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RavenclawPrincess913 (253 KP) rated Totally Psychic in Books
Oct 17, 2023
I loved Totally Psychic by Brigid Martin it was a lovely story.
In this story, the main character, Paloma Ferrer, is from a family of psychics. Her Abuela is famous for it. The story goes through how Paloma navigates through her new psychic abilities, which was very interesting. She ends up causing a lot of trouble throughout the story that she eventually learns from these mistakes.
There are five rules to follow that go along with her new abilities. Number one is that she must not force contact with any spirits because it can open up a portal to negative energy. Number two is that she must never talk to evil spirits because they can stick around and follow you everywhere. Number three, she must never ask how the specific spirit died. Number four, she must never repeat everything the spirit tells her. Some things are best left alone. She breaks this rule and learns the hard way her consequences for her actions. Number five, these readings are supposed to help heal the spirits and their realitive/friends. They aren't meant to damage them. Paloma learns the hard way when she breaks this one as well.
Before she moves her, Abuela gives her a gift to help with her psychic abilities. This gift includes: a mirror, blessed candles, a Book of Flowers, and a notebook. The notebook is meant for writing down any thoughts and visions Paloma has that is related to her abilities. The book of Flowers is information passed down from the ancestors before her about her specific ability. The candles are meant for protection and to close the portals. The special mirror is for her to help communicate with spirits and her family. All these objects play an important role in the story.
All of Paloma's family have special psychic abilities. Paloma is a flower medium, and her younger sister is able to record ghosts on videos through her phone. Their Abuela is a famous psychic while their Abuelito is a chef. Their Father is a chef and mother a florist. Their mom runs a shop out of her van. Their uncle Esteban is a numerologist, aunt Rose, an Astrologist, cousin Geraldo, an object reader, and cousin Dania, a culinary Clairvoyant. Their Aunt Maria is a dream analyst, and Uncle Julian and Uncle Raul are empaths and animal Psychics. All of their abilities play a part in the story and are quite interesting. My favorite would probably be Aunt Rosa's ability of being an Astrologist.
The plot and character development of this book is very well written. My favorite of the spirits has got to be Dustin and Oreo that scene of when he met Oreo was so cute. One character I disliked was Willows grandpa it was not ok/right for him to be so pushy towards Paloma sharing the family secret. Also, in some parts Paloma was in the right while others her mom was. In my opinion Paloma should have listened to her gut and never used the ouija board that led to so much trouble.
I really love the cover of the book it fits the story perfectly. If you love books that contain magic, definitely give this book a try.
In this story, the main character, Paloma Ferrer, is from a family of psychics. Her Abuela is famous for it. The story goes through how Paloma navigates through her new psychic abilities, which was very interesting. She ends up causing a lot of trouble throughout the story that she eventually learns from these mistakes.
There are five rules to follow that go along with her new abilities. Number one is that she must not force contact with any spirits because it can open up a portal to negative energy. Number two is that she must never talk to evil spirits because they can stick around and follow you everywhere. Number three, she must never ask how the specific spirit died. Number four, she must never repeat everything the spirit tells her. Some things are best left alone. She breaks this rule and learns the hard way her consequences for her actions. Number five, these readings are supposed to help heal the spirits and their realitive/friends. They aren't meant to damage them. Paloma learns the hard way when she breaks this one as well.
Before she moves her, Abuela gives her a gift to help with her psychic abilities. This gift includes: a mirror, blessed candles, a Book of Flowers, and a notebook. The notebook is meant for writing down any thoughts and visions Paloma has that is related to her abilities. The book of Flowers is information passed down from the ancestors before her about her specific ability. The candles are meant for protection and to close the portals. The special mirror is for her to help communicate with spirits and her family. All these objects play an important role in the story.
