Quick new timeline

A quick update on some of the long-term plans for Audenshaw Reviews in the next twelve months.

The closest big event is my review of Alton Towers in July. There I'll be reviewing the changes since my last visit, the gardens, and overall park hospitality. Expect some swearing.

In the first two weeks of summer I won't have internet access, but I'll still be writing reviews of attractions in North Devon, which will then be published when I get back. Don't expect as much swearing.

Then I get back to school and I start rehearsals for Oliver - see how I do, and each week of rehearsals, I'll write a piece on it. Expect an Oliver Review either way.

Then, some time before or after Christmas, expect another Hallé for Youth review.

Next week I'm planning to review The Script and A Series of Unfortunate Events, in four-book groups.

Thanks. 

Review: Gary Go

Gary Go - Gary Go (2009)

Another unimaginatively named debut album, Gary Go and his eponymous collection present some sleeping tigers. The feel of the entire album is somewhat subdued; but yet strangely triumphant. It combines emotional development with rationality; cut-throat honesty with soppy encouragement.

Gary Baker has an interesting voice that he masters to an excellent degree. His lyrics are often comparable to other strange British artists; unconventionally commn or uncommon words that don't distract from the message of the song but instead enhance it.

This is one of the reasons that a lot of my preferred bands/singers are British; American just don't get the subtlties that come with wit and charm. And this album certainly has those qualities. His skill with the English language certainly enhances the album, with entire songs being metaphors for engines and the workings of a car, while still containing enough emotional sustainance to be capitvating.

If you're looking for interesting, intellectual listening, then Gary Go fills that hole perfectly. I don't love the album, but I certainly enjoy it.

Thanks.

Review: Harry Potter (2/7): The Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, By J.K.Rowling (1998)

The first book I read without pictures; a story that delves further into the mythology of the series without coming over any darker than previous. It's as if the series is still keeping its cards close to its chest, slowly placing low cards that will add to more later.

I won't go into any more detail about Rowling's brilliantly immersive style; other than that there is as before a marked increase in maturity in the characters as the story progresses. She also trickles through small elements of story that seem only useful for diversity here but will play deep parts in further stories, like racial purity and other little ideas.

Of course, this marks the first time we see a form of Lord Voldemort, the evil wizard that killed Harry's parents (Well, he was a face on the back of a proffessor's head in the last book), in the form of his teenage self. We learn that for some reason Harry has taken on some of Voldy's powers, which seems interesting but not yet important to the plot.

Overall, this book is a necessary step between the introductory first book and the more serious third. It introduces some important mythology and most of all it gives neccessary advancement in the maturity of the characters.

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Review: Harry Potter (1/7): The Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J.K.Rowling (1997)

If you don't know the basic story of Harry Potter, you've obviously been banged up in some Cuban jail somewhere, or had your head encased in concrete, or most likely both. But for those few who have suffered this unfortunate treatment, the basic idea is that the orphaned Harry Potter discovers on his eleventh birthday that his parents were in fact wizards, and tht he is famous for being the Chosen One who survived being almost-killed by a big evil wizarding type.

It reeks of familiarity and cliche, but for some reason it's strangely endearing. Maybe it's the realism and detail in which Harry's thoughts are covered; maybe it's the child audience. Whatever it is, it means that when one first encounters the series, one is hooked. I'm not just talking about some small compulsion, I'm talking about this book's brilliant ability to immerse the reader in it's world of magic and wonder.

Harry's early innocence is a good place to start the tale; naivity and youth work well together, and in the following books we watch as Harry's detailed personality matures and wrinkles. The fluency and detail of this book and of the whole series are perhaps I think what makes it so damn readable, and the immersive qualities of those traits make a good book.

While still being a good book, it seamlessly introduces a wildly varied backstory and a set of consistent rules that this magical world follows. It has identifiable drama, moments that will make you laugh and despair, moments that, due to their sheer beautiful simplicity, will have a smile erupting onto your face.

The atmosphere of the book is an interesting parallel to Harry's maturity, as it's light and idealistic nature dilutes as the book and the series goes on. You can physically feel that the book's style is different at the end than it was at the beginning, reflecting the change in the protagonist.

