About
A website about the things that are best in life.
https://www.isleyunruh.com is a blog focused on film, heavy metal music, Tolkien, board games, and general silliness (and not necessarily in that order). I try to put out a new post at least once a week, writing about whatever strikes my fancy at the time. While my posts can be on just about any topic, I do have more than a few recurring features:
FILM
- Best Movies of the Decade – My attempt to collect the definitive list of the best movies of each decade.
- Best Movies of the Year – My increasingly disinterested attempt to collect the definitive list of the best new movies of each year.
- Cinema Scripture School – I learn the majority of my biblical knowledge from film.
- James Bond Picture Books – James Bond films retold in picture book form.
- Mini Movie Reviews – 2 sentence reviews of the films I’ve been watching. Recent reviews HERE. Full archive HERE.
- My Favorite Movies – Reviews of all my favorite films.
MUSIC
- Battle Vests of the KVLT and TR00 – My ongoing journey to collect more patch vests than anyone could ever possibly need. With custom playlists!
- Best Metal of the Year – I wade into the world of new underground metal and collect the subjective best of the lot each year.
- Mid-month Metal Masterpiece – Discussions of the most metal albums ever…with clips!
- Minor Key Music – Discussion of sad sad songs.
TOLKIEN
- Lord of the Rings: The Lost Chapters – Ridiculous interstitial fan fiction.
- Travels in Middle-earth – Detailed discussions of the land of Middle-earth.
COMEDY
- Mailbag Monday – I humorously answer both google search queries that bring people here and actual reader mail.
- Nerd Open Letters – My petty, pedantic, pathetic alter-ego takes down all manner of nerd subjects.
- REZORK – I play the AI in a real time text adventure designed to troll my friends.
- Tales from Center Valley High – Interconnected stories of various alter-egos told via journal entry.
OTHER
- Archetypical – New fairy tales, preceded by a discussion of the archetypal terms used in each.
- The Art of Trolling – I share my years of experience being a sociopath on the internet.
- Internet Meme Monday – I try my hand at internet memes that were played out long before I feature them here.
- Lists – I try to vary the subjects up to be as narrow and ridiculous as possible.
- Only the Good Parts – I read a lot of badass books. These are just the good parts.
- Rousing Tales from my Spirited Past – Like a 30-something trying to relive old glories, I share Isley stories here.
If you feel any of these features have been woefully neglected, please let me know and I’ll do my best to rectify that–I’m always happy to write for an audience beyond myself!
4 Comments
Dear Isley,
There should be more singing in films. Seriously. Bollywood all the way….. John Wayne and cowboys are very popular in Bollywood…. check it out…. where else can you find songs about Bumblebees and Hindu/Muslim angst all in the same script…. (see if you can find the film based just on that)…. or that guy from LOST dancing. Except that one isn’t REALLY Bollywood……..
Sooooooo, the question: whyfore have you so blatantly avoided Bollywood in your film discussions thus far? It’s the singing isn’t it?
You know, I used to think I didn’t like singing in films, then I discovered Fred and Ginger about 6 or 7 years ago and now singing is alright with me!
So why have I avoided Bollywood? Well, I haven’t seen many modern musicals I much cared for, but mostly I’ve just decided I don’t like Bollywood without ever having seen a Bollywood movie. Well, except for the credit sequence of Slumdog…which I was nonplussed by.
The clips and stuff I’ve seen they look like campy/cheesy soap operas with feel good endings. But I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and I’ve been meaning to check out Lagaan (or do you recommend Mission Kashmir?)
All this avoids the real reason I pretend not to like Bollywood…it’s pretty en vogue these days (or at least it was), and god forbid I like something everyone else likes!
Hi Isley–I’m a lecturer who would like to use your brilliant graphic of THE BIG SLEEP (1946), showing its many characters, in a talk I’m giving. I’ll credit the image to you. Is that good with you? Best, Steven Smith
By all means…Roger Ebert retweeted them once long ago, but it’s been a while since anyone has stumbled across that graphic!