It’s Christmas time again and that means, as you well know, that it’s some time for festive pop culture fun. Actually, pop culture fun is a year round things and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for sticking around and reading the many posts hat have Continue Reading
Christmas 2015
Love Actually and the touching deleted scenes that never made it into the film
Love, Actually is deservedly one of those films that makes an appearance every Christmas come what may. Featuring eight interwoven couples whose own stories come with humour and special poignant meaning, the festive rom-com by Richard Curtis, is a touching reminder that everyone has a story, and that what Continue Reading
On 12th day of Christmas … I hung 5 pop culture ornaments on my tree
It will not surprise you to learn that I am a pop culture addict. It’s most obviously evident in this blog, but my great love for TV and movies, (and of course books and music) and the characters that inhabit them makes its presence felt in all sorts of Continue Reading
On 11th day of Christmas … I read Hester & Harriet by Hilary Spiers
Hester & Harriet look like they’re on track for another bog standard Christmas at The Laurels, the small cottage the two widowed sisters share in a small, reasonably uneventful English village. Invited to cousin George’s home where they will endure his wife Isabelle’s ghastly cooking and their insufferably insolent Continue Reading
On 10th day of Christmas … I listened to “It’s a Holiday Soul Party” by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
With a rousing 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … 6 … 7 … 8!, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings live up to their self-titled mission to start a Holiday Soul Party. Kicking off with “8 Days of Hannukah” which brings a bluesy chilled vibe Continue Reading
On 9th Day of Christmas … I read Klaus #1, first in a series about Santa’s dark origins
SNAPSHOT Set in a dark fantastic past of myth and magic, Klaus tells the story of how Santa Claus really came to be. Where did he begin? What was he like when he was young? Why does he do what he does? How does he do what he does? Continue Reading
On 8th day of Christmas … I watched the film The Night Before
Much as we might love our parents and siblings and crazy Aunt Phyllis and her 20 cats, it’s often the families we create throughout our lives of close, trusted friends that come to define our adult lives most profoundly. That’s certainly the case in Jonathan Levine’s The Night Before, Continue Reading
On 7th day of Christmas … I re-watched classic Vicar of Dibley ep “The Christmas Lunch Incident”
When you’re in the service of others, as is Vicar Geraldine Granger (Dawn French), the “babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom”, saying “No” even extremely nicely, can be a difficult undertaking. After all, your parishioners seeing you as their vicar, regardless of how many of them there Continue Reading
On the 6th day of Christmas … I listened to a Kylie Christmas by Kylie Minogue
Recording a Christmas album is not for the fainthearted. On paper it must seem like one of the easiest things to do in the world – gather together your favourite “golden oldies” Christmas carols and songs, write one or two new songs that will hopefully become classics in time Continue Reading
On 5th day of Christmas … I read The Peanuts Guide to Christmas
When I think of all the people (and one dog) I would like to spend Christmas with, Charles M. Schulz’s endearingly insightful band of characters from Peanuts comes fairly close to the top of the list. (Dear family and close friends, please rest assured you are at the top Continue Reading