Search
A Plague of Shadows (Harbingers of Light, #1)
8.0
Rate It
Book
Enter the world of O, where a plague of shadows creeps through the land, ensnaring those it infects...
Your Patient Safety Survival Guide: How to Protect Yourself and Others from Medical Errors
Gretchen Lefever Watson and Leah Binder
Book
It takes a village to combat preventable errors and omissions that cause millions of deaths and...
What to Eat When You're Pregnant: Revised and Updated (Including the A-Z of What's Safe and What's Not)
Book
New 3rd (2016) edition of this bestselling title, now including the A-Z of what's safe and what's...
Kelly (279 KP) rated Babylon Berlin in TV
Dec 16, 2018
Realistic portal of post Great War Berlin (1 more)
Not your usual boy meets girl story
Gritty, thrilling, engaging... need I go on?!
I have not found a series in some while that I was so attached, as Babylon Berlin. I confess, I watched the subtitles version, as my knowledge of German is pretty poor, but even this did not detach from the enjoyment of the series.
Babylon Berlin follows Gereon Rath, a detective struggling to deal with the aftermath of the Great War. He is supported at times in his cases by Charlotte Ritter, an administrator by day who supplements her families income through prostitution at night. I found myself routing for both characters throughout both series 1 and 2 of Babylon Berlin, even knowing Charlottes less than legal background, which is never hidden from the viewer. There was/ is a clear attraction between the two characters, which frustratingly is never fulfilled. Both characters are played by incredibly strong actors and are fully believable throughout.
What grasped my attention from the start was the clear portrayal of poverty that people lived in post war Berlin. Despite knowing some of the issues in living standards, I was drawn to the accuracy of the portrayal, many other stories set in this era would seek to romanticise the period at the end of the Weimar’s golden era, however the stark reality of degradation, sickness, depression and crime is always at the forefront of the story, and the political complexity of the time is covered well. This makes the the series very dark at times.
I was also surprised by the lack of Nazi input there is across season 1 and 2. We see lots about involvement of communists within the political system in the series, but there are only a small handful of references to the brown shirts - this is in stark contrast to what we are taught in schools, where the impression is given that by the late 1920s, Nazi involment is promenant in German society. This actually challenged my thinking on the subject, allowing me to realise that this is still a period, where, although the Nazis are known, they are not yet that popular.
I cannot wait until season 3 is released in order to find out what is next in store for Gereon and Charlotte. This truly is German production at its best.
Babylon Berlin follows Gereon Rath, a detective struggling to deal with the aftermath of the Great War. He is supported at times in his cases by Charlotte Ritter, an administrator by day who supplements her families income through prostitution at night. I found myself routing for both characters throughout both series 1 and 2 of Babylon Berlin, even knowing Charlottes less than legal background, which is never hidden from the viewer. There was/ is a clear attraction between the two characters, which frustratingly is never fulfilled. Both characters are played by incredibly strong actors and are fully believable throughout.
What grasped my attention from the start was the clear portrayal of poverty that people lived in post war Berlin. Despite knowing some of the issues in living standards, I was drawn to the accuracy of the portrayal, many other stories set in this era would seek to romanticise the period at the end of the Weimar’s golden era, however the stark reality of degradation, sickness, depression and crime is always at the forefront of the story, and the political complexity of the time is covered well. This makes the the series very dark at times.
I was also surprised by the lack of Nazi input there is across season 1 and 2. We see lots about involvement of communists within the political system in the series, but there are only a small handful of references to the brown shirts - this is in stark contrast to what we are taught in schools, where the impression is given that by the late 1920s, Nazi involment is promenant in German society. This actually challenged my thinking on the subject, allowing me to realise that this is still a period, where, although the Nazis are known, they are not yet that popular.
I cannot wait until season 3 is released in order to find out what is next in store for Gereon and Charlotte. This truly is German production at its best.
