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Blood Sisters: The Next Addictive Thriller from the Bestselling Author of My Husband's Wife
Book
THREE LITTLE GIRLS SET OFF TO SCHOOL ONE SUNNY MORNING. WITHIN AN HOUR, ONE OF THEM IS DEAD. 'So...
contemporary mystery psychological thriller

The New Parkinson's Disease Treatment Book: Partnering with Your Doctor to Get the Most from Your Medications
Book
As many as one million Americans, including Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali, suffer from Parkinson's...

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs in Video Games
Nov 14, 2020
Scary and Spooky
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs- is a terrorfying, horrorfying, spooky, scary, creepy game.
The game features several interlocking storylines. Some take place in the past, some in the present, and some are overtly real while some may be imagined. Set in London on New Year's Eve, 1899, the game's protagonist is Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist and butcher who is implied to be the great grand-nephew of Daniel, the protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
The game is a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective.
Players explore the environments using a lantern, with diary entries and notes providing information on the lost memory of the title character. While the core of the game remains the same between the two, some elements of The Dark Descent have been removed for A Machine for Pigs, while new elements have been added, one reason being to provide a fresh gameplay experience to players of The Dark Descent.
Most of the puzzles are based on physically interacting with the environment because of this change. The sanity mechanic of the first game has been removed, meaning that the darkness and looking at the creatures no longer cause any drawbacks. Health lost when Mandus is injured, will regenerate after a certain period of time; thereby eliminating the need to find vials of laudanum to restore health as in The Dark Descent.
The game's level design has been touted as "significantly different" from that of The Dark Descent, with larger areas and outdoor environments included. AI was also adjusted to ensure players are unable to predict enemy behavior based on their experiences with the original game.
Its a excellent survival game.
The game features several interlocking storylines. Some take place in the past, some in the present, and some are overtly real while some may be imagined. Set in London on New Year's Eve, 1899, the game's protagonist is Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist and butcher who is implied to be the great grand-nephew of Daniel, the protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
The game is a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective.
Players explore the environments using a lantern, with diary entries and notes providing information on the lost memory of the title character. While the core of the game remains the same between the two, some elements of The Dark Descent have been removed for A Machine for Pigs, while new elements have been added, one reason being to provide a fresh gameplay experience to players of The Dark Descent.
Most of the puzzles are based on physically interacting with the environment because of this change. The sanity mechanic of the first game has been removed, meaning that the darkness and looking at the creatures no longer cause any drawbacks. Health lost when Mandus is injured, will regenerate after a certain period of time; thereby eliminating the need to find vials of laudanum to restore health as in The Dark Descent.
The game's level design has been touted as "significantly different" from that of The Dark Descent, with larger areas and outdoor environments included. AI was also adjusted to ensure players are unable to predict enemy behavior based on their experiences with the original game.
Its a excellent survival game.

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) in Movies
Apr 1, 2021
Contains spoilers, click to show
Let me start by saying that Godzilla Vs Kong is offensively entertaining when the two big bois are smacking the shit out of each other and generally wrecking entire cities, but whereas the first Godzilla had too little lizard action, and King of the Monsters arguably overcompensated, this time around, it's gone back to too little! The big smackdowns were fun, but they seemed done and dusted pretty quickly. It felt like they were lacking meat.
Especially when *SPOILERS* (worst kept secret in recent cinema memory) MechaGodzilla joins the fun near the end. He looks awesome, but again, it's over with pretty quick, and I wanted more dammit! Outside of the fighting, all of the scenes set in the Hollow Earth were pretty decent and interesting in their lore building.
Then there's of course the usual cast of forgettable human characters. Kaylee Hottle and Rebecca Hall are both great and hugely likable, but everyone else is just kind of there, and the plot criminally wastes Demián Bichir. I found there was once again way too much human drama, and none of it seemed at all important, and there was nowhere near enough development on offer to care one bit about them.
So what do we have then? Godzilla Vs Kong is definitely a shallow monster movie, but it's a hell of a lot of fun when it wants to be, with a fantastic music score (the reworked Godzilla theme slaps) and some truly stunning digital effects. The neon aesthetic in the Hong Kong scenes looks great, and the titular monsters look as good as ever. Better than KOTM, not as good as Skull Island, but still worth checking out for anyone who likes this particular sub genre.
On a final note - can't wait to see this properly when cinemas re-open!
Especially when *SPOILERS* (worst kept secret in recent cinema memory) MechaGodzilla joins the fun near the end. He looks awesome, but again, it's over with pretty quick, and I wanted more dammit! Outside of the fighting, all of the scenes set in the Hollow Earth were pretty decent and interesting in their lore building.
Then there's of course the usual cast of forgettable human characters. Kaylee Hottle and Rebecca Hall are both great and hugely likable, but everyone else is just kind of there, and the plot criminally wastes Demián Bichir. I found there was once again way too much human drama, and none of it seemed at all important, and there was nowhere near enough development on offer to care one bit about them.
So what do we have then? Godzilla Vs Kong is definitely a shallow monster movie, but it's a hell of a lot of fun when it wants to be, with a fantastic music score (the reworked Godzilla theme slaps) and some truly stunning digital effects. The neon aesthetic in the Hong Kong scenes looks great, and the titular monsters look as good as ever. Better than KOTM, not as good as Skull Island, but still worth checking out for anyone who likes this particular sub genre.
On a final note - can't wait to see this properly when cinemas re-open!

