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Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) rated We Drink and We Know Things in Podcasts

Oct 18, 2020 (Updated Oct 26, 2020)  
We Drink and We Know Things
We Drink and We Know Things
Comedy, News & Politics, Society & Culture
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Podcast Rating
The hosts: Andrea and Tom. (6 more)
The variety of topics.
Keeps my interests throughout.
The humor.
The coolness factor.
Not over-produced or over-commercialized.
Homegrown in Kentucky
Tom has a little bit of a potty mouth sometimes so if that offends you, hide your kids and be prepared to clutch your pearls. (0 more)
Doused in alcohol and lit with knowledge.
I am an avid podcast listener. We're talking up to 12 hours a day, sometimes more, so I'm always looking for something good to feed my ears. I heard a We Drink and We Know Things promo on one of the podcasts in my usual rotation and was so taken by the hosts' personalities and rapport that I paused my usual podcast and went to WDAWKT and immediately dove into their latest podcast. It was so much fun, so interesting, and intriguing that I had to hear more! So for the next three days, I binged their podcast.

To say it's delightful may seem weird to some, considering the topics they cover, but nonetheless, it's true. It made me very happy to hear that they are from my home state of Kentucky because we have such interesting stories from here that need to be told, though that is not the focus of the podcast. Married hosts, Andrea and Tom, are charming, funny, authentic, and real, and their thirst for knowledge cannot be quenched. For that, I am grateful as it means they will never run out of material for their podcast and I'll get to listen to them every week.

Some of the topics they've covered are true crime, ghosts, haunted locations, paranormal, aliens, UFOs, cryptids, urban legends, conspiracies, weird science, strange historical events, and more, and regular episodes Florida Man Friday, Let's Not Meet stories, and Creepypastas.

I have several paranormal stories to share with them so maybe one day, you'll hear my story on one of their episodes.

If these kinds of topics interest you, give this podcast a try. I think you'll like it.
  
    Paleo

    Paleo

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Tabletop Game

    Paleo is a co-operative adventure game set in the stone age, a game in which players try to keep the...

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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Black Cake in Books

Feb 4, 2022  
Black Cake
Black Cake
Charmaine Wilkerson | 2022 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Siblings Byron and Benny are estranged, but after their mother's death, they discover she’s left them a black cake, a beloved food from their childhood and history, and a voice recording that reveals many surprises about her past. Their mother Eleanor's story is heartbreaking and shocking, but will it bring Byron and Benny together to share the cake "when the time is right," as their mother desired?

This is a really interesting and different book. It’s a sweeping tale that spans from the 1960s to the present and touches on racism, homophobia, immigration, assault, the meaning of family, and so much more. If that sounds like a lot, it is, and sometimes it feels like too much. The story meanders at times--it's a lot to go from the 1960s to the near present, and the story is told through many narrators and short chapters. It's sometimes confusing to keep track of. At times, the musings and whining of present-day Byron and Benny are frustrating because you just want to get back to Eleanor and the past.

And that is where BLACK CAKE shines. Because while this is a debut novel and it shows at times, the story really is engrossing, especially when Eleanor gets into her origin story and we learn about the Caribbean and how she became who she is. There's almost a mystery in there, and it's fascinating. We are taken back to the islands, meeting a young determined swimmer and her best friend. I love how Wilkerson weaves everything together into a touching and poignant tale that delves deep into this family's past. I was mesmerized and needed to know everything that happened. There are a lot of characters and a few false starts, but this story winds around to make sense, and it was a really beautiful and fascinating.

I received a copy of this book from Random House / Ballantine and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
  
Royally Arranged (The Royal Series #2)
Royally Arranged (The Royal Series #2)
Amber Malloy | 2024 | Contemporary, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
sometimes, you need to see whats coming at ya!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 2 in the Royal Series. I have not read book one, Royally Screwed and a quick read of that blurb tells me you don't need to read that one before this. Those characters do not appear in this book. It's also the first book I've read of Mallory's. I'll come back to that.

Rafe needs a wife, a temporary arrangement, while his twin brother, his ELDER twin, gets a clean bill of health. A business arrangement which Astoria enters, with a shelf life to the arrangement. At least it started as such.

