Not much else to be said other than it’s “One More Light” by Linkin Park.
One More Light
Should’ve stayed, were there signs, I ignored? Can I help you, not to hurt, anymore? We saw brilliance, when the world, was asleep There are things that we can have, but can’t keep
If they say Who cares if one more light goes out? In the sky of a million stars It flickers, flickers Who cares when someone’s time runs out? If a moment is all we are We’re quicker, quicker Who cares if one more light goes out? Well I do
The reminders pull the floor from your feet In the kitchen, one more chair than you need oh And you’re angry, and you should be, it’s not fair Just ’cause you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it, isn’t there
If they say Who cares if one more light goes out? In the sky of a million stars It flickers, flickers Who cares when someone’s time runs out? If a moment is all we are We’re quicker, quicker Who cares if one more light goes out? Well I do
Who cares if one more light goes out? In the sky of a million stars It flickers, flickers Who cares when someone’s time runs out? If a moment is all we are We’re quicker, quicker Who cares if one more light goes out? Well I do
Yes, dying is quite fucked up and Osgood Perkins follow-up to his 2024 horror cult-hit Longlegs points and shows this to the audience in spades (and buckets of blood).
The Monkey, based on the Stephen King short story of the same name, tells the story of a drum-playing toy monkey which happens to cause the the deaths of random individuals when it stops playing the drums. Right from the start we see that The Monkey veers away from Perkins usual moody and atmospheric horror language and goes for the absurdist take on the genre.
Anyone who has seen the supernatural horror series Final Destination will recognize the Rube Goldberg-esque ways each kills in that series has become its signature will appreciate how truly absurd some of the kills in The Monkey turns out. To say more would be too much of a spoiler and should be experience by anyone willing to watch this film.
Osgood Perkins still brings to the table his own brand of horror comedy by exploring the ideas and themes of death’s inevitability and randomness, but also childhood trauma and how it impacts the lives of those children even to their adulthood. Where some films would be more subtle in exploring these themes, Perkins decides on drumming it on thickly which, at time, does come off as cringe.
Yet, despite the heavy-handedness of Perkins’ screenplay (he also wrote the screenplay adaptation of King’s tale), The Monkey still succeeds in delivering an early horror hit for 2025 that should be seen with a crowd. this is a film that is actually better when seen as part of a collective experience rather than with a small group.
Star Wars fans have been very critical of Disney’s stewardship of the franchise since Star Wars: The Last Jedi landed with a monumental thud with the hardcore fanbase. There hasn’t been much to celebrate anything Star Wars under Disney with a few exceptions like Star Wars: Rogue One, The Mandalorian and Skeleton Crew. One Star Wars series that drew critical acclaim from fans and critics alike was Tony Gilroy’s series looking at the origins of one of the main characters from Rogue One and that would be the series Andor.
It was series that no one really wanted since it didn’t involve any of the legacy characters. Yet, under Tony Gilroy’s masterful hands it turned into one of the best shows on Disney+ and, if I daresay, one of the best on tv the year it came out.
It’s going to be almost three years since the first season premiered and, even though the long wait could’ve been a detriment, the second season has been one of the most-anticipated by Star Wars fans. Season 2 of Andor just got it’s first trailer it fetures a very non-Star Wars’y kind of music but very appropriate considering what the season will be about.
I, for one, never thought Steve Earle’s song of rebellion, “The Revolution Starts…” would be the clarion call to start the revolution.
Andor: Season 2 is set for an April 22, 2025 release.
Continuing our series of greatest guitar solo series, I present “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by The Beatles.
The song was written by George Harrison and was composed at a time after the band had just returned from a trip and stay in India to study Transcendental Meditation. Harrison, inspired by his stay in India, re-discovered his passion for the guitar and began to write songs with it as his main instrument. Thus begins an era of The Beatles and George Harrison as a maturing songwriter than made a huge contribution to the band becoming more than just the global rock phenomena pre-1968 and one where the group began to release songs and albums that reflected their new world views.
