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Haunted (Harrison Investigation, #1)
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I picked up Haunted after I had finished [b:The Seance|959245|The Seance (Harrison Investigation, #5)|Heather Graham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255876724s/959245.jpg|944150], and I was unaware that they both feature Adam and Harrison Investigations. I'm all set to read [b:The Vision|731809|The Vision (Harrison Investigation, #3)|Heather Graham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177781638s/731809.jpg|717999] that I just picked up from the library. Even though I've completely juggled around the order of when they were written, it's lucky for me that they are standalones. In the prologue it gave background information about Adam's son, Josh, who was mentioned just briefly in The Seance, and he plays a big part in this book, so I was happy to find out all that information before I get to next book that features Harrison Investigations.

Now to get to the main story in Haunted...
Even though with the way Darcy was written you would think she was a Mary-Sue, she wasn't and I liked her just fine. Now Matt on the other hand, well he was a jerk, plain and simple. I never could like him much and that detracted a lot from the book. It seems that Heather Graham must make the male lead a hard-core skeptic that just will not believe (until the end of course) in anything paranormal and thinks the female lead is crazy or delusional or something. It would be nice if it was reversed or if maybe, just maybe, the hero is open-minded enough to say, well maybe there is 'something' out there that cannot be proven. *gasp* Is that even possible? Can a hero ever truly be open-minded? Not in these books. He has to be so narrow-minded that his thought-blocks must fit neatly into their right-shaped holes (e.g. triangle block into triangle hole, etc.).

I really enjoyed the whole Darcy/Josh/Adam/Ghost hunting thing. I thought the author did a good job describing how Darcy went about finding out about the ghosts and that's what made this book good. I really did like Darcy a lot and she was a sympathetic character who stood up for herself and acted like an adult with poise and class (unlike some other character I could mention). The mystery did keep me guessing because I was never quite sure who the ghost was or what had happened, although I had narrowed down who was behind everything to two people, leaning more on the actual culprit (yay me!), for lack of suspects. So overall, the mystery was very good, though I wish Ms. Graham would bring in more people so it isn't as easy to figure out. All in all, not as good as The Seance, but a good and entertaining read.

3.5 stars

I forgot to mention that there were tons of editing problems, which seem to be a mainstay in H.G.'s books. Once Clint's name is changed to Cliff and Josh was referred to as Matt, plus numerous other things that cropped up everywhere.
  
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
So, I'd like to preface this review by saying that I never thought i would. Thank you Star Wars fans. My experience while watching Endgame on opening night was one of the most atrocious theater going experiences I have ever had, with every single person yelping like baboons at every single line or character appearance. The Star Wars fans that showed up to almost sell out my theater were super respectful and didn't make a single peep through the runtime, thus making my experience much more enjoyable and giving me a clearer head to rate this film. Therefore, I have made the assertion that Marvel is the lowest common denominator and Star Wars gains a bit of respect in my books!

Now, on to the actual film. Listen, if you love the series, you're gonna love this film. It does enough fan service that it satisfies the craving, yet doesn't let it interfere with the story too much. If you hate what the series has become, you're gonna hate the movie. It's way too convenient how everything works out and there are multiple points where I resisted face palming or aggressively whispering to myself. That being said, as I do on most blockbuster films such as this, I land pretty solidly in the middle.

Listen, this piece has a lot of issues with double and triple twists constricting the narrative and not giving it enough room to breathe. It also implements the music in a worse way than I have observed in a Star Wars film to date and the acting by most of the cast was just average at best to me. I was invested for the first eighty minutes or so, but then I just got uninvested and a tad bored. It felt like we were kinda just being ran around the same circle in a repetitive manner without getting to the point until the last twenty minutes or so.

Yet, there's magic here and it is undeniable. I considered it to be nostalgia and then I realised that I don't have the right to be nostalgic about this property. There's just something about the universe construction that seems masterful, and the performances by Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley kick it into overdrive into getting me to care about a world that I would normally give two shits about. The cinematography is surprisingly well done and cleverly varied to accompany certain emotions or appropriate responses.

Overall, it is an acceptable ending to the franchise that doesn't blow anything out of the water, but instead skids along with a bit of turbulence. Thanks for the ride, Abrams.
  
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David McK (3676 KP) rated Next in Books

Jan 28, 2019  
Next
Next
Michael Crichton | 2008 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
4
5.6 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have to say that, although I haven't read them all, I usually quite enjoy Crichton's novels. Unfortunately, if I had to sum "Next" up in one word, that word would have to be: "disappointing"

I think the problem is that there's no clear central character: unlike, say, "Prey" or even the famous "Jurassic Park" I didn't really 'conect' with anybody in the story. Although the various threads did all coalesce towards the latter half, it also came across more like a jumble of mini-stories haphazardly collected together than as one coherent whole.

I'm just glad the "Next" was not the first Crichton book I read (that would have to be "Jurassic Park"): if it was, I wouldn't be going out of my way to read more!
  
