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Benson: The Autobiography
George Benson and Alan Goldsher
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Over the span of his illustrious five-decade career, George Benson has sold millions of records,...
Slime and Punishment by Municipal Waste
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What are You Waiting for?: A Practical Guide to Knowing What You Want and Making it Happen... Now
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This has a voice like no other book - talking in well-travelled areas in a completely dynamic new...
A bit too drawn out children's fantasy.
I don’t read a lot of YA but if there's one thing that’s sure to get me to pick one up it’s…… bookclub pressure! I haven’t read a lot of fantasy recently so I did go into this looking forward to a change of pace and I certainly got that.
The premise for the book is interesting with the crossover of fictional characters into our world being enabled by those able to read them out. However the fact that this was something that was stated in the blurb but didn’t really get covered until well into the book I think speaks to the drawn out nature of this book. I really think it would of been better if it had been condensed. When a character gets captured for a second time I was all “oh no not this again” rather than feeling tension and excitement.
Perhaps a function of this being a translated work, I never really felt I got into the flow of this book. I didn’t like Meggie the 12 year old protagonist, although that may just be a dislike of stubborn annoying 12-year olds in general. I did however love the Elinor character (and not just for the solid name choice!) She’s a no nonsense full on book nerd. I did however find the books general and constant attitude of people that love books are far superior to everyone else to be a bit patronising.
I’m sure I would have enjoyed this a lot more when I was 12.
The premise for the book is interesting with the crossover of fictional characters into our world being enabled by those able to read them out. However the fact that this was something that was stated in the blurb but didn’t really get covered until well into the book I think speaks to the drawn out nature of this book. I really think it would of been better if it had been condensed. When a character gets captured for a second time I was all “oh no not this again” rather than feeling tension and excitement.
Perhaps a function of this being a translated work, I never really felt I got into the flow of this book. I didn’t like Meggie the 12 year old protagonist, although that may just be a dislike of stubborn annoying 12-year olds in general. I did however love the Elinor character (and not just for the solid name choice!) She’s a no nonsense full on book nerd. I did however find the books general and constant attitude of people that love books are far superior to everyone else to be a bit patronising.
I’m sure I would have enjoyed this a lot more when I was 12.
iRemix 2.0 - Portable DJ Music Mixer & Remix Tool
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The Ultimate DJ Remix tool has arrived, and is ready to help you transform your music! iRemix 2.0...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Meg (2018) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
Fins ain’t what they used to be.
OK, OK, so I must be about the last person in the country – at least, those who want to see this at the cinema – who actually has! Maybe its something about the summer slipping into autumn that made me crave for one last summer blockbuster hoorah! In any case, I feel like a bit of a traitor, since I was very scathing about this film’s trailer when it came out. But – do you know – as a brainless piece of popcorn entertainment, I quite enjoyed it!
Jason Statham – the unthinking man’s Dwayne Johnson – plays our hero Jonas Taylor. (Jonas? Surely some sly joke?). Jonas is drinking his life away in Thailand after being traumatised by an underwater rescue mission in which he was 90% successful. (Yeah, I know. Bloody perfectionists. Hate ’em). But he is needed again, since his cute ex-wife Lori (Jessica McNamee) is stuck at the bottom of the sea being terrorised by a terrifying creature: no, not Spongebob Square Pants… the titular prehistoric shark.
Lori is working at an undersea research station – Mana One – off the coast of China, funded by the annoyingly brash billionaire Morris (Rainn Wilson, from “The Office”), who you just HOPE HOPE HOPE will get munched at some point!
Running the station (in the most shameless Hollywood/Chinese market crossover since “The Great Wall“) is Zhang (Winston Chao) assisted by his cute daughter Suyin (played by the gloriously named and very talented Bingbing Li) and his even cuter granddaughter Meiying (Sophia Cai). The race is on to use their brains and Taylor’s brawn to stop the monster from reaching the seaside resort of Sanya Bay for lunch.
The action is, of course, absurd with so many near misses for Jonas from gnashing teeth that he could be The Meg’s registered dentist. There is a really nice dynamic though built up between Jonas, his potential cross-cultural love interest Suyin and young Meiying. Suyin is a classic TimesUp heroine for 2018, with an assertive f***-you attitude and not remotely giving an inch to Statham’s hero.
