By Roy Mathur, on 2021-06-02, at 23:27:44--00:10:55, for Captain Roy's Rocket Radio Show, Listen
I keep saying I don't do reviews, because I make no pretense of being objective. But that just makes me seem like I'm being precious. Let's now just call what I do with the culture I consume, reviewing, and leave it at that.
Sorry for being preciousss. No, actually, I'm not sorry. Move on!
A visit to a second different garage, after the first garage with the creepy mechanic completely fairly to repair my car, then told me the thumping was perfectly natural, despite two other garages telling me it was a dangerous MOT failure.
They also fixed a problem with my engine completely cutting out, which turned out to be a camshaft sensor, which they told me couldn't possible be the case. The moral of this story? Everyone in the universe remains reassuringly incompetent.
That's great, but now the aircon need recharging with freon.
No matter where yhou look; Forbes, Podcasting Insights, etc., all are sayuing podcasting has over taken radio and podcasters are making millions. Hah! I continue to not make a single damn penny. Tips, i.e. small denominations of cash, can be made to CRRRaSh! via https://roymathur.com/podcast.html#support
Rear Window again, as Amy Adam's sense of reality is inverted in this Netflix thriller about an agoraphobic who witnesses a murder.
The clumsy early spoiler and Gary Oldman seemingly playing Dracula in his dotage again is, however, contrasted with a few nice touches of Hitchcockian headspin.
In the film, a young Cruella sets out for vengence for the death of her mother, while making it big in the London fashion scene, and reclaiming her aristocratic birthright. This is a Disney 12+ rated, campy black comedy, that clearly references Catwoman in Batman Returns and The Devil Wears Prada.
Utterly awful cliched soundtrack. I'm not kidding: Nancy Sinatra's These Boots were Made for Walkin', The Rolling Stone's Sympathy for the Devil, etc. Did a committee come up with this? Shoot them.
The dialogue peppered with out of place Americanisms like "shakedown" and "duck and cover". The thing's set in London for god's sake.
Emma Stone's occasionally dodgy, though laudable attempt at RP, falters slightly when the tail end of her words sometime dissappear under a slightly wobbly stiff upper lip. No ADR re-re-takes, or a pitch change in the audio editing suite? What happened?
Aside from that, proto-Vivienne Westwood, Stone is fabulous in the One Hundred and One Dalmations live action prequel, in which Disney does much the same with Cruella de Vil as they did with Maleficient. They cast her in a far more favourable light and as a much cooler character.
I liked how the film dealt with the Dalmation conundrum I talked about before. That is, how do you empathise with a woman who wants to skin them to make a coat? Disney also managed to make a revenge flick denouement appropriate to a 12+ film, without making it too tame.
In short, despite my nitpicking, I'm a reviewer after all, I enjoyed this funny and fun film. Oh, and look out for the baroness's hilariously nasty PA Jeffrey played excellently Andrew Leung. Finally, one thing that hasn't changed between this and the old classic animation is that Cruella still can't drive.
According to it's trailer description, "Edgar Wright's Psychological Thriller Has Time-Hopping Terror".
I've heard it described as modern take on giallo, an Italian 60s--70s multi-format horror/crime/exploitation genre that I love and have talked out on this pod several times. I can see echoes of that in the trailer; the otherworldly walk through the crowds, the sinister colour palette, and the screen shatter for example. But giallo is far more than that, and I don't want my enjoyment of this film spoiled if I'm expecting that and it turns out to be good, but not giallo at all.
If you want to see some giallo of the period, check out the comic book series by Angela and Luciana Giussani, and it's weird and crazy and fun Mario Bava film adaptation Danger: Diabolik (1968), or Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970).
Last Night in Soho comes out in October 2021.
For years we have been threatened with a reboot of Highlander. Apparently this is greenlit to go, and to star Henry Cavill. (Deadline).
