TV Series: THE FALL (Seasons 1&2)

   I watched recently the first 2 seasons of the English TV series ‘The Fall’. Because I think it is a very good series, I decided to write here a few words about it. 

  'The Fall' is a BBC production, and as far as I know it is filmed in Belfast. The main story follows the life of 2 people: Paul Spector, an athletic good looking guy who is a marriage counsellor and a family man by day and a serial killer by night; and Stella Gibson, an English Superintendent detective, send to Belfast in order to help them with the murder cases. 

  With each passing episode we see how the apparently charming Spector selects his female victims, waiting for them in their own homes, then brutally attacks them and leaves their bodies posed before returning home to his wife and children. On the other hand, Gibson is a cold, totally professional  and selfish person. She is clearly used to getting what she wants and what she wants most is to catch the killer. And as it seems, she is willing to use any means in order to achieve that.

This police story/drama was rather unusual, as we know who the killer is from the start, but as the tension and the suspense are growing with every episode, the only question is: Gibson will catch Spector finally, and if yes, at what cost? (For herself and for the people involved).

  Gillian Anderson does a fine job as Gibson, although it is Jamie Dornan in the role of Paul Spector who stands out here. He does a great job portraying a man who is a vicious killer and a caring family man at the same time. (But later on we see that he is a better killer than a family man).

   Both first and second season consists of 11 episodes in total, of almost an hour length each one. The finale of the 2^nd season leaves things at a very critical point, and now we will have to wait for the third - and final - season to be released.

  I strongly recommend ‘The Fall’ to those who enjoy police stories/drama/thrillers. I’m not saying that it is something superb and unique. 'The Fall' has its flaws, like many other series, but it is short and very interesting to watch. Personally, I finished both seasons in almost 5 days.

           If I had to rate it, I would give 8.0 out of 10.0

                IMDB’s rating is 8.3 out of 10.0

By clicking on the following link you will be able to see a trailer for 'The Fall':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyFrBC1rAcg 

GAME OF THRONES - Season 6: a small “review” and some thoughts of mine...

                                 WARNING: SPOILERS AHED!

  A couple of days ago the long awaited 6^th season of Game of Thrones came to an end. I watched the last episode last night, and before I forget things and change my mind, I decided to sit down and write this piece.  

Warning! In case you haven't seen - or finished - the whole season yet, read no further!

  So, the very famous fantasy soap-opera achieved to make us all watching the new season without a breath, and talking about it for almost 2 months now. And now that it is over, we already started thinking about the next - and as it seems - final season. 

 Season 6 was a very good - and in my opinion very important – one! Many things happened, many characters died (as usual), some others came back to life, and as it seems HBO decided that the next season will be the final one. Well, it was about time I must say!

 So, what we saw in this 6^th season? Among many other things, the resurrection of John Snow in the 1^st episode, followed by the resurrection of the “hound” who everybody thought he was dead. Also, Arya’s latest – and very boring - part of her story came to an end, and after escaping death more than once, she decided to leave behind that horrible place and move on. We saw Tyrion’s good relationship with Daenerys being rewarded by gaining the title as ‘the hand of the Queen’. We also saw Theon Greyjoy and his sister becoming allies of Daenerys and we watched her power (and her army)

growing day by day. We also watched John Snow’s plans of re-taking Winterfell from the Boltons with the help of Sansa. The latter leads us to the epic 9^th episode, which includes the final battle between John Snow’s army against Ramsey Bolton and his army, which was one of the best battle scenes I ever saw!

  We all know that since the beginning of GoT, the 9^th episode of each season was the most important and impressive one, but this time they created something really superb! After the 9^th episode, after which we were speechless, I was expecting a rather relaxed and boring final episode. But I couldn’t be more wrong! The 10^th episode was equally good - not to say better - than the previous one! It was also a long one, with a running time of almost 70 minutes. In this last episode, we saw many things coming to an end, and many characters not renewing their contracts with HBO. (If you know what I mean).

Also, all you Stark fans, it's time to take out and undust your Stark T-shirts, because the House of Stark is back at last! (I don't know for how long though).

 In my opinion the 6^th season was a really good one, with a glorious and epic – 2 episodes –finale! It was including many interesting twists in some of the main stories, great epic moments and many surprises.

But as it seems, the 7^th season will be the last one, and it will be including 7 episodes instead of the usual 10. But now we have to wait for a whole year!

If I had to rate it, I would give 8 for the episodes 1-8, and 10 (not to say 11!) for the  9^th and 10^th episode.

By clicking on the following link you will be able to see a trailer for season 6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Xz-nuVYlU 

PROG & ROLL Radio show (26/6/16). The complete playlist and more...

