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Brick Body Kids Still Daydream by Open Mike Eagle
Album Watch
With the first song of his 2014 masterpiece, Dark Comedy, Open Mike Eagle reintroduced himself by...
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Awix (3310 KP) rated BlacKkKlansman (2018) in Movies
Mar 12, 2019
Based-on-truth joint from Spike Lee is one part comedy, one part thriller, and one part consciousness-raising polemic. The first African-American to join the Colorado Springs PD has to deal with racism from his own colleagues even before he embarks upon the seemingly insane mission of infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, assisted by his Jewish partner.
Not quite the absurd comedy the trailer suggests it will be, although anyone familiar with Lee's work could probably have guessed as much; the material dealing with the civil rights movement and the political realities of the time is seriously presented and clearly deeply felt. Still involving and entertaining stuff - the decision to dispense with a conventional ending in favour of a diatribe against those provoking the Charlottesville riots and their cheerleader in Washington may not be great storytelling, but it feels entirely understandable and appropriate.
Not quite the absurd comedy the trailer suggests it will be, although anyone familiar with Lee's work could probably have guessed as much; the material dealing with the civil rights movement and the political realities of the time is seriously presented and clearly deeply felt. Still involving and entertaining stuff - the decision to dispense with a conventional ending in favour of a diatribe against those provoking the Charlottesville riots and their cheerleader in Washington may not be great storytelling, but it feels entirely understandable and appropriate.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Cosmic Voyage (Космический рейс) (1936) in Movies
May 12, 2019 (Updated May 12, 2019)
First Man it ain't, but this optimistic prediction of the first manned mission to the Moon (by the Soviets, in 1946) still has many points of interest. Bold (if somewhat geriatric) scientist Sedych decides to take a bold leap into the unknown and go to the Moon, against the wishes of the authorities. He ends up going with his young female assistant and a teenage boy; various hazards imperil the voyage.
There are obviously allegorical and political elements to the script, but in another way this is an attempt at genuine scientific accuracy; this is probably the first film to attempt to portray characters in zero gravity, and it does a pretty decent job. Some of the special effects are startlingly good for the period the film was made. You do have to cut it some slack, but this is by no means a slow or heavy film.
There are obviously allegorical and political elements to the script, but in another way this is an attempt at genuine scientific accuracy; this is probably the first film to attempt to portray characters in zero gravity, and it does a pretty decent job. Some of the special effects are startlingly good for the period the film was made. You do have to cut it some slack, but this is by no means a slow or heavy film.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2652 KP) rated Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (Mrs. Pollifax, #13) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Mrs. Pollifax teams up with her old friend Farrell and heads to Jordan to smuggle out a manuscript about life in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Their mission is complicated when someone - the wrong someone – seems interested in them. Might it have something to do with Mrs. Pollifax’s seatmate from the plane?
Welcome back to the late 90’s and the penultimate Mrs. Pollifax adventure. Things get off to a great start, but unfortunately Mrs. Pollifax isn’t a driving force in most of the climax. That’s only a minor complaint because any time spent with Mrs. Pollifax is plenty of fun, and that holds true again here. The characters, new and old, are a delight. And the book provides a good reminder of the political situation of 20 years ago.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/08/book-review-mrs-pollifax-innocent.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Welcome back to the late 90’s and the penultimate Mrs. Pollifax adventure. Things get off to a great start, but unfortunately Mrs. Pollifax isn’t a driving force in most of the climax. That’s only a minor complaint because any time spent with Mrs. Pollifax is plenty of fun, and that holds true again here. The characters, new and old, are a delight. And the book provides a good reminder of the political situation of 20 years ago.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/08/book-review-mrs-pollifax-innocent.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Loz Hughes (80 KP) rated Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Books
Jul 14, 2018
By far my favorite Harry potter book.
Contains spoilers, click to show
Ive always found this book to be my favorite out of the whole series purely because Harry finds some family...his godfather, whom after a convoluted storyline he realises isnt set out to murder him. Its the only book where I feel he actually has a few happy moments in his life and is discovering who he is and achieves a bit of character stability. I love how the story handles the introduction of Sirius and displays the political and media spin that happens in the background (between the bad reporting on the daily prophet and ministry of magic). Also the trio (Harry, Ron and hermoine) seem to have solid bonds of friendship grow tighter in this storyline.