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Jul 30, 2021

James Wood recommended Falling Awake in Books (curated)

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Saint Maud (2020) in Movies
May 28, 2021
God damn, am I a sucker for horrors that are equally beautiful and unsettling. Saint Maud hit all the right notes for me.
A big chunk of the runtime is dedicated to the extremly authentic-feeling relationship between the titular Maud (Morfydd Clark), a live-in nurse and her patient Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a retired dancer who is terminally ill with cancer. The sweet connection between the two of them is subtle but well realised, making it all the more uncomfortable when things take a sinister turn.
The religious premise is nothing new in this genre, and there is a bit of a Rosemary's Baby vibe going on, but it's execution is pretty much flawless. Maud's devotion to God is occasionlly terrifying, but her human doubt and her occasional shake in faith stops the narrative from going full blown religious fanatic, and instead touches upon mental health issues. For all of her preaching at Amanda, Maud is the one who is portrayed as lost and lonely, trying to suppress past trauma. Her character is certainly a sympathetic one.
95% of its runtime is a slow burn, one that is complimented by wonderful cinematography and a haunting music score. However, I'm struggling to think of a film in recent memory that escalates so severely in such a short space of time, when the other 5% finally hits. To say anymore would be stepping into spoiler territory, but I will say that it's beautifully horrifying to watch unfold, with a final shot that will be seared into my brain for a while.
Rose Glass has created a true horror masterpiece with Saint Maud. Her presence withing the horror genre is a welcome one, and I'm excited to see what she does next.
A big chunk of the runtime is dedicated to the extremly authentic-feeling relationship between the titular Maud (Morfydd Clark), a live-in nurse and her patient Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a retired dancer who is terminally ill with cancer. The sweet connection between the two of them is subtle but well realised, making it all the more uncomfortable when things take a sinister turn.
The religious premise is nothing new in this genre, and there is a bit of a Rosemary's Baby vibe going on, but it's execution is pretty much flawless. Maud's devotion to God is occasionlly terrifying, but her human doubt and her occasional shake in faith stops the narrative from going full blown religious fanatic, and instead touches upon mental health issues. For all of her preaching at Amanda, Maud is the one who is portrayed as lost and lonely, trying to suppress past trauma. Her character is certainly a sympathetic one.
95% of its runtime is a slow burn, one that is complimented by wonderful cinematography and a haunting music score. However, I'm struggling to think of a film in recent memory that escalates so severely in such a short space of time, when the other 5% finally hits. To say anymore would be stepping into spoiler territory, but I will say that it's beautifully horrifying to watch unfold, with a final shot that will be seared into my brain for a while.
Rose Glass has created a true horror masterpiece with Saint Maud. Her presence withing the horror genre is a welcome one, and I'm excited to see what she does next.

Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Dark Queen in Books
Jun 25, 2019
Brilliant trilogy
Contains spoilers, click to show
This book 3 on a trilogy.
This series was recommended to me by a friend as im doing an A to Z book challenge this year. The first book is called Z.
Quick run through.....
Z and her adoptive brother are on the run from the police wanted for murder, they are forced into the streets after their adoptive parents tragically die in a cat accident.
When cornered in a dark alley her brother is killed and she saved my a mysterious stranger claiming to be her real brother from another dimension. Oh and she's some long lost princess.
Over time she regains her memory and her family, all except dear old dad who happens to be called the dark king. While trying to find a rare ingredient for s potion to save her mother z or rather Nadya gets taken by her dad.
We pick up in book 3! Nadya had her memories manipulated by the general Allen who she thought was dead. When her friends come to save her she has different memories of them and tortures Her best friend for potion ingredients them send them all through a portal to earth. They find there way back in time to save her but lose a lot in the process!
I can honestly say I'm sad to see this end! I have enjoyed reading it and following Nadya and her friends. Victorias was so sad after all the plans she had made.
Loved seeing Nadya become the queen she was meant to be. I love Lizzy's contrast between our earth and theirs bringing some of a fairytale world into ours.
I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Recommended
This series was recommended to me by a friend as im doing an A to Z book challenge this year. The first book is called Z.
Quick run through.....
Z and her adoptive brother are on the run from the police wanted for murder, they are forced into the streets after their adoptive parents tragically die in a cat accident.
When cornered in a dark alley her brother is killed and she saved my a mysterious stranger claiming to be her real brother from another dimension. Oh and she's some long lost princess.
Over time she regains her memory and her family, all except dear old dad who happens to be called the dark king. While trying to find a rare ingredient for s potion to save her mother z or rather Nadya gets taken by her dad.
We pick up in book 3! Nadya had her memories manipulated by the general Allen who she thought was dead. When her friends come to save her she has different memories of them and tortures Her best friend for potion ingredients them send them all through a portal to earth. They find there way back in time to save her but lose a lot in the process!
I can honestly say I'm sad to see this end! I have enjoyed reading it and following Nadya and her friends. Victorias was so sad after all the plans she had made.
Loved seeing Nadya become the queen she was meant to be. I love Lizzy's contrast between our earth and theirs bringing some of a fairytale world into ours.
I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Recommended

Ross (3284 KP) rated Blindspot - Season 4 in TV
Jun 28, 2019
Gone are the puzzles. Now just a brain-deadening copy of 24
Blindspot started with such a strong premise - a woman found with no memory and covered in tattoos and each tattoo turning out to be a puzzle which leads the FBI to solve a crime or stop a terrorist attack. As with so many TV shows, however, the original premise of strong, isolated episodes was gradually eroded in favour of an over-arching larger plot.
Here we have that same issue, while the season 3 villain has been ousted, lo and behold a new one has cropped up to take his place. This relegates the show to be something of a low quality reboot of 24 as the team struggle with conspiracy, terrorism, underworld shenanigans and corruption to try and stop the eventual attack.
However, the producers seem to have set the number of episodes in advance and then struggled to fill the 22 episode series with quality output. So instead we get a number of rejected 24 scripts hashed out with implausible solving of tattoo puzzles that generally add nothing to the overall series. So many times, the team seem to have been staring at a puzzle for months, only to suddenly realise that if they convert the numbers to letters, turn those into chemical symbols, add up their periodic table entries and divide that by the square root of the number of bananas produced per annum in the Caribbean and lo and behold it gives the password to a Hotmail account of an international terrorist who literally just landed in the country. Almost every episode has one of these mind-farts where so much is just shat out the screen in lazy exposition. The writers should have abandoned the tattoo nonsense a long time ago as tired and exhausted.
Here we have that same issue, while the season 3 villain has been ousted, lo and behold a new one has cropped up to take his place. This relegates the show to be something of a low quality reboot of 24 as the team struggle with conspiracy, terrorism, underworld shenanigans and corruption to try and stop the eventual attack.
However, the producers seem to have set the number of episodes in advance and then struggled to fill the 22 episode series with quality output. So instead we get a number of rejected 24 scripts hashed out with implausible solving of tattoo puzzles that generally add nothing to the overall series. So many times, the team seem to have been staring at a puzzle for months, only to suddenly realise that if they convert the numbers to letters, turn those into chemical symbols, add up their periodic table entries and divide that by the square root of the number of bananas produced per annum in the Caribbean and lo and behold it gives the password to a Hotmail account of an international terrorist who literally just landed in the country. Almost every episode has one of these mind-farts where so much is just shat out the screen in lazy exposition. The writers should have abandoned the tattoo nonsense a long time ago as tired and exhausted.

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