Episode 39: The Turning...Of A Bad Film Ending

Because I'm on vacation this week, episode 39 is early! In this episode, I talk about The Turn of the Screw horror story written by Henry James in 1898 and then it's time for a 10 minute movie review, where I discuss the new horror film, The Turning (2020), which is based on The Turn of the Screw novella. 

Click the links at the right to get over to the podcast and start listening.

Episode 38: A Chat with Scot Pollard

Please tune in to episode 38 of the podcast. I was able to sit down with former Kansas Jayhawk basketball player, former 11 year NBA veteran, former horror movie actor, and former Survivor cast member - Scot Pollard - and briefly chat about music, movies, his stint in a horror film, and a few other things. This chat was a lot of fun and Scot is an all around good guy and very gracious with his time. He tells it like it is, which is refreshing.

Listen to the episode on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. Click the links on the right of the blog to find the show.

Episode 37: Five Cover Songs You Should Know, Mix 2

In the latest episode of Nobody Asked You, Kevin! Podcast, I spin five cover songs I think you should know.

I've made a Spotify playlist of all the songs as well. You can find it here.

Also, Mix 1 was episode 22 of the podcast. You can find its Spotify playlist here.

Cats (2019)

Ok. I saw the Cats film a while back. Oh my word. What a film. I was the only person in the theater for the entire film so I thought I’d keep a running commentary. 

These are my thoughts. 

I’m not sure I need to say anything else. I’m not sure I can say anything else.

Watch at your own peril.

NAYK Rating: Loathe Entirely

Favorite Movies of 2019

I saw 55 first run movies in theaters in 2019, which was a record for me. In 2018, I saw 53. Thank you AMC A-List and Regal Unlimited!

I'm not devoting a podcast episode to my favorite movies of the year, so here are my favorite movies of 2019 - in no particular order - in list form.

The Lighthouse

Parasite

Ford v Ferrari

Knives Out

Midsommar

Avengers Endgame

Marriage Story

Joker

Haunt

One Cut of the Dead

Booksmart

Missing Link

Ready or Not

The Kid Who Would Be King

Dark Waters

Uncut Gems

Favorite Songs of 2019

2019 has come and gone. There was a lot of good music released this past year. I'm not going to do a full podcast episode (like I did last year for my favorite 15 songs of 2018 - episode 5) where I play my favorite rock/metal songs of the year, so I thought I'd put the new blog to good use and list them all out here. If you want a Spotify list of 2018's music choices, go here. 

This 2019 list skews heavily toward hard rock (and not necessarily metal) and even includes a couple of poppier rock songs, but I've listened to each and every one of these songs too many times to count and I really love all of them. If you aren't familiar with the band, these songs are great starting points as an introduction and a diving off point for a deeper look.

So, presented in no specific order (other than my memory), here are my favorite 29 rock/metal songs of 2019 - each song is linked back to a Youtube video. A Spotify list of all 29 songs of 2019 is available here. 

Wait...29? Huh. Why 29 and not 25? Or 30? Well, fuck you, that's why.

29 tracks...a full 2 hours worth of good music from 2019. Enjoy. 

And always remember, rock isn't dead - if you think it is, then you aren't looking hard enough. Rock will never die.

Tool – Descending

Slipknot – Nero Forte

Rival Sons – Too Bad

Alter Bridge – Dying Light

I Prevail – Hurricane

Ice Nine Kills – Your Number’s Up

Joyous Wolf – Place in Time

Adelitas Way - What It Takes

Dinosaur Pileup - Backfoot

Mark Morton / Chester Bennington – Cross Off

Killswitch Engage – The Signal Fire

Bad Wolves – Killing Me Slowly

Crobot - Low Life

Fire From The Gods – Right Now

Starset – Manifest

Through Fire – All Animal

Saint Asonia / Sully Erna – The Hunted

Asking Alexandria – The Violence

Badflower – The Jester

American Bombshell - Money on the Liquor

Fever 333 – Burn It

Reignwolf – Black and Red

Blood Incantation – Inner Paths (To Outer Space)

Sum 41 – Out For Blood

Bring Me The Horizon – Sugar Honey Ice & Tea

The Black Keys – Lo/Hi

The Glorious Sons – Panic Attack

grandson – Apologize

Machine Gun Kelly, Yungblud, Travis Barker – I Think I’m OKAY

Episode 36: I Am The Eggman

Episode 36 of NAYK is here. In this episode, I introduce you to progressive and psychedelic rock band, Spooky Tooth and their cover of The Beatles' classic song "I am the Walrus". And why am I talking about this band and song? Well, listen to find out.

The cover of Spooky Tooth's 1970 album The Last Puff

Photo by Kevin G. Shanks (2020)

Listen to the episode here or click on any of the links in the "Where Can You Find The Show" section on the blog.

Notes:

The Grudge (2020)

Nicholas Pesce, director of one of my favorite horror films of 2017 - The Eyes of My Mother, directs this version of Ju-On/The Grudge. But unlike his 2017 film, this one is not good. This new Grudge film is more of a side quest or, if you will, a side-quel. It's not an exact remake or reboot of the Ju-On lore, but it takes place around the same times as the events that occurred in the 2004 Grudge film, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Outside of the ever wonderful Lin Shaye (Insidious, among many other movies), the acting in this movie is dreadful. Even the great John Cho (you really should go watch 2018's Searching if you haven't yet) can't do much to help save the story. The jump scares are numerous but you can see them -all- coming a mile away. And they are repetitive. The film is 93 minutes long but easily feels about 3-4 times longer. Overall it's bland and adds nothing positive to the Ju-On lore. And don't get me started on the ending - it's one of the worst I've seen in a horror film in quite some time.

Stay away from this film. Go watch the 2002 original (really good) or the 2004 US remake (good to average). You'll be better off. I hope this film is a lesson to all future filmmakers to not even think about remaking or adding to this story again in the future.

NAYK Rating: Loathe Entirely