Brit-newcomer known as Chaney is back with an ear-pleasing EP named ‘#saveswindon.’
Chaney, a promising British artist, has recently released his EP ‘#saveswindon’ which features four tracks including the chart-promising ‘My House.’
With the cornerstone track, ‘My House,’ the highly-exciting Chaney delivers smooth radio-ready vocals with fitting production that will keep you listening for a fortnight to come.
This EP comes after the release of his song ‘Dixons’ which has gained over 70,000 streams via Spotify alone. Dixon’s most-streamed song is currently ‘Let U Know,’ which nearly has 300,000 streams via Spotify. While his re-fix of Tom Walker’s ‘Leave a Light On’ has over 585,000 streams.
The EP ‘#saveswindon’ is available to be streamed here.
Kaytranada is back with more magical music. This time with an edit of a classic.
Kaytranada, a Haitian-Canadian music producer and DJ, has shared his remix of Sade’s ‘Kiss of Life,’ a single which was originally released back in 1993 under Epic Records.
Sade, a band which formed in 1982, will be glad to hear of this remix, as they have announced their seventh studio album is in the process of recording.
The edit lasts around five minutes in length and features smooth kicks with splendid dynamics -two features that have become closely related to the discography of Kaytranada.
The song is streamable via Soundcloud and is available for free download.
Chloe Jackson, a Bristol-based motion designer and illustrator, created an incredibly creatively animated music video taking us on an adventure through a beautiful dreamland all while accompanied by Tom Rosenthal’s ‘It Won’t Be Me.’
Manchester City truly gives there all, but there is nothing for them to lose.
Amazon Prime’s newest ‘All or Nothing’ series follows Premier League giants Manchester City as they attempt to win the Premier League, Champions League and two domestic cups over their record-breaking 17/18 season. The series follows everyone at the club from the players to the managerial staff to the fans and even the kit assistant; with behind the scenes footage of locker room antics, training sessions, heartfelt one on one interviews and anger infused conflicts ‘All or Nothing’ provides a fly-on-the-wall look at what happens off the pitch.
As we enter the 17/18 season, we start with a look at Pep Guardiola, one of footballs finest managers. Guardiola is coming in from his dominant run in Germany and Spain with Bayern Munich and Barcelona. We see he has already implemented his attitude and ethics to the club, however this season he aims to dominate the hardest league in the world – the Premier League. We get an excellent look into Guardiola’s vision and passion which comes with constant swearing, anger and a pure determination to win – this is all he wants to do and will work in any way to achieve it.
His players are equally as passionate, they present themselves as a family, they are cheerful and hardworking, obsessive and skillful; I don’t believe they act differently in front of the cameras, the desire is there regardless, and it creates a real understanding of what a win and a loss means to the players and the club. Furthermore, the series displays their life outside of football – in the case of David Silva’s struggle with his son’s premature birth and Kompany’s awkwardly finding out he has won the league next to his Father-in-law who is a Manchester United fan. The players aren’t just colleagues but friends, they have a connection on and off the pitch, they celebrate the highs and fight through the lows.
With the passion and excitement from the staff, players and fans creating an entertaining and exciting series there are issues to be noted – Manchester City had an incredible season as they became ‘centurions’ to win the league, winning a domestic cup and scoring goals like it was nothing their team was a delight to watch. However, the show rarely explores the low points, it fails to reveal as much as it should have, you know there is more to show, but it leaves you slightly empty-handed. Moreover, Manchester City are one of the richest teams in the world, they have some of the best players and facilities in the world, and their money seems unlimited to their hapless opponents. While the money and achievement are seriously impressive, it takes away a lot of tension of the show, the team doesn’t struggle in any sense and as any avid Premier League viewer knows Manchester City have been this way for a several number of years, so their fight to win the league was impressive but not unexpected.
Overall, you’re never on the edge of your seat, the lack of development on certain aspects and a shortage of pressure on the team doesn’t generate much entertainment. Nevertheless, the series does do well to capture behind the scenes of the club, to show audiences off the pitch moments, to view the staff and players in their natural spaces and consistently presents heartfelt moments, comedy and charismatic people that keep the series enjoyable.
‘Eleven Days’ is back, but this time with a music video.
Max Frost, a singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas, has shared a music video for his latest song ‘Eleven Days’ which has been previously featured on Sound Selection. Frost, who is signed to Atlantic Records, released his two-song EP titled ‘Eleven Days’ a month ago. The EP packaged songs ‘Eleven Days’ and ‘Good Morning.’
