jewel in NBC’s crown that is The Good Place. Not only has the show, which is set Continue Reading

Posted In TV

“Just unbelievable”: Stan Lee talks about his beloved Marvel movie cameos

Posted on September 6, 2019September 6, 2019 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTWith the home release of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel released two incredible bonus compilations that pay tribute to the late, greatly missed Stan Lee. In both compilations, the ever-gracious Lee talks about his joy to watch his original creations come to life, how much he loves making cameo appearances in Marvel Continue Reading

Posted In Movies

Fear the Walking Dead: “Ner Tamid” (S5, E12 review)

Posted on September 6, 2019September 4, 2019 by aussiemoose

SPOILERS AHEAD … THE PRESENCE OF GOD, JEWISH ZOMBIES AND CHEESY DOORMATS FULL OF EXISTENTIAL LONGING … If there’s one thing the zombie apocalypse is short of – okay there’s a lot of things it’s lacking but bear with me here for the purposes of a killer opening sentence – Continue Reading

Posted In TVTagged In Fear the Walking Dead

Book review: Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted by Jennifer Armstrong #ValeValerieHarper

Posted on September 4, 2019September 3, 2019 by aussiemoose

The very recent death of Valerie Harper, who played Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff show, simply titled RHODA with wit, sass and lovable intelligence, prompted me to read finally the history of The Mary Tyler Show and how this brilliantly-clever, very funny and heartfelt Continue Reading

Posted In Books

Movie review: Animals

Posted on September 4, 2019September 3, 2019 by aussiemoose

Hollywood likes neat endings, largely because, I suspect, people, the ones who puts bums on seats in cinemas, are also rather enamoured of them. It makes sense that we are so enraptured – life is gloriously messy and full of frayed ends, and try as we might to tie everything Continue Reading

Posted In Comics

When you don’t fit in, stand tall: The challenges of being Tall Girl

Posted on September 3, 2019September 3, 2019 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTJodi (Ava Michelle) has always been the tallest girl in school — and she’s always been uncomfortable with it. After slouching her way through life for 16 years and being made fun of by classmates, Jodi meets Stig (Luke Eisner), a seemingly perfect Swedish foreign exchange student who’s even taller Continue Reading

Posted In Movies

Retro movie review: UP (10th anniversary)

Posted on September 3, 2019August 26, 2019 by aussiemoose

Human beings love dreams. Not the kind that litter our sleep like so much psychedelic, nonsensical candy (though they do hold a certain attraction) but the ones that hold out hope that beyond the banal humdrum of life, true excitement and adventure awaits if only x, y or z plan Continue Reading

Posted In Animation, Movies

Book review: This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Posted on September 2, 2019September 2, 2019 by aussiemoose

One of the great gifts of of being alive is when something small and unexpected becomes something altogether toweringly transformational, changing life for the better in a thousand different fundamental ways. It makes even more of an impact when this great change emerges from something calamitous or dark, such as Continue Reading

Posted In Books

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Recent Posts

  • Book review: Dancing With Bees by Anna Maynard
  • PAF! BAM! TCHAC! Thoughts on Asterix and Obelix: The Big Fight (Astérix et Obélix : Le Combat des chefs)
  • Book review: The Empress Murders by Toby Schmitz
  • Strap yourself with a full-on ride with The Wild Ones
  • Movie review: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (MI:8)

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RSS SparklyPrettyBriiiight

  • Book review: Dancing With Bees by Anna Maynard
    (courtesy Allen & Unwin Book Publishers) Love is way more weighty and muscular and substantial than many people give it credit for. There is a prevailing idea that romantic love is wispy and wafty, all red roses and swoons and sighs and dreamy looks at your beloved, and while yes, Continue Reading
  • PAF! BAM! TCHAC! Thoughts on Asterix and Obelix: The Big Fight (Astérix et Obélix : Le Combat des chefs)
    (courtesy IMP Awards) One thing that struck me, even as a kid when I first came across the Asterix (Astérix or Astérix le Gaulois) series of stories courtesy of my very progressive, globally conscious local country town library, was how fun the creators writer René Goscinny (1959–1977)/Albert Uderzo (1980–2009) and Continue Reading
  • Book review: The Empress Murders by Toby Schmitz
    (courtesy Allen & Unwin Book Publishers) Ladies and gentlemen and ill-advised members of the ocean liner-going public – this novel is not your grandmother’s Agatha Christie. The Empress Murders by Toby Schmitz, which first moves at a liner-appropriate pace before hitting the narrative pedal-to-the-metal and gloriously defying all expectations, may Continue Reading
  • Strap yourself with a full-on ride with The Wild Ones
    (courtesy First Showing (c) AppleTV+) SNAPSHOTExplore hidden corners of the Earth with a trio of experts as they try to save six endangered species from extinction. With crafty camerawork & survival skills, the team race to find, record, protect these elusive creatures before it’s too late. Battling the North Atlantic, Continue Reading
  • Movie review: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (MI:8)
    (courtesy IMP Awards) If you have seen more than you fair share of blockbusters, and the odds are if you’re a dedicated popcorn-chomping moviegoer that you have, you will be well acquainted with their propensity to go BIG, go epic and go bonkers bananas with barely a moment of hesitation. Continue Reading
  • Book review: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
    (courtesy Hachette Australia) Imagination is a powerful thing. In a world held fast by the often tight and deadening hand of grim, dark and soulless reality, the ability to imagine places, people and times that operate above and beyond the everyday is a salvation, a gift that allows us to Continue Reading
  • Songs, songs and more songs #123: Maribou State, Moncrief, Hylite, Mild Minds and MYRNE & Shallou
    (via Shutterstock) Everything feels so damn fast and intense. We’re all burnt out, we all need to chill and bliss out but apart from going and hiding in am eco-cabin in the woods far from wi-fi (not at all a bad idea, honestly), what can you do to stop your Continue Reading
  • Time to fly? Wicked: For Good trailer lands atop flying monkeys and enduring friendship
    (courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOT“You’re the only friend I ever had…” The final chapter of the untold story of the witches of Oz begins with Elphaba and Glinda estranged and living with the consequences of their choices. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), now demonized as The Wicked Witch of the West, lives in Continue Reading
  • Get her home: Thoughts on Doctor Who S2 (S15) E2-8
    (courtesy IMDb (c) BBC/Disney+) When you approach a series that’s been around as long as Doctor Who, which launched in 1963 making it now a grand old dame of TV and streaming programming, you have two options. If you are a devoted fan of longstanding who knows their Daleks from Continue Reading
  • Book review: Painting Portraits of Everyone I’ve Dated by Joseph Earp
    (courtesy Hardie Grant Publishing) There’s something utterly beguiling about protagonists who don’t march to the beat of a conventional drum. In a world addicted to the idea that conventionality and a certain level of self-censoring propriety are the only way to go, lead characters who break the mould, even to Continue Reading
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