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The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days: Recipes to Make Every Day Special
Book
The bestselling, hugely popular Hummingbird Bakery is back with a wonderful new collection of easy...
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) in Movies
Feb 11, 2021
It might be playing hard to get, but there's plenty to love about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 if you know where to look.
A lot of it's strength lies in its stellar cast once again. All the key players from the first movie are back, with a whole heap of new faces, and expanded roles for side characters. New cast members include Kurt fucking Russell as none other than Ego the Living Planet, which is wild in itself, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, as well as smaller roles for Sylvester Stallone and Elizabeth Debicki. Bigger roles for Karen Gillan and Michael Rooker are also welcome.
In terms of material, it's brimming with Easter eggs, and hints at what's to come in the future - Adam Warlock, the original Guardians roster, The Watchers, Celestials - it has some truly wonderful moments for fans of the comics.
The plot is fun enough, and all leads to the subject of family and parenthood. It has some touching scenes amongst all the space battles. My main issue is with the comedy - the jokes and quips in Vol. 2 are absolutely relentless. Where as the first movie, and plenty of other MCU entries, manage to strike a fine balance in the more comedic side of things, Vol. 2 just throws everything and the kitchen sink at the script hoping that something will stick the landing, and there are plenty of funny lines here, but there's an equal amount of jokes that miss the mark. It becomes a little tiresome, and is the exact same issue I had with Deadpool 2!
However, despite its flaws, Vol. 2 is still a lot of fun, and another decent entry into the cosmic MCU canon, and it's moving closing scene, set to Cat Stevens "Father & Son" is one of my favourites in the entire franchise. Also, Baby Groot.
A lot of it's strength lies in its stellar cast once again. All the key players from the first movie are back, with a whole heap of new faces, and expanded roles for side characters. New cast members include Kurt fucking Russell as none other than Ego the Living Planet, which is wild in itself, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, as well as smaller roles for Sylvester Stallone and Elizabeth Debicki. Bigger roles for Karen Gillan and Michael Rooker are also welcome.
In terms of material, it's brimming with Easter eggs, and hints at what's to come in the future - Adam Warlock, the original Guardians roster, The Watchers, Celestials - it has some truly wonderful moments for fans of the comics.
The plot is fun enough, and all leads to the subject of family and parenthood. It has some touching scenes amongst all the space battles. My main issue is with the comedy - the jokes and quips in Vol. 2 are absolutely relentless. Where as the first movie, and plenty of other MCU entries, manage to strike a fine balance in the more comedic side of things, Vol. 2 just throws everything and the kitchen sink at the script hoping that something will stick the landing, and there are plenty of funny lines here, but there's an equal amount of jokes that miss the mark. It becomes a little tiresome, and is the exact same issue I had with Deadpool 2!
However, despite its flaws, Vol. 2 is still a lot of fun, and another decent entry into the cosmic MCU canon, and it's moving closing scene, set to Cat Stevens "Father & Son" is one of my favourites in the entire franchise. Also, Baby Groot.
Fred (860 KP) rated Hubie Halloween (2020) in Movies
Oct 10, 2020
A new Halloween classic?
First question: Is this a good movie? No
Second question: Is this movie funny? Yes
You can't go into this movie expecting it to be any more than it is. A comedy with Adam Sandler & his friends acting silly.
The story is silly, the characters are silly. It's typical Sandler. People are mean to him but he keeps on keeping on until he's the hero. At the end, I didn't feel his bullies got what they deserved, but Hubie, Sandler's character, gets what he deserves. And that's fine.
His movies are all about his character. The out-of-place loser that everyone hates or makes fun of. So, how does Hubie stack up? He's great. He's the Water Boy character but instead of water, he's into safety, especially during Halloween. But the thing that I really liked is that he was scared of everything, screaming at every little jump scare & some not even that. And every time he screamed, I laughed out loud. In fact, there were lots of things making me laugh at. Every shirt that Hubie's mother & her friend wore had me laugh like a kid. I think the part that made me laugh the loudest was the cat's reaction when Violet insults it. The secondary characters were all funny as well.
There were throw backs & Easter eggs to his other movies too, like the O'Doyles from Billy Madison or Ben Stiller from Happy Gillmore. But I don't want to give away any more of them, including the cameos from famous people.
