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"I’d have to include Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, a Jacques Tati movie, which I remember watching at my school when I was 17, and it was such a revelation for me as a movie, as a sort of a comedy tone and attitude which I’d never seen. Almost purely visual, for a start; no words. And like most people, in terms of comedy movies, I’d been brought up on British and American comedy movies, which tend to be fast moving, and they tend to be very verbal, with the exception of the Pink Panthers, actually. Of course, I could veer off into that in terms of the Peter Sellers… But it just had a fabulous comic tone and comic attitude which I’d never seen before, which is basically where you just sit back and watch people behaving in a slightly exaggerated way. And, again, if comedy is exaggerated truth, there it was again. It was the pace of it, the slow pace of it. That’s what was such an eye-opener for me, and taught me one thing, really, which is that comedy is not about pace. It’s about rhythm. Rhythm is what’s important, and the rhythm can be surprisingly slow and still funny. And even if you know the joke’s coming, even if you can hear the joke trundling just the other side of the horizon, and you know it’s going to come over the horizon, you can enjoy it as much as if it’s a surprise. And that was the insight that I feel I got from that."

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Jonathan Donahue recommended Let It Be by The Replacements in Music (curated)

 
Let It Be by The Replacements
Let It Be by The Replacements
1984 | Rock
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Like The Chameleons, they should be playing stadiums, or should've at their time. This album is one of the standards of great American music. Some of the songs here are up there with some Frank Sinatra tracks, some Bing Crosby moments. Like 'Unsatisfied', for instance, that's a pop standard worthy of Billie Holiday. Again, they couldn't seem to get out of their own way for a period of time. The thing with The Replacements is if you ask Wayne Coyne, Michael Stipe or J Mascis, they were the ones that would say: ""The Replacements, that would be the band to be in."" They were everybody's band before they made their own band. They almost would have been what The Velvet Underground was at the time for the bands around them. They also had that catalysing effect of being crazy - they had a nonchalance that most could only dream of. At times they had a recklessness, which put them a few steps behind where they should've been, but that was The Replacements. And it was the first time that the bands we loved actually made a real record. Their songs were going to stand the test of time, songs that we were all going to cover. I know it was like that being around a lot of the bands during the mid-'80s. They had that magnetism Sonic Youth had, but had songs we could all cover, sing and play. Now you hear stories of them playing to 200 people at Coachella and you can't believe how it didn't translate to the younger generation."

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The Sandman (Audible Original #1)
The Sandman (Audible Original #1)
Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs | 2020 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well. Flipping heck. I’m a huge fan of the graphic novels, so I was both hesitant and wildly excited (it’s confusing to be me sometimes) when this popped on to my radar. Of course I preordered it off Audible, I’m not completely daft, and just in time for our holiday in Scotland. A nice, seven hour drive from Chester to the Black Isle (near Inverness - it’s beautiful there, by the way) and time well spent listening to this.

The cast was excellent: James McAvoy as Morpheus/ Dream/ The Sandman (they’re all the same person), Michael Sheen as Lucifer, and a host of other excellent voice actors: Rio Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis and Miriam Margolyes. There are more actors, and they were all wonderful. It was ALL wonderful - it stuck faithfully to the original graphic novels, and Neil Gaiman narrated wonderfully ( I know I need a thesaurus, but ‘wonderful’ is THE word!). Whatever that man touches is golden, it seems to me.

Can you tell I liked it? Actually, I LOVED it. I usually fall asleep on long car journeys (I get terribly car sick, and I don’t drive 🤷🏼‍♀️), but I stayed awake for the whole time - and didn’t feel sick at all (even during the gory bits!).

The most potentially exciting part for me, is that it says ‘#1’. So I’ve set up my waiting post (I have to work out what that is exactly. I see it as a mental waiting room).
I can’t wait!!
  
Forever, Jack (Eversea, #2)
Forever, Jack (Eversea, #2)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well, I read book 1, Eversea, back when I went on holiday last month and fell in love with Jack Eversea.

In this, we see the lengths he goes to to make it right for the girl he loves, Keri Ann, and so she isn’t dragged into the backstabbing world that he’s grown weary of. And if possible I fell even harder for him.

But in the five months he’s been gone from her life, Keri Ann, has tried to move on and he’s got a job on his hands getting back in her good books. I didn’t blame Keri Anne for not taking him back instantly after what happened at the end of Eversea, but at the same time I was willing them almost desperately to get back together because they are one hell of a good couple.

Audrey annoyed the hell out of me again. I wasn’t a fan in the first and she angered me more in this one. How desperate can you be not to ruin your image to threaten a girl you’ve never really taken the time to know or talk to? She hacked me off big time at the beginning; I could have smacked her and at the end, too.

The life of a celebrity never does run smooth.

I loved Eversea but there’s something about Forever, Jack…there’s so much more emotion in it and I was sucked in whole-heartedly. I am now a die-hard fan of Natasha Boyd and look forward to reading future books.
  
A Christmas Mourning
A Christmas Mourning
Laura Bradford | 2020 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mystery of the Missing Christmas Spoon
Claire Weatherly is going to enjoy a rare day off with her aunt Diane, and the two are going to play tourist, visiting the Amish sites that are open for tours. When Claire mentions this to Jakob Fisher, her new boyfriend, he tells her a story about a Christmas years ago. Raised by a local Amish family, Jakob actually attended school in the one room school house Claire and Diane will be visiting. The last year he was there, he took a fancy Christmas spoon his mother owned to show off to his friends, and it got lost. Claire decides to see if she can figure out what happened to it. But can it be recovered all these years later?

I’ve been meaning to read this short story at Christmas one year, and I’m glad I finally made the time. While the events of the past are set around Christmas, the contemporary part is not set during the season, which was a surprise that I got over quickly. The story was perfect for a short story; it kept me engaged without being overly complex. The ending made me tear up, but in a good way. We don’t see all of the characters, but it was wonderful to check in with those who were part of the story. It took me just under an hour to read, so if you want to read it this year, there is still time to slip it in before the holiday.