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Baxter Dury recommended First Take by Roberta Flack in Music (curated)

 
First Take by Roberta Flack
First Take by Roberta Flack
1969 | Rock
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I just love this album and I love the history behind it. I don’t think it’s cheesy, I think it’s muso and I really like muso music. The origins of it, the way they found Roberta when she was young and naïve, and they realised that the only way to really capture her was to create an environment that she was used to, so they recorded it all in a church, to give her a sense of the places that she sang in when she was young. And you get that on this album, it’s fucking amazing. There’s some unbelievable songwriting. I might have first heard it when I was really young, there was always this estuary of weird and exciting people coming through this house, playing different music."

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I loved the idea behing this story!
  The first thing that drew me in was the cover and then I read the discription and was very excited.
   However, this story did not live up to it's potential. Which I am sad about, I really excpected more. There were places that felt like there were missing pages, emotions that didn't really seem to fit the situation. Also usually you see a gradual growing of the characters thoughout the book amd that was not the case here. The main character was just as immature as when the story began.
  Overal the storylime could be great but it definitely missed the mark in my book.
   I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feed back. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
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Rise of the Fallen (All the King's Men, #1)
Rise of the Fallen (All the King's Men, #1)
Donya Lynne | 2012 | Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
8.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rise of the Fallen is just your run of the mill vampire romance novel. There is nothing about that makes it special to stand out from all the others. But there is also nothing to really make it any worse.

I do have some complaints about this novel such as how entire conversations consisted of a bunch of “f*** you”s and “you’re an asshole.” I got so tired of reading those over and over. I have not heard someone curse that much since I was in high school. It seriously took away from the story. Not to mention, 90% of the characters in the story were assholes. There was so few likable characters that it was depressing.

I also wish there was more world building. I hate when you are reading a novel and the author just throws people, places, and things at you like you are suppose to know what they are. At one point, I actually researched to see if the was a later novel in the series because it felt like I was missing entire backstories.

I also felt this book went by really quickly once the couple actually got together. Again, it was not necessarily a bad thing. I just turned the pages and found that it was over as quickly as it began.

In all honesty, I cared more about Sev and Ari’s relationship than I did Micah and Sam’s. Lynne has an easy, enjoyable style to follow, so I made read their story which is next in the series. Beyond that, I am not interested in the rest.
  
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Jonathan Higgs recommended Nevermind by Nirvana in Music (curated)

 
Nevermind by Nirvana
Nevermind by Nirvana
1991 | Alternative, Rock

"I can remember being introduced to this album at a very specific moment. I went round to my friend's house, and I think my sister had the CD and put it on, and I heard the introduction to 'Lithium' and those drums and I just thought: ""What the hell is this?"" It was the most exciting thing I'd ever heard. It was like that for a lot of people of course, I was no different. But it was very shortly after we heard that that my friend got a drum kit and my brother got a guitar, and my brother had a bass, and I knew that all I had to do was pick up that bass and we had a band. Nirvana were a three-piece and there were three of us. You didn't have to play very well, and you could play the same thing quietly and then play it loudly and that was kind of a revelation for a little kid. That was all Nirvana ever did and created the most amazing feelings with it. It was a very powerful thing to put into the hands of a little teenager. It's really easy to get together. You just all need to play the same thing on these three instruments and it will work, and you will sound like a band and that's so empowering. In terms of my musical style, Cobain has a really good way with melody and he doesn't really sing very obvious things. He always comes down on the major or minor third of a chord, and it really colours the music both positively and negatively in a way that not a lot of melodies do. The aggression in it and the fact that it can be tender in one moment and then the opposite the next is something which happens in my music. The emotional intensity of Nirvana is something which I definitely think my band is probably guilty of, in terms of high emotional stuff happening. They are really interesting, just in terms of the fact that there's so much depth in it, despite it being very simple, and the lyrics don't actually mean anything, and yet you can get so affected by Nirvana in such a strange way - not necessarily just because of Kurt's story, but because there is something in the music and it's very difficult to describe."

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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
1971 | Fantasy, Musical

"In terms of mind-blowing experiences, I would say the first film was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, just because I think — I’m pretty sure — that’s the first time I ever saw a live action movie in a movie theater as a kid. My dad took me and my brother to see it. I think up till then I’d only seen one animated movie in a movie theater. I think it was Robin Hood, which, for some reason, was really boring to me. But we went to see Willy Wonka, and I was so blown away, and it so freaked me out, that I couldn’t stop thinking about it for years. I had watched movies on TV and stuff, but that was the first time I think I was old enough to go to the movies, and be able to sit through a movie without wanting to get up and run around the theater. Just seeing it that big and getting sucked into it. I don’t even think I realized those were actors and that anything was fake. I think I just thought it was all real, that Charlie was a real kid, and Willy Wonka was a real person. I really think I thought it was real. I really thought the whole family lived in that one room. I was probably in second grade or something… So I probably didn’t actually think it was real, but I responded to it like it was real."

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