Search
Search results
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Platinum Doll in Books
Feb 15, 2019
I've longed admired Jean Harlow. There's just something about her that is mesmerizing and infectious. She was someone who seemed to glow from within. While I am no expert and haven't seen all her films, I still have an idea of who she might have been. I was so excited for the opportunity to read <b>Platinum Doll</b>, but as I was reading, the thrill decreased until it was gone.
Ms. Girard's portrayal of Jean Harlow, born Harlean Harlow Carpenter, is hollow, naive and full of wide-eyed wonder at everything. While I will buy the latter two to a certain degree, I can't help feeling that Harlean was savvier and more in control than described in the book. She never grew in the book, and yes there was lip service that she had, but it wasn't felt. Everything seemed to fall into her lap or it was dumb luck. It never felt that Harlean had much gumption or incentive to go for it. Now that's not something I believe is true. Someone who takes on a dare, dyes her hair a shocking platinum blonde, and defies a controlling mother when she elopes isn't a person who stands back and allows things to happen to her. No, she makes them happen.
As for the plot, well, most of it is devoted to her first marriage with Charles "Chuck" McGrew, which was unfortunate as it was boring and redundant with basically the same thing happening over and over again. Yawn. Her mother, Jean Harlow, was shown as your typical stage mother, which I don't doubt she was, but I would also guess that their mother/daughter relationship was deeper and more complicated than that written. Not much is told about her work, just brief glimpses and mentions. Part of the problem was that it was just basic a to b to c telling. Change the names and certain circumstances and this could be about any ingenue in the 20s and 30s.
I could go more in depth, but the book didn't so why should I? I wish I'd passed on <b>Platinum Doll</b> and watched the glamorous Jean Harlow at work or read a biography about her instead. I appreciate what the author tried to do, but the attempt failed to bring to life the vivacity of this fascinating woman.
<i>2.5 stars</i>
<center><img src="http://rs32.pbsrc.com/albums/d6/satilanna/Stars/harlow_zpsp70exwm6.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip"></center>;
Ms. Girard's portrayal of Jean Harlow, born Harlean Harlow Carpenter, is hollow, naive and full of wide-eyed wonder at everything. While I will buy the latter two to a certain degree, I can't help feeling that Harlean was savvier and more in control than described in the book. She never grew in the book, and yes there was lip service that she had, but it wasn't felt. Everything seemed to fall into her lap or it was dumb luck. It never felt that Harlean had much gumption or incentive to go for it. Now that's not something I believe is true. Someone who takes on a dare, dyes her hair a shocking platinum blonde, and defies a controlling mother when she elopes isn't a person who stands back and allows things to happen to her. No, she makes them happen.
As for the plot, well, most of it is devoted to her first marriage with Charles "Chuck" McGrew, which was unfortunate as it was boring and redundant with basically the same thing happening over and over again. Yawn. Her mother, Jean Harlow, was shown as your typical stage mother, which I don't doubt she was, but I would also guess that their mother/daughter relationship was deeper and more complicated than that written. Not much is told about her work, just brief glimpses and mentions. Part of the problem was that it was just basic a to b to c telling. Change the names and certain circumstances and this could be about any ingenue in the 20s and 30s.
I could go more in depth, but the book didn't so why should I? I wish I'd passed on <b>Platinum Doll</b> and watched the glamorous Jean Harlow at work or read a biography about her instead. I appreciate what the author tried to do, but the attempt failed to bring to life the vivacity of this fascinating woman.
<i>2.5 stars</i>
<center><img src="http://rs32.pbsrc.com/albums/d6/satilanna/Stars/harlow_zpsp70exwm6.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip"></center>;
Brett Eldredge by Brett Eldredge
9.0
Rate It
Album
Singing country music with a soulful edge and more than a dash of pop polish, Brett Eldredge was...
Status Bar Themes ( for iOS7 & Lock screen, iPhone ) New Wallpapers : by YoungGam.com
Lifestyle
App
Do you still use typical and dull Status bar ? "Status bar Themes" is the finest wallpaper app you...
Facetune 2
Photo & Video and Lifestyle
App
What if we told you that from now on, every single selfie you take will look amazing? With Facetune...
