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Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey
2007 | Comedy
8
8.0 (30 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Down to earth. (1 more)
Funny, witty and clever.
Only had 3 seasons :( (0 more)
A classic
Okay before I added my rating it was at 6.7 đź’Ł... I'm actually quite surprised at this as I have found it to be an all rounder. It has everything a sitcom should have. The writing is fantastic (Thank you Ruth Jones and James Corden) the acting is excellently done (you can get the odd hero that over acts in a lovely simple sitcom like this - luckily this isn't the case with G&S), the casting is fantastic and I love the locations etc.. That sounds random but the homes they are in feel like the characters homes, the hometowns suit the actors that have been cast as well. In some sitcoms you can think of another actor or actress that could have played the part better etc.. but in this, the parts were perfectly cast.
There's nothing unrealistic about it, it feels real, something that could be happening to someone down the road from you. The meeting over the phone rings true with me as I met my husband through a mutual friend on xbox!!! (We have now been together 7 years and have a beautiful daughter)
So yeah, I'd recommend if you like a classic, British heartwarming comedy.
  
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Lee (2222 KP) Aug 21, 2019

Big favourite in our household - probably an 8 or 9 out of 10. Can't wait for the Christmas special this year!

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Elli H Burton (1288 KP) Aug 21, 2019

Oh yeah it's not Christmas without a Gavin and Stacey special, so happy it's a new one though!!!

A Dark and Twisting Path
A Dark and Twisting Path
Julia Buckley | 2018 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Lena’s Path Continues to be Enjoyably Twisty
Lena London and Camilla Graham have just returned from their first joint book tour when Lena gets a call from her friend Allison. Allison has found a dead body on the edge of her property. Lena goes over to be with Allison only to recognize the letter opener sticking out of the victim as one she gave her boyfriend Sam. Who is trying to frame him for murder now?

After the second book in the series, I was anxious to see what would happen to these characters next and how the cliffhanger would be resolved. I’m thrilled to say I was very satisfied with how things developed here, and I am confident that fans of the series will be as well. If you aren’t familiar with the series, it borrows heavily from Gothic stories, so this isn’t a typical cozy plot, but that doesn’t make for a bad story in the slightest. The pages turned all too quickly. I was annoyed by some timeline issues early on, but those were minor overall. Lena is a strong heroine, and the rest of the cast are charming and eccentric. If you haven’t started this series yet, I recommend it; I just don’t recommend you start here. You really need the previous two books to fully appreciate what happens here.
  
Every book in this series has completely blown me away. And through it all, I have been LONGING for more about Barclay. I was so ecstatic when I found out Roseanna White would be featuring him in the final book of the series. Now, don't get me wrong, Evelina is the perfect match for him, and I enjoyed her story too...But BARCLAY...SWOON...

He truly deserves the title of "Swoon Worthy". From the care for his family to his undercover work, to learning about his childhood...Your heart will ache, cheer, and be encouraged. The author has created a whole world of people that carve out their own place in your heart. There is no going back once you dive into this realm.

True to her style, Roseanna seamlessly weaves faith, love, and bit of mystery into this story. Set in the midst of The Great War, this is the perfect story for anyone who loves Downton Abbey or WWI history. Or maybe, you are looking for something new-to-you. You won't go wrong with this series. Start with A Name Unknown and fall in love with Rosie and Peter first!

I received a complimentary copy of An Hour Unspent. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
  
Wildfire (Hellfire #1)
Wildfire (Hellfire #1)
Ella Moore | 2021 | Paranormal, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!


Erisi is the most feared demon in the whole of hell. Her reputation precedes her, that is until they see her and then think how could she possibly be the most feared demon when she won't even turn into demon form. That is their mistake and she will make them pay. She will do whatever it takes to become head of Lucifer's guards to prove her worth. Well, almost anything.


I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and cannot wait to read the next one. I found myself asking questions about why the characters are the way they are and what's happened as you are given snippets until they are ready to tell you so the question does get answered and it's horrific what both characters have been through. I enjoyed the growing relationship between all of the characters and how they become a family. The amount of detail in the battle scenes had me feeling a bit icky at times as you can almost see what is happening through the descriptions given.


