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Kale and Coffee: A Renegade's Guide to Health, Happiness and Longevity
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After realizing that he may have a hereditary cancer risk, Kevin Gianni was intent on finding the...
Kristina (502 KP) rated Crash (Crash, #1) in Books
Dec 7, 2020
4.5 Stars
This story is not full of rainbows and butterflies. There are no moments that make your heart swell with overwhelming happiness, or when tears of joy threaten to spill over, or even when you feel that satisfaction of a happy ending. Heck no, Crash is absolutely not that story - and I've never been so grateful. I'm a romance fan, through and through, but sometimes I come across too many that are so sweet, I almost feel sick when I'm finished reading (once I come down from the high of a happily ever after, of course). I'd been searching for a book that had the romance quality but offered a twist, a dark element that would keep me on my toes and pique my interest. I found it, thanks to an e-mail that offers free Ebooks. From the beginning, I knew Stranger (as I've dubbed him) was different: his eyes were too cold, his expression was too rough, his demeanor was too rugged; which is how I immediately knew I'd found what I was looking for. Drew Jordan gave me the element of a love story, but she wrapped it up in a beautiful black bow accompanied with thorns. Each chapter had me falling more and more in love with the tale, even if that concerns me slightly. I love how honest and raw it is, how Laney is completely truthful, even if her thoughts don't make sense. The secrets were probably my favorite part - I believed Laney was this sweet little girl who was slowly becoming tainted by this stranger, but I eventually realized there's more to her than meets the eye. I'm very excited to read Hide, the next book in the Crash series, and I look forward to revealing more deep, dark secrets from both Laney and Stranger.
This story is not full of rainbows and butterflies. There are no moments that make your heart swell with overwhelming happiness, or when tears of joy threaten to spill over, or even when you feel that satisfaction of a happy ending. Heck no, Crash is absolutely not that story - and I've never been so grateful. I'm a romance fan, through and through, but sometimes I come across too many that are so sweet, I almost feel sick when I'm finished reading (once I come down from the high of a happily ever after, of course). I'd been searching for a book that had the romance quality but offered a twist, a dark element that would keep me on my toes and pique my interest. I found it, thanks to an e-mail that offers free Ebooks. From the beginning, I knew Stranger (as I've dubbed him) was different: his eyes were too cold, his expression was too rough, his demeanor was too rugged; which is how I immediately knew I'd found what I was looking for. Drew Jordan gave me the element of a love story, but she wrapped it up in a beautiful black bow accompanied with thorns. Each chapter had me falling more and more in love with the tale, even if that concerns me slightly. I love how honest and raw it is, how Laney is completely truthful, even if her thoughts don't make sense. The secrets were probably my favorite part - I believed Laney was this sweet little girl who was slowly becoming tainted by this stranger, but I eventually realized there's more to her than meets the eye. I'm very excited to read Hide, the next book in the Crash series, and I look forward to revealing more deep, dark secrets from both Laney and Stranger.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Dunkirk (2017) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
Dunkirk really wasn't one that I was sure I wanted to watch. After watching it... I'm sure that I didn't want to watch it. It was interesting, in that it was a story from history that I didn't know, but I really didn't enjoy the film itself.
At the beginning I found the three story lines to be confusing, and almost everyone I've spoken to has said the same thing that I had thought during the film... "Was Cillian Murphy playing two people?"
Looking online I've seen some are quibbling about the effects being too loud and that there was very little dialogue from the troops... to be honest I didn't notice the sound "issue" while I watched as it seemed about right for the situation they were in. I did pause for thought about no one talking, but that again didn't seem that out of place in the context of the scenes.
While the timeline issues with the three strands did eventually sort themselves out I had already been put off. I really didn't feel this can be dubbed as the summer blockbuster that it was being pegged as.