‘Eleven Days’ has currently over one-hundred eighty-thousand streams on Spotify and is slowly becoming a favourite amongst the fans.
You can watch the music video for ‘Eleven Days’ here and stream the EP here.
The first song to enter through our door is ‘Colors’ by the amazing Jef Miles featuring Narai. Jef Miles bring us a melody-driven house anthem that will keep you hooked for a fortnight to come. With this song released, we are sure to catch more great music in the months to come from the electrifying duo Jef Miles.
Lil Silva ‘Making Sense’
Another great addition to this Sound Selection is by Lil Silva named ‘Making Sense.’ In this latest project, UK music producer and vocalist, Lil Silva, showcases his excellence with ear-pleasing production and smooth vocals that makes this one a must for any playlist.
Saint Nomad ‘El Dorado’
Additionally, sharing with us a magical vibe is the fantastic Saint Nomad with the song ‘El Dorado’. In this project, Saint Nomad dive in with a dynamic production, brilliant vocals and a powerfully-driven bass that will take you into an alternate dimension with its zing. ‘El Dorado’ is part of the ‘Memento Mori’ album.
Stravy ‘N20’
The final song to enter this edition of Sound Selection is by Stravy who gives us a deep-bass driven track ‘N20.’ In the latest house track ‘N20’, Stravy produces a dancefloor-hit vibe that will stick with you from the get-go with its catchy melodic bass and an aura that will make you go into a trance-like state. With this anthem-like track out, we are eager to see what is up next from Stravy in the upcoming months.
Let’s Talk: Backwards Compatibility and Futureproofing
The Spyro Reignited Trilogy made headlines recently with the initial announcement that only the first of the three games would be included on the disc. The other games, well they would have to be downloaded. As a practice which players are growing increasingly annoyed with, the backlash was predictable, and it was heavy.
Sources close to YouTuber YongYea reveal that publisher Activision, one of the big names in the business when it comes to anti-consumer practices (having pulled similar crap with the most recent god-awful Tony Hawk game), decided to delay the release date as the developer Toys for Bob requested. This so all games could be on the disc at launch, and so the players who bought the game without a fast or readily accessible internet connection could, you know, play the games they bought.
While this does a fine job of showing how little regards some developers have for fans of their properties over their drive for short-term profit, it’s made us wonder about what form we can expect from the future of rereleases, especially when it comes to the prospect of backward compatibility for future consoles.
Why Consoles?
For those unfamiliar with the concept of backward compatibility, the general idea is the ability of the next generation of consoles to run games from the previous generation. This rather than the trend of full HD remakes or remasters would allow a product bought last generation to simply run on insertion in the next generation of machine. For examples of this, we can look back at the PS1/PS2 generation, as PS2’s were almost perfectly capable of running any PS1 game as normal, or even improved with better texture filtering and load times.
As for the other consoles and PC, they had decided to take a slightly different path. PC, as it stands, does not really necessitate such backward compatibility, as similar architecture and open modding communities mean that many older games will either run with tweaks, or can be accurately emulated with the likes of DOSBOX or other fan-created front-ends.
Setting Precedent
For the post-PS2 generation of Sony consoles backward compatibility would become an especially difficult task, most notably again as illustrated by Sony’s line of consoles. The reasons why the PS1 could be emulated so simply, in large part, came down to the relative simplicity of the device and its internal structure. The PS2 and PS3, on the other hand, relied on more complex and specialised hardware, meaning that tricks and emulation was not an easily viable task.
Of course, there were attempts, many PS3s came with a great chip allowing for PS2 backward compatibility, but there were versions (including my own) which had this feature stripped in the interest of cost-cutting. So while backward compatibility over the PS2 to PS3 was possible there were issues, and these were only exacerbated when extending this from the next generation – from the Cell architecture of the PS3 to the more traditional setups inside the PS4. On top of this, the PS4 did not include backward compatibility back to the PS1 or 2, instead relying on certain emulated version of classic and hit games over the PSN store. Keep this in mind, we’ll get back to it later.
Microsoft with the Xbox had set themselves up a little better when it comes to backward compatibility, as their devices were much more similar to straight upgrades over the previous generations. This meant adding backward compatibility to these games could be managed far easier, and is why the backward compatibility of the Xbox is seen as the best in the console world. Even now, the Xbox One (the third Xbox) allows many games to be run on a PC, pushing sideways or forward compatibility in a way from which other console manufacturers could really learn.