Lowri Catryn (229 KP) rated Playstation 4 in Tech
Jan 23, 2020
Software (2 more)
Design
Easy to use
Controller battery charge is poor (2 more)
Overheat easily
Playstation Plus expensive
Sleek design, great software
The playstation 4 was not cheap when it first appeared on the shelves, but it was a must have for most people, including me. The fashionable sleek design with the black panels against the blue light and touchpad controllers made it look incredibly stylish for a games console. Playstation Plus membership is unfortunately quite expensive, and the memory is poor on the console... having to download the game software to be able to play it.. not many different games can be played, depending on your memory. Simple to navigate and also the choice of installing applications. The touchpad controllers made it much easier to navigate on a keyboard, with quicker typing. The playstation allows you to connect with fellow players all around the world, and make new friends. The fact that there is an option for headphones and microphones is both positive and negative. It's great to communicate with others, however can lead to verbal abuse which is quite unsettling when gaming with trolls. The playstation consoles have always been my favourite and never will I change to an XBox, which is lumpy, ugly etc. The use of other applications such as YouTube and netflix on the playstation is amazing for people who do not have smart TVs or access to streaming sticks. Recently Playstation allowed players to change their username (a long and very much awaited change for users! Breathing a sigh of relief to get rid of cringy usernames, or usernames that included their ex lovers). However again, Playstation want to make money however they can... if you messed up the opportunity with the game tag change, you were only allowed one free opportunity so you had to consider wisely. Otherwise Playstation would charge you to change your game tag once more (slightly unfair I think!) A year ago I bought the PS4 VR headset.. exciting at first but a lumpy headset which is connected via cable (would have been much more effective to have had this wireless! Such as the controllers).. at first there is motion sickness, but you soon get the hang of it. Again a great selection of games, however quite pricey!
Peril in Paris
9.0
Rate It
Book
Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her dashing husband, Darcy, are awaiting a bundle of joy, but an...
Louise (64 KP) rated A Court of Thorns and Roses in Books
Jul 2, 2018 (Updated Oct 16, 2018)
Contains spoilers, click to show
Feyre is the sole breadwinner for her family,with two sisters and her father to feed she trains herself to hunt. When out hunting on one of the coldest days in winter, she finds she has competition in the form of a wolf, hungry and knowing that she won’t get her chance again for a while she kills the wolf and her prey. She manages to sell the pelt from the wolf she killed and gets a pretty penny too but days later a beast/lion crashes through her door demanding to know who killed the wolf and that the killer must live in the immortal lands by the Fae law or die. When Feyre is taken to land of immortals (Prythian) she is shocked to see how beautiful everything is and also that her captor is not a beast but a handsome High Fae that is known as Tamlin. As Feyre grows to be more accustomed with her surroundings and finds a mutual interest with Tamlin, their companionship evolves into something more… A LOT MORE! There is a sickness that is spreading causing the fae to become weak, Feyre wants to help to stop this sickness but first she has to find….HER!
Why oh why have I waited so long to read this? I am always the last one on the hype train, but this didn’t disappoint me and is worth all the hype.
This is the first Sarah J Maas book that I have read and now I have a thirst for more. I don’t read a lot of retellings as I have this feeling that they are going to be totally different from the original. This really did feel like beauty and the beast with a twist and faeries. I have not read a lot of books involving fae, so I didn’t know what to expect but with Maas’ descriptive writing I was able to gather a good idea of what they looked like.
I had a hard time getting into this book, I don’t read a lot of fantasy and where I am so new to the genre I was a little worried that I wasn’t going to know what was going on. There are a lot of characters in this book and different types of Fae and creatures which was definitely interesting. I needn’t have worried as after reading this book I really wanted to delve into more fantasy, where anything can happen, where you have all types of creatures and just let your imagination go wild.
Feyre is a huntress, she is fearless, courageous, stubborn and a pretty good protagonist, however saying that some of the things she did, just made me shake my head and shout WHY? at my book. She would do some pretty stupid stuff and get herself into trouble even when she was warned by Tamlin that she shouldn’t do something or stay away.