That being said, I do think it will do well as we don't see many high profile films like this. And you know what... I was ready to sigh and say "yet another singer who should stick to what they're good at"... but Harry Styles wasn't bad, but I wouldn't like to comment on whether that was because there were barely any lines or not.
I think this one will have to be chalked up as "not for me", as I said it wasn't one I'd really wanted to watch in the first place.
At the beginning I found the three story lines to be confusing, and almost everyone I've spoken to has said the same thing that I had thought during the film... "Was Cillian Murphy playing two people?"
Looking online I've seen some are quibbling about the effects being too loud and that there was very little dialogue from the troops... to be honest I didn't notice the sound "issue" while I watched as it seemed about right for the situation they were in. I did pause for thought about no one talking, but that again didn't seem that out of place in the context of the scenes.
While the timeline issues with the three strands did eventually sort themselves out I had already been put off. I really didn't feel this can be dubbed as the summer blockbuster that it was being pegged as.
That being said, I do think it will do well as we don't see many high profile films like this. And you know what... I was ready to sigh and say "yet another singer who should stick to what they're good at"... but Harry Styles wasn't bad, but I wouldn't like to comment on whether that was because there were barely any lines or not.
I think this one will have to be chalked up as "not for me", as I said it wasn't one I'd really wanted to watch in the first place.
All You Need to know About the Music Business
Book
All You Need to Know About the Music Business by veteran music lawyer Don Passman--dubbed "the...
The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan
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Nicolas Winding Refn presents one of the most acclaimed film director biographies ever published....
Mockingbird's Cry (Hera Force #1)
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Five years ago, Josephine "Mockingbird" Caruso belonged to an all-female black-ops military group...
Romantic Suspense Military Thriller
Chris Sawin (602 KP) rated Paprika (2006) in Movies
Jun 19, 2019
The DC Mini was created to not only record and watch a person's dreams, but to actually enter them as well. It was created by Kosaku Tokita at the Foundation for Psychiatric Research and was meant to be a form of therapy to help people find the purpose of manic disorders and other manias such as fear or anxiety issues. But when the DC Mini is stolen and the same dream is being implanted into people while they're awake with chaotic results, then the research foundation takes it upon themselves to try and find out who is behind all of this. Tokita, along with Atsuko Chiba and Torataro Shima, are on the case. But who is Paprika and how does Detective Toshimi Konakawa fit into the equation?
Let me just start off by saying I loved this film. It is weird, it is unusual, and it's creatively original. I think those are some of the best reasons to like Paprika other than the fact that the animation is incredibly fluid and crisp and the story is quite good, but we'll come back to those points shortly. With a film like Paprika that is so complex and so good, there's a lot of key points to mention.
There seems to be so much going on in the film even though it pretty much centers around one dream and it's a dream for the ages. One of the things I love about Paprika is that whenever this dream is implanted into somebody while they're awake, they just start spitting this random gibberish that doesn't make sense until you actually see the dream and see this parade. The way this parade bleeds into not only Detective Kogawa's dream, but into the real world is also a sight within itself.
Over the years I've found that not only anime fans but fans of foreign cinema prefer to watch the film in its natural language with subtitles rather than the English dubbed version. I'm not talking about someone who just watches anime occasionally, but die hard fans. The English dubbing used to be pretty bad on a lot of anime titles, but it's either progressed quite a bit since I last watched a dubbed title or this film is an exception. I had no problems watching the English dub of Paprika. The voices all fit the characters, it was synced up well, nothing really sounded out of place. I'd actually recommend the English dub over the subtitled version. The audio, in general, was very good. The soundtrack also fit Paprika like a glove. The music during the parade dream is a perfect example of this.
The animation of Paprika is where the film really shines. Each surreal dream is illustrated beautifully and each cel of animation flows in an almost realistic fashion. It's some of the best animation I've seen in an animated film that isn't entirely CGI. The story also reeled me in since what started off as something somewhat simple wound up being more complex than what I once thought. Most of Tokita's dialogue where he's describing why he created the DC Mini and it's purposes are a huge mouthful of scientific jargon that's hard to comprehend to its full extent on the first viewing of Paprika. I got more than what I expected story-wise and I was extremely happy with that.