So, in ending, yeah, it's not actually art, but it's damn funny. I was laughing throughout the whole thing. I could see myself watching this every Halloween. It's a new classic in my house.
Second question: Is this movie funny? Yes
You can't go into this movie expecting it to be any more than it is. A comedy with Adam Sandler & his friends acting silly.
The story is silly, the characters are silly. It's typical Sandler. People are mean to him but he keeps on keeping on until he's the hero. At the end, I didn't feel his bullies got what they deserved, but Hubie, Sandler's character, gets what he deserves. And that's fine.
His movies are all about his character. The out-of-place loser that everyone hates or makes fun of. So, how does Hubie stack up? He's great. He's the Water Boy character but instead of water, he's into safety, especially during Halloween. But the thing that I really liked is that he was scared of everything, screaming at every little jump scare & some not even that. And every time he screamed, I laughed out loud. In fact, there were lots of things making me laugh at. Every shirt that Hubie's mother & her friend wore had me laugh like a kid. I think the part that made me laugh the loudest was the cat's reaction when Violet insults it. The secondary characters were all funny as well.
There were throw backs & Easter eggs to his other movies too, like the O'Doyles from Billy Madison or Ben Stiller from Happy Gillmore. But I don't want to give away any more of them, including the cameos from famous people.
So, in ending, yeah, it's not actually art, but it's damn funny. I was laughing throughout the whole thing. I could see myself watching this every Halloween. It's a new classic in my house.
Best SMS Text Messages - Free Message Collection
Lifestyle and Entertainment
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The Complete Stories
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A Russian author, playwright, and physician, Anton Chekhov is widely considered one of the best...
Recipes for Thermomix
Food & Drink and Utilities
App
Recipes for Thermomix is a cookbook offering recipes specifically developed for Thermomix. This app...
All Free Recipes : World Cuisines
Food & Drink and Health & Fitness
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World Cuisines recipes free app brings you the collection of wide variety of recipes from different...
Merissa (13668 KP) rated The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con (Farthingdale Ranch #2) in Books
May 25, 2021 (Updated Jul 26, 2023)
THE BLACKSMITH AND THE EX-CON is the second book in the Farthingdale Ranch series, although you can read it as a standalone as I have.
Ellis is the ex-con who has had a hard time of it. Now, I'm not excusing what he's done, but he did do it for the right reasons. And given the relationship he did have, I can understand the mutism. My heart ached for him, it really did. Jasper is a big, gruff, sweetie who would do anything for those he lets in. And he certainly lets Ellis in. The romance develops slowly, but compassion and kindness are there from the get-go.
There are easter eggs in here for Honey from the Lion (that I have read) which is part of the Love Across Time series. I'm ashamed to admit that the fate of the ranch that Laurie disappeared from never even entered my mind, so it was great to see this from a different view.
I loved all the characters in this book - even Phil! He was horrible, but exactly as he was supposed to be. Obviously, the biggest growth was Ellis, but Jasper comes along nicely too. The supporting cast provides understanding, love, and humour to our main two.
This book was extremely well-written and paced, and certainly kept my attention from the first word to the very last. I will be reading book one in this series simply down to the characters and Ms North's writing. If that isn't a recommendation, then I don't know what is!
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
May 25, 2021
Ellis is the ex-con who has had a hard time of it. Now, I'm not excusing what he's done, but he did do it for the right reasons. And given the relationship he did have, I can understand the mutism. My heart ached for him, it really did. Jasper is a big, gruff, sweetie who would do anything for those he lets in. And he certainly lets Ellis in. The romance develops slowly, but compassion and kindness are there from the get-go.
There are easter eggs in here for Honey from the Lion (that I have read) which is part of the Love Across Time series. I'm ashamed to admit that the fate of the ranch that Laurie disappeared from never even entered my mind, so it was great to see this from a different view.
I loved all the characters in this book - even Phil! He was horrible, but exactly as he was supposed to be. Obviously, the biggest growth was Ellis, but Jasper comes along nicely too. The supporting cast provides understanding, love, and humour to our main two.
