Smashbomb

"It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’ was on the first CD that I remember buying. I had a little purple plastic CD rack and it was one of the most played on that. I loved the piano and I started playing the piano around that age, so it felt relatable for me. Again, I just loved the drama; it’s like a seven or eight minute long song, it’s so amazing, who does that? No one does that! It took me on such a story, the visuals are so clear, even now I can still feel that intense drama. Celine Dion’s amazing, it’s like watching a movie, honestly, listening to those kinds of songs. “So that was ’96, so I was nine. I was quite a melancholy child. My mum would put me to bed and I’d always get up and walk around upstairs, where there wasn’t really anywhere to walk around. I would just walk around the bathroom, sit at the top of the stairs, hold the staircase and stare out. I really was quite melancholy and I now understand mental health issues as an adult - like I had, you know, anxiety, OCD, depression; I had so much emotion. I mean that was just me as a really morose, melancholy nine year old, I really felt that intensity. “Those emotional songs can be the cloak that you wrap yourself in. I was drawn to the drama of those kinds of songs, definitely. I mean, those are pretty intense sad songs for a little kid."

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The Hierarchies

Ros Anderson

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Your Husband is the reason for your existence. You are here to serve him. You must not harm your...

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2318 KP) rated Once Upon Another Time in Books

Apr 7, 2022

A Second Magical Remix of Fairytales

Lena is small for a giant, but she is still ready to participate in her first Ritual of the Spark ceremony. However, when she does go, things don’t go the way she thought they would, and she finds herself running to visit her friends in the Cursed City. Meanwhile, Jin, a genie in training, finds himself on a mission for his current master, the Golden King. The king is trying to capture the Last Knight, the leaders of the rebels, and his current hiding place is supposed to be the Cursed City. What will happen when both Lena and Jin get there?

I’ve been reading author James Riley since his first book came out, and when I found out he was returning to that world for a new trilogy, I was thrilled. This book stands on its own, although there are a few references to things from the earlier books. We alternate chapters from Lena and Jin’s points-of-view, so we get to know them both well. I liked them and several of the other characters here. The further into the book I read, the more I was hooked on the story as the characters faced more obstacles. With that ending, I’m glad the next is coming out this fall. The target middle grade audience will love this series, and anyone looking for a fun take on familiar characters will be glad they picked it up no matter what their age.

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Blue Skies (Collier's Creek)

Nic Starr

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

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Coming to Collier’s Creek is the best decision they’ll ever make. When Kit arrives in the...

Contemporary MM Romance

A Touch of Frost

Renee R. Harper

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In a world where magic is outlawed, a shy 20-year-old tavern maid enlists in the military to learn...

fantasy

Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Sixteen Candles (1984) in Movies

May 3, 2018

Fun 80's Comedy

Samantha's (Molly Ringwald) family is busy, so busy in fact that they forgot her sixteenth birthday. Samantha has to cope with this while dealing with various misadventures surrounding her life. It's an innocent 80's comedy that takes you on a fun ride from beginning to end.

Acting: 10

Beginning: 10

Characters: 10

Cinematography/Visuals: 8
There are a number of memorable shots that stick out, including the opening scene where you're first introduced to Samantha's family in her Chicago home. Everything is pure chaos causing for a hilarious beginning. A number of other scenes stick out from Samantha's grandma feeling her up to Samantha's convo with The Geek (Anthony Michael Hall) inside the hollowed-out car in the school's garage. A lot of different set pieces kept the film interesting.

Conflict: 6
One of the weaker portions of the film for me. So people forgot her birthday, boo hoo. Don't get me wrong, Samantha is a very likable character and there was a large part of me that felt sorry for her. I'm just not sure her situation warranted an entire film. Perhaps a different angle would have created more conflict for me.

Genre: 8
Very solid 80's comedy. You can't name films within the decade that stand out without mentioning this one. Coming of age films? This ranks right up there although not quite as strong as some of the ones I've seen in recent years, masterpieces like Boyhood and Lady Bird.

Memorability: 10

Pace: 10

Plot: 7
The story itself is fine. It's believable even as comedies go. Again, the lack of conflict made things a little bland for me. I will say that the number of memorable moments helped pick up the slack from what the film lacked in conflict.

Resolution: 3

Overall: 82
Another 80's classic I can check off the list. A fun film that still stands the test of time.

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You Can't Get Much Closer Than This: Combat with Company H, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division

Andrew Z. Adkins

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In 1943, Andrew Z. Adkins, Jr. joined the 80th Infantry Division, then undergoing its final training...

Rat Scabies recommended Innervisions by Stevie Wonder in Music (curated)

Innervisions by Stevie Wonder

1973 | Rock

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Album Favorite

"It's one of the classic records of all time, but I remember when this came out I wasn't particularly a Stevie Wonder fan. He'd done the singles and he was a Tamla pop artist really, wearing a suit, and I thought I'd got him labelled. But then this record came out and it was like his coming of age almost. It's like a small journey, listening to this album. It has a very positive beginning and ending, from side one right through to the last track. And that whole thing of here I am in New York, that wonderful idea of bringing in sound effects of street sounds that gave a different atmosphere and set the scene for what you're about to hear. I think most bands wanted to do that kind of thing but it was very easy for it to take over, so it was mostly left to the Pink Floyds of this world. But for somebody to do it just on the one track worked really well. And he played drums on this album, too. That was the weird thing, because when you listen to the drums it doesn't sound like a drummer. The things he plays aren't instinctive, so there's a different kind of musicality to what he's doing, and where it goes and where he puts things and where he hits the toms and where he does crashes and stuff like that. In some ways it was very brave of him, because let's face it he could've got any drummer to do it. But it gives it what I suppose these days you'd call an artisan quality, but I think of it as an earthy feel. Otherwise everything would be too perfect on this record. You have to have imperfection to give it character and personality. I think there's something about imperfection that puts you more in touch with what you're listening to, because you're not alienated by something that's unachievable. This record has that by the sack full"

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