Paprika is an extremely well animated, intelligent, trip into one's imagination that I'd recommend to anyone. The best way I can describe the film is by saying it's kind of like Akira with a story that actually makes sense. Track this film down, whether you're a fan of animated films or not. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Let me just start off by saying I loved this film. It is weird, it is unusual, and it's creatively original. I think those are some of the best reasons to like Paprika other than the fact that the animation is incredibly fluid and crisp and the story is quite good, but we'll come back to those points shortly. With a film like Paprika that is so complex and so good, there's a lot of key points to mention.
There seems to be so much going on in the film even though it pretty much centers around one dream and it's a dream for the ages. One of the things I love about Paprika is that whenever this dream is implanted into somebody while they're awake, they just start spitting this random gibberish that doesn't make sense until you actually see the dream and see this parade. The way this parade bleeds into not only Detective Kogawa's dream, but into the real world is also a sight within itself.
Over the years I've found that not only anime fans but fans of foreign cinema prefer to watch the film in its natural language with subtitles rather than the English dubbed version. I'm not talking about someone who just watches anime occasionally, but die hard fans. The English dubbing used to be pretty bad on a lot of anime titles, but it's either progressed quite a bit since I last watched a dubbed title or this film is an exception. I had no problems watching the English dub of Paprika. The voices all fit the characters, it was synced up well, nothing really sounded out of place. I'd actually recommend the English dub over the subtitled version. The audio, in general, was very good. The soundtrack also fit Paprika like a glove. The music during the parade dream is a perfect example of this.
The animation of Paprika is where the film really shines. Each surreal dream is illustrated beautifully and each cel of animation flows in an almost realistic fashion. It's some of the best animation I've seen in an animated film that isn't entirely CGI. The story also reeled me in since what started off as something somewhat simple wound up being more complex than what I once thought. Most of Tokita's dialogue where he's describing why he created the DC Mini and it's purposes are a huge mouthful of scientific jargon that's hard to comprehend to its full extent on the first viewing of Paprika. I got more than what I expected story-wise and I was extremely happy with that.
Paprika is an extremely well animated, intelligent, trip into one's imagination that I'd recommend to anyone. The best way I can describe the film is by saying it's kind of like Akira with a story that actually makes sense. Track this film down, whether you're a fan of animated films or not. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Andy K (10823 KP) rated Life After Flash (2017) in Movies
Jul 5, 2019
Flash! Ah Ah!
To say the film Flash Gordon shaped me as a child would be a gross understatement. I worship the film as a screen classic and as one of my favorite films of all time. Ok, I know it's not Citizen Kane; however, it is the Citizen Kane of campy 80s rock operas.
As much as I would love to have an 8 hour conversation with someone about the merits of Flash Gordon, I should be talking about the 2017 film Life After Flash which I don't think I had any choice but to enjoy.
The film itself is kind of divided into to parts. The first half talking to all the surviving principles about how they were cast, the production itself, their interactions with epic producer Dino De Laurentiis and the film's legacy in their eyes. The second half was devoted to star Sam J. Jones himself and his personal journey before, during and after the film was completed and released in 1980.
He talked about how his ego got in the way of production so much so that his voice isn't even used in the film and was dubbed by another actor. He also expounded on his life since talking about dark times when the work dried up and how he even thought of suicide.
Thankfully after many years, Seth MacFarlane and asked him to cameo his most famous role in "Ted" and how that has reignited his film and public appearance career. (As a side note, since I am just a huge Flash Gordon fan, the Sam Jones scenes in Ted are about the funniest scenes ever in a motion picture for me).
Others mention the effects of typecasting in Hollywood. Even director Richard Donner mentions the fate Christopher Reeve has after Superman.
