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Karl Hyde recommended Rubycon by Tangerine US in Music (curated)

 
Rubycon by Tangerine US
Rubycon by Tangerine US
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"When I was a kid I heard all this strange electronic music that came from Germany on pirate radio and on the Peel show and it seemed like music from another planet and I wanted it. Then one afternoon I was listening to Radio 1 and Annie Nightingale played one whole side of Rubycon and it was life changing. I said to her, many years later, "that was incredible!" and she said, "oh John used to do that all the time, he was the first to do that." But it was like Annie became a pirate for one moment and took over the whole of Radio 1. That meant a lot. That was the spirit of making music to me. You do what feels right. If you want to play half an hour, you do it and accept the consequences but you have to do what the music tells you to do. Tangerine Dream made these extraordinary, electronic soundscapes. Is it an animal or is it a machine? Tangerine Dream crossed over that a lot. And then Annie played the entire side and blew my head."

Source
  
Status Update (2018)
Status Update (2018)
2018 | Comedy, Fantasy
8
7.2 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Ross Lynch stars as Kyle Moore, a teenager who after being uprooted by his parents' separation and unable to fit into his new hometown, stumbles upon a magical app that causes his social media updates to come true.



My mum asked me what I'd seen this month and so we went through the list with a brief description of the ones she hadn't heard of. When I got to this one... "It's so much fun, you'd hate it, dad would love it." Mum will watch a lot of things, but daft humour isn't really one of them. Dad and I are all over them though.

I would totally abuse an app that made my status updates come true... of course I'd want to check that it didn't apply things retroactively, and that I could dial my sarcasm back a lot to protect myself from worse self afflicted issues than happen in the film.

It's a fun diversion, a feel good film that has clearly been trying to tick all the boxes on what makes people go to the cinema... bit of wacky mystery, some singing and dancing, a bitchy gay... it's got all the things we love.
  
Christopher Robin (2018)
Christopher Robin (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy
I've never really been a fan of Winnie the Pooh as a franchise. I'm not a monster, I do like the characters! It feels like it's been over done recently even though this is only actually one of two films around the subject in the last few years.

All in all it's a perfectly pleasant film with some very touching moments. But the ending just kind of happens... all of a sudden.

I was also bugged a little by the fact that Pooh and friends didn't all have the same style. While they weren't in it as much as the others, Owl, and rabbit to some extent, looked a lot more real than everything else. Likewise, Kanga and Roo have a different style again. In the illustrations and animations the differences between the characters is a lot less obvious.

It makes you wish that life really was as simple and carefree as it is for Pooh. A game of Say What You see followed by tea. He also has what is possibly the most inspirational line in the whole film:

"People say nothing is impossible. But I do nothing everyday."
  
I liked the group of friends and their adventure to San Francisco. I too, explored the city, when I went there a few years ago and it reminded me of a lot of what I got up to down at Fisherman's Wharf. I also liked Landon and his wanting to help Celia however he could in relationship to her ex and money wise and how you could see how much he really liked/loved her.

It was just a little too much chick-lit--focusing a lot more on the friends and their relationship than her romance with Landon--for my liking. Not that I didn't enjoy what they got up to, and her adventures with Landon, of course, but I like my books to concentrate more on the romance than anything else.

I wish I'd read the first book in the series so I could see Bonni and Quinn's romance and how Landon's and Celia's romance started. I'm sure that things will be continued in the next book with these two and figuring out what's going to happen with her ex-husband but I'm not sure if I'll continue the series at this point.
  
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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Brave New World in Books

Sep 10, 2019  
Brave New World
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley | 1932 | Fiction & Poetry
5
7.7 (44 Ratings)
Book Rating
Interesting idea, but poorly executed
I tried to read this many years ago, and I remember getting a couple of chapters in and giving up, but I couldn't recall why so decided to give it another go.

I can now see why I gave up on this book. The plot itself is a great idea, and similar in a way to the wonderful 1984. However unlike 1984, I found this book to be very poorly executed and i just couldn't get into the writing style at all. I love the idea of a dystopian future, but a lot of the features of this future society feel like they've been named by a child and a lot aren't explained enough to truly comprehend what's going on. The writing style too comes across as very confused and I really struggled with it. The characters are a good idea and flawed, but rather underdeveloped. In fact the whole book feels quite underdeveloped and its only a chapter or so at the end that I truly enjoyed.

