November 4, 2025 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) If you have ever travelled through the valley of the shadow of death of grief – and yes, that is some prime-grade Psalms-level language there but being plunged into grief often feels quite Biblical – you will know that it feels like it is sucking all Continue Reading

Ready for my cinema seat, Mr. DeMille: my favourite 60 movies #Andyat60

(via Shutterstock) I honestly recall the first movie I ever saw but it was highly likely it was on the TV. When I was a kid, cinemas were few and far between on the Far North Coast of New South wales and while my family wasn’t poor, we weren’t flush Continue Reading

The loveable characters of Sesame Street do their best to get into the Netflix vibe

(courtesy Netflix TUDUM) When HBO decided not to renew its contract to screen first-run episodes of Sesame Street, there was a brief moment of worry about who would step in to keep kids learning their ABCs and 123s with the likes of Grover, Big Bird and Elmo. Thankfully, Netflix stepped Continue Reading

Book review: Myself & Other Animals by Gerald Durrell #AndyAt60

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) As part of my 60th birthday celebrations, I am highlighting figures and characters and franchises which have meant the world to me, enriching my life beyond measure and granting the ability to see this amazing world of ours in ways that might otherwise have evaded me. Continue Reading

Saturday morning TV: Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har #AndyAt60

It’s a fascinating exercise watching a cartoon show you haven’t watched since you were a kid. Some of the cartoons, such as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, The Flintstones or any and all Looney Tunes shorts, hold up really well, every bit as charming and fun as they were when, snuggled Continue Reading

Let the end times roll … Fallout S2 has a fabulously apocalyptic new trailer

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTThe new season will pick up in the aftermath of season one’s epic finale and take audiences along for a journey through the wasteland of the Mojave to the post-apocalyptic city of New Vegas. Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout Continue Reading

Songs, songs and more songs #130: INJI, Keli Holiday, Livia Barrell,Em Beihold + Jessie J … plus Eurovision 2026 update

(via Shutterstock) Want to feel good? Or even GREAT? Or freaking brilliant? Then fire up some music, and specifically these five songs from artists who have poured their heart and soul and talent into their music and whose songs give you just the lift you need, especially at the end Continue Reading

Movie review: The Running Man

(courtesy IMP Awards) Way back in 1982, the idea that the world could be as dystopian as it is depicted in The Running Man would have seemed more than a little far-fetched. It’s not that the movie, based on Stephen King’s work of the same name which came out that Continue Reading

Is technology out to get them? Playtime has a new focus in Toy Story 5 (teaser trailer)

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTIn Toy Story 5, we’re introduced to a new character Lilypad, a high-tech frog-shaped smart tablet voiced by Greta Lee that makes Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang’s jobs exponentially harder when they have to go head to head with the all-new threat to Continue Reading

Book review: The Everlasting by Alix. E Harrow

(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) There are some authors you read because they are the kings or queens of masterfully woven narratives, while still others grab your attention because they inject searing emotion into every word, deed or impactful character moment or they are able to take astonishingly imaginative premise and Continue Reading

The rest of the season … Only Murders in the Building S5, E6-10

(courtesy IMP Awards) While Only Murders in the Building is all about getting to the bottom of the titular murderous mystery, and that indeed happens in the final four episodes of this wonderful show’s fifth season, what has always made it compelling viewing is the way it focuses on the Continue Reading

We’re so back … Thoughts on Nobody Wants This S2

Book review: Frankie by J. M. Gutsch and Maxim Leo