Search

Search only in certain items:

The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
1973 | Rock
9.6 (22 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I'm reminded how great it is all the time. It's a weird record, it has passages that are just fucking weird bleeps out of a synthesiser. People dismiss it because it's so popular, and I would tell them if they heard pieces of it they would think it's some freaked out indie group with these great old synthesisers. It's just so well done. There are these strange, jazz elements to Pink Floyd that I think musicians notice. I don't think the audience cares - these neat little things they do that make it their own trip. These combinations of chords and notes that just aren't typical. I suppose to me, it's universal music. I think they do this reptilian brain version of universal, emotional music and they use these very simple build-ups and harmonies, and they nail it on that record 20 different times. And to know that they end on one of the great crescendos that they've ever done, that bit in 'Eclipse' where they sing "all that you touch, all that you feel"… the way that builds up, no-one is ever going to do it that perfectly again. Those simple words, those simple themes, building, building. And you've got to remember it's Roger Waters singing. He's not a great singer, but it highlights this thing - it's a motherfucker, you can't write a song that great. You just have to hope that something happens. For them to end on that [sings a spot on Waters impression] "the sun is eclipsed by the moon." Blammo! Then that heartbeat, it's fucking phenomenal. It's easy to dismiss it because it's so popular, but I would say to anyone they should secretly listen to it and then discover that 'oh my God, it's awesome'."

Source
  
A Quiet Place: Part II (2021)
A Quiet Place: Part II (2021)
2021 | Horror, Thriller
Y'all get scared too easily lmao. Let's not act like the first one was a genius piece of filmmaking or anything - it just had a solid premise you could wring a metric ton of mileage out of and wasn't afraid to provide lots of fun, goofy, intense thrills in an age of comically over-serious pity parties saturating the horror movie market. I really enjoyed it, but with its sequel the switch from horror/thriller to drama/thriller really took a toll imo. Because what made these work was never the characters, of which I honestly couldn't tell you a single name of nor more than one defining personality trait now two entries later - it was the gimmick, carried so efficiently by the marvelous performances at the forefront. Here the acting still rips (except for Blunt, who along with her character seems totally lost with nothing to do rather than just kind of awkwardly wing it) but the gimmick seems to just try and retrace the steps of the first movie while adding in a deathly simplistic, extraneous story since this one has no real clue what to do with itself... for some reason. And maybe it's just me but this one also looks so much worse. That all being said, this works best when it depicts moments of peace and/or normalcy being immediately brutalized by swift, sweeping violence - it knows exactly how to play them, that shit is *awesome*. Both times it lets these (admittedly kind of lamely designed) creatures wreak havoc on unsuspecting, populated areas it's a total riot. Also features a pretty neat three-way thriller sequence in the middle that's decently cool, too. A perfectly serviceable distraction.
  
Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave / Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave / Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2004 | Alternative
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I think one of the main reasons I picked Abattoir Blues and Lyre Of Orpheus was because, as a double album, you get more bang for your buck. Abattoir Blues has a more gospel feel to it, background vocals and big crescendos. Lyre Of Orpheus was generally a quieter record except for the title track, which is one of my favourites. I love the lyrics to that song. One awesome thing about Nick Cave is the darkness and the humour in his stuff. On Abattoir Blues, I love 'There She Goes, My Beautiful World', 'Hiding All Away' and 'Nature Boy'. Just good tunes man. At this point you can hear the Warren Ellis influence. I've always been a Nick Cave fan, since The Birthday Party. My roommate at the time, Charles Peterson [Sub Pop photographer], had a copy of Prayers On Fire and I've been listening to and following Nick Cave ever since then. First time I got to see him he didn't play Seattle, so me and my friends drove three hours north to Vancouver and that was on the First Born Is Dead tour. My favourite ever Nick Cave lyric was going way back to 'Deep In The Woods' [from Mutiny/The Bad Seed] - where it ends with the line, "Tonight we sleep in separate ditches"; that always cracks me up. 20,000 Days On Earth was the best music documentary I've ever seen. It didn't follow the normal " and then he did this and then he did that" of those Behind The Music narratives, it was a surreal and cool peak in to Cave's world. Something I learned about him that I didn't know already is that he likes to eat pizza in front of the TV!"

