July 2, 2023 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy Sourcebooks Casablanca) From the gloriously mischievous play on the lyrics of an old Christmas favourite to the phrase adorning its back cover in Australia (or the front in this artwork) where Santa and “Joy to the World” get short shrift, You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky, Continue Reading

Not the people you thought you knew: Thoughts on Secrets of the Neanderthals

(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix) OOOO

#Eurovision cultural festival 2024 music review: Five Swedish artists to listen to now

(via Shutterstock) By any measure you can care to mention, Sweden is a music powerhouse. Long gone days are the days when ABBA were pilloried by the British press for being from a musically nothing country (that was never true of course since Sweden has a rich musical tradition but Continue Reading

Book review: Funny Story by Emily Henry

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) You know what’s so appealing about romantic comedies? No matter how over the top their premise might be or fantastically narrative convenient the narrative powering them might be, they provide a delightfully overpowering sense of comfort that life can be good and wonderful, and if it’s Continue Reading

Movie review: The Fall Guy

(courtesy IMP Awards) It’s time to be brutally honest – most cinematic adaptations of TV shows are not very good. In fact, in many cases, they are beastially awful – we’re looking at you Bewitched and CHiPs; we’d rather we weren’t but alas for a moment we must – and Continue Reading

Sitcom review double: Loot (S2, E1-5) and Not Dead Yet (S2, E1-5)

LOOT (S2, E1-5) It’s a pretty much a given that Maya Rudolph can do no wrong and with stellar writing back her and surrounded by a very talented ensemble cast, she’s one of those performers who is a comedic delight in just about every way possible. In Loot season one Continue Reading

Book review: The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Is it possible to write a novel that is riotously clever and funny and yet absolutely able to cut right through to the heart of what it means to be human, to love, connect and belong, and to feel lost and alone when that doesn’t going Continue Reading

Graphic novel review: Void Rivals Vol. 1 More Than Meets the Eye by Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici and Matheus Lopes

(courtesy Image Comics) Storytelling universes are very much in vogue in Hollywood at the moment. The most well-known and most successful of the lot of them is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there are a great many far less successful pretenders to the throne including the D.C. Comics take on Continue Reading

The world deserves a better ending: Thoughts on Fallout

(courtesy IMP Awards) Apocalypses are not generally laugh-out-loud affairs, what with all the death, destruction, end of civilisation hanging over everything and such, and Fallout, based on the role-playing video game of the same name, is not, for the most part an exception. Set roughly two hundred or so years Continue Reading

Book review: Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

(courtesy Allen & Unwin) No one wants to think they’re a terrible person. If we’re honest, we all want to be the hero, the saviour, the flawlessly giving and selfless person that people laud and talk about with breathless wonder, someone people want to be friends with and love and Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2024: Week 6 – Malta, Netherlands, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland (Semi final 2, part 3) + Eurovision stage revealed!

What is the Eurovision Song Contest?Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading

#ChristmasInJuly book review: You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky

I decorated my #ChristmasInJuly with five fun pop culture ornaments: Scooby-Doo, Chip ‘n’ Dale, Batman, Roger & Jessica Rabbit + Yosemite Sam