In a year where the pandemic has somehow managed to get worse, and climate change is making its presence in scarily unprecedented and well ahead of the modelling ways, it can be all too easy to lose hope and think there is nothing good left in the world. But, of Continue Reading
TV
The Flintstones return in the frenetic fun of Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs
SNAPSHOTBest friends Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble are two kids from the town of Bedrock, a modern Stone Age civilization where dinosaurs are domesticated and helpful, including their lovable and loyal pet Dino. But the real ‘yabba dabba doo’ times are had in the open wilderness outside of Bedrock city Continue Reading
Love leads to the strangest places: Thoughts on Schmigadoon!
After 18 months of harrowing, constraining, good mental health-sapping pandemic, it’s a reasonable assumption to make that most people are in need of a good laugh, a warm hug, some schmoozy romantic love and music so buoyantly light you can feel your spirit rise right along with the peppy notes. Continue Reading
Elmo: An Anything Muppet who became everything to lots of people
SNAPSHOTWith his bright red coat, big orange nose, and wide eyes, Elmo is arguably the most famous of the Sesame Street muppets – but he didn’t always have it this good. Elmo began as an ‘Anything Muppet’–an extra, if you will, until Kevin Clash refashioned his character into the one Continue Reading
Welcome back old friends! Thoughts on the first 4 episodes of Grace and Frankie season 7
You know that lovely feeling you get when you connect with old friends you haven’t seen in a while? How that long-established sense of familiarity and intimacy comes rushing near instantly and you find yourself talking as if mere minutes, not months or years have passed, and suddenly it feels Continue Reading
It’s great up here: Thoughts on The Great North (season 1)
Quirkiness and whimsy are big in modern animation. It makes sense – we’re in a postmodern world where casting an ironic, self-knowing eye on things is prettymuch demanded of everyone and where sincerity is often squeezed out in favour of having a great deal of idiosyncratic fun with something. What Continue Reading
Every body has a secret: Only Murders in the Building (poster + trailer)
SNAPSHOTOnly Murders In The Building follows three strangers who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one as they investigate the mysterious death of a neighbour in their New York City apartment building. (synopsis courtesy TV Blackbox) I read a lot as a kid. Hardly Continue Reading
Love is messy and complicated: Thoughts on Starstruck
Unless you’re heart is made of concrete and you sold you soul to a devil of your choosing at some poorly-chosen time in the past, there’s a pretty good chance you really love, love. You know, romantic love with all its starry-eyed moments, roses and chocolate and trigger-happy arrow-shooting ancient Continue Reading
Still boldly going … new trailers for Star Trek: Lower Decks (season 2) and Star Trek: Prodigy
Here in Sydney, the never-ending Delta variant COVID lockdown now in its fifth week, is set to continue for another four weeks. Which, apart from a growing case of cabin fever, means that we need distractions, and many of them, more than ever before. Thankfully, Star Trek is boldly coming Continue Reading
Why be normal when you can be … Special (season 2 review)
Life is full of choices about all manner of things but one fairly fundamental one, that we often make a decision without any conscious thought, is whether we are going to play it safe or follow our heart. It might seem like something so important that you’d sit down, strategise, Continue Reading