Yet, as great as the song has become since its release on November 22, 1968, it’s also well-remembered as the song that began a series of collaborations between George Harrison and Eric Clapton (a close friend) who plays lead guitar on the song. It is Clapton’s lead guitar work on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that has mesmerized listeners throughout the decades.
Clapton plays two guitar solos, the first occurring during first bridge section of the song, and the second the song’s outro. Both solos accentuates and focuses on the song’s lyrical tradition styling where the musical instrument provides the emotions that propel the song.
The outro guitar solo has also reached a new level of immortality in 2004 when Harrison was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The collaboration of artists that included Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Marc Mann, Dhani Harrison, Prince, Steve Ferrone, Scott Thurston, Jeff Young, and Jim Capaldi. It was Prince’s extended performance of the outro solo that’s become legendary.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping Still my guitar gently weeps
I don’t know why nobody told you how to unfold your love I don’t know how someone controlled you They bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it’s turning While my guitar gently weeps With every mistake we must surely be learning Still my guitar gently weeps
[guitar solo]
I don’t know how you were diverted You were perverted too I don’t know how you were inverted No-one alerted you
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping While my guitar gently weeps Look at you all…… Still my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping While my guitar gently weeps I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping Still my guitar gently weeps
I don’t know why nobody told you how to unfold your love I don’t know how someone controlled you They bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it’s turning While my guitar gently weeps With every mistake we must surely be learning Still my guitar gently weeps
I don’t know how you were diverted You were perverted too I don’t know how you were inverted No-one alerted you
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping While my guitar gently weeps Look at you all…… Still my guitar gently weeps
It is hard to say that when the anime series Spy x Family premiered in 2022 that it was a surprise hit. The manga it was adapted from (still ongoing) was and is still one of the popular manga currently in publication. It was a series that was going to be a hit even if it had been half-assed.
The latest AMV of the Day comes courtesy of azure ryn and combines Imagine Dragons’ “Whatever It Takes” with scenes from Spy x Family that highlights the balance of Loid Forger trying to balance his super-spy agent work with the fake family he has created as cover for his current assignment. The song really emphasizes the serious side of the series (the series itself is mostly the hijinks of the three characters that forms the Forger Family).
The Accountant, released in 2016, was an action-thriller that came out of nowhere and surprised a lot of people. The film had come out a two years since the release of John Wick and it would help usher in what I consider a new age of Western action films.
There was instant talk of a sequel after the success of the first film, but with Ben Affleck busy doing his Batman and Justice League bit over at DC Films the sequel had been put on the back-burner. Well, with the crash and burn of the DCEU it looked like Affleck had some time on his hands now and this meant the sequel to The Accountant was back to cooking.
On April 25, 2025, we will see just what Gavin O’Connor, Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal have cooked up as a follow-up to the first film with The Accountant 2.
Jimi Hendrix was arguably one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century. Some may dispute that label and maybe pigeonhole him as one of the greatest rock musician, but his impact on the musical landscape goes beyond just rock music, but all of music no matter the genre or style.
He was that one singular musician, just like any prodigy, who came along and burned bright for a short period of time before being snuffed out by the very gift and genius for creativity he became known for. There has been other musicians who have attained legend status since Jimi Hendrix’s untimely death on September 18, 1970, but even they would say that they still couldn’t comprehend what Hendrix was able to do with an electric guitar and in the short time he had in the limelight.
Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” is a microcosm of why musicians and rock historians almost look at Hendrix’s work with nigh-mythical status. The song, released on December 1, 1967, begins with Hendrix’s much slower chord progression accompanied by the haunting use of the glockenspiel that then leads to Hendrix’s vocals and drums. It is around the 1:45 minute mark when the song follows through on its vocals with one of the most precise and a nominee for greatest guitar solo of all-time.
The song itself is not very long, but even in the its two-and-a-half minute running time “Little Wing” achieves what most musicians could only dream of and that is a song that continues to inspire and bewilder (the song has been covered and studied countless times, but no could ever agree how Hendrix did his magic on the song).
