Book Review Roundup: Entangled Ecologies in Nature Writing

 For the past two years I have been living between a city centre and an industrial estate. The closest roads are main arteries to and from the city, and the biggest open spaces around are the shopping centre and the middle of the canal. It's fair to say that there has been very little nature to relax and inspire me. In these two years, I have made a personal discovery: I need nature to relax me. And since I have such a lack of green pastures and long walks in the fresh air nearby (the canal hardly counts - a single dirt track for the "riverside walk" leading to a built up shopping area in the docks) I have taken desperate measures to get my fix of plants and trees: I have turned to nature writing.

Infinity War Shows Marvel Is Not Over Its Villain Problem... And Now It Has A Hero Problem Too

Stay tuned, because this is going to be a serious rant about Avengers: Infinity War. IW was one of those movies that set off my fatigue-o-meter, everything I saw spoke of a bloated mess which wouldn't have time to tell a decent story. From the trailers, I assumed it would be an effects-heavy hammer with no depth and no character.

I have to admit, in a lot of respects I was wrong.

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.

A Mighty Magical Comeback for the Potterverse

So I've never been the biggest Harry potter fan. Sure, it's fun to imagine yourself in that world and to pick your houses and your pets and whatnot, but I found the world and story a little off for some reason. It never really helped that I couldn't get into the books...

But back in 2001, I was at the height of my Potter hype. So much so that I got a wonderful copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them, complete with scribblings in the margin by one H. Potter (scribblings which I duly copied and then got in trouble for, for writing in a book with notes in the margin :P ). There was no story to Fantastic Beasts, it was more like an encyclopedia of all sorts of bizarre creatures of the wizarding world (which now I think about it, opens up a whole raft of questions about the nature of magic and the world itself); no matter, I loved it anyway. I liked reading about the strange and fascinating creatures inhabiting the magical world, wondering exactly what they looked like, and wondering how they all lived.

And now, we get to see them on the big screen.

Music and Dancing in LMM's Carnival-Hip-Hop Soap Opera

Alright, review time! But this one is a little unusual, because it's not a book review or a movie review. Let's start at the beginning.

You ever hear of Lin-Manuel Miranda? In musical theatre circles, he's kinda a big deal. He's the genius behind Hamilton, the presidential hip-hop musical about US founding father Alexander Hamilton that swept the Tonys (winning 11 of 16 awards, including "Best Musical") but before that, who had heard of him?

Who, save for the people who watched his amazing debut musical, In the Heights?

Beyond Ridiculous

First off, kudos to Star Trek Beyond for having the best subtitle of any movie. I was struggling with Beyond the Pale, To Infinity and Beyond, and The Great Beyond as a title before I hit on the obvious. And it says it all, really - you remember how I said John Wick was one of those movies you should watch on a bad movie night with friends? Yeah, this tries to be the same.

Mad Max? Try Sad Max...

Okay, I'm gonna come out and say it straight away: The Secret Life of Pets (TSLoP) was better than I expected. For those of you who rabidly hate minions, you'll probably not like this as it cashes in on the same cute-factor with characters it tries to make into crowd-pleasers with one-liners and chubby cheeks. What it gives in cuteness, it lacks in depth; the plot is paper-thin and predictable, the characters act to serve the story, regardless of any motivation for how they ought to act, and I left feeling like I'd been watching the wrong dog's story for most of it. So let me re-tell it as it should have been told. Spoilers below for TSLoP, if you're interested...