John McCusker: John McCusker – The Best Of. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

In the blink of an eye, that is how life can suddenly appear to have to slip through our fingers, the sands of Time running unnervingly, mechanically fast, as if spurred on by clockwork, and if we are not careful all we have to show for our lives is empty promises, the empty vessels of what could have been.

Beats & Pieces Big Band: Good Days. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We rightly applaud the solo performer in their pursuit and dedication to portraying their truth on stage, the sweat and perspiration on the brow of solo artist of the crowd focusing all their attention on the weapon of choice, the guitar, the voice, any instrument in which the Good Days and melancholic wonders can combine in time to fill the void left by silence.

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Mark Gatiss, Nicholas Farrell, James Backway, Angelina Chudi, Joni Ayton-Kent, Zak Ford-Williams, Aoife Gaston, Edward Harrison, Sarah Ridgeway, Joe Shire, Christopher Godwin.

We must put the time of year into perspective, we must understand the reasons, or even accept that there are none in which seem logical, that Christmas as a holiday has become one of division and brimming with its own sense of dogma.

Avenue 5. Series 2. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Hugh Laurie, Josh Gad, Zach Woods, Rebecca Front, Suzy Nakamura, Lenora Crichlow, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ethan Phillips, Himesh Patel, Jessica St. Clair, Kyle Bornheimer, Andy Buckley, Daisy May Cooper, Ada, Pålsson, Neil Casey, Lucy Punch, Justin Edwards, John Finnemore, Sacharissa Claxton, Leila Farzad, Jonathan Aris, Arsher Ali, Kelly Coughlin, Julian Ovenden, Priyanga Burford, David Fynn, Julianna Kurokawa, Joanna Scanlan, Amanda Lawrence.

To be given the opportunity to study the craft of a genius, that is surely all any writer or observer of life can ever hope to be gifted, and to be involved with one of Britain’s foremost political satirists and writers of modern farce, even in a viewing capacity, must be at the very least, sheer heaven.

Graham Mackenzie: The Dawning. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Every country has its selling point, the one that is actually not for sale, but which can inspire those who love it to the point where they act as reference for the tourist board and see their work framed as a reason for the visitor to choose the area as a place of existential worship.

Christine & The Queens: Redcar Les Adorables Étoiles. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To be in the company of those that refuse to be placed in comfortable boxes for the benefit of others, is to acknowledge that life is beautifully varied, and we all have the right to have our own truth, if not celebrated, then at least acknowledged for their truth to be heard.

We are fluid, in the eyes of who know us we are not the same person, it comes down to perception, and perceptions are unclear, they are assortments of the larger picture, and it is the same in art, for what one person finds unrealistic, perhaps confusing in one album, they can find demanding and pleasurable in another…and often by the same artist.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Jude Law, Eddie Redmayne, Mads Mikkelsen, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Jessica Williams, Ezra Miller, Callum Turner, Richard Coyle, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Maja Bloom, Paul Low-Hang, William Nadylam, Victoria Yeates, Manuel Klein, Aleksander Kuznetsov, Oliver Masucci, Valerie Pachner, Dave Wong, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Lucas Englander, Fiona Glascott, Matthias Bremner, Peter Simonischek, Katherine Waterston.

Ghosts: It’s Behind You. Christmas Special 2022. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Lolly Adefope, Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond.

Making plans and celebrating special occasions is a staple of humanity’s need for order, and Christmas is perhaps the time when those plans, carefully drawn to the minute with military like precision, are likely to come apart at the seams, fraying at the edge, causing upset and damage to the one so immersed in believing that to be perfect is the least that is acceptable.

Inside No.9: The Bones of St. Nicholas. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Simon Callow, Shobna Gulati.

Never mind Halloween, if you want to feel the chill of fear wrap its clawed hand around your heart and mind, then Christmas is the time in which the intoxication of the spirit is more than just filling a glass of your favourite tipple, it is the beginning and the end of all things rational.

I Hate Susie Too. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Billie Piper, Daniel Ings, Leila Farzad, Matthew Jordan-Caws, Lorraine Ashbourne, Phil Daniels, Douglas Hodge, Blake Harrison, Elle Piper, Katy Trafford, Bessie Carter, Layton Williams, Omari Douglas, Reza Diako, Gary Lamont, Jolyon Coy, Ayesha Antoine, Angela Sant’Albano, Yasser Zadeh, Tobi Ejirele, Emmanuel Kome, Fred Fergus, Anastasia Jille, Peter Caulfield, Jude Mack, Elijah W Harris, Bea Svistunenko, Craig McCulloch, Lucy Martin, Sandra Huggett, Ambika Mod.

It is perhaps to be thankful that for the vast majority of us, someone like Suzie Pickles is but a figure to whom we might only come across when we are confronted with when they make a bee line to inject concern and chaos into our lives.