I like Henry Cavill's work, but this again? The original 1986 film is pure, unadulterated 80s... You can't reboot that. You know how I know this? Because, "I am the one, the only one, I am the god of kingdom come." Besides, Cavill actually looks like he'd make a better villainous Kurgan than a heroic Connor MaCleod-type, but who knows whether this will be a direct reboot or something new. Expect lots of fans like me trolling with, "There can be only one."
This is a NBC sci-fi show
They were obviusly aiming for a The X-Files/Fringe setup, with a female and male agent investigating the alien anomalies.
While the premise is intriguing. We learn too much too early spoiling any sense of mystery. production values are low, especially the quality of the video, which looks as rough as something filmed 20 years ago.
I am no stranager to antepodean drama. From my childhood, I remember jems like Boney, The Outsiders, and most recently the excellent The Code.
FX's Mr Inbetween (2018--) is an action-packed, very violent, very funny, morally dubious 20-or-so minute episodic Australian thriller about Ray Shoesmith, an ex-army hitman working a cover job as a bouncer. Mr Inbetween (the eyes I suppose) is created, written, and stars Scott Ryan. It is clearly influenced by films like Chopper, and in it, we follow the day-to-day life of the hitman as he casually disposes of targets and tries to avoid getting disposed of himself, and looks after his young daughter, and disabled brother. Ahhh...
There's a frisson of extra tension and wish fulfilment seeing him handle police in a way I wish I could when I was younger. Not that I was a nere-do-well, just brown and poor, but man, if only I could repeatedly say, "I don't answer questions." right in the face of a copper. Of course, even if he is a criminal, he's a white male criminal, and that privilge actually makes it a whole lot easier for him to handle interactions with the long arm than it is as a law-abiding working class minority, and an easy target, as we know from the news, and as I am telling you from my own personal experience. While I don't wish to tangent this review into being all about me, some ethically challenging shows and movies, like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Judge Dredd, etc., are empowering, even if for the wrongs reasons. I've talked about this before past pods too if you're interested.
In this case, the really wrong reasons. This is where the show rubbed me the wrong way. I was annoyed by the way it tries to win your approval by saying, this is what any person would do in a similar situation. No, I beg to differ. We might fantasise about killing someone evil, but that's it, and I'm certainly not going to cheer on the sidelines like the ghoulish hoi polloi at Tyburn. In summary, though fighty chaps with a chip on their shoulder like Mr Inbetween would be a pain in the arse in real life, here, he struck a chord. A very discordant chord perhaps, but a chord none-the-less.
Aside from my mixed feelings, the way this series was produced was interesting and inspiring to fellow creatives as an example of a creator willing a thing to life after a long struggle through years of development hell.
I have continued from season one and into season 2 of Shudder's delightly silly and gory horror show.
It origiantes with George A Romero and Stephen King's first and second films, as well as subsequent films and TV shows by others, and inpsired by horror and mystery comics, like thouse produced by EC (Entertaining Comics) in the 1950s.
If you have a nostalgia for old time cheap and cheerful thrills, then this is for you.
Let's start with what I considered for years, but ended up not buying.
I've been going back and forth between this or the more sibilant EV RE 20. You've heard me speaking, so of course I favoured the Shure.
It's also cheaper than the EV RE 20 in the UK and has a built-in shock mount and a couple of foam windshields . The EV RE20 shock mount costs an eyewatering extra GBP 100+!
It require quite a bit of gain, but then I have had a TritonAudio FetHead dynamic mic booster sadly sitting unused in its little cardboard tube for several years.
I userstand it's a cliched choice, and I hate being in with the in-crowd, but it is a cliche for a reason.
Of course, I desperately sought every other option, because its widespread use by YouTubers and podcasters was a turnoff.
Alertives included the iconic Shure 55SH (the Elvis mic), but I thought this would be better than the much cheaper Elvis mic, because it has better background noise rejection and a smoother top end. Anything that tames my sibalents and screens me from the stupid amount of background noise I have to deal with is a boon.
