Rushmoras
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So, finished up with Black Sabbath discography. I still off the opinion that Tony Martin was the best for them and that the album 13 (2013) with Ozzy was meh. So, nothing's changed in this regard.
Though, currently "Dear Father" is playing from the album '13':
Headless Cross (1989) - 8.9/10 (best songs: Devil & Daughter, Kill in the Spirit of the World, Nightwing, Cloack and Dagger)
Side note: Again. Most songs sound the same, but have more quality to them.Tyr (1990) - 7.7/10 (best songs: The Law Maker, Jerusalem, The Sabbath Stones, Odin's Court, Valhalla and Heaven in Black). Good, if you like mythology based songs (though White Skull does it better (then again, bit heavier genre than Black Sabbath's)).
Dehumanizer (1992) - 8/10 (best songs: After All (The Dead), TV Crimes, Letters from Earth, Master of Insanity and I). Even though I liked it, but most songs sound the same.
Cross Purposes (1994) - 7.2/10 (best songs: I Witness, Cross of Thorns, Dying for Love, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Cardinal Sin and What's the Use)
Forbidden (1995) - 5/10 (best songs: I Won't Cry For You and Forbidden). Geez, just when I though they can't go wrong with Tony Martin, they make this album. Probably one of the worst Tony Martin album with Black Sabbath. All songs are either boring or uninspiring or both.
13 (2013) - 5/10 (best songs: Loaner, Age of Reason and Dear Father). Not the worst, but in league of Master of Reality (1971), Sabotage (1975), Never Say Die (1978) Born Again (1981) and Forbidden (1995).
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2 hours ago, tkc said:
Today I learned that Elrond’s full name is Harold Elrond. Cool! 😄
*Herald 😁
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Quick question, maybe I'm misremembering something, but a thought popped in to my head. Weren't the orcs created much later than the timeline of the series by cross-breeding elves and goblins? Shouldn't instead of orcs there be goblins? Or is my head-cannon wrong?
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On 8/27/2022 at 6:50 AM, Tenshinhan said:
Yeah, Dragon Ball is a classic. The Rōshi training/21st Tenka'ichi Budōkai arc is where the series really begins to take off.
Yeah, I know, watched the series as kid :) Was surprised how much of the manga they've used (i.e., while reading all of the episodes flashed before me in my mind)
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52 minutes ago, iMonrey said:
As someone who has never watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I can safely say I'm clearly not the audience for this. Obviously it is meant for people who have at least seen those movies or read those books. I read The Hobbit when I was a kid, but I could never get into the Lord of the Rings trilogy and didn't make it past the first 100 pages of Fellowship.
I wanted to check this out, cuz, FOMO, but I was bored out of my mind.
SpoilerThat's okey, because from Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books I only remember that there were loads of pages with songs and/or descriptions of environment. Not to mention that either (can't remember which one) Children of Hurin or Simlarilion book was a poem like Homer's Illiad and Odyssey :D So, slow pacing is a thing, I mean, LOTR movies are, what 4+ hours long (extended editions)? Mind boggling, if you ask me :D
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Spoiler
So, is the mysterious stranger supposed to be Gendalf or one of the mages? I seem to recall something form his other books that Gendalf and co. were the third ones to come to Middle Earth.
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Well, after watching the first episode, I've got to say... alright, I guess? If they keep it up it might be a 8-9 out of 10 show. Sure, I may have remembered something drastically different from the books, but then again I've read them as a kid (teen), so long ago, so... but, yeah, pretty entertaining so far.
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Most probably timing, money and programming issues. Let's take Dragon Age: Origins as an example, even though you can choose human, elf or dwarf, but it only matters for the prologue mission. Everything else is the same for each of them. It could also be laziness, but I'd still say it's timing, money and programming related.
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Some days ago completed Shogun Part II. Got to say, I was surprised that the author just pretty much steam-rolled at the end and just like that ended the main plot. I was thinking maybe there's another book, but no, Shogun has over a thousand pages and that's it. Huh.
Now, started reading Japanese manga. Started with Dragon Ball, since I watched the series as a kid (even GT). Got to say, that the writing style is far more favorable to me than what I read from DC comics, or maybe I'm just not a fan of super-hero comic-books. It has one singular plot and it follows it throughout the issues. And that's a big plus in my books.
