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Nick Rhodes recommended Nightclubbing by Grace Jones in Music (curated)

 
Nightclubbing by Grace Jones
Nightclubbing by Grace Jones
1981 | Rock
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I’m a huge admirer of Grace Jones in many, many ways. She came out of the fashion industry, made a disco record and then went on to make three classic records that I think are some of the greatest sounding things anyone has ever put out there. Those albums were produced by Alex Sadkin and Chris Blackwell, who had worked with Bob Marley before that. We first worked with Alex Sadkin on ‘Is There Something I Should Know?’ and he went on to produce Seven And The Ragged Tiger and the Arcadia album with me. So, we worked very closely with Alex and the reason we wanted to work with him at all was because of the Grace Jones album. I was so astounded when I heard the sound on Nightclubbing – the depth, quality and clarity of instrumentation and the vibe of it. I couldn’t understand how anyone had ever captured that. I needed to work with this person somehow and fortunately Alex turned out to be one of our great collaborations. Grace combined her style with a reggae influence, with a certain pop sensibility and with grooves that people could dance to and created something that only she could have done. It was entirely original and everyone in Duran Duran loves Grace Jones. We’ve played her records more than most other artists. We got to know Grace and hung out with her quite a lot. She did the Bond movie [A View To A Kill] that we were on the soundtrack for and she is did a cameo on ‘Election Day’ for Arcadia. I also think Grace is one of the most fascinating performers out there. The stuff she used to do with Jean-Paul Goude – the photography, the videos, the album covers – was so stylish. They had great taste. I truly love the songs on Nightclubbing. The original of the title track is on Iggy Pop’s The Idiot - which I love – written by Bowie and Iggy. The song had the darkest vibe you could imagine being done in Berlin during that period and that Grace took it and made it so different and beautiful was really something. Often with a cover you either like the original or the cover – with ‘Nightclubbing’ they are both great."

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Mentor, The
Mentor, The
Lee Matthew Goldberg | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Oh, I’m so sad I can only give this book a 3 star review. I really wanted to love this one! The synopsis sounds so dark, intense and creepy, but it let me down in that department… almost completely!

The first 40% of this book was definitely enthralling, at times silly and over the top, but still exciting to read. The characters were interesting, the story was moving along nicely and the writing was simple, but not bad. It was about when I got to 50% that I realised I was getting a little bit bored by this novel.

Characters in this one weren’t so bad. They were well developed and even though there were a fair few number of them, we did get to know them individually, quite well. My problem was that they were pretty unbelievable and I didn’t really like any of them. I’m not sure if Kyle was meant to come across as an anti-hero, but that’s kind of what he felt like… although for me, it was mostly anti, less hero. I really didn’t like the introduction to the character as being a semi-graphic description of the sex he had with his girlfriend.

The plot for this book sounded amazing! An English professor writes a depraved book that sounds like an unsolved murder case from years ago? Is it just a coincidence or is it something more sinister? Doesn’t that sounds amazing? Well, it isn’t, I hate to say! Yes, this professor does write a depraved, and terribly written, book about kidnapping a girl but it doesn’t allude to the fact it might be about a cold case until around the 60% mark, which is ridiculous!

At 336 pages, this isn’t a long novel, but it definitely could have been cut down! Most of this novel was a very repetitive back and forth between Kyle and his mad professor. Repetition like this in books is something I absolutely despise and with each new chapter, I could feel myself losing the will to read this book.

That was my first issue with the writing, and then my annoyance moved on to the number of spelling, grammatical and sentence structure errors. Considering this novel was about an editor, you would have thought the real editor would have caught the vast number of cock ups in this book!

I got very irritated by this novel towards the end. The story was convoluted, silly and unrealistic. I got to the point of skimming pages in the ending chapters, yes, it was that disappointing. Not to mention this wasn’t creepy or tense at all. It was pretty predictable all the way through and the ending was a cheap way out.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this novel. It gets 3 stars because I did enjoy the first 40% or so, but the story became silly and I couldn’t get over the number of errors in the writing.
  
