kinuta

Disc 2

Yes, that's the one. I don't read many music related biographies but really enjoyed Life. I saw the The Beatles a few times in Sheffield, and quite honestly they weren't all that good. I think they sounded at their best in small clubs, but their rise was so rapid around Love Me Do that they moved to larger gigs never to go back to the small venues. The first Sheffield gig was slated to be at The Black Cat Club, which was a teenage club held every Friday at St Aidan's church hall. The call for tickets was so huge that it was moved to the larger Azena Ballroom. I was only 15 at the time and remember clearly going there with my very first girlfriend. The amplification was puny and we couldn't hear very much for the constant sceaming and shouting. I wasn't impressed but changed my mind after hearing the first album.

The Highwaymen - John Lee Hancock (2019) Enjoyed the two leads, they work very well together. The film as a whole was okay but nothing to shout about.

Discs 6 & 7

The Girl In The Spider's Web - Fede Álvarez (2018) Dire and sad. I felt sorry for poor Claire Foy. She's lovely and a fine actor but laughably miscast here. A pale shadow of the original trilogy and David Fincher's great remake.

The John Handy Mosaic Select is recommended. if you can still get it.

Finished. I can't imagine a more comprehensive account of the scandal. I found the lengthy and detailed descriptions of the multiple aspects of the fraud hard to follow. When the story switched to the post sentencing attempts to retrieve money and compensation of some of the victims , it got very complex and admit a lot of it was too much to take in. It was interesting , especially the character descriptions, the arrest and court case and the sheer scale of the financial damage. Praise due to the author for pulling the incredibly complex strands together. Recommended with a bit of judicious page skipping.

The Wizard Of Lies - Barry Levinson (2017) Michelle Pfeiffer gives one of her best performances. I've added the book to my reading list.

That's a bummer. Fractures really hurt. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Kursk - Thomas Vinterberg (2018) Retelling of the submarine catastrophe . Strong direction, sets and cast. Definitely worth watching.

Dragged Across Concrete - S. Craig Zahler (2018) Sub par Tarantinoesque, bad taste in the mouth dumb cop frolic. Can't really think of anything positive to say about it . The title sums it up.

Finished. Great. Extraordinary tale of a remorseless femme fatale and her giant medical scam. Recommended.

New books are a hit and miss gamble more often than not. I'd say one in five are pointless. The trick is to abandon the thing and move on. I sometimes stick it out the the end but usually regret it.

I read it too but found it a struggle to finish. I was seduced by the blurb.

After watching the film I wondered why the poster had a question mark after the word fraud. There's no doubt in my mind that she was one, big time. She certainly has the gift of the gab, conning a whole string of heavyweight characters and countless consumers. Coming from outside the US and only having scant knowledge of her story made it all the more gobsmacking. The financial fraud is bad enough but peddling highly dubious and inaccurate medical data is a different level of callousness. Last night - Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don't Know Me - Olivia Lichtenstein (2018) Always loved his voice and appreciated the documentary, even though it might have delved deeper into one or two crucial happenings.

The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley - Alex Gibley (2019) I knew little about this and found it all very interesting. I'll read the book too, it's next on my reading list.

Peterloo - Mike Leigh (2018) Events leading up the the murderous repression of a meeting to demand voting rights. Big scale production with a huge, impressive cast. Lots and lots of talking and then even more talking sets the stage for the final massacre. Mike Leigh proves he can work on a big canvas just as well as he does with his small domestic dramas.