So here’s something you may not know – Alaska only became a state of the USA in 1959. Making much of that fact, this lovely tale of Yogi and Boo Boo heading off to spend Christmas with Uncle Northman and Kate Kodiak, and their young cubs Yukon and Klondike, is Continue Reading
It’s a Golden Books Christmas with Donald Duck, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Winnie the Pooh and Babes in Toyland
Let’s get festively real! Elf gets an Honest Trailer
What’s your preference when it comes to Christmas movies – sweet, funny or weird? Or do you like all three? If you answered as affirmative “Yes, yes, yes” to the question – it sounded like a cute take on “Ho ho ho” in my blog post-writing but now sounds Continue Reading
On 12th day of Christmas … I watched The Christmas Chronicles
Good lord but the spirit of Christmas is a fragile and easily-derailed thing. Judging by the sheer exuberantly-colourful preponderance of Christmasness everywhere, you would be reasonably safe to assume that the festive season is a robust and unalterable thing. Not so, counsel endless numbers of Christmas films, with one of Continue Reading
Christmas retro movie review: Die Hard
Merry Christmas, John McClane! In the classic late ’80s blockbuster Die Hard, which is indisputably a Christmas movie – exhibit A is “Let it Snow!” sung not simply by Al (Reginald VelJohnson) but beautifully soundtracked at the end of the film as Argyle (De’voreaux White) the limo driver drives everyone Continue Reading
Now this is music festive fun: 5 Christmas tunes to put a smile on your face
Christmas is supposed to be a happy time, the most wonderful time of the year in fact if you are to believe the song’s creators, Edward Pola and George Wyle. But even times as wonderful as this can become harried and busy and your mood may take a dive as people Continue Reading
On 11th day of Christmas… I listened to Christmas Party by The Monkees
For a band formed in 1965 for a TV series that ran from 1966 to 1968, The Monkees, comprised of Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and the late Davy Jones, have certainly proved they have some pretty serious musical endurance. Just how enduring their appeal and success is was affirmed Continue Reading
The Orville: Boldly going where no homage has gone before
Hands up, ardent Trekkies and those who are happy to dip their intergalactic-loving into the narratively-rich waters of sci-fi storytelling, if you have ever seen someone on their way to the toilet on Star Trek? Or bickering about marital troubles? Obsessing about child-raising methods? (Worf excepted.) Or voicing all those Continue Reading
On 10th day of Christmas … I read Terry Pratchett’s Father Christmas’s Fake Beard
Among the may things I love about the work of much-missed late Discworld author Terry Pratchett is the sense of playful irreverence that fills each and every word. A master storyteller who has a deserved legion of fans including myself to his enduring credit, Pratchett’s sense of the quirkily absurd and his Continue Reading
Movie review: Dumplin’
It will surprise exactly no one that we live in a world unforgiving of difference. If you slip neatly into the box marked “acceptability”with a minimum of fuss and a marked absence of flamboyance and free thought, you are patted on the head, awarded a gold star and sent on Continue Reading