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The Girl from the Other Side: Siuil, a Run: Vol. 1
The Girl from the Other Side: Siuil, a Run: Vol. 1
Nagabe | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
9
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Beautiful art (0 more)
Sometimes you just need a simple but intriguing story.
I'm not usually a fan of manga's, I have no idea why but I always have a really hard time getting into them compared to comic books and when I bought The Girl from the Other Side I didn't know it was a manga until it arrived but damn am I glad I still decided to read it.

The story isn't very complicated and for a book so short they covered some of the world building and backstory quickly but at the same time, it didn't feel like it was rush at all. The characters are so interesting that I can't wait to read the next Volume.

My favorite part though and honestly the main reason I even bought this book was the art, the cover just drew me in and I knew I had to have it, the style really goes with the story so well the lights and darks just represent Shiva and "Teacher" so well and the art style is gorgeous and that alone is enough to have me already ordering the next book.
  
The Secret History
The Secret History
Donna Tartt | 1993 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.7 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
Engrossing at times but overall disappointing
This novel left me with mixed feelings, as sometimes the prose was wonderful while other times, there were glaring flaws.

Surrounding a misfit at an exclusive New England college, Richard finds kindred spirits in the five eccentric students of his ancient Greek class. He becomes engulfed in their dark secrets and things spiral out of control.

The atmosphere surrounding this group of elitist college students smacks of a wannabe Great Gatsby - there's a sense of self-importance, entitlement, and grandeur, of self-indulgence and pretence. While this worked to an extent in terms of characterisation, it also made for a great exasperation for the reader. The characters are so unlikable that you don't even care about what happens to them. And they do appear to be grotesque caricatures of 19th century archetypes bolted on to an otherwise standard 1980's drink and drugs college environment.

The characters lacked depth, although Tartt attempted to mirror them in the Greek stories they studied. In essence it is a good story with some stylish writing but also some dull and tedious conversations and descriptions. Disappointing.
  
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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Spotify Music in Apps

Jan 11, 2018  
Spotify Music
Spotify Music
Entertainment, Music
9
8.6 (229 Ratings)
App Rating
I'm very new to Spotify, but I decided to give it a try when they offered a 3 month trial of premium for 99p. And the premium subscription itself I cannot fault.

It's a great way to find new music and listen to virtually anything you want in an instant. I love that you follow and listen to others playlists and the majority of the interface is easy to use. I like to play music in my car, so I love that Spotify will play through the Bluetooth in my car just like the normal music on my phone. It doesn't even seem to take a large amount of data which is a surprise, although with premium it's good to have the ability to download songs.


My only criticisms are that I sometimes find it difficult to find particular songs under an artist if you're unsure of the album and don't want to search for them separately. I also don't like that you can't organise playlists. I've heard you can create playlist folders on the desktop app, but this isn't available on the phone & is frustrating if you have and follow a lot of playlists.
  
La La Land (2016)
La La Land (2016)
2016 | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Cinematography (1 more)
The leads
The ending (1 more)
Pacing
A musical love letter for hollywood
this charming movie is an unashamedly nostalgic love letter to years of cinema gone. The musical numbers to the impromptu dance routines make this a throughly enjoyable film for lovers of film old and new.

the 2 leads in this film Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are superb. They both manage beautiful nuanced performances. They have fantastic chemistry as shown in previous films (crazy stupid love & gangster squad) but it really comes alive in this film.

the direction and cinematography of this movie is sometimes visually breathtaking. Damen Chiselle has proven what a versatile director he is with this movie and is willing to take a real risk.

where this movie does fall flat unfortunately is the pacing. At times the movie feels like it drags and could do with slimming out. At just over 2 hours this film is fairly long for a musical of modern standards. Also I felt the ending to be rather disjointed and jarring.

That being said I still found this movie to be absolutely charming and has a brilliant musical score you will be humming and whistling for days to come.
  
Spotlight (2015)
Spotlight (2015)
2015 | Drama, Mystery
The story is amazing (2 more)
Heartfelt writing
The best ensemble cast in years
Wow. Just wow
Michael fucking Keaton!!!!
Holy shit!!!!
Although he will always be Beetlejuice to me, he keeps proving to me time and time again that he is one of the finest dramatic actors of our time. Id even go as far to say of anytime.
This movie follows the Boston Globe's Spotlight team in the early 2000's as they break a scandal involving the Catholic Church's involvement in a priest molestation case.
Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Leiv Shriver (spelling incorrect I know) also star, as well as a few other familiar faces.
This is not my typical movie, but when something stars Keaton, I check it out. And it didn't disappoint.
It's long, drawn out, and sometimes boring. But in this reviewers opinion, totally worth a watch.
The number 87 will forever stick out in my mind as something that reminds me of that wretched feeling you get in your stomach before you vomit.
Based on true events that transpired over an almost 55 year period, if not longer.
  
