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James Dean Bradfield recommended Fried by Julian Cope in Music (curated)

 
Fried by Julian Cope
Fried by Julian Cope
1984 | Pop, Rock, Psychedelic
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"It's really weird: I kind of had a bit of a problem with The Teardrop Explodes. I really didn't like them as a group, and it's very strange because our recording desk in Cardiff… I think Kilimanjaro was recorded on it. But as soon as Julian Cope left Teardrop Explodes I just completely turned onto him, and especially this record, because it's brilliant. There's some benchmark songs on here, which are hard for anybody to top. There's one called 'Bill Drummond Said' which is just fucking brilliant, and there's a song called 'Reynard The Fox', which is just… he does such a brilliant job of having a narrative of why he disagrees with something but pitching it in such a beautiful way. And there's 'The Bloody Assizes'; Julian Cope, now, has this afterlife of being this writer who seems to mix the high-rise block of ideas in his head with reality. It's really amazing. And he's become some sort of historian about myth and Krautrock, and I loved one of his quotes when he did an interview for this book: "I only look like this because I feel like such a cunt when I'm crying inside all the time." This record shows why he's such a brilliant solo artist. It's got a lovely, bucolic flintiness to it. There's something about it; you realise he's detached himself from his previous life and The Teardrop Explodes, and he's just out there in the woods doing something. And you cannot like a record which has a cover of the artist's… you know. Naked inside a big turtle shell on the cover. I remember it got really mixed reviews, but I think a lot of people do consider it a classic. I do; he's done other good stuff, but it's his best record."

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Merissa (13159 KP) rated Solomon's Sieve (Knights of Black Swan #7) in Books

Apr 6, 2023 (Updated Apr 10, 2023)  
Solomon's Sieve (Knights of Black Swan #7)
Solomon's Sieve (Knights of Black Swan #7)
Victoria Danann | 2014 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book starts with a speed date from hell and someone talking to you from the afterlife - I kid you not! Only Victoria Danann could bring those things together and make it work in such a way that it seems absolutely 'normal'.

Being back with the Black Swan is always a pleasure and this book is no different. After six previous books, there is a sense of familiarity with how characters will react, what they will say, what their body language will tell you.

The one thing I will say about this book - and it is also the reason I am only giving 4 stars instead of the usual 5 to Victoria - is that it is such a busy book! There are a lot of things going on so you will need to read carefully. For example, you have the Sol/Farnsworth story, Raif and Mercy, B Team being brought back from retirement, Z Team having their babysitting mission, and Rosie having her sabbatical. Unfortunately for me, it felt like there was so much going on that I missed out on parts. I would have loved for Raif and Mercy to have their own story, linked with Farnsworth's search. I felt like they were only in the book for a couple of scenes and now they're together.

This is my only 'niggle' with the book and of course, I can still highly recommend this series as one of the best paranormal romances that I have read. These books are definitely keepers and are to be kept, cherished and re-read for years to come.
 
* I received this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review. *
 
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
September 6, 2016
  
TC
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
(This review will be available on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.com/">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Soemthing Year Old Girl</a> from the middle of August).


I'd been wanting to read The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg for awhile now. I had found it cheap on Amazon and decided to buy it. Although it was a kind of good book, I wish I had seen if my library had it to borrow.

I don't really need to explain the synopsis in my words because the official one seems to describe what the book is about quite well. If I explain it, I'd just be saying the same thing, but not as good.

The title is a mouthful, but I like it. It's one of the first things that made me want to pick up this book. I do believe that the title fits this book perfectly!

The cover is what caught my eye the most! It is absolutely gorgeous! It's also a scene that appears in the book a few times.

The world building was done quite well, and I loved the setting! I love how when Brie dies, she's transported by bus to a pizza place she frequented quite a bit. There's something about that that I just found funny! There's only one time that I felt confused, but I don't want to say anything due to spoilers. Oh, and one more thing. Brie says her family called her by cheese nicknames due to her name. However, Patrick as well as other people she sees in the afterlife due that as well. However, I just don't think everyone would associate her name with cheese, nor would they be so blatant to tease her about it. Other then that, the world building is easy to imagine.

For about half of the book, the pacing seemed a bit slow to me. In fact, I was thinking about giving up on the book altogether. However, the second half picks up the pacing, and it becomes quite an enjoyable read from there on out..