Beckie Shelton (40 KP) rated The Shimmering in Books
May 28, 2017
Sci-Fi Romance
The shimmering By Susan Kearney was a sci-fi romance that was very reminiscent of the stories I have read in my younger days and I was such a sucker for these, So this book had me feeling rather nostalgic, wanting to experience this all over again.
This was my main reason for wanting to read this novel and I have to admit I was also looking for something light, fluffy and just easy to read, a bit of romantic instalove to warm the old heart, sigh.
And The Shimmering does all that, you get exactly what it says on the tin.
This was an ok read, not amazing, but it passed a few hours and was enjoyable in an easy non-brain taxing way.
Basically, you have our intrepid heroine journalist Sandra Lowell testing out an astral projecting machine for a story.
This device manages to, with a little help from an ancient Totem the Zorash, to send Sandra across the universe and into the body of a woman about to be married to Daveck. Daveck is intent on marrying his enemies daughter to force her to reveal the location of the same object that has helped propel Sandra here to his planet from across the stars.
So what worked for me and what didn't.
well, I felt that the storyline here is so imaginative that much more could have been done to expand on this, I would have liked to see this more of this new world, to explore and meet its alien people properly.
Sandra also seemed a lot more fleshed out than Daveck, who I really struggled to get a fully dimensional picture of and to connect with, also I'm all for instalove but I felt that Sandra after lamenting all through earlier chapters why she didn't have a man and how important her career was gave up that job unbelievably fast.
Now that is out of the way, why should you read The Shimmering?
Well, This is a charming uncomplicated tale of instalove across the stars, it's very imaginative and though it's a simple angst-free story it does kind of give you a warm nostalgic glow, This wasn't quite a three for me but a two seemed too low so I've rated this 2 1/2 on the Goodreads rating I would have rated it slightly higher if I was able to connect more with the book's characters, for me this was an ok read that pleasantly passed the time.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free readers copy of the Shimmering. This is my own unbiased opinion.
Arc Reviewed By BeckieBookworm
https://www.beckiebookworm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9460945-bex-beckie-bookworm
This was my main reason for wanting to read this novel and I have to admit I was also looking for something light, fluffy and just easy to read, a bit of romantic instalove to warm the old heart, sigh.
And The Shimmering does all that, you get exactly what it says on the tin.
This was an ok read, not amazing, but it passed a few hours and was enjoyable in an easy non-brain taxing way.
Basically, you have our intrepid heroine journalist Sandra Lowell testing out an astral projecting machine for a story.
This device manages to, with a little help from an ancient Totem the Zorash, to send Sandra across the universe and into the body of a woman about to be married to Daveck. Daveck is intent on marrying his enemies daughter to force her to reveal the location of the same object that has helped propel Sandra here to his planet from across the stars.
So what worked for me and what didn't.
well, I felt that the storyline here is so imaginative that much more could have been done to expand on this, I would have liked to see this more of this new world, to explore and meet its alien people properly.
Sandra also seemed a lot more fleshed out than Daveck, who I really struggled to get a fully dimensional picture of and to connect with, also I'm all for instalove but I felt that Sandra after lamenting all through earlier chapters why she didn't have a man and how important her career was gave up that job unbelievably fast.
Now that is out of the way, why should you read The Shimmering?
Well, This is a charming uncomplicated tale of instalove across the stars, it's very imaginative and though it's a simple angst-free story it does kind of give you a warm nostalgic glow, This wasn't quite a three for me but a two seemed too low so I've rated this 2 1/2 on the Goodreads rating I would have rated it slightly higher if I was able to connect more with the book's characters, for me this was an ok read that pleasantly passed the time.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free readers copy of the Shimmering. This is my own unbiased opinion.
Arc Reviewed By BeckieBookworm
https://www.beckiebookworm.com/
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9460945-bex-beckie-bookworm
Mom.life — pregnancy & baby
Medical and Health & Fitness
App
The app for modern moms. A community of moms who chat, laugh, brag, vent, cry and support each...
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Brightburn (2019) in Movies
Jul 7, 2020
Horror Twist On A Classic Comic Book Icon
Brightburn is a 2019 superhero/horror movie produced by James Gunn and Kenneth Huang. It was directed by David Yarovesky with screenplay written by Mark and Brian Gunn. The film was produced by Screen Gems, Stage 6 Films, Troll Court Entertainment, and the H Collective. The movie stars Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones and Meredith Hagnar.
