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Stalking the Goddess
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Stalking The Goddess by Mark Carter is not a book to be taken lightly or to be read as a fill-in. This book deserves your attention as Mark Carter has tried to do the near-impossible and unravel a book that has long been thought of as a Pagan Must-Have. The White Goddess by Robert Graves has long been considered as one of the ultimate books for a Pagan to own, with links to the Welsh Celtic path and showing how, through poetry, that paganism lived on through the ages.

Stalking The Goddess is written like a thesis or dissertation from a university so will appeal to any academically-minded out there. This did make it quite hard going at times and I would read some and then take a break to digest what I had read.

Mark Carter has “untangled the woods” of The White Goddess and made it more accessible to the Pagan who would like to know more about it and where Robert Graves got his sources. Mark Carter has made it possible to see who has influenced Robert Graves, both in a positive and also a negative way, by showing whose work was used and which was not.

One of the things that I found most interesting was that although The White Goddess boasts a Welsh Celtic basis, Robert Graves had actually pulled on stories from the whole of Europe, as well as from the Bible, the Jews and used stories from the Saracens to compile his book and it somehow all seemed to fit which is where Mark Carter has excelled. Star Wars even makes an appearance!

In no way is Mark Carter dismissing The White Goddess and even states in the Epilogue that without The White Goddess it is unlikely that paganism would have developed as it did.

Overall, I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the history of The White Goddess, or for someone who has an academic “twist”. Thought provoking and a very interesting read.
  
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2007)
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2007)
2007 | Action, Comedy, Horror
7
7.2 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I used to be a plumber
Jack brooks: monster slayer pays homage to movies like Evil dead, from dusk till dawn & gremlins.

After witnessing his family's brutal murder as a child, he grows up with an unquenching fury he is constantly fighting.
After accidentally unleashing an ancient evil during a plumbing job, his client/professor (Robert Englund) becomes possessed and mutates into a gruesome monster with an undying hunger.
This results in Jack facing his fears he can no longer run from and discover the purpose of his inner rage.

This is a great movie that honestly pays off, a low budget project that deserves a franchise.

Starring Trevor Mathews & Robert Englund

Story by: John Ainslie; Jon Knautz; Trevor Matthews; Patrick White
Directed by: Jon Knautz
Release date: October 9, 2007 (Sitges Film Festival); July 25, 2008 (Canada); August
  
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Frank Black recommended Franks Wild Years by Tom Waits in Music (curated)

 
Franks Wild Years by Tom Waits
Franks Wild Years by Tom Waits
1987 | Rock
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Tom Waits really brings a lot of showbiz into his records. It’s in there in the actual songwriting. He knows how to strip things down and get to some skeletal place that’s really strong. He’s trying to be true to his Jazz and his Blues. That is to be admired. There’s a lot of the textures you don’t hear so much. All that vocabulary is really seductive. I think that he’s a good songwriter whatever record you talk about of his. It’s not because there’s some fucking guy playing a saw. It’s like the Bruce Springsteen thing. It’s stripped down, universal, folky bluesy stuff. He’s trying to say: “You guys think you can change things overnight. Forget the new thing. What about Django Reinhart? Son House?” It’s like the Grand Duchy thing. People get obsessed with our production like, “What’s the new story?” It’s admirable when people say: “What about 1949, man?!” At first, I heard a cool White Stripes record and thought: “Who do you think you are, Robert Johnson?” And I get jealous. Fucking A! man. It’s like primal Led Zeppelin or something. But at the end of the day, I always end up respecting Jack White. [Black does an impression of the 'Seven Nation Army' riff.] Jack White has some believability."

Source
  
Raging Bull (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
1980 | Drama
Nothing against Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets and other Scorsese masterpieces; however, this has to be his greatest work of all time.

Robert De Niro completely transforms himself into Jake La Motta both physically, mentally and emotionally. Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty are also magnificent in support of the story of a courageous boxer and his fall from grace.


Film students still study the directing, cinematography and the stunning visuals of the film in glorious black and white.


The screenplay by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin is completely believable and make you empathize with this rough, gritty character in his world when he is up on top and on his way down.


A masterpiece!

  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Hangar 18 (1980) in Movies

May 20, 2018 (Updated May 20, 2018)  
Hangar 18 (1980)
Hangar 18 (1980)
1980 | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
4
5.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Heroically low-budget, almost entirely inept pseudo-sci-fi from the makers of In Search of Noah's Ark and The Mysterious Monsters. There's less of a docu-drama vibe to this one but a definite proto-X-Files flavour as sinister government types cover up the crash-landing of a flying saucer, while fitting up two heroic, improbably-cast NASA astronauts for the death of a colleague in orbit. The cover-up is stupid and unconvincing; so are the astronaut characters; both are better than the special effects and props, which score highly on the crud-o-meter.

