(courtesy Hachette Australia) Whenever we’re asked to pick the highlights for anything, whether it’s a relationship or an overseas trip or our childhood, we unerringly pick the glowingly positive high points, driven by some unspoken acknowledgement that for something to be a highlight it must have unquestionably upbeat qualities. But Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: It’s garden gnomes vs. golf club in FOREVER
(courtesy YouTube (c) Omeleto) SNAPSHOTThe story begins in a cheerful and peaceful backyard garden, where brightly painted gnomes stand proudly among flowers and trimmed grass in quirky poses and scenarios. Bathed in sunlight and silence, their existence is static yet content. But their serene existence is disrupted when a golf Continue Reading
Book review: Tiny Uncertain Miracles by Michelle Johnston
(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) It is hard, if not next to impossible when you are caught down in the depths of grief and loss, and the suffocating smallness of life that often comes with it, not to feel as if there is any hope left in life. But as Continue Reading
Molly does her best to live up to her promise in Loot S3, E1-3 (review)
(courtesy IMP Awards) The great joy of Loot, not just in the first three episodes of its third season but in the first two superlative seasons too, is that it is just so damn funny. Not just funny bog standard ordinary but cleverly inspired, oneliner-quoting funny, the kind of sitcom Continue Reading
Book review: Picture Imperfect by Jacqueline Wilson
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) It’s all too easy to have someone create your life story for you. None of us set out to do that, of course; we dream and plan and hope based on the very firm idea that we are the masters of our destiny but somehow we Continue Reading
“Hi Carol. We’re so glad you called” … Full trailer lands for new Vince Gilligan show, Pluribus
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOT“A new series from the creator of Breaking Bad.” The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness. The series is set in a present-day Albuquerque, New Mexico that faced an abrupt change away from the world as it is known. Pluribus is a sci-fi Continue Reading
Book review: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) The grand and noble quest across vast distance in pursuit of the decisive victory of good over evil is a staple of fantasy novels. It crops up again and again and for very good reason – here is the perfect vehicle for putting disparate people together, Continue Reading
Movie review: French Lover
(courtesy IMDb) Let’s be clear right from the start – French Lover doesn’t exactly reinvent the romantic comedy model. Channelling a very Notting Hill vibe but with the status of the sexes reversed, French Lover takes a charming and very funny journey of two people, one a famous A-list movie Continue Reading
Just can’t get enough … Thoughts on English Teacher S2
(courtesy IMP Awards) On the surface, and what a thoroughly entertaining surface it is, English Teacher, now in its second season, is a series about goofily relatable teachers at a high school in Austin, Texas, possessed of witty banter, life weary observances and the need to have their wits about Continue Reading
Take the plunge with the fun new trailer for The Pout-Pout Fish
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTTwo aquatic misfits embark on an impossible journey to save their home. Living on a rundown shipwreck, Mr. Fish discovers a hyperactive young sea dragon Pip – who had mistaken his home for a junkyard – pilfering his belongings. The heated argument that ensues leaves both their Continue Reading