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2016 was a rather disgraceful concert-going year for me (as in, I've barely seen any), so hopefully this year improves. 21 Jan - PJ Harvey 4 May - Hans Zimmer

I finally watched Stranger Things. The story was like a hodgepodge of less interesting Stephen King novels, but the characters and their interactions are just wonderful, especially the kids. 80s movies nostalgia doesn't push any buttons for me though, since I've missed out on most of them...

Watched Rogue One. I never imagined I'd say this, but I now have a new least favourite Star Wars film. TPM and AotC were pretty dismal, but they're at least bad in a bizarre and zany way and I never felt bored out of my skull watching a SW movie before. I felt bored for maybe 3/4 here if not...

Can't say I'm surprised at all by the result, though I'm surprised by the margin - I thought it would be much closer. I had a feeling that Brexit and Trump are basically a part of the same wave, and that Trump's anti-establishment image would count a lot. Also, the media coverage was so...

Same reaction to this trailer as to the previous one. Beautiful visuals with a fantastic sense of scale, stiff line deliveries and clunky dialogue. The latter wouldn't be such a problem but it's like everyone in the trailer sounds exactly the same, with no sense of personality whatsoever. I...

October ranked before Unforgettable Fire is pretty WTF. Boy in top 5 is nice though, and When I Look at the World is my least favourite ATYCLB track as well.

Just finished The Girl on the Train. It was one of those mystery/thrillers where you're like, hmm ok I think I know where it's all going, but there're still plenty of pages left so hopefully there's some other juicy twist left... oh wait there isn't. Wouldn't be as much of a problem if the book...

Oh hi :wave:

The weak point of me is England. When I first listened to the album I thought it had PJ's most grating vocal since Horses in My Dreams. I liked it better once I heard it performed live but it's still my least favourite track on the album. I loooove On Battleship Hill though.

Finally caught up with this new album. It's low on the standout individual songs for me and it's a tad too much of the same thing, but it's quite beautiful and soothing. I probably need to be in a more specific mood for this as opposed to her other albums.

I'm a terrible PJ fan, somehow this album passed by me at the time of its release :reject: Maybe because I don't spend as much time following the music news anymore. It does sound like a companion to Let England Shake, except without the ethereal prettiness of that album, and none of the...

Hah so true :D Though his anti-social stage demeanor never bothered me. Sing For Absolution is one Muse song I'm still waiting to hear live, though there's probably little hope for that now.

I liked the songs I've heard so far, and her lyrics are fantastic. I even made an effort of looking them up word for word on the lyrics site, which I don't normally do. I don't know yet if I can take her vocal style in album-sized doses, though.

I love The Resistance and quite a lot of tracks from The 2nd Law; the two new songs are ok but not really grabbing me. I like the Psycho riff but there's not much else going on there, and "your ass belongs to me now" is bad even by Matt's standards. And they've done much, much better funky songs...

Very very happy for Whiplash. It was my favourite from last year. Pretty happy with Birdman winning Best Picture. It's good to see an off-the-wall film win, though on the other hand the voters do seem to love movies about movies/acting since three out of the last four Best Picture winners fall...

Great: Gone Wake Up Dead Man Please Discothèque Good: Last Night on Earth Mofo Staring at the Sun Do You Feel Loved If God Will Send His Angels Ok: If You Wear That Velvet Dress Meh: The Playboy Mansion Why Jesus Why: Miami

The cover concept is fine but I don't love the execution. The image is clearly meant to be deeply personal and intimate and all that, but to me it feels quite artificial. Maybe because there's something off about the way Larry's profile looks against his son's stomach - as if his head is a flat...

Iron Council by China Mieville A friend lent me three books of his, all set in the same fantasy world, and this was the final third one I've read. Man has an extraordinary (and sometimes perverse) imagination and a knack for world-building, even if his prose and characters don't quite match...

After a few listens, about 7. It doesn't have any obvious clunkers, but I doubt that any tracks will bother my top U2 songs list much either. And that's probably the first - pretty much every U2 album until now had at least a couple of songs I loved. Also, they've written way catchier choruses...

The Grand Budapest Hotel I can't say I love Wes Anderson films, but I generally appreciate them for their visual style and quirkiness and fun actor cameos. I liked this one a tad more than the others thanks to the European setting and Ralph Fiennes' M. Gustave, who I thought was Anderson's most...

What other books of hers are good? So far I've read Rachel's Holiday (very good), The Other Side of the Story (good), Angels (barely ok).

This Charming Man by Marian Keys I've read about four of her books and I think this one is my favourite so far. Very entertaining through and through, while the darker themes like domestic abuse and alcoholism felt very well done and real. The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks An fascinating book...

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy I thought that The Road and No Country for Old Men were great but for some reason I wasn't feeling this one and struggled to finish it. Maybe because the setting and characters just didn't grab me much.

6.5 but I rounded it to 6. It may grow on me but for now I find it solid but unspectacular.

He was so talented. What an awful news.