Well. This is just good old-fashioned rock. It’s like AC/DC but not quite as good. If you are fifty and haven’t adjusted your music tastes in thirty five years then you will love this.
Rosenrot – Rammstein
Look. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: Rammstein are amazing. I love it. I can’t get enough and it just stuns me all the time. The thing is, and this is mentioned elsewhere within these communications, I forget song names. Bands I have grown to like over the last twenty years or so, Rammstein included, have suffered from a case of me not having the time to stare at the album packaging. It’s worse these days as I rarely buy physical copies of music and rarely look at the actual titles of songs I hear. This along with a propensity to not really listen to the lyrics combines to mean I don’t know song titles. Unless the chorus is the title over and over.
I know the songs and I know which ones I like but naming them? Almost impossible.
Just go and buy everything by Rammstein. You’ll not regret it.
Root Down – Beastie Boys
This is gritty and fun. I don’t think I have deliberately listened to it but these songs definitely come on in a shuffle and I quite enjoy them. After the quite polished sound of the first album the Beastie Boys have definitely come on.
Rock Or Bust – AC/DC
Considering how much I like AC/DC I’m not sure I’ve listened to this album all the way through. I love the Bon Scott era and there are some albums from the Brian Johnson era that are stunning but, this one’s just too recent. Black Ice was really the last AC/DC album I really knew. I bought it, obviously, but I’m not enough of a super-fan to listen to this. I didn’t even put it on before writing this.
Rio Grande Blood – Ministry
So, I’ve been playing this recently and I really like it. There’s a particular level of noise and industry to it. This is an album well worth getting [if you like industrial metal and hate Bush Jr].
Ride The Lightning – Metallica
Writing this in the middle of a spell of self-isolation is strange. I’m not sure if I’m going to write a communication covering what I think of the current Covid-19 nightmare we seem to be in. I’ve started writing something, not sure it’ll be coherent at all. Anyway, back to what I think about Ride The Lightning.
This album is a MONSTER. It’s raw and powerful.
- Fight Fire With Fire – amazing opening track Lovely.
- Ride The Lightning – possibly about being electrocuted in the chair. I don’t know, I don’t listen to lyrics.
- For Whom The Bell Tolls – look, it has a bass guitar melody. What more do you need. Brilliant song.
- Fade To Black – what all the latter Metallica songs are based on and they can fuck off. This is an amazing song.
- Trapped Under Ice – freezing. Dying. Horror.
- Escape – Possibly the least interesting song on here. But it’s still good.
- Creeping Death – Jesus, this is an amazing song. One of the times I saw Metallica they opened with this and it is a stunning song. Die, Die, Die, Die, Die.
- The Call Of Ktulu – an instrumental. Still great. SR was playing this once on the balcony of her holiday apartment in the Canary’s and it got strange looks. I don’t know why it’s genius.
This is an amazing album and it has that power to keep being great all this time later. I won’t pass on any of these songs when they crop up.
Revelations – Audioslave
This is the third album by supergroup Audioslave that I have reviewed here. The other two can be found by searching but they cover Audioslave and Out Of Exile. This is another excellent album. I don’t know how they do it but Audioslave have managed to write three excellent albums.
I do consider these albums good dinner music. I think they would be suitable to play while having dinner with a group of friends. Now, I do suspect that I’m wrong about this because I know that my tastes don’t really match up to normal. For instance, yesterday, I was at one of those large indoor play parks and they were playing music, probably to cover up the sound of the screaming. I will admit that the music was all quite fun, disco hits from the 70s and a few modern hits but mostly it was unoffensive and quite boring. Everyone should be pushing the boundaries. I do feel sorry for my kids sometimes; who else has a dad who plays Grausame Töchter regularly in the car rather than Heart and similar bullshit.
The Hunt
Yesterday I decided to head to the cinema although it was probably not the best idea to be in a room with lots of other people outside of my normal encounters. But still, I went. I do think was silly but because there’s so much going on in this country which is “normal” I don’t think the national psyche has changed to minimise the effects of the virus. I do think that our government aren’t doing enough, but I also think they are stupid and completely the wrong people to be in charge in a time of crisis. Try to think of who, in our current political system, you would trust to run this thing? I can only think of a couple: Lammy and Clarke. Polar opposites there I guess.
Anyway, back to the format. I made particular note of the tide as I drove along the riverside road because it’s important here. The tide was nearly highest and there were fishermen on the banks which was nice to see. I don’t think they’ll find any toilet roll in there though. On my return to home the tide was still pretty high or close to high tide and there were fishermen on the river banks near Peters Village also.
