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Dani (4 KP) rated The Umbrella Academy in TV

Mar 7, 2019  
The Umbrella Academy
The Umbrella Academy
2018 | Action, Fantasy
Contains spoilers, click to show
I must admit that I was not too drawn into this when I had seen the trailer. However more and more of my friends and family had started to watch this and their enthusiasm made me give this a go. I did not regret it! I found myself invested and entertained after only one episode.

The characters are distinct and unpredictable. My friends and I each have different favourite characters, which demonstrates the diversity of the characters offer. They are also flawed and this makes them relatable.

I like the unique plot and that the side characters are just as engaging as the main ones. I am definitely recommending this to anyone who will listen and I am eager for season two.

I will say, the only thing that set my teeth on edge was the treatment of Vanya. The family neglected and effectively emotionally abused her. This does not excuse her actions at the end of the show but rather irritated me when they got to swoop in and act like heroes for intervening in the explosion that they set in motion. I am guessing that this will be addressing in the second season however, and the fact that I am invested enough in the show that this annoys me, tells me that this is definitely done well.
  
“I spent a whole day without eating and the whole night without sleeping in order to think, but it was of no use. I got nothing out of it. Thinking cannot compare with studying” - Confucius

Shing-Tung Yau along with Steve Nadis take us on a journey of a life in the pursuit of the universes hidden geometry. Their journey goes from China to Hong Kong and leads to San Francisco and Berkeley. Who knew looking for a topic for your dissertation at Berkeley would lead to a life long study in geometry. I found his realizations profound how Shing-Tung Yau made his decisions. This is a wonderful read for not just mathematician it goes beyond that it goes to the equation within all of us and the search we are all on to solve the Shape of Life. This wonderfully written book for a mathematician is a dream with the equations and answers with steps included allows others to understand the complex thinking of Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis and why they found their conclusions are both profound and completely unique not that no one has not thought of them before but the way they found the conclusions was what made them so profound. The deeper meaning beyond the math makes this by far one of my most favorite books of all time.
  
Daisy Jones & the Six
Daisy Jones & the Six
Taylor Jenkins Reid | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry
Writing (3 more)
Characters
The writers format.
The music....even though it doesn't exist
One of the best Behind the Music's and it's for a fictional band
I loved absolutely everything about this book!
As someone who was raised on 70s music my entire life I have to say Daisy Jones and The Six just captured the era so perfect from the clothes to the attitudes to the music everything was just perfect about this book I'm kind of bummed that I didn't go with the audiobook cuz I've heard so many great things about it even though I'm not an audiobook fan I might just have to give it a listen.
The characters really just stole the entire story each one of them had such a distinct personality and I loved that you got hear each one of their story's in a way but Daisy Jones really was the show steeler and just really sounded like such a cool person really bummed that she's not actually real.
I was really show me where e on how the book was set up but honestly I grew up watching Behind the Music with my dad a lot and the book really just felt like watching an episode.

And honestly the most tragic part of the book is that the album wasn't real.
  
Show all 3 comments.
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BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) Apr 7, 2019

Same here I use to love watching behind the music when I was young and this had the feeling down perfect. Well I can't say I liked every character I was definitely invested in every character! I actually really hope there is no sequal it was perfect as it was.

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Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) Apr 7, 2019

I know. It is perfect. But it's hard to let go of the characters. There's so much left to say.

The Keeper Of Lost Things
The Keeper Of Lost Things
Ruth Hogan | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.8 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
So to begin with I struggled with this one. Even though it only had 300 pages, it seemed to be taking a while for anything to happen with the plot. But I’m glad I didn’t give in. It did take until around page 150 for me to get into it, but after that point it was brilliant.

Laura is a brilliant protagonist. She’s got all of her own problems and is then left with the complicated mystery of Anthony’s life. But she never dwells on the past too much. She moves on from everything that has happened and lives in the moment.

I loved Sunshine. She’s such an enthusiastic character and she seemed to be the only one who could see the truth in everything that was going off. Sunshine had Down’s Syndrome and she saw a friend in Laura. She made the perfect friend and was such a lovely person with some of the best ideas. It was so refreshing to find a character like her.

I would happily just read a book of all the short stories that came with every lost item. I found most of them gripping, and quite a lot of them dealt with quite serious subjects. They were like little windows into people’s lives and I found them really compelling.

The Keeper of Lost Things is a brilliant little book and worth picking up.
  
Young Adult (2011)
Young Adult (2011)
2011 | Comedy, Drama
8
7.6 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Charlize Theron (2 more)
Patton Oswalt
Elizabeth Reaser
Patrick Wilson (0 more)
Adulting Not Suited For Everyone
First off, in order to enjoy this deliciously vapid slice of life film I highly recommend suspending your moral compass to get a truly enjoyable viewing. Charlize Theron is absolutely PERFECT as ghost writer Mavis Gary, who for the most part, hasn't matured beyond her glory days as a popular high school cheerleader and displays questionable morality traits as the film progresses. She's tall, blonde, and beautiful and as such was destined to go on to do amazing things in life...until life got in the way. Enjoying moderate success as a ghost writer of a once popular young adult series, Mavis's only real source of income is dwindling, as the series is coming to an end as she struggles to write a satisfactory ending which mirrors what's happening in her own personal life. As luck would have it, an old high school flame of Mavis's sends her an e-vite to a celebration for the birth of his first child and the events that unfold is anything short of cringe worthy, rage, and ultimately dissapointment. I highly recommend this quant little film that I feel doesn't get nearly as much attention and praise as it deserves, it makes for one heck of a Friday night in!
  
