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The Favorite Sister
The Favorite Sister
Jessica Knoll | 2018 | Mystery, Thriller
6
5.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Goal Diggers is a reality TV show based on women entrepreneurs. These women have made their own way in life without the help of a man. The story centers around two characters on the show, Brett and Stephanie. Brett is the lesbian who doesn't care about what others things about her, with the bike riding studio who donates proceeds from her studios to women in Morocco who have to walk miles for water. They use the money to purchase bikes for these women. Stephanie is just the opposite refusing to film without a full face of makeup and she has written a few novels and now is on tour for her first "memoir". The other 2 characters on the show are Jen and Lauren, who don't really get along with the rest of the cast, and joining them this season is Kelly, Brett's older sister. Is reality TV really real? Are what is going on in these women's lives really happening or is it played up for the audience. This book takes us from Pre-Production on the show to Post-Production for one of the most explosive seasons. Are you ready for the ride?

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Getting into this book was hard. It took me 10 days to read it and I thought I would get through it pretty quickly. I love the Real Housewives series with my favorites being Atlanta, and Beverly Hills and this book I thought was going to be like taking a behind the scenes look at a show like that. It was, but for me it fell a little short.

The book starts with Kelly talking about Brett's death. But we have to go through the whole season of filming to see how that all plays out. Each woman has a secret to keep with one being bigger and juicier than the next. So from the start I was intrigued and I had to find out how Brett died, but it just took so long to get there. Back stories and front stories, and Interviews and lies. It's all a complete mess. The best part of the book for me was the last 10%.

Do you watch Reality TV? My husband calls it mind polluting. But he watches a couple of them with me. I've always wanted to know if the show was scripted and if these women were all either enemies or best friends when the cameras go off. You get a glimpse of that in this book. They take us through an entire filming season before the audience gets to see what happens. Producers sending texts to cast members before they are going to meet up with certain people to remind them of last filmed conversations? I need to ask Andy Cohen if that really happens. But with so much drama going on, whose lies do you believe?
  
Audrey Bloom is excited when the reality TV show Fix My Wedding is coming to town, especially when she gets to design the bridal bouquet. Okay, so the bride is a bit bell obsessed, but she can make it work. Unfortunately, that becomes the least of her problems when one of the hosts of the show is killed and the police begin to suspect Audrey’s former boyfriend, a production assistant on the show.

This series is already on my favorites list after just two books. The characters are wonderful and the so real. This applies to the series regulars and the suspects in this book. The plot is intriguing and kept the surprises coming until the end. Add in a dash of humor, and you’ve got another winner.

NOTE: I was sent an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/01/book-review-for-whom-bluebell-tolls-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Videodrome (1983)
Videodrome (1983)
1983 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Seminal Cronenberg movie, which, being a Cronenberg movie, doesn't easily fit into any other category. Jaded small-time TV executive becomes obsessed with what looks like a hard-core snuff channel, transmissions of which he stumbles across. But the Videodrome signal has a profound effect on his sense of reality and the world around him begins to warp into new shapes...

Starts off relatively conventionally (I say relatively: for instance, Debbie Harry plays a sado-masochistic radio talk-show host) but soon becomes a dense and challenging rumination on the place of the media in modern society and how we perceive the world - with the grotesque mutated imagery for which Cronenberg was then known, of course. A fascinating and powerful movie, still very timely, although it's clear that they couldn't think of an ending. Cronenberg chose to make this instead of directing Return of the Jedi: there's a parallel universe somewhere where the Ewoks were a lot more messed up.
  
40x40

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) Apr 10, 2020

Great movie

Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me (1992)
1992 | Drama, Mystery, Documentary
8.6 (5 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I’m always fascinated by what girls do with their trauma. Laura Palmer is a girl who is caught up in some bad shit and is a victim of sexual abuse. She understands, in some way because of her trauma, that she can never be this clean, perfect girl that everyone thinks she is, and instead of succumbing to self-hatred internally, she externalizes it and seizes control of her narrative as a bad girl, as a dirty girl, always choosing her path to destruction and chaos, which I find perverse but also can’t tear my eyes away from. The way Lynch bridges fantasy and reality and uses supernatural forces to symbolize trauma feels like a more accurate representation of the chaos that trauma wreaks in somebody’s mind and body than a cold, hard naturalistic portrayal. I love that he was able to circumvent TV censorship and really show what was going on in the dark."

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