This book was extremely well-written and paced, and certainly kept my attention from the first word to the very last. I will be reading book one in this series simply down to the characters and Ms North's writing. If that isn't a recommendation, then I don't know what is!
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
May 25, 2021
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Ready Player One (2018) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
Virtually brilliant with Easter Eggs a plenty.
Of all the Spielberg films of recent years – and possibly with the exception of “The BFG” – this was the film whose trailer disconcerted me the most. It really looked dire: CGI over heart; gimmicks over substance. I was right about ‘The BFG”, one of my least favourite Spielberg flicks. I was definitely wrong about “Ready Player One”: it’s a blast.
The film is fun in continually throwing surprises at you, including those actors not included in the trailer and only on small print on the poster. So I won’t spoil that here for you (you can of course look them up on imdb if you want to: but I suggest you try to see this one ‘cold’).
It’s 2044, and the majority of the population have taken the next logical step of video gaming and virtual reality and retreated into their own headsets, living out their lives primarily as avatars within the fanciful landscapes of “The Oasis”. You can “be” anyone and (subject to gaining the necessary credits) “do” anything there.
When the housing market is stacked against you. Columbus Ohio circa 2044.
The Oasis was the brainchild of a (Steve Wozniak-like) genius called James Halliday (played in enormous style by “Actor R”) and supported by his (Steve Jobs-like) business partner Ogden Morrow (“Actor P”). The two had a big falling out leaving Halliday in total control of the Oasis. But he died, and his dying “game” was to devise a devious competition that left a trail of three virtual keys in the Oasis leading to an ‘easter egg’: which if found would provide the finder with total ownership of the Oasis and the trillions of dollars that it is worth.
But the game is not only played by amateur “gunters” (egg-hunters) like our hero Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan, “X-Men: Apocalypse“) and his in-Oasis flirting partner Samantha (Olivia Cooke, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”); there are big corporate game-hunters involved like IoI (that’s eye-oh-eye, not one-oh-one as I assumed from the trailer) who fill warehouses with combinations of nerd-consultants and professional game players to try to find the keys before anyone else. Which hardly seems fair does it? Ruthless boss Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn, “Rogue One“) and his tough-as-nails hench-woman F’Nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen, “Tomb Raider“) really couldn’t give a toss!
In the future, everyone is reaching out for something.
What follows is two-hours of high-octane game-play and eye-popping 3D (it is good in 3D by the way) that melds a baseline of “Avatar” with soupçons of “Tron”, “Minority Report” and Dan Brown novels. But its a blend that works.
I was afraid as I said that CGI would squash flat any hope of character development and story, and – yes – to be sure this is ‘suppressed’ a bit. You never get to really know many of the ‘pack’ members to any great level other than Wade and Samantha. And exactly what drives the corporate protagonists, other than “corporate greed”, is not particularly clear. What gives the film heart though are the performances of “Actor P” and (particularly) “Actor R”, who again steals every scene he is in. For their limited screen time together, the pair bounce off each other in a delightful way.
I have to make a confession at this point that I spent the whole film thinking “Miles Teller is way too old for the part of Wade”! Tye Sheridan (who I think *does* bear a likeness!) is actually much more age appropriate, and is fine in the role. But the star performance for me, out of the youngsters at least, was Oldham’s-own Olivia Cooke, who has a genuinely magnetic screen presence. She is most definitely a name to watch for the future.
Ready Player One
Young star of the show for me – Olivia Cooke as Samantha.
Lena Waithe (“Master of None”) plays Wade’s inventor friend Helen.
The story, although simple and quite one-dimensional, in the main intrigues: there is nothing like a Mario-style chase for keys to entertain when it is done well (I am so old and crusty that in my day it was “Manic Miner” on a ZX-Spectrum!).
He’s iron and he’s just gigantic! Reb’s creation becomes a force to be reckoned with when needed.
And there’s not just one “Easter Egg” in this film: the film is rammed to the rafters with throwbacks to classic pop-culture icons of past decades, and particularly the 80’s…. the film could have been subtitled “I ❤ 80’s”. Some of these are subliminal (Mayor Goldie Wilson anyone?), and others are more prominent but very clever: “The Zemekis cube” and “The Holy Hand Grenade” being prime examples. This is a film that deserves buying on Blu-ray and then slo-mo-ing through! The nostalgia extends to the music by Alan Silvestri, with occasional motifs from his most famous soundtrack!
