One of the great delights of the Astérix comics (and they are multitudinous), which began in 1959 under the stewardship of writer René Goscinny and illustrator Albert Uderzo – these duties are now handled by Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad respectively – is a very small, feisty and mischievously lovable Continue Reading
Taking luxury to a whole new space. Space: Thoughts on Avenue 5 (S1)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND A CHAOTIC JOURNEY INTO THE FARTHEST REACHES OF HUMANITY … AND SPACE … When we think of venturing into space, those of us not heavily influenced by endless tales of aggressive aliens and Event Horizon-ish supernatural events anyway, we tend to think of it as an Continue Reading
They’re not going down without a fright: Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!
SNAPSHOTScooby-Doo and Shaggy’s favorite holiday is upon us! With fake monsters and candy galore, Halloween is heaven for these hungry foodies going door-to-door. But this year, their sweet holiday turns sour when the neighborhood pumpkin patch is infected by toxic ooze, creating high-flying jack-o-lanters, and a king-sized pumpkin leader squashing Continue Reading
Book review: The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
Something that LGBTQIA+ people of a certain age accepted, reluctantly it is best to add and with great disappointment, was that, growing up, they were likely to never see people like them reflected in grand and epic love stories on TV, and in movies and books. It meant that as Continue Reading
Time for some adventure! Join Doctor Who: The Runaway TARDIS
SNAPSHOTIn this adventure, 9-year-old Lizzie runs away from home (with a bag full of peanut butter sandwiches) after feeling lonely at her new school. She accidentally ends up in the TARDIS and meets The Doctor. Things go awry when Lizzie drops her sandwich into the TARDIS console, causing it to Continue Reading
#ChristmasinJuly book review: Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
It’s not an unusual thing to be so completely drawn into the lives of a book’s characters that they come to feel like temporary flesh-and-blood fellow companions on the journey of life. Far from merely residing on the pages, these people are as real as your own family and friends, Continue Reading
Pop culture festiveness! The 5 ornaments I hung on my #ChristmasInJuly tree
I have put up a Christmas in July tree! Those who know me well will not be surprised by this at all, since I love Christmas with the same fervour and passion that I reserve for caramel cheesecake and releases of new books by my favourite authors. But in previous Continue Reading
Book review: How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
All of us, somewhere deep down or agonisingly close to the surface, long for a place or a person to call home. It seems to be (understandably) hardwired into us, an impelling desire to not simply find someone or some place, because anyone can do that with enough bars, datings Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: “B is for Ben” and the problems of leaving an alien planet
SNAPSHOTBen is having problems getting back to his spaceship on a stranded desert planet. He is an astronaut, he has gadgets, what could go wrong? (synopsis via Laughing Squid) Hands up anyone who wants to be stuck on an arid alien planet? No one? Thought so. Into that large number, Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #30: Anson Seabra, Rhye, Kacy Hill, Chord Overstreet, Bibio
Life is BIG and it is BUSY and there are lots of times, most of them seemingly happening right now in the midst of the ongoing horror show that is COVID-19, when the only appropriate reaction is to go loud and out there, singing and shouting from the rooftops until Continue Reading