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!

Life is a rollercoaster: Thoughts on Trying S5

(courtesy IMP Awards) Making all your dreams come true is an intoxicating feeling, but what happens when the dust settles and reality bites and you have to deal with the fact that the dream may be wonderful but it has some thorns attached with all the floral zest and colour? Continue Reading

The short and the short of it: The emotional canine journeying of Archie

(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTArchie is devastated to learn of the death of his beloved aunt. He makes the long journey to the home she’s left him in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and a new day brings renewed hope for Archie and his dog. Archie is written and created by Domenica Continue Reading

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S4 review: “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” (E7) and “Orders of Magnitude” (E8)

(courtesy Memory Alpha) “Like Chronotons Through the Hourglass” One of the best things about Star Trek storytelling in general and Strange New Worlds (SNW) in particular, is its ability to channel what I like to call the “Nordic Effect”. In essence, it’s the co-existence of both light and dark in Continue Reading

A trio of triumphantly tantalising trailers: Whalefall, The Cat in the Hat and Below

(via Shutterstock) How can you not love going to the movies? Look at the dazzling variety in these three films alone – a gripping if fantastical thriller, a garrulously chaotic animated delight based on an iconic Dr Seuss book and some seriously Halloween adjacent supernatural goings-on in an otherwise ordinary Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Massif by Garth Nix

(courtesy Allen & Unwin – Australia) One of the reasons this reviewer loves science fiction is because at its heart, it is devoted to exploring, thinking through and celebrating big ideas; woven into its storytelling DNA is an impelling need to peek behind the curtain, to wonder why things are Continue Reading

Italian Film Festival movie review: Life is Life (La vita va così)

(courtesy IMDb) If there’s one thing audiences love, it’s a David vs. Goliath tale. In the real world, we sigh inwardly and rail with quiet fury, and often not-so-quiet fury, at the gross injustices of companies not paying tax and in effect screwing over the public they serve, fascistic politicians Continue Reading

Songs, songs and more songs #142: Rose Gray, Violet Days, Slayyyter, almost monday + Cherry Bomb … plus ABBA’s most and least streamed songs

(via Shutterstock) Songs are made to make us feel something, the more emphatically the better. Whether it’s the music or the lyrics or a delicious combo of the two, the right song can make you feel, think, move and look at life, or at least a part of it, from Continue Reading

“I decide when I return!” Haunted Hotel S2 drops teaser trailer for October 9 return

(courtesy YouTube (c) Netflix) SNAPSHOTA single mother tries to run the world’s most haunted hotel with her ghost brother, two kids, a demon trapped in a little boy’s body, and an ever growing collection of ghosts, monsters, and supernatural disasters. Haunted Hotel features the voices of Will Forte (Nathan), Eliza Coupe (Katherine), Skyler Gisondo (Ben), Natalie Palamides (Esther) and Jimmi Continue Reading

Is it too late to be me? … Thoughts on Lucky

(courtesy IMDb) A protagonist with a heart of gold trapped in a world of dubious intention and darkly self-serving execution is a mainstay of storytelling; there’s something innately appealing about someone who has been exposed to the worst of humanity and yet somehow has emerged innocent and pure of heart, Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: The Traveler by Joseph Eckert

(courtesy Macmillan Publishers) One of the marks of an exceptionally good writer is the ability to take a story steeped in a fantastical premise, one ripe with all kinds of imaginative possibility and to do something impactfully meaningful with it. It’s a real art; lean too hard into the fantastical, Continue Reading

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