All of Paloma's family have special psychic abilities. Paloma is a flower medium, and her younger sister is able to record ghosts on videos through her phone. Their Abuela is a famous psychic while their Abuelito is a chef. Their Father is a chef and mother a florist. Their mom runs a shop out of her van. Their uncle Esteban is a numerologist, aunt Rose, an Astrologist, cousin Geraldo, an object reader, and cousin Dania, a culinary Clairvoyant. Their Aunt Maria is a dream analyst, and Uncle Julian and Uncle Raul are empaths and animal Psychics. All of their abilities play a part in the story and are quite interesting. My favorite would probably be Aunt Rosa's ability of being an Astrologist.
The plot and character development of this book is very well written. My favorite of the spirits has got to be Dustin and Oreo that scene of when he met Oreo was so cute. One character I disliked was Willows grandpa it was not ok/right for him to be so pushy towards Paloma sharing the family secret. Also, in some parts Paloma was in the right while others her mom was. In my opinion Paloma should have listened to her gut and never used the ouija board that led to so much trouble.
I really love the cover of the book it fits the story perfectly. If you love books that contain magic, definitely give this book a try.
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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Fold-it in Tabletop Games
Dec 28, 2021
When it comes to cooking, I am definitely no master chef. Up until recently, ‘cooking’ for me consisted of merely putting frozen food into the oven…. Don’t judge! I am taking strides to expand my culinary skills though, so slowly but surely I’ll become a (hopefully) decent chef. That being said, when I saw a cute little food game called Fold-It, I figured that I should at least be able to handle these game recipes. Does it hit the spot, or does it get the chop?
Fold-It is a real-time dexterity puzzle game in which players are trying to fold their Recipe Cloth to match the current Order Card. Setup is simple – give each player a Recipe Cloth and 3 Star Tokens. Choose whether you want to play with the Basic or Advanced Order Cards (or a mix of both types) and shuffle the deck. Place a number of Fold-It tokens in the middle of the table to equal one fewer token than number of players. The game is now ready to begin!
Played over a series of rounds, players will be racing to complete the current Order Card the fastest. How? By folding their Recipe Cloth! Each Recipe Cloth is printed with a 4×4 grid of different dishes. The Order Cards each show a combination of 1-4 dishes. When an Order Card is revealed, all players will then try to fold and arrange their Recipe Cloth so that only the dishes from the Order Card are displayed. You can fold your cloth horizontally or vertically along the columns, and the cloth is double-sided to help accomplish your goal as well. Once you have folded your Recipe Cloth so that the dishes match the Order Card, grab one of the Fold-It tokens from the center of the table. When all the Fold-It tokens have been claimed, check each completed Recipe Cloth to verify that it is correct. If your Recipe Cloth matches, then you are in the clear! But if you made a mistake and had grabbed a Fold-It token, lose one of your Star tokens. *womp womp* The remaining player who was not able to grab a Fold-It token in the round discards one of their 3 Star tokens as well. The round is now over, and a new round begins by revealing the next Order Card. Play continues in this fashion until only one player remains with Star tokens. That player is declared the winner!
I have to admit that Fold-It surprised me, in a good way. I picked it up from a “Buy, Sell, Trade” Facebook group and really wasn’t expecting much from the gameplay. But when I actually got it to the table, I had a blast with it! The theme is cute, the gameplay is quirky, and it’s actually trickier than it looks. Some of the orders require you to fold the cloth in unique ways, and it can kind of be a brain burner. Add in the real-time racing element, and you’ve got an exciting game on your hands. Is it the most amazing and strategic game that I’ve ever played? No. But it’s pretty engaging for a light and fast filler game.
The components are pretty straight-forward. Cardboard tokens, nice sturdy cards, and actual cloth for the Recipe Cloth. The artwork is colorful and cute, and the tokens and cards will withstand many plays. I do especially like the Recipe Cloths too. The fact that they are actual cloth means that you won’t be worried about creasing issues from constant folding and unfolding between rounds and games. The cloths are double-sided as well to give you a boost for strategy as well. I will point out that all cloths are printed the exact same way, so it’s not like a Bingo board that varies between players. Everyone has the same tools with which to work each round, and everyone is on an even playing field that way. Nice components overall, in my opinion!