Steph (468 KP) rated The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty #2) in Books
Jul 9, 2018
I am incredibly impressed with the amount of research that must have gone into this book, for politics, military strategy, engineering, physics, and more. That being said, to me the most important thing is characters and I think they fell a little short on this one. Parts of the plot were a little confusing and hard to follow as well. Jia's struggle for power/efforts to unite the throne seemed silly and it was difficult to see the political accumen involved. I was also surprised at how cold and calculating she became. The plot started off rather slow and seemed to end too soon with a lot happening far too quickly at the end. Ultimately this book read more like the first in a series with The Grace of Kings as a prequel. Nevertheless, I still admire the work that went into this book and the brilliance behind the ideas.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Captain Marvel, Volume 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More in Books
Sep 17, 2018
Captain Marvel is not a superhero I am familiar with, but with a free Kindle Unlimited trial and an upcoming movie about her, I thought I should give it a try.
Some really good artwork here, being slightly cartoony in nature but not too twee. Some good interaction with Guardians of the Galaxy.
But in general, just a bit flimsy and dull. A lot of the book falls into Phantom Menace-esque international trade tariff discussions which take up quite a large proportion of the page count.
I don't feel like this really shows off one of the most powerful superheroes in all their glory, rather being a strong independent woman sorting things out through political discussion and diplomacy before eventually resorting to her powers. While this was right for the story being told, I found it a boring one. I may not be the target market for this.
Some really good artwork here, being slightly cartoony in nature but not too twee. Some good interaction with Guardians of the Galaxy.
But in general, just a bit flimsy and dull. A lot of the book falls into Phantom Menace-esque international trade tariff discussions which take up quite a large proportion of the page count.
I don't feel like this really shows off one of the most powerful superheroes in all their glory, rather being a strong independent woman sorting things out through political discussion and diplomacy before eventually resorting to her powers. While this was right for the story being told, I found it a boring one. I may not be the target market for this.
Dark, Disturbing and Definitely wort watching
I started watching this after finding it on Netflix after i had finished all three seasons of Narcos. At first i was a little unsure as i dont usually watch foreign TV programmes. After the first episode i was hooked and intrigued. Its a dark story about the life of Joaquin 'el chapo' guzman. It shows his life from his upbringing and how he rose to be one of the most notorious and feared narcotics traffickers in Mexico. It shows how he rose from a simple drug dealer to a drug lord and how he took control over the drug cartels of Mexico. We also see a lot of the political backdrop of Mexico and how it changed over his life and how Mexico has developed.
JT (287 KP) rated Spy Game (2001) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
As Tony Scott films go this one’s a pretty decent effort. Redford is slick and sophisticated as a retiring CIA agent and Pitt is equally effective as his eager to learn student.
The tight script and shooting make for an entertaining mix of explosions and plot twists. Robert Redford plays Nathan Muir a soon to be retired CIA operative who has spent the past few years training his protege Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt).
When a routine extraction in China goes wrong Bishop is captured behind enemy lines and it is up to Muir to get through all the political red tape to help pull him out.
The film is tense even in the boardroom scenes, and we get a real sense of the relationship between Bishop and Muir with good use of flashbacks. This is first rate and another winning film from the late Tony Scott.
The tight script and shooting make for an entertaining mix of explosions and plot twists. Robert Redford plays Nathan Muir a soon to be retired CIA operative who has spent the past few years training his protege Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt).
When a routine extraction in China goes wrong Bishop is captured behind enemy lines and it is up to Muir to get through all the political red tape to help pull him out.
The film is tense even in the boardroom scenes, and we get a real sense of the relationship between Bishop and Muir with good use of flashbacks. This is first rate and another winning film from the late Tony Scott.
Thomas MacDonagh: 16Lives
Book
Born in Cloughjordan in Co. Tipperary, MacDonagh was a poet and playwright, an educator and...