I Decided to Rank Every Song Called "Need Your Love" For No Reason!

So this is continuing, for lack of a better idea. No special reason, this was just the next song name I had prepared (seriously, I looked through like every artist in this list, no connection to late July - maybe the month Peter Green left John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers to start Fleetwood Mac?). Anyway, rules as usual: all songs are by professional artists, no X-Factor/bedroom covers, and they're in date order because I am insane or something. Let's learn which "Need Your Love" deserves our love the most...

George Romero: A Reflection

Confession time: I've never thought much of George A Romero's movies. To be fair, that's my own fault, as I seem to be watching them in reverse order. I like Land of the Dead well enough, although it felt a bit schlocky for my tastes, rather cheesy. And I've only seen the final act of Dawn of the Dead, so I can't really comment on it. I remember thinking what I saw was very B-movie, there was a lot of gore there and I couldn't see the reason.

That's because George Romero's movies only make sense in the context of the whole.

I Decided to Rank Every Song Called "Sparks" For No Reason!

As summer really gets going, let's take a look at a classic Coldplay song. "Sparks" was part of their debut album, an album that reached number 1 in the UK on its release in 2000 and won the Grammy award for Best Alternative Music Album two years later. And it was released on the 10th July 17 years ago.

Wow. I'm getting good at making these relevant.

I Decided To Rank Every Song Called "Thinking About You" For No Reason... PART 2!

Alright, last week was a list of amazing songs which were nearly impossible to rank because they all had great qualities, but in the end the top three went to the oldest, the newest, and the most like Lily Allen. Well I have good news for you guys today: this week, we're doing EVEN MORE SONGS WITH THE SAME DAMN NAME.

Fun fact: In 2016 alone there were over a dozen songs released called "Thinking About You" or some variation thereof. The shortest time between releases of songs called "Thinking About You" in 2016 was one day.

Usual rules apply: only originals and covers by professional, licensed artists, and any and all electronic remixes are fair game.

So let's think about "Thinking About You". Again...

I Decided to Rank Every Song Called "Thinking About You" For No Reason... PART 1!

This one might turn out to be a bad idea. I was stuck for song titles yesterday, but today I had a brainwave: what about "Thinking about You"? There's gotta be at least a few songs with that title! Maybe some remixes too, because it's kinda an obvious title.

How wrong I was.

This is coming at you as a two-parter because I have twenty-nine songs to get through. This list stretches from 1985 all the way to the 2nd of June this year so I hope you're ready for some serious genre shifting. As usual, rules apply: professionals, covers by professionals, and club/disco/electronic remixes only. Entrants will be in date order because that's fair or something, even if there's only a week or so in between some of these. Yeesh.

Oh, and I'm saving Sting and Radiohead for next week's list.

Rebel Movies

Whatever happened to rebel movies? Those films about railing against authority, championing any cause so long as it inconveniences "The Man"? I'm talking about movies like Rebel Without a Cause; did they just become unpopular somewhere down the line? Whatever the case, I had a spark of an idea last night; Jim Stark of Rebel Without a Cause and John Bender of The Breakfast Club are kinda similar characters, aren't they?

And then I watched the movies again today and I realised just how wrong I was.

I Decided to Rank Every Song Called "Somebody to Love" For No Reason

It's true, there really was no reason for it. But it's the end of June, so let's say... Brian May's birthday in 3 weeks? Yeah, that's the reason. Sure.

The E3 Breakdown

So E3 is upon us again this year, and this time I'm actually watching the conference live (via Nerdcubed). So I decided to give my take on the conferences and games that are being showcased this year. Without further ado, let us begin!

On Endings, and How Things Really End...

So this is something a little personal to me, in a way. For the past couple of years I've been struggling with anxiety and depression, fighting through the bad moments and worrying over the good, seeing various therapists and thinking I have my shit figured out, only to relapse and fall back into terrible habits and difficult times where I'm feeling exhausted and alone.

One of the things that really got me through those times was webcomics. And I want to talk about them today.

Project Rewrite: Daleks in Manhattan

This may be a short-lived series, but I've been analysing the things I watch more critically in recent weeks and I'm starting to look at the stuff I don't like and wondering how I'd write them so I like them. Today I want to look at an episode from David Tennant's run as Doctor Who: "Daleks in Manhattan".

A brief rundown of the plot: Martha and the doctor arrive in Manhattan, 1930. Learning of strange disappearances throughout the city, they arrive in a shanty town to look for clues and end up taking a job in the sewers to further investigate. This leads to their discovery of the pig-men, human-pig hybrids created as a slave army. Shenanigans follow: Martha is kidnapped by pigmen, the doctor discovers daleks are in the Empire State Building (still under construction) and the short-lived reign of human-dalek hybrid Dalek Sec begins. It's a two-parter which ranges from shanty-town Hooverville in Central Park, to the city's sewers, to the top of the Empire State Building, and in general it feels unfocused and confusing.

So how would I fix it?

The Robocop Problem

I haven't been to see many movies lately (read: any) so I've been keeping myself busy with various video games and podcasts to occupy my time instead. Of note is a new addition called The Sequelisers: an hour-long show which attempts to rewrite bad movie sequels and make them better. I mention this because their movie this week was Robocop 2, and it occurred to me that it's been months since I saw the Robocop sequels. So I decided to rewatch them, since the original is something of a favourite of mine, and it occurred to me that the franchise as a whole has a serious problem.

Nitpicking: The Economy of John Wick

Alright, I haven't been to the cinema all that recently and I don't have much to talk about. But a recent Twitter convo got me thinking: how exactly do those gold coins in John Wick work?
Warning: This article will contain spoilers about John Wick: Chapter 2. If you wish to avoid spoilers, READ NO FURTHER.

The Dog doesn't Die in This One

I'm currently experiencing a revelation of disappointment. You see, I had come to believe that nothing would top the pinnacle of modern cinema that is Captain America: The Winter Soldier; in terms of cinematography, story, and economy of storytelling I believed there was no much which stood up there with it in recent years. Sure, there was The Raid 2 which I consider practically perfect in terms of fight choreography and blocking, but that was perhaps the only contender.
Now, however, we welcome another challenger into the ring.

Rocketing Up to the Top with a Powerful Story of Space

So over the summer I picked up a book called Rise of the Rocket Girls and I feel like I really should've reviewed it, because it was a fantastic look at how NASA operated in its early stages, and the way it empowered women and gave them jobs because it simply did not have the time to train the men in their jobs as calculators. It delves deep into NASA's history and the history of these calculators, from the 1940s to the last few years.
What it doesn't mention is the further segregation of the calculators, into black women and white women, and the level of prejudice in the space agency which these women fought to overcome. Thankfully, for that story we have Hidden Figures.