scaryblog

Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day... 21.10.19  : A Present For Everyone - Busted (2003 ) I'd not heard this, but have always had a bit of a soft spot for Busted - and the channel's rudeness before even listening to it didn't do it any harm for me either.   Thankfully work is over and so I get a chance for the highlight of the day - listening to Busted!  Yes, it's easy to mock and I realise it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's perfectly serviceable singalong pop and I'd say there's more variety there than I was expecting.  It's really not a million miles away from Dookie-era Green Day which is viewed as so much cooler - it's all a case of the audience you go after methinks. The channel gave it one thinking snoopy, three surprised pikachus, one astonished samsung, one facepalm, three party thumbs, one thumbs up (that I just gave it because I felt sorry for it), a lot of negativity, some grudging acceptance that maybe it's not tota...

Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day... 21.10.14  : Nightwhisper - Jody Wisternoff (2020 ) I'd forgotten this one until I re-read the really nice introduction it was given in the channel by the nominator, whose partner is Jody's manager and let's just say that Covid had some unwanted effects on some plans they had for this album.  I quite liked it at the time, but I'd be lying if I said it stuck in the mind - but a quick relisten reminded me of its acceptableness. yeah - i liked that (although i didn't feel the need to listen to all the extended remixes).  The channel gave it no emojis, but I suspect this was mostly because people were distracted by the lovely introduction which got a lot of warm responses and there were some nice comments on the album as well.  Wikipedia has nothing on the album, but does have an entry for Mr Wisternoff, which unfortunately includes various facts on the man right up until the release of his debut album.  And this w...

During the second lockdown (I think), with various gigs and shows having been postponed, I saw that The Bard Of Barking, Mr William Bragg was selling tickets for gigs in just over a year's time - "let's go for it" I thought "surely things will be back to normal by then".  Ah. However, after 40 nights on the road fraught with the potential of one false move resulting in infection and losing the rest of the tour, he's made it through to the last night at The Roundhouse in Camden, which is a venue that I've not made it to before.  A quick wander around the neighbourhood suggests it's exactly the sort of environment I have no place in - I mean, even the Morrisons is way cooler than me.  It's also, given that it's approximately two degrees out, not exactly busy... ...until I join the queue outside The Roundhouse and immediately bump into Mr Rubenstein who I've not seen in a good ten years or so - and it was lovely to catch up (after I'...

Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day... 21.10.11  : The Neon Handshake - Hell Is For Heroes (2003 ) I seem to recall I was concerned about this because it features the word "Hell" and I seem to recall my concern was well-founded.  And my channel comment seems to at least partially confirm this I didn't hate this but it's not really my sort of thing. It's a cool album cover though - I'll give it that.  The channel gave it four thumbs up, one clap and a long speech from the nominator about how lucky  they were  to be picked!  Wikipedia has five random sentences on the album including " In 2005, readers of Kerrang! magazine voted The Neon Handshake the 58th best British rock album ever".  There's no mention of commercial performance, which is a bit odd because it got to #16, which was a bit more of a big deal back then than it would be now. "Customers also listened to" Idlewild, Funeral For A Friend and A - that's a bit of a silly n...

Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day... 21.10.06  : The Metallica Blacklist - Metallica & Friends  (2021 ) Mmmm - six hours of Metallica covers!  What's not to love about that?!?  After I had a minor strop, the nominator recommended a cut-down list which I felt brave enough to try (particularly since he'd provided an excellent nomination speech harking back to the Freddie Mercury tribute concert).  And generally, they were all pretty good - much preferable to the originals for me.  And it really brings out how good a song "Nothing Else Matters" is. The channel gave it three thumbs up, one mic-drop-boom and a lot of positive comments.  I was somewhat surprised to see that Wikipedia does have an entry for this - I'd assumed it was just a playlist, but it's an actual album released as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of, now what album could it possibly be?  Ah yes, it's that one .  And apparently, it's only four hours long -...

Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day... 21.10.01  : Happy Songs For Happy People - Mogwai  (2003) Mogwai are one of those bands I always think I like but I can never quite remember why - but I remember liking this when I listened to it.  My channel comment at the time was Yeah, liked this as well.  Definite echoes of yesterday's selection in places... but actually having re-listened to it, I thought this was vastly superior to Tall Ships on a second listen - obviously more of a grower.  It's not got a nice album cover though.  The channel gave this (deep breath) six nices, four thumbs up, one heart eyes, one sweet, one cowboy hat, two saltires, one glasgow, a few positive comments and a new joiner.  Wikipedia has a selection of random sentences vaguely relating to the album, with this being the obvious highlight " A computer animated video was released for the song "Hunted by a Freak", depicting a person throwing pets to their death ".  Th...

So, what did I think of The Guardian's Top 50 films of 2020 ?  At the top end of the list, I'd say they got it pretty much right - the top 10 were all fine films which I more or less enjoyed (if not necessarily feeling the need to watch them again).  I'd obviously quibble with the order, but that's the point to these lists, isn't it?  However, further down the list there were a lot of entries more questionable as to their worthiness of a place on the list which I feel few people have watched and fewer still have actively liked.  Plenty of them were  merely "fine" - they had little (for me, at least) that made them stand out from the crowd.  And then there were the ones that were, how shall I put this - ah yes "absolutely bloody awful". The Guardian were also very scrupulous in ensuring that no countries film output was left ignored - in all, 16 countries were represented across the list with the US and the UK unsurprisingly making up the majority...

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's  Top 50 Movies of 2020... #1 :   기생충 ( Parasite) Bong Joon-ho’s class-war masterwork has been top of most people’s lists from the moment it premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2019; it’s since won the Palme d’Or and the best picture Oscar. Release calendar differences means it won our US poll last year, and it now tops the UK list having hit UK cinemas in February 2020. Thrilling, horrible, dramatic, articulate – it covers every base. We've made it!  Yay!  And - what's more it's two films in a row I've seen - I'm being spoiled here!  But what can I actually write about this one without spoiling it for those that haven't seen it?  Not an awful lot I suspect... Hmmm - it's a tricky one and I think I'm just going to be annoying vague about it all.  This film obviously has a lot to say about a lot of things, but it's not always entirely clear what it is actually saying.  It also has some very clever ideas in...

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's  Top 50 Movies of 2020... #2 :  Soul Pixar’s latest animation, in which Jamie Foxx voices the central character, a jazz musician whose body becomes separated from his soul. Directed by Pete Docter, who was previously behind Up and Inside Out, this returns Pixar to the emotionally intelligent brilliance that has been its special hallmark. And FINALLY - a film I've actually seen on the list.  I'm happy to take some of the blame, but not all of it - there have been a lot of films on this list that I suspect very few people in the country have seen, and fewer still have actually enjoyed.  However, let's not dwell on the past and move onwards and upwards to this, the second best film of last year.  Or was it? Well, I'll be honest, I remember enjoying this one but apart from a vague mental overview in line with the description above, I'm struggling to remember too much about what happened.  I remember there were some clever bi...

Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day... 21.09.28  : NME Presents Essential Bands 2006 - Various Artists  (2006) I remember enjoying this, without remembering any of the artists on the album just at this point in time! A nice mix of bands and tracks - some of whom went on to bigger and better things.  And some of whom very much didn't.  But a fine choice nonetheless, sir! The album cover is quite amusing given that NME definitely did a good job in picking some bands that went on to great things, but they then chose to give The Automatic and Razorlight top billing, which wasn't necessarily their best move.  The channel gave it no emojis but a couple of positive comments to make up for that.  Wikipedia doesn't have a lot on the album, but it surprised me by telling me there were 40 tracks on the album, but there were only 24 tracks on Spotify and only 19 on Amazon, so I'm feeling a bit hard done by.  One other thing I noticed is that it appea...