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Jason Williamson recommended Modus Operandi by Photek in Music (curated)

 
Modus Operandi by Photek
Modus Operandi by Photek
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Photek is moody, it really got me. The title track 'Modus Operandi' was fucking good, the tension, then the first four tracks are really good. It reminded me of CCTV, it caught the atmosphere of this emerging new world coming out the ashes, this refined capitalism, the greed of Britpop at the end of the 90s when things were becoming more intense. Very claustrophobic. They kind of merge, this album and Red Snapper. I used to like getting absolutely walloped after a gig and putting it on, fucking yeah. I was in a sort of Terry Callier type act at the time. He's fucking brilliant - he died about four years ago. That stuff doesn't make the list because it didn't influence the structure of Sleafords really, the kind of music I wanted for it or the vocal. At that time, I only really listened to jungle or drum and bass at home. I was never into those nights, fuck that, no way, I wasn't interested. By that time bar culture had come along and I liked to sit around doing lots of sniff, you know. Sit around, soaking it all in, looking like a tit, you know."

Source
  
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
1984 | Comedy
Funnier than hell, even the DVD menu is hysterical. Still insane how simultaneously convincing and silly this is while also being a dead-on accurate diagnosis of the mundanities and pretentious simplicity of rock/metal culture at the time behind the more complex but similarly demonized and opportunistic shield of the media. Goes from one ingeniously uproarious yet deceptively simple bit to the next while weaving rock-solid characters and a compelling band story out of not much more than nuts and bolts. All the songs slap, and tbh this is actually *more* quotable than people say imo - the improvisation should be but in the history books as some of cinema's most God-tier. Since everyone has their own, my favorite part? The scene where they get lost backstage at their Cleveland gig - priceless comedic perfection. Also RIP - Fred Willard, the man who could say literally anything and make it funny. Though yes... even though this pretty much launched the mockumentary as we know it today and is utterly worth the hype, I must still report that 𝘗𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳: 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 did it better.
  
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016)
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016)
2016 | Action, Animation, Crime
A cheese filled nostalgia trip
For better or for worse... The 1960s Batman tv show exists, and it will always be part of our comic book culture.

This recent animated film takes everything from that original show, and runs with it with unrelenting pride...and it's pretty damn entertaining.

Just the fact that Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar all returned for this animated adventure is absolutely fantastic, and it really plays out well.
The absolute absurdity of the 60s show lends itself well to cartoon form.
The movie is filled with silly one liners, ridiculous Bat-Gadgets, and enough charm to make even the most serious Batman fans step back and enjoy.

The only reason I didn't score this higher is purely because some of the more recent DC animated movies such as The Dark Knight Returns are genuinely fantastic, whereas a lot of this movies qualities rely on the viewer understanding and respecting the silliness of the source material. I for one am happy that this exists.

The credit sequence involves a dance off between Batman and Catwoman. Do you really need another reason to check it out!?
  
Angels and Demons
Angels and Demons
Dan Brown | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.7 (64 Ratings)
Book Rating
First published back at the turn of the century (in the year 2000), this - while the second of the two Tom Hanks starring Robert Langdon movies, after The Da Vinci Code - is actually the first book in that particular series, albeit less well known than its sequel (the aforementioned The Da Vinci Code).

And, like, I'm sure, many others, I actually read that sequel first, only later discovering it was such (although, admittedly, not a direct sequel) and going back to read the first on the series.

This is the one largely set in and around Rome, with a high-tech ticking time-bomb counting down in Vatican City as the Cardinals all meet to elect a new Pope following the death of the previous incumbent of that role. It also makes lots of the (supposed?) divide between religion and science, drawing on lots of conspiracy theories and bringing back into the realms of popular culture that old secret society, the illuminati.

I have no problem with any of that, and I do like a bit of derring-do, mystery and romance, but even I found it hard at times to swallow some of the outlandish scenarios and set pieces of this novel - I think, for me, the icing on the cake was the surviving-a-jump-out-of-a-helicopter-without-a-parachute bit towards the end!