December 3, 2022 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

It’s the Little Things … ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus knits with Sir Ian McKellen again for Christmas

Posted on December 3, 2022December 4, 2022 by aussiemoose

Ever since ABBA released Voyage, their first album in 39 years last year, and with it the daintily beautiful and highly emotive loveliness that is “Little Things”, Christmas has felt a whole lot more Swedishly festive than it used to do. That delightful feeling of ABBA in the heart of Continue Reading

Movie review: #Christmas with You

Posted on December 3, 2022December 3, 2022 by aussiemoose

Who knew there was so much love in the offing at Christmas? Well, clearly lots of people because with the total of new Christmas films this years reaching a whopping 170, pretty much all of them rom-com oriented, it’s very clear that in the words of Love Actually‘s theme song, Continue Reading

It’s time to face the music: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 goes deep in new trailer

Posted on December 3, 2022December 2, 2022 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTIt’s time to face the music. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own – a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians once and for all if it’s not successful. Marvel’s Guardians of the Continue Reading

Festive book review: A Merry Little Christmas by Cathy Bramley

(courtesy Hachette Australia) There is an idea that if you’re writing an escapist story, then it must be purely froth and confection, its fairytale heart untroubled by the real issues of the world. And while, yes, a healthy amount of reality-defying escapism is just what the mental health-enhancing doctor ordered, Continue Reading

Movie review: And Mrs

(courtesy IMP Awards) When my parent died within 3 1/2 years of each other, the grief that enveloped me was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. It felt as if all the old certainties had been swept away and that all the things I knew and could count on were Continue Reading

Happy Christmas ads to all! John Lewis, Aldi Australia, Barbour, M & S Christmas Food, Sainsbury’s + Deutsche Telekom

(via Shutterstock) Yes, yes, I know, I know, Christmas os commercialised, we’ve lost the true spirit of the season etc etc blahedy-blah-blah and on and on … But honestly? I love Christmas ads. The good ones anyway. Sure, they’re trying to get you to buy something but they are often Continue Reading

Festive movie review: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

(courtesy IMP Awards) As a child of the Church (thought failed, ultimately, to stick in childhood), it’s always fascinated this reviewer how something as pure as belief in the goodness of a higher power, which should always elevate and enliven can somehow become a tool for oppressive, punitive religious expression. Continue Reading

Book review: A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas

(courtesy Penguins Books Australia) Life is full of “It seemed like a good idea at the time” moments. We can, we believe anyway, have all the wisdom of Solomon and the insight of a god, in one crystal moment of absolute clarity and act accordingly, only to find not that Continue Reading

Festive movie review: Hot Frosty

Having your festive viewing expectations subverted is a rare and precious thing indeed. Much of the time in Christmas viewing land, what you see is what you get, and that is usually a good thing since you want fun, escapist entertainment with a heartwarming moral core, and that is precisely Continue Reading

Comedy review double: Season wrap-ups of Frasier (S2, E9-10) and Only Murders in the Building (S4, 9-10)

(courtesy IMP Awards) Frasier (S2, E9-10) If you’ve been paying attention , and for the sake of my robustly fragile writer’s ego, I hope you have, you will have noticed how thrilled I am that Frasier 2023, as it’s often termed, has well and truly come into its own in Continue Reading

Book review: The Secret Christmas Bookshop by Cressida McLaughlin

(courtesy Harper Collins Collins Australia) If there is one universal theme in the rich and varied storytelling of humanity, it is the need to belong. Sure, we all want to fall in love, to know connection and find our village, but at the heart of all these story types, is Continue Reading

Something big and loud this way comes: Sneak peek at the Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special, “Joy to the World”

(courtesy BBC/Disney+ via The Gallifreyan Newsroom) SNAPSHOTBridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan will be starring in the title role of “Joy to the World” as a traveler checking into a London hotel over the festive period. Before long, Joy’s quiet holiday is interrupted by a Silurian wandering into her hotel room and the sudden arrival of The Continue Reading

Movie review: Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point

(courtesy IMDb) In popular culture at large, Christmas is often seen in very distinct, sharply-realised ways. It is variously a season of miracles or healing or wondrous discovery, and there is always some sort of point to proceedings whether it’s saving Christmas itself by helping Santa or doing a life-changing Continue Reading