But it’s young Sophia as Meying who really steals lines and steals hearts with a truly charming performance, and would get my ‘man of the match’ were it not for…
…research assistant Jaxx (Australian model, Ruby Rose). She has an absolutely extraordinary look in this film. Chiselled and tattooed, she literally looks like she has stepped out of a Final Fantasy video game… and acts well too: the complete package.
As referenced above, the Hollywood/Chinese crossover is quite striking in this film, with the Chinese beach location looking like Amity Island on crack! (Cue the overweight Chinese kid as the Jaws “Alex” replacement… who knew China had a child obesity issue too… and that they also have ‘Zoom’ ice lollies!) Unusually for a mainstream Western film, a significant number of lines in the film are in Chinese with English subtitles.
In the league table of shark movies, it is far nearer to “Deep Blue Sea” than it is to “Jaws”, the reigning league champion, and all are far in excess of the ridiculous “Sharknado”. But compared to “Deep Blue Sea”, and even compared to “Jaws” – now, astonishingly, 43 years old! – it’s a curiously bloodless concoction, presumably to guarantee it’s 12A certificate. I have seen far bloodier and more violent 12A’s, and if anything I think director Jon Turteltaub (“National Treasure”) rather overdid the sanitisation.
It’s not going to win many gongs at the Oscars, but it is a slice of movie fun nonetheless.
Jason Statham – the unthinking man’s Dwayne Johnson – plays our hero Jonas Taylor. (Jonas? Surely some sly joke?). Jonas is drinking his life away in Thailand after being traumatised by an underwater rescue mission in which he was 90% successful. (Yeah, I know. Bloody perfectionists. Hate ’em). But he is needed again, since his cute ex-wife Lori (Jessica McNamee) is stuck at the bottom of the sea being terrorised by a terrifying creature: no, not Spongebob Square Pants… the titular prehistoric shark.
Lori is working at an undersea research station – Mana One – off the coast of China, funded by the annoyingly brash billionaire Morris (Rainn Wilson, from “The Office”), who you just HOPE HOPE HOPE will get munched at some point!
Running the station (in the most shameless Hollywood/Chinese market crossover since “The Great Wall“) is Zhang (Winston Chao) assisted by his cute daughter Suyin (played by the gloriously named and very talented Bingbing Li) and his even cuter granddaughter Meiying (Sophia Cai). The race is on to use their brains and Taylor’s brawn to stop the monster from reaching the seaside resort of Sanya Bay for lunch.
The action is, of course, absurd with so many near misses for Jonas from gnashing teeth that he could be The Meg’s registered dentist. There is a really nice dynamic though built up between Jonas, his potential cross-cultural love interest Suyin and young Meiying. Suyin is a classic TimesUp heroine for 2018, with an assertive f***-you attitude and not remotely giving an inch to Statham’s hero.
But it’s young Sophia as Meying who really steals lines and steals hearts with a truly charming performance, and would get my ‘man of the match’ were it not for…
…research assistant Jaxx (Australian model, Ruby Rose). She has an absolutely extraordinary look in this film. Chiselled and tattooed, she literally looks like she has stepped out of a Final Fantasy video game… and acts well too: the complete package.
As referenced above, the Hollywood/Chinese crossover is quite striking in this film, with the Chinese beach location looking like Amity Island on crack! (Cue the overweight Chinese kid as the Jaws “Alex” replacement… who knew China had a child obesity issue too… and that they also have ‘Zoom’ ice lollies!) Unusually for a mainstream Western film, a significant number of lines in the film are in Chinese with English subtitles.
In the league table of shark movies, it is far nearer to “Deep Blue Sea” than it is to “Jaws”, the reigning league champion, and all are far in excess of the ridiculous “Sharknado”. But compared to “Deep Blue Sea”, and even compared to “Jaws” – now, astonishingly, 43 years old! – it’s a curiously bloodless concoction, presumably to guarantee it’s 12A certificate. I have seen far bloodier and more violent 12A’s, and if anything I think director Jon Turteltaub (“National Treasure”) rather overdid the sanitisation.
It’s not going to win many gongs at the Oscars, but it is a slice of movie fun nonetheless.
Merissa (12058 KP) rated Maggie's Man (The Cowboys of Cavern Country #2) in Books
Dec 17, 2018
Maggie's Man is the second book in The Cowboys of Cavern County series. In this one, we meet up with Aiden, who appeared in book one. This time, he has his eye on Maggie, a waitress at a small cafe. They have spoken for a while, but Aiden hasn't had the courage to ask her out. Eventually he does, and although the date starts well, misunderstandings quickly overtake things (read, 'foot-in-mouth'!!)
