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Rob Halford recommended Queen II by Queen in Music (curated)

 
Queen II by Queen
Queen II by Queen
1974 | Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"When I think about why I love Queen my head just fills with every single Queen song that I know by heart. It's just like a box of Quality Street. Everything is amazing. The reason that I've chosen the second album is because the song 'Ogre Battle' is on there, which is one of my favourite tracks. It's rare that you struggle to label a band. If you're a heavy metal band you're meant to look and sound like a heavy metal band but you can't really call Queen anything. They could be a pop band one day or the band that wrote 'Bicycle Race' the next and a full-blown metal band the next. In terms of the depth of the musical landscape that they covered, it was very similar to some extent to the Beatles. I mean 'Helter Skelter' was a pretty heavy track, and 'Yellow Submarine' really wasn't. I think Queen have a lot of similar ingredients. Everybody was writing the songs as well, so Freddie was writing differently to John Deacon, and then John was writing differently to Roger [Taylor, drummer]. They were all accepting each other though, and nobody was sat there saying that they couldn't do something because it didn't sound like Queen. If it was a good song they'd record it, and this album is nothing but good songs. It's a style that we've tried to adopt into Judas Priest. A good song is a good song at the end of the day, and there's no point in wasting time arguing about whether Priest are supposed to sound like the British Steel record or the Painkiller record or whatever. I felt such a sense of loss when Freddie died, but he fucking loved his life. He partied like a maniac. I've lost a lot of friends to AIDS and it's such a terrible thing to have to suffer through. Such a cruel condition to be taken by. From what I've seen and heard there's a horrible sense of loss in those early days. There was a lot of rejection and almost pariah-like status heaped upon you by people. And it's still around today, which is so sad and unfair. It's interesting though, because I don't know if Freddie would still have been doing what he did now. Would he still be going out on the road with Brian and Roger, who, by the way, I love? Especially Adam [Lambert]. But Freddie would have been 70-something I think, and I get a feeling that at some point, he would have just said, "I've had enough now darling." We lost him, but he left behind such an incredible legacy and canon of work. I listen to Queen almost every day still."

Source
  
The Lost Files of the M.B.R.C
The Lost Files of the M.B.R.C
K M Shea | 2021 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
4 of 250
Kindle
The lost files of the Magical Beings: A MBRC anthology: A Chicago urban fantasy comedy
By K.M. Shea

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

The Lost Files of the MBRC is an anthology of five MBRC short stories--three of which have never before been released.

When Morgan decided to stay employed at the Magical Beings' Rehabilitation Center, she thought her life might quiet down as she started college and developed her career. She thought wrong.

In between balancing her relationship with Devin the Pook and planning for MBRC domination with her reluctant business partner, Aysel, Morgan chauffeurs around a reclusive Kraken, continues to play the lute at Asahi and Kadri's annual marriage celebration, and pulls all-nighter study sessions for college. Thankfully, her old friends - like Madeline, Frank, and Frey - are still around to wreak havoc and fun!

This was one of my favourite series last year! This is 5 short stories just tying up lose ends!
It’s fantastic to read I’m how they are all doing and how settled it’s become! Nice end to a fab series!
  
It: Chapter Two (2019)
It: Chapter Two (2019)
2019 | Horror, Thriller
A textbook example of how to have a lot going for you and still show a flagrant disregard for the intelligence of your audience. On paper the grown up cast, representing the gang of kids from the first movie 27 years later, is stellar. But after several back to back scenes of exposition, catch-up and backstory nonsense, even the likes of James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain have lost the will to live (as actors, their characters just won’t fucking die). This film is almost 3 hours long! And I just can’t explain why anyone thought that was necessary. It isn’t as if it is super complicated. It is basically a repetition of hide and seek jump scares painted large in awful CGI over and over again, whilst the “plot” gets more and more lost and we care less and less about the adult kids by the minute. I guess, like the first one, it is almost watchable if you don’t want to think too deeply and don’t mind watching every horror cliche ever rehashed ad nauseum. The end is bonkers too, by the way. Minor cult status, but that is… it.
  
The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior (The Lost Arts #1)
The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior (The Lost Arts #1)
Ellie Ash | 2025 | LGBTQ+, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
THE LOST ART OF SEDUCING A MAGE WARRIOR is the first book in The Lost Arts series and does NOT give you everything all at once, which I loved!