One of us is Lying
One of us is Lying
Karen M. McManus | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.3 (41 Ratings)
Book Rating
i gotta say, this book has been given so many good reviews, i was super hyped. unfortunately, although it was a worthwhile read, i was kindaverymuch let down. the lack of diversity was a start; it was incredibly off-putting. of the 4 mains, only one was a POC, two of the others were your classic blonde hair, light-eyed perfect TV show type high schoolers. and i know that may have been a bit deliberate, but,,,,, cmon. the fact that one of the characters was queer was more of a plot point as opposed to actual rep. another con is that the characters seemed incredibly flat, especially at the beginning. if i'm gonna spend 300 pages reading about these characters, i wanna enjoy them
 
BuT tHiS iS aBoUt LoVe

so pros. THis was definitely an intriguing read. although slightly predictable, it still sometimes left you guessing as to why something happened. that romance got me screaming, we stan an enemies to friends-in-a-situation to friends to lovers.

so yeah, i truly did enjoy this book, even though it doesnt look like it. it was a good read, and maybe i'll pick it up again? who knows.
  
Last Podcast On The Left
Last Podcast On The Left
Comedy
9
8.6 (16 Ratings)
Podcast Rating
Incredibly well researched (1 more)
Pretty Funny
Can occasionally get a little too silly. (0 more)
This is truly an amazing podcast. If you're in to things that are a little weird, such as Area 51, or skinwalker ranch, or if you have an interest in anything to do with serial killers both well known, or slightly more obscure, then this is something you will love. Marcus Parks, Ben Kissel, and Henry Zebrowski have the kind of chemistry you find when actual friends work together. The amount of research that goes in to all of their episodes, makes each one incredibly informative. Despite this technically being a comedy podcast, it can get really chilling at times. Their recent episodes surrounding the Auschwitz doctor Joseph Mengele, is one prime example. The occasional injection of a silly joke works to break the tension of some episodes, although sometimes, not often though, it can take you a bit too far away from the subject matter. Overall, this is easily my favourite podcast. I will happily sit for hours listening to the three guys talk. I can't recommend it any more highly.
  
The Princess Bride (1987)
The Princess Bride (1987)
1987 | Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
Director Rob Reiner really had a fantastic career as a director going in the 80s and early 90s with the likes of When Harry Met Sally..., Stand By Me, Misery, A Few Good Men, This is Spinal Tap and this film of course.

Based on the masterful screenplay by Hollywood mega-scribe William Goldman, it quite frankly gives us the perfect showcase for "True Love".

Every character has their place in bringing the story forward, and the laughs keep coming in every scene. I used to have long passages of the screenplay memorized and could quote at will.



My kids and I will often text each other back and forth with a quote-a-thon of the film (I always win!)

Whenever someone leaves our house to go somewhere someone will always say "Have fun storming the castle!".

If I am ever needing to lighten my mood, I will sometimes even just watch a few scenes or catch some clips on YouTube. Quite honestly I can just close my eyes and recite it from memory.

What a classic!

  
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Kevin Phillipson (10072 KP) Mar 28, 2019

One of those films I've never seen

15th Affair
15th Affair
James Patterson | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.8 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
Lindsay Boxer is trying to solve the case of four murders at the Four Seasons. There are just a few things that are getting in her way. First, the only witness is gone and unidentifiable, next a plane crash is causing her case to be put on the back burner and third, and most disturbing is the fact that her husband seems to be somehow involved with all of the above.

Another great Women's Murder Club novel. This one had me on the edge of my seat from the very start. Many twists and I was unsure where it was going to take me. Having been with these characters for so many years, they become like friends that you don't want to see anything happen to I really felt an emotional connection to Lindsay in this book with the trust issues she had going on with her husband. I believe it's something we as women have questions about at least in the back of our mind. We want to trust our spouse's unconditionally, but sometimes that trust can be hard.

I can't wait to see what book 16 has in store for Lindsay.
  
Love, Death & Robots
Love, Death & Robots
2019 | Action, Animation, Comedy
The animation is just about always amazing in some way (1 more)
I actually prefer these short episodes usually between 5 and 15 minutes
There is a lot of sexuality and nudity including full frontal male nudity that just seems like it's unnecessary most of time (1 more)
It's an aontology show Which means some episodes are just not going to be as good
A variety sample pack of short sci-fi animated stories
So this is a animated show each episode features a short self-contained story with a distinctive different animation style most of the stories are sci-fi in nature with a few being more on the supernatural side I was actually surprised by the overall quality usually in this type of show there's going to be very highs and very lows

I can say for the most part the show is really enjoyable lots of unique art styles unique stories with different backgrounds a lot of them do feel like it's more style than substance though

And there is a lot of Gore violence and sexuality sprinkled throughout the series that is just off-putting sometimes for me