Rob B.

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Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel Day of the Jackal (and its accompanying 1973 film) is a meticulously detailed and researched, plausible story of a skilled assassin on a mission to kill the president of France. It is a masterpiece of the espionage fiction genre, by one of its best authors. This series is... none of those things. What started out as an intriguing and exciting first episode quickly descended into farce, with our titular top tier assassin taking not one but two practice shots with his high caliber sniper rifle, in order to dial in his scope - his bullets impacting concrete just above the heads of his intended target's security team, completely unnoticed. We later learn that he's shooting from a distance of over 3500m, which means he would have to be using something like a .50cal or .338 Lapua round. In other words, very large and very loud ammunition. Yet trained bodyguards don't notice these huge bullets smacking into the side of a building just 30 feet over their heads, nor does anyone in the sniper's building notice the thunderous cannon being fired by one of their neighbours. Presumably this is because he has a suppressor that violates the laws of physics, with only a dull cough being emitted from his rifle, which also happens to be unburdened by any noticeable recoil. Making his getaway, the Jackal decides to cover his tracks not by guile or stealth, but by blowing up anything connected to him. Because when you're trying to slip out of a country unnoticed after a major assassination, leaving a trail of explosions behind you is just standard operating procedure, I guess. So here we are, with yet another clumsy attempt to bring Day of the Jackal to the screen. It remains to be seen if this one will be as ludicrous as Bruce Willis' The Jackal, but so far, it's not looking promising.

An underground classic. The first time I heard it, I thought it was some kind of joke, an hour-long "song" that was just droning, downtuned guitar riffs. I listened for a few minutes and thought, what's the big deal? Anyone could do this. But it got stuck in my head and a few days later, I decided to give it a serious listen with a good set of headphones. An hour later, I emerged from a sonic trance, my view of music forever altered. I imagine it's similar to what people feel after meditating or spending time in a float tank. Most musicians worry about writing the perfect 3 minute, radio-friendly unit shifter. Sleep were visionaries who said "let's see what happens when we take this road instead" and delved into some kind of sonic alchemy combining copious amounts of marijuana and monolithic riffage. The result is a truly epic piece of music.