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Hello, Universe
Hello, Universe
Erin Entrada Kelly | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
So first off I just want to put out there that I'm deducting a star from my rating for the repeated and completely unnecessary usage of ableist slurs through out this book. There is no excuse for ret*rd to be used as almost every insult in a book, or being used multiple times on a single page. Putting that aside the book was just okay. The characters were very one note and had little to no development. The plot was predictable. It felt like someone was holding my hand down the most likely path possible. Overall I just don't think I gained anything from reading this other than some annoyance at its use of language.
  
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
1980 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi
I like Darth Vader before seeing this one, but isn't he AMAZING! I know you're not supposed to like the villain, but we know pretty much everybody just loves Vader. The atmosphere of this movie is definitely more ominous, as it should be. The story is darker, it draws you into this building conflict that you're just waiting for someone to make the first strike (even when you've seen it umpteen times!). Many fans claim this as their favorite of the films, but I can't separate any of the original titles. I truly enjoy them as a full presentation, just with breaks in between each story segment. Empire Strikes Back is of course darker, but no less enjoyable for the whole family.
  
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T Money (11 KP) rated Tau (2018) in Movies

Jul 6, 2018  
Tau (2018)
Tau (2018)
2018 | Sci-Fi, Thriller
The basic premise (0 more)
The script, the dialogue, the acting, the effects, the plot holes (0 more)
Just bad
Just really bad. I stayed watching cause the basic premise s interesting. I get that this is not a AAA, big budget title, but it just doesn't get anything right. It tries to be a B movie slasher pic, but "violence" mostly takes place off screen. The plot has giant gaping holes, such as why on earth is this skanky night club pick pocketer suddenly like MacGyver? Nothing any of the characters say is believable, both because of the things they say and because they are horrible actors. Nor is this movie so bad it's good, a la Sharknado. Life is too short to watch garbage like this.
  
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Guy Pearce recommended The Godfather (1972) in Movies (curated)

 
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
1972 | Crime, Drama

"Okay. I do come back to The Godfather, and to be honest, if I had more time to think about it, I would probably leave The Godfather out only because I know that it’s a film that is often touted. But primarily, I think it’s about Pacino for me. I think all of the things that make The Godfather what people call the perfect film, where you’re taken into a world where, for most us, is really just — we’re never going to go there ourselves, into the world of the mafia and organized crime, but to see how it’s connected to family and how that is the basis of this story being the bond within a family, is so foreign to, I think, most of us. Foreign as far as where killing is part of family life. It’s just so unusual, but at the same time, it’s done in such a way that they make it feel perfectly normal. Of course, again, there’s Brando, there’s Pacino, and then in the second one we see De Niro. I think I’m often drawn to films primarily because of the performances, and speaking of performances, I would then probably move to Dog Day Afternoon with Al Pacino for very different reasons. We see Pacino in Godfather in an extremely restrained performance. And then, of course, in Dog Day Afternoon, we see just this loose mess of a human being spilling out out all over the place, and he’s just absolutely electric and just as compelling and just as unpredictable as the character Michael Corleone in Godfather, but completely at opposite ends of the spectrum. I just think Pacino is someone for me who, like Brando, I just find him completely watchable and can’t get enough of him. Anything he does, really, I would find compelling. Although there have been performances lately that haven’t been as interesting as the earlier stuff. [Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon] are so different. They’re really, really different. I think Godfather is a better film, but I think Dog Day — that performance — John Cazale‘s performance in Dog Day, as well — and as you know, I have really eclectic taste anyway in the kinds of things that I like, and the kinds of jobs that I choose, too. I get just as much out of both of those films. The potential energy that exists in Godfather versus Dog Day is that they’re just extreme, explosive kind of sweaty performances of Pacino [and they are] are two completely different things, but they both affect me a great deal."

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Supernatural
Supernatural
2005 | Drama
Monsters and Man pain
Supernatural for me is really hard to rate because personally, I break it up into two:
Season 1-5 are pure just amazing the monsters of the week are all just as interesting as the main plot that starts to build-up near the end of season 1. The writers found such an amazing balance between myths and character development that you just get hooked so fast and they stay so strong for five season which is pretty hard to do in my opinion.

Now season 6 - current is an entirely different story while not completely terrible and some of the seasons being pretty good as a whole I feel like they really lost their footing after season 5 and just never really recovered all the way.
  
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Damien Echols recommended Halloween (1978) in Movies (curated)

 
Halloween (1978)
Halloween (1978)
1978 | Horror

"Now I just said I don’t like slasher movies, but this is the exception to that rule — because it’s the exception to horror movies. The Rob Zombie remake of Halloween — that thing is f**king genius. It’s like he violates every rule of horror movie making and makes it work. Most horror movies are atmospheric, they’re really dark or they’re at night and they’re creepy; his is taking place in bright noon sunshine daylight, out in the yard. And the way he goes into the story of the Michael Myers character, you know, the reason why he’s making all these masks. That is a great movie. I guess I also like it because of the outside scenes. You know, when they show people walking down the sidewalk or something — it feels like Autumn. You see leaves skitter across the sidewalk as the wind blows ’em, and you feel Halloween when you’re watching ’em. I remember the first time I saw that was when we were in prison. They’ll show movies on holidays just to take the tension out of the air a little bit — and that was the movie we got to see on Christmas. On Christmas they showed us Halloween. And when it was over — it was Christmas night, about 9 o’clock — as soon as it went off I went into such a deep state of mourning, because it was like my favorite time of year was gone. From the Equinox to Christmas morning, that is like the richest, most velvety, delicious time of year. People always ask me, you know, they would say, “How would you describe heaven — in this perfect atmosphere where everything is exactly how you wanted it, how would it be?” And I say, “It would always be December.” So I realized that time of year was over, it was gone, and I was going to have to wait all the way around the will of the year to get back to Autumn and Halloween again. And seeing it in that movie, I just sat down and started crying when it was over, because I realized I was gonna have to make it through another long, hot, brutal summer, you know — prison guards torturing you, there’s nothing to look forward to. It was a horrible feeling. It feels like there’s a hole in you or something. But I can watch that movie now, and automatically feel that time of year again."

