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    Oxford

    Oxford

    Martin Garrett

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    Oxford started as an Anglo-Saxon border outpost, with a bridge replacing the 'oxen ford' from which...

Love, Death & Robots
Love, Death & Robots
2019 | Action, Animation, Comedy
Unique And Visceral Experience
Love, Death, & Robots is an adult animated anthology tv series on Netflix. The series is produced by Joshua Donen, David Fincher, Jennifer Miller, and Tim Miller. Each of the 18 episodes released on the first season was animated by different crews from a range of countries. It's also a re-imagining of 1981 animated sci-fi film Heavy Metal. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Topher Grace, Gary Cole, Samira Wiley, and Stefan Kapicic.


Produced by different casts and crews, and consisting of 18 stand-alone episodes, each under 20 minutes, the title of the series refers to the recurring themes of love, death, and robots in each episode. Full of terrifying creatures, wicked surprises and dark comedy, it's a collection of animated short stories spanning several genres like horror, comedy, fantasy, and science fiction. Captivating stories come to life with world-class animation in a plethora of tales unlike anything else.


This series was wicked awesome. Reminded me of some of the other animated anthologies I've seen such as The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight, except quite a bit more NSFW. This series also gave me a Twilight Zone vibe but bit darker. More blood and guts and highly sexual. Even though it's pretty graphic, I really liked a lot of the stories they told and the twists that most had in the end as well. Some are kind of hit or miss or just better than others but I think that there is definitely something for everyone despite the gore and nudity and language. I especially enjoyed the following episodes, 1. Sonnie's Edge, 8. Good Hunting, 10. Shape-Shifters, 13. Lucky 13, and 18. Secret War. The way they went about the story telling and world building in each episode was phenomenal. I really feel that some of these episodes deserve their own individual films or series to do them better justice. I mean some were just so good and less than 20 minutes felt like not enough or that they could have been even better. I give the entire series overall a 9/10.
  
Frustration by The Painted Ship
Frustration by The Painted Ship
1967 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"The Painted Ship are a psychedelic garage band from Vancouver. My favourite kind of garage is not so much straight ahead, riff driven garage, but warped and atmospheric garage – that’s what I love to listen to. “Like a complete loser, I’ve made a playlist on my iTunes called ‘Mood Garage.’ They’re the kind of songs that are perfect for when you’re in the car late at night. It was Rhys Webb from The Horrors who first played me this song a couple of years ago, I told him about my ‘Mood Garage’ playlist and this specific sound and he suggested ‘Frustration’ and it was totally right. “Garage is an amazing genre. The name comes from kids at home making music with only the means available, but then you’ve got all these weird records that came out of it and went in another direction. It’s like it becomes more than the sum of its parts, it has something unearthly about it that you can’t pin down. It’s sort of like a darker version of the ‘Setsunai’ bittersweet feeling. It still hits you in the same place, but it brings you down another path. “Artistically, garage music has impacted me because of how instinctive the genre is. When it comes to music that actually inspires me to want to make things, it’s always music that is a little more instinctive and spontaneous. I remember when I read Rip It Up and Start Again by Simon Reynolds, this whole history of Post-punk that made me want to start like, four different bands. When you read about people who are making music with simple means, it feels spontaneous and it makes you want to play. “When The Horrors first started there wasn’t any discussion or question of anything, we didn’t even know how to be in a band. So it was all instinctive, a raw transmission of emotion and expression. And that’s why I love garage – it’s through this raw expression that a whole movement of kids in parents’ homes and garages made something that sounded, in the best cases, like it wasn’t even from this world."

Source
  
Hers, Times Two (Hers #4)
Hers, Times Two (Hers #4)
Anna Adler | 2021 | Erotica, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
the steamiest of them all!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarain, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Eliza has lusted after Jackal and Zaster for some time. And they, her. But it takes nearly losing Liz for her and them to see that they could be happy together, the three of them.

Book 4 in the Hers series, and I would personally recommend you read the other books first. Book one, especially, since Alyssa and Jax play a huge part here! Chase and Holly, book 2, are mentioned but I don't think that the couple from book 3, Roth and Kaitlyn are even mentioned. Doesn't matter though. You don't NEED their stories for this one to make sense, but it might give you a better picture of what Alyssa and Jax are trying to do for Silenia.

