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London's No.1 Dog-Walking Agency
London's No.1 Dog-Walking Agency
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Enjoyable easy read (0 more)
Typos (0 more)
Who doesn't love dogs??!!
This book is non-fiction but at times you would think some of the people were made up characters. There are some strange people out there :)
This is Kate MacDougall's account of setting up a dog walking service in London, before anyone else was doing it. She leaves her office job at Sotheby's after knocking over one too many valuable objects and starts off walking one dog.
As the number of dogs increases, she has to bring in other walkers. We hear about some of the dogs, some of the strange owners, the successes and failures of the walkers, and the stages of Kate's life over a period of about ten years.
I found it entertaining, sometimes funny and there is a bit of sadness of course as dogs don't go on forever. Kate's mum is a bit of a hoot with her expectations of how life should go, and Kate's life is chaotically not living up to that.
The dogs are lovely despite some of their issues, the owners are trying their best for their dogs (although some shouldn't have them as they have no clue!), and it is an enjoyable and quick read.
  
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Frank Black recommended Le Noise by Neil Young in Music (curated)

 
Le Noise by Neil Young
Le Noise by Neil Young
2010 | Singer-Songwriter
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"With Neil Young, it’s all down to his songs. At least half of his songs really turn me on. Even the ones that don’t as much are still really damn good. It’s about getting onto the right wavelength. On this record, when I first heard it, I thought: ‘Ah, this is the big Neil Young, Dead Man soundtrack thing’. I love that sound but initially I was only tuned in to the shallower aspects of it. But after a while I started to really get the poignancy and the emotional voice that cuts through and thought: ‘Oh! I really love these songs.” I really respect what he’s trying to say. They’re beautiful songs. Sometimes Neil Young has a real ability to say something – to give a song an emotional stroke, to say ‘I love you’ or ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘I don’t understand’, to express a human frailty. These older guys – Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Neil Young – when they make a good record as an older guy, they say shit. They might rhyme ‘moon with spoon in june’ but they do it with such heaviness, charm and humour. They drop these one liners that are like ‘Woah! That can only come from a guy who has been around the block 50 times.'"

Source
  
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Jerry Cantrell recommended Hotel California by Eagles in Music (curated)

 
Hotel California by Eagles
Hotel California by Eagles
1976 | Rock
8.0 (4 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"The Eagles are fucking bad ass. I've always been a fan of multiple voices in bands and the Eagles are another example of that. Classy musicians who fucking earned their bones through backing up other musicians. I love that documentary that they did ‘The History Of The Eagles’: the drugs, the fights, the stardom, that's just fascinating. I always really admired that band for its uniqueness and the quality of the records they made, the songwriting, the musicianship. This album and that particular track... it's like bigger than they are. Even though that's them. I mean, sometimes musicians, the song and the actual thing that gets recorded at the production, all three of those things line up at the right time and you get that magical thing, bigger than any one of you, even all of you together... it just goes a little step above. It's the whole thing: music is not about perfection, the closest you're gonna get to reaching perfection is the pursuit of trying to get there, I guess. But every once in a while, there's one song or an album that just kind of poke out, that just goes above the ceiling. That title track does that. It's a very magical song."

Source
  
The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse by Bonzo Dog Doo/Dah Band
The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse by Bonzo Dog Doo/Dah Band
1968 | Pop, Psychedelic, Rock
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is a weird one. That was in my parent's record collection. They had a few records, but that was one that we would listen to a lot as kids. It's very appealing to children. It's kind of like a musical Monty Python, but a lot better in my opinion! They had this really stupid, silly, strange music that was a lot better than it should have been. You often get that when a comedian makes music, you can sort of tell that actually the music underneath is really good. Lots of their humour is derived from the fact that the music is played really badly, and it was sort of shit and sort of funny! That source of amusement has followed me my whole life. I'm much happier trawling YouTube for awful music than I am looking for the hottest new good band. I almost spend more time listening to awful music. Not just because I find it funny but because I find things in it that a professional would never think of, and that is sometimes all you want to hear, something that you've never heard before. I think a lot of humour is relayed in my music directly from the Bonzos."

Source
  
Somewhere Close to Happy
Somewhere Close to Happy
Lia Louis | 2019 | Film & TV
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist in this book is Lizzie, a young woman who is dealing with mental health issues every single day. Her life changes, after she receives a letter from her childhood friend/sweetheart Roman. He was her best friend/boyfriend during her teenage years, who helped her to go through many difficult situations. But one day, he just disappeared. Now Lizzie, with the help of her best friend, trying to find Roman to find out, why he left her when she needed him the most.

This novel has very complex characters, and I really liked the way the author developed them throughout the pages. I liked Lizzie a lot, she is very strong, even though she doesn’t realise it sometimes. She is willing to go out of her comfort zones on multiple occasions, in order to find Roman. I really enjoyed the multiple timelines in this novel as well, we not only follow the search but also have an amazing insight into Lizzie’s past.