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Aurora recommended track Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles in Revolver by The Beatles in Music (curated)

 
Revolver by The Beatles
Revolver by The Beatles
1966 | Pop, Psychedelic, Rock

"This was the first song where I really enjoyed some of the production stuff in it. I really love different cultures and I’m really into this kind of vibe. I really liked it when I was a kid, I heard it when I was a sixteen-year-old kid, not like four, I was a bit older. “I found all my music through CD’s, even though there were other platforms, I was just really slow. We didn’t have stuff at home like a TV or radio, so I discovered this through a CD because I really liked the cover and that’s why I bought it, an LP actually, so old-fashioned! It was the second LP I ever bought for myself. “The cover was really nice, and I just really liked it. And of course I knew about The Beatles, I knew that they were a big name, and I should listen to them and see if I like them or not. I just really realised that you can play along with things, and that’s when I became a producer.”"

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The Raven Boys
The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater | 2012 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
6
7.7 (35 Ratings)
Book Rating
I don't really like <i>The Raven Boys</i>. I don't really see the "why" in the hype, and I feel completely indifferent towards everything Maggie Stiefvater offered in this first book of the series.

Or maybe, just maybe, like some books, Stiefvater just had the unfortunate timing to be listened to when I'm not exactly in the mood to read.

It's also when I pull off a really cheap Sophia move. Behold – the list of whatnots about <i>The Raven Boys</i>, or just a summary of my thoughts in the process of listening to Will Patton reading this.
<ol>
  <li>Blue has always been warned that if she kiss her true love, she'll cause her true love to die. Sadistic as it is, I like that concept. I <em>really</em> like that concept.</li>
  <li>It's official: I like it when audiobooks have music.</li>
  <li>What kind of name is Blue? I'm a little perplexed, but since it's unique, I'll let it go.</li>
  <li>Gansey seemed far too absorbed in the ley line for a good part of the book – he's as bad as David, I'll tell you that right now (just without the whole metaphors thing).</li>
  <li>In sync with number four, I don't get the entire point of <em>why</em> they're looking for this watchamawho of a Welsh King. I mean, I probably do, but...</li>
  <li>Cringe-worthy as it sounded, I secretly liked that whole, "I... I'm... I'm very young." part.</li>
  <li>Why are The Raven Boys called "The Raven Boys?" I'm not sure I caught that. Do they have an obsession with ravens? Is it really because of that pet raven Ronan has (I assume)? Who's willing to tell me this?</li>
  <li>I don't really understand that cliffhanger. I know <em>who</em> Stiefvater is talking about, but I don't <em>understand</em>.</li>
</ol>
<b>Fun fact:</b> Will Patton reads the audiobooks for the entire series (from what I've seen). YAY! That doesn't mean I like him, but it's consistency. I applaud consistency.

And the final question: Should I continue reading the series? (Lupe: NO. READ SILVER SHADOWS FIRST. &gt;_&lt;)

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/audiobook-review-the-raven-boys-by-maggie-stiefvater/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
A Thousand Perfect Notes
A Thousand Perfect Notes
C.G. Drews | 2019
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was so excited to start this. To begin with, I liked Beck and I loved August and I really felt for both of the characters.

But overall, the book just didn’t feel right. The language used was very poetic, almost as if C.G. Drews was just trying to make Instagram-worthy quotes. The language seemed really forced and really out of context. I can’t understand how a story about an abused teen would use very romanticised and literary language.

In any other context, I think I would quite like her writing style, but I feel that it really didn’t fit in at all here.

And then there’s the way that every few pages the lines

are

like

this

For absolutely no reason at all, and then for about fifty pages you see no use of this writing style almost as if the author has forgotten that she was trying to use this as a feature.

I get that this is a debut, but it just seemed really amateurish and didn’t flow at all. I started off liking the characters, and I finished hating them.

The only reason that this is two stars instead of one is that I did actually manage to finish it.
  
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Chris Parnell recommended Dune (1984) in Movies (curated)

 
Dune (1984)
Dune (1984)
1984 | Sci-Fi

"Dune, directed by David Lynch. I just love that movie. It’s so weird. It’s such a great combination of the book that Frank Herbert wrote, and then David Lynch’s sort of take on that and spin on that. It’s so otherworldly, but you know, so human obviously. I love Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart; it’s an amazing cast. I love science fiction, and it’s just so weird in so many ways. It’s so different than any other science fiction film that I know. I saw it (in the theater), I can’t even remember how old I was. I was a teenager maybe. But I remember when you went in to see it, they gave you a one-page glossary of terms used in the movie, because I guess they felt like that was going to be necessary for you to get what was going on. Of course, you get in there, it’s kind of hard to read this in the dark. But I enjoyed it. And I kind of rediscovered it. Later on at some point I watched it and I was like, “Oh my God, this really is so good.” I mean, there’s a few cheesy aspects to it, but it’s just awesome to me."

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