I recommend you read this.


** 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. *
  
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Andy K (10821 KP) rated The Lobster (2015) in Movies

Apr 15, 2018 (Updated Apr 15, 2018)  
The Lobster (2015)
The Lobster (2015)
2015 | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rather like a trip to the dentist!
The title may suggest I didn't like the film, but that's not correct. I guess I just meant watching a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos makes you uneasy, awkward and you are not sure what is about to happen. In the case of this film, though, I found it very interesting, surreal, deadpan and funny all at the same time.

The unusual premise involves people checking into a hotel where they 45 days to find love or must become an animal. Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz navigate their way through this extremely unusual film not for most tastes I would imagine. After recently watching The Killing of a Sacred Deer, i was curious to check this one out and I wasn't disappointed.

The actors must have had a hard time showing little emotion and not cracking up when they sputter the awkward, contrite but witty dialogue and some of the very bizarre situations they find themselves in.

Still, with myriads of films under my belt at this stage in my life, I'll gladly take something original over Fast & Furious 27.

  
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Janeeny (200 KP) rated The Iliad in Books

Jun 10, 2019  
The Iliad
The Iliad
Homer, E.V. Rieu, Peter Jones | 2014 | Essays
6
7.1 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
Personally I think this should have also counted towards my classic read for the month aswell, but hey, I don’t make the rules . . oh, wait . .
For those of you not in the know The Iliad is Homers epic poem about the Trojan war, this version was translated by EV Rieu.
What can I say about this, without sounding like a complete philistine? It is essentially a Soap Opera based around testosterone fuelled macho men and a bunch of Gods having a hissy fit! I loved it!

Crivens, there’s a lot of people in it though!! It did take me a little while to get into it, and being a little rusty on my Greek mythology I kept forgetting who was on whose side, but I eventually found my stride, and if you can wade through all the different ways that different people were killed (Homer does really like describing how each person died, potentially the Tarantino of his day!) It is a really detailed account of a mythological war that inspired a whole wealth of literature, and I can see why it is a classic.
  
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Michael Apted recommended Kes (1969) in Movies (curated)

 
Kes  (1969)
Kes (1969)
1969 | Drama

"Number two is Kes, Ken Loach’s film. I’d already kind of established myself in television, and I loved Italian movies and all that. And then here was a genuine British neo-realist movie, which I thought was an exquisite film. It dealt with incredibly complicated social issues, which I was very much involved in myself, with my Up series, which had already started by that time. But what I thought was so beautiful about it was that he found the metaphor of this boy and this kestrel, and he told the whole tale of the boy’s life — the stress the boy was under, and the unfairness of life — through the relationship with him and a bird, which I thought was just a brilliant filmic notion. I mean, I’ve always loved his work. He was very influential on my generation — not that he’s much older than us, but I think he was very much our man, and, you know, he has a huge body of work in his lifetime. He never seems to stop. Stop! Right? Otherwise, we’ve all got to keep going, if you keep going. God."

Source
  
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Mothergamer (1536 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Kingdom Hearts III in Video Games

Apr 3, 2019  
Kingdom Hearts III
Kingdom Hearts III
2018 | Action, Role-Playing
It took so long to get here, but once Kingdom Hearts III was here I was ready to play and explore all the worlds. It felt incredible to be traveling with Sora, Goofy, and Donald again. The opening song was incredible and the introduction to the game starts off well, hooking you in immediately. There are a couple of familiar worlds such as Olympus and Twilight Town which act as tutorials for the battle controls and exploration aspects of the game.



Sora hangs out with Hercules.

The battle system for Kingdom Hearts III is great. Combat is fluid, easy to follow, and fun. You can easily swap between keyblades, use your magic abilities, and use your items. Level grinding is not a chore because the battles are so much fun and the worlds that you explore make them even more so. My personal favorite was Toy Story because Sora fit so well in that world and there some pretty fun battles there.



Having fun with battles in Toy Story.

Another fun aspect to battles that was added in the game are the attraction flow attacks. These are not just stylish and fun, they are also pretty powerful special attacks. You can take out many enemies with these attacks so there is no downside to using them at all. My personal favorite was the pirate ship because it was a blast spinning around taking out tons of Heartless.



