(courtesy Simon & Schuster) It’s wonderful when a creator can make a cliffhanger moment pay off. If you recall, the first Peculiar Woods story, The Ancient Underwater City, ended definitively, yes, but a tantalising cliffhanger moment woven in, and in its sequel, The Mystery of the Intelligents, Andrés J. Colmenares Continue Reading
Sitcom review double: Shrinking S2, E1-2 and Frasier 2023 S2, E3-6
(courtesy YouTube (c) AppleTV+) Shrinking S2, E1-2 Shrinking is ostensibly a sitcom. But while it is indeed very funny, full of smart, snappy, character-driven lines and gleefully absurdist situations, it is also one of the most relatable treatises this reviewer has ever encountered on grief. If that sounds like comedy Continue Reading
Deep TBR book review: Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
(courtesy Fourth Estate) After watching far too many books sit trapped in my To Be Read (TBR) pile for years and years, I decided it was high time a month was devoted to rescuing them from the reading void and diving into their promising stories. So, for October, each book Continue Reading
New friends, old enemies … first trailer drops for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTGromit’s concern that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions proves justified, when Wallace invents a “smart” gnome that seems to develop a mind of its own. When it emerges that a vengeful figure from the past might be masterminding things, it falls to Gromit to Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #115: Łaszewo, Orla Gartland, Bea and her Business, Lauren Mayberry + King Princess
(via Shutterstock) Do you like your upbeat songs with a side order of intensely personal lyrics? Or perhaps you just want some effervescent fun to light up your day? Whatever is floating your musical boat, it’s wroth diving into these five songs which give you infinitely repeatable music, cleverly incisive Continue Reading
Rebellion in the offing … Silo season 2 drops its first portentous trailer
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTIn a toxic dystopian future where a community lives in a giant silo hundreds of stories deep underground, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Silo, formerly known as Wool, is a mini-series created and written by Canadian TV Continue Reading
Played by evil to a ruinous extent: Thoughts on The Rings of Power S2, E4-8
(courtesy IMP Awards) The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (S2, E4-8) ——————– SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!! ——————– Many people like to think of the world in purely binary terms. It understandable in one way; with life normally manifesting in all manner of chaotic guises, and consistency and predictability Continue Reading
It’s beginning to look a lot like 2024 Christmas movies: It’s Christmas, Feather Christmas and How to Make Gravy
(via Shutterstock) Oh I love Christmas! The books! The music! And, of course, the movies … well, the more idiosyncratic ones, anyway. Such as these three gems which are hopefully going to stoke the festive fires, make us feel better about the world around us, and give us that warm Continue Reading
An adventure five years in the making: Trailer released for Star Trek: Lower Decks final season
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTIn season five of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks,’ the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos is tasked with closing ‘space potholes’ – subspace rifts which are causing chaos in the Alpha Quadrant. Pothole duty would be easy for Jr. Officers Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford…if they didn’t also Continue Reading
Deep TBR book review: The Geography of Friendship by Sally Piper
(courtesy UQP) After watching far too many books sit trapped in my To Be Read (TBR) pile for years and years, I decided it was high time a month was devoted to rescuing them from the reading void and diving into their promising stories. So, for October, each book review Continue Reading