Certainly the steamiest of the four books! But also, the darkest I think. Even from book one, where Alyssa owns Jax, this book does take a darker turn.

Liz is suffering from a drug addiction, and she is keeping it from everyone, save the medic on board. The blackouts are the biggest side effect, and could cost them all their lives, if she's flying and blacks out. But when she needs to, Liz steps up, and gets shot. Zaster, bless him, takes it the hardest. But after a conversation with Jackal and then Liz, they actually want to make things work.

And work they do! OOOOOOEEEEE! Yes ma'am. Once they admit to each other what they all want, they are all in and straight away. Liz does not waste any time getting down and dirty with her men!

I read a wide variety of books, across lots of different genres. I don't just read M/F books either. And for me, if the GUYS had had some sort of sexual contact too, this would have taken it over to the full 5 stars. That would have just been the icing on a very hot cake!

I'm sorry, Ms Adler, to keep asking for more, but write such good stories and I want to read them!

4.5 stars, rounded UP for the blog.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
2010 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
9
5.7 (22 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
The Teens of Elm Street are dying in their sleep and all the clues are pointing to a past that no one remembers.
This is the remake of the 1984 classic slasher film of the same title and, I have to admit I’ve been putting off watching it for a while and I have to admit I was quite surprised by it.
The story line is mostly the same as the original film, the teens of Elm Street start to have nightmares about a strange, burnt man in a tatty green and red jumper, a brown fedora and glove with knives on the fingers. As their dreams start to get worst the teens begin to die in real life. As they investigate what is happening Nancy, Quentin and Kris come across photos of them all in pre school but none of them remember having met that young.
The 2010 ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ is darker than the original and is not a direct remake. It still has a few familiar scenes, including the bath tub scene but the story focuses more on what happened between Freddy and the young children of Elm Street even questioning whether Freddy was innocent. Unlike the original film, Freddy is punishing the children for what they said about him, not their parents for killing him.
If you haven’t seen any of the original films then the remake is a good film and the only complaint I have is that Freddy isn’t Freddy. It seems that the Freddy in this version is meant to be more serious than the one in the original but they still have him crack the odd joke, often one from the original film and it doesn’t quite work, it seems like this Freddy is trying to do an impression of the original one. I’m not too sure if this would affect anyone who hasn’t seen the other films.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) is a good, standard slasher whose story deviates slightly from the original in a way that actually adds to the world it’s set in.
  
Renovated (Chance Brothers #1)
Renovated (Chance Brothers #1)
Nikki Kiley | 2021 | Contemporary, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Im invested in these people, and this is only book one!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

Marisa needs funds to save her grandmother's building. Working with Levi and his brothers on a network renovation show, shouldn't be too hard, right? But the contract has a no sex clause, and the attraction between them is getting hotter by the second. Plus, there is the minor issue of totally redoing the plans for this renovation, within the time scale and budget already agreed. Piece of cake, right?

Oh! I've just made a discovery! This book is the first of this author, and I have to say, she proper nailed it!

I really liked this. It sprung some things at me I didn't see coming, but after, I saw the clues. I just didn't put them together fast enough!

I liked that the attraction between Marisa and Levi is scorching right from the start, and they are both fully aware that the clause in their network could cost them both this job and future ones, but they still give in to it. I loved that Levi was very quickly willing to admit he wants so much more, at least to himself. Marisa was slower, but when you know WHY, it makes a lot of sense.

It's that WHY that I've filed this on my "darker/grittier" shelf. Marisa past is not an easy read, but the full description is needed to get the point across. You need to know what happened to Marisa when she was just 13 years old, to see the woman she has become today, and what she does for others.

I loved Marisa's group of friends, and I loved Levi's brothers. I'm assuming that this series will be about either/or group finding love, given as Levi's brother and the producer of the show they are working on, are in the next book.

I'm invested in these people, and this is only book one. Keep 'em coming, please!

a steamy, but emotional, 4 star read!

**same worded review will appear elsewhere​*