Sunday, February 8, 2026

"shrieking in several languages"

"At one time or another, most of us have arrived at a gorgeous concert hall with whole afternoon to relax, prior to a leisurely and professional soundcheck in a spectacularly sumptuous hotel room within walking distance. You have the which everything works, everyone can hear everyone, the coffee is fresh, and you can't think of anything to complain about. Then to dinner, in agreeable company, before the short walk back to the dressing room in a gentle and balmy Mediterranean breeze. The sea shimmers in the distance, the crowd seems on fire with anticipation, and a pleasant phone-call home establishes that all is well back at Central Command. The gig is rubbish.

Conversely, the equipment arrives late in some dirty, smelly dump; the backstage sustenance you wouldn't offer a dog, and there's no coffee anyway, hot or cold. The soundcheck is a lot of shrieking in several languages to a background of a wall of electronic feedback, your head is killing you, Iberia lost your suitcase, and they are letting in the punters in seven minutes, so dinner is out of the question. What do you get? A blinding gig."

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Send Help -- Wut I Thunk

So it's Castway but two people are stranded -- a put-upon office worker and her horrible frat-bro boss.  And it's really hard to talk about it more without spoiling.  This is the definition of a movie that you should see with as little information as possible before going in.  Rachel McAdams doesn't hesitate to go full mousy and a bit gross.  Dylan O'brien plays up his assholish-ness to the hilt.  From there, we go in about five different directions with a truly brilliant script.  At the end you might not like anybody on offer here, but that's the point.  Survival is, indeed, a winner-take-all proposition.

Five conch shells out of five!