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Merissa (11612 KP) created a post

Feb 9, 2022  
"The world’s largest oil painting. A 400-year-old murder. A disembodied whisper: “Amore mio.” My love."

Tour & #Giveaway: The Prisoner of Paradise (The Paradise Series #1) by Rob Samborn - @Archaeolibrary, @partnersincr1me​ (@PICVirtualTours - FB)​, @RobSamborn, #Thriller,

https://archaeolibrarian.wixsite.com/website/post/theprisonerofparadise-theparadiseseries-1-byrobsamborn-1
     
40x40

Merissa (11612 KP) created a post

Feb 2, 2022  
"The world’s largest oil painting. A 400-year-old murder. A disembodied whisper: “Amore mio.” My love."

Tour: The Prisoner of Paradise (The Paradise Series #1) by Rob Samborn - @Archaeolibrary, @maryanneyarde, @robsamborn, #CoffeePotBookClub, #BlogTour, #Tintoretto, #Venice, #UnlockThePast, #CommercialThriller, #HistoricalFiction, #MagicalRealism,

https://archaeolibrarian.wixsite.com/website/post/theprisonerofparadise-theparadiseseries-1-byrobsamborn
     
Above the Timberline
Above the Timberline
Gregory Manchess | 2017 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I'm calling this a graphic novel because that's really what it is - it's not a comic, though. Each spread of pages is a mixture of text and oil painting - sometimes just a painting.

If it was just the text, it would be a very lackluster book. There are aspects of the story that are unexplained, and aspects that are explained only by the accompanying paintings. It's really the paintings that make this book unique. It's almost like - an adult picture book, I suppose. It actually reads more like someone found the series of paintings and constructed a story to support what they imagined was happening in the pictures.

Regardless, it's a unique experience. Manchess is a remarkable artist. The paintings are gorgeous, and the book does that thing where the text and art play around each other on the page, creating unique formatting that helps tell the story on its own, like when a full two-page spread of a painting has two lines of text to emphasize them.

Fascinating, beautiful book.
  
Love, Death & Robots - Season 1
Love, Death & Robots - Season 1
2019 | Animation, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
The beauty of Love, Death and Robots is it's format. An eclectic collection of animated short films, some genuinely brilliant, with a handful of duds, truly gives something for everyone.

There are 18 films on show here, all with something different to offer.
Firstly there were 3 that failed to really resonate with me - Sucker of Souls, When the Yoghurt Took Over, and Alternate Histories. I found these three either slightly boring, or silly for the sake of being silly. There were 2 that sort of floated in the middle - The Dump, and Blind Spot, not bad by any means (none of the shorts are truly bad) but just were sort of there.
Leaving a grand total of 13 shorts that I thought were really really great.

A handful of these realistic CGI entries - namely, Sonnie's Edge, Three Robots, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Shape Shifters (one of the highlights for me), Helping Hand (reminded me of Gravity, in a great way), Lucky 13, and The Secret War.
These lot are lengthier offerings, and boast some good looking CGI animation, bordering on photo realism at times. The run time gives an opportunity for some decent fleshed out stories.
The Secret War in particular is nothing short of breath taking, and may well be my top pick of the whole season.
Elsewhere, we have more cartoony offerings - Suits, a loud animation that features farmers in mech suits fighting aliens. Zima Blue, a beautifully touching story of how a simple robot transcends existence itself - another highlight of the season. Fish Night, a short desert based drama bursting with colour. The animation of this one reminded me of A Scanner Darkly. Good Hunting, a collision of Ancient Chinese stories and a Bioshock style steampunk future. Hard to watch at times, but stunning also - easily would have been my top pick if The Secret War wasn't included.
Rounding it off we have The Witness, and animation that looks like a moving oil painting and reminded me of Mirror's Edge, and Ice Age, a fun short that's the only live action inclusion with CGI flourishes about a civilisation growing in a couple freezer.

It's an ambitious collection of shorts for sure, but like I said, there's something here for everyone. Even the ones that I liked the least are a 6/10 at worst. If you like sci-fi or animation in any shape or form, then check this series out.