The author played with the narrative very smartly and creatively. The narrative is always changing, and every chapter ends with a cliffhanger. That made this book a true page-turner. All I wanted was for Lizzie to find Roman, and all the “near misses” were driving me insane!
  
Dark Shadows (2012)
Dark Shadows (2012)
2012 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
If not for the last 15/20 minutes (sans the atrocious ending, and even then they're only mildly watchable at best) I'd very comfortably call this one of the worst movies I've ever seen - and still will. Not even distracting, and intentionally as non-fun as possible. How exciting, we get to see nearly two LONG hours of nonentities played by actors who clearly couldn't give less of a shit about being there (except for the sole good scenery-chewing of Eva Green) tepidly talk about... like, fishing and shit? Sometimes even to each other! Where's the camp? Where's the (pun not intended) spirit? Doesn't go for jokes, doesn't go for drama, doesn't go for romance, doesn't go for anything - complete and utter apathy all around. It doesn't even look good, dear God some color could have at least made this pop but no of course it's color-coded like ash and jizz. This wakes up a bit when it has a spooky haunted house vibe to it but too bad that's only like a collective (and generous) few minutes of the whole thing. What the actual hell were they thinking, how can a director possibly stoop *noticeably* lower than 𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘰 (2019)?
  
Human by Grace Gaustad
Human by Grace Gaustad
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
Grace Gaustad is a rising singer-songwriter from New York City. Not too long ago, she released an honest pop tune, entitled, “F.L.Y”.

“‘F.L.Y (Feel Like You)’ is the story of a realization. Often the people we idolize and fantasize about being are shallow individuals. In a society where money, power, and fame dictate who is validated, it is easy to lose sight of who you are deep down and even harder to admit that heroes can sometimes be the villain. So ask yourself, Is it worth it?” – Grace Gaustad

‘F.L.Y’ tells an interesting tale about a young woman who doesn’t want to have anything to do with a certain individual in her life.

Apparently, she doesn’t want to fall back in time. Therefore, she avoids interacting with what she’s trying to stay away from.


‘F.L.Y’ contains a relatable storyline, ear-welcoming vocals, and stripped instrumentation scented with an alternative-pop aroma.

The likable tune is featured on Grace Gaustad’s latest EP, entitled, “Human”.

“Feeling grateful for a lot of happy positive changes that are slowly coming together around me. Been working on the EP for you guys and it’s incredible. I can’t wait to share a full body of work that holds some of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.” – Grace Gaustad
  
Summer Heat
Summer Heat
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Oh dear...that ending...I'm wincing on behalf of both of them.

So this is my fifteenth book by the author, I think, and I've enjoyed all of them. This one was on the shorter side in length and a quick easy ready, but that didn't mean it didn't make me want the characters to get together and have their HAE.

Of course, though, it's a trilogy and I'll have to go and buy book 2 and 3 to see how Marlo and Ray get over that little revelation that's just been spilled in that shower stall.

One thing I will say, Rachel knows how to write male characters POV's. Most of the books I read tend to be in female POV's but Rachel always seems to write both and sometimes it's really great to see how the male characters are feeling in romances and I always tend to fall for them, too.

So, as mentioned before, I will definitely be off to Amazon in a little while to see about purchasing the rest of the Cruel Summer trilogy so I can finish this series after that intriguing start.

UPDATE: I can't find the rest of the series on Amazon! What am I going to do?!
  
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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Twin Peaks - Season 1 in TV

Sep 7, 2019 (Updated Sep 7, 2019)  
Twin Peaks  - Season 1
Twin Peaks - Season 1
1990 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
I was only introduced to Twin Peaks a few years back, not long before the much anticipated season 3 was announced.
I wasn't overly excited to watch an early 90s show that on the surface seemed like a run of the mill murder mystery. I had heard to the odd thing or two, about how it was actually quite unsettling etc.

But I wasn't prepared for what I witnessed - a truly great series of television - as mentioned, on the surface, a murder mystery, sometimes verging into lighthearted sitcom territory, bit with some seriously disturbing undertones.

Twin Peaks made my skin crawl on more than one occasion. As I slowly fell in love with the quirky characters, and beautiful American log town setting, I found myself almost constantly on edge. Mainly because of Bob. Goddamn Bob.
The first time Bob graces the screen will stick in my mind for the rest of time.

The unsettling nature of Twin Peaks, woven so lovingly with the less serious moments, and woven again with the just straight up bizarre moments, proves that David Lynch is a master of his craft.
Angelo Badalamenti's musical score elevates the show to even greater heights.

It's hard to truly describe Twin Peaks - but it's something I'm damn glad I was made to watch.