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Sue (5 KP) rated Death al Fresco in Books

Apr 23, 2018  
Death al Fresco
Death al Fresco
Leslie Karst | 2018 | Mystery
8
7.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sally Solari is working very hard to make a name for herself at her recently inherited restaurant, but her father has different plans. He doesn’t seem to remember that she no longer works at the family restaurant Solaris’ and keeps pulling her in. While taking an open-air painting class of the Monterey Bay coastline, Sally’s dog Buster finds a corpse tangled up in the kelp.

The body is identified as Gino, a local fisherman and regular patron at Solaris’. Is it true what everyone is saying? Is Sally’s dad negligent for allowing an inebriated customer to leave the restaurant alone at night? Witnesses claim that Gino was drunk when he left the restaurant, but his waitress swears that she only served him to beers with a full meal. Can she find out the truth before her father’s reputation and that on his restaurant goes down the drain?

This is not your average cozy mystery full of cuteness. Sally is a smart and multifaceted character that has you cheering for her to find the bad guys.
  
Turning the Tide
Turning the Tide
Edith Maxwell | 2018 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Who Killed the Suffragist?
While the country is gearing up for the Presidential election of 1888, Rose Carroll and others in her town in Massachusetts are gearing up for a peaceful protest in support of women’s suffrage. Days before the election, Rose finds the body of Rowena Felch, the local leader of the movement, dead outside her home. Could it be that someone hates the idea of women voting that much? Or is there another motive?

While women’s suffrage is a strong theme in the book, Rose quickly finds other motives for murder. I did feel the plot slowed down a time or two, but that never lasted for very long. In fact, the author was able to work in development in the mystery in the middle of some of the scenes about the suffrage movement. I especially appreciated the fact that some of the males in this book supported the movement, too. The characters are great as always, and a couple of sub-plots advance series storylines well. All told, this is another great book.
  
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Ross (3284 KP) rated Blindspot - Season 3 in TV

May 23, 2018  
Blindspot - Season 3
Blindspot - Season 3
2017 | Action
This season should have been titled "really do we still have to bother with those tattoos?!". The series once again follows the FBI team, and Jane Doe in trying to solve mysterious tattoos on Jane's body, averting terrorist attacks as they go. Only this time, it is a whole new series of tattoos which have been ridiculously put on her in UV or something so were not obvious.
The tattoos are no longer solved in interesting manners, now there is 30 seconds devoted to that, the rest being rushing around with guns.
Some of the puzzles appear to have been solved by something like "so I took these numbers, rearranged them at random, converted each one to the letter of the alphabet, translated that into Dutch, then back into numbers and tried this as an IP address and found that a ship has just docked with the same name as your mother-in-law's maiden name, get over there pronto".
The overarching plot was fine and reasonably exciting, but there was so much deus ex machina that I just got really annoyed.
  
Fitbit Alta HR Fitness Wristband
Fitbit Alta HR Fitness Wristband
Wearable Technology > Smart Watches
9
7.3 (23 Ratings)
Tech Rating
Stylish and full of features
The Alta manages to be both stylish, light and sleek as well as containing all the desired features of a fitness band and smartwatch in one go. This slimline band fits on the wrist and will track any heart-rate-raising activity - it excels at detection, being able to determine road cycling from mountain biking (but it cannot detect weight lifting, as the heart rate isn't consistently high enough. It will detect a cardio class like Body Pump though.) It will monitor sleep cycles, your active minutes and calories burned. You can set all manner of goals in the app - fitness, diet or sleep goals, for example - and data is displayed in easy-to-read formats. Honestly I wouldn't be without it: it makes controlling your fitness a breeze, which is vital when you have goals to hit and stats to crunch. It will also, as a bonus, hook up to your phone and display the first line of any text or whatsapp messages, and you can set a silent alarm too.
  
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Andy K (10821 KP) rated Birth (2004) in Movies

Feb 10, 2019  
Birth (2004)
Birth (2004)
2004 | Drama, Mystery
Interesting but disappointing
The director of Under the Skin shows us an interesting dynamic play out when a ten year old boy enters the scene while a wealthy man is engaged to a woman who had lost her husband 10 years earlier.

The young boy claims to be her dead husband come back to life in this small body. The young man wants to reenter the woman's life and wants her not to marry her current beau. The woman starts to struggle with her feelings, especially the ones she thought she had put behind her and she has to make some difficult choices.

The film is interesting and well acted by Nicole Kidman, but I feel the payoff was not that fulfilling and some scenes were sort of scrapped together with no real point.

There were a few awkward scenes between Nicole Kidman and the young boy which made me cringe in my seat a little which were kind of hard to watch.

A little disappointed.

  
SY
Someone You Know
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
When Tess’ sister Edie disappeared 20 years ago, the case went cold. Now her body has at last been discovered and Tess travels back to her hometown to find out what really happened to her. Who can she really trust from her past?