I also didn't buy the Rode boom arm used by most other podcasters, streamers, and YouTubers, but at least I didn't succumb to the Rode PSA1 boom arm, which I've heard can be noisy, and besides, it looks like a gigantic praying mantis looming over you. I don't like loomers.
I finally did not buy the Sony MDR-7506 cans.
Though I generally use JVC HA-S160 as mixing cans, which are great sounding and cheap, but very fragile. I buy a new pair once a year, but they are discontinued by JVC and starting to be hard to find.
The Sony MDR-7506 are cans I've had before and returned for comfort issues. They may be described as around/over ear (circumaural), but they are most definitely on-ear (supraaural). Remember that if you want to buy them. But this is the best of a number of compromises.
Remember the much lauded Beyerdynamic DT 150 I tested? The isolation and sound was good, but I returned it because of quality control issues; the band was loose and kept slipping, and comfort issues; it cut off the blood suppy to my brain!
I also considered the Sennheiser HD 380 Pro, which I'm sure would have fit my big ears, but they have been discontinued. Oh what a suprise.
The Sony is also about half the price of the Beyerdynamic, which almost swayed me, but then I thought, the GBP 10 JVCs are easier to drive, sound better, and feel better than anything to date, so until I'm forced to change, why fix what isn't broken?
After reducing the bass of my very bassy Behringer XM8500 mic by removing everything from in front of the capsule, hitting the EQ on my mixer, and turning it into a poor man's pseudo SM57, I decided, given my scooped mids overly bassy voice, I would be better off with a much less bassy mic, and settled on the Shure 55SH.
Yes, the semi-joke rocker's mic because it's subcardioid polar pickup pattern means less proximity effect, i.e. bass, and that wider pick up pattern is more forgiving when you move around., Also, there's that slightly boosted top. The Rode PodMic is an even less expensive option and perhaps cooler looking (no really, it is), but I'm afraid of the massive bass roll off, the very high top end, and need for a windscreen. It seems a more extreme version of the Elvis mic. Also, and no small matter, I like the look of the Elvis mic, it's easy to position, and doesn't really require any add-ons to make it useable. Since I started podcasting in 2012, I always had my eye on the SM7B or the 55SH, so it has not been a quick decision.
Of course, it is a compromise, most gear is, and I'm not confident of noise rejection, but as an upgrade from a GBP 20 mic, it's a massive step up.
I also bouight the 23325-300-55-black: height clutch adjustable desk mic stand, 217--347 mm, steel with heavy round cast iron 180 mm base and rubber insert, 3/8", 2.46 kg.
This along with the next item, was bought because sometimes I want to record away from my main computer.
Finally I bought the 21431-300-55-black, steel, 3/8" and 5/8" threads, 290 mm, 0.31 kg, large clamp. I must point out that I like K and M gear for their balance between price and quality; their equipment is robust!
The new mic and stand upgrades cost me about GBP 165 in total upgrades.
Talking of gear, I tried a different recording setup in 384 and it wasn't a great experience. To recap, I used an AT 275 R mic and a Sony PCM M10 recorder. The idea behind that was to fully utilise the equipment I already had before going on a spending spree.
My first problem was that a new cable from Amazon was noisy because it was poorly shielded. Then I found the output too low. The combination of the two devices produces a brighter spikier recording with an unpleasing mechanical sound, than I get when the same mic is plugged directly into my mixer or when I use the recorder with it's built-in omnidirectional mic (useless for podcasting without an isolation booth). I think the GBP 15 Behringer XM8500, though it doesn't have the shotgun's isolation, is just a better sounding mic. Finally, I have a clicky mouth, which was of course more prominent using a condenser. Editing the pod was not fun.
I might try a different position, like overhanging in the fashion of an overhead boom, because for field recording I can't see what else would work in a noisy environment. Why? Because I want to put this show on the road. Roadshow! I've taped a few times in the car, but now I want it to be a regular occurence, perhaps with some video recorded for YouTube too, because it's nice to get out and about after so long.