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Started reading Dragon Ball manga lol. Just started volume 3 where Goku and Krilin start their training at Turtle Hermit House. Pretty entertaining stuff.
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I've got to say that 2019 Predator is hiding in the bushes compared to this movie. I personally liked it, the protagonist got banged up, scratched up along the way and eventually over-smarted the Predator without any corny jokes or cringy dialogues. Yep, that's a classic Predator movie alright. 6-7/10
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Prey (2022). I've got to say that 2019 Predator is hiding in the bushes compared to this movie. I personally liked it, the protagonist got banged up, scratched up along the way and eventually over-smarted the Predator without any corny jokes or cringy dialogues. Yep, that's a classic Predator movie alright. 6-7/10
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So, Part II of Black Sabbath discography before I go on to vacation :D So, after five albums finally reached Tony Martin era,,, end,.. eh, its meh. I remember liking his later albums in Sabbath more than the first one with him.
Overall, Heaven and Hell (1980), as I've mentioned before, was the best thing I've heard since Ozzy's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"'; 10/10. Best songs: Children of the Sea, Heaven and Hell, Walk Away and Lonely is the Word.
Had a bit of a downgrade with Mob Rules (1981), because, IMO, the charm of novelty wore off simply. I'd rate it 7/10. The same quality as Paranoid or Technical Ecstasy. Best songs: The Sign of Southern Cross, Country Girl, Falling Off the Edge of the World and Over and Over.
Born Again (1983). More like died again. This is a stinker, I think that I liked back then while listening even the newest BS album from 2020 with pensioner Ozzy more than this drivel. The album had Deep Purple vocalist... and it did not work at all. Most of the time he tries to scream and it just sounds god awful. Also, the guitar volume makes it hard to understand anything. 4/10. Best songs: Ditigal Bitch, Born Again and Keep it Warm.
Seventh Star (1986). Oooh-wieee. The most non-Black Sabbath album out there. Glam-metal, glam-rock; the type that Whitesnake and the like plays. It could be either a five or a seven, depending on how you felt about the previous album. I'm gonna go with 7.7/10. Best songs: Seventh Star, Heart Like a Wheel, Angry Heart and In Memory.
The Eternal Idol (1987). I have only one qualm with it is that most songs sound the same. If not for that, I'd even say it's an 8, but... 6.7/10. Best songs: The Shining, Born to Lose and The Eternal Idol.
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So, yesterday I've watched Akira Kurosawa's "The Men Who Threaded on Tiger's Tale" (1945). It was the fourth one in Akira's filmography, and the second one I've watched. The story was vastly superior to his first movie Sugata Sanshiro, however, throughout, could not shake the feeling that I'm watching a theatre-play, because everything in the movie reminded me of this. The movie is about two brothers falling-out and one ordering the assassination of the other. The younger brother with his samurais are forced to flee in disguise as monks, and they try to cross border-checkpoints. While the movie does not have any action scenes per-se, but the dialogues were interesting and kept me engaged throughout.
SpoilerThough, I could have done without the last part of the movie were the samurais simply drank themselves blind in joy, because they succeeded. I mean, 8 minutes of watching someone drink alcohol is not my idea of entertainment when I could do it myself.
6/10
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So, I'm revisiting Black Sabbath discography, thinking that after some time I'll look differently at it. And in a way, I have. Ozzy era, while still to me pretty much meh, but has one very good album "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath", which in my laiman's opinion, is the most quality artistic work that they've made with Ozzy in the seventies.
While on the second listen I'd rate their albums more positively, but, again, after now hearing Heaven and Hell album... this just reinforced my opinion that I just don't like anything Ozzy related. If anything, Heaven and Hell inspired me to listen to Ronnie James Dio discography. The dude's voice is awesome. Also, this whole album is more melodic and ballady, which I personally like.
So, Ozzy era original Sabbath:
1. Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath (1973) 10/10. Best songs: A National Acrobat, Fluff, Killing Yourself to Live and Spiral Architect.
2. Technical Ecstasy (1976) - 7.5/10. Best songs: You Wont Change Me, It's Allright, Gypsy, All Moving Parts (Stand Still) and Dirty Women.
3. Paranoid (1970) - 7.5/10. A tie between Technical Ecstasy, but TE had more good songs. Best songs: Paranoid, Iron Man, Electrical Funeral and Jack the Stripper / Fairies Wear Boots.
