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!

Wocka Wocka! It’s The Muppet Show’s 50th anniversary!!!

(courtesy IMDb (c) Jim Henson Productions) I remember in the dim, dark days of the mid-seventies when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and the Egyptians were building the pyramids (yes, I am that old) lying on the floor of the loungeroom of our house in Alstonville, up in northern NSW, excitedly Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Jitterbug by Gareth L. Powell

(courtesy Simon & Schuster Australia) It is always a pleasure of the greatest magnitude when you dive into a sci-fi novel which always promises some thrillingly big and sweeping storytelling and it goes even bigger and bolder than you expected. It’s hard to be surprised in our everything-on-the-table preview-manic digital Continue Reading

Movie review: The History of Sound

(courtesy IMP Awards) Love in its purest form is supposed to elevate, enlarge, enthrall us, building and growing what was into something altogether bigger and better and different. That’s the grandly idealistic promise that romantic love makes to us and much of the time, if allowed free and full expression, Continue Reading

Songs, songs and more songs #141: Jain, daine, ANAÏS MVA, hemlocke springs + Snow Patrol & Kylie Minogue

(via Shutterstock) Pop which gives your ears a happy burst of musical escapism are always welcome. Even better though is when those slice of transportive musical delight come with lyrics which say something profound and which mean something real and relatable; marrying the two isn’t for everyone but for the Continue Reading

Her fresh start is just getting started … Thoughts on Leanne 2

(courtesy Leanne Morgan Comedy Instagram) Moving on with your life after a traumatic event is always going to be a challenge, and not simply in the immediate aftermath. In season 1 of the Chuck Lorre sitcom, Leanne, we see the eponymous protagonist of this gentle comedy, played by stand-up comedian Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne

(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) One of the most enduring motifs in space operas is the idea that a renegade, diverse bunch of people, all of good heart and relatively pure soul, which is rare in a rough-n-tumble, dog-eat-dog galaxy, can find each other, come together, forge a found family against Continue Reading

Movie review: Enola Holmes 3

(courtesy IMP Awards) In an age where everything feels more than a little serious and there’s nothing, it seems at least, but doom and freaking gloom, then we should all give thanks for franchise such as a Enola Holmes which, on its third sprightly outing, proves there’s great diversionary and Continue Reading

Graphic novel review: Strange Bedfellows by Ariel Slamet Ries

This graphic novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, August 2026 The power of human connection is a recurrent theme in human storytelling for one very good reason. While we are very much individuals and should always be firstly defined by who we are alone, it’s an undeniable truth that Continue Reading

New releases August book review: Queenie is Working on it by Candice Carty-Williams

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Some seven years ago when I had the great fortune to read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, it became quickly apparent that here was a protagonist I was going to really love … A LOT. Queenie was everything you could want in a leading character, so much so Continue Reading

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S4 review: “Level-Five Transporter Accident”(E5) + “Off-Hour” (E6)

(courtesy Memory Alpha) “Level-Five Transporter Accident” Now here’s some fun! Star Trek meets the Muppets in an episode which demonstrates once again that Strange New Worlds is more than happy to go there, and with gusto and fierce imagination into the sort of places many other sci-fi series fear to Continue Reading

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