Search

Search only in certain items:

    Open City

    Open City

    Teju Cole

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    es A Nigerian man wanders the streets of New York; partly an escape from the strictures of his work,...

40x40

Nancy Whang recommended Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys in Music (curated)

 
Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys
Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys
1989 | Hip-hop, Rock
8.0 (4 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"It's a brilliant album. What's not to like? It's universally loved and accepted as an album, as a collection of music. When you're a kid you listen to Beastie Boys because you like to sing '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)' because it's silly and fun but Paul's Boutique is sophisticated and mature, as well as being really musical, which I really like about it. And long before I had any awareness of what sampling was, all the different bits that they use I was always curious about what they were. I always knew they were from other songs, because some of them I recognised. But it was super fascinating to me. I was already in love with New York and the idea of moving to New York. And in my adolescent fantasy I thought: ""I'm going to graduate high school, I'm going to move out of the house, I'm going to move straight to New York, and then maybe, one day, I'll get to meet one of the Beastie Boys."" And now I've met all of them! James [Murphy] is really good friends with Ad-Rock and he'd be at the studio with us and I'd go there and be with Adam, and eat pizza with Adam. It was so bizarre because 15-year-old me was losing her mind but I had to be cool. But also it was totally normal because he's just a normal guy and he's hanging out with my friend who's just a normal guy and they're doing normal stuff. But no matter how many times I meet them or see them I've never stopped being star-struck. I have to stop myself falling apart."

Source
  
Six Tudor Queens: Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife
Six Tudor Queens: Katharine Parr, The Sixth Wife
Alison Weir | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
9
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Katherine Parr’s book in this series of Henry VIII’s six wives was a really immersive read. She’s always seen as the wife who made it: the wife who escaped, lived after Henry died. And she’s certainly portrayed as a genuinely nice person - someone who I’d certainly be happy to sit down and talk to. She’s approachable, mature beyond her years as a young woman, and constantly loyal to all of her husbands (but they did have a habit of dying on her).

It’s clear that Alison Weir did loads of research on Katherine’s childhood and early years, and it was so interesting to learn more about that part of her life. Usually, any of Henry VIII’s wives are only spoken about in relation to their marriage. But Katherine Parr certainly lived in the years before Henry. She was a dutiful, supportive wife to both of her husbands before Henry, and had happy marriages - but no children. She didn’t have children with Henry either. It must have been a great sadness for her. I loved reading about the relationships she had with all of her stepchildren, and how she convinced Henry to re-establish Mary and Elizabeth in the succession. Not so good in Mary’s case (she wasn’t nicknamed Bloody Mary for nothing), better in Elizabeth’s. Indeed, Mary and Elizabeth seem genuinely fond of Katherine, and both even live with her for a time.

Things don’t run smoothly for Katherine - the knives are out for her whilst she is Queen, and remain out after Henry’s death. So when she marries the man that she truly loves after Henry’s death - without permission - there is scandal.

This is a captivating chunk of a book. I do enjoy a big, historical book, and this delivers in spades. I loved it!

Many thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for my ARC of this book.
  
A Touch of Death (Secrets of Fae Duet #1)
A Touch of Death (Secrets of Fae Duet #1)
J. J. Dean | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
164 of 200
Kindle
A Touch Of Death ( secrets of fae duet book 1)
By J.J. Dean

After being abducted and held prisoner for five years, Novia Bourne's world is torn apart by her captors as they thwart her first and only chance to escape. Forced into making the decision of life or death lands her in the arms of four devastatingly handsome Naturals; a vampire, a shifter, a mage, and an incubus. These strangers offer her the freedom she never thought she'd see again. All of that is threatened and hope dwindles when buried secrets reveal themselves.

The entire world of Naturals is at risk when a forgotten prophecy is brought to light. Novia's secret is one that could bring about their salvation...or their destruction. Gifted with abilities no Fae should possess, Novia becomes a coveted weapon the humans will do anything to recapture.

With her freedom and the lives of her four Naturals hanging in the balance, will Novia's life fall into the hands of those who wish to use her? Or will she find the strength to fight for the future she longs for? Soon she'll learn, a chance at life will always require... A Touch of Death.

* This is a Reverse Harem novel. #whychoose
* Recommended 18+ due to mature language and situations.




This was a genuinely sweet book! It shows the last of her kind a fae after losing absolutely everything and everyone to the point she would rather sacrifice herself than go back into captivity, there is always hope and good things will come! I honestly really enjoyed it and unlike some other reverse harems the sex wasn’t shoved down your throat ( no pun intended). I would recommend
  
Band a Part (1964)
Band a Part (1964)
1964 |
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Of all the directors I have flirted with in my opening months with the BFI player, Godard is the one I am finding most accessible and least intimidating. He is the guy whose movies I am most tempted by when I don’t want to think or analyse too much, but simply sit back and enjoy for being cool. I also wanted to see why Quentin Tarantino named his production company after this movie. And now I have seen it his whole oeuvre makes total sense, at last! The exact feel of this Nouvelle Vague cornerstone is exactly what you find in 80% of what Tarantino is trying to do. The plot is incidental, of course. What is happening is only there to pin the characters and quirky dialogue on. Being cool is all. And this mid 60s confection is so cool, so French and so much style over content in the best possible way.

On the surface it is about two dodgy guys who take a shine to a girl and rope her into a heist. But the most memorable moments are the trivialities of them dancing the Maddison in a cafe because they are bored; reading the news aloud from newspapers whilst sat in the woods; driving erratically in a speedy little jalopy with a broken roof; and just making faces at one another as they flirt and express the bittersweet tediousness of being alive. It epitomises the time and place almost more than A Bout de Souffle, and in my opinion is the more mature, more knowing film. Ultimately it means very little, but is impossible not to like. It also sparked a greater interest in Anna Karina as a film icon, being the 2nd film on this list in which she impressed me.
  
40x40

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated the PC version of Dead by Daylight in Video Games

Jun 12, 2020  
Dead by Daylight
Dead by Daylight
2016 | Action
Dead by Daylight is a 5-player survival horror game. 4 players play as survivors and one plays as the killer. The survivors have to repair 5 generators and then open a gate and escape through it whilst avoiding the killer. The killer has to attack the survivors and sacrifice them to ‘the Entity’ by placing them on hooks and keeping them there until they are dead.
Survivors can work as a team or as individuals and can help on generator repairs and lift other survivors off the hook and help to heal them. The killer has a bonus power to help in the capture of the survivors. Both survivors and killers earn ‘Blood Points’ which can be used to add bonuses and items to the characters to aid in the next match.
The base game comes with 7 different survivors and 5 killers and 5 maps. Each survivor has a slightly different skill, speed, stealth, faster healing etc and each killer has a different skill, setting traps, throwing weapons etc.
Each of the maps represents a killer but playing as a killer does not mean that you will play on their map, the map is random, based upon what the killer player owns. The generators, hooks, exits and player starting place are all random
There are also an increasing number of expiation packs some are just survivors and others are survivors, killers and a map. Many of the expansions are licenced to horror franchises so you can have characters like Freddy Kruger and Ash from Evil dead. There are also different costumes that can be brought in game.
Dead by Daylight is violent and is rated for mature audiences.