I've always been interested in plots where someone dies and gets to look at their friends and family. Brie wants to get back at Jacob in the afterlife for breaking her heart. She sees the consequences, and we are left to wonder what Brie will do. We also find out Jacob's big secret which I didn't see coming. I also didn't see the other plot twist. I love being surprised!!

I started off liking Brie. She seemed like a really insecure but nice girl. However, I soon found her to be annoying and mean. I understand wanting revenge on someone who has hurt you, but what she did was really uncalled for. I also found her thought pattern to be really vicious and spiteful. I didn't like how she treated Patrick either. She tries to make amends, but it's just too little, too late for me. I did like Patrick and found him to be a rather sweet and friendly guy. The way he spoke sometimes annoyed me, but overall, he was very likable.

The dialogue was very easy to understand and flowed very well. Like I said, there were times I didn't like the way Patrick spoke, but that wasn't very often. I found it interesting to see how Brie's family and friends carried on without her. There's also some swearing in this book.

Overall, The Catastrophic History of You and Me started out a bit boring, but it got better. It turns out to be a sweet story with a moral to it, I believe.

I'd recommend this book to those age 14+ who are looking for a sweet read with a great message attached to it.

I'd give The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg a 3.5 out of 5.
  
Flatliners (2017)
Flatliners (2017)
2017 | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
The undiscovered country… which they shouldn’t have returned to.
The movies have depicted the hereafter in varied ways over the years. From the bleached white warehouses of Powell and Pressburger’s “A Matter of Life and Death” in 1946 and Warren Beatty’s “Heaven Can Wait” in 1978 to – for me – the peak of the game: Vincent Ward’s mawkish but gorgeously rendered oil-paint version of heaven in 1998’s “What Dreams May Come”. Joel Schmacher’s 1990’s “Flatliners” saw a set of “brat pack” movie names of the day (including Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin and Kiefer Sutherland) as experimenting trainee doctors, cheating death to experience the afterlife and getting more than they bargained for. The depictions of the afterlife were unmemorable: in that I don’t remember them much! (I think there was some sort of spooky tree involved, but that’s about it!)

But the concept was sufficiently enticing – who isn’t a little bit intrigued by the question of “what’s beyond”? – that Cross Creek Pictures thought it worthy of dusting off and giving it another outing in pursuit of dirty lucre. But unfortunately this offering adds little to the property’s reputation.

In this version, the lead role is headed up by Ellen Page (“Inception”) who is a great actress… too good for this stuff. Also in that category is Diego Luna, who really made an impact in “Rogue One” but here has little to work with in terms of backstory. The remaining three doctors – Nina Dobrev as “the sexy one”; James Norton (“War and Peace”) as “the posh boy” and Kiersey Clemons as the “cute but repressed one”, all have even less backstory and struggle to make a great impact.

Still struggling to get the high score on Angry Birds: from left to right Ray (Diego Luna), Sophia (Kiersey Clemons), Marlo (Nina Dobrev), Courtney (Ellen Page) and Jamie (James Norton).
Also putting in an appearance, as the one link from the original film, is Kiefer Sutherland as a senior member of the teaching staff. But he’s not playing the same character (that WOULD have been a bloody miracle!) and although Sutherland adds gravitas he really is given criminally little to do. What was director Niels Arden Oplev (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) thinking?

In terms of the story, it’s pretty much a re-hash of Peter Filardi’s original, with Ben Ripley (“Source Code”) adding a few minor tweaks to the screenplay to update it for the current generation. But I will levy the same criticism of this film as I levied at the recent Stephen King adaptation of “It”: for horror to work well it need to obey some decent ‘rules of physics’ and although most of the scenes work (since a lot of the “action” is sensibly based inside the character’s heads) there are the occasional linkages to the ‘real world’ that generate a “WTF???” response. A seemingly indestructible Mini car (which is also clearly untraceable by the police!) and a knife incident at the dockside are two cases in point.

Is there anything good to say about this film? Well, there are certainly a few tense moments that make the hairs on your neck at least start to stand to attention. But these are few and far between, amongst a sea of movie ‘meh’. It’s certainly not going to be the worst film I see this year, since at least I wasn’t completely bored for the two hours. But I won’t remember this one in a few weeks. As a summary in the form of a “Black Adder” quote, it’s all a bit like a broken pencil….. pointless.