All in all, am I happy with my Fold-It purchase? Yes. It’s a quirky little filler game that is engaging and entertaining for all players. Yeah, there’s a player elimination element, but the game overall is so fast that the eliminated player(s) won’t be sitting around for long. Who knew that folding a piece of cloth could get your heart racing so fast? Fold-It is definitely a game that I’ll pull out when I need something quick and simple, or with which I can introduce people to the hobby. I guess if you play it too much, it would get kind of stale, but I don’t see that happening for me. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a tasty 4 / 6.
Fold-It is a real-time dexterity puzzle game in which players are trying to fold their Recipe Cloth to match the current Order Card. Setup is simple – give each player a Recipe Cloth and 3 Star Tokens. Choose whether you want to play with the Basic or Advanced Order Cards (or a mix of both types) and shuffle the deck. Place a number of Fold-It tokens in the middle of the table to equal one fewer token than number of players. The game is now ready to begin!
Played over a series of rounds, players will be racing to complete the current Order Card the fastest. How? By folding their Recipe Cloth! Each Recipe Cloth is printed with a 4×4 grid of different dishes. The Order Cards each show a combination of 1-4 dishes. When an Order Card is revealed, all players will then try to fold and arrange their Recipe Cloth so that only the dishes from the Order Card are displayed. You can fold your cloth horizontally or vertically along the columns, and the cloth is double-sided to help accomplish your goal as well. Once you have folded your Recipe Cloth so that the dishes match the Order Card, grab one of the Fold-It tokens from the center of the table. When all the Fold-It tokens have been claimed, check each completed Recipe Cloth to verify that it is correct. If your Recipe Cloth matches, then you are in the clear! But if you made a mistake and had grabbed a Fold-It token, lose one of your Star tokens. *womp womp* The remaining player who was not able to grab a Fold-It token in the round discards one of their 3 Star tokens as well. The round is now over, and a new round begins by revealing the next Order Card. Play continues in this fashion until only one player remains with Star tokens. That player is declared the winner!
I have to admit that Fold-It surprised me, in a good way. I picked it up from a “Buy, Sell, Trade” Facebook group and really wasn’t expecting much from the gameplay. But when I actually got it to the table, I had a blast with it! The theme is cute, the gameplay is quirky, and it’s actually trickier than it looks. Some of the orders require you to fold the cloth in unique ways, and it can kind of be a brain burner. Add in the real-time racing element, and you’ve got an exciting game on your hands. Is it the most amazing and strategic game that I’ve ever played? No. But it’s pretty engaging for a light and fast filler game.
The components are pretty straight-forward. Cardboard tokens, nice sturdy cards, and actual cloth for the Recipe Cloth. The artwork is colorful and cute, and the tokens and cards will withstand many plays. I do especially like the Recipe Cloths too. The fact that they are actual cloth means that you won’t be worried about creasing issues from constant folding and unfolding between rounds and games. The cloths are double-sided as well to give you a boost for strategy as well. I will point out that all cloths are printed the exact same way, so it’s not like a Bingo board that varies between players. Everyone has the same tools with which to work each round, and everyone is on an even playing field that way. Nice components overall, in my opinion!
All in all, am I happy with my Fold-It purchase? Yes. It’s a quirky little filler game that is engaging and entertaining for all players. Yeah, there’s a player elimination element, but the game overall is so fast that the eliminated player(s) won’t be sitting around for long. Who knew that folding a piece of cloth could get your heart racing so fast? Fold-It is definitely a game that I’ll pull out when I need something quick and simple, or with which I can introduce people to the hobby. I guess if you play it too much, it would get kind of stale, but I don’t see that happening for me. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a tasty 4 / 6.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Love, Simon (2018) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
Time to Exhale.