Source
  
Impractical Jokers: The Movie  (2020)
Impractical Jokers: The Movie (2020)
2020 | Comedy
As someone who's been an "Impractical Jokers" fan since the very first episode aired way back on December 15th, 2011 (and still to this day) - I'm not sure how *this* big of a downgrade was managed going from a TruTV show to a major motion picture. The narrative framing device is un-fucking-watchable and the best bits from the pranks themselves are less convincingly faked than even some of the more middling episodes of the show. I - with the general consensus - vote this should have just been a ~90 minute episode rather than this pat material padding out a small handful of pranks. Not 100% sure if this just isn't really isn't good overall or if its chintziness in the extreme let it down; the "Drake & Josh" movies are seriously more well built than this. I think these four very original guys are hilarious, each brim with distinct personality, and have some of the best comedic timing of the 2010s decade (and there still is a lot of funny stuff in here delivered with that same knack) - so it is confusing to see them flounder so hard in just about every other thing they try besides the show. The (still staged) broken-down car bit and Paula Abdul saying she has more power than the cartel are high points, much of everything else is a depressing low for this IP. Even the admittedly awesome in theory ending punishment falls flat. A dud, honestly not awful but there's literally no point in paying to see this in a theater even despite being able to watch more high quality entertainment from these guys on YouTube or home television. Tonight's biggest loser: the audience. Sidenote: they didn't censor fuck or shit, but did so for pussy? Twice?
  
40x40

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Sep 18, 2020  
Where are my dog fans? Check out this super sweet interview with Ava, the Labrador Retriever from A DOG'S DAY SERIES by Catherine Stier - Author on my blog. Read about the first two books in the series, and enter this awesome giveaway to win a hardcover copy of I Am Jax, Protector of the Ranch (Book 1), hardcover copy of I Am Ava, Seeker in the Snow (Book 2), a $15 gift card to The Twig Book Shop, a stuffed animal - adorable “Ava” Lab dog toy, dog stickers, and dog socks.

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/09/book-blog-tour-dogs-day-series-by.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS FROM FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES**
Spend a day in the life of a livestock guardian dog! Jax the Great Pyrenees has a big job. After the Texas sun goes down, it's up to him and two other LGDs to protect their ranch from predators. But when the lead dog gets hurt, Jax and a young pup are the only ones left to protect the flock through the night. Told from the dog's perspective, this story also includes back matter about the breed and role of the working dog.

**BOOK SYNOPSIS FROM SECOND BOOK**
Spend a day in the life of an avalanche rescue dog! Ava is a chocolate Labrador retriever with a big job. She and her handler have trained for years to be ready to help people at their ski resort if an unexpected avalanche hits. But Ava quickly finds out there's much more to being an avy dog than daring rescues. Told from the dog's perspective, this riveting story also includes back matter about the breed and the role of the working dog.
     
