(via Shutterstock) There’s a lot of awful stuff going on in the world. No newsflash there, alas; what also needs to be mentioned though is that there’s also a lot of good still around which includes these five songs from artists who refuse to let a broken reality get them Continue Reading
Book review: Hurdy Gurdy by Jenny Ackland
(courtesy Allen & Unwin Book Publishers) The way the world is going at the moment, you would have to be the hardiest and perkiest of optimists to think that the way forward is strewn with anything but death, disaster and destruction. Fascists are making their cruelly odious presence felt around Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: Happily ever after takes some work to pull off in The End
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTThe End is an award-winning animated film about Hilderose, a determined princess who must go back in time and save her Happily Ever After when her gallant knight and fiancé Sir Maximilian dies on the day of their wedding. Voice Acting by Samantha Cooper and Will AkanaScore by Continue Reading
Movie review: Godzilla Minus One (Gojira Mainasu Wan)
(courtesy IMP Awards) It’s a rare monster movie indeed that leaves you feeling that you’ve been through the emotional mill. Most times these big scary blockbusters go hard on the epic scenes and the awe-inspiring special effects and leave any effect on audience members sitting purely in the shock and Continue Reading
Book review: How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) The past, we many of us know all too well, very rarely stays snugs and safely in the past. Whether we carry past scars with us or the law or estranged family members or a host of other things catch up with us, the past has Continue Reading
Back to Point Place: That ’90s Show Part 2 review
(courtesy IMP Awards) Sitcoms are funny things. And we don’t mean in the obvious sense; yes, done well, they should be laughfests that lift the heavy burden of the everyday and leave you feeling like, yes, life’s great dilemmas and problems can be easily solved in just 20 or so Continue Reading
#ChristmasInJuly book review: Mistletoe at Moonstone Lake by Holly Martin
Ah, the magic of Christmas. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, which is where, of course, all the traditional Christmas visuals and vibe comes from, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, the season when reality takes a much welcome hike and all the travails and sadness of the Continue Reading
During #ChristmasInJuly 2024 I decorated my tree with 10 pop culture ornaments incl. Popeye, Grover, 101 Dalmatians, Winnie the Pooh, Garfield, The Partridge Family + more
(courtesy IMP Awards) Yes, my friends, I put up a Christmas in July tree. Well, to be fair, it’s a plain white tree that sits on a table in our loungeroom all year round and which is bedecked in Christmas ornaments in July and December (and yes, just into February Continue Reading
Mini-mass of movie trailers: Close to You, Chuck Chuck Baby and We Live in Time
(via Shutterstock) One of the things that cinematic storytelling does so very well is to let us stop and soak in the humanity of a person’s lived experiences. Sure, other media do that, but in different ways, and there’s something truly rich and special about a couple of hours in Continue Reading
Book review: Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Not a lot goes right in life for the two titular characters at the heart of Karl Geary’s arrestingly moving novel, Juno Loves Legs. Born into poverty in 1970s Dublin, they are both well and truly up against from the get-go in their economically deprived estate; Continue Reading