Nintendo, as it currently stands, can run the gambit when it comes to backward compatibility. Among their earlier and well-received attempts stand the likes of the GameBoy Player for the GameCube. This effectively acted as a dock for the GameCube, and allowed GameBoy and GBA games to be inserted, and played on a regular television screen. This was a real step forward and unfortunately shows quite a different tack than Nintendo does today.
One of the big victories for the Nintendo range of systems has been the eShop, the online storefront where games both old and new are put up for purchase. The joy here is that Nintendo uses simple emulator systems to run older games, giving fans of SNES or GBA games the ability to play without the need for annoying extra systems. The issue from this is that purchases from these stores are not transferrable to newer devices. Anything you bought on the Wii U is locked to the Wii U, as in probably never going to be seen again, and the same is true for the 3DS store.
The issue here is that many of these games, as mentioned, are simply emulated. Carrying these games over to newer devices, especially when they are already tied to accounts, is an incredibly simple task for an organisation the size of Nintendo, yet ostensibly they show no interest. While this is great for Nintendo’s bottom line, at least in the short term, it really hampers purchases when buyers consider that these are locked, and have a shelf-life equal to that of the console itself.
Let’s get back to the PSN store. Like the eShop, the PSN store allows the purchase of many older games from older generations, which are then emulated on modern devices. While the quality of these emulation efforts can leave a lot to be desired (a recent purchase of Jak 3 on PS4 was very disappointing for me), they come with the added benefit of often being backward and cross-compatible between different Sony devices. Granted that this is tied to the currently limited range of the PS3, PS4, and Vita, but the point here is that a purchase once adds the game to your account, and once in your account this game remains, and can potentially be played from a variety of devices now and in the future.
Coming Soon
Still waiting for a point?
The point of this article is to wonder at the goal of the future of these efforts, if backward compatibility will follow a path similar to what Sony is trying, or whether it will follow Nintendo’s trajectory. While one of the big boons here is that the increasing standardisation of console architecture into increasingly PC-like devices means that the effort and act of backward compatibility is easier than ever before, the video game industry itself is business first and foremost.
Making future games offer greater levels of backward compatibility is great for fans, but it means that efforts like Nintendo’s to resell old stock over and over again is no longer going to see a profit, and profit, as we know, is the goal of business. Then this runs the question of what is more profitable in the longterm – reselling but reducing customer confidence, or not reselling, incurring a potential initial loss of profit, but increasing overall consumer confidence.
This leaves us the interesting mystery of what this portion of the future of console gaming will look like. Are all future generations going to allow us to run our old games with minimal fuss? Will they work out of the box or require slight emulation or tweaking as with Xbox? Will games from now on be developed with future-proofing in mind, and might they see actual gameplay improvements when run on the more powerful devices of tomorrow?
With the next generation, only a few years out we have to wonder exactly what form this aspect of gaming will take. What are your hopes and fears for how things will shake out next?
Three words to describe The Abominable Dr. Phibes: elegant, macabre, and…fashionable. Master of horror, Vincent Price, is devilishly captivating as Dr. Phibes, a man insane from the weight of grief. With its surreal art direction and dark humour, The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a wonderful (if sometimes overlooked) piece of horror cinema.
Multiple doctors have been dying in strange ways. Bats maul one doctor, and another has his head crushed by a constricting frog headpiece at a masked ball. Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey) struggles to find an answer, but a lead appears when the police discover that all of the murdered doctors have worked with a Dr. Vesalius (Joseph Cotten). After finding Vesalius, the police discover that all of the doctors worked with him on one case: the failed surgery to try and save the life of a Victoria Phibes (Caroline Munro). As the deaths mount – mimicking the ten plagues of Egypt – Trout and Vesalius speculate that the late Dr. Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) might still be alive…and out to avenge his wife’s death…
Vincent Price is brilliant as Dr. Anton Phibes.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a very entertaining horror. It succeeds because it embraces its own eccentricities and fleshes them out with dark comedy. We revel in the gruesome delight of seeing how Phibes appropriates the ten plagues of Egypt, the dark humour letting us in the on the joke and freeing us from the moral obligation of finding him monstrous.