Tamlin is the lord/high fae of the spring court and is able to shape shift into the lion/beast that Feyre encountered back in the mortal lands. He’s brooding, secretive, stubborn like Feyre and handsome obviously. I am100% team Tamlin, you grow to love him and the interactions between him and Feyre
Lucien, I was not sure about him, he was funny in parts but then he did things that put Feyre in jeopardy, however he had more of a back story to him which was interesting but I wasn’t a massive fan of his.
Rhysand he is good looking and he knows it, but he is devious and you are left wondering whose side he is really on. He is definitely a likeable character and seen as a contender for Feyre’s affections
Aramantha! What a bitch! What a badass! She is a great villain, she is pure evil and I loved it. She has everyone wrapped around her finger, she was cunning and sly.
I loved the romance in this book, it is verging on new adult with some scenes that are quite steamy between Feyre and Tamlin. There is a build up to the romance and so much tension between the two its palpable. Feyre despises Tamlin at first and then they find mutual interests(art) and become closer.
And for people who have read the book if you were like me. I was shouting at Feyre, at my book…..JUST SAY IT! SAY IT! And then afterwards WHY OH WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY IT!(Hopefully you know what I am on about)
I will definitely be continuing on with the sequel I need more Tamlin and the world. Sarah J Maas you legend!
If you are looking for a YA retelling that has a twist and makes it its own then you should definitely pick this up. If you love romance with tension then pick this book,it’s definitely an all the feels kinda book.
I rated this 4.25 out of 5 stars
Why oh why have I waited so long to read this? I am always the last one on the hype train, but this didn’t disappoint me and is worth all the hype.
This is the first Sarah J Maas book that I have read and now I have a thirst for more. I don’t read a lot of retellings as I have this feeling that they are going to be totally different from the original. This really did feel like beauty and the beast with a twist and faeries. I have not read a lot of books involving fae, so I didn’t know what to expect but with Maas’ descriptive writing I was able to gather a good idea of what they looked like.
I had a hard time getting into this book, I don’t read a lot of fantasy and where I am so new to the genre I was a little worried that I wasn’t going to know what was going on. There are a lot of characters in this book and different types of Fae and creatures which was definitely interesting. I needn’t have worried as after reading this book I really wanted to delve into more fantasy, where anything can happen, where you have all types of creatures and just let your imagination go wild.
Feyre is a huntress, she is fearless, courageous, stubborn and a pretty good protagonist, however saying that some of the things she did, just made me shake my head and shout WHY? at my book. She would do some pretty stupid stuff and get herself into trouble even when she was warned by Tamlin that she shouldn’t do something or stay away.
Tamlin is the lord/high fae of the spring court and is able to shape shift into the lion/beast that Feyre encountered back in the mortal lands. He’s brooding, secretive, stubborn like Feyre and handsome obviously. I am100% team Tamlin, you grow to love him and the interactions between him and Feyre
Lucien, I was not sure about him, he was funny in parts but then he did things that put Feyre in jeopardy, however he had more of a back story to him which was interesting but I wasn’t a massive fan of his.
Rhysand he is good looking and he knows it, but he is devious and you are left wondering whose side he is really on. He is definitely a likeable character and seen as a contender for Feyre’s affections
Aramantha! What a bitch! What a badass! She is a great villain, she is pure evil and I loved it. She has everyone wrapped around her finger, she was cunning and sly.
I loved the romance in this book, it is verging on new adult with some scenes that are quite steamy between Feyre and Tamlin. There is a build up to the romance and so much tension between the two its palpable. Feyre despises Tamlin at first and then they find mutual interests(art) and become closer.
And for people who have read the book if you were like me. I was shouting at Feyre, at my book…..JUST SAY IT! SAY IT! And then afterwards WHY OH WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY IT!(Hopefully you know what I am on about)
I will definitely be continuing on with the sequel I need more Tamlin and the world. Sarah J Maas you legend!
If you are looking for a YA retelling that has a twist and makes it its own then you should definitely pick this up. If you love romance with tension then pick this book,it’s definitely an all the feels kinda book.
I rated this 4.25 out of 5 stars
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Get Out (2017) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
“It really doesn’t matter if you’re ‘Black or White”.
