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Ross (3284 KP) rated One Word Kill in Books

Dec 4, 2019  
One Word Kill
One Word Kill
Mark Lawrence | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Nothing original but a good read
Mark Lawrence has stepped out of the fantasy bubble into this loosely sci-fi trilogy set in the 1980s. 15 year old Nick is diagnosed with cancer and while undergoing chemotherapy starts to have strange visions and deja vu. A mysterious figure seems to be stalking him and his D&D friends, and he ends up planning a siege to help this person from the future.
The story is very short (a little over 200 pages on kindle), but is quite heavy on the 80s references and D&D gameplay. The story itself is nothing new but with a little more head-scratching time travel/parallel universe pseudo-science crammed in. The twists throughout the story are fairly predictable and cliched.
The dialogue also doesn't feel like authentic 80s teenager speech to me, a few too many Americanisms ("hey" instead of "hi", "do it, already" etc).
A reasonably enjoyable short book, but a little Stranger Things bandwagon-jumping to me. I'm not sure whether the other two books carry on the story or how, so I will be interested to see where they go from here.
  
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
2018 | Action, Animation, Sci-Fi
It seems only appropriate to close out the year which saw the passing of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko with a film celebrating their most successful creation; the result is a movie which appears to be under-performing at the box office simply because it's animated (a regrettable prejudice which I sometimes suffer from myself). On one level this is yet another Spider-Man origin story, the novelty value comes from the fact that the Spider-Man in question is the Ultimate version (Miles Morales) and the plot involves a hole being blown in the universe and numerous other Spider-People from parallel worlds being sucked through. Some of these are very weird.

Rock-solid storytelling, huge visual imagination and some very good jokes come together to make a film which works really well on virtually every level; there's perhaps not enough of the Nicolas Cage Spider-Man but you can't have everything. Not sure where they're going to go with the sequel (the novelty value of this film makes it a tough act to follow) but it does at least suggest possibilities for a meta-franchise based just on Spider-Man. A worthy and touching tribute to Stan and Steve.
  
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Gruff Rhys recommended Elektronik Turkler by Erkin Koray in Music (curated)

 
Elektronik Turkler by Erkin Koray
Elektronik Turkler by Erkin Koray
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I was playing a festival in Istanbul and asked Andy Votel and Dom Thomas if I should look out for any records while I was there. I got a bunch of records from shops, taking them to the counter where I was asked 'do I want them with the picture sleeve or without?' So I asked 'what's the difference?' and it was half price without the sleeve! So I took them without the sleeves, which they removed and tried to chuck away into the bin, but I convinced them to keep the sleeves for themselves. Anyway, I got a bunch of records and many of them were incredible - I used to play and dance to them a lot. They're really upbeat and vibrant with a brutal electric sass fizzing through them, with rhythms that were new to me and this whole new world opened up. I got hold of this Koray album, which is really playful and has had a direct influence on me musically and maybe took me out of Anglo-American song writing [habits]. Although it engages with Anglo-American rock, it's a unique album. It's a parallel pop universe that we're not exposed to. We're more exposed to the music of the economic settlements of the post-second World War!"

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Frank Black recommended Peace & Harmony by The Heptones in Music (curated)

 
Peace & Harmony by The Heptones
Peace & Harmony by The Heptones
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"They’re a vocal group and started back in the heyday of very early reggae records. It’s the Jamaican parallel universe of rock & roll. It echoes rock & roll, R&B, Motown, soul. It has all the vocabulary of great 50s rock & roll. It’s pop music. It has this work ethic and immediacy: “We’re just making records, and making records, and making records.” It’s like surf music. It’s guys around the world in cheapo studios just digging deep. I love the vocalising of The Heptones. Even later records. I always loved them. I’m a sucker for the 60s records. All of their early records are singles. The first time they got compiled was probably the 70s. There’s one song called 'School Girls' that I almost covered a few years ago [Black essentially covers it for the Quietus there and then]. It’s so heartfelt and heartbroken. It’s like, it’s like, it’s like when I listen to 'The Great Pretender' [sings] “Oh yes! I’m the great pretender…” The Platters were a lot smoother than The Heptones. But The Heptones have that beautiful harmonising and soulfulness. Whenever I hear The Heptones I think, I wish I could sing that good. They do an amazing version of 'Knock On Wood'. They fuckin’ own it, man! It’s already a big hit for whoever the fuck recorded it. They sell it, they own it, they wear the hat."

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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Happy Death Day 2U (2019) in Movies

Aug 6, 2020 (Updated Aug 6, 2020)  
Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
2019 | Horror, Mystery
Jessica Rothe (0 more)
A mix of different genres (1 more)
Not enough of horror
Over and Over Again
Happy Death Day 2U- should of been good, but in actuality it wasnt. The whole mult-veruse concept just didnt please me. I didnt like it at all. I fell like it didnt fit and it was basically the whole movies length time. So without it you wouldnt have the movie. Take away the mult-veruse concept and focus on the other charcter and why he is going through the same day without the mult-veruse than the movie would be good. It should of just been a mystery thriller slasher film and thats it. Other than that the movie is okay.

The plot: Collegian Tree Gelbman wakes up in horror to learn that she's stuck in a parallel universe. Her boyfriend Carter is now with someone else, and her friends and fellow students seem to be completely different versions of themselves. When Tree discovers that Carter's roommate has been altering time, she finds herself once again the target of a masked killer. When the psychopath starts to go after her inner circle, Tree soon realizes that she must die over and over again to save everyone.

Like i said its a okay movie, i recordmend just watch the first movie and thats it.