This film puzzled me and I eventually settled on a score on IMDB. There’s a rating system here. I then tweeted this result.
I rated The Hunt (2020) 6/10 #IMDb https://t.co/IzaXc2myOu
— Ian Parish (@iparish) March 15, 2020
I had heard about this film from plenty of US based podcasts because stupid right wing christian people were freaking the fuck out about this. As far as I know the release was delayed. This sort of thing can only help the final outcome of a film. A little controversy goes a long way.
I think I need to write two reviews. Firstly if this film was written as a comedy and by centrist or left wing people then it is hilarious. It’s a funny look at the divisions in society and the idea that we should take revenge on those who disagree with us. This film takes the standard idea of a Battle Royale and places it in the USA with right-on lefty people hunting down right wing people who have loudly disagreed with the sorts of things that they do.
This film is the same as the Hunger Games or The Maze or any other future dystopian type film. It’s a fight to the death. It’s funny. I don’t think it’s clever or intelligent or sensible but it is funny. It’s also quite bright and cheery.
If this film was written by someone with right wing tendencies then it’s fucking terrible. If someone wrote this as though it was a real piece of work that might be true in the future then they need to chill the fuck out. It’s still funny. I still think it’s bright and cheery. But it shows a dark view into the mind of those on the right as if they think this could happen.
You know what? I enjoyed this film and I might even watch it again sometime. I suspect I will have to change the rating to an 8/10.
Reunion – Black Sabbath
There’s something about buying up classic artists and music by those bands who influenced you. Black Sabbath are, really obviously, such a major influence on everything that it’s important to know the history.
I saw a Black Sabbath cover band at a venue in Gillingham, the name of which escapes me and I will enter it here [] once I remember. I wasn’t really expecting much other than an enjoyable evening, this was likely somewhere around 2004. I had too much beer and might have felt a little rough but the main memory of that evening was just how heavy Black Sabbath’s music was. It was slow and hard with excellent grinding riffs. Far better than listening to them on tapes from the mid eighties.
I’ve probably only listened to this album twice or so. I can’t remember much about it. It’s probably really good.
Dark Waters
I’m listening to the radio as I write this and they are discussing the leading of petrol, the addition of tetraethyl lead, to help reduce knocking and also allow the fuel to run smoother. As science and others learnt that the lead was dangerous to humans and the environment many people fought back and said all the lead was natural. It wasn’t. But invested parties kept saying that the product was safe. They kept saying that they didn’t think their leaded petrol made any difference to the world. It’s one of those situations where you realise that companies and governments don’t do jack-shit for the people until forced to. It was DuPont who invented this. A side point – the chap who invented the leading of petrol was also responsible for the invention of CFCs – amazing.
I went to see Dark Waters at the Rochester Cinema which nestles next to the tidal part of the river Medway. I happened to notice that the tide level was very low. It was clear because of the mud banks being completely exposed and the rivulets were obvious. I did notice a shopping trolley in the mud and, had I had more time, I would have taken a photograph of it for this publication.
After seeing a film I then rate it on IMDB using a rating scale all of my own invention. You can read how that scale works on within this communication. I suspect that the rating for Dark Waters will be a surprise for some as I haven’t followed my system and am even considering changing my system to fit this score. I don’t want to see this film again but I really enjoyed it, that means it gets a 6 by default. But, I do think that all people should see this film and so I’ve decided to score it a 7.
I rated Dark Waters (2019) 7/10 #IMDb https://t.co/g3wsoDNoL6
— Ian Parish (@iparish) March 8, 2020
I really enjoyed the film. It was very educational and full of anti-hope. This is one of those films that everyone needs to see and take on board all of the lessons of capitalism. Over the last ten years I have become more and more convinced that our capitalist governments aren’t doing the best for the people. They do the best for their own interests and it’s quite frustrating to realise that. Watch this film and try to defend DuPont. It’s a bit like watching The Big Short and then trying to defend capitalism. I am convinced that we need to change our society full-scale t omake it work for the people. To make it humanist.
I don’t think this government and management style is going to change peacefully. I think in two hundred years it will be different but largely because anthropogenic climate change will have ruined the planet and kills around eighty percent of humans. The remaining humans will be working to sustain what is left and priorities won’t be economic growth and making money. I’m hoping the priorities will be looking after the Earth and people. I’m glad I’ll be dead.