I saw this as a Cineworld “Secret Unlimited Screening” event (for non-UK readers, Cineworld is one of the main movie-theater chains), so went in – like the majority of the audience I suspect – predicting early sight of Lara Croft in skin tight shorts! This was a bit different! A secret screening is an interesting concept, and really tests the metal of a film in engaging its audience early. This one failed to some degree, with seven people (I was counting) walking out in the first 10 minutes. (To be fair on those seven, the film’s first 20 minutes are rather laborious; and to be fair on the film, this was a pretty full auditorium so as a percentage drop out it was low).
Teen heartthrob Nick Robinson (the older brother from “Jurassic World“) plays the eponymous hero who has a well-buried secret: he’s gay. Growing up in Pleasantville (I almost expected someone to yell “Cat!” and the fire brigade turn up) he feels unable to come out to either his high-school friends or his loving family (“Apple pie cooling on the window-sill anyone?”). But striking up an email relationship with another closeted male from the same high school – nicknamed “Blue” – allows him to explore his feelings about his sexuality and fall in love all at the same time. But neither coming out or love run terribly smoothly for Simon…
Happy families. From left, Nick Robinson, Talitha Bateman, Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel.
I am forty years adrift from being able to directly relate to the stresses and strains of modern high-school life (though I AM still 17 on the inside people!) But even to me, this film doesn’t feel like it should be set in the present day. While it needs to be for its tweeting and blogging story-line, surely there are few backwaters in either America or Western Europe where gay people have to stay so silent? An 80’s or early 90’s setting would, I think, have worked so much better. (Ironically, its not his gay-ness or otherwise that his friends get upset by, but something far more fundamental in the human condition).
Definitely set in the present day.
That aside, this is a sweet and ultimately quite engaging film that I’m sure will be a big hit with a teenage audience. While for me it didn’t come close to ticking all of the coming-of-age boxes that the inestimable “Lady Bird” did, it does cover old ground in a new and refreshing way, and I’m sure it WILL be very helpful for many gay people in getting the courage to come out. Times are different today, but I still can imagine few things requiring more bravery than declaring you are gay to your parents and closest friends (even though, deep down, they surely already suspect).
So, it’s sweet, but also for me (although far from its target audience) rather flat. As a comedy drama, the moments of comedy are few and far between, with only one or two of the lines making me chuckle rather than smile. A quiet auditorium is not a good sign for a film with “Comedy” in its imdb description. It does however occasionally break through with something memorable: a full on college “La La Land” scene (“Not that gay” – LoL) is a case in point. And all of the scenes featuring comedy actress Natasha Rothwell as drama teacher Ms Allbright add much needed energy and humour to the film.
Someone should tell him… regardless of gender preference, sex is never going to work like this.
Of the teen actors, Robinson is fine but it is Katherine Langford as Simon’s friend Leah who stood out for me. Talitha Eliana Bateman (“The 5th Wave“; looking a whole lot younger than her 16 years!) is also impressive as Simon’s culinary sister Nora. Simon’s parents are played by Jennifer Garner (“Dallas Buyers Club“) and Josh Duhamel (a new one on me… he’s been in the “Transformers” films apparently).
Simon says walk this way. From left, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Nich Robinson, Alexandra Shipp and Katherine Langford.
The screenplay is by movie virgins Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, and is a slightly patchy affair. There are scenes that worked well (a cringe inducing sports stadium scene for example) but other times where it seems to be trying too hard for T-shirt captions…. a line from Ethan (Clark Moore) about hate crime was a “Ye-what?” moment.
Some of the characters really don’t quite work either: Tony Hale (so memorable as the useless PA in “Veep”) plays almost a school-ified version of Stephen Stucker’s Johnny from “Airplane”. Perhaps that would work as some sort of whacky hall monitor guy… but it transpires that he is the headmaster. No, I don’t think so.
A bit OTT. Veep’s Tony Hale as the principal with a surfeit of bonhomie.
