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The Lies of Locke Lamora
9.5
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Book
They say that the Thorn of Camorr can beat anyone in a fight. They say he steals from the rich and...
Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated Straight on Till Morning in Books
Jul 27, 2021
My first twisted tale of the series and I wasn’t disappointed.
It did take a little while for me to get my head around that Wendy had never been to Never Land in the first place as I kept going back to the original telling where all of the Darling children joined Peter Pan in Never Land for an adventure. Once I had got my head around it not happening like that for the sake of this story, I did thoroughly enjoy it.
Tink is one of my favourite Disney characters, her sassiness and mischievousness has always drawn me to her and I’m glad there was so much more of it in this book.
While I’m fully aware that part of the book was finding Peter Pan, I felt that it took far too long to find him and then the main action in the book was over extremely quickly. The author spent a lot of time describing the landscapes, creatures and plants in the lead up, but when it got to the climax of the story it just seemed to be glossed over completely.
Overall, it was well written and I love anything Disney, so I will definitely be looking at reading more of these Twisted Tales, but I think my favourite alternative Disney series is still the Villains series currently! Hopefully I will come to love this series as much as that in the future.
It did take a little while for me to get my head around that Wendy had never been to Never Land in the first place as I kept going back to the original telling where all of the Darling children joined Peter Pan in Never Land for an adventure. Once I had got my head around it not happening like that for the sake of this story, I did thoroughly enjoy it.
Tink is one of my favourite Disney characters, her sassiness and mischievousness has always drawn me to her and I’m glad there was so much more of it in this book.
While I’m fully aware that part of the book was finding Peter Pan, I felt that it took far too long to find him and then the main action in the book was over extremely quickly. The author spent a lot of time describing the landscapes, creatures and plants in the lead up, but when it got to the climax of the story it just seemed to be glossed over completely.
Overall, it was well written and I love anything Disney, so I will definitely be looking at reading more of these Twisted Tales, but I think my favourite alternative Disney series is still the Villains series currently! Hopefully I will come to love this series as much as that in the future.
SBB Mobile
Travel
App
SBB Mobile focuses on simplicity and fun. Timetables can be checked in real-time and you can easily...
Waiting for the Punch: Words to Live by from the WTF Podcast
Book
"I'm British, so I'm medically dead inside, but even I can't help but open up whenever I talk to...
Comedy Essays
Talking Angela
Entertainment
App
Come join Talking Angela in Paris - the city of love, style and magic. There are so many surprises,...
MythCatchAR
Games and Entertainment
App
A wonderfully simple way to entertain your child! Fun Mythical Creatures are ready to be caught...
Tiggly Chef Addition: Preschool Math Cooking Game
Education and Games
App
This is a math learning app, which will help your child learn addition, and represent addition...
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated American Sniper (2015) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Every once in a while a movie just sneaks up on me. A movie that comes out of nowhere to be one of the best that I have seen in a long while. This is how American Sniper hit me. I had seen previews, and thought that it might end up being a decent flick, but I did not expect it to grab a hold of me and teach me something about myself as well.
American Sniper sees Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle in his second movie with “American” in the title (see 2013’s American Hustle). Most of us know the story of Chris Kyle, but for those that don’t here’s a quick rundown. Chris Kyle is the most lethal sniper in American history with 160 confirmed kills as a Navy SEAL, and another 95 probable kills. He served four tours, and wrote a book about his life. This film is based on that book. It tells the story of how he was influenced by his father, joined the military, and then went on to serve four tours while trying to balance his life at home with his wife and children. Acting as the true Sheepdog to all in his life, American Sniper looks at the struggle Kyle went through, and tells the story with passion and respect.
Cooper did a fantastic job portraying Texas-native Kyle. He was almost unrecognizable onscreen, as he put in 8 months of prep to get ready for this role, including a 4-hour a day training regime, and another two with a vocal coach. It was even said that some of Kyle’s brothers-in-arms who helped train Cooper and serve as consultants on the movie could feel his presence through Cooper at the end of training and all throughout filming. Sienna Miller was a great compliment to Cooper’s performance as Taya Kyle, Chris’ wife and the mother of his children. And not surprisingly, Clint Eastwood knocked it out of the park in this go at the Director’s chair. This is his best movie in years, though one would hope so with Chris Kyle’s father threatening to unleash hell if the memory of his son was disrespected with the film.