A book that should be read by all children who aspire to read properly, write fluently and expand their imaginations beyond the material world. Simply brilliant.

Thanks.

Timetable 30/5/10 - 5/6/10

It's Harry Potter Week, as well as five music reviews including Two Double Bills.

Sunday 30/5/10 - ...And the Philosopher's Stone

Monday 31/5/10 - ...And the Chamber of Secrets and Gary Go

Tuesday 1/6/10 - ...And the Prisoner of Azkaban and Back to Bedlam

Wednesday 2/6/10 - ...And the Goblet of Fire and All the Lost Souls

Thursday 3/6/20 - ...And the Order of the Phoenix and These Streets

Friday 4/6/10 - ...And the Half-Blood Prince and Sunny Side Up

Saturday 5/6/10 - ...And the Deathly Hallows and Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor

Review: Doctor Who: Cold Blood

That was certainly an improvement. Chris Chibnall spends less time faffing about here, and what results is a tightly packed if albeit a bit rushed story. The first half of the episode is Doctor Who gold, balancing all the elements perfectly, with technobabble, drama and a deep anti-violence message. The second half felt a bit rushed and borrowed a lot of Moffat principles for the sake of argument...

So, some construction worker "Mo" and Amy are about to get dissected by some reptile guy but elsewhere in the city army reptiles find the Doctor and Nasreen, and so he is called away to examine the Doctor's alien nature. Amy swipes a remote device, allowing both to escape, and they wander around tunnels finding children and reptile warriors in cryosleep.

The Doctor discovers that this city of Silurians is being currently controlled by the army, who are the only ones awake. The other two burst in for an untimely rescue attempt and then all four are tied up and readied for excecution.

Meanwhile, on the surface, the alien hostage has poisoned the grandfather, who goes to ask her for the cure. Like the arrogant alien warrior stereotype she is, she refuses and says she prefers to be killed instead. Oh goody. Being a bit pissed at how she's treating her dad, Ambrose accidentally electrocutes the alien hostage, thus sparking the potential for a war.

Just before they're going to be excecuted, the Second Half kicks in and for some reason the Silurian President comes storming in (having provided voiceovers throughout the episode), saving all of their lives. Then follows some awkward negotiation with the surface where they ask to bring the hostage down, and some negotion scenes between the apparent representatives for humanity and the president.

And then the military lead a revolution and find out the hostage is dead, and so like another Matt Smith two-parter, the group become trapped in a control room. Here there's apparently some very simple solution involving everyone being told to sleep again, the drill being blown up and everyone escaping with their heads.

Then a crack appears and there's a Last Second Death by Rory who's then absorbed by the crack and erased from history. Good riddens. Dull idiot that while bringing some unique human drama had absolutely no chemistry with Gillian and got in the way quite a bit. Valuable to the overall plot, perhaps, but I would have preferred he stayed in his little village. His four episodes haven't really given him enough characterisation for me to care about his demise.

The prostethics are as good as ever, if a bit distracting, and the acting was top-notch if not Shakespeare. There are some brilliant one-liners, like "We're at the centre of the Earth, and there are lizard men." The episode sets up some future episode synopsise, with the Silurians destined to come to the surface in 3020, which I'm not particularly excited about, but there we go. It by far bettered the mess that was last week, because it took more than a paragraph to descirbe what acutally happened! It wasn't particularly meaningful, or at least not as meaningful as the 1970 story.

The erasure of Rory brings up some big questions. What appeared in place of the 2015 timeline in Amy's Choice? Who stood in as Amy's brother in Vampires in Venice? How can The Doctor have gone to Venice in the first place when Rory wasn't there to be going on a romantic trip with Amy? How can the crack exist if the wedding of Amy and Rory is the point at which time cracks? All questions that need to be answered, probably in the finale, but I do hope they are.

I found the entire story dissappointing; character development was few and far between, there were long periods where simply nothing was happening, the voice over was pretentious and stupid and it's clear that due to the rushed nature of his death/erasure he's likely to be resurrected later on. The synopsis had so much potential, but this fell down so dramatically that not even the wonderful prostetics and special effects stopped me from passing the occasional yawn.