So, in summary, after a bit of a bumpy start, its a pleasant watch that culminates in a feel-good ending. Feel good, that is, providing you have liberal views: I can’t see it pleasing many Trump supporters. I also can’t see it getting a cinema release in Gambia or Nigeria, though God only knows they could use one. If I could give half stars I would give this one an extra half as I applaud both the theme its trying to promote and for bringing something fresh to the screen…
Teen heartthrob Nick Robinson (the older brother from “Jurassic World“) plays the eponymous hero who has a well-buried secret: he’s gay. Growing up in Pleasantville (I almost expected someone to yell “Cat!” and the fire brigade turn up) he feels unable to come out to either his high-school friends or his loving family (“Apple pie cooling on the window-sill anyone?”). But striking up an email relationship with another closeted male from the same high school – nicknamed “Blue” – allows him to explore his feelings about his sexuality and fall in love all at the same time. But neither coming out or love run terribly smoothly for Simon…
Happy families. From left, Nick Robinson, Talitha Bateman, Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel.
I am forty years adrift from being able to directly relate to the stresses and strains of modern high-school life (though I AM still 17 on the inside people!) But even to me, this film doesn’t feel like it should be set in the present day. While it needs to be for its tweeting and blogging story-line, surely there are few backwaters in either America or Western Europe where gay people have to stay so silent? An 80’s or early 90’s setting would, I think, have worked so much better. (Ironically, its not his gay-ness or otherwise that his friends get upset by, but something far more fundamental in the human condition).
Definitely set in the present day.
That aside, this is a sweet and ultimately quite engaging film that I’m sure will be a big hit with a teenage audience. While for me it didn’t come close to ticking all of the coming-of-age boxes that the inestimable “Lady Bird” did, it does cover old ground in a new and refreshing way, and I’m sure it WILL be very helpful for many gay people in getting the courage to come out. Times are different today, but I still can imagine few things requiring more bravery than declaring you are gay to your parents and closest friends (even though, deep down, they surely already suspect).
So, it’s sweet, but also for me (although far from its target audience) rather flat. As a comedy drama, the moments of comedy are few and far between, with only one or two of the lines making me chuckle rather than smile. A quiet auditorium is not a good sign for a film with “Comedy” in its imdb description. It does however occasionally break through with something memorable: a full on college “La La Land” scene (“Not that gay” – LoL) is a case in point. And all of the scenes featuring comedy actress Natasha Rothwell as drama teacher Ms Allbright add much needed energy and humour to the film.
Someone should tell him… regardless of gender preference, sex is never going to work like this.
Of the teen actors, Robinson is fine but it is Katherine Langford as Simon’s friend Leah who stood out for me. Talitha Eliana Bateman (“The 5th Wave“; looking a whole lot younger than her 16 years!) is also impressive as Simon’s culinary sister Nora. Simon’s parents are played by Jennifer Garner (“Dallas Buyers Club“) and Josh Duhamel (a new one on me… he’s been in the “Transformers” films apparently).
Simon says walk this way. From left, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Nich Robinson, Alexandra Shipp and Katherine Langford.
The screenplay is by movie virgins Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, and is a slightly patchy affair. There are scenes that worked well (a cringe inducing sports stadium scene for example) but other times where it seems to be trying too hard for T-shirt captions…. a line from Ethan (Clark Moore) about hate crime was a “Ye-what?” moment.
Some of the characters really don’t quite work either: Tony Hale (so memorable as the useless PA in “Veep”) plays almost a school-ified version of Stephen Stucker’s Johnny from “Airplane”. Perhaps that would work as some sort of whacky hall monitor guy… but it transpires that he is the headmaster. No, I don’t think so.
A bit OTT. Veep’s Tony Hale as the principal with a surfeit of bonhomie.
So, in summary, after a bit of a bumpy start, its a pleasant watch that culminates in a feel-good ending. Feel good, that is, providing you have liberal views: I can’t see it pleasing many Trump supporters. I also can’t see it getting a cinema release in Gambia or Nigeria, though God only knows they could use one. If I could give half stars I would give this one an extra half as I applaud both the theme its trying to promote and for bringing something fresh to the screen…