Living in Brightburn, Kansas, Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle Breyer (David Denman), a young farm couple, struggle with conceiving a child due to fertility issues. One night, a spaceship falls from the sky near their farm. A baby boy is found inside and the couple decide to adopt him and name him Brandon. Years later, it seems Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn) is a typical young boy as he has been raised without the knowledge of his true origin. However this begins to change in very dramatic ways as the spaceship that he arrived in, hidden in a trapdoor in the barn, begins to glow and affect him disturbingly.
This movie was very much horror and with the R-rating it did not disappoint in that category. However for a superhero movie, I definitely felt it could have been better, especially when it came to the storytelling. I felt like the plot wasn't structured enough and it didn't always feel like it was going somewhere except for what it had shown through the trailers. You know, like it showed in the trailers the outcome and the journey to that outcome wasn't as fun or surprising as I thought it was going to be. The kill scenes though were very brutal, which for some reason I wasn't expecting as much, I guess because the one doing them is this super-powered 12 year old. But this was an awesome concept on a very familiar story that everyone has grown up with or heard, which is basically Superman. There are comics from DC and of Superman like Red Son Superman; where it's a "what if" Superman had landed in Russia instead of United States, and there is a Justice League animated film where instead of Superman, Kal-El, the baby that escapes Krypton is Generel Zod's child and instead of landing in Kansas he lands in New Mexico and is raised by Mexican migrant farmers. But I don't think there has been a story to explore this type of different way Superman could have grown up and it was shockingly entertaining to say the least. The mid-credits scene was really cool to see as well and know that the cinematic universe for Brightburn could expand if it does well financially. I'm thinking that it won't with stiff competition such as Aladdin and John Wick 3 but who knows. I give this film a 6/10.
Living in Brightburn, Kansas, Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle Breyer (David Denman), a young farm couple, struggle with conceiving a child due to fertility issues. One night, a spaceship falls from the sky near their farm. A baby boy is found inside and the couple decide to adopt him and name him Brandon. Years later, it seems Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn) is a typical young boy as he has been raised without the knowledge of his true origin. However this begins to change in very dramatic ways as the spaceship that he arrived in, hidden in a trapdoor in the barn, begins to glow and affect him disturbingly.
This movie was very much horror and with the R-rating it did not disappoint in that category. However for a superhero movie, I definitely felt it could have been better, especially when it came to the storytelling. I felt like the plot wasn't structured enough and it didn't always feel like it was going somewhere except for what it had shown through the trailers. You know, like it showed in the trailers the outcome and the journey to that outcome wasn't as fun or surprising as I thought it was going to be. The kill scenes though were very brutal, which for some reason I wasn't expecting as much, I guess because the one doing them is this super-powered 12 year old. But this was an awesome concept on a very familiar story that everyone has grown up with or heard, which is basically Superman. There are comics from DC and of Superman like Red Son Superman; where it's a "what if" Superman had landed in Russia instead of United States, and there is a Justice League animated film where instead of Superman, Kal-El, the baby that escapes Krypton is Generel Zod's child and instead of landing in Kansas he lands in New Mexico and is raised by Mexican migrant farmers. But I don't think there has been a story to explore this type of different way Superman could have grown up and it was shockingly entertaining to say the least. The mid-credits scene was really cool to see as well and know that the cinematic universe for Brightburn could expand if it does well financially. I'm thinking that it won't with stiff competition such as Aladdin and John Wick 3 but who knows. I give this film a 6/10.
Camera Makeup 360
Beauty, Entertainment and Photo & Video
App
Beauty and fashion magazines shouldn’t have all the fun! Creating beautiful and natural looking...
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Babushka's Beauty Secrets: Old World Tips for a Glamorous New You in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Rating: 4.5
Ruder's grandmother—Babushka, in Russian—seemed to have an answer for every ailment, and it was always organic and made from things in your kitchen. After years of using her Babushka's beauty secrets on herself and her grandmother's clients, Ruder moved to America and started using the treatments on the women in her salon. Now, studies have proven that the treatments that her grandmother used for decades are just as good or better than the ones in the stores, because they're more concentrated and have less chemicals and more organic material.