For me though, the highspot of the film is a journey into a recreation of a classic ’80’s film which – while a scary sequence, earning for sure its 12A UK rating – is done with verve and chutzpah.
Wade’s avatar, Parzival.
Although a little overlong (2 hours 20 mins) and getting rather over-blown and LOTR-esque in the finale, the ending is very satisfying – roll on Tuesdays and Thursdays!
Spielberg’s recent films have been largely solid and well-constructed watches (“The Post” and “Bridge of Spies” for example) but they have been more niche than mainstream box office draws. I firmly predict that “Ready Player One” will change that: here Spielberg has a sure-fire hit on his hands and word of mouth (rather than the ho-hum trailer) should assure that.
The film is fun in continually throwing surprises at you, including those actors not included in the trailer and only on small print on the poster. So I won’t spoil that here for you (you can of course look them up on imdb if you want to: but I suggest you try to see this one ‘cold’).
It’s 2044, and the majority of the population have taken the next logical step of video gaming and virtual reality and retreated into their own headsets, living out their lives primarily as avatars within the fanciful landscapes of “The Oasis”. You can “be” anyone and (subject to gaining the necessary credits) “do” anything there.
When the housing market is stacked against you. Columbus Ohio circa 2044.
The Oasis was the brainchild of a (Steve Wozniak-like) genius called James Halliday (played in enormous style by “Actor R”) and supported by his (Steve Jobs-like) business partner Ogden Morrow (“Actor P”). The two had a big falling out leaving Halliday in total control of the Oasis. But he died, and his dying “game” was to devise a devious competition that left a trail of three virtual keys in the Oasis leading to an ‘easter egg’: which if found would provide the finder with total ownership of the Oasis and the trillions of dollars that it is worth.
But the game is not only played by amateur “gunters” (egg-hunters) like our hero Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan, “X-Men: Apocalypse“) and his in-Oasis flirting partner Samantha (Olivia Cooke, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”); there are big corporate game-hunters involved like IoI (that’s eye-oh-eye, not one-oh-one as I assumed from the trailer) who fill warehouses with combinations of nerd-consultants and professional game players to try to find the keys before anyone else. Which hardly seems fair does it? Ruthless boss Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn, “Rogue One“) and his tough-as-nails hench-woman F’Nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen, “Tomb Raider“) really couldn’t give a toss!
In the future, everyone is reaching out for something.
What follows is two-hours of high-octane game-play and eye-popping 3D (it is good in 3D by the way) that melds a baseline of “Avatar” with soupçons of “Tron”, “Minority Report” and Dan Brown novels. But its a blend that works.
I was afraid as I said that CGI would squash flat any hope of character development and story, and – yes – to be sure this is ‘suppressed’ a bit. You never get to really know many of the ‘pack’ members to any great level other than Wade and Samantha. And exactly what drives the corporate protagonists, other than “corporate greed”, is not particularly clear. What gives the film heart though are the performances of “Actor P” and (particularly) “Actor R”, who again steals every scene he is in. For their limited screen time together, the pair bounce off each other in a delightful way.
I have to make a confession at this point that I spent the whole film thinking “Miles Teller is way too old for the part of Wade”! Tye Sheridan (who I think *does* bear a likeness!) is actually much more age appropriate, and is fine in the role. But the star performance for me, out of the youngsters at least, was Oldham’s-own Olivia Cooke, who has a genuinely magnetic screen presence. She is most definitely a name to watch for the future.
Ready Player One
Young star of the show for me – Olivia Cooke as Samantha.
Lena Waithe (“Master of None”) plays Wade’s inventor friend Helen.
The story, although simple and quite one-dimensional, in the main intrigues: there is nothing like a Mario-style chase for keys to entertain when it is done well (I am so old and crusty that in my day it was “Manic Miner” on a ZX-Spectrum!).
He’s iron and he’s just gigantic! Reb’s creation becomes a force to be reckoned with when needed.