Children of a Lesser God (1986)
Children of a Lesser God (1986)
1986 | Drama, Musical, Romance
Unfortunately doesn't come out entirely unscathed from stage to screen, a touch too long and a touch too slow for this to be consistently potent - and some segments are a bit too writerly even for me as well as the occasional Broadway banality here and there that sort of brings this to a lull in the middle. But all the same, this is surprisingly complex and fragile filmmaking on the subject for 1986. On a technical note the music and visuals are hushed rhapsody together, and I particularly admire how there's an expressive intimacy in the conversations Hurt has with deaf characters whereas there's this palpably cold distance in the ones he has with hearing ones - an aspect that seems almost intrinsic. And on that note I also have to appreciate how it confronts Hurt's fixer mentality *as well as* Matlin's resistant anger rather than making the deaf character ultimately bend to the will of the 'virtuous helper' 'for their own good'. William Hurt is sensational, and Marlee Matlin is in one of the top-tier greatest performances of the 80s - the fact that they self-gratifyingly gave her their pity award and then immediately refused to cast her in much else is evidence #18,000 on why the Oscars are rancid bullshit. On top of all of that it's packed with awesome scenes and it's just a damn good romance... though if I have one more quibble: do the hearing characters really need to repeat aloud every fucking thing the deaf characters sign to them to absolutely no one at all but themselves like they're talking to a toddler? This really couldn't have been subtitled? But I digress, I still cried multiple times so we aight.
  
Batgirl, Vol. 3: Death of the Family
Batgirl, Vol. 3: Death of the Family
Gail Simone | 2013 | Comics & Graphic Novels
4
6.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Man, I have no idea WTF happened here, but I am the minority, as I just wasn't feeling it here!

Gail Simone is a favorite writer of mine, as well as a sizable number of comic readers. I don't pick up everything she writes, i.e. Dynamite's RED SONJA series, but I do try to keep a lookout when a new series, or new writing assignment from her, is out. And, generally, she is all aces, except here!

This was a re-read for me, as I was reading BATMAN: DEATH OF THE FAMILY (which was AWESOME, btw!), and I wanted to get the whole story. I don't know what happened, but it just started to get on m nerves! I really, truly wanted to enjoy the second time, but just felt like bland potato salad!

Daniel Sampere's art, on the other hand, was flawless. All the characters, as well as the backgrounds, looked hella tight! I found myself more into the art that the actual story!

I am not 100% sure why I didn't like it. Mostly, I felt some of the characterizations were off, leaving to not give a fart about any of them! That right there is what makes a book, regardless of whether a comic or an actual prose work, the characters have to stand out and make you actually interested in them! Without factor, you have a book that will fail to attract attention, and ultimately, will fail, falling quite flat!

Ok, this is my closing part. This is where I give my final grade, as well as recommending, or trashing, the book being reviewed. Not gonna do it this time round! I want to say that you, yourself, should read this trade, seeing if you like it as much as the others seemed to, k'?
  
Lifeforce (1985)
Lifeforce (1985)
1985 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Fun fact - this is the second film I've seen where a female character uses Patrick Stewart's body to communicate with someone. Maybe this is some kind of niche sub-genre I'm just discovering...

Lifeforce is a film of three parts - it's one part sci-fi, one part British thriller, and one part ridiculous end-of-the-world horror, in that precise order.
The sci-fi part is decent enough, where a space crew discovers a strange object near Halley's comet, and further inspection reveals giant bats and sleeping naked humans in crystal coffins that turn out to weird space vampires (so on board with this ridiculous plot). It has a great aesthetic and some good special effects (keeping in mind this movie came out in 1985). The puppetry when some of the space-vampire victims come back to life is awesome.
Then the film shifts to Colonels Caine (Peter Firth) and Carlsen (Steve Railsback) as they track down one of the escaped aliens through London, whilst it kills and shapeshifts to it's hearts content.
This portion is slower, but Lifeforce has an engaging screenplay, and boasts a cast good enough to keep things entertaing. Patrick Stewart, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and John Hallam amongst others provide a solid ensemble that ensures the film doesn't fall into silly territory.

Everything leads up to the absurd finale however. London is completely aflame, hordes of vampire zombie things flood the street, there are bodies everywhere, shit is blowing up, vampire aliens are being vanquished with giant swords, people are being thrown out of helicopters - Tobe Hooper doesn't fuck about with this kind of stuff, and Lifeforce has a final sequence that puts a lot of other horror films to shame, and looks fantastic. It's glorious - This sci-fi-horror gem is well worth checking out.