AvidBards
TV Shows

‘Comeback’ Television

Cobra Kai Season 1 When I first saw the trailer for Cobra Kai, distributed by YouTube Premium, my first reaction was shock. It’s been 34 years since the first Karate Kid film, an 80s classic both in style and content. It’s one of those classics that you can offhandedly reference, and almost everyone will understand what you’re referencing (particularly the name Mr. Miyagi, and the phrase “wax on wax off”). I was interested to see how this would go – and interested to see that television series are actively picking up on narratives from the past and canonizing it, even…

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Books

“If Beale Street Could Talk” by James Baldwin: Mini-Review

The hype of African-American author James Baldwin has been rejuvenated in recent years, particularly as his 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk was adapted into a movie of the same name in 2019. Dealing with the young love between Tish and Fonny that must learn to survive in spite of the racist politics that keeps them apart, the novel feels very relevant to the current Black Lives Matter politics in the United States. Set in Harlem, NY in the early 1970s, Tish and Fonny have grown up together and have developed an intimate relationship between them. However, before they…

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Movies

‘Triple Frontier’ Reflection

At the beginning of March, Netflix released Triple Frontier, a film that has been in works since 2011, and has a star-studded cast including Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garret Hedlund and Pedro Pascal. In my regular weekend haze of swiping through the lists of recommended movies on Netflix I was intrigued by the trailer that showed off an exciting mix between a heist and action movie. So, obviously it was my choice for my next movie night. Before starting, I was bracing myself for yet another patriotic, pro-military Hollywood production, but I was happily surprised otherwise. The film…

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Reviews

Captain Marvel

Film Review Even though S & I live in different countries, we still ended up watching the new MCU film Captain Marvel (2019) around the same time. This movie was hyped up for quite a while prior to its release, because this is the first Marvel movie that stars a female superhero! (Warning: Spoilers below) On one hand, it’s insane that it took 20 movies in The Infinity Saga before a female character had her own film. Of course, characters like Black Widow in the Avengers and Captain America movies, Pepper Potts in the Iron Man series, Gamora in Guardians…

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Books

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab Book Review

Have you ever had that moment when you’ve looked around you and asked yourself, “what if that didn’t exist?” or “what if things worked differently?” and you fall down the rabbit hole of imagining a whole different kind of world? Well, that is exactly what reading V. E. Schwab’s novel A Darker Shade of Magic did for me. A Darker Shade of Magic takes place in a world that holds multiple universes, four to be precise, and only those with magic can cross over into the other worlds. While so many things are different in each of the worlds, one…

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Books

Book Review – Normal People by Sally Rooney

Another book straight off the 2018 Man Booker long list, Sally Rooney, the author of Conversation with Friends, bring the long during and complex friendship between Connell and Marianne to life in Normal People. I had heard so many praises for Conversation with Friends over the years that when Rooney’s latest novel, and her first one since Conversation, came out I immediately knew I wanted to pick it up. Additionally, as a general rule, I am a huge fan of any and all popular guy/girl galls for the unpopular guy/girl. Not entirely sure why, but the dynamics and challenges that…

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