Eurovision 2021 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

#Eurovision 2021 cultural festival movie review: Just Say Yes

Posted on May 22, 2021May 27, 2021 by aussiemoose

Like most genres of cinema, really all if we’re being totally honest, romantic comedies march solidly and determinedly to a set and little varied formula. It makes sense – if people are watching you for an idealised vision of falling in love and the romanticised delights of happily ever after, Continue Reading

Book review – Over My Dead Body: Murder at #Eurovision by Christoph Fischer

Posted on May 21, 2021May 21, 2021 by aussiemoose

The Eurovision Song Contest, as befits a singing competition marking it 65th anniversary this year, is a great many things – gloriously and deliciously over the top, a great promotional vehicle for aspiring singers or those looking to revive their career, as camp as Christmas and a brilliant way to Continue Reading

#Eurovision 2021 cultural festival: 5 Dutch music artists – Pink Oculus, De Staat, Fatima Yamaha, My Baby, BEA1991

Posted on May 21, 2021May 19, 2021 by aussiemoose

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 is delivering a ton of great and quirky music in the Netherlands’ city of Rotterdam but what about music made in the country itself? Some of it will be featured during the semi-finals and grand final, a nod to the Eurovision tradition of showcasing the Continue Reading

#Eurovision 2021 cultural festival TV review: Toon (season 1)

Posted on May 19, 2021May 19, 2021 by aussiemoose

If you have ever felt that life is sweeping you fiercely and rapidly along to some great moment that is undeniably wonderful but most definitely not of your choosing, then you will find much with which to identify with the titular protagonist in Toon, a 2016 TV comedy from Dirk Continue Reading

#Eurovision 2021 cultural festival book review: The Pelican by Martin Michael Driessen

Posted on May 19, 2021May 19, 2021 by aussiemoose

It may not be wholly or completely so but there is good case to be made that life is, simply by virtue of its underwhelming existence, more than a little disappointing. Quite what it is most of us are expecting is never really clear but if pushed, there’s a good Continue Reading

And the possible Eurovision 2021 winners are … my top 10 picks for semi-finals 1 & 2

Posted on May 15, 2021May 16, 2021 by aussiemoose

In one of the many wonderful scenes that make up 1965’s The Sound of Music, the nuns muse at great musical length in one scene about how exactly you solve a problem like Maria; it seems like an impossible thing to fix, far beyond the reach of even, it seems, Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2021: Week 7 – The Big 6 – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

Posted on May 12, 2021May 12, 2021 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 to Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2021: Week 6 – San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine

Posted on May 8, 2021May 15, 2021 by aussiemoose

Road to Eurovision 2021: Week 5 – North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia

Posted on May 1, 2021April 29, 2021 by aussiemoose

Road to Eurovision 2021: Week 4 – Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova

Posted on April 24, 2021April 24, 2021 by aussiemoose

Road to Eurovision 2024: Week 6 – Malta, Netherlands, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland (Semi final 2, part 3) + Eurovision stage revealed!

Off to the movies we go! Enjoy the trailers for Summer Camp and Cora Bora

(via Shutterstock) Movies that combine a sense of escapist fun and some meaningful, if light, explorations of love and humanity are always just what this cinema doctor ordered. This time around there are not one but two movies on offer, both of which diversionarily delightful and guaranteed to put a Continue Reading

Book review: Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Working out when you should walk away from something you love is always tough. The reason you’ve stuck out a particular gig for so long is the very thing that keeps you anchored there, and while longevity of occupation in a particular place or occupation doesn’t always Continue Reading

“I don’t know anything about saving worlds, but you do!” Trailer and posters drop for Deadpool & Wolverine

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTDeadpool will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine. Or will he?! The third movie in the Deadpool franchise, Deadpool & Wolverine, formerly known as just Deadpool 3, is directed by the American producer / filmmaker Shawn Levy, director of many movies including Just Continue Reading

The short and the short of it: The reality-bending truth of Regular Rabbit

(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTThe good name of a seemingly regular rabbit falls victim to an unstoppable tide of disinformation. [YouTube intro] This Regular Rabbit short is created and 3D-animated and written and directed by animation filmmaker Eoin Duffy – originally from Ireland, now based in Vancouver, BC. You can see more Continue Reading

Comics review: Dunce – Arctic Tales by Jens K Styve

(courtesy & (c) official Jens K Styve site) Discovering a new gold standard comic strip is always a rare and precious joy. While there are a lot of very good comic strips out there, few merit a “drop everything and look here!” response with this reviewer’s attention only being seized Continue Reading

Star Trek: Discovery S5 review: Episodes 3 (“Jinaal”) and 4 (“Face the Strange”)

(courtesy IMP Awards) EPISODE 3: “Jinaal” While treasure hunts are lots of fun and give a competitively frenetic sheen to birthday parties and even weekends away with friends, they’re not the most efficient way to find things. But then, a party host is not trying to fill a streaming season’s Continue Reading

A trio of enticing trailers: Trap, Hit Man and I Used to be Funny + a sneak peek at Kinds of Kindness, the new film from Poor Things’ director Yorgos Lanthimos

(via Shutterstock) As the years goes screaming up, its calendar days begging to be filled with content, there’s absolutely no risk we’ll run out of things to watch. While the writers’ strike of 2023 may yet create some kind of short-term content storage, for now there’s more than enough to Continue Reading

Book review: James by Percival Everett

(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) When you consider a classic book like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, first published in 1884/85, it’s hard to imagine that the much-loved and adapted story could have any new light shone on it. It’s so well known and it’s lead character so well Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2024: Week 5 – Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Greece and Latvia (Semi final 2, part 2)