Books, Films, Gigs, and My Life!

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"style" over substance.

and to expand slightly: In 50 years, will people remember her songs? Or just what she used wears? Or neither?

to expand even more (and defeat the point of the question!!) :

i was listening to the Beatles the other day, and it just makes me think, they were just four ordinary boys from liverpool, and they changed the course of music, really. Is there anyone around today who is having the same effect and changing history like they did? I suppose you can only tell from a distance, and maybe we're not far enough away from it, but from the 90s / 00s there hasn't really been any big, amazing musicial movement which is liked by the majority and has changed the face of music. I know I am looking at it from the perspective of "alternative" music, but if you consider the main genres that are popular in the mainstream at the moment - pop is just forgettable, indie even more so, and RnB / rap doesn't really seem to be doing anything different. The majority of the "alternative" genres that I like are old genres anyway (e.g. goth), so it kind of makes it seem like, to me at least, there are not really any bands / genres which are that good now. When I say things like this and people recommend bands for me to listen to, I usually can't really hear in them what makes them so different and so memorable. But even when you listen to the Beatles now, after all this time, you can still hear what it was in them which made them so different, both then and now.

Gah, I haven't written in here for ages - I have loads of book and film reviews to do as well :( I'm going to try and do the book reviews as this was the main reason why I decided to regularly write in here, and then maybe catch up on the rest of the things when I have time off work over Christmas or something. I like writing in here, and I really feel like it's improved how I write, even in essays and things, so I know I should keep it up. I've been doing really well on my OU work at the moment, so I'm really pleased about that and should have the next essay done before Christmas. The course isn't all exactly what I want to study, but each chapter does have some interesting bits in even if the main focus is a bit boring to me. I'm glad I'm doing it, and am looking forward to getting onto the "proper" psychology courses :)

But anyway, book reviews...

Book Ninety Nine - Letters from the Mary Rose by Charles Knighton and D.M. Loades

This was a bit different from how I thought it would be. It is collection of letters written from and about the Mary Rose in the 16th century. I thought it would be mainly about it's voyages, and then of course about it's sinking. However, it is mainly letters written with lists of equipment needed and purchased for the ship, and then people complaining about how they don't have everything they need for the voyages etc. There wasn't enough (I thought) about the people on the ship, and what Henry VIII and the people in the country thought of such a magnificent ship. There was a good section on it after it was suck, and attempts to raise it through the centuries. Overall it was an ok book, but better for someone more interested in the actual working of the ship. 6 / 10

Book One Hundred (woo!) - Impossible Love: Ascher Levy's Longing for Germany by Roman Frister

This books tells the story of the Levy family, who lived in Germany in the 19th and 20th century. It came from Roman Frister finding a suitcase full of documents about the family at an antiques market, researching the family and then writing a non-fiction "story" about what he had found out. It was done really well as it was written like fiction but with true historical facts and circumstances explained as well. I liked the way that everything that it described actually happened to this family, and of course the story came to its inevitable conclusion with the rise of Nazism. It was also good as it showed the rise of anti-semitism throughout the 19th and early 20th century, and how different areas treated Jews differently. I liked this book especially as it used a real story and a real family. Recommended! 9 / 10

Book One Hundred and One - Calcium Made Interesting by Graham Chapman, edited by Jim Yoakum

This is a collection of essays, lectures, letters, tv scripts, jokes and other things written by Graham Chapman. Each chapter is introduced by the editor, who gives a bit of a history / explanation for what was written. It has information about what Graham did before and after Monty Python, and how he got into comedy writing. Some of the things in the book are a *little* boring and don't have the same spark that Monty Python as a whole had, but I did especially like the lectures that Graham gave, and where he showed his opinions on certain subjects. Its clear that he was a very talented comedy writer, and its such a shame that he has died, as I would really have liked to have seen him perform / listen to him speak. Recommended if you're interested in Monty Python and British comedy. 8 / 10

I think what I'll do is try and do three or four reviews each day, or every few days, so I will get them all done. ( Some thoughts on reading )

( day 06 → whatever tickles your fancy )

( the rest of the days! )