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An Unlikely Proposal
An Unlikely Proposal
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Let me say this book definitely surpassed all my expectations!!

I know we've all been there... that isle of books at the store with the Harlequin titles trying to decide if we want another feel good, know how its gonna end type of story. LET me advise you. This book IS NOT your typical Love Inspired book (of which I will admit to reading ... almost everyone published). I had to do a double check of the page count with this one honestly. Toni Shiloh managed to fit SO much depth of character, layered background, and faith based elements that I was enamored of the book from the beginning and scratching my head wondering how something so marvelous could come out of such a tiny package!

I loved the plot, a true friends-to-lovers/ girl-next-door/ marriage of convenience story that I have.. uhem already reread. I loved Omar's little ones that Toni Shiloh filled with life and love. Plus, I really enjoyed the circumstance that Toni Shiloh put Trinity and Omar into! Great chemistry and awkwardness between the two of them.

Overall, one of my favorite reads ever in terms of modern character development and storyline. A definite 5 star read you DO NOT want to miss!

*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
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Richard Linklater recommended If... (1968) in Movies (curated)

 
If... (1968)
If... (1968)
1968 | Crime, Drama
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The great British director Lindsay Anderson died 20 years ago and he only made five or six films, but they’re all very interesting, and I think his most famous is called If… It’s the film Malcolm McDowell did before A Clockwork Orange, and it’s kind of the ultimate teenage movie. It’s beautiful and very radical. It won Cannes that year, and it’s very much of its time, the ’60s, and Malcolm McDowell is brilliant in it. It’s the ultimate teen rebellion movie — and I like that genre — but it’s also very poetic, almost Brechtian, and there’s almost fantasy elements to it. Like, there’s this woman in the movie who might not even be real. It’s filmed in color and there are sections that are black-and-white and it’s kind of amazing. It’s the first film of a trilogy too. Malcolm McDowell’s character’s name is Mick Travis, and so a few years later, they did a film called O Lucky Man! and then ten years later they did Britannia Hospital together, Lindsay Anderson and Malcolm McDowell. So it’s one of the greater film trilogies in my opinion… It’s definitely worth watching. It used to be a bigger cult film in the ’70s and the ’80s, but I see it’s falling off. I don’t know if young people are watching it the way they used to."

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Hack-O-Lantern (1988)
Hack-O-Lantern (1988)
1988 | Horror
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Hack-O-Lantern is a ride. It boasts a simple plot about a Satanic cult grooming a young boy all the way through adult hood to join their ranks, whilst his siblings just try to enjoy teenage life, and a maniac in a devil mask runs about town killing folk with a pitchfork, all on Halloween night. Standard slasher stuff, but with randomly thrown in music videos, strip teases, and belly dancing. The film even stops dead for a few minutes to show us a stand up comedy routine. It's really really odd.

The whole experience is ball achingly 80s, complete with questionable acting, awkward dialogue, passable gore effects, and an absolutely raging music score. All of the music just sounds like Final Fantasy battle music. It's incredible.

Hack-O-Lantern was aired as part of Joe Bob Briggs 2020 Halloween Special, and is worth a watch to gain some insight into why this films is so weird and disjointed, such as director Jag Mundhra speaking very little English accounting for some of the bizarre dialogue, and his Indian background explaining the out of place Bollywood elements sprinkled throughout. It's a pretty fascinating and quirky horror all in all.

If you're looking for a cheap, ridiculous, and absurd 80s horror, then this ticks all the right boxes.
  
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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Amnesia: The Dark Descent in Video Games

Nov 14, 2020  
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
2010 | Horror
Scary and Spooky
Amnesia: The Dark Descent- is a terrorfying, horrorfying, spooky, scary, creepy game.

The game features a protagonist named Daniel exploring a dark and foreboding castle, while trying to maintain his sanity by avoiding monsters and other terrifying obstructions.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a first-person adventure game with survival horror elements. The player takes control of Daniel, who must navigate Brennenburg Castle while avoiding various dangers and solving puzzles. The gameplay retains the physical object interaction used in the Penumbra series, allowing for physics-based puzzles and interactions such as opening doors and fixing machinery.

In addition to a health indicator, Daniel's sanity must be managed, centered around an "afraid of darkness" mechanic. According to designer Thomas Grip, "the idea was basically that the darkness itself should be an enemy." Sanity is reduced by staying in the dark for too long, witnessing unsettling events or looking directly at monsters. Low sanity causes visual and auditory hallucinations and an increased chance of attracting monsters, while its complete depletion results in a temporary drop in mobility, or death in higher difficulties.

Hiding in dark areas where monsters will not notice Daniel is also effective, but will decrease Daniel's sanity. In higher difficulties, the monsters will move faster, deal more damage and search for Daniel for longer periods of time.

Its a excellent survival horror game and a must play.
  
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Yannis Philippakis recommended West Coast by Studio in Music (curated)

 
West Coast by Studio
West Coast by Studio
2006 | Hip-hop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"That's a record that Jack [Bevan] from Foals had discovered when we were living in Oxford writing Total Life Forever and there were eight of us in one house: other musicians, no TV, just a record player in the fireplace. The house was falling apart and that record was the soundtrack to that whole period, 2009 to 2011. It was the record I felt envious of not having made. They did something that I felt I was close to being able to make but also superior, and it wasn't what I'd made! I thought: ""Shit, they got there first!"" It's a strange record from a strange group because they seem underappreciated and under-exposed and never really play live. We ended up going to record in Gothenburg and we met Dan Lissvik on this industrial estate in the winter. He talked about how life is a pendulum and he sits above it; he was chain smoking and was a good guy. The record itself though is somebody's idea of West Coast hip-hop filtered through a suburban Swedish kid's imagination. It is at odds with what Gothenburg is like in the winter. The production on it is amazing, with elements of interlocking guitars, but it's freer and maybe it helped us loosen some of the strictness that was in the band at the beginning sonically."