But it isn’t just the comedy that allows us to do this. Vincent Price’s performance as Anton Phibes is one he injects with genuine pathos. Hardly saying a word, so much is communicated through Price’s piercing blue eyes, and Price extracts a great deal of sympathy from the audience – despite his grotesque endeavours. His eyes alone carry a great sadness that eats away at you. You might not condone sending a plague of locusts to eat someone alive, but you certainly find yourself thinking what you’d do if you lost the person you care most about. There is a part of oneself that can’t help but feel for Phibes – and that’s a testament to Vincent Price.
Price’s striking blue eyes sell the soul of Dr. Phibes.
Price uses his face wonderfully. Anton Phibes’ face, or at least what we think is his face, is not what it seems. Complemented by the unsettlingly waxy makeup, Price’s calculated facial movements genuinely sell the idea that we’re looking at someone speaking behind a crude imitation of a face. When Phibes speaks, we’re treated to Price’s iconic voice delivered in a staccato manner and projected through a gramophone. These elements combine to construct a mystery of a man, building up what we think Phibes must really look like if he’s forced to speak and move as he does.
One of the film’s release posters teased Phibes’ real face and gleefully exclaimed that “the authorities will not permit this face to be shown on advertisements” I’ll comply with “the authorities” and simply advise that you see the film to enjoy (or be horrified by) Phibes’ visage yourself!
The eccentric British poster for the film’s release.
Peter Jeffrey and Joseph Cotten (as Inspector Trout and Dr. Vesalius, respectively) perform well as the supporting cast. Peter Jeffrey is reminiscent of Harry H. Corbett’s DS Sidney Bung from Carry on Screaming (1966), whose stiff-upper-lip Britishness allows for some brilliantly matter-of-fact line deliveries. Joseph Cotten, best known for his work with Orson Welles, gives a subdued performance, but is roused to an effective intensity in the film’s third act.
The film’s visuals are often gorgeous as shots linger and shift focus over the grand sets. The camera work complements the art direction, whose surreal sets help to realise Phibes’ madness. The neon-pink organ that Phibes plays sits in contrast to the art deco orchestra that it rises to join. It’s something that initially feels out of place, yet that same quality makes it mysteriously alluring – like Phibes himself.
Phibes presides over his art deco orchestra.
The only thing that disappoints is the film’s pace in the second act. As the police discover the pattern of the murders, a lot of the mystery is withdrawn and the pace with it. Instead, it becomes a search to find out whether or not Phibes is still alive. As entertaining as that is, it doesn’t match the morbid fun that comes with knowing that Phibes is getting away with murder undetected as the police struggle for an answer.
Despite the occasional slow pace, this remains a wonderfully entertaining film. This is a macabre and mysterious piece of horror cinema, at once grotesque, tragic, and funny. Vincent Price is marvelous as the titular doctor and, in this critic’s humble opinion, Dr. Anton Phibes stands as one of his best roles. The dark humour keeps the film from ever taking itself too seriously, and that arguably allows you to enjoy it more closely, settling in to a ghoulish experience without the sometimes-pretentious act of explaining it all away.
Whether you’re an interested horror fan, or discovering The Abominable Dr. Phibes through its affectionate inclusion in 2017’s The Big Sick, it’s a wonderful horror to see.
Cruise and McQuarrie complete another successful mission with Fallout.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout continues two years after the capture of Solomon Lane with the ‘Syndicate’ now known as the ‘Apostles’, their plan is to obtain three plutonium cores to create nuclear weapons and use them in an attack on the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca, Saudi Arabia, all with the help of the anonymous John Lark. It is up to Ethan and his team to find the weapons and stop the attack with the CIA monitoring their every move.
The mission impossible franchise has always been one with mind-blowing action sequences, fights and stunts; the first film will forever remain iconic with a more espionage story and genre to it, as the films went on they always kept their ‘spy’ roots, but the action always increased. The previous two films took action to the next level, took stunts to new heights and stretched Cruise to impossible feats, but Fallout outdoes them all.
Fallout has multiple set pieces that keep you on edge, the brutal fight in the gentlemen’s room, the breathtaking skydive scene and the convoy chase specifically are superbly done; the fighting is vicious and tough and edited so that we are aware of what is happening unlike many action films nowadays. The film is paced well, none of the slower scenes bore you, and the fast-paced action scenes are long enough that you don’t get weary of them. The story picks up well from previous films, it is exciting and brings the characters to new depths and continuing their development. Each actor looks comfortable in their role and brings a now known team to life every time they are on screen with undoubted chemistry.