Hello all!
  After a week's break, Prog & Roll was back on air last night, for the last show of this month, which means that it was including the 'Listener's Happy Hour' once more. As some of you know already, during the 'Listener's Happy Hour' we are playing the songs that our listener's are requesting with their e-mails.
  Last night I had to run the show by myself, cause my co-host wasn't able to participate unfortunately. It was kind of stressful in some occasions, but I want to believe I did a good job in general. We had listeners from many countries once more, and from a point and on a very lively and jolly chatbox. 
 We did our usual music quiz once more, and we gave as a prize a downloable digital copy of the album The Clockwork Fable by Gandalf's Fist. The winner of the quiz was 'Filaraki', who since last night is the happy owner of the album I mentioned.
  As for the music, take a look here if you are interested:

Part 1: ARCANE: Promises / ABSOLACE: I am, so I will / RIVERSIDE: I turned you down / TOOL: Aenima.

Part 2: IAN GILLAN: She tears me down / RORY GALLAGHER: Tatoo’d lady / WHITESNAKE: Medicine man / AC DC: You shook me all night long / JUDAS PRIEST: Rocka Rolla. 

The Listener's Happy Hour:

Part 1: ERIC BURDON & WAR: Paint it black (music quiz) / IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY: Bombay calling / ROGER GLOVER: The Bargain basement / DEEP PURPLE: Above & beyond / BLACK SABBATH: Falling off the edge of the world. Part 2: THIS MORTAL COIL: The Jeweller / ILLUSION: Madonna blue / SILHOUETTE: When snow’s falling down / AIRBAG: Killer.

 I would like to thank all those who chose to spend their Sunday evening listening to Prog & Roll, hoping you had some nice time. Prog & Roll will be on air again on Sunday the 3rd of July.

Thank you very much! :-)

 

GFreedom's Juke Box No.167

Hello all! :-)
After a week's break, my usual Saturday's 'Juke Box' post is back again. I've been very busy and under a lot of pressure lately, that's why I can't deal with my blog as much as I would like to. But today I decided to sit down and write this post for you.
Those who are checking my blog know that on most Saturdays I'm posting my weekly Top-5 songlist, under the 'Juke Box' title.
So, for this week these are the songs I chose as the best ones:
ILLUSION: Madonna Blue (Illusion - 1978)
ROY BUCHANAN: After Hours (Second Album - 1973)
CLIVE NOLAN: The Tide of Wealth (Alchemy - 2013)
GANDALF'S FIST: The Circus in the Clearing (A Forest of Fey - 2014)
BLACK SABBATH: Falling off the Edge of the World (Mob Rules - 1981)
I will conclude this post by adding the YT links for the songs in my list, so you can listen to the ones you are interested in, right away.
Enjoy the music and have a nice weekend!
Thank you. :-)
ILLUSION: Madonna Blue
ROY BUCHANAN: After Hours
CLIVE NOLAN: The Tide of Wealth
GANDALF'S FIST: The Circus in the Clearing
BLACK SABBATH: Falling off the Edge of the World

PROG & ROLL Radio Show Presents: The Listener's Happy Hour

 I'm writing this piece to inform you, that on this Sunday the 26th of June Prog & Roll radio show will include The Listener's Happy Hour. As I mentioned in the past, on the last show of each month, we are playing the songs that our listener's are asking from us. The same thing will happen on this Sunday as well.
 I have the complete songlist in my hands and I must say that it includes some really great songs! As for the playlist, this time it will be more Rock and Hard Rock oriented. Because in Prog & Roll we played a lot of Progressive Rock lately, this time I decided to make a turn to Rock and Hard Rock.
 Prog & Roll is online on every Sunday at 20.00 UK time, and you can listen by clicking on the following link: www.justincaseradio.com
I hope to "see" you there! :-)
Thank you!

Tomorrow's Prog & Roll radio show is cancelled...

  I'm writing this post to inform you that tomorrow's Prog & Roll radio show is being cancelled, due to the station owner's wedding that will take place tomorrow night. 
  Prog & Roll will be online again on Sunday the 26th of June, and because it will be the last show of the month it will be including The Listener's Happy Hour as well. As many of you know already, during the Listener's Happy Hour we are playing the songs that our listeners are asking for.
  We are very sorry that we had to cancel tomorrow's Prog & Roll, but we will be back very soon!
Have a nice weekend!
Thank you.

The Clockwork Fable's presentation now available as a podcast.

Hello all!

  I’m writing this post in order to inform you that since today, the presentation we did  on the album The Clockwork Fable a couple of days ago in Prog & Roll, is available as a podcast. I decided to do that, because some people missed the show (or a part of it) and they wanted to listen to it. In the other hand, there were some people who are interested to download the show and keep it in their archive. As for myself, I really believe that it was a very nice and interesting show. For all those reasons, I decided to upload it as a podcast.

  So, in this podcast you will be able to listen to the whole Prog & Roll radio show we did on Sunday the 12^th of June, including some parts of the interview we took from Stefan Hepe, the drummer of Gandalf’s Fist.  Further than that, you will listen to the whole playlist of that show, which was including 4 songs taken from the new excellent album of Gandalf’s Fist, The Clockwork Fable.

In case you are interested to listen and/or download the podcast, just click on the following link: http://chirb.it/prbzK5

If you want to download it, just click on the 'download' icon underneath the player.

I hope you will find it interesting and enjoyable.

Thank you!