If there’s one thing that is always totally and utterly welcome in any TV show’s Christmas episode, especially in a series already delightfully rife with cheesy, heartfelt moments, it’s a happy, cosy, all is well with the world neat ending, preferably one tied up with a pretty red glittery Continue Reading
Festive book review: Five at the Office Christmas Party by “Enid Blyton” (really Bruno Vincent)
If you are of a certain age, and I mostly am, and spent your childhood reading the books of British author Enid Blyton, you will be more than a little aware of her Famous Five books which feature siblings Julian, Dick and Anne, cousin George (Georgette) and of course, Continue Reading
Saturday morning cartoons: Paddington / The Adventures of Paddington
Michael Bond’s Paddington is a delight any way you come to meet him. Whether it’s through the enormously charming books, the first of which, A Bear Called Paddington, was published in 1958 following the author’s purchase of a single teddy bear sitting on a shelf in a store near Continue Reading
On 7th day of Christmas … I reviewed The Man Who Invented Christmas
While it’s safe to say that the justly-celebrated British novelist Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) did not, in fact, invent Christmas – that honour belongs, I think we can safely say to one Jesus Christ – he was very much its saviour when it came to rescue the holiday from Continue Reading
TV yet to come … Barry + Altered Carbon + Krypton
Since we are well and truly in the lead up to Christmas, I thought it quite apropos to title this post TV yet to come … Granted this is just a drop in the bucket of the seeming millions of new TV shows coming our way in 2018 – Continue Reading
On 6th day of Christmas … I read the Giant Days 2017 festive comic special
Love, Actually is not everyone’s idea of the perfect holiday movie, but to me, it is perfect (look it up – it’s a “cannily”-woven in line from the film) and Giant Days, one of the best, most heartfelt comic strips to emerge in recent years, has made inspired use Continue Reading
Book review: Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet by H. P. Wood
The world we live in is not kind to outsiders. For daring to look, act or be a thousand kinds of different, dissendents, deliberately, or usually not, to the sacred code of unspoken uniformity that governs the machinations of society, they are pilloried, mocked, discardeds wept aside and ignored. Continue Reading
On 5th day of Christmas … I re-watched Gilmore Girls: “Forgiveness and Stuff” (S1, E10)
If there’s one family that isn’t belting out a rousing rendition of Paul McCartney’s “Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time” with brio and eggnog-enhanced joy, it is the Gilmores of Stars Hollow and Hartford, Connecticut. Fresh from Rory’s (Alexis Bledel) innocent misadventure post-formal Chilton dance (“Rory’s Dance”), where she Continue Reading
Kevin is Home Alone again – this time in an 8-bit video game!
No one really wants to spend Christmas alone – then again for some people with off-the-charts dysfunctional families, it’s an appealing prospect – but if you have to, and robbers or other n’er-do-wells come a-calling with less than festive intentions, then you should tackle your solo decking of halls Continue Reading
On 4th day of Christmas … I listened to Sia’s Everyday is Christmas
Let’s be honest – when it comes to Christmas albums, and I will be the first to admit that I am a slave to these expectations more often than not, there are two major rules that must be followed. 1. The album must feel Christmassy. Granted this is a Continue Reading