The relationship between Maggie and Aiden is full of ups and downs, misunderstandings, and embarrassments. Although it is full of heat, I wasn't completely taken with their relationship. There seemed to be too many misunderstandings for me, although to be fair, Aiden wouldn't have known half of it because Maggie was too prideful to actually talk to him - for example, the cab after the dinner party.
However, what made up for it, was the whole suspense/mystery side of things. Robert is a complete scoundrel, and it looks like he will get away scot-free yet again. However, Bella Settarra has written an amazing story with more twists, turns, double dealing, and red-herrings than you can shake a stick at. Absolutely loved this side of the story.
Very well written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt my reading flow, this book was completely enjoyable. Maggie's Man can be read as a standalone as apart from Aiden, there are no crossover characters to mention. Definitely recommended.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
The relationship between Maggie and Aiden is full of ups and downs, misunderstandings, and embarrassments. Although it is full of heat, I wasn't completely taken with their relationship. There seemed to be too many misunderstandings for me, although to be fair, Aiden wouldn't have known half of it because Maggie was too prideful to actually talk to him - for example, the cab after the dinner party.
However, what made up for it, was the whole suspense/mystery side of things. Robert is a complete scoundrel, and it looks like he will get away scot-free yet again. However, Bella Settarra has written an amazing story with more twists, turns, double dealing, and red-herrings than you can shake a stick at. Absolutely loved this side of the story.
Very well written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt my reading flow, this book was completely enjoyable. Maggie's Man can be read as a standalone as apart from Aiden, there are no crossover characters to mention. Definitely recommended.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated American Horror Story - Season 8 in TV
Apr 29, 2020 (Updated Sep 10, 2020)
Season 8 of AHS is one that I honestly struggled with.
Subtitled "Apocalypse", the show deals with the end of the world and endeavours to bring the antichrist, a now grown Michael Langdon (born at the end of season 1) face to face with the coven of witches from season 3.
I can't fault the ambition on display. I really like when different seasons reference each other so this first fully fledged crossover is enticing.
The execution is just a bit boring unfortunately.
I didn't really like any of the new characters. I like both Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson very much, but the characters written for them are so over the top. AHS had always had a hammy side, but this was just a little too much. The comedy aspect just didn't stick this time around. Even Kathy Bates get a pretty uninspired story arc, really nothing too different from her "right hand man" relegation in Freak Show and Hotel.
As I've said before, I'm also not a huge fan of Coven, so when they eventually turn up, I surprisingly felt relieved.
Michael Langdon is an exception. Cody Fern plays him with a genuine sense of evil, and was the highlight for me.
It's not all bad however, the return to Murder House was a great touch and it was great to see Jessica Lange and other season 1 characters return, even if it was all too brief.
It's hard to hate on it too much, as AHS always has it's tongue firmly in cheek, but Apocalypse just felt like a misfire - a great idea, but fumbled in practice.
Subtitled "Apocalypse", the show deals with the end of the world and endeavours to bring the antichrist, a now grown Michael Langdon (born at the end of season 1) face to face with the coven of witches from season 3.
I can't fault the ambition on display. I really like when different seasons reference each other so this first fully fledged crossover is enticing.
The execution is just a bit boring unfortunately.
I didn't really like any of the new characters. I like both Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson very much, but the characters written for them are so over the top. AHS had always had a hammy side, but this was just a little too much. The comedy aspect just didn't stick this time around. Even Kathy Bates get a pretty uninspired story arc, really nothing too different from her "right hand man" relegation in Freak Show and Hotel.
As I've said before, I'm also not a huge fan of Coven, so when they eventually turn up, I surprisingly felt relieved.
Michael Langdon is an exception. Cody Fern plays him with a genuine sense of evil, and was the highlight for me.
It's not all bad however, the return to Murder House was a great touch and it was great to see Jessica Lange and other season 1 characters return, even if it was all too brief.
It's hard to hate on it too much, as AHS always has it's tongue firmly in cheek, but Apocalypse just felt like a misfire - a great idea, but fumbled in practice.
Superconductivity: A New Approach Based on the Bethe-Salpeter Equation in the Mean-Field Approximation
Book
Given the Debye temperature of an elemental superconductor (SC) and its Tc, BCS theory enables one...
Kaz (232 KP) Jul 10, 2019
Emma (519 KP) Jul 11, 2019