I love AC/DC. I love rock music in general. I love loud music and it is without a doubt, and a pretty good fact, that AC/DC wouldn’t have been so successful had it not been for Bon coining a very large number of their best known hits.
I’m not going to bother compiling a list of my favourite tracks, as Ultimate Classic Rock have done that for me – see here: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/best-bon-scott-acdc-songs/ – but what I did want to do is list some of the music he was involved with before AC/DC came about.
Bon was the eldest member of AC/DC when he joined, but probably had the most experience out of them all.
Two similar films in concept, but with a completely different plot. One I think didn’t work that great, but still seemed to get a whole load of awards and nominations. One that frustrated me so much that I was originally going to write this post to slate it. Without holding back, here we go.
Fronted by husband and wife team, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, “a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing.” To add to that, it’s set in a post apocalyptic world – sounds great right? I thought so too for the first 30 minutes or so. It set off really well. It built up the story line really well, and was genuinely eerie until they presented the monsters. I thought they had honestly added them in as an afterthought. It’s kind of like Alien, as you don’t really see the whole thing, but you see bits. I think it certainly would have been better leaving you knowing what was happening rather than presenting that to you.
For me, after that point, the film did go down hill. I lost interest in it and got really frustrated with it.
I think some of this may be down to its short running time (only 90 minutes) and trying to fill such a small amount of time with such a large concept, or maybe what was in fact so good was the lack of any dialogue.
So to skip to the chase, Birdbox, a film fronted by Sandra Bullock (I’d rather go back and watch Speed again), for the most part, with some cameos from other well known actors, works on a similar premise but instead of not being able to make a noise, the people are attacked if they see the “monster”. I’ll try not to delve too much deeper as I don’t want to include any plot spoilers. Unlike A Quiet Place, everyone must remain blindfolded when outdoors, or keep shutters and curtains closed when indoors, to protect themselves from what is outside.
The film is a little longer at 124 minutes long, but actually doesn’t feel that long. It had some interesting plot twists as well, and although a lot of critics are killing it with poor ratings, I felt it fared better than A Quiet Place overall.
IMDb rating 6.7/10 My rating 6/10 (more reasonable, eh!)
Conclusion
Having read into both films, it has been brought to my attention that I should really go and watch The Happening which is also similar in genre. Overall I really am not a big “horror” or post-apocalyptic type films, which fuels my dislike for films such as these, but I’ll leave you to make up your own mind on both.
I’ve wanted to write something on this for a little while, so I am excited to be able to post something to help others reach their listening goals…
In this day of age, lots of people all over listen to music on their phone, or iPod or via smart home devices such as Amazon Echo or Sonos and Apple equivalents, and although these are improving greatly, their vastly overpriced and not specifically designed for listening to music.
You can do all of this without spending a lot. If you want to get a great sounding stereo setup follow these steps.
You need an amplifier. If you want retro, eBay is your best bet and I have a Sony TA-F400 (Spec here). I’ve had a few others but this has been the most reliable. You can get one for around £70, and I would recommend not spending anything over £80 on this. If the exact model is not available, similar models in the “TA” range will do as good a job. This particular model is from 1988. The beauty of this amplifier, is that it also has a phono stage. For you millenials, that’ll allow you to hook up a record deck without using a separate pre-amp.
Sony TA-F400
2. You need some speakers. Now on this part you may want to spend a little more as you don’t necessarily want to be replacing speaker cones due to someone blowing the speakers, but more than anything if you buy older speakers they tend to cost a lot more, and you don’t know how people have treated them.
Richer Sounds have an absolutely cracking deal on some Wharfedale 9.0 speakers. Newer models have replaced them but they are critically acclaimed, and are currently for sale for only £39 (including 6 year warranty). You really can’t get anything better new for that price. Grab a pair here: http://bit.ly/2FfZmKW
Pair of Wharfedale 9.0s
3. You need some RCA cables. These will allow you to connect anything with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The following will work, here.
This is the basics, but it’s a good starting point to get you up and running on a budget.
If there’s any interest I can follow up with additional separates such as CD player and so on. If you want to see my personal setup you can take a look here
My trusty, and used, Mordaunt Short subwoofer died as I was watching Band of Brothers so I had to get a new one.
I did some research and reading about and came across the Cambridge Audio SX120. A much newer and lighter model when compared to the MS model.
I bought it from Richer Sounds for around £120 (Amazon selling the same model for double the price). I thought it was a fair amount.
I have uploaded an unboxing video to YouTube:
Cambridge Audio SX120 on the left and Mordaunt Short MS309W on right. New sub in place next to our AV cab with room for LPs next to it now
The circuit board in the MS subwoofer.
The Mordaunt Short subwoofer is available for sale for spares and repairs for anyone who wants to repair it or keep it for spares. See the for sale here on eBay.
We use a number of different services to catalogue what we watch and listen to. I’m a bit of a stats geek so to begin with these are what we use to keep track of everything.
Last.fm – used to be massive but we still love it. Track all the music you listen to and compare trends. You play music in iTunes or Spotify, and it keeps count. They have a great guide with links to all the apps and services supported. This is a free service. My username is tobyw7 and Annabelle’s is AnnaC7
Discogs – catalogue your music collection. Started using this when I got my record player last year and I’m now loving it. I buy the majority of my LPs via the Discogs marketplace which is a dedicated buy/sell site for music. The mobile app keeps getting better! My account is tobyw7 (spot the trend!)
My Movies (app) – introduced by my girlfriend’s Dad, John. This is proper nerd stuff, catalogue your entire movie collection, add tags, labels, filter by genre, actor, and anything else you can imagine. Direct links to IMDb, and to trailers. The app is free for up to 50 titles but it’s well worth paying for. We love it! Check it out at www.mymovies.dk
Internet Movie Database (IMDb) – Now owned by Amazon but still as good (until they removed the forums). Our inspiration for creating this blog, was the removal of the forums and to open a place for discussion and comment. We wouldn’t be without this site, and would probably still be cycling through our Apple TV trying to find something to watch! Your go to resource for any film buff. Check it out at www.imdb.com
This is a really difficult choice, as we have been gifted with so many thanks to Netflix leading the way with series after series of cracking shows this year.
One that has stood out above the rest and has to be the best ghost/horror show that I have watched, and been hooked by in a long long time, is “The Haunting of Hill House“. It is really refreshing and a big wake up for others wishing to follow in the footsteps. The time and effort that director Mike Flanagan put into this series is jaw-dropping.
I would certainly class this along the lines of a more traditional ghost story rather than a shock horror (although this does have its moments). It brings back memories of Blair Witch project. If you didn’t get that film, then this will probably not sit right with you either. If you’re looking for something truly original that leaves you wanting more then definitely take a look over it.
Both me and my girlfriend were drawn in from the get go and must have binged on all the episodes over the period of a week. You know you’re onto a good thing when you can’t stop watching something.
IMDb rating – 8.8/10 – Our rating 9/10 (because nothing’s perfect, but this is close)
Welcome to this new blog, we hope to fill this with reviews, tips, info and more relating to music – movies – and other general entertainment news that you may be looking for!
