Retro A to Z Challenge: K – Kvelertak 2013 (and Rio 2 Movie Review)

Kvelertak – Meir – 2013

While not quite as good as the first album, Meir still delivers. It’s a crazy mash up of punk, metal, prog rock, death metal, and anything else they could throw in the blender. If you’re a fan of screaming metal, check out this unique band from Norway.

2013 fun facts –
*Cost of a gallon of gas - $3.80
*Cost of a movie ticket - $10.25
*A giant meteor exploded near Chelyabinsk in Russia
*Microsoft released the Xbox One and Sony released the Playstation 4
*House of Cards became the first web series to win an Emmy
*The 3D Printer hits the scene and the first 3D-printed gun was fired last May

Movies released –
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Star Trek: Into Darkness
Thor: The Dark World
Pacific Rim

Music released –
Amon Amarth – Deceiver of the Gods
Ayreon – The Theory of Everything

Games released –
StarCraft II – Heart of the Swarm

And why is 2013 special?
It’s the year Madeline Mora-Summonte released her flash fiction collection and Terri Rochenski released her first novel!

Madeline is an author with a fondness for sand and beaches. She’s the proud owner of two tortoises, Larry and Mrs. Larry, and you can sometimes catch their antics on her blog. Madeline is introspective and will make you think. (But she’s nice, so not too hard.) Find her at The Shellshank Redemption.

Terri is the author of several books and a mother to two girls. Rejection nearly derailed her twice, but she didn’t give up on her author dreams. A sweet and generous woman, she also hosts authors on tour. Terri blogs at Scribbler’s Sojourn.

Ninja News

My dear friend Yvonne Lewis just released her third book – Moments of My Life.
I was honored to supply a blurb for her book and look forward to getting my copy soon. (Who says poets and Ninjas can’t mix?)
You can buy it on Amazon HERE.
Congratulations, Yvonne!!

Movie Review – Rio 2

Let me begin by stating up front that I thought the first movie was ‘all right’ but nothing I ever wanted to see again.
However, I’d gladly sit through it if that meant I didn’t have to see Rio 2 ever again.

The second film picks up shortly after the first one ends. Blu and family travel to the Amazon to help Linda and Tulio find more blue macaws. The movie tosses in illegal logging, revenge, finding lost family, trying to fit in, and several other generic and clichéd plot ideas. (And Nigel the vengeful cockatoo with a lovesick tree frog made for a really weird pairing.)
While the movie is amazing to look at in 3D, the story is a bit flat, lacking in the first one’s charm and humor, and it’s overlong. There are also a lot of songs in this one. (I think one was called This is the Way We Pad the Film.)
Will kids like it? Probably. Will adults like it? Eh, good luck!

Have you ever heard of Kvelertak? Caught up on last year’s movies? Following Madeline and Terri? Enjoy Yvonne’s poetry? Keeping up with the Challenge? And anyone else get drug to a stupid bird movie this weekend…?