All We Ever Wanted
All We Ever Wanted
Emily Giffin | 2018 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
10
8.2 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow. Just wow. This book is SO relevant right now with the #metoo movement and #timesup. It breaks my heart to realize how often stories like this happen, to anyone, of any age or social/financial status - there is no discrimination, and sadly there just isn't enough conversation about these topics. I applaud Emily Giffin for writing this book.

I had no idea in detail what this story was about when I requested it from NetGalley. I like to be surprised with Emily's books, and I've never read one I didn't like. And I sure was surprised by this one! It's almost like, "If you could walk in someone's shoes" - I felt like i was dropped into this book, as if I was in on a secret, and I just sat back and watched the secrets unravel and unfold.

Something happened to Lyla. Something not good at all. It started with a bunch of elite private high school kids (and some not-so-privileged) at a party, with a lot of alcohol... and you can just imagine it from there. Something happens. Accusations fly, lies are told, people unravel, secrets come out, and trusts are broken.
This books tells the story from several angles and I found myself so attached to them all. They are so well written I honestly felt as if I was in a mother's head, a father's mind and in the thoughts of a 16 year old girl.

I sailed through this, as I do most of Emily's books because I love her writing style and how easily I can just jump into her stories. I wanted to find out more, I wanted justice, and I craved a neat and tidy resolution, but we all know these types things are never neat and tidy.

This book is important. I wish everyone would read this. Although every #metoo story is different, this casts a glimpse into how each and every incident causes so, so much pain, to so many people - and ultimately how getting these types of stories out in the world, can hopefully ease some of that pain by helping and educating others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to review this amazing book.
  
Void Moon
Void Moon
Michael Connelly | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Six years ago, Cassie Black’s life went wrong when a casino hotel robbery went very wrong. She’s served time in prison and is now ten months into serving parole when she finds herself needing cash, so she takes on one last job, which takes her back to the casino where the job went wrong six years before. Is this job the windfall it appears to be or will it go wrong as well?

I’m being rather vague in my teaser because, like most Michael Connelly books, this is one you need to experience for yourself. I did find the beginning a little slow and technical, but when it took off, it grabbed me and I was along for the ride. This was despite the fact that I didn’t love any of the major characters. I can’t find myself rooting for a criminal, so it wasn’t until we met some characters even worse than Cassie that I found myself rooting for her.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/12/book-review-void-moon-by-michael.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Mulan (1998)
Mulan (1998)
1998 | Action, Animation, Family
Worth Fighting For (0 more)
Mulan- is a strange movie, cause it came out after "The Lion King". And the movie's after "The Lion King" were stange. What im saying is after "The Lion King", disney decided to go really strange/a huge left turn/didn't expect that/disappointed and overall a huge downfall. But i will get to those movies. Oh this is one of them.

Mulan does have good songs like.."True To Your Heart", "Reflection", "Honor To All Of Us" and "Ill Make A Man Out Of You".

The plot: Fearful that her ailing father will be drafted into the Chinese military, Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) takes his spot -- though, as a girl living under a patriarchal regime, she is technically unqualified to serve. She cleverly impersonates a man and goes off to train with fellow recruits. Accompanied by her dragon, Mushu (Eddie Murphy), she uses her smarts to help ward off a Hun invasion, falling in love with a dashing captain along the way.

Its a good movie, i liked it.
  
The Retro Podcast Massacre
The Retro Podcast Massacre
TV & Film
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Podcast Rating
There are so many great things in this podcast, I sat down to listen to 10 minutes and ended up binging a few episodes by accident. There's fantastic humour, a selection of popular and obscure horror films, skits that will make you chuckle and a super bonus occasionally of cat content... oooh, plus a feature called Pets In Peril which is something I didn't even know I needed!

Apart from all that... the host's voice sounds like it has been pulled out of a classic horror film, or perhaps from narrating The Twilight Zone, it's glorious and I have never heard such beautiful swearing.

Possibly the most impressive thing is the production, this is a gold standard for podcasting as far as I'm concerned. I don't think I've heard such a fantastically crafted piece of audio. All of those things above were wonderful on their own, but add in sound effects and music and well... it's spooky season, go and check it out yourself and see why I love it so much.