And there’s not just one “Easter Egg” in this film: the film is rammed to the rafters with throwbacks to classic pop-culture icons of past decades, and particularly the 80’s…. the film could have been subtitled “I ❤ 80’s”. Some of these are subliminal (Mayor Goldie Wilson anyone?), and others are more prominent but very clever: “The Zemekis cube” and “The Holy Hand Grenade” being prime examples. This is a film that deserves buying on Blu-ray and then slo-mo-ing through! The nostalgia extends to the music by Alan Silvestri, with occasional motifs from his most famous soundtrack!
For me though, the highspot of the film is a journey into a recreation of a classic ’80’s film which – while a scary sequence, earning for sure its 12A UK rating – is done with verve and chutzpah.
Wade’s avatar, Parzival.
Although a little overlong (2 hours 20 mins) and getting rather over-blown and LOTR-esque in the finale, the ending is very satisfying – roll on Tuesdays and Thursdays!
Spielberg’s recent films have been largely solid and well-constructed watches (“The Post” and “Bridge of Spies” for example) but they have been more niche than mainstream box office draws. I firmly predict that “Ready Player One” will change that: here Spielberg has a sure-fire hit on his hands and word of mouth (rather than the ho-hum trailer) should assure that.
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Review: this is a beautiful (huge! like, 2 inches thick.) book bursting with incredible pictures that make me crave salad like i never have before and make octopus actually look edible (and appealing), information that I never would have known or thought about about the ingredients, and fantastic (and some… interesting…)recipes. A typical recipe will include a beautiful full page photograph, description of the food, very easy to read and easy to follow instructions, extra ideas and variations, and little notes and tips and pieces of advice.
There are eleven categories: My Father’s Garden, Open Water, Dinner family style, My First Recipes, The hunting trip, a Lamb and a Goat, Psilakis Birthday Dinners, Kefi—A time to dance, Big party cooking, Anthos—the new world, and The Aegean Pantry. the back of the book includes recipes by type of dish and even metric conversions.
Each section is headed off with a two or three page story about Michael’s life and lots of photographs. some of the stories are sweet, like him remembering cooking for his parents for the first time. some are things i can relate to, like the thrill and pride of learning to dance. (though I never learned to dance on an empty glass beer bottle.) and some stories are sad and sweet, like him telling the time he watched his father kill the lamb that was his friend for Easter dinner.
a quick sampling of the recipes, some that sound fantastic:
*Warm Feta with Tomato, Olive and pepper salad
*Whole Spit roasted lamb
*Grilled watermelon and grilled manouri (which sounds discussing but the photograph looks incredible)
*roasted scallops with cauliflower, tart dried cherries, and capers in brown butter sauce
*Steak with bone marrow htippiti
*Dumplings with sausage, dandelion greens, sundried tomato and pine nuts
Now I’m hungry.
Recommendation: anyone who enjoys cooking really good food, gourmet, beautiful photographs of really good food, or just loves cooking in general.
There are eleven categories: My Father’s Garden, Open Water, Dinner family style, My First Recipes, The hunting trip, a Lamb and a Goat, Psilakis Birthday Dinners, Kefi—A time to dance, Big party cooking, Anthos—the new world, and The Aegean Pantry. the back of the book includes recipes by type of dish and even metric conversions.
Each section is headed off with a two or three page story about Michael’s life and lots of photographs. some of the stories are sweet, like him remembering cooking for his parents for the first time. some are things i can relate to, like the thrill and pride of learning to dance. (though I never learned to dance on an empty glass beer bottle.) and some stories are sad and sweet, like him telling the time he watched his father kill the lamb that was his friend for Easter dinner.
a quick sampling of the recipes, some that sound fantastic:
*Warm Feta with Tomato, Olive and pepper salad
*Whole Spit roasted lamb
*Grilled watermelon and grilled manouri (which sounds discussing but the photograph looks incredible)
*roasted scallops with cauliflower, tart dried cherries, and capers in brown butter sauce
*Steak with bone marrow htippiti
*Dumplings with sausage, dandelion greens, sundried tomato and pine nuts
Now I’m hungry.
Recommendation: anyone who enjoys cooking really good food, gourmet, beautiful photographs of really good food, or just loves cooking in general.