4. Vol. 4 (1972) - 7.0/10. Best songs: Changes, Snowblind, Laguna Sunrise, St. Vitus Dance and Under the Sun.
5. Black Sabbath (1970) - 6.5/10. Best songs: Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games With Me, Warning and Wicked World. Though, the whole album, as I've noted was very much snooze fest.
6. Never Say Die (1978) - 5.5/10. Best songs: Junior's Eyes, Shock Wave and Over to You.
7. Sabotage (1975) - 5/10. Best songs: Megalomania, Am I Going Insane and The Writ.
8. Master of Reality (1971) - 5/10. A tie between Sabotage, but the latter had more good songs. Best songs: Children of the Grave and Solitude.
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So, decided to try watching Akira Kurosawa filmography for a change and started with his first entry titled Sugata Sanshiro (1943). A movie about 20-30 something lad, who arrives to a town in order to learn some martial arts. After a year, ends up in martial arts tournament, which for some reason is fights to the death (mainly because he is supposedly crazy strong, and partly because his opponents demands this). That's the gist of it. As was stated by the movie company in the opining title, the original was lost during war-time and it was heavily censored to meet the regulations of that time. This movie was a re-eddited by the movie company version in 1973, and it shows, because, for the lack of better word, it is missing some integral elements.
Never saw anything older than Godfather, so my expectations were low, but in terms of entertainment was not that boring as I would have initially thought. Even though that I laugh at some fight-scene choreographies of today's movies/series, but god damn even those are miles above from the slow "fighting" that is depicted in this movie.
5/10
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Thundertale's third album "Žemėj Lietuvos" (In the Land of Lithuania) (2013). All of the album, barring one song, is in Lithuanian language... and it's good. Better than the their first two albums. Major part of the album is drenched maybe in too much patriotism songs about ages past, but overal the music and lyric quality became gradually better.
Probably, best songs in the album are: Kol viltis gyva (Until Hope Is Alive), Nauja Diena (A New Day) and Ties Riba (Fringe).
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Thundertale's second album "Milžinai" (Giants) (2008). Not as good as the first one. Songs that stood out:
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Recently completed reading the whole Witcher saga.
SPOILERS AHEAD
For context, who do not know what the books are about, they are set in a parallel world from ours, in middle ages, wherein magic exist. And since magic exist, there exist also magical (evil) creatures, who plague the lands. And to fight these creatures, a sect called the Witchers was created a long time ago (they undergo various mutations and trials, which are lethal, to become quicker and stronger than most humans. In return, they lose their fertility). The first two books were just random stories about Witcher Geralt's adventures before meeting Ciri, who as the books universe expanded, became kinda like the chosen one, whose kid in the future is supposed to save or doom the world.
More coherent story takes place from the third book (if I remember correctly), wherein Geralt, near a forest, stumbles upon a young girl running from an army, who recently ransacked her home town. As it later became apparent, she is the daughter of Cintra's (the town, which has been ransacked) royalty being sought by the Empire of Nilfgaard, because she is also the daughter of Nilfgaardian Emperor Emyr, who in the past had an affair with Paveta and through machinations faked his own death, came to the ranks of Nilfgaard and eventually became an emperor, but, unfortunately, in the process Paveta died for real.
On top of that, Ciri is sought by the Lodge of Sorceresses, who want to use her for their own gains, because, as it became later apparent, Ciri is a descendant of a very powerful Elven mage, whose name I forgotten, who could control time-and-space. In between, there is another sorcerer, who is more evil then the Lodge, who wants to hunt down Ciri and use her for his own needs. Also, also, there will be a fourth party, who wants to use her, but they will only appear in the final entry, and they are more prominent and the main bad-guys of the Witcher 3 video-game.
So, the whole premise is that Geralt has to protect Ciri through all of this.
SpoilerUm, for the most part, the whole world-building and characters simply are bland and unlikeable. What irritated me throughout all of this story was that every single woman that Geralt meets suddenly becomes horny for him. He has banged probably every woman (barring Ciri, who he considered as quasi-daughter) in the book that had laid eyes on him. Frankly, that's all there is to their characters I think. None of them grow that much, well, maybe Yennifer does, but again, I would have to re-read everything again to say that, I don't wanna do it.
