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Pete Fowler recommended The Willows by Belbury Poly in Music (curated)

 
The Willows by Belbury Poly
The Willows by Belbury Poly
2004 | Electronic
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I love Ghost Box. In a similar way to how British psych from the '60s looked back to a whimsical past and kids' fiction from the Victorian era, Ghost Box look back to a more modern past – specifically the '60s and '70s, which is when I grew up. It's an analogue sound that seems to evoke brutalist architecture, new towns and the like. You can imagine Ghost Box soundtracking a film about a new town built on a burial site. Jim [Jupp] and Julian [House, Ghost Box co-founder] come from Caldicot, which is a really spooky part of Wales. Lots of weird gothic architecture and a lot of weird local folklore and superstition. This record by the Belbury Poly [Jupp] presents someone's version of the past, a vision that's both real and ephemeral. It harks back to a time that wasn't obviously psychedelic but it's not obviously retro. Without being too rose-tinted specs about this record, it has a slight 'warm blanket' effect, while still being a little uncomfortable, if that makes sense. It's possibly a weird record for me to pick in a list of psychedelic records but it definitely does that thing of successfully imagining an alternate reality. I can imagine walking around this place."

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WO
With or Without You
6
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
One of those books I wanted to really love going in, because there just isn't much lesbian fiction out there, and what is out there, well most of it really isn't that good. This book was actually pretty well-written and quite compelling -- I blew through it about 2 or 3 days -- though I was a bit dejected that the main (lesbian) character was a murderer (don't worry, that's not a spoiler). If it's a not cheesy lesbian romance, us gays must be murderers and crazy people. Still, the tale was interesting and quite beautiful, at times, in a weird, melancholy way.
  
Psychedelic 60s (2 more)
Wacky and surreal
Innovative
Wacky, "failed experiment" in Gonzo Journalism
This is one of my all-time favourite books, written by one of my all-time favourite people and authors. It is a surreal and somewhat insane story based on the real life adventures of Hunter S. Thompson, on his journey to Las Vegas in search of the "American Dream." It is a wacky, drug-fuelled, stream-of-consciousness narrative that is among one of the innovative titles in a form of New Journalism called Gonzo Journalism, accredited to Thompson. It is quite a surreal read, strange and weird but completely thrilling!
Thompson regarded it as a "failed experiment"' in Gonzo Journalism due to the fact it was edited several times before publication. Typically, a Gonzo work would be written by and about the author in the present, sent away without being edited, resulting in a stream-of-consciousness narrative and more personality. Gonzo works are far more revealing, fiction-like and personal than typical works of journalism. Despite the fact it was edited, however, I feel F&L still emulates everything Thompson wanted in a true Gonzo way. He holds nothing back, reveals everything and created a story than could be fiction. It is a drug-fuelled look at the failure of the American Dream, an astute analysis of Thompson's society and a weird book that will stay with you forever.
  
The Whisperer in Darkness
The Whisperer in Darkness
H.P. Lovecraft | 2020 | Horror
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
216
Kindle
The whisperer In Darkness
By H.P. Lovecraft

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

The Whisperer in Darkness is a 26,000-word novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to The Colour Out of Space (1927), it is a blend of horror and science fiction. Although it makes numerous references to the Cthulhu Mythos, the story is not a central part of the mythos, but reflects a shift in Lovecraft's writing at this time towards science fiction. The story also introduces the Mi-go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.


I really got into this story! He has a way of making you actually question whether there is life out there like that! Then you finish the book and realise it was just that a story! Told by a man with such an amazing imagination! I don’t know why I waited so long to read these!
  
War of the Gargantuas (1970)
War of the Gargantuas (1970)
1970 | Sci-Fi
6.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"One of my favorites. It’s my two-year-old daughter’s favorite movie. She’s the green gargantua and my other son is the brown one, and she loves being the bad green gargantua. She’s obsessed with it, as I was. I grew up watching Japanese science fiction movies and I particularly, unlike most hard core film people, like dubbed movies — there’s something about that language and the translation that somehow fits into the movie; it’s like a weird poetry. There’s a beauty to these films, the Japanese character designs — there’s a human kind of quality to these things, which I love. Monsters were always the most soulful characters. I don’t know if it’s because the actors were so bad, but the monsters were always the emotional focal point"

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