Mr. Kyle’s passing was a tragic event for those that knew him, and even those that did not know him. I think he may rest well knowing that this film, adapted from his own auto-biography, was handled beautifully with such passion and respect. If I have one issue with the film, it was the rapidity at which things progressed. So many different events packed into 15 minute segments with time just seemed to be rushing like a river, and glossing over parts of the story that could really have used some more build up or exploring. But such is the case when adapting a movie from a book. Though I am sure that movie-goers would not have minded lengthy the movie a bit, even with a run-time of 132 minutes.
If you see one movie this month, let it be American Sniper. If you have not heard of Chris Kyle, or his story, go see American Sniper. Hopefully, the Legend will live on through the lives he touched, and saved.
American Sniper sees Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle in his second movie with “American” in the title (see 2013’s American Hustle). Most of us know the story of Chris Kyle, but for those that don’t here’s a quick rundown. Chris Kyle is the most lethal sniper in American history with 160 confirmed kills as a Navy SEAL, and another 95 probable kills. He served four tours, and wrote a book about his life. This film is based on that book. It tells the story of how he was influenced by his father, joined the military, and then went on to serve four tours while trying to balance his life at home with his wife and children. Acting as the true Sheepdog to all in his life, American Sniper looks at the struggle Kyle went through, and tells the story with passion and respect.
Cooper did a fantastic job portraying Texas-native Kyle. He was almost unrecognizable onscreen, as he put in 8 months of prep to get ready for this role, including a 4-hour a day training regime, and another two with a vocal coach. It was even said that some of Kyle’s brothers-in-arms who helped train Cooper and serve as consultants on the movie could feel his presence through Cooper at the end of training and all throughout filming. Sienna Miller was a great compliment to Cooper’s performance as Taya Kyle, Chris’ wife and the mother of his children. And not surprisingly, Clint Eastwood knocked it out of the park in this go at the Director’s chair. This is his best movie in years, though one would hope so with Chris Kyle’s father threatening to unleash hell if the memory of his son was disrespected with the film.
Mr. Kyle’s passing was a tragic event for those that knew him, and even those that did not know him. I think he may rest well knowing that this film, adapted from his own auto-biography, was handled beautifully with such passion and respect. If I have one issue with the film, it was the rapidity at which things progressed. So many different events packed into 15 minute segments with time just seemed to be rushing like a river, and glossing over parts of the story that could really have used some more build up or exploring. But such is the case when adapting a movie from a book. Though I am sure that movie-goers would not have minded lengthy the movie a bit, even with a run-time of 132 minutes.
If you see one movie this month, let it be American Sniper. If you have not heard of Chris Kyle, or his story, go see American Sniper. Hopefully, the Legend will live on through the lives he touched, and saved.
Lee (2222 KP) rated The Haunting of Hill House in TV
Oct 20, 2018
Outstanding
I'm not familiar with the book that this Netflix show is based on, but then from what I understand this is meant to be more a 'remix' of the book anyway. All I can say though is, faithful to the book or not, this is without a doubt one of the most incredibly brilliant shows I have seen in a very long time.
The Haunting of Hill House is all about the Crain family, flitting between then, now, yesterday and varying points in their lives. From their early years of living in a haunted house and having to leave quickly one night following their mothers suicide, to adulthood and trying to keep it all together in order to live some kind of normal life. The show takes a little while to settle in and to get comfortable with who is the adult version of which child (there are 5 children in total) and where they're all currently at in their lives, but after that the show just goes from strength to strength. Taking a few episodes to cover each child's story, all the while carefully taking the time occasionally to go back to their childhood life in the house, piecing things together for us. Continuing to add layers to each character and highlighting key points in those early years that subsequently affect their behaviour towards other family members as grown ups. It's like a much darker version of 'This is Us', with added horror and jump scares!
Whenever I read any positive reviews for the movie Hereditary, everything they describe about what made it great for them is totally what I got out of this show. It's the complete opposite to what I got from Hereditary, and I came away from that just feeling angry, frustrated and hugely disappointed. With The Haunting of Hill House though, every episode gripped me, sticking with me for a long time after. Episodes featuring beautifully elaborate long takes draw you into the drama, camera weaving between and around the characters and scenery, creating opportunities for some fantastic effects, especially within the house at night. Perfectly paced storytelling, effective without overly used scares, and some truly heartbreaking sadness at times. I loved it all, from start to finish.