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After Life (Wandafaru Raifu) (1998)
After Life (Wandafaru Raifu) (1998)
1998 | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Then, my last one is going to be — this might be slightly more obscure, though it really shouldn’t be. I fell in love with this film when I first saw it and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film as beautiful, as contemplative. The film After Life by Hirokazu Koreeda. I remember when I first saw it, just being totally blown away by every single frame of it. The honesty of it, the fact that it celebrated life, the fact that it was so unbelievably profound and spoke volumes about living life to the fullest and cherishing every moment. I don’t think there’s been a more beautiful film about life itself. It’s so understated in the way he tells his story. It’s obviously a collection of vignettes and a collection of talking heads, but woven into this narrative. Again, I might be wrong, but I seem to remember that the number of the people who contributed to the experiences of life are real people — it’s almost like documentary-styled elements to the film itself. So you got these really personal memories that are very private. Sometimes they’re nostalgic, sometimes they are beautiful, sometimes they’re funny and amusing. That, for me, is the ultimate win. When the Blu-rays of that came out in Japan, straight away I was like, “I’m buying this film! I need this film in HD.”"

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Road Trip (2000)
Road Trip (2000)
2000 | Comedy
Deplorable, only a few meager steps above the likes of shit hall-of-famer 𝘋𝘦𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘸: 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘎𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘰. Bargain bin 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘪𝘦 meets injudicious 𝘍𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘉𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘋𝘢𝘺 𝘖𝘧𝘧 mixed with elements that we'd later see Phillips use to his benefit in better films like 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 and 𝘋𝘶𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦 - but are 0% amusing here. I challenge you to find a more stagnant road trip movie than this, why even cast Tom Green at the peak of his fame (who, along with DJ Qualls, are the only perfect performances) if you're only going to have him do a couple outrageous things? Like yeah don't overdo it but come on you can do better than this. I mean hell even similarly awful 30 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘦𝘴𝘴 did at least fifty times more with Fred Ward. Also worth noting how much this films hates women. The entire plot of this movie hinges on the Meyer (who is worse than terrible in this) character rightfully being in danger of his girlfriend finding out he undisguisedly cheated on her but we're supposed to not want that to happen because him and his noxious jackass friends are funny... but they aren't? Some of the ugliest aesthetics and soundtrack offerings of the crime of good taste that was the late 90s/early 2000s style. I'm usually a Todd defender but this is just wretched. 𝘙𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘦.
  
American Horror Story  - Season 2
American Horror Story - Season 2
2012 | Horror
Horror TV doesn't get much better
The second season on AHS, also known as 'Asylum' is fantastic, and in my opinion, still the best season to date.

The anthology template applied to AHS is given it first workout here - it's great to see familiar faces from the first season, albeit playing completely different characters. And the characters here are really something.
Sarah Paulson, Zachary Quinto, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Peters, Lizzie Brocheré, James Cromwell, Lily Rabe - they're all amazing in their own ways. Each character has several layers to them,lacing mystery and intrigue throughout Asylum to keep you guessing.

The unmistakable star of Asylum though is of course Jessica Lange.
Here character Sister Jude is an incredible villain for the most part, and equally sympathetic in other parts. Jessica Lange plays the part with aplomb, obviously enjoying every second of it, and is the main reason why this season is such a stand out.

The tone of Asylum is a lot more full on than Murder House - it's nastier, gorier, funnier, darker.
The cinematography is pretty bang on throughout, spoiling us with creepy shot after creepy shot.

It's honestly great, hard to find much to dislike. The hammier elements in AHS are often overdone and what ultimately stop this show from reaching perfection, but Asylum is as close as it has come for now.
  
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Dean (6927 KP) rated Joker (2019) in Movies

Oct 10, 2019 (Updated Oct 10, 2019)  
Joker (2019)
Joker (2019)
2019 | Crime, Drama
Joaquin Phoenix (2 more)
Great cinematography
A realistic origin story
Send in the Clowns
I've been looking forward to this since seeing the Trailers a while ago. Also the fact that it appears to be a dark, gritty more realistic origin story. Looking and feeling more like a film set in our society, rather than Gotham city. There are enough hints and elements to the film to give it the DC universe setting. It was nice to see these touches in the film.
This film won't be for everyone. It is a slow burner, character driven piece with little action to speak of. It does showcase Joaquin Phoenix talents though in a performance that must make him the favourite for the Best Actor Oscar. It's a dark film, showing his descent into madness, not coping with his mental illness with a bleak look at his past as well. Set against a backdrop of civil unrest in the city. There are obvious comparisons with @Taxi Driver (1976) which had similar themes. It's also quite violent in places but I think compared to many other films it's no worse than you would expect.
Overall I think this could be a modern classic and definitely deserves high praise for the cinematography, which is very artistically shot and the acting. It's Phoenix's portrayal of Joker that this film will be remembered for.