Also, the books kinda want to force you to feel sorry for Ciri, because she goes through all of this fucked up shit that the world pours on her, but, here's the deal: at one point she gives up her magic (though, I don't remember much how that happened; I just remember something to do with a desert storm) and has amnesia. And then bands together with a group of cuthroats and happily murders and steals her way for like an entire book (?) before remembering who she is. Um, even though I did feel uneasiness reading through that whole fucked up shit (or just Sapkowski's BDSM wankings through writing), but no, I did not feel sorry for Ciri after that point.
Also, I want to get back to the point of "I don't remember much how that happened". Well, that's because all of the books start in a way, which makes you think: "Have I missed a book or something? What the hell is going on?" But then you look at the numbering, read the ending of the previous one, look at the numbering of the current book you are holding and say: "Huh, nope, this is in sequence".
The writing or maybe the translation... there are times when there are whole passages (3-5 pages long) wherein for lack or better word village yokels are speaking with their god damn incomprehensible dialogue. In order to understand what each are saying, I have to re-read the sentence a couple of times. It really pissed me off.
The last book 'Lady of the Lake' for the most part sees Ciri hopping through reality to reality trying to evade her pursuers and Geralt, and company being in "Disney land" banging whatever wench (or sorcerers, or succubus, or knight, or duchess) lays eyes on them, while Yeniffer is being tortured miles away. Yeah... And there are times when there are whole chapters about unrelated (to the story) stuff, like. I don't know, chapter 10, I guess, where a character from maybe book four or five is retelling a story of a war and how people died there; it goes on for 40 pages, and I'm like: 'Okey, cool, but what does this have to do with anything?' And that's the problem with all of this saga's books: there are major parts of storyline where you think 'What does this have to do with anything?'
And when you just think that this story might have a happy ending, because the bad-guy is defeated, Emperor finds someone else to marry, Ciri, Geralt and Yennifer are back together, you have 2 or 3 chapters wherein everything is written to either be sad or depressingly sad, and I'm not two pages in to the ending chapters like 'Oh, shit, no one is going to have a respite from all the shit that they have been through, huh?'. And yes, no one does. Geralt and Yennifer die during a pogrom. And, while it may seem that Ciri used her powers to transport them to another reality where they got help they needed and they lived happily ever after, but from her ending speech with Arthurian knight (forgot his name; and, yes, she's is in "our" world, during the reign of King Arthur) - nope, she made up that part of the story.
My opinion? I don't know, maybe others will (or like it) like these books, but Witcher 2-3 video-games storyline, even though its fan-fiction post books, but they are waaaaaaaaaaaay more interesting and compelling than whatever Sapkowski wrote.
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Been listening to dance/trance/techno whatever music that SEL produces (local Lithuanian musician that's been active since the nineties), can't say that his music is my jam, but, some of it is more listenable over others of his songs.
But today decided to go with Thundertale (Lithuanian folk/power metal band). First album "Rising Power" (2005). Majority of the songs are in English. Pretty good, I'd say for their debute album. The best songs in the album are probably "Paukštė" and "Voices from the Dark".
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No Time to Die (2021). Wow... what a boring James Bond movie, wherein even the "high-octane action scenes" are made to be "low-octane action scenes" wherein everybody either are just standing around waiting their turn to try kill Bond or just stand around and let themselves be mowed down by Bond. It's supposed to be a continuation of the previous entry, but all in all the movie does its own thing.
SpoilerThere's now a bad-guy, who is running an organization above the Spectre, and wants to eliminate them all by using highly sophisticated chemical substance targeting DNA. Wow, even writing this was boring. So, he kills them all via James Bond. And Bond wanting to find-out via he was the only one unaffected teams up with the CIA (I guess, because they were the only ones in the vicinity of this tropical paradise). While the start was... interestingly mundane... for lack of better word, but it picked up right after the mausoleum scene, but then gradually sank after that scene were all of Spectre officers got killed. The main badguy... his motivation was revenge, because Blofield ordered... Madeline (Madelaine... what ever, ex-James bond girlfriend) father to kill his family in the past, so he's out for revenge, but we only meet him like towards the end of the movie and then he dies anticlimactically.
Yes, that's the word I should describe this whole movie - anticlimactic.
SpoilerOh, yeah, and James has a daughter with Madeline now, who he only sees towards the end of the movie, saves and dies.
Yep...