The Haunting of Hill House is all about the Crain family, flitting between then, now, yesterday and varying points in their lives. From their early years of living in a haunted house and having to leave quickly one night following their mothers suicide, to adulthood and trying to keep it all together in order to live some kind of normal life. The show takes a little while to settle in and to get comfortable with who is the adult version of which child (there are 5 children in total) and where they're all currently at in their lives, but after that the show just goes from strength to strength. Taking a few episodes to cover each child's story, all the while carefully taking the time occasionally to go back to their childhood life in the house, piecing things together for us. Continuing to add layers to each character and highlighting key points in those early years that subsequently affect their behaviour towards other family members as grown ups. It's like a much darker version of 'This is Us', with added horror and jump scares!
Whenever I read any positive reviews for the movie Hereditary, everything they describe about what made it great for them is totally what I got out of this show. It's the complete opposite to what I got from Hereditary, and I came away from that just feeling angry, frustrated and hugely disappointed. With The Haunting of Hill House though, every episode gripped me, sticking with me for a long time after. Episodes featuring beautifully elaborate long takes draw you into the drama, camera weaving between and around the characters and scenery, creating opportunities for some fantastic effects, especially within the house at night. Perfectly paced storytelling, effective without overly used scares, and some truly heartbreaking sadness at times. I loved it all, from start to finish.
ClareR (5996 KP) rated The Girl with the Green Eyes in Books
Dec 14, 2021
The Girl with the Green Eyes is a science-fiction novel set in an alternative present day - and a book that I very much enjoyed reading. You’re left thinking that the premis of this book could very well be possible, and it’s just that we don’t know about it (I should point out here that I’m no scientist. Not even a little bit of one, unless you count a love of sci-fi. Which no-one does…). But I do like the kind of science fiction where you’re left with the big question of: could this really be happening now?
So, this book is basically all about eugenics. The search for the perfect baby, the perfect human. Someone with perfection in every part of their genetic make-up. And the fact that there are people out there who are more than willing to pay for this service. The novel also shows that however much humans try to control every aspect of this process, there is an element of the uncontrollable. These babies, children and adults still throw up surprises, and show that they are, in fact, individuals, and that genetic manipulation can’t control everything. Not yet (at the time that this story is set, anyway!).
I won’t rewrite the synopsis, but I will add that this was an exciting game of cat and mouse. The reader is never quite sure who the ‘bad guys’ and the ‘good guys’ really are, because the whole morality of this is so hazy! What both sides are doing in this is most definitely morally dubious (and as the mother of a disabled son, this is often spoken about in this house - with the opinions of said son being very surprising!).
I will most definitely be looking out for the next two novels in this series. I’m a sucker for a strong, female character, and Bella D’accourt has some skills that I can really appreciate!
This is what The Pigeonhole does so well - I would have missed this book entirely if left to my own devices. So thanks, Pigeonhole, and huge thanks to J. M. Briscoe for reading along with us!
So, this book is basically all about eugenics. The search for the perfect baby, the perfect human. Someone with perfection in every part of their genetic make-up. And the fact that there are people out there who are more than willing to pay for this service. The novel also shows that however much humans try to control every aspect of this process, there is an element of the uncontrollable. These babies, children and adults still throw up surprises, and show that they are, in fact, individuals, and that genetic manipulation can’t control everything. Not yet (at the time that this story is set, anyway!).
I won’t rewrite the synopsis, but I will add that this was an exciting game of cat and mouse. The reader is never quite sure who the ‘bad guys’ and the ‘good guys’ really are, because the whole morality of this is so hazy! What both sides are doing in this is most definitely morally dubious (and as the mother of a disabled son, this is often spoken about in this house - with the opinions of said son being very surprising!).
I will most definitely be looking out for the next two novels in this series. I’m a sucker for a strong, female character, and Bella D’accourt has some skills that I can really appreciate!
This is what The Pigeonhole does so well - I would have missed this book entirely if left to my own devices. So thanks, Pigeonhole, and huge thanks to J. M. Briscoe for reading along with us!