Perian is a charismatic character, effortlessly drawing others to him. He is aware of this but doesn't weaponise it. When he is attacked by three men who don't understand that "No" is a complete sentence, he thinks his time is up. Instead, he is rescued by Brannal, a Mage Warrior, who takes him back to the Queen's castle to recover. If Perian is the sunshine one, then Brannal is the grumpy one, although this description doesn't fit either of them perfectly.

There are plenty of misunderstandings between Perian and Brannal, which I actually loved to read. They are at the beginning of a new relationship, with lots of things going on and different characters in the mix, so, surprisingly, they're not that good at communicating. When they do speak to each other, they both admit it is something they need to work on, and that neither of them will get it right all the time. It made a refreshing change to read that, rather than unnecessary angst.

The ending was satisfying for now, but I oh-so-desperately want more! Lots of loose threads that I want tying up! A great story and a brilliant beginning to the series. Definitely recommended by me.

** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
May 9, 2025
  
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Characters and acting (0 more)
Unconvincing social commentary (0 more)
A very different movie from the Marvel universe, Spiderman: Home coming, made perhaps the most overdone movie superhero fresh and exciting again. And how did they do that? Going back to the basics of who and what the character is: A high school kid, who looks like, acts like, and think like a high school kid.

Well acted on both sides of the good and evil, Tom Holland gives us an endearing Spiderman and follows up on his introduction in Captain America: Civil War. The Vulture, Spiderman's villain this go around, played by Micheal Keaton, has the one thing most superhero villains lack: a believable motive.


That's the one place where I think there was a little room to grow in this movie. There are hints of trying to make a social commentary on the military industrial complex and it's effect on the average citizen, but a lot of that gets lost in a visual action story. A small gripe, but, I think, a fair critique.


All in all, one of the stronger and more fun and enjoyable Marvel films to date.
  
Between The Lies
Between The Lies
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Chloe Daniels was in a terrible car accident, but when she wakes up, she has no idea who she is or who the people around her are. Not only has Chloe lost her memory, but she has also lost her son in this terrible accident. With flashes of what could have happened that night, Chloe is determined to find out the truth. But her family keeps filling her head with falsehoods that are hindering her from finding out what is really going on. Still weak from her accident and still unsure which memories are real and which have been implanted, Chloe set out to find out what happened that night and who she was then and who she is today.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the opportunity to read and review this book.

First of all, I don't know what I would do, if I woke up one day and had no idea who I was or who the people around me were. Then to find out that my family had been keeping secrets from me and trying to rewrite my history, that would make me go berserk. But Chloe is able to keep her composure long enough to discover what is really going on.

The book started off a little slow for me, but about half way through the story picked up and I couldn't put it down after that. Lots of ups and downs and twists and turns. When you find out the truth, it's really hard to believe. At first I was sure I knew what was going on, but towards the end, I found out I was very wrong. Chloe remembers nothing, but in her dreams she sees flashes of what could have happened. Are these dreams real, or are the manifestations? From what her family and the police tell her, they can't be real, but it feels true to her core. Chloe will go against everyone that is trying to "protect" her in order to protect herself.

This is the first book I have read by Michelle Adams, but it will not be my last. Her other book is If You Knew My Sister.
  
The Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
The Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
6
7.7 (33 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Part three in The Maze Runner series, our young hero Thomas embarks on a mission to find a cure for a deadly disease known as the "Flare".



Because I'd never read the books I never saw the first two in this series... but I was getting desperate for things to watch, I was physically twitchy because the end of the month was coming and I was perilously low on films, so I binged watched the first two in the nights running up to this one and booked myself a ticket.

I enjoyed them as a whole, and I'm glad I watched them back to back because I don't feel like they were as strong individually. There were some feelings of Lost ending issues... but I suppose I'm going to have to let that go.

Unless I missed something, I feel like there were too many questions left unanswered, and in this film in particular, several moments that made me a little annoyed. Like seriously... half of those things didn't need to happen the way they did!

Since seeing them I've ordered myself the five books to read (or not read, as my TBR gets perilously tall), there's something sitting in the back of my mind telling me that the books will be better, I may be back to change my rating.