The idea behind Babushka's Beauty Secrets is this: Instead of an expensive treatment that is not as concentrated or involves being eaten, getting soaked into the bloodstream, and deposited in the right place, why not just apply the vitamin or the mineral in high concentration directly to where you need it?
Babushka's Beauty Secrets has everything from foot scrubs to facial masks to hair treatments to acne treatments. There are treatments for eyes, lips, hair, hands, feet, and whole body. There are even waxing processes and shaving creams. There are recipes in here aimed for younger pre-teens all the way up.
All the ingredients in Babushka's Beauty Secrets are the ones you'll have in your refrigerator: Milk, eggs, mustard, mayonnaise, avocado, olive oil, etc. In one section of the book, Ruder compares prices of treatments and natural foods: the prices are hundreds of dollars difference, and they work better.
The only thing that bothered me slightly was the vagueness of some of the ingredients. When she says "milk," does it have to be whole milk? fat free? does it make a difference? Milk is an example, but there are other ingredients she mentions that are not specific. With so many chemicals in our food today, is there a specific brand that is best? is there a brand that we need to avoid? there is nothing in the book along these lines. In the long run, I think if it did make a big enough difference she would mention it, but it still raised questions for me.
Some of the specific things that Babushka's Beauty Secrets hits on:
Skin treatments that make your skin glow and look young
eye treatments for dark circles, crows feet, and eyelashes
lip moisturizers and colors
hair treatments for dandruff, dry hair, thin hair, oily hair, every kind of hair etc
feet treatments
treatments for cellulite and sunburns
one ingredient wonders
I was very impressed and surprised by Babushka's Beauty Secrets. Not only did I learn cool recipes, but I know now why each one works the way it does, because the reason you're using it is explained in the recipe. Basically, this book will save you a lot of money and educate you on keeping your body healthy. It's 110% worth the sixteen dollars—because you'll be set for beauty treatments for everything for the rest of your life.
Ruder's grandmother—Babushka, in Russian—seemed to have an answer for every ailment, and it was always organic and made from things in your kitchen. After years of using her Babushka's beauty secrets on herself and her grandmother's clients, Ruder moved to America and started using the treatments on the women in her salon. Now, studies have proven that the treatments that her grandmother used for decades are just as good or better than the ones in the stores, because they're more concentrated and have less chemicals and more organic material.
The idea behind Babushka's Beauty Secrets is this: Instead of an expensive treatment that is not as concentrated or involves being eaten, getting soaked into the bloodstream, and deposited in the right place, why not just apply the vitamin or the mineral in high concentration directly to where you need it?
Babushka's Beauty Secrets has everything from foot scrubs to facial masks to hair treatments to acne treatments. There are treatments for eyes, lips, hair, hands, feet, and whole body. There are even waxing processes and shaving creams. There are recipes in here aimed for younger pre-teens all the way up.
All the ingredients in Babushka's Beauty Secrets are the ones you'll have in your refrigerator: Milk, eggs, mustard, mayonnaise, avocado, olive oil, etc. In one section of the book, Ruder compares prices of treatments and natural foods: the prices are hundreds of dollars difference, and they work better.
The only thing that bothered me slightly was the vagueness of some of the ingredients. When she says "milk," does it have to be whole milk? fat free? does it make a difference? Milk is an example, but there are other ingredients she mentions that are not specific. With so many chemicals in our food today, is there a specific brand that is best? is there a brand that we need to avoid? there is nothing in the book along these lines. In the long run, I think if it did make a big enough difference she would mention it, but it still raised questions for me.
Some of the specific things that Babushka's Beauty Secrets hits on:
Skin treatments that make your skin glow and look young
eye treatments for dark circles, crows feet, and eyelashes
lip moisturizers and colors
hair treatments for dandruff, dry hair, thin hair, oily hair, every kind of hair etc
feet treatments
treatments for cellulite and sunburns
one ingredient wonders
I was very impressed and surprised by Babushka's Beauty Secrets. Not only did I learn cool recipes, but I know now why each one works the way it does, because the reason you're using it is explained in the recipe. Basically, this book will save you a lot of money and educate you on keeping your body healthy. It's 110% worth the sixteen dollars—because you'll be set for beauty treatments for everything for the rest of your life.