Category: Series

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Everybody Wants to Rule the World covers

After watching Mr. Robot’s S02E08 and heard Portia Doubleday sing Everybody Wants to Rule the World in a karaoke bar I got totally hooked on the tune and just couldn’t let it go from my head. And since the whole thing started with someone else singing the song and it was not the original Tears For Fears version, I started searching for even more renditions of this track.

This is how I came across the 2014 Spotify Landmark recording of the song with the original band just 30 years after and it’s an awesome video to watch, also the guys just totally kill it even 30 years later. This video is right here below, and then there are some more covers after it that I found interesting.

Spotify Landmark: Tears For Fears plays “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” (in 2014)

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Best of 2015

Maybe I miss out some stuff especially on the music part but these are what my notebooks hold of what was good in 2015, based on some memories, this blog, Last.fm, and IMDb.

If I wanted to some up shortly, I would say this year quite sucked for movies but brought some unexpected and nice twists and turns for music.

Movies & TV

The movie and TV list speaks for itself: the year was full of mediocre shit and overrated mainstream blockbusters (or wannabes). The Martian was okayish, Sicario had some beautiful compositions, but as a whole I wouldn’t say flicks like this made any great difference in my inner movie universe. And please don’t tell me about Star Wars, just shut it.

Movies

  1. Whiplash
  2. Mad Max: Fury Road
  3. Ex Machina

TV

  1. Mr. Robot
  2. Killjoys
  3. Jessica Jones

Music & live performances

As for music, I didn’t stumble upon a new best band, but there were some notable releases from some old favourites. IAMX created a stunning new record, and I was similarly satisfied with what DJ Krush or The Black Dog had to offer in 2015, plus a complete out of nowhere experience came from Amon Tobin in the form of a sci-fi ambient composition.

My best pleasantries included the absolutely incredible album of the Killing Joke, the totally unexpected but stunning record of Karyn Crisis, and something completely new for me in the form of the Thy Catafalque release. And things that I didn’t see coming to this list: a surprisingly mature and powerful single track by Apocalyptica, and my re-found fandom of Cradle of Filth.

Last year was definitely ruled by techno for me, where I found quite some new territories and depths. This year was not on that level of novelty but it was quite eclectic instead as the musical range shows in this list of names.

I haven’t been to many festivals and parties in 2015 so my live performances list is quite narrow. Although I could make it to Sónar Barcelona for the second time, which was nice, and surprises dominated there as well: Squarepusher’s live act was by far the most satisfying live music experience that I heard this year.

Music

  1. Killing Joke – Pylon
  2. Karyn Crisis’ Gospel of the Witches – Salem’s Wounds
  3. IAMX – Metanoia
  4. Thy Catafalque – Sgùrr
  5. DJ Krush – Butterfly Effect
  6. The Black Dog – Neither/Neither
  7. Cradle Of Filth – Hammer of the Witches
  8. Amon Tobin – Dark Jovian
  9. Rival Consoles – Howl
  10. Apocalyptica – Shadowmaker (single)

Live

  1. Squarepusher @ Sónar Barcelona 2015
  2. Less Than Jake @ Budapest Park
  3. RGB|CMY Kinetic installation (ART+COM & Ólafur Arnalds) @ Sónar Barcelona 2015
  4. Atom TM @ Sónar Barcelona 2015
  5. The Gaslamp Killer – The Gaslamp Killer Experience: Live in Los Angeles (album)
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Killjoys (2015)

Best new series that I stubled upon this year. Has “the spritiual successor of Firefly” written all over it but by no means is it a copy of anything. Just has a similar premise with a small team of three travelling back-and-forth in space on a cool little ship working through some quests and always finding some trouble along the way.

For me it started out as a likeable cute sci-fi series at 6/10 rating, then slowly built up to be an exiting sci-fi universe of 7/10, and I left the first season with a rather solid 8/10 feeling and wanting more. The CGI is always cheap and crap, the heroes are just too polished and beautiful people, some scenes are overplayed, etc. But the whole universe and the terrific ideas blew me away always and it just compensates for everything. There are all these politics, technologies, legends, all of which makes this world super interesting. Probably this grasps my attention best: the stories in between, the background painted behind everything. There are some really great storytellers penning this series, that’s for sure, most likely would be a superb read as a book as well.

It is hard not to want to highlight certain moments and ideas, but I suppress the craving and just pin one episode to the top. Episode 7 (Kiss Kiss, Bye Bye) is a fucking masterpiece. It has some real though moments that I would not expect from a casual sci-fi TV series and the whole personal dynamics mature to a point from where all picturing of emotions appear on a totally different level. This year I ditched a few series because I just couldn’t stand how the characters dealt (or couldn’t deal) with personal conflicts, and in this scene Killjoys shows the best possible example.

I just wanted to put one more picture here. Such character.

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Wayward Pines (S01E01)

Good atmosphere, the Twin Peaks comparison holds some truths. It is great how it keeps me in the dark whether what is reality and what is just imagined or craziness. Then there’s Matt Dillon, whose character as an actor I cannot unlove since Factotum, plays well in this one, too. And Juliette Lewis, come on, who saw her coming, and I am pretty much fond of that mad woman as well.

So, all good so far, up until the end of the pilot. The cheap CGI and the not-so-mystic solution of the setting let me down somewhat. However will give it a shot with one or two more episodes because there are still some unresolved mysteries to deal with which can prove exciting. Will see.

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Mr. Robot (S01E01)

Oh. My. God. Seriously. This pilot was just such an insanely powerful piece that I haven’t seen anything like for years on television. In all aspects there is. Cast, acting, story, non-cliché, characters, music, narrative, sounds, editing. Everything. This is a 10/10 start, and I just can’t wait for the second episode.

Edit: about 15 minutes passed since I watched the show and dug up all content about it online. It blows my mind with thoughts and inspiration. I love this feeling so much.