Eurovision 2022 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

When everyone has left the stage … the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 grand final wrap-up

Posted on May 17, 2022May 15, 2023 by aussiemoose

The Eurovision Song Contest is over for another year. It’s sad, as always, because if there is one thing Eurovision does better than just about any other event, it’s remind us that good and wonderful things still exist in the world. Beset as we are by war, climate change, rising Continue Reading

#Eurovision 2022 – Italian cultural festival TV review: An Astrological Guide For Broken Hearts / Guida astrologica per cuori infranti (S1 & 2)

Posted on May 14, 2022May 14, 2022 by aussiemoose

The recipe for the average romantic comedy is relatively simple. Two people who meet-cute in the most magical or banal of circumstances whereby an immediate, irresistible connection is sparked, one which cannot, of course, be given into because of one major obstacle, or several, and which after some torturous will-they, Continue Reading

Whimsically powerful pop: My 5 favourite Eurovision songs of all time

Posted on May 13, 2022May 12, 2022 by aussiemoose

Like a lot of people I have been watching the Eurovision Song Contest for a great many years. During that time, I have fallen in love with a great many songs – contrary to what the naysayers and trolls say the contest produces far more catchy songs than it does Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2022: Week 7 – The Big 5 – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom (grand final)

Posted on May 8, 2022May 8, 2022 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

#Eurovision 2022 – Italian cultural festival book review: The Eight Mountains (Le otto montagne) by Paolo Cognetti

Posted on May 7, 2022May 7, 2022 by aussiemoose

People often define themselves in terms of context and relationships, and both these important markers of human expression are on poignant display in The Eight Mountains (Le otto montagne) by Paolo Cognetti, a novel which explores how both impact the life of one young Italian man who is surrounded by Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2022: Week 6 – North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Sweden (semi-final 2, part 3) + Semi-final 2 top 10 picks

Posted on April 30, 2022May 14, 2022 by aussiemoose

#Eurovision 2022 – Italian cultural festival music review: Sangiovanni, Fedez + Achille Lauro + Orietta Berti, BLANCO, Colapesce + Dimartino, Capo Plaza

Posted on April 29, 2022April 27, 2022 by aussiemoose

The #1 position of a music chart is always a heady place to occupy. Reaching that coveted spot means lots and lots of people not only love your music but love it enough to stream it, buy it and keep playing it over and over; it makes sense, when selecting Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2022: Week 5 – Finland, Georgia, Ireland, Israel, Malta, Montenegro (semi-final 2, part 2)

Posted on April 23, 2022April 22, 2022 by aussiemoose

Road to Eurovision 2022: Week 4 – Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia (semi-final 2, part 1)

Posted on April 17, 2022April 14, 2022 by aussiemoose

Road to Eurovision 2022: Week 3 – Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine (semi-final 1, part 3) + Semi-final 1 top 10 picks

Posted on April 10, 2022May 1, 2022 by aussiemoose

Book review: The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

(courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing) Could it be possible that the whodunnit can be reborn at the very end of the world? Well, to be fair, in the case of the inimitable Stuart Turton that happened a number of years back with the head-scratchingly brilliant The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (2018) Continue Reading

Songs, songs and more songs #105: Kasbo, GusGus, Lindsey Stirling, Maddy O’Neal & COFRESI + Zerb & the Chainsmokers

(via Shutterstock) Sesame Street is always encouraging us to work with others nicely and in a spirit of fruitful cooperation and it’s heartening to see that many of the artists in this post have taken that to heart. By combining their hearts, they have given us tracks that are not Continue Reading

Movie review: Robot Dreams

(courtesy IMP Awards) Humanity is anchored and defined by its relationships. While romantic love steals much of the showy, relationally performative limelight, it is friendship that often sustains us and endures long beyond the flashy pop and fizz of eros, giving us a sure point of return in the chaotic Continue Reading

Find your rhythm and sparkle on … Thelma the Unicorn drops a funny, colourful and heartfelt trailer

(courtesy First Showing (c) Netflix) SNAPSHOTThelma is a small-time pony who dreams of becoming a glamourous music star. In a pink and glitter-filled moment of fate, Thelma is transformed into a unicorn and instantly rises to global stardom. But this new life of fame comes at a cost. Thelma the Continue Reading

Book review: Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Madden

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) How on earth do you respond with any sense of sanity or certainty when everything you have ever depended on suddenly crumbles to dust in one fateful instant? That’s the huge question that confronts Marco di Mario one particularly scary day when, fresh from finishing first Continue Reading

Movie review: Monkey Man

(courtesy IMP Awards) Revenge is a common enough them in storytelling that having it anchor yet another action thriller feature film might seem a little been-there-done-that-don’t-really-think-I-need-the-T-shirt. After all, the John Wick series aside which is as superlative as this well-worn genre gets and which deserves all the accolades bountifully handed Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2024: Week 4 – Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Czechia (Semi final 2, part 1)

The short and the short of it: Getting used to the world with Plum

(courtesy ESMA 3D) SNAPSHOTWhen Plum hatches from his egg, the little dinosaur is not ready for the universe in which he was born. Carefree and mischievous, he roams around, watched by a dragonfly. However, his innocence is shattered when he makes a terrible discovery about his world … (courtesy YouTube Continue Reading

Book review: Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky

(courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia) There is something thrillingly intense about every book that Adrian Tchaikovsky writes. While his stories aren’t necessarily told in an adrenalised pedal-to-the-metal fashion, they are always packed full of intriguing and utterly fascinating ideas that percolate with ferocity and passion out of every word and page, Continue Reading

Weekday movie character poster art: The many faces of IF

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTWhat if everything you believed as a kid was real? From the imagination of John Krasinski, enter a world you have to believe to see. From writer and director John Krasinski, IF is about a girl who discovers that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends — and Continue Reading