September 29, 2026 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy Star Trek Strange New Worlds Memory Alpha) E9 “Once La’An a Time” If ever you needed proof that Strange New Worlds is not interested in doing things as they have always been done in Star Trek, then “Once La’an a Time” (no prizes for guessing what that’s a play Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: The Infinite State by Richard Swan

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Watching the stop-start march of fascism across the globe in recent years, and the resistance of many people to its horrific progress, people who have noted history and are well aware of the sage lessons it teaches, has been unnerving and alarming but also somewhat removed for Continue Reading

Trio o’ terrific trailers (September 2026): MADFABULOUS, Treasure Island + Onwards and Sideways

(via Shutterstock) In an act of huge pop culture consuming nerdery, I keep lists of movies and TV/streaming shows I’d like to watch. I apologise for none of it because frankly with the sheer volume of content happily sliding down onto streaming platforms and into cinemas, it seems the only Continue Reading

Graphic novel: I Hate Fairyland volume 6 – Last Gert Standing by Scottie Young and Brett Bean

(courtesy Image Comics) SNAPSHOTDeath by a thousand Gerts! King Cloudeus is determined to finish what his sister Queen Cloudia never could: kick Gert out of Fairyland FOR GOOD! And the only way to do that is have every Gert who ever lived battle each other to the death. Who said Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky

(courtesy Pan macmillan Australia) The books of Adrian Tchaikovsky are a supreme delight in a thousand different, incalculably satisfying ways. He excels at next level characterisation, immersively clever storylines and dialogue that sings and crackles as needed; what knits all of these vibrantly readable elements together is a feat of Continue Reading

Honest players in a crooked game … Ray Gunn drops its first retro future film noir trailer

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOT‘Academy Award winner Brad Bird, the visionary director of The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant, brings you a whole new world to investigate…’ Set within Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case Continue Reading

Songs, songs and more songs #144: RAYE/Amma/Absolutely, Sam Quealy + The Bloody Beetroots, MILEY, hemlocke springs and K.Flay … plus new Troye Sivan single

(via Shutterstock) You want music that makes you leap with joy right? Right. But sometimes a little ragey edge, depending on your mood is necessary. Of course. And that at other times, you wany epic cinematic sensations or club-ready anthems. We are complicated, contrary and changeable beings and thankfully there Continue Reading

Movie review: Separate Beds (2 cuori e 2 capanne)

(courtesy IMDb) Doing something fun and interesting with a well-trod and cliche-saturated genre like romantic comedy is always a challenge. It’s why many romcoms, delightful though they are, are barely discernible riffs on well-worn tropes and cliches, serving up just enough escapist romanticism to keep eager audiences happy; occasionally, though Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Earth 7 by Deb Olin Unferth

(courtesy Graywolf Press) The end of the world, it will not surprise those of you who are studiously paying attract to the current deleterious drift of our planet into, variously depending on the news of the story, into climate change catastrophe, AI annihilation and fascistic governance, is very much on Continue Reading

The Muppet Show flashback: Animal goes all out on “Fever” until Rita Moreno puts him in his place

(courtesy Muppet Wiki (c) The Jim Henson Company) SNAPSHOTIn a 1976 episode of The Muppet Show, the great Rita Moreno performed a sultry cover of the classic song “Fever”, famously recorded by Peggy Lee, with Animal on the drums. At first, everything was going smoothly, but about halfway in, Animal Continue Reading

The key to the future lies in the past … Thoughts on Silo S3

(courtesy IMP Awards) Unless you live under a rock, and honestly as living strategies go it’s not a completely unreasonable one at the moment, it won’t have escaped your notice that humanity is potentially screwed in any number of emphatically species-ending ways. As one character in the third gripping season Continue Reading