Anyway. Next week we have a bad Van Gogh impression and a Gryffon-like monster. It's written by none other than Richard Curtis, writer of great comedies such as The Boat That Rocked, Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings. My hopes are up.

Thanks.

Review: The Resistance

The Resistance, Muse (2009)

My first reaction on listening to many of the songs on Muse's album was familiarity; despite never really having heard any of them before. It's fast-paced, emo rock; nothing I particularly object to. It was enjoyable to say the least; although for some reason there aren't words in my lexicon to describe it.

The reason for my familiarity was soon discovered; apart from the first and last three songs, they all sound quite familiar. Almost indistinguishable on light listening; the overarching voice of the lead singer ruling over everything else, and making the whole thing every samey.

They expose their classical influences with the last three songs, which together make up the "Exogenesis Symphony", a wonderful piece that highlights how new and old styles can codevelop. I particularly loved how the incorporated voice didn't spoil the feel of the piece.

It's very metal. It's simply brilliant, a mixture of light classical musings (the title explains it all! Hurrah!) and hard 70s rock. There's some Queen influences, some Bowie, and then this homegrown brilliance and meaning that floats through everything. I would reccomend this album. But one certainly has to concentrate, and then one can enjoy the music to its full potential.

Thanks.

Timeline Changes

I think I'd rather not go ahead with tonight's Eurovision Coverage. It seems to much of a workload for a Saturdy night, and so instead I'll post my Doctor Who:Cold Blood review and then Harry Potter Week starts on Sunday with ...And The Philosopher's Stone.

I'm also gonna be introducing a Poll at the side there, covering many different topics from my reivews to what I see on television.

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End Of Term Roundup

May has been revolutionary for Audenshaw Reviews. A review a day, at least, with opinion pieces now and then with weekly timetables. The Youtube campaign has hopefully worked, as I posted my last video on Tuesday.

Thinking ahead, there's the Eurovision Coverage (it's looking very good this year btw) which will be posted on Saturday night (hopefully) and then I might update with images and later opinions on Sunday. Also on Sunday will be my Doctor Who: Cold Blood review. After that, I've got a treat with Harry Potter Week, in which I review a book a day over the holidays.

I'm looking forward to it. See you there.

Thanks.

Review: Lily Allen (2/2) - It's Not Me, It's You

It's Not Me, It's You, Lily Allen(2009)

The unique nature of Allen's work and her very critical lifestyle meant that the second album was always going to be quite different from the original. Despite being a very loosely popular celebrity, Allen was a popular figure in the tabloid press for the duration of her three-year career, mostly for inconsiderate statements, drunken embarrassments and blatant law-breaking. The name of the album is perhaps consequential; a call out to the tabloids to get off her back. Anyway. Let's look at the contents.

Well... it's better in some areas and worse in others. The songs are generally palatable and less droll but the contoversial songs, albeit less in number, are quite vulgar. Maybe witty on an isolated listening, but if listened to recreationally they may seem highly inappropriate. For example, "Not Fair" deals with the topic of Premature Ejaculation. Perfect for all those little kiddies.

There does remain some politcal commentary, in the form of "The Fear," which deals with materialism in society. What I love is that while the previous album fell flat in terms of relationships, some of this album's strongest offerings cover that very subject, such as "22" and "I Could Say". It's a good sign that she knows how to improve based on past mistakes, and one of the things that I found endearing.

And then there're the terrible songs. "Fuck You," for example, is a return to the sheer silliness of Alright, Still's "Alfie," upbeat profanities with a pretense of having something to say about society, but are in fact rotten apples on an otherwise unspoilt tree. "Who'd Have Known" is taken directly from Take That's "Shine", literally, something that I would have thought Ms. Allen would have avoided with her unconventional approach.

In terms of style, this album has far more techno than previously, maybe as a sign of Ms. Allen moving more into mainstream material. It does improve the album, although "I Could Say," a typical ballad, is still moving without it.

It's a shame that Allen packed up her career, for typically greedy reasons (She aparrently couldn't see any way of making any more money from it.) She was improving, certainly, and she had a very unique outlook on the country and of modern britain, as well as having a lovely voice and a quirky fashion. I can only hope that if she does make a third album, she learns from her past results and makes something to be truely proud of.

Thanks.