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An Angel at My Table (1990)
An Angel at My Table (1990)
1990 | International, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"An Angel at My Table touched me enormously when it came out. I really lived with this movie in my mind for one or two months. I think I saw it three or four times in the cinema, and I recall it with a great deal of warmth."

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Felicity Huffman recommended Foxcatcher (2014) in Movies (curated)

 
Foxcatcher (2014)
Foxcatcher (2014)
2014 | Drama

"[Number] four is Foxcatcher. And again the two performances for me were — well, I guess the three performances — but one is the director. First of all, it was just so visually beautiful. And I felt like it was visually beautiful for a purpose, not just like, “Look at this lovely shot, and now we’ll get back to storytelling.” I mean every shot moved the story forward in some way, and yet was beautiful, or horrific. I thought Mark Ruffalo was just amazing, and Steve Carrell. So I watched it two or three times. I just thought it was just brilliant."

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Escape Room (2017)
Escape Room (2017)
2017 | Horror
3
5.3 (11 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Sean Young (1 more)
Skeet Ulrich
Everything else (0 more)
Did you know there is three films called Escape Room?
I have seen two of them, both from 2017 and both very bad.

This particular one is the worst one of the two. Four friends partake of the titular game only to find they are trapped in a life or death situation.
The only notable performances come from Skeet Ulrich as the escape room owner and Sean Young (god knows what she is doing here) as a seller.
The rest of the cast are instantly forgettable and the acting very sub par which isn't helped by a silly plot device.
One to only watch once.
  
Star Wars: Rebellion
Star Wars: Rebellion
2016 | Entertainment, Fighting, Miniatures, Science Fiction, Wargame
Star Wars: Rebellion review: A fully operational 4-hour board game
Looking at the box for Star Wars: Rebellion, the massive new two-to-four-player galactic board game from Fantasy Flight, I had only one thought: "Look at the size of that thing!"

Loosely based on the 1998 video game of the same name, the board game version of Rebellion is ludicrously outsized. The galaxy, too large to fit on a single game board, here sprawls across two. Rebel and Imperial forces aren't represented by cardboard but by 153 plastic miniatures—including three Death Stars and two Super Star Destroyers.

Critic: Nate Anderson
Read the full review here: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/star-wars-rebellion-review-a-fully-operational-4-hour-board-game/
  
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Dance or Die by Family Force 5
2008 | Alternative
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
The amazing costumes (3 more)
Awesome music videos
One, two, three, four, I declare a dance war!
Did somebody say remix album???
This band is best listened to live, circa 2009 - 2012. (0 more)
Classic FF5 is still the best
While not all the songs on this album are great (tbh all their break up songs rather suck), Radiator is the song that got me into this band. Probably since it was the only one I could understand over screaming, drums, and bass at the concert, but that is definitely the sign of a good concert. This album is best when blasted as high a volume as you are able.
  
So, I've finished it. It took me two days altogether for the six volumes and several WTF moments near the beginning. But by the end, I was happy. So happy for them, though admittedly up until a few pages from the end I wanted to smack a certain blonde. It was so obvious how much Boss, as you call him, wanted you!!

You drove me mad at times, made me laugh/giggle at others, and overall made me love you both.

Volume One: 3 stars
Volume Two: 3 stars
Volume Three: 4 stars
Volume Four: 4 stars
Volume Five: 4 stars
Volume Six: 5 stars

A great cast of characters, both primary and secondary and the art was pretty cool too.
  
Sisters One, Two, Three
Sisters One, Two, Three
Nancy Star | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sisters One, Two and Three by Nancy Star is a story told from Ginger's perspective. The plot moves between the 1970s and today. Ginger is the oldest of four siblings, and in the 1970s a tragic event redefined her family.

The three sisters, all very different, come together after the death of their mother. Ginger is the the eldest who is the overanxious hypochondriac. Mimi is the laissez-faire soccer Mom extraordinaire. Lastly, Callie is the youngest and the wanderer whom, as of late, has been on one of her famous disappearing acts. The three finally converge at their Martha’s Vineyard home and, finally, are forced to confront the tragedy from their childhood that has plagued them all for years.

The characters in this novel are well thought out and unique, as well as realistic and flawed. This novel has great style, flow and is very easy to read. I was overjoyed when the format on my E-reader copy was clear, and I could easily engage.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Lake Union Publishing for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
  
Archangel's Storm (Guild Hunter, #5)
Archangel's Storm (Guild Hunter, #5)
6
8.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
For me, this was nowhere near as good as the previous four books. Jason didn't ooze sensuality like Raphael and Dmitri did and it took too long for me to get into the book, which is why it's taken me 13 days to read instead of the two/three the previous book did.

This one didn't focus on the relationship as such, and instead focused on the things happening in Neha's court. Admittedly it didnt hold my attention too much, until we uncovered who was behind it and then i was surprised and kinda glad for Mahiya, but it was still kinda blah.

I have the next book in the series and will be reading it very soon.
  
Among the Ten Thousand Things
Among the Ten Thousand Things
Julia Pierpont | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Review on my <a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/2016/01/oh-im-becoming-ghost-in-your-life-and.html">blog here</a>.

Jack Shanley is a fairly well-known New York artist. He's a married father of two. He's also an adulterer, who carries on affairs in his New York studio. This comes back to bite him, so to speak, when one of his exes sends his wife a large box chronicling their entire relationship - emails, texts, sexts - all printed and contained in this one box. The box is delivered to Jack's apartment and opened by his eleven-year-old daughter, Kay, and fifteen-year-old son, Simon. They show the box to their mother, Deb, forcing her to confront the many flaws of her husband. Meanwhile, Kay and Simon are (justifiably) traumatized by the box's contents and the possible dissolution of their parents' marriage.

This was an odd book. As a child of divorce, a lot of this book hit home, and I felt myself feeling a great deal of sympathy for Deb, Kay, and Simon - especially as they disappear off to their vacation home, of sorts, to recover. (Alas, no vacation home when I was a child.) Julia Pierpoint is certainly a strong writer and her prose is lovely and well-crafted. Still, the book often just seems a little flat.

The strangest part of this book, to me, as many other reviewers have pointed out - is that is constructed in four parts - parts one and three basically deal with the immediate aftermath of the box's delivery and how the family reacts. Parts two and four tell us what happen to Jack, Deb, Kay, and Simon for their entire lives. It's an odd author tool, and I'm not sure it entirely works. For me, I was caught up enough in Part One's tale and then found Part Two incredibly jarring - even more so to be dumped back into the current story at Part Three. Part Four repeats Two a bit and tells a bit more about what happens to the characters. It's an odd device, and I really would have preferred not to have had Part Two stuck in there at all. I suppose it's an artistic overreach that appeals to critics but not most actual readers.

Overall, I found the book an intriguing look at a family dealing with a father's betrayal. Not a ton happens - it's not that sort of book - but Pierpont's writing is strong, and I liked Simon and Kay. I am not sure the book is one that will leave a lasting impression with me, though.
  
Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg
Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg
1971 | World
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I became popular in France prior to becoming popular anywhere else; for whatever reason they just adopted me. I didn’t speak any French, I didn’t tailor that in any way, but they said I was a bit like Serge and then I got into him as a consequence. The French are a weird culture, I’m really blessed that I’m popular there but I also think… fuck, it is quite uncool there. They’re the only nation in the world that clap on the one and the three, everyone else claps on the two and the four, so there’s something inherently corrupt about their understanding of music. They’re better at pastry than they are at music. Serge Gainsbourg understood how shit French music was, and he turned it around."

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