(read at Pindari cabin, Yeranda Cottages, Dungog, 2-9 January 2024) Charlie and Nick are in love. Really and wonderfully, deeply and assuredly in love, and free from does-he, doesn’t-he vibes of earlier volumes of Heartstopper where the attraction was clear but the certainty of connection was not, the two guys Continue Reading
Streaming
Stream, stream my televisual dream: Top 25 TV / streaming shows of the year
(via Shutterstock) It’s weird watching TV these days. There’s so much great content around that getting to it all, or honestly, just some of it because realistically that’s all you can manage, that you pretty much have to schedule time to watch what you want. Easy enough I guess if Continue Reading
Two retro festive episodes of Frasier (“Miracle on Third or Fourth Street” and “Perspectives on Christmas”) + bonus Frasier 2023 review (S1, E7-10)
(courtesy CBS) If there is one thing that the classic sitcom excelled at, it was not pretending that everything in life was perfect. Oh, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and his equally dandy brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) aspired to that superlative state of being with their eyes always on the just-so Continue Reading
On 9th day of Christmas … I watched A Storm for Christmas
(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix) Finding the perfect anything in a very imperfect world is a challenge at the best of times, but even more so at Christmas, ironically because it’s at this time of year, when people yearn the most for this flawlessly elusive state, that they seem to miss Continue Reading
On 6th day of Christmas … I put 15 more pop culture ornaments on my tree incl. ABBA, Parks and Recreation, Ziggy and Goofy
(via Shutterstock) What, what, you say, you have yet more ornaments to place upon the tree? Why yes, yes I do; every year I tell myself I’ll stick to 9 or 10 new ones, just the best of the best and yet every year, 50 to 60, sometimes more make Continue Reading
On 3rd day of Christmas … I watched Claus Family 3
(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix) In the third instalment of the Dutch Christmas film series – read reviews of Claus Family 1 and Claus Family 2 – it becomes increasingly apparent that, rather joyfully the grief that marked the first entry in the series and its lingering effects in movie number Continue Reading
On 1st day of Christmas … I put 15 new pop culture ornaments on my tree incl. Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, Shazam, Peter Pan, Peanuts … and more!
(via Shutterstock) Take one look at this blog and you realise I love pop culture. LOVE IT! So while the first ornaments I bought for my own grown-up tree in 1992 were relatively standard baubles and department store trinkets, soon followed by Hallmark ornaments by the metric ton, I soon Continue Reading
Love and pirates: Thoughts on Our Flag Means Death season 2
(courtesy IMP Awards) How often do we really get to follow our heart? Quite a bit if we’re so inclined in this far more freedom enabled age but back in 1717 at the height of the Golden Age of Piracy? Not as much as you’d think. Sure, as Stede Bonnet Continue Reading
Ring in the festive season with Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas
(courtesy IMDb (c) AppleTV+) Christmas is an inherently exuberant time of the year. Whether you choose to lean into that exuberance is another matter entirely, but regards of whether you’re a tinsel addict or a Scrooge, there’s no escaping the fact that the most wonderful time of the year is Continue Reading
Finish together: Thoughts on Sex Education season 4
(courtesy IMP Awards) Saying goodbye is never easy and that has never felt more poignant and obvious than during the final season of Sex Education, the fourth to be exact, in which a somewhat diminished cast spend much of their final year at school trying to better work out who Continue Reading