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Attention Attention by Shinedown
Attention Attention by Shinedown
2018 | Alternative, Metal
10
9.5 (4 Ratings)
Album Rating
Fresh, consistent, recognisable, motivating (0 more)
Only 14 tracks! Wish there was more (0 more)
They’re back!
Well! The Shinedown guys are back with another rip roaring album that doesn’t fail to please.

It’s been long awaited since the last album, Threat to Survival and it does not disappoint.

It’s got that recognisable Shinedown stamp on it so as soon as you hear the riffs and vocals, there’s no denying who it is.

The songs are fuelled by a rebellion feel and motivating you to stand up against what’s holding you back. It is perfect for the gym to keep pushing you.

My favourite track on it is Human Radio so far although it is quite hard to pick a favourite.

It’s good to see the album at the front of my local HMV too as the music I tend to buy is hidden away deep within the shelves of the metal/alt rock section with no deserved place of its own.

If you haven’t listened to any Shinedown then I recommend you check them out. There are quite a few albums to listen to. Sound of Madness would be a good starting point although feel free to start with Attention Attention and work backwards as you will find a vein of familiarity with the songs that everyone can relate to.

An epic album from an epic band. Been to see them six times live and one of the best bands I’ve seen performing. Their energy is relentless and the engagement with the crowd is awe inspiring.

Welcome back, Shinedown!!!!
  
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ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Beekeeper of Aleppo in Books

Oct 16, 2019 (Updated Oct 16, 2019)  
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Christy Lefteri | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I loved this book so much, that I bought it for my mum!
I’m going to sound very clichéd when I say what I want to say about this book. I know it, but I’m going to say it anyway. This is a book that will stay with you. It will break your heart. It will open your eyes (if they aren’t already) to the horrors in the world. It will make you realise that even amongst all of this despair and death, there is always hope. Hope of survival, hope of new beginnings.

The things that Nuri and his wife Afra see and experience in Aleppo, causes Afra, an artist, to go blind. The experiences that they live through on their journey to Greece and on to the UK are harrowing. No part of this journey is easy. The story is compelling, and it’s a story that frankly we should all be aware of. People have really lived through the things that Nuri and Afra see, do and have done to them. This is still happening, both in Syria and in other places in the world.

I think I pretty much cried through the last couple of chapters, but I couldn’t stop reading it. I’d still recommend it to anyone that wants to read about the experiences of refugees, and quite possibly I’d recommend it to those who don’t know what these people go through. There’s a lot to be learnt from this book.

Many thanks to ReadersFirst for my copy of this book.
  
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Otway93 (580 KP) rated When the Wind Blows (1986) in Movies

Dec 28, 2019 (Updated Dec 28, 2019)  
When the Wind Blows (1986)
When the Wind Blows (1986)
1986 | Animation, Drama
10
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Plot (3 more)
Animation
Soundtrack
Voice acting
A terrifying yet emotional masterpiece.
Contains spoilers, click to show
After many years of wanting to see this film, and building up my expectations, today I finally saw it, and was far from disappointed.

This Raymond Briggs' feature length animation tells the tale of an elderly couple (voiced by Sir John Mills and Dane Peggy Ashcroft) in the country trying to survive in the aftermath of a nuclear strike, with only the real life UK nuclear survival pamphlet "Protect and Survive" to help them.

This film is not for the faint of heart, and realistically should probably not have a PG rating, as the couples experiences with radiation sickness are rather graphic and are more than likely to upset younger audiences (it upset me, and I'm 26!).

The animation is beautiful, as it is with every Raymond Briggs' film, but with a difference as it does often mix stop-motion and classic animation to make something quite haunting and very special, with other "special sequences" reminiscent of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

And last but not least: the soundtrack. With a title track performed by David Bowie, you already know it's going to be good. But the score (written by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd) is also incredible, yet again very reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Blue Sky"...again from "The Wall". With additional music by Squeeze, Paul Hardcastle and Hugh Cornwell, this makes it a pleasure to listen to.

Overall, an aural, visual and emotional rollercoaster, but not for the faint hearted.

Remember those last few words, not for the faint hearted!
  
Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park (1993)
1993 | Adventure, Sci-Fi
Dino-mite Film!
Rearley does a film age well, particularly in tge 90s, but the quality of the anamatronics, CGI and practicàl effects let's this one stand the test of time (to an extent anyway).
Wealthy zoo lover John Hammond has invested his cash in the extraction of DNA from fossalised amber, lesing to the creation of dinosaurs!
As you can imagine, this is no walk in the park, and after a "incident" resulting in the death of a park worker, the insurance company want an investigation, and outside approval to declare the park safe to open.
Enter Drs Allan Grant ("Alan!") And Ellie Sattler, renowned paeleogolotists (the latter being a paeliobotpnist, no idea if that is spelt right...) As well as Dr Ian Malcolm.
They, along with the lawyer and John's grand kids take the tour of the park, but things do not go according to plan.
Filled with suspense, memorable moments, and more fake science than you can shake a fossle at, it is an epic tale of survival as "nature finds a way" to break it's bonds and sick a big middle claw up at OSHA.
I loved this film when I first saw it, and now, decades later, I still do. Even though I know the script by heart, I still find myself on the edge if my seat, holding my breath.
Parodied in thousands of other forms of media, I know I am not the only one.
I give this film 10 severed Samulal L. Jackson arms out if 10.