Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Running on Air by Bliss n Eso:
Another album of Australian hip-hop with a wide variety of influencing styles in their beats. It has fewer stand-out singles than Circus in the Sky, but is still a fun listen. Late On Night is pretty representative of the album as a whole.

Final Grade: B

Game of Thrones, Season Five:
I haven't really liked any season of Game of Thrones as much as the first one and this one didn't change my mind. (I still watch because Rebecca likes it more than I do). The number of interesting plots thins (while I was glad that we didn't have to see more scenes of Bran possessing wolves, I was also disappointed that Arya's storyline turned into a biding time treadmill).

This season felt a lot like Star Wars in that most of the scenes involved people traveling somewhere and accidentally furthering the plot. There are a lot of big moments towards the end of the season, but without fail, every single one of them was poorly set up and lacked any emotional investment. That said, the traditional big battle beyond the Wall was well-done and gripping.

All of the scenes are too dark as well, which is probably an intentional design idea to save money for battle scenes by skimping on the sets. If your TV has the least bit of glare, you'll want to watch at night.

Final Grade: C-

Modern Nature by Charlatans UK:
This newer album by the Charlatans has a warm, mature frat-rock sound that reminds me of being in college. The arrangements are clean and pleasant on the ear. Trouble Understanding is a good representative track. Free on Amazon Prime.

Final Grade: B

Hannibal takes Edinburgh:
This is not a comedy special so much as a documentary on how stand-up routines evolve, based on a month-long Fringe festival in Edinburgh. It's very hit-or-miss with a minimal number of new jokes, and the first half is more interesting than the second. Hannibal is definitely a comic that is incredibly funny when tightly edited, but the dead air and self-laughs of his live performances kill the momentum. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: C-