WorldCup Cricket Fever - Deluxe
Games and Entertainment
App
WorldCup Cricket Fever is back, bringing cricket on iPhone to a new era. Play and experience the...
WorldCup Cricket Fever HD
Games and Entertainment
App
WorldCup Cricket Fever is back, bringing cricket on iPhone to a new era. Play and experience the...
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) in Movies
Aug 24, 2020
The yearly Eurovision Song Contest is the epitome of car crash television. Any lack of merit is made up for by the sheer cheesiness of it all, and it's ultimately not very good, but it's hard to look away.
Fire Saga takes this concept, and just adds Will Ferrell to the mix - arguably perfect casting for a film based on this subject.
Both Ferrell and Rachel McAdams are great, and are willing to poke fun at themselves. Legion's Dan Stevens is fantastic as well.
Some of the songs written for this are just ridiculous. They would fit in seamlessly alongside any real world Eurovision stuff - well written nonsense I guess would be an apt description.
On the surface, Fire Saga may appear silly, it actually possesses a huge amount of heart. Although some (like me) find Eurovision pretty dumb, it clearly means a lot to many people. This is shown off in spades here, and boasts some genuinely emotional plot points. The narrative isn't too dissimilar to Blades of Glory on terms of structure if that helps to picture it.
All in all, The Story of Fire Saga is hugely entertaining, pretty funny, and is brimming with charm. You would have to have a heart of stone to not get something out of it.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated Knife Edge in Books
Aug 29, 2020
The start was brilliant and had me hooked but it just went a bit "bleh" for me in the middle and although the ending was as good as the start, it just didn't make up for the middle because by that time I had lost a lot of interest and just carried on reading because I hate not finishing books. The characters were interesting but not particularly memorable enough to connect with me so I didn't really care what happened to them either way. The themes and plot of this book are up to date and you can certainly see them playing out in the real world unfortunately but it felt a little over complicated at times.
As usual, I am likely to be in the minority on this one as there have been many 4 and 5 star reviews given; maybe I was having a bad week! so I suggest you give a go for yourself. I have to say that this won't put me off reading Simon's books in the future purely based on the start and end of this particular book.
Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers via NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased review.
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Miniaturist in Books
May 18, 2020
Book
The Miniaturist
By Jessie Burton
On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways . . .
Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall?
An absolutely beautiful written book! I found it hard to put down! Only thing I found a little disappointing was I needed more about the miniaturist and the mystery surrounding her. I found the friendships formed in this book so endearing, although it also shows as humans we may have become more excepting of race and sexuality but we are still in some countries struggling to accept each other! I went on to watch the Tv adaptation which was absolutely brilliant and so close to the books!
Highly recommend!
Black House
8.8
Rate It
Book
Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe called The Territories to...
The Talisman
Theft by Finding
8.5
Rate It
Book
The point is to find out who you are and to be true to that person. Because so often you can't....
Autobiography essays
The Chalk Artist: A Novel
Book
A tender affair and the redemptive power of art are at the core of this compelling novel from...
Fiction
The Stranger (Jude Lyon)
7.0
Rate It
Book
ISIS can’t control him. MI6 can’t find him. But he’s coming… Things change quickly...