Eurovision 2016 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

Loving living the living life: USA makes a Colbert-inspired bid for Eurovision inclusion

Posted on May 22, 2016May 20, 2016 by aussiemoose

It may come as a surprise to many but until this year the Eurovision Song Contest had never been broadcast in the USA. Hard to believe but true. Granted there is so much going on within America pop culture-wise that getting on the radar there can be an almost Continue Reading

Eurovision 2016 wrap-up: Who saw that winner coming?!

Posted on May 17, 2016May 20, 2016 by aussiemoose

Well cover me in a glitter and call me a poorly-synchronised back up dancer but you could’ve knocked me, and I suspect much of Europe over with a very small feather when the Ukraine was announced as the winner of this year’s event. Talk about coming out of left Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2016: The Big Six – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UK

Posted on May 11, 2016May 11, 2016 by aussiemoose

What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2016: Week 6: Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine

Posted on May 8, 2016May 8, 2016 by aussiemoose

Road to Eurovision 2016: Week 5 – FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania

Posted on May 1, 2016May 1, 2016 by aussiemoose

Happy London Eurovision Party! Recap from VIP guest blogger Christoph Fischer

Posted on April 26, 2016April 25, 2016 by aussiemoose

In recent years The Eurovision Song Contest has staged a series of parties at select cities throughout Europe to build up excitement and momentum ahead of the event itself and to extend the Eurovision season a little bit further than one stellar week in May. This year, parties were Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2016: Week 4 – Albania, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark

Posted on April 24, 2016December 11, 2024 by aussiemoose

Eurovision in LEGO? One mega fan has answered your unspoken prayers

Posted on April 23, 2016April 18, 2016 by aussiemoose

I like to think of myself as a fairly dedicated viewer of The Eurovision Song Contest. After all, I review every single song entered for a particular year’s contest, blog about them with as much wit and insight as I can muster and host a party with my boyfriend Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2016: Week 3 – Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, San Marino, The Netherlands

Posted on April 17, 2016April 11, 2019 by aussiemoose

Road to Eurovision 2016: Week 2 – Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland

Posted on April 10, 2016May 1, 2016 by aussiemoose

Festive holiday short review: The Boy & the Octopus

(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTThe film follows the journey of a child who discovers a curious octopus has attached to his head during a seaside vacation. After returning home, the boy forms a true friendship with the octopus by introducing his new companion to his life on land – harnessing the power Continue Reading

On 12th day of Christmas … I read Christmas at the Little Bookshop by the Sea by Eliza J. Scott

(courtesy Storm Publishing) Whenever you plunge into a festive romcom, you rightly expect that you will feel like you’ve given the warmest and cosiest of hugs. One made of love and redemption and healing and all the trappings of the season from decorations and mulled wine, snowmen and wreaths string Continue Reading

Festive animated feature film review: Santa’s Apprentice

If you watched a fair amount of festive programming, you will be well familiar with the idea that there are not a lot of new ideas under the Christmas storytelling sun. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; we like our festive tropes and cliches held close and to pop up Continue Reading

On 11th day of Christmas … I watched new The Simpsons festive special “Oh C’mon All Ye Faithful”

(courtesy IMDb (c) Disney+) The Simpsons are known for their irreverence and willingness to skewer all the weird and strange and bombastically expressed pomposities of life. But for all the propensity of the 36-season-long, Matt Groening-created show to parody and satirise and push the critical envelope, it has demonstrated over Continue Reading

Festive book review: Finding My Elf by David Valdes

(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers) Life crises, especially those of a more existential variety, are never a loot of fun. All of the things you once took as gospel, the certainties you could count on in a world not exactly sporting them in profusion, are suddenly well and truly up in Continue Reading

On 10th day of Christmas … I listened to Sleigher by Ben Folds

(courtesy YouTube) I am, for all my love of upsetting apple carts and pushing envelopes, especially creatively, quite traditional when it comes to Christmas music. That’s not to say that this reviewer wants choral extravaganzas or hymn-drenched carols, though they can be delightful in a sparing context; no, traditional in Continue Reading

Festive short film review: An Almost Christmas Story

(courtesy IMDb (c) Disney+) SNAPSHOTAn Almost Christmas Story (produced by five-time Academy Award® winner Alfonso Cuarón & directed by David Lowery) is inspired by the true events of a tiny owl rescued from the New York City’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 2020. The short’s trailer reveals Moon, a curious Continue Reading

On 9th day of Christmas … I read The Merry Matchmaker by Sheila Roberts

(courtesy Harper Collins Canada) If you’re going t do a festively fun take on a novel as loved and revered as Jane Austen’s Emma, then you need to be up to the task of doing it justice. Thankfully, Sheila Roberts is more than up to the task with her new Continue Reading

Santa Bilby saves the day in a very unusual Aussie Christmas!

(courtesy Scholastic Australia) SNAPSHOTWhen Santa gets stuck delivering Christmas presents, he calls his friend the Easter Bilby to help! Can Bilby deliver all the presents before Christmas morning, or will her wild approach to gift-delivery create all kinds of hilarious Christmas Eve chaos? (courtesy Scholastic Australia) Poor Santa! He’s done Continue Reading

On 8th day of Christmas … I listened to When I Think of Christmas by Amy Grant & Vince Gill

(courtesy Apple Music) For many years, Amy Grant, an artist I have loved and admired back when I was in the church, and one of the few who came with me on my way out of it, was Christmas for me. Her Christmas albums – A Christmas Album (1983), Home Continue Reading