Use attraction flow attacks to take out your enemies.

The user menu is easy to navigate and is quite user friendly. You can easily equip keyblades, items, and accessories as well as organize everything easily. The moogle shop is back too and you can synthesize and craft items that you need as well as upgrade your keyblades.



The inventory menu is nice and neat.


Another new addition to the game is the gummiphone. This is a cute little nod to social media things like Instagram. You can take photos with the gummiphone and there are even some photo quests where you need to take pictures of specific things in order to get various rewards such as items and munny. In between loading screens you get to see Instagram style posts from the gummiphone that reference the characters, story, and events. It's a nice touch to the game.



Instagram style posts from the gummiphone.


There are also mini games that you can play on your gummiphone. You have to find the code for them which are hidden in various worlds. When you do, you can play a variety of mini games that look like old school Nintendo gameboy games. They all feature Mickey and Sora with games like catching eggs or flying a plane to grab mail. They're silly fun and add that extra bit of whimsy to Kingdom Hearts III.



You can play all these mini games on your gummiphone.


If you're not in the mood for gummiphone games, there is also a cooking mini game that you can play. In order to play, you need to have ingredients for all the recipes. These are easily found in all the worlds you visit during your adventure. Once you have some ingredients you can bring them to Remy (the rat from the movie Rattatouille) and try your skills at the cooking mini game. The cooking mini game is fun, but there is definitely a learning curve to it. If you go too fast or too slow, you fail and you can lose all the ingredients you found. It takes a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it you can make a ton of great dishes and Sora and friends can use them to up their stats.



Practice makes perfect with the cooking mini game.

The world map is pretty easy to see and you can swap between the maps fairly easily. Once you discover a location you can fast travel there which makes things easier. I do wish there had been a few more worlds, but I was pretty happy with the worlds the game had. Everything looked amazing and it was clear that they really wanted things to be done right.



The world map in Kingdom Hearts III.

There is one thing that I absolutely detested in the game however and that thing is the gummi ship. I have never liked the gummi ship in any of the Kingdom Hearts games. The controls for them in my opinion have always been terrible and I always dreaded gummi ship battles. That has not changed for me with Kingdom Hearts III. While the controls have improved quite a bit, I still found myself struggling with them. Having to fight the controls to fly the gummi ship is not a good time. I also didn't like the fact that I would be forced into gummi ship battles before I could land on worlds. I truly feel that the gummi ship should have been optional. This is the only thing I did not like about the game.



I am not a fan of the gummi ship.


I blazed through Kingdom Hearts III because the game itself was an amazing adventure and I couldn't wait to save the world with friendship. The story was great, the worlds were so much fun to explore, and there were so many heartbreaking and heartwarming emotions throughout this adventure. Kingdom Hearts III did a fantastic job of making me care about all of these characters and I was a little sad to say goodbye at the end. Having one thing I didn't like about the game and loving the rest of it speaks volumes about how fantastic I think the game is. It was definitely worth the wait. See you at the next adventure!
  
Santa Claus Worldwide
Santa Claus Worldwide
Tom A. Jerman | 2020 | Biography, History & Politics
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Are you into learning about Santa Claus or how he came about? I have found a book that is called “Santa Claus Worldwide” by Tom A. Jerman; it a decent and excellent book. I learned quite a bit about Christmas and some of the many holidays. The history is not bad.

This book is primarily nonfiction and stands set on the history of Santa Claus. How it the name Santa Claus come about? The many different characters that Santa Claus exists and become. You will be surprised at how many other names are associated, and these lovely children call him.

You will learn a bit about the origin of Christmas and Santa Claus. I learned much about how the Christmas tradition came about and how it changed over the years. What we know about our Christmas traditions today differs from when they first came about and how our practices have evolved.

This book is okay for me. It was not rated low because of how it was written. It was slow and tedious for my taste. Suppose you are a fan of nonfiction books and would enjoy learning about the history of St. Nicholas and Other Holiday Gift Bringers. In that case, This book may be just for you. I enjoy learning about St. Nicholas and the many other holiday gift-bringers. I just thought it was not for me. But not where I did not understand what it was about. This book was okay, and I enjoyed learning new history.