I really wish this had been better written, as it's a fantastic idea for a novel.
  
The Predator (2018)
The Predator (2018)
2018 | Action, Horror
Wasn't entirely terrible
I'd heard a lot of truly terrible things about this film so hadn't been expecting much, and whilst it isn't great, there are worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

The first part of the film is actually quite good. I like the Predator's arrival on earth and subsequent escape, and some of the nods to the original film. The problem is the second half with the ridiculous super Predator and turns it into even more of a farce. The cast could have been good, and there's a decent amount of names in this, but they've been let down by a very poor script and characterisation. I mean Olivia Munn's biologist who can fight and handle weapons too without any explanation? And Sterling K Brown's ridiculously hammy villain was beyond cheesy. A lot of the deaths in the second half of the film were also farcical but sadly not in an enjoyable way, and unsurprisingly the ending has been set up yet another sequel. Do we really need another Predator film after this?

This wasn't as bad as Alien vs Predator at least...
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Hurry Home in Books

Aug 6, 2020  
Hurry Home
Hurry Home
Roz Nay | 2020 | Romance, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I absolutely loved Nay's previous book, OUR LITTLE SECRET, which was utterly engrossing, different, and a total page-turner. She proves again with HURRY HOME that she's a wonderful writer. I flew through this book as well.

It's told from the perspective of Alex and Ruth, alternating between the two sisters. We're never quite sure who to trust or to believe, and we are slowly doled out facts about their childhood. Unfortunately, I did find this novel to be more predictable than Nay's first. There are certainly a lot of great twists and turns, but I did guess a lot of them. I do think some of that is due to my large appetite for thrillers, though. A more casual reader will find this book quite shocking and twisty.

The action stays mainly focused on the sisters, so it can get a little repetitive as they hash through their dramas. But it's a compelling read, with some shocking reveals. Nay is certainly good at capturing the diabolical. While I did find some parts easy to guess, I enjoyed this thriller overall. I'll certainly be on the lookout for Nay's next book. 3.5 stars.
  
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Logan Eccles (135 KP) rated Creed II (2018) in Movies

Oct 1, 2020 (Updated Oct 2, 2020)  
Creed II (2018)
Creed II (2018)
2018 | Action, Drama, Sport
STRONG ADDITION TO THE ROCKY/CREED FRANCHISE
The story arc of every returning character was great and well developed I mean I was kinda expecting Rocky to die but I'm also ok with where he ended up story-wise. "D" Creed developed in the right ways too. He grew in directions he needed to and he struggled and failed in the way he needed to, to win. Also, I've seen a lot of people, complaining about the Dragos and their story in this film. I loved it and personally would love either a stand-alone Drago movie or for them to become more involved in a possible follow up in the growing Creed franchise. Most of the emotion in this film came from the Dragos and they hardly spoke but you could read the story they were writing with their expressions which is beautiful and says a lot of the skill of acting by those two. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, literally everything, the story, the music, the fights, and the acting. I highly recommend this film and am disappointed in my self of how long it took me to watch it but am glad I did.
  
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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Christine in Books

May 26, 2020  
Christine
Christine
Stephen King | 1983 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
8.0 (40 Ratings)
Book Rating
Good but a little too drawn out
Despite Stephen King being my favourite author and owning virtually all of his books, I've yet to actually read them all. Christine is one that never really appealed (From a Buick 8 sounded like a much better car based story), but it's actually quite good.

Aa with every King book, this is very well written and has some wonderfully developed and interesting characters. The story too is full of some decent gore and horror, but I think the major problem is with the length of the story. There is no reason why this needed to be dragged out over 600 pages, and it could've been a lot shorter. Whilst i enjoyed reading this, it did feel like a slog at times. Also considering the length of the book, the ending felt rushed and far too much time had been spent building up to an ending that felt a little lacklustre - although the final part of the epilogue did make up for this slightly.

Overall a decent entertaining book with a lot of good writing and characters, but too drawn out and definitely isn't one of King's best.