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Pete Wareham recommended Shofna Gamar by Mahmoud Fadl in Music (curated)

 
Shofna Gamar by Mahmoud Fadl
Shofna Gamar by Mahmoud Fadl
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Basically, after that Ali Hussan Kuban revelation, I started searching high and low for as much of this music as I could possibly find. And then I started looking further. I started googling musicians in the Nile. For me, I found that it was only music from Nubia that had a certain thing about it. Arabic music, from further north, I love it and it's beautiful. I listen to a lot of that but it's more refined than Nubian music. That's not to say that Nubian music isn't sophisticated, but there's something a bit more direct about the Nubian stuff. A bit more punk-rock. I was looking for this music, and I found Mahmoud Fadl. There were these albums called Drummers of the Nile. It's slightly instructional in that they name a rhythm and then they play the rhythm. It's quite a journey through that whole type of music. This track 'Shofna Gamar', it's a pentatonic melody. Jimi Hendrix, the blues, R&B - a lot of stuff comes from pentatonic scales and it feels to me that these Nubian rhythms are the roots of our rhythmic appreciation. One of the big things in Melt Yourself Down was, if I take these ancient rhythms and just change the aesthetic of them so they sound modern, would it feel like modern music? It does. So I came to the conclusion that there's something in these rhythms that we really respond to and I think the same with pentatonic scales, I've always been really drawn to them. So 'Shofna Gamar' is an amazing way of making pentatonic scales feel really fresh, so joyful."

Source
  
Batman the Killing Joke
Batman the Killing Joke
Brian Bolland, Alan Moore | 2008 | Fiction & Poetry
10
7.4 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
I went to London Super Comic Con on Friday and bought a few image books/graphic novels (I can't wait to read them!) and decided to start taking advantage of my boyfriend's extensive comic/graphic novel collection. As I've been intending to readĀ The Killing JokeĀ for ages now, I decided to start with that.

The edition I read included an introduction by Tim Sales, an afterword by Brian Bolland, and a final scene written and illustrated by Bolland.

This is one of the most famous and successful novels - and I can see why. The story is just fantastic - the Joker tries to prove that anyone can go insane after just one bad day, using Jim Gordon as his example. The colour palettes are so cleverly thought out, giving an eerie, creepy tone to most scenes, while the Joker's (possible) origin story is mostly black and white with just small details in red.

Batman is obviously included, but is not a massive character in this story. The focus is on the Gordons and the Joker.

I really loved this. The origin story for the Joker that's included can be taken as true or false - the Joker makes a comment about not actually remembering his past, and liking it to be "multiple choice". This gives the reader the choice of believing it or not. And the Joker's ways of putting Jim Gordon through hell are definitely in line with his character.

The Joker always fascinates me, and I would love to read all his stories. But whether you're a "fan" of his or not, this book is definitely worth the read. 5 stars; an fantastic novel.
  
Logan Lucky (2017)
Logan Lucky (2017)
2017 | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Jimmy Logan is down on his lucky, his busted knee from college football has just lost him another job. His brother wants you to believe it's the Logan's curse plaguing their family again. That nonsense isn't going to stop Jimmy, getting something out of his life. He's got a plan.

There's going to be a robbery.



It doesn't matter how often I see the title, my brain always recalls it as Lucky Logan, it sounds so much better that way round.

I enjoyed this one, I'm glad I saw it, but I don't think I'll need to see it again. At 119 minutes long it was a little painful to watch, not because it was bad, but because it felt like every minute of that time. I actually checked the clock because I thought it must have been ending soon and it had only been on for an hour.

Despite that, all the stars worked really well on screen together. It was a little off to see Craig in that role, but he played it with a nice amusing spin. I just went on a fun little Kevin Bacon loop as well, as I didn't realise there was a Gleeson in it... "wait, he's not the one I know" after a few click I realised that this one's brother was in American Made... small world!

It's a fun story line, and you do get a bit of an Ocean's feel about the whole thing. It is pretty much Ocean's Eleven with hillbillies. The ending did amuse me. I'm not sure why they left it like that, but it does leave you wondering...
  
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Elli H Burton (1288 KP) rated Bumblebee (2018) in Movies

Sep 19, 2019 (Updated Sep 19, 2019)  
Bumblebee (2018)
Bumblebee (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A transformers film that everyone can enjoy. (2 more)
It actually fits in as a prequel to the first transformers.
Actually made me smile, a feel good film!
Pleasantly surprised
Firstly, thank you Smashbomb for my free Bumblebee DVD!
I was sceptical with yet ANOTHER transformers film, but after seeing it happens before Sam Witwicky met bumblebee i felt like it was worth a shot!
It doesn't follow the same pattern as the other installments of the franchise (in a good way) it's actually got some heart behind the story. Theres action but not too much, enough of a build up to set in motion what happens in Transformers 1.
I love how they showed what happened to bumblebees voice, how he found his Camero alias and how his relationship with Humans managed to become so good. It was a prequel that was made as if it was actually made before the first, like all prequels should be (but unfortunately it's not always the case). It doesn't create anymore questions, start new, never to be finished storylines, it was a straight forward set up.
I honestly thought I'd have another flop on my hands but genuinely enjoyed it and would watch it again.
I didn't feel as though it was another stab at a worn out franchise either, it was fresh and heart warming, a movie in it's own right. Someone could come in completely new to Transformers and the whole world it has created and fall in love with it from this, like I said, it fits in perfectly.
Definitely recommend guys, it's actually a lovely action film!
  
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MelanieTheresa (997 KP) rated Yesterday (2019) in Movies

Sep 23, 2019 (Updated Sep 23, 2019)  
Yesterday (2019)
Yesterday (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Fantasy, Music
Better than I thought it would be.
Contains spoilers, click to show
Failing musician gets hit by a car during a mysterious worldwide 12-second blackout, and wakes up to a world in which The Beatles never existed (also never existed: Coca-Cola, cigarettes (?), and Harry Potter). Musician claims the songs as his own and becomes an overnight sensation.

(There are also the rom-com elements: failing musician is oblivious to the feelings of his friend-slash-manager until he's uber-famous and it's almost too late, friend-slash-manager starts seeing someone else, etc.)

Evidently, there are two other people in the world who also remember The Beatles, and though the movie attempts to make you think there may be something sinister happening there (*gasp* are they going to expose him??), there isn't. These two people aren't even mad that the musician is claiming he wrote the songs; they're just happy to hear the songs again.

There's a pretty great sequence in which our main character looks up John Lennon (played by Robert Carlyle) and goes to visit him, because hey, if The Beatles never existed, then it follows that John must still be alive, right? I didn't even think of that until he showed up on screen, but it seemed like a quietly brilliant piece of the movie.

So what caused the mysterious 12-second blackout and the disappearance of The Beatles (and Coca-Cola, cigarettes, Harry Potter)? I HAVE NO IDEA BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T TELL US. Anybody who knows me will tell you I always need to know the "why" of things, so this mostly happily-ever-after ending left me super frustrated.
  
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