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Kirstinne (1 KP) rated Elsewhere in Books

Aug 5, 2018  
Elsewhere
Elsewhere
Gabrielle Zevin | 2007 | Young Adult (YA)
9
9.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Every word written, kept me wanting to turn to the next page. The story line, the characters were real to me, as if I was there, too. (0 more)
Can't say that this has a negative to it. (0 more)
Page-turner
Contains spoilers, click to show
From the very beginning, when she had her accident, died, and was on the ship. When she arrived in Elsewhere, diving to the bottom of the see, to meeting the love of her rewinding life, to her last day on Elsewhere and her reincarnation. It was all I could think of after reading the book, can't even find the right words to discribe the piece of treasure.
  
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Forced humor, cliches, and way too many jokes about male anatomy.
Contains spoilers, click to show
Okay, I'll start by saying that I did legit chuckle a few times watching Jumanji. I can't even recall why at this point, but there was definitely some laughter involved.

What stands out to me though (I watched the movie a few weeks ago) was all the things that annoyed me.


Like the African American kid from what appeared to be upper middle class whose mother made it seem like the team was his only hope of succeeding.


Also, the fact that it's of course the African American character in the game that is the one who loves alcohol and gets plastered without exercising any common sense.


Or, you know, the fact that it was just so funny to see Jack Black overplaying the 'female trapped in a man's body' thing to limp-wristing levels.


This movie could have been so much better than it was. But it was almost painful to watch. I was hoping we were moving past thinking that laughing at this type of crap was a good thing.
  
Catfish (2010)
Catfish (2010)
2010 | Documentary
Professional identity theft is scary
I remember watching this film shortly after its release thinking how scary this is in the modern age of social media. I warn my kids not to reveal themselves too much in the public domain because you never know who else is watching and listening.

There was some controversy on whether this movie was even legit or it was a "Catfish" for all of us, but I believe it to be true.

I can only imagine the disappointment, anguish and outrage to discover your online relationship partner was feeding you a line of total bullshit from the beginning. If this is true, the victims must have had a hard time believing the levels which were gone through to keep on the ruse.

I found the documentary captivating and intriguing.

The final chapter is below:

  
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Roxanne (13 KP) rated Chimera Book Two in Books

Nov 14, 2018  
CB
Chimera Book Two
Phil Gomm | 2014
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>ARC received from Netgalley</i>

___ <b>3 Star Rating</b> ___

Like the first part this was a very fast paced and action filled read, however, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first. Although the writing had improved, there were less errors and you were drawn further into the story, it just got way too complicated and messy for me.
It got to the point where I just thought that even the characters don't even know whose side they are on, they just swapped sides continuously, so many times I lost count and everything just started to confuse me. There were new characters being introduced all the time with bizarre names that within a page I had forgotten who they were.
All of those points are a shame as <i>Chimera</i> has <b>great</b> potential!
I thought the way every chapter ended was really good in the way that it held my attention and made me want to know what happens next.
I just hope the 3rd book will be less messy.
  
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Chino Moreno recommended Born to Mack by Too $Hort in Music (curated)

 
Born to Mack by Too $Hort
Born to Mack by Too $Hort
1989 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I remember hearing this when I was a little kid, I probably shouldn't have because it's lyrically so dirty. In the neighbourhood I grew up in every car would be driving by playing that record. Too Short is from Oakland California which is pretty close to where I grew up in the Bay Area. It was a local rap record in a way. I wanted to put a rap record in there because rap was such a huge influence on my youth. That is one that's probably less well known. It's very minimal, it must have been made on 808 and then there's the rapping. The way that he builds his vocals, he pretty much rapped the whole thing twice and then made it stereo, so it's got this kind of cool sound. I think he was one of the first people to do that. The lyrical content is really vulgar, but super fun to listen to. When I listen to rap today, well it's hard for me to say I'm a fan of rap music, the majority of it I don't like."

Source
  
Charlie is surprised when James Delacorte asks for his help cataloging his private library since the two hardly know each other. But James fears that someone is stealing his rare books. Returning from his lunch break his first day on the job, Charlie finds James dead. Who killed him? Are there really missing library books?

I let too much time pass before I got back to this series, but I was thrilled to see Charlie and his cat Diesel again. They are great main characters, and I liked how Charlie and several relationships around him grew in this book. The mystery was a bit slow to get started, but once it did, the tension was strong and the ending was great.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/01/book-review-classified-as-murder-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
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Nikki Massey (8 KP) rated Insomnia in Books

Feb 7, 2019  
Insomnia
Insomnia
Stephen King | 2011 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
8.7 (25 Ratings)
Book Rating
Likable characters (1 more)
Portrays actual life fears
Lengthy read (0 more)
I found this book was an amazingly in-depth read and so minutely detailed; I could see and feel everything that was happening at any given point in the story.
I really connected with the main characters, especially Ralph Roberts, and felt quite a bond towards them, although it did take a little longer to warm to Lois.
There were times I laughed out loud, felt a little scared, could feel the joy of the characters and (trying not to give anything away) felt their pain when close people passed away and the sheer terror or trauma felt at these losses.
I did take a long time to read this book but that was mainly down to my personal circumstances and some deep things I was going through at the time.
Some parts were complete non-sensical but still, I could see in a vivid plethora of colours exactly what was happening. I have to say I was going at the pace of understanding of the characters too - when they were confused and weren't sure what was next, I also felt the same. I have to say the ending and climatic moments weren't as I expected. I'm not even sure what I expected, if anything! But I wasn't able to second guess the main scenarios and felt compelled to continue reading to the end. Between reading sessions, I was literally itching to want to continue!
I would highly recommend this as an intrinsically described, oftentimes sarcastic, but also very witty read.
  
Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky, #1)
Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky, #1)
Veronica Rossi | 2011 | Young Adult (YA)
6
8.2 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
Original Review posted on <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2013/09/review-under-the-never-sky-by-veronica-rossi.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>

Note: Formatting may be lost due to copy and paste.

    When there's a bit of hoopla and excitement going about a book (even it's the sequel), I always tend to be curious as to why everyone loves the book. I'm literally asking, “What's so great about it? I want to know!”

      And then my TBR list grows by a book.

      But Under the Never Sky is about a girl named Aria who lives in a futuristic world of Pods and Realms. In that world, she's never seen what's outside the Pods aside from the stories she heard – everything is basically in virtual time. She gets kicked out one day and meets an Outsider named Perry who teaches her the basics to surviving the outside world and needs her help as well.

      I like the concept and general idea of the book. Pods? Realms? No one gets hurt in the Realms and you can see your friends without even moving at all with a cool gadget called Smarteyes? Sounds great.

      But... I didn't really like it. I was pretty bored from the end of Chapter One and probably would have stopped reading the book from then on out. But there was something there, and I decided to read on to see if my boredom status changed by a magnitude. I was hoping that between the end of Chapter One and the end of the book, my opinions would be a whole lot better.

      It didn't change that much, unfortunately. It was just... insipid.

      Another thing that I didn't really like? The romance between Aria and Perry. It was too fast.

      No, scratch that. Actually, allow me to backtrack by two sentences, before “It was too fast.”

      It was perfectly paced for about 80% of the book. But then about 7% or 4 chapters later away from their first kiss, it was just simply too fast for my taste. Much too fast.

      Overall, I liked the concept, but Veronica Rossi's debut novel just isn't very right for me and I don't think I'll be continuing on with the next book in the series, Through the Ever Night.

      Though I am a bit tempted to.

      Convince me well enough to do so and I'll think about it? But the cover is pretty.
  
Black Panther (2018)
Black Panther (2018)
2018 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Great cast (2 more)
Lots of action
Interesting story
The typical marvel formula (2 more)
Too many characters to develop each one
Boring villain
Are we finally feeling marvel fatigue?
I do feel this movie is very overrated. It was good sure but not as good as what people have made it out to be.

This could just be superhero fatigue. Or maybe it's just marvel fatigue because I'm still interesyed in what DC will offer. This just didn't feel very unique to me. Marvel seems to focus a lot on action, set pieces, CGI than its characters. The villain was boring and underdeveloped. It did have strong female characters, I'll give it that but was very underused. Black panther is well cast.

There were parts of this movie that felt very ironman and other parts that felt very James bond weirldy enough. There were times the CGI was distracting and when they tried to be too funny it didn't work. I'm talking about the car chase scene.

I knew nothing about black panther going in except was was in civil war and I'm not sure where they are going to go with the character.

I know I'm talking negatively but don't get me wrong the action was fun. The fight scenes were well choreographed, I live Martin Freeman in everything and it was interesting to see wakanda with all the technological advances. It's nots a bad movie, it was just overrated and just didn't live up to expectations. They falled flat in many areas.
  
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Lee (2222 KP) Jul 19, 2018

This one was a really pleasant surprise for me. I wasn't sold on the trailer at all - it just looked far too busy and messy, whereas every other Marvel trailer tends to blow me away. I even waited a couple of weeks before seeing it at the cinema (which is NOT like me at all!). I actually really loved it though, and it's right up there as one of my favourite Marvel movies. But then, I seem to be one of the few people that was disappointed with Spider-Man: Homecoming, so my opinion does seem to differ from others! I feel you do make some valid points in your review though.

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Noomi Rapace recommended Nil by Mouth (1998) in Movies (curated)

 
Nil by Mouth (1998)
Nil by Mouth (1998)
1998 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"That’s one of my favorites. That one is on my list, too. When I saw it, it just blew me away completely. I saw it when I was quite young, and I remember thinking, “My god, are these really actors? Could a movie be done this way?” It was something I’d never seen before, and it was so brutal and so real; just like watching a documentary. Those kinds of filmmakers and actors kind of opened up things in me that gave me hope and inspired me. I felt less lonely in a way, because I thought, “Okay, there’s people out there exploring things that I would like to do.” People who were not afraid of darkness; people who were not afraid of going into things that were not charming and easy and, you know, sweet and cute. That one made a very strong impression on me."

Source