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ClareR (5885 KP) rated The Girl Who Came Out of the Woods in Books

May 3, 2019 (Updated May 3, 2019)  
The Girl Who Came Out of the Woods
The Girl Who Came Out of the Woods
Emily Barr | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller, Young Adult (YA)
8
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Arty (Artemis) has grown up in a clearing in an Indian forest with eleven other people. They name themselves after Gods and Goddesses and have almost entirely shut themselves off from the outside world. Arty and the other children have never left the clearing. It’s an idyllic life, until an illness strikes the camp. It’s highly contagious, and all of the inhabitants except for Arty and one of her ‘brothers’, Zeus, die. Arty and Zeus are alone in the world, until Zeus’ aunt comes to claim him, leaving Arty utterly alone.
This is the story of Arty finding her family and her place in a strange world.
I really enjoyed this. Arty has such a simplistic view of life, but this makes her a genuine, caring person - she has a lot to learn. She has no knowledge of money, transport, and has led a sheltered life.
Alongside her story are excerpts of a mystery person who appears to be locked in a room. I couldn’t understand what the connection was to begin with, but it all became clear - a very clever addition to the book.
This is a lovely story, and well worth a read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book to read and review, and to The Pigeonhole who ensured that I actually got it read!
  
What Remains Of Edith Finch
What Remains Of Edith Finch
2017 | Action/Adventure
Walking simulator worth playing
Been waiting a long time for this game to be cheap enough so I'd get to see it. And this month, it's free for Playstation Plus subscribers. Well, I'm happy I got to play it because it's one of those games that really touches you. Gets inside you & leaves you feeling blue, happy, mad, hurt & thinking about life itself. The game puts you in the body of Edie Jr. of the Finch family, returning to her family's home, where she grew up. She wanders around, finding diaries of her family & reading them. While she reads them, you get to play their stories, finding how each of them dies. Most of them, not so peacefully,

The game is short. Only 2 hours or maybe 3, if you take your time looking around at the beautifully rendered world, which I did. The story is well written. Each member's story can hit you differently. The hardest one is where you play as an infant. I won't spoil it, but when it ended, the sound of a frog came through my controller. It was like getting kicked in the chest.

My only complaints are the short game time & the slow speed of your walking.

I highly recommend this game & if you're a PS:Plus subscriber, you'd be crazy not to try it now.
  
Aladdin (2019)
Aladdin (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Musical
The colors, choreography is remarkable (0 more)
In my opinion, two cast members were off. (0 more)
Will definitely keep your attention.
So I'm a big fan of the Disney classic and was looking forward to this. Right from the start I believe they got Aladdin cast member wrong. Sorry he has a freaking 5 o clock shadow through the majority of the film and hairy ass arms. I thought part of the magic was that the love story between two people at most 20 years of age. So yea not a fan of the post puberty Aladdin. The man sings and acts great however.

Will Smith as the genie was a welcome surprise. He brought his own majic to the part so not to dishonor the legend Robin Williams. The film is great because it is based off of Disney's Aladdin so it is not a word for word live action and even includes two new songs that hold up to the originals.

Another cast member I thought was missing major personality was Jasmine's father. Sure he looked the part but he was not fat or jolly and had a droll type manor. Despite these few differences the movie entertained my son and I and almost felt like a new movie. Snore factor of 0/10 great.
PS I miss Gilbert Godfrey as the birds voice.
  
The Green Mile
The Green Mile
Stephen King | 1996 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
9.1 (35 Ratings)
Book Rating
Atmosphere (1 more)
Characters
Made me cry (I try to be hard - Gerrrr) (0 more)
A disturbing but beautiful book
I'd seen the film a long time ago so no surprises with the plot but wow was I surprised at how well written and captivating this book was.

Written as the memoir of former Prison Guard Paul Edgecombe we get a look into the life of Block E of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary which Paul is the head guard of in the 1930s. In what we would call death row today they call it the “Green Mile” due to the colour of the floor. We get a snapshot of the period on the block around the time of convicted child killer John Coffey coming onto the “Mile.”

Each part of the book has a bit from the present from as Paul is writing this memoir and these served as lovely little bridge to the next part of his story.

I've read quite a bit of King and enjoy a lot of his work with his well crafted stories, but I've never fallen head over heels for his writing....until now.

Very emotionally engaging King really pulls off a great atmosphere, characters and despite a supernatural element, a story that easily carries you along. Not often I cry reading a book but this one got me.
  
Dirty Dancing  (1987)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
1987 | Drama, Music, Romance
The feel happy theme of the film. (0 more)
Robby. That guys just yuck. (0 more)
Nobody puts baby in the corner
Makes me want to dance and go on holiday at Kellermans even now in 2019.
 The development of both characters mix well despite rumours Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze did not get on off screen.
Baby is vulnerable and naive to start and with Jonny's cocky, bad boy influence she seems to grow up as the films goes, becoming a woman. At the same time Baby becomes the right influence on Jonny Castle, bringing out his good, sensitive side. This is done gradually and it doesn't go from just putting up with each other to boom let's get married without any of the in betweens which some films forget about.
The bit that got me was when he says he had a dream that her dad accepted him. This wouldn't have happened at the beginning and I felt it was the perfect way to show how much Jonny had fallen in love with baby without the need of the whole 'I love You' moment which is a big yawn after the 50th film in a chick flick'athon.
Every female should want a man like Jonny Castle and have this DVD in their collection. Also as someone who was born old, the music is fabulous, they don't make music like that anymore!