Fallout is a spectacular blockbuster that deserves a viewing in the cinema; it deserves to a viewing on a big screen with clear sound (as all films should really). It is thrilling, remarkable and electrifying; it outdoes all previous Mission Impossible films and could be regarded as one of the best action films ever produced… until the next one.
Well known technology executive and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high growth tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Instacart, Coinbase, Stripe, and Square as they’ve grown from small companies into global brands. Across all of these break-out companies, a set of common patterns has evolved into a repeatable playbook that Gil has codified in High Growth Handbook.
This is a book about the simple pleasure of pebble spotting. Clarence Ellis is a charming, knowledgeable and witty guide to everything you didn’t know there was to know about pebbles. He ruminates on what a pebble actually is, before showing us how they are formed, advising on the best pebble-spotting grounds in the UK, helping to identify individual stones, and giving tips on the necessary kit. You’ll know your chert from your schist, your onyx from your agate, and will be on your guard for artificial intruders before you know it. Understanding the humble pebble makes a trip to the beach, lake-side or river bank simply that little bit more fascinating.
Luke and Ryan Hart, the two surviving sons, open up about their experiences growing up and the circumstances surrounding the murders. They hope to highlight the patterns of behaviour in coercive control and its deadly consequences, improving public awareness and leading to informed discussion on domestic abuse.
When the body of a woman is discovered on a Cambridge common, DCI Barrett and DI Palmer are called in to investigate. But the motive behind the crime isn’t clear… And it all leads back to a book club.
Nancy Byrne might be the head of the notorious Byrne crime family, but she’s determined to give her little daughter, Scarlett, the best start possible.
After the death of her beloved father, the notorious gangster Jimmy Byrne, nothing’s stopping Nancy from making money on her own terms – even if she has to combine motherhood with providing for her entire family. But with enemies at their door, she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her loved ones.
But then comes the day when Scarlett goes missing, snatched by a stranger during a trip to the local park, and Nancy’s world is torn apart. Amidst the terror of losing her precious daughter, Nancy is sure of only two things. Someone has taken her daughter … and when she finds them, there’s going to be hell to pay.
Moments before she dies, Nicola’s grandmother Betty whispers to her that there are babies at the bottom of the garden. Nicola’s mother claims she was talking nonsense. However, when Nicola’s daughter finds a bone while playing in Betty’s garden, it’s clear that something sinister has taken place.
But will unearthing painful family secrets end up tearing Nicola’s family apart?
Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough; Mark a handsome investment banker with a bright future. They seem to have it all, until Mark loses his job and cracks start to appear in their perfect life.
But they’re determined to make it work. They book their dream honeymoon and trust that things will work out – after all, they have each other.
On the tropical island of Bora Bora Mark takes Erin scuba diving. Mark is with her – she knows he’ll keep her safe. Everything will be fine. Until they find something in the water.
Erin and Mark decide to keep their discovery a secret — after all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events… which will endanger everything they hold dear.
As the guests arrive at beautiful, remote Mitchell’s Inn, they’re all looking forward to a relaxing weekend deep in the forest, miles from anywhere. They watch their fellow guests with interest, from a polite distance.
Usually we can avoid the people who make us nervous, make us afraid.
With a violent storm raging, the group finds itself completely cut off from the outside world. Nobody can get in – or out. And then the first body is found . . . and the horrifying truth comes to light. There’s a killer among them – and nowhere to run.
Until we find ourselves in a situation we can’t escape. Trapped.
Drawing on interviews with key architects of the culture, as well as his own extensive experience as a sports psychologist working with leading sports and business institutions, Damian Hughes provides unique insights into the crucial issues confronting the modern corporate environment, and shows how the lessons learnt at FC Barcelona can also be applied to develop your own winning culture.
When Myriam, a brilliant lawyer, decides to return to work, she and her husband look for a nanny for their two young children. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite and devoted woman who sings to their children, cleans the family’s chic Paris apartment, stays late without complaint and hosts enviable birthday parties. But as the couple and their nanny become more and more dependent on each other, jealousy, resentment and suspicions increase, until Myriam and Paul’s idyllic domesticity is shattered . . .
Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough; Mark a handsome investment banker with a bright future. They seem to have it all, until Mark loses his job and cracks start to appear in their perfect life.
