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ClareR (5726 KP) rated True Story in Books

Jan 16, 2022  
True Story
True Story
Kate Reed Petty | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I thoroughly enjoyed this highly original book. It’s written as a series of emails, transcripts of audio interviews, successive drafts of annotated college admission essays and screenplays (some of which are written when the main female character was a child). True Story tells the story of a young woman who, when too drunk to defend herself, is sexually assaulted in the backseat of a car by two boys on the local lacrosse team. Or was she? Because they deny it, and the fact that they went to the local private school and were seemingly sober (or more so than she was), seems to help people side with them and call her a liar. They gaslight her, make her doubt herself, and the damage this causes her, follows her into adulthood. She finds herself in a very damaging relationship that she struggles to escape from.

Out of all the boys on the lacrosse team, Nick also struggles with the consequences of that night. Whilst he wasn’t in the car, he feels the guilt of those boys’ actions, and he slips into alcoholism as a result (there may well be other reasons as well, but this is what I read into it).

I think I probably inhaled this book. It’s one of those that you start and then find it very difficult to put down. I loved the jumps in presentation, particularly the screenplays. I was urging Alice to stand up for herself and walk out of her dangerous relationship.
It’s a fascinating novel that I’d most definitely recommend.
  
What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Deep Space Nine (2018)
What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Deep Space Nine (2018)
2018 | Documentary
Where would we be without DS9?
Maybe the best Trek of all time?

Sisko, Odo, Kira, O'Brien, Dax, Quark, Bashir and the rest of the massive cast brought Star Trek to life as never before in this vastly different "station"ary style of Trek.

At the time, syndication was where it was at for reruns and additional revenue for a TV program. DS9 bucked the trend of wrapping up everything within one episode and began a TV serial which pretty much ran almost the entire run, much to the dismay of studio executives. Nowadays, shows like The Walking Dead, Lost, or Game of Thrones do this every week, but in the mid 90s this was not common.

Sandwiched in between The Next Generation and Voyager, DS9 did not get a lot of respect during its initial run at all. Also at that time, Trek TNG movies were in full swing so the show had to compete with that as well. Television stations would often preempt the show, skip a week or run the show in the early morning hours which made it even harder for its audience to keep track of the action.

DS9 certainly got a 2nd life with the current popularity of "binge watching" on your favorite streaming service. Having the ability to watch multi-part episodes or entire seasons within a few weeks brought back to life the en genius writing, acting and production quality of the series.

For this documentary, former showrunner Ira Steven Behr took several years worth of cast, crew and fan interviews, clips, behind the scenes footage and compiled a wonderful interesting film for any Trek fan. Many cast members major and minor as well as producers, writers and tech workers told tales of working on the show and how they very much enjoyed their time.

Throughout the many iterations of Trek, original creator Gene Roddenberry felt the show should entertain as well as provide social commentary on the issues of the time and DS9 was no exception. Throughout the show's 7 year run they dealt with issues such as racism, homelessness, same sex relationships and even genetic engineering.

One of the most fun subplots of the film was gathering the show's original writers in a room to formulate the first episode for the fictitious "Season 8" which will never actually happen (although I wish it would). The ideas, plot points and arcs they went through and came up with were extremely interesting, keep with the high level of writing the show originally produced, but also through us a few curveballs with some fun surprises.

Through the cast interviews we got to hear how the crew got along, some of their favorite and least favorite episodes and even the friendships they have maintained with one another.

The DVD set I received also had included a vast assortment of additional footage featuring even more nuggets and stories of what made the show great.

Overall, this film was one of the best documentaries I have ever seen about one of my favorite television programs in my lifetime. I might have to start binge watching the show again very soon.

Did I mention my name appears in the end credits?!? 😊

  
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Chad Miller (121 KP) Jul 23, 2019

I am dying to see this!!!!

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Eleanor (1463 KP) Jul 24, 2019

One of the few TV series that starts off poor but then gets better to keep going from strength to strength. Will have to give this a watch.

    iGenogram: Genogram Editor

    iGenogram: Genogram Editor

    Medical and Education

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    iGenogram is an iPad app developed to assist you in drawing beautiful standardized genograms with no...

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JT (287 KP) rated Frost/Nixon (2008) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020  
Frost/Nixon (2008)
Frost/Nixon (2008)
2008 | Biography, Drama, History
"Hello, Good Evening and Welcome”, David Frost’s suave and debonair talk show host, up against Richard Nixon a President draped in controversy while all the while standing firm in his beliefs.

It’s a political boxing match, and quite literally a no holds barred, gloves off interview that pushed the images and personalities of both men to breaking point.

Michael Sheen is fast becoming the go to guy for character transformations, having already stepped into the shoes of such iconic characters like Brian Clough, Tony Blair and Kenneth Williams. Here though it’s his David Frost that he nails without so much as a shake of his perfectly styled hair.

Not to be out done, Frank Langella portrays Nixon to almost perfection. Nixon was a man seemingly on his knees after the Watergate scandal all but ended his reign as President of the United States. He quickly resigned and was pardoned by new President Gerald Ford.

A lucky escape one might say, but Nixon felt he’d still done nothing wrong and was prepared to go on national TV to prove it, although he never expected anyone quite like David Frost.

Director Ron Howard acts like an off screen promoter as he builds the characters up from the beginning, looking at each sides battle plan as they tried to second guess questions and topics that might arise during four separate interviews to be blended into one.

The supporting cast are brilliant also, with Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfadyen, Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt all giving assured performances.

It’s a very well scripted and expertly directed film that will be easy for all to follow.
  
    Worship Leader Magazine

    Worship Leader Magazine

    Music and Magazines & Newspapers

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    Since the first print issue in 1992, Worship Leader has evolved into the world's most authoritative...