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A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism

Mark Pedelty

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On the coast of Washington and British Columbia sit the misty forests and towering mountains of...

ClareR (6067 KP) rated The Bass Rock in Books

May 29, 2020 (Updated May 29, 2020)

The Bass Rock

Evie Wyld | 2020 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

8.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

The Bass Rock is based around three different women: Sarah, Ruth and Viviane - and of course, the Bass Rock seems to be a constant. It really exists, I've googled it, and it's off the coast of North Berwick in Scotland. This is where the story is set.

The novel looks at a lot of themes over the years: the role of women, both their expected role and what they actually want to do; relationships between men and women, and those relationships between women as well; cruelty and abuse; and mental health is an important theme, and indeed is central to a great many of the characters.

It's just the kind of book that I enjoy reading, both in style and thematic content. Sometimes you just need a book that ticks along, one that's in no rush to get where it's going. If that makes you think that this is a boring book, it really isn't. There's a lot going on in these timelines, the characters have a lot of things to deal with in their relationships and lives in general, but I never felt rushed. It's a book that I wanted to last. In fact, I really do think that this has been an ideal book to read during this coronavirus lockdown. I think that it will also be a book that I gift to other people.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me my ebook copy.

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Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) in Movies

Sep 2, 2023

Not as good as first 2

Contains spoilers, click to show

We're back for the third and final installment of Pitch Perfect! The Bellas are singing "toxic" as the movie opens on a boat off the coast of France; however, as Amy enters carrying a fire extinguisher, the boat explodes, and the girls jump off.

Backtrack three weeks, and Rebecca is now making music. Unfortunately, a mediocre band with a horrible attitude makes her reevaluate her work, and she decides to resign. The Bellas attend a reunion, but they are given the short end of the stick since they believe they were invited to sing when in fact they were only there to listen to another group sing. The Bellas realise they need to sing together again upon hearing the other group, so they fly to Spain to perform for the army. However, the performance ends up being a competition as all the bands engage in an extended riff off. The bellas begin to worry when they understand they must compete against bands who play their own instruments.

Similar to the other films in the trilogy, the singing portions in this one are fantastic and infectious, and the last song gave me chills. The storyline wasn't as enjoyable this time around, though. Eliminate the entire Amy and her bad dad plot, which was over the top and inconsistent with the rest of the film; otherwise, the film would have been just as entertaining as the others.