6/10.
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A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) starring Seth McFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Nail Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried and other actors that I recognize, but don't know the names of. Um, it's a parody of every western ever made from the same guy that created Family Guy, with the same kind of humour. And, if you like Family Guy, you'll like this as well. Personally, either I'm dead inside from all the 'serious' movies I've watched or it wasn't THAT funny, but it made me smile in a couple of places, but not when I would go: HA HAHAHAHAHA. Nah, it was more like your extended Family Guy wild west theme episode with all of cameos. Probably, the most funny/interesting part was when Seth's character was talking to the indians in their language and in the end said Mila Kunis (voices Meg in Family Guy) :D
P.S. I wonder how much money did Ryan Rainilds made for his two seconds cameo of being shot.
7/10
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Decided to listen something in local language and picked-out Povilas Meškėla (Lithuanian classic rock singer). Was shocked to find only one album of his on Spotify, which was from 1996. I was sure that he had more than one or perhaps he had more albums with his band "Rojaus tūzai" (Aces of Paradise). Anyways, first impressions after listening to all of the album... eh, not bad, I guess. Some songs, due to his gritty girlish voice felt irritating to the ears (especially when he sung in English). The only okey song sung in English was Krentanti Žvaigždė (Shooting Star):
However, to me, best songs were Akloji Naktis (Blind Night) and Dar ne vakaras (It's Not Evening Yet)
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Completed S. Crow's discog. Got to say, that last album 'Threads' (2019) was a killer, those collaborations with different artists were awesome.
Again, as usual with these discopgraphies, my personal ranking of her music:
1. Feels Like Home (2013) - 10/10 (at least, it felt like one after so many albums that were from okey to good, but, if compared to her latest, I'd give it 8/10).
Songs I liked the most: Easy; Give it to Me; Waterproof Mascara; Homesick; Homecoming Queen; Best of Times.
2. C'mon, C'mon (2002) - 8.6/10
Songs I liked the most: C'mon, C'mon; Over You; Lucky Kid; Diamond Road; It's Only Love; Missing
3. Be Myself (2017) - 8.2/10 (actually, it was a tie with Wildflower, but I liked more songs in the album from Be Myself than in Wildflower)
Songs I liked the most: Roller Skate, Strangers Again, Heartbeat Away, Grow Up, Woo Woo
4. Wildflower (2005) - 8/10
Songs I liked the most: Letter to God, I Don't Wanna Know, Always on Your Side
5. The Globe Sessions (1998) - 7.7/10
Songs I liked the most: Am I Getting Through (Parts I and II), Anything But Down, The Difficult Kind
6. Threads (2019) - 7.6/10
Songs I liked the most: Prove You Wrong, Tell Me When Its Over, Story of Everything, Cross Creek Road, Lonely Alone, Don't, For the Sake of Love
7. 100 Miles to Memphis (2010) - 7.5/10
Songs I liked the most: Summer Day, Long Road Home, 100 Miles From Memphis, Roses and Moonlight
8. Detour (2008) - 7.3/10
Songs I liked the most: Love is Free, Peace Be Upon Us, Now That You're Gone, Motivation, Love Is All There Is
9. Sheryl Crow (1996) - 6.9/10
Songs I liked the most: If It Makes You Happy, Redemption Day, Every Day is a Winding Road, Love Is A Good Thing, Oh Marie (this song had a good reverb), The Book (instrumental was cool). Actually, this whole album's instrumentals are awesome.
10. Tuesday Night Music Club (1993) - 6.3/10
Songs I liked the most: Run, Baby, Run; All I Wanna Do; I Shall Believe
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S01.E03: Adar
in The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power
So, on the one hand from the elder's eulogy speech "left behind" means harfoots getting seriously injured and cannot continue to go on. But on the other hand, we have Nori's family, who can go on, but were forced to be at the back of the caravan, presumably, with no protection from the outer-wilds. What I want to say is... what the f...? Anyways, I'm just counting down the episodes until the "giant" heals Nori's father leg wound. Was surprised it was not this episode.
Mostly liked Numenorian and Orc camp bits. Didn't particularly fancied haarfoot plot in this episode.
Next episode probably gonna be explained why Numenorians hate elves. Also, from the glimpse of Adar, I see that they used Shadow of Mordor video-game for reference how Sauron should look. Interesting.