Main points of interest are as follows: Robert Vaughn as the slimy White House operator, who doesn't meet the rest of the main cast while giving a performance best-described as very Robert Vaughny. Darren McGavin comes as close as anyone to rescuing the movie as a sympathetic NASA director leading the investigation of the plastic UFO. (This is one of those movies with an almost wholly white male cast, so I expect it will be burnt at the stake in the not too distant future.)

The original ending, in which nearly everyone dies and the world is (probably) doomed by self-serving politicians, seems to have been lost to history, replaced by the one from the TV version, which is less downbeat but thoroughly pointless (so perhaps more appropriate for the movie). This isn't even fun junk, it's just witless stodge. Possibly of some value to cultural historians as a time capsule of fringe late-70s concerns, a waste of time for everyone else.
  
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Erika (17788 KP) rated The Lighthouse (2019) in Movies

Oct 31, 2019 (Updated Nov 1, 2019)  
The Lighthouse (2019)
The Lighthouse (2019)
2019 | Drama, Horror
I've delayed writing this because I am still trying to fully process this film.

The film was a bizarre, enjoyable fever dream. Who was gaslighting who? Who was actually the reliable narrator? The mythology used in the film was so fitting, down to the fate of the characters. I loved that the film was in black and white, and not in widescreen format.

Robert Pattinson was terrific in this, and always proves that he can actually act. Willem Dafoe's character was one of those slightly annoying but kind of likeable dudes.

I think the best part of seeing this film, is that I'm still trying to process it. Was this a black comedy? A horror film? It's definitely all up for debate.
  
Show all 3 comments.
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Erika (17788 KP) Nov 1, 2019

@Andy K yay! I'm glad! I hope you like it!

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Andy K (10821 KP) Nov 4, 2019

It was epic!

Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin III by Led Zeppelin
1970 | Metal, Rock
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin

(0 Ratings)

Track

"Robert Plant has a horrible attempt at a wail at the beginning. He doesn’t get anywhere near it, but it’s still awesome. In a way, live stuff is about the mistakes. You don’t want a note-perfect recital of a song, you want a fucked up, exciting, bum notes everywhere, people falling off their stools version of it. And I think Led Zeppelin are brilliant at that kind of stuff. Everything on this is completely real and it sounds like they’re really trying and not quite getting there – and that’s the thrill. That’s what it’s all about. The white knuckle ride. We didn’t sign up for the teacup ride. It’s real life – there’s a human element to it, and you really get that on Led Zeppelin recordings."

Source
  
Jaws (1975)
Jaws (1975)
1975 | Thriller
EPIC
Best Shark Movie Ever

Aminity Island which is a small island getaway is approching it's speak visitor month which is july get visited by a Great White Shark that starts picking off swimmers one by one. The chief enlists the help of a Marine Biologist and gets the local Top fish killer involved in going to take out the shark. They end up on a wild boat ride trying to kill one of the earth longest living eating machines that is not willing to just roll over and die.


Roy Schider, Richard Dryfus and Robert Shaw give an amazing performance in this suspenseful ocean tale.


One great piece of movie history from this movie is that the line "You're gonna need a bigger boat" was improvised and done on the first take. It is part of AFI's 100 greatest quotes.
  
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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Lighthouse (2019) in Movies

Aug 31, 2020 (Updated Aug 31, 2020)  
The Lighthouse (2019)
The Lighthouse (2019)
2019 | Drama, Horror
The Definition of Insanity
The Lighthouse- is a psychological twisted film. What is one's sanity? How far can one's sanity go? How long can you stand one's sanity? All those questions and more, the Lighthouse is one twisted movie that will leave you questioning your own sanity. If you were stuck on a island inside a lighthouse with one person, would you trust that person? Whould you two start to go insane? I just love the concept and both Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe do a excellent job.

The Plot: Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

The film was shot in black-and-white with a nearly square 1.19:1 aspect ratio. Which makes it more intresting.

The Lighthouse is a must see horror film.
  
Dead Man (1995)
Dead Man (1995)
1995 | Drama, Western
Johnny Depp (3 more)
Gay Farmer
Black and white beauty
Cool guitar soundtrack by Neil Young
Indie Western Wizardry
Seemingly meek & mild William Blake (Depp) travels from Cleveland to the town of Machine, with all his hopes pinned to taking up a a promised position as an accountant. Soon after arriving he finds the job already taken and his path taking an unexpected and deadly turn, that leads him into the spirit world of Nobody, his new and strange Indian friend.
This film is a little dark, alot violent, pretty mysterious and atmospheric. As well as the amazing work of Depp and Farmer, there is a star studded cost including, Robert Mitchum, John Hurt, Gabriel Byrne, Billy Bob Thornton & Iggy Pop to name a few. Depp is nothing less than brilliant as he evades those hunting him down and as he follows Nobody deeper and deeper into his unusual world.