I've been playing for over 30 years and I still learn solos note for note (I recently bought a lifetime membership to Ultimate Guitar's Tab Pro tablature site and that helps a lot). Tearing a great solo (or riff, or rhythm part) always expands my knowledge and really helps out in my improvising/fucking around. I of…

Raiders, as well as the Tintin books, made young me think that the most exotic and adventurous places on Earth were North African bazaar markets filled with fruit vendors and all types of spice stalls. When a scimitar wielding maniac is chasing you all you need to do is hide in one of those convenient woven baskets…

Started that two weeks ago and realized I probably should re-read The Passage and The Twelve first. Currently reading the second entry to Michael Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer series "The Brass Verdict".

Good call on Carpenter, but the Purge films most closely resemble his insane early classic Assault on Precinct 13. Great 70s low budget flick.

More like a 2010s updated grindcore. Vocals buried behind the wall of sound but are of the guttural hardcore style, sometimes verging into death growls for a quick emphasis. Note: you must like stop/starts and serious blast beat drumming or this isn't the band for you.

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Yes, his prose shift wasn't jarring until The Cold Six Thousand. There is definitely a strong argument that American Tabloid is his masterwork, although if LA Confidential finishes as strong as the first half then I might need to re-evaluate that.

I'm plowing through James Ellroy's LA Quartet. Halfway through LA Confidential. Impressive modern pulp, probably the best of the post 50s guys. His prose took a bit of a precocious, self-aware turn in American Tabloid and beyond, but the LA Quartet is fantastic.

Yup, that's my thought too - it was tortured out of Loras. Also, the Tyrell's have/had high hopes for Loras - he would have been privy to these machinations.

I think Tommen's secret to Cersei is that the High Sparrow told him of the Tyrell's hand in Joffrey's murder. Cersei and Jaime are using her Walk of Shame as a pretext to take out both the High Sparrow AND the Tyrell's.