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Next Door But One, Theatre Review. Cornerstone Theatre, Liverpool.

Rob Kavanagh, part of Next Door But One. Photograph by Roisin Fletcher.

Rob Kavanagh, part of Tell Tale Theatre’s Next Door But One. Photograph by Roisin Fletcher.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Rob Kavanagh, Paula Stewart, Shaun Roberts, Dan Edwards, Stui Dagnall, Tom Nevitt, Alex Clark, Kevin Foot-Stephens, Christine Heaney, Leanne Jones, Laura Hall, Sara O’ Connor, Bradley Thompson, Donna Ray-Coleman.

It has become a sign of the times that as a society we are more likely to know what is happening on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean in some stranger’s lives as we use social media to keep up with a celebratory who is in fashion then truly to get to grips with those to whom in the case of accident would be naturally first on the scene, the next door neighbour or the person across the road.

Next Door But One, Theatre Review. Cornerstone Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(544 words, 1 image, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marnò, Dominic Rains, Rome Shandanloo, Milad Eghbali, Reza Sixo Safai, Ray Haratian, Ana Lily Amirpour, Pej Vahdat.

There are some films that may be viewed with the long eyed lens and intrigue and you still will find it hard to justify what about it exactly catches your imagination and the sense of thrill that shimmers down your spine. Then there is the top one percent of the cinematic experiences that really have you salivating at the unknown and wondering why such a film has not been made before.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

The New Girlfriend, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz, Isild Le Besco, Aurore Clément, Jean-Claude Bolle-Redda, Bruno Pérard, Anita Gillier, Claudine Chatel.

It is a peculiar thing that in the 21st Century the world of tolerance and acceptance has moved on so much that pre-Second World War, post Victorian and Edwardian Society would be outraged and scandalised by what they see our generation doing to their so called superior ideological landscape.  It is with a smile in the heart to believe that the 21st Century in many cultures can at least stand up and be counted for doing the right thing and to knock down the pillars of moral susceptibility in an old regimes point of view.

The New Girlfriend, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(566 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Alison Green.

If there is one musician to capture the ear of anyone fortunate enough to find themselves at the International Pop Overthrow, then arguably Canterbury resident Alison Green is that performer. The sound of honesty, the smoke filled aroma of something tangible and laden with meaning stands out as being on the side of majestic, pleasing on the ear and yet filled with a charm that is both seemingly shy and powerful enough to break down imposed barriers.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Alison Green. full post

(1620 words, estimated 6:29 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Drew Sturgeon And Mark O’ Connor Of The Fast Camels.

Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

There is no doubting the sheer immensity that runs through the heart of one of Glasgow’s finest 21st Century bands, The Fast Camels.

A popular favourite of many who come to Liverpool during the month of May for the International Pop Overthrow, The Fast Camels have endeared themselves and seared their music into the hearts and minds of many who find their way to the Cavern Pub and Cavern to enjoy a relentless blast of the pop groove and psychedelic affair that the band offer.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Drew Sturgeon And Mark O’ Connor Of The Fast Camels. full post

(1433 words, 1 image, estimated 5:44 mins reading time)

The Pressure Of A One Act Performance.

To watch or observe a friend on stage

that is the true question that never gets answered.

Whether you simply enjoy their performance,

and laugh and cry at their antics,

the feeling of sympathy when their character loses their way

and the cheer of adulation when they rise to be the hero

you have always known them to be, the simple act

of watching and then forgetting all they have been through

to bring that moment of truth to the part,

shrug it off and never worry where it  may

The Pressure Of A One Act Performance. full post

(311 words, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

Super Motherload (PS4), Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Super Motherload is an action adventure puzzle platform game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4 and PS3. XGen Studios was established in 2001 in Edmonton, Canada and have since developed and released numerous games for console, mobile and Flash including Defend Your Castle on WiiWare and the Flash game Motherload which is the prequel to Super Motherload.

The story is written by comic book writer Kurtis Wiebe and includes multiple storylines which branch out based upon the choices of the player and even result in multiple game endings with the story revolving around an alternate Cold War era set on Mars.

Super Motherload (PS4), Game Review. full post

(1791 words, estimated 7:10 mins reading time)

Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip, Ain’t Bad Yet. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Six albums down the line and Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip Ain’t Bad Yet, and listening to the new offering from the Finnish Royal Blues family, there is no reason to ever believe that they would ever have that moniker attached to them.

Ain’t Bad Yet is an album of great masculine sensitivity but with that hugely desired effect in Blues, one of sheer guts and magnitude, enough of the former to deliver yet another sharply focused piece of writing, more than plenty in the latter to hold the responsibility along with many of the bands Nordic neighbours of keeping the Scandinavian music renaissance of the last decade going and in style.

Micke Bjorklof & Blue Strip, Ain’t Bad Yet. Album Review. full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Alex Woods, I Am Not Lost. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The conviction in anybody’s voice when they declare themselves to be completely sure of themselves is as heartening to hear as it is desperate to hear the soft, perhaps muted and terrified cries of someone who proclaims to the world that they are lost. Whether in spirit, direction or in purpose, that sense of loss, of sole grief at the way that Time has at being erased is as palpable an experience to sit and listen to as the joy that one who has always known their purpose was to entertain and enthral gives the listener.

Alex Woods, I Am Not Lost. Album Review. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Harley Quinn Volume Two: Power Outage. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There always seemed to be an issue in the D.C. world of graphic novels in comparison to its other dominant rival and even the less fashionable, less well known comic book makers at the time, its representation of women, aside from those in the Wonder Woman and Cat-Woman titles, was woefully lacking and in many cases perhaps even tiresome and undeserving. There really was no edge to them, nothing other being seen to be seen; there was no equality and no female hero or anti-hero worthy of looking up to.

Harley Quinn Volume Two: Power Outage. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(554 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)