Due to a mixture of holiday, work commitments and sickness (I would not wish to inflict my bronchial cough on ANY cinema audience for a while) I haven’t been to the cinema in over a month… shocking. But it has given me a chance to catch up on some of the films in 2017 (and a few from last year) that I hadn’t got to see. So this will be the first of a series of such “DVD” reviews.
“Get Out” was written and directed by Jordan Peele and was his directorial debut. And a hot item on his resume it is too.
Daniel Kaluuya (“Sicario”) plays African-American Chris Washington who, nervously, takes a trip ‘upstate’ to meet the parents of his cute white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams). The parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford, best known as Josh Lyman from “The West Wing”) and Missy (Catherine Keener, “ Captain Phillips”), are extremely welcoming.
But the weekend coincides with an “annual gathering” of family and friends, and events quickly take a left turn into “The Twilight Zone”, with anti-smoking hypnosis and a bizarre game of Bingo where the win is so substantial that playing becomes a ‘no brainer’. Can Chris ‘Get Out’, with his mind still intact, before it’s too late?
This is a really clever script by Peele. The film baits you into thinking this is some redneck-inter-racial-revenge flick, but actually the colour of the skin is almost irrelevant. (Or is it? This angle is left deliciously vague). Some of the filming is spectacularly creepy, with the hypnosis scene being reminiscent to me of the excellent “Under The Skin”. And never has a teaspoon in a cup of tea been a more devastating weapon.
I seemed to have talked at length this year in this blog on the subject of the “physics of horror”: the story elements hanging together in a satisfying – albeit sometimes in an unbelievable – way. “Get Out” delivers this to perfection, keeping its powder dry until the closing moments of the film before delivering a series of satisfying “Ah!” relevatory moments.
While the ‘physics’ of the film is good the ‘biology’ is bonkers, featuring a plot point from the terrible first episode of the 3rd season of the original “Star Trek” (if you can be bothered to look that up!). But I’ll forgive this, parking my incredulity, to salute what I think is one of the year’s most novel and impressive low-budget indie horror films.
“Get Out” was written and directed by Jordan Peele and was his directorial debut. And a hot item on his resume it is too.
Daniel Kaluuya (“Sicario”) plays African-American Chris Washington who, nervously, takes a trip ‘upstate’ to meet the parents of his cute white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams). The parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford, best known as Josh Lyman from “The West Wing”) and Missy (Catherine Keener, “ Captain Phillips”), are extremely welcoming.
But the weekend coincides with an “annual gathering” of family and friends, and events quickly take a left turn into “The Twilight Zone”, with anti-smoking hypnosis and a bizarre game of Bingo where the win is so substantial that playing becomes a ‘no brainer’. Can Chris ‘Get Out’, with his mind still intact, before it’s too late?
This is a really clever script by Peele. The film baits you into thinking this is some redneck-inter-racial-revenge flick, but actually the colour of the skin is almost irrelevant. (Or is it? This angle is left deliciously vague). Some of the filming is spectacularly creepy, with the hypnosis scene being reminiscent to me of the excellent “Under The Skin”. And never has a teaspoon in a cup of tea been a more devastating weapon.
I seemed to have talked at length this year in this blog on the subject of the “physics of horror”: the story elements hanging together in a satisfying – albeit sometimes in an unbelievable – way. “Get Out” delivers this to perfection, keeping its powder dry until the closing moments of the film before delivering a series of satisfying “Ah!” relevatory moments.
While the ‘physics’ of the film is good the ‘biology’ is bonkers, featuring a plot point from the terrible first episode of the 3rd season of the original “Star Trek” (if you can be bothered to look that up!). But I’ll forgive this, parking my incredulity, to salute what I think is one of the year’s most novel and impressive low-budget indie horror films.
Pregnancy Tracker & Baby App
Health & Fitness and Medical
App
From the brand chosen by over 400 million expecting parents, BabyCenter's pregnancy tracker and baby...
Tai Chi 108 Yang Classical Form
Health & Fitness and Lifestyle
App
Learn the 108 Yang Tai Chi classical form with these streaming video lessons from Master Yang....