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What We Do in the Shadows - Season 2
What We Do in the Shadows - Season 2
2020 | Comedy
Still going strong
I always worry with tv shows, especially ones that have been brilliant in the past, that subsequent seasons are never going to live up to expectations. However this is not a problem so far for What We Do in the Shadows and this second series is just as brilliant as the first.

To say this show is hilarious would be an understatement. It’s so clever and funny and full of dark off beat humour, I cracked up constantly at every episode. Whilst Taika Waititi was apparently too busy on other projects to resume duties on this season, it was great to see that Jemaine Clement was still very much in charge and you can tell the formula and style of the show hasn’t changed (it’d be a travesty if it ever did). I have to give a shout out this season to Natasia Demetriou as Nadja is now by far my favourite character. Hearing her exasperations and admonitions at Lazlo is so funny and sums up how I feel most of the time! It was also great to see Colin Robinson taking a more prominent role in the group this time round as he’s such a wonderful deadpan character. There are also some wonderful guest stars this season too, they’ve really got some great names playing some hilarious roles (Mark Hamill and Benedict Wong are highlights) and while I didn’t think there was a standout episode for guests like the Vampiric Council in season 1, the guest episodes individually in season 2 were all a very high standard.

I’m never one to advocate dragging tv shows out unnecessarily, but I really think What We Do in the Shadows is an exception. If they can carry on making this show to this excellent standard with the same cast and crew, then they need to make as much as possible. 10 episodes a season just isn’t long enough, watching this is the highlight of my year and I can’t wait to see more.
  
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Butch Vig recommended Achtung Baby by U2 in Music (curated)

 
Achtung Baby by U2
Achtung Baby by U2
1991 | Alternative

"I think that when this came out I put it in my car and didn’t take it off for six months. Honestly I think this record, at least for me, was one of the influences on us making that first Garbage record. I loved how they reinvented themselves; how they started flirting with electronics and fuzz and beeps and industrial noise yet made these amazing songs. They stirred it all up, threw it against the wall and spat it all out. They redefined themselves and it resulted in what I think is their finest work. At the time I think a lot of people couldn't quite get their head around it and then they went out and did that massive Zoo TV tour, which was quite a sensory experience. You could see that the band were almost making fun of themselves: there's almost a self-deprecation in there, telling us how they were approaching themselves. There's some gritty humour in the songs, I think. We (Garbage) were thrilled to be asked last year to a do a cover of 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' as all of us absolute love that record. When we tried sounding like U2 it didn't work. We needed it to sound like Garbage so, much like U2, we had to sort of reinvent ourselves and take a different slant on it to give it something that we felt comfortable with, which ended up being a whole heap of fun to do! We stripped the verses down and we're all pretty pleased as to how it turned out as we were honoured to have been asked to have been involved. Bono sent us a note and it was lovely; I can't remember exactly what he said but it was something about the way Shirley sang the verses and the bridge making him feel like a peeping Tom. He obviously listened to the track and he got where we were going with it. It was an awesome note."

Source
  
Yesterday (2019)
Yesterday (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Fantasy, Music
A part time musician and shop worker, Jack wants nothing more than to become a successful recording artist. He busks in the street and sings in various small venues with not much of an audience and soon realises he is getting nowhere and decides to quit performing. On his way home from his last gig, there's a blackout and Jack is hit by a bus ending up in hospital. Upon his release, he sings a beatles song for his friends and he comes to the realisation that the beatles have been wiped from existence as his friends had no idea who he was talking about. Jack sees this as the perfect opportunity to sing and perform their songs as if they were his own and he becomes an overnight success.

As someone who wasn't around when the beatles were around, I wasn't sure if I would like this movie, but I actually enjoyed it. I recognised many songs as I grew up with a dad who is a massive fan and even found myself singing along, though there were a few I had never heard of.

Ed sheeran is a surprisingly good actor too and makes a great addition to the cast, I did find it funny when his phones ringtone was one of his own songs.

The movie has a good mixture of drama and comedy, when it first started I expected it to be a slapstick comedy, but thankfully it wasn't that at all.