I should watch more documentaries as I always learn things I didn't know before and this great film was no exception.
As much as I would love to have an 8 hour conversation with someone about the merits of Flash Gordon, I should be talking about the 2017 film Life After Flash which I don't think I had any choice but to enjoy.
The film itself is kind of divided into to parts. The first half talking to all the surviving principles about how they were cast, the production itself, their interactions with epic producer Dino De Laurentiis and the film's legacy in their eyes. The second half was devoted to star Sam J. Jones himself and his personal journey before, during and after the film was completed and released in 1980.
He talked about how his ego got in the way of production so much so that his voice isn't even used in the film and was dubbed by another actor. He also expounded on his life since talking about dark times when the work dried up and how he even thought of suicide.
Thankfully after many years, Seth MacFarlane and asked him to cameo his most famous role in "Ted" and how that has reignited his film and public appearance career. (As a side note, since I am just a huge Flash Gordon fan, the Sam Jones scenes in Ted are about the funniest scenes ever in a motion picture for me).
Others mention the effects of typecasting in Hollywood. Even director Richard Donner mentions the fate Christopher Reeve has after Superman.
I should watch more documentaries as I always learn things I didn't know before and this great film was no exception.
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Bloodlust (The Rise Of Iliri #1) in Books
Nov 11, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
When you were once a slave, freed only to become a ruthless warrior, "belonging" seems a trite concept. A pipe dream, the stuff of naive fairy tales. But not for Salryc Luxx. Private Luxx—Sal for short—is iliri, a member of an untamable race surreptitiously dubbed "their kind" by humans and bred thousands of years ago to protect them. Humans consider them expendable, barely more than animals. Freaks. But in a karmic twist of fate, they’re also one of mankind’s most feared predators. Abused and enslaved, the only control Sal has over her life is what military unit she serves with – if she's good enough to be accepted – and the only one to consider her is the best in the land, the Black Blades.
Everyone has secrets, and the Blades are no different. But acceptance into the Blades gives Sal something she never expected—the family she’s never had, and with it, the undying protection of seven of the greatest warriors the world has ever seen. It also gifts her a devoted line of potential mates. Many of her fellow warriors will submit to the bloodlust that overtakes her in the heat of battle and can only be quenched by rough, passionate lovemaking (making way for the steamiest of love scenes). Though it’s not all war and sex. Sal very gradually cultivates deeply loving, evolving relationships with each of the Black Blades, which morphs as a unit into a reverse harem as sweet as it is fierce, and as protective as it is impassioned.
But belonging has its own price. Each of the Blades would die to protect Sal. And it’s only a matter of time before the enemy moves to use this against her.
This series was recommended by a friend and I finally got round to starting it. So glad I did what a brilliant series full of action. The relationship dynamics are very well written and they don't have Sal casually sleeping around all of the men! I love how it's handled and written!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Everyone has secrets, and the Blades are no different. But acceptance into the Blades gives Sal something she never expected—the family she’s never had, and with it, the undying protection of seven of the greatest warriors the world has ever seen. It also gifts her a devoted line of potential mates. Many of her fellow warriors will submit to the bloodlust that overtakes her in the heat of battle and can only be quenched by rough, passionate lovemaking (making way for the steamiest of love scenes). Though it’s not all war and sex. Sal very gradually cultivates deeply loving, evolving relationships with each of the Black Blades, which morphs as a unit into a reverse harem as sweet as it is fierce, and as protective as it is impassioned.
But belonging has its own price. Each of the Blades would die to protect Sal. And it’s only a matter of time before the enemy moves to use this against her.
This series was recommended by a friend and I finally got round to starting it. So glad I did what a brilliant series full of action. The relationship dynamics are very well written and they don't have Sal casually sleeping around all of the men! I love how it's handled and written!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jazzy 123 - Count with Music
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Does your child know what a harp looks like or what a clarinet sounds like? Are they learning to...