Happy pop culture new year everyone! – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

Here’s to more movies, books, songs, TV shows, cartoon and comic strips and so much more in 2019!

A 165-million year journey: Thoughts on The Dinosaurs

(courtesy IMP Awards) While time has moved on for this reviewer in many emphatically life-altering ways, one thing that hasn’t changed is the boisterous love my inner-five-year-old has for dinosaurs. Like many millions, likely billions of people across the globe, I am as fascinated by these prehistoric creatures now as Continue Reading

Movie review: Bon Voyage, Marie (On Ira) AFFFF26

(courtesy IMDb) Saying a final goodbye to anyone you love who is dying is one of the hardest things you can do in life. But it becomes even more devastating when it arrives out of nowhere, which is precisely what happens in Bon Voyage, Marie (On Ira) when a lovingly Continue Reading

Book review: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Toward the Night by James Swallow

(courtesy Simon & Schuster) Novels based on the characters in TV shows or movies either go one of two ways – they absolutely nail the characters and evoke a perfect sense of time and place that makes the story feel like a televisual sprung to life on the page or Continue Reading

“The most important thing is to be yourself.” The endearing trailer for The Other Bennet Sister

(courtesy YouTube (c) BBC) SNAPSHOTThe first part of the series follows the events from Pride and Prejudice from Mary Bennet’s point of view, before the story departs to follow Mary as she travels to London & the Lake District. The overlooked sister from the big Bennet family has a romantic Continue Reading

Movie review: The Pout-Pout Fish

(courtesy IMP Awards) Based on the book of the same name by Deborah Diesen with art by Dan Hanna, The Pout-Pout Fish is of those films that comes with a fairly simple premise but which becomes so much more thanks to clever writing and some mischievously inventive animation. Adapted from Continue Reading

Book review: Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) While it’s an immutable fact that we exist in the here and now, for better or worse, we are always living in the past to some extent. It’s impossible not in many ways since who we were and what we did are intrinsically woven into the Continue Reading

It’s time to move on … Thoughts on Shrinking S3, E1-6

(courtesy IMP Awards) I am lucky to have a wonderful family. Well, “Congratulations you!” might well be the response from most people but what on earth does this have to do with a review of the first six episodes of Shrinking third season? As it turns out, quite a lot Continue Reading

Why is he in space? Behind-the-scene sneak peek of Project Hail Mary

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTAstronaut Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awakens with no memory of himself or his mission. He deduces he is the sole survivor of a crew sent to the Tau Ceti solar system in search of a solution to a catastrophic event on Earth. In his search for answers, Continue Reading

Book review: Escape to Seahaven Bay by Nicola May

Recovering from great trauma is never easy. It’s there in the word really; “trauma” even sounds hard and brutal, and so it stands to reason, that moving on for it will not be quick, easy or trouble-free. For a book devoted to the wondrous idea of second chances, Escape to Continue Reading

The short and the short of it: What is life without social media? Quiet Life asks the question

(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTA social media meltdown forces Geoffrey to reassess his life and values. Quiet Life was awarded the BAFTA for Short Form at the BAFTA Television Awards 2025. (courtesy BBC YouTube) You’re barely into the approximately 11-minute delight that is Quiet Life, directed by Rith Pickette to a screenplay Continue Reading

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