I quite liked the scene with John lennon, I've seen him in pictures and Documentaries and he looked so much like him. It was lovely to see what could have been.

The ending didn't end how I expected it to end, I won't spoil it but if you think of the ending of every movie where someone or something changes, for example switching bodies and you'll know what I mean.

Overall it was a good movie and I definitely recommend it, even if you're not a beatles fan.
  
Kill Shot (The Fighting Detective #1)
Kill Shot (The Fighting Detective #1)
Blair Denholm | 2020 | Crime, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
a great step out of my comfort zone!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

A step out of my comfort zone, but a very welcome one!

Jack is from London, but has relocated clear across the globe after *something* happened. He and his partner are now tasked with finding out where the missing MMA fighter is, and who killed the trainer.

Jack is. . .interesting! He's not a perfect detective, not by any means, but I think, in his own way, his heart is in the right place. In JACK's right place, you know? Lots of hints and clues and titbits abotu what happened in London to send him running to Australia, but I didn't get the FULL picture, not really. And I really really want it! I think, this might be the only reason that I didn't give it 5 stars, was because I wasn't putting the clues and hints together well enough.

Oh, wait, no. there was another point I want to make. Claudia, Jack's partner, gets a chapter. Just the one. And I wanted more of her, or none of her. that one chapter had my hopes up of a dual point of view, and it's not, not really. One chapter is a tease! So in future books, can we have MORE Claudia, please??

The case of the MMA fighter and missing trainer is well laid out, and I wasn't sure which way it was gonna go til the end, so I was fully engaged and kept on my toes. Thoroughly kept on my toes, if I'm honest and that's a rare thing these days!

This is a step out of my comfort zone, I tend to mostly stick to romance of some description, so the blurb most have grabbed something at me for me to request it. I have not a clue what that was, but I'm very pleased it did.

I'd like to follow Jack and Claudia, they are good together!

4 good solid stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
The Last Time I Lied
The Last Time I Lied
Riley Sager | 2018 | Thriller
10
8.7 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
Our protagonist in this novel is Emma, an artist, who can’t get away from the ghosts of the past. Years ago, three of her friends disappeared from the summer camp. Now she returns to the same camp, to try and figure out, where her childhood friends could’ve gone. But there are some things, which Emma lied about… And the wish to figure out what was the lie creates a tormenting suspense. I really liked the wide variety and very believable characters, which the author chose for this book. Even though I liked Emma, Vivian (one of the missing friends) was the one, who left me intrigued. So even though the story was told by Emma, this story was kind of about Vivian, a charismatic manipulator, who knew how to play with people and their feelings.

The narrative is constantly changing between the present and the past, and Sager is an expert in creating suspense. All the little clues and this time traveling really got me curious and glued to the book, and I was dying to find out what in a world happened there. The author brings back his “love” for mental institutions but with a different approach this time. I really loved all the twists, turns, and intriguing adventures. The story is told from a single perspective, and it was fully enough for me. The setting of this book is quite calming, but at the same time pretty sinister.

I think the author is very talented and his writing is exceptionally polished. The chapters are pretty short, and the suspense makes the “book melt in your hands”. The climax was very unexpected and I really loved the way this story ended. So, to conclude, I really enjoyed this fast-paced, amusing and very well written story, filled with secrets and lies. I do strongly recommend this book and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. 🙂
  