If you are looking for a thriller with a difference, you will not be disappointed by this. This is a fantastic story with an ending you won't see coming. This debut thriller has red herrings and twists to keep you guessing to the very end. Fabulous fast paced read and the author has a way of drip feeding you little bits at a time and you won't want to stop til you have reached the end.
You have here a thick plot with loads of suspense, well structured characters. The story is done in two timelines that keeps you held in utter suspense. This story is dark, twisted, creepy and very atmospheric; you won't be able to put this one down!
Make this one of your must reads....Highly recommend!!!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy.
  
Kindle E-Reader
Kindle E-Reader
eBook Readers
Backlight (2 more)
Being able to read in sunlight without glare
Battery life
Slow menus (1 more)
Lagging text
Love this E-Reader
I have the kindle paperwhite 7th gen.

I carry this thing with me everywhere! I absolutely love this device. I enjoy being able to read it everywhere without having to worry about an internet connection, or having to contort my body to avoid screen glare. I have anywhere between 3-10 books downloaded at one time and that didn't make a large impact on its internal memory. The battery life on this is great, I usually read 1-2 hours a day and I go a week between charges, longer if I haven't used the device quite as often.

For as much as I enjoyed this device there are some shortcomings. There have been times that I have to turn the backlight off then back on again for it to work. All the menus lag when loading and while reading the pages occasionally take a moment to turn.

Overall I do recommend the kindle paperwhite or any kindle e-reader.
  
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Madbatdan82 (341 KP) rated Upgrade (2018) in Movies

May 5, 2019 (Updated May 5, 2019)  
Upgrade (2018)
Upgrade (2018)
2018 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Gore and storyline (0 more)
Some of the script (0 more)
What if Robocop wasnt a cop??
Stumbled across this beaut of a film. Premise is man and wife get into a car accident and then robbed. Wife is killed and man is left paralysed below the neck. Mans friend (who is a computer designer type person) offers him the chance at a normal life with a new chip that can operate limbs for you. Man takes off and starts to investigate his wife's murder and mystery and who done it starts. This film is at its heart a thriller but is based in a sci fi futuristic world. It is also has some excellent body horror and gore in it including a 'mouth cut' which was bloody awesome! Some of the dialogue is a bit silly with the main character giving crappy 1 liners whilst fighting the people who he suspects of killing his wife but it's not that off putting and I was able to laugh these off. All in all a really good film and well worth a watch.
  
Show all 3 comments.
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Madbatdan82 (341 KP) May 6, 2019

It was really good. Wasnt expecting much - love it when I stumble onto a gem.

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Andy K (10821 KP) May 6, 2019

Yeah me too.

T
Tanners by Tanners
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
Tanners is an indie-electro/alternative singer based in Brooklyn, New York. Not too long ago, she released an attractively beautiful self-titled debut EP.

“HOLY WATER“

The video finds Tanners in holy water surrounded by a pink-filtered fog. Also, the following scene shows her in a white revealing outfit alongside two performers.

“Holy Water” is Tanners’ debut single and the first song on her EP. It was produced by Julie Hardy, Mike MacAllister, and Tanners.

“EMPRESS IN REVERSE“

“Empress in Reverse” consists of psychedelic instrumentation, dreamy melodies, and charming vocals that you won’t be able to get out of your head. It’s smooth, delicious, and ear-welcoming.

“THIS CRAZY“

“This Crazy” contains hypnotic instrumentation, attractive vocals, and dreamy and charismatic melodies. Also, its funk and ‘80s elements perfume the atmosphere with audio ecstasy and eargasmic funk.

“WHAT YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR“

“What You’ve Been Waiting For” contains lush instrumentation embedded with heavy drums, dreamy melodies, and an engaging storyline.

CONCLUSION
Tanners’ self-titled debut EP is a solid body of work with heavy replay value.

https://www.bongminesentertainment.com/tanners-ep/
  
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Forced humor, cliches, and way too many jokes about male anatomy.
Contains spoilers, click to show
Okay, I'll start by saying that I did legit chuckle a few times watching Jumanji. I can't even recall why at this point, but there was definitely some laughter involved.

What stands out to me though (I watched the movie a few weeks ago) was all the things that annoyed me.


Like the African American kid from what appeared to be upper middle class whose mother made it seem like the team was his only hope of succeeding.


Also, the fact that it's of course the African American character in the game that is the one who loves alcohol and gets plastered without exercising any common sense.


Or, you know, the fact that it was just so funny to see Jack Black overplaying the 'female trapped in a man's body' thing to limp-wristing levels.


This movie could have been so much better than it was. But it was almost painful to watch. I was hoping we were moving past thinking that laughing at this type of crap was a good thing.