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Books

Book review: The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything by Kara Gnodde

Posted on March 24, 2023March 25, 2023 by aussiemoose

Head over heart? Or vice versa? All of us tend to lean one way or the other, not necessarily wholly but to a sufficient enough extent that our decisions on what to do next in life or whom to see pivot on either a calm analysis of the evidence at Continue Reading

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Book review: Cold People by Tom Rob Smith

Posted on March 22, 2023March 24, 2023 by aussiemoose

There is a log and stories tradition of aliens invading Earth. Regardless of the medium, they usually arrive in the skies above our blue ball of life, an armada of advanced technology in terrifyingly awe inspiring form, and variously proceed to attack/enslave/pretend to help while secretly destroying us. It’s big, Continue Reading

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Book review: How to be Remembered by Michael Thompson

Posted on March 18, 2023March 18, 2023 by aussiemoose

It’s a talented writer indeed who can take an appealing out-there premise and invest it with so much humanity that you forget how extraordinary the bedrock narrative of the novel is, consumed only the affectingly real story with which you have been gifted. The consummately good writer in this instance Continue Reading

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Book review: Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

Posted on March 14, 2023March 14, 2023 by aussiemoose

One of the most exciting things about reading science fiction is its limitless capacity to take you to places that you never in a million years or multiverses encounter. We live in a limited world, bounded by atmosphere and space, and circumscribed by culture, geography and a thousand other finite Continue Reading

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Book review: I’ll Leave You With This by Kylie Ladd

Posted on March 12, 2023March 13, 2023 by aussiemoose

The conventionally bucolic ideas of families is that they are warm, safe, inclusively supporting places where unconditional love and selfless intimacy are the hallmarks of relationships brought together and nurtured, not just by proximity but by a genuine liking for the others with whom you are fated by birth to Continue Reading

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UPCOMING READ: Is salvation possible in Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong

Posted on March 12, 2023March 12, 2023 by aussiemoose

SNAPSHOTWinter is drawing thick in 1932 Shanghai, as is the ever-nearing threat of a Japanese invasion. Rosalind Lang has suffered the worst possible fate for a national spy: she’s been exposed. With the media storm camped outside her apartment for the infamous Lady Fortune, she’s barely left her bedroom in Continue Reading

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Book review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Posted on March 4, 2023February 21, 2024 by aussiemoose

Some people do not like or get people. If you’re an extrovert like this reviewer, that likely seems like an alien idea; sure, people can be annoying and trying at times but gosh, isn’t it good to have them around you? Emily Wilde does not think so, and while she Continue Reading

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Book review: The Vintage Shop of Second Chances by Libby Page

Posted on February 28, 2023June 18, 2024 by aussiemoose

There are a great many times in life when things feel so limited and finite, and defiantly, unhealingly one way. No matter how much we yearn for a something new to life us from a too well-carved rut or for life to bring us meaningful connection or for closure to Continue Reading

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Book review: A Man and His Pride by Luke Rutledge

Posted on February 24, 2023February 24, 2023 by aussiemoose

As a gay man, you commonly come across the idea that the life you lead must be one of endless partying, unremitting casual sex and a fabulousness wrapped in feather boas, soaked in glitter and strung about with rainbow-hued neon. That’s understandable in one sense since it is the popular Continue Reading

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Book review: The Last Love Note by Emma Grey

Posted on February 19, 2023February 20, 2023 by aussiemoose

If you were to believe popular culture, and it’s chock full of alluringly escapist ideas about how life should be so why the hell wouldn’t you, you can experience the most resoundingly destructive romantic grief, and then not much later, by dint of a meet-cute, the exchange of a few Continue Reading

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  • Festive book review: Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman
  • Festive movie review: Jingle Bell Heist
  • Festive book review: The Christmas Tree that Loved to Dance (A Tall Tale) by Miranda Hart (illustrations by Lucy Claire Dunbar)
  • A whole new world: Thoughts on Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age
  • Festive book review: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Beth Moran

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RSS SparklyPrettyBriiiight

  • Festive book review: Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman
    (courtesy Amazon) Life’s “Great and Terrible Sadnesses” have a way of wiping absolutely everything before them and even reducing a season full of love and good cheer like Christmas to a dull, depressive footnote in a long line of unremarkably barren calendar moments. That’s certainly been the experience of Grace Continue Reading
  • Festive movie review: Jingle Bell Heist
    (courtesy IMP Awards) Is grand larceny the path to true love? Not typically, no, but this is Christmas and when the festive season comes calling, it seems that anything and everything is possible. Which is just as well for Jingle Bell Heist, a festive London-set romcom which asks what might Continue Reading
  • Festive book review: The Christmas Tree that Loved to Dance (A Tall Tale) by Miranda Hart (illustrations by Lucy Claire Dunbar)
    (courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Ever since I discovered her breakthrough sitcom Miranda, I have loved the whimsy and old-fashioned chatty cheerfulness of comedian/writer/actor Miranda Hart with the sort of enthusiasm that people much younger than me reserve for zeitgeist-heavy K-Pop bands. She embodies all of the fun and silliness of Continue Reading
  • A whole new world: Thoughts on Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age
    (courtesy AppleTV) Losing yourself in a documentary is one of life’s great, often unsung, pleasures. If they’re done well, and many are, they are gateways to magical places of knowledge and experience, a chance to find yourself somewhere you’ve never been or to get lost in the rapture and wonder Continue Reading
  • Festive book review: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Beth Moran
    (courtesy NetGalley) Life is full to the brim with traumatic moments. Hardly a surprise there; while most of us head into life all wide-eyes, enthusiastic and bushy-tailed, believing no harm can befoul us and all we will have are sunshine and rainbows, we soon discover life, alas, has other ideas. Continue Reading
  • It’s beginning to look a lot like the festive season … Christmas ads 2025 round-up
    (via Shutterstock) I know there is a significant school of thought that rails against the materialism and rampant consumerism of Christmas. And yes, while I can see it, and it’s valid point as far as it goes, it leaves aside the fact that much of that drives this need to Continue Reading
  • Festive animated love? Disney’s Hulu’s Family Guy’s Hallmark Channel’s Lifetime’s Familiar Holiday Movie
    (courtesy IMP Awards) If you only watch one parody of a festive romcom movie this year, and let’s face it, much as I love many of them, the actual films are almost parodies of themselves, then make sure it’s Disney’s Hulu’s Family Guy’s Hallmark Channel’s Lifetime’s Familiar Holiday Movie. The Continue Reading
  • Festive movie review: A Merry Little Ex-Mas
    (courtesy IMP Awards) Christmas is the season where love is all around us, and you’ll be happy to know, it’s not just Love, Actually that thinks so. A Merry Little Ex-Mas is also a big believer in the power of the season to change hearts and minds and even wind Continue Reading
  • Festive book review: It Always Snows on Mistletoe Square by Ali McNamara
    (courtesy Hachette Australia) When you think about it, Christmas as a concept and an idea, as opposed to the reality of the season, is full to the tinsel-draped, eggnog-soaked brim with magical realism. It’s in the original Biblical tale – not a diss; I grew up in the church and Continue Reading
  • Why ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ almost didn’t air − and why it endures (curated article)
    (courtesy IMDb) In 2024, the beloved special is streaming on Apple TV+. Stephen Lind, University of Southern California It’s hard to imagine a holiday season without “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The 1965 broadcast has become a staple – etched into traditions across generations like decorating the tree or sipping hot Continue Reading
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