(courtesy IMP Awards) Being the surprising optimistic people that we are, we like to think that good intentions will always result in flawlessly happy outcomes. Entire religions and value sets, rom-coms and indeed pop culture kingdoms such as that of Disney, which turned 100 in 2023, are built on the Continue Reading
Book review: New Year’s Kiss by Lee Matthews
(courtesy Penguin Random House) We love the idea of reinvention. There’s something immensely appealing about the idea that we’ve made mistakes or decisions that have changed us in some way , or life has strangely twisted us in some way, and that all that damage can be undone. The idea Continue Reading
Fire up the stereo and let the music fly free: My top 25 songs of 2023
(via Shutterstock) I love music. It moves me in so many different, profoundly deep ways and it acts as a soundtrack to my life, sometimes making sense of stuff I’m going through and other times simply giving me some diversion from the annoying bits and pieces of life. Like commuting; Continue Reading
Popcorn and wine and a comfy seat in the dark: My top 25 films of 2023
(via Shutterstock) It was another full to the brim year of me trying to get to the cinema as much as I could and streaming all the films at my disposal when a physical visit simply wasn’t possible. Still, for all the ease of streaming, there’s something still quite lovely Continue Reading
Conquering the TBR like a mountaineer: My top 25 books of 2023
(via Shutterstock) Ever since I was a kid and bullying made the real world a scary and dangerous place to be, I have found books to be the ultimate comfort, the one escape I can count on to make everything seem a whole lot more magical and good again. Even Continue Reading
Stream, stream my televisual dream: Top 25 TV / streaming shows of the year
(via Shutterstock) It’s weird watching TV these days. There’s so much great content around that getting to it all, or honestly, just some of it because realistically that’s all you can manage, that you pretty much have to schedule time to watch what you want. Easy enough I guess if Continue Reading
Merry pop culture Christmas to all … and to all a good streaming-reading-listening night!
(courtesy Pinterest (c) Charles M. Schulz) Merry pop culture Christmas everyone! I have had a ball as always this year writing about all kinds of books, movies, TV/streaming shows, graphic novels/comics and songs, and while it’s been tough to keep writing in my spare time when my day job as Continue Reading
Retro festive movie review: White Christmas
(courtesy IMP Awards) Returning to a much-loved Christmas classic many years after it was last watched is an interesting exercise. Our minds are fiendishly clever things but one of the interesting dynamics they employ is to appropriate snatches of a plot in your memory so you remember certain things that Continue Reading
Festive book review: All is Bright by RaeAnne Thayne
Christmas miracles are the stock in trade of the season. They pop as regularly as stocking stuffers and garlands of ivy and baubles, and while they might be vanishingly rare in the festive desert known as the rest of the year, they are thick on the decorative ground when Christmas Continue Reading
Happiness is a The Snoopy Show Christmas episode: “Happiness is Holiday Traditions” / “Window Wonderland” / “Spike’s Old-Fashioned Christmas”
(courtesy AppleTV+) If ever any pop culture property had a hold on what a Christmas tradition is, it’s Peanuts. The iconic and much-loved comic strip by Charles M. Schulz has become almost as well known for its exquisitely well-drawn and joyously nuanced television specials such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, Continue Reading