Little Wing
Well, she’s walking through the clouds With a circus mind that’s running wild Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams And her fairy tales That’s all she ever thinks about Riding with the wind When I’m sad, she comes to me With a thousand smiles, she gives to me free “It’s alright” she says, “It’s alright” Take anything you want from me, take anything Anything Fly on, little wing
Looks like Death is up to its shenanigans once again with Final Destination Bloodlines. Just when we thought it was safe to go about our lives without having to worry about Death’s penchant for complex Rube Goldbergesque plans to kill some people it looks like we spoke too soon.
On May 16, 2025, Death runs in the family and wearing a nose ring may not be the best thing when Death’s around. Here we have the first teaser trailer for Final Destination Bloodlines.
The latest “Song of the Day” is very near and dear to my blues-covered metal heart. I consider it one of the best rock ‘n’ roll songs ever created. It’s been covered by numerous bands in the decades since it’s initial release but I will always consider the original as the best. The latest song of the day is The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil”.
This song was released in the early days of December 1968. It was the opening track for The Rolling Stones’ latest album (Beggars Banquet) at that date. What makes this song so great is how simple the song really comes across. It doesn’t have the typical blues rock tone of previous Stones’ songs until Keith Richard’s guitar solo around the 2:55 mark. The song definitely sounds more like a combination of folk rock (by way of it’s spoken word-like lyrics) and a samba (due to the incorporation of additional percussions like the congas).
“Sympathy for the Devil” has been called a confession song while others see it as the narcissistic bragging of the narrator. Both viewpoints are quite valid and there are more as every listener of this song hears and imagines different themes. I always saw it as a combination of the two. It’s Lucifer’s confession and bragging about his role in the tumultuous and evil events in man’s history. It’s a song that its narrator wants to understand and admit that while he has been there through all those dark moments in history, he wouldn’t have been able to do what he’s done if not for people allowing him in and becoming complicit.
Sympathy for the Devil
Please allow me to introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste I’ve been around for a long, long years Stole many a man’s soul and faith
And I was ’round when Jesus Christ Had his moment of doubt and pain Made damn sure that Pilate Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you Hope you guess my name But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. Petersburg When I saw it was a time for a change Killed the czar and his ministers Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank Held a general’s rank When the blitzkrieg raged And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you Hope you guess my name, oh yeah Ah, what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, oh yeah (woo woo, woo woo)
I watched with glee While your kings and queens Fought for ten decades For the gods they made (woo woo, woo woo)
I shouted out, “Who killed the Kennedys?” When after all It was you and me (who who, who who)
Let me please introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste And I laid traps for troubadours Who get killed before they reached Bombay (woo woo, who who)
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah (who who) But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby (who who, who who)
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah But what’s confusing you Is just the nature of my game (woo woo, who who)
Just as every cop is a criminal And all the sinners saints As heads is tails Just call me Lucifer ‘Cause I’m in need of some restraint (who who, who who)
So if you meet me Have some courtesy Have some sympathy, and some taste (woo woo) Use all your well-learned politesse Or I’ll lay your soul to waste, um yeah (woo woo, woo woo)
Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, um yeah (who who) But what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down (woo woo, woo woo)
Woo, who Oh yeah, get on down Oh yeah Oh yeah! (woo woo)
Tell me baby, what’s my name Tell me honey, can ya guess my name Tell me baby, what’s my name I tell you one time, you’re to blame
Oh, who woo, woo Woo, who Woo, woo Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Oh, yeah
What’s my name Tell me, baby, what’s my name Tell me, sweetie, what’s my name
Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Woo, who, who Oh, yeah Woo woo Woo woo
Continuing my current focus on the isekai corner of the anime fandom I present four shots from four isekai anime series that is currently still airing with new seasons. All started out strong and gaining new fans.
Some have pointed out that the quality in later seasons have dipped for some, but those who invested their time to watch these series have stuck with the four series. With the dearth of mid to bad isekai series coming out year after year it’s just due time for the genre to go out with a whimper, but until that happens…“Isekai is dead! Long live the isekai!”
Overlord (Ōbārōdo) by Kugane Maruyama
The Rising of the Shield Hero (Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari) by Aneko Yusagi
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken) by Fuse
The Eminence in Shadow (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!) by Daisuke Aizawa