I liked this. It follows a proven track: an arranged marriage; they have sex (which wasn't part of the arrangement) there is a major fall out, and then a make up, and all is happy in the world. And sometimes you need to see what's coming at ya, like a freight train, and ain't nothin' you can do to stop it. And I LIKED that in this book!

It's steamy in places, but I didn't find it overly heavy on the smexy times. I didn't find it particularly emotional, either. Rafe lost his wife and son, but you don't FEEL that pain from him.

I think that is what I missed the most in the book: emotional connection. Yes, they have smex and do all the things they are supposed to, but I didn't find an EMOTIONAL connection between them. They do say those three little words, but again, I didn't FEEL the love between them.

As I said, my first book by Mallory. I'd like to delve into the backlist of this author to see if I can find that connection. Might just be how the author writes, is all.

So, because I felt that was missing, I gave this book

4 stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Fitbit in Apps

Nov 3, 2017  
Fitbit
Fitbit
Health & Fitness, Lifestyle
7
8.4 (29 Ratings)
App Rating
Simple, easy to use but can be glitchy
The Fitbit itself is a marvellous piece of kit (I have the Charge 2), and the app really works well to present and manage the features.

The dashboard is simple but allows you to edit and only view the areas you care about. I love the fact that you can now view your detailed sleep patterns and a detailed heart rate monitor. It's also great that you can challenge friends and see how they're doing.


I also like that you can set alarms to use with your fitbit. The problem with this though is that I find the alarm screen to be a bit glitchy. Sometimes it won't sync when I save an alarm, other times I try to sync and instead some of my alarms disappear and I have to restart the app to see them again. There are also times when the app itself doesn't want to connect or sync properly.
  
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Bird (1704 KP) Nov 3, 2017

Great review Sarah - I have the Fitbit Surge, and struggle to synch mine all the time too (especially when moving between time zones).

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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Uber in Apps

Nov 4, 2017 (Updated Nov 4, 2017)  
Uber
Uber
Lifestyle, Travel
7
7.9 (15 Ratings)
App Rating
Takes a while to update location, but couldn't do without
Uber, as controversial as it is, has been a bit of a lifesaver for me especially as I'm carted from appointment to appointment due to a disability. It's easy to use, and far cheaper than other services, and I really can't find a good alternative. No doubt, there are plenty of issues - some with drivers, but otherwise it's been fine.

The app itself is not bad, but it has a few technical issues including updating GPS locations. It usually takes a while to update, having to exit and re-enter the app for it to change.

Communicating with the drivers is a bit hit and miss as well. Sometimes they pick up the phone, a lot of times not - and waiting times increase while I attempt to hobble to the car despite asking them to wait in front. So it isn't without its faults - but I wouldn't change it otherwise.
  
Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast
10
8.6 (5 Ratings)
Podcast Rating
Emergency questions (0 more)
Quality depends on the guests (0 more)
Superb silliness but at times insightful
RHLSTP is like an unregulated Jonathan Ross, if Jonathan Ross spent a lot less time on researching his guests and made fumbling attempts to ask them about their work before resorting to emergency questions, all to hilarious consequences.
The guests range from big name stars from off of the telly (Steve Coogan, Stephen Fry) to young up and coming comedians (John Robins, Nish Kumar).
All guests get the same cheeky tone from Herring and there is no sycophancy present at all.


Herring's repertoire of emergency questions (have you ever seen a big-foot, would you rather have a hand made of ham or an armpit that dispensed sun cream) help keep a consistent tone and sometimes lead to surprising answers (eg when asked "What is it like being Stephen Fry?" the answer led to an admission of attempted suicide).
  
QF
Quartet for the End of Time
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well it is tough for me to review this book or even rate it. I'm still trying to figure out what happened in it...at times it seems like there is absolutely nothing happening & at others as if everything is happening at once. It was just downright confusing. Sometimes I was really into the plot & invested in the lives of Alden, Douglas, & Sutton. At others I found myself checking to see how many pages were left before I was done with the book! Of a the characters, I found Douglas the most intriguing. He seemed the most real & knowable of the 3 main characters. Yet the ending leaves you wondering how much of it was actually real & who was real. And what was up with awaiting a trial at the end?! The author is talented but the story was bogged down by her attempts to write long, twisting sentences. I doubt very much that I would read anything more by her.