The Circle (2017)
The Circle (2017)
2017 | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Totally watchable. Before 2020 this would have played as a cockamamie exercise in "in-what-universe-would-this-actually-happen-?" filmmaking (and believe me this still pushes it), but after the anti-mask protests and general shrugging off of the coronavirus pandemic I'd now believe you stupid mfs would do *anything*. I'm not saying this is all brainless - there are some really sturdy ideas in here that aren't all executed terribly. The way it portrays big ticket corporations sliding their hands into every pocket they can find by way of offering up a "likable mascot" rather than a "founder" (played perfectly by Hanks as a clear riff on [a more likable and somehow less disingenuous] Steve Jobs - but what a waste of a perfectly good Oswalt) and "quotable quips" rather than "talking points" so they don't even have to attempt to hide it is sound. The scene where Hanks straightup manipulates Watson's bland cypher *on* stage to the point of tracking down live human beings to an adoring crowd is horrifying - but this is all still rather diluted, clunky, and bizarre in translation from the book. Looks phenomenal though, and is a notable return to form for Danny Elfman (in general every piece of music here slaps). Fine dumb fun imo, cheesy and laughable but not without some wit. But as a final defense - speaking as someone who has spent months in these cliquey millennial tech circles - the fact that no one acts like a live human being here would be way too on the nose if holy mother of God did they not actually act like this. The extended segment of those two overbearing recruiter types indirectly-but-very-directly pushing that "optional" and "extracurricular" really means "mandatory" is pure nightmare fuel because I have been in those situations - in spades - firsthand irl. Moments like that save this still moment-to-moment entertaining diet pulp when it actively refuses to explore anything else it offers up. Doesn't really have enough oomf but still miles better than your average "Black Mirror" episode.
  
Homunculus and the Cat
Homunculus and the Cat
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
First of all, I'd like to say thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. I've got tons of books from the site, ready to review. Can't wait!
So I've been reading this book for quite some time now, and honestly I nearly gave up on it a few times. But for the sake of the review, I managed to keep on at it until the end.
What I managed to gather from this book is that it takes place in a whole different universe, where myths and gods are real. Winged cats with nine lives, flying carpets, even homunculi. The main characters include the Ennedi Ankh' Si, a flying cat, Tyro, a simple human, and homunculi such as Mina and Herakles. A homunculus sanctuary, fighting for equal rights for their kind, is caught in a fire. In desperate need of help, the crew end up travelling all over the place - including to an underwater palace of a goddess, where they participate in a huge battle.
If I'm really honest, I can't tell you much more than that. There's some suspicious dude called Manga, and Tyro tries to rescue his friend Herakles - requiring a trip back to good ol' America. But other than that, I'm not quite sure what happened.
The writing itself is actually pretty good. The descriptions and metaphors are great, and there's a good deal of underlying humour in places. And the whole idea of this universe full of gods and demons and creatures both beautiful and terrible is wonderful. It's just a shame that I couldn't get into it. I felt like I was reading most of it through a daze, just trying to get it over with.
I will give this the benefit of the doubt - maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind for it, or I just wasn't paying enough attention. Others may enjoy this a lot more than I did. But I'm going to give it just two stars, which honestly feels like I'm pushing the bar a little already.
  
47 Meters Down (2017)
47 Meters Down (2017)
2017 | Horror
The British horror film “47 Meters Down” tells the tale of two young women on vacation in Mexico who get far more of a thrill then they bargained for during a shark cage swim session. Sisters, Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt) meet two charming young men as they try to lick Lisa’s post-break up wounds during a night out somewhere Mexico. When the guys offer to take them out on a shark swim adventure, Kate pushes Lisa to go ahead and do it in an effort to prove she is not as boring as her ex claims.

The film spends about twenty minutes building up this background story, but fails to create any moments for the audience to connect with the characters.

The whole premise is built around what clearly is a poor decision as a rusty old boat pulls into the marina to board the sisters. At this point forward, the entire rest of the film is shot primarily from Lisa’s point of view deep inside the ocean.

As the cage the girls are in first lowers down, there are a few shots of sharks that are very beautiful and thrilling. But after the predictable breakage of the winch holding the cage to the boat ensues, the girls sink to the bottom and attempt to fight for survival.

At this point forward it becomes a bit frustrating to watch because the entire film is very dark and you only get a few glimpses of a shark here or there. If there had been a bit more character build up or story line including rescue efforts, this may have been a theater worthy view. Audiences definitely won’t get as much excitement as they did from other shark films like that of “Jaws” or “Sharknado.” Mostly because this film attempts to take on a more realistic feel. Unfortunately it falls a bit flat and the audience finds comedy in what was supposed to be serious.

I give “47 meters Down” 1 out of 5 stars.