October 15, 2025 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTThis thrilling new chapter follows a fresh class of cadets as they train under the watchful, demanding eyes of Starfleet’s finest. Together, they’ll face highs & lows of academy life: forging unbreakable friendships, clashing in explosive rivalries, experiencing first loves, & stepping into their destiny as the Continue Reading

Book review: Love Bites by Cynthia St. Aubin

(courtesy Tor Publishing Group) The crime genre, early teenage voracious consumption of Agatha Christie’s entire output aside, has never really compelled this reviewer to sit down and read like, say science-fiction or slice-of-life quirky dramas. While most sections of my favourite bookshops see regular footfall from me, the crime section Continue Reading

Graphic novel review: Stich Head by Guy Bass (writer) and Pete Williamson (artwork)

(courtesy Larrikin Press) It’s a recurring theme in all kinds of creative expression – just who are the monsters really and might they be lurking where you least suspect? The answer, to the second question at least, is an emphatic “YES!!”, owing to the fact that humanity, despite millennia of Continue Reading

Retro movie review: Tron

(courtesy IMP Awards) Jumping back in time, if not literally then at least cinematically, is always an interesting exercise. Nostalgia exerts a powerful pull on all of us, and watching how it fares when it comes to seeing the object of its hagiographying live and in person again is a Continue Reading

Book review: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Life can often like a series of existentially testing events, punctuated by rare moments of levity and joy and wrapped in a lifetime of pain, hurt, loss and hard-won gains. That might seem bleak but for most it’s an accurate take on this thing called life, and Continue Reading

Songs, songs and more songs #129: Georgia, BENEE, Sigrid, Ella Collier + Moyka + ABBA performimg “Mamma Mia” in 1975

(via Shutterstock) There are some months that just reward you with brilliant songs. Songs that, for a whole host of reasons, you play over and over again and which, for this beleaguered commuter reviewer at least, making walking to the train station and back not feel quite so arduous and Continue Reading

Don’t let the bullies win … The Twits drops its feisty trailer

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTAcademy Award-nominated filmmaker Phil Johnston reimagines Roald Dahl’s iconic characters, Jim & Credenza Twit, in their first feature animated adventure. The Twits tells the story of Mr. & Mrs. Twit, the meanest, smelliest, nastiest people in the world who also happen to own and operate the most Continue Reading

Book review: The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi

(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) Plunging into the latest novel by John Scalzi, and fortunate to have read a number of his books before this, I was well aware of just good a writer this man is and how well he imagines realities beyond our own, bringing them to life with Continue Reading

Movie review: All of You

(courtesy IMP Awards) Knowledge, especially when it’s anchored in scientific truth, is a good and powerful thing. Though there are far too many in the world today who believe that facts are situational and malleable and able to bent at will to suit whatever purpose you have in mind, the Continue Reading

Book review: Foreign Country by Marija Peričić

(courtesy Ultimo Press) One of the ways we survive the many vagaries of life is to tell ourselves stories; they’re usually self-serving storylines that reinforce the internal narrative we have long told ourselves to help us make sense of events that would otherwise defy easy categorisation. Are they always truthful? Continue Reading

One week for a lifetime … Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation gets the cinematic treatment

(courtesy BRIT + CO via Yahoo) SNAPSHOTFree-spirited Poppy (Emily Bader) and routine-loving Alex (Tom Blyth) have been unlikely best friends for a decade, living in different cities but spending every summer vacation together. The careful balance of their friendship is put to the test when they begin to question what Continue Reading

Book review: The Maskeys by Stuart Everly-Wilson

Step into your future with the first official trailer for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy + sneak peek at Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S4