Pack Up Your Troubles: How Humorous Postcards Helped to Win World War I
Book
Artist-drawn humorous postcards were growing considerably in popularity at the start of the 20th...
The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974: Volume 12
Charles M. Schulz and Billie Jean King
Book
The 12th volume of Peanuts features a number of tennis strips and several extended sequences...
Auschwitz Testimonies: 1945-1986
Book
In 1945, the day after liberation, Soviet soldiers in control of the Katowice camp in Poland asked...
Austral
Book
The great geoengineering projects have failed. The world is still warming, sea levels are still...
Sarah (7798 KP) rated We Will Rock You in Palace Theatre Manchester (Manchester, United Kingdom) in Shows
Jul 15, 2020
It really is a genius marketing idea to announce a tour of this show not long after the release of the hugely successful Bohemian Rhapsody film. And boy is it a good show. I knew nothing about this other than it was Queen music, and I'm not sure what I had been expecting from the actual story but this wasn't it! The plot centres around a futuristic world where rock music is banned, and whilst the actual story element isn't particularly strong, it more than makes up for this by being downright hilarious. You can tell this is a Ben Elton written musical. The script is so funny and clever, and I love how it's obviously been updated over the years to still be relevant with modern pop culture. The acting and singing too are very strong. The two leads have stunning voices and whilst Ian McIntosh isn't quite Freddie, he still has an amazing voice. Although for me the two standouts were Adam Strong as Khashoggi (who really needed even more stage time) and Michael McKell as Buddy. McKell especially was amazing, really embracing the camp Jack Sparrow-esque Buddy and bringing the house down with his delivery on the jokes.
Whilst the plot may not be the strongest, this more than makes up for it in sheer fun and entertainment.
Beth Ditto recommended Nunsexmonkrick by Nina Hagen in Music (curated)
Gertigstrasse 56
Book
A gripping narrative account of one family's struggle against fascism in Germany. Spanning...
ClareR (5667 KP) rated The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020 in Books
Apr 18, 2021
The opening essay about Kushnerโs participation in an illegal motorbike race on the Baja Peninsula was probably my favourite - it sounded terrifying and exciting all at once. She does seem to like anything to do with motors, as a later essay showed. This one wasnโt really for me, but this is a collection where there is something for everyone. The chapter on wild cat strikes was interesting, as were the ones where she describes her formative years in her hometown and the music concerts she went to (loved these too). The last essay in the book played out as though it was on a film in my head.
The essay about prison reform was really thought provoking, as was that of when Kushner visited a Palestinian refugee camp. I could easily have read more of this one - no matter how saddening it ultimately was.
Rachel Kushner really can write. As she did in The Mars Room, each of these essays really evoked a time and place and made this book pretty hard to put down.
Many thanks to Jonathan Cape for inviting me to read this via NetGalley.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Serial Mom (1994) in Movies
Jul 4, 2021
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต!"
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต: ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐๐. Does anyone do the satirization of stuck-up suburban values as originally and/or as brutally entertaining as John Waters? Most other directors would have turned this into a threadbare lecture that refused to have any sort of fun. But here we have this beautiful concoction of B-movie theatrics, gore, pitch-perfect performances, jovial filth, rock-solid lampooning, and A1 comedy - so lovingly inspired by low-budget camp and slashers of the 60s-80s that it honestly could pass off as one in many respects. Kathleen Turner is a live wire - in one of the most religiously entertaining female performances of all time, it has a blast radius that would make a military warhead quake. This is the type of role that just demands your attention, perpetually switching between these polar opposite demeanors at the drop of a hat with expert-level talent and all game for the ensuing absurdity. Which on its own would have been enough to carry 93 minutes of fun but then the film is also super clever and uproarious without rest. Had an ear-to-ear smile on my face for most of the runtime and laughed so often that my mouth began to give out mid-laugh due to the muscles simply being too worn out from overwork. Quotable as fuck and every scene is memorable, a total killer.