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Tea for God
Tea for God
3D, Shooter
Tea for God is rouguelite, dungeon crawling shooter for PC VR that uses procedural generation and impossible spaces to create the game map as you play.
In ‘Tea for God’ you are on a quest to pay respects to the late ‘God Emperor’ who was killed by robots. To get to him you must travel through his high-tech palace which is, unfortunately still infested with the killer robots
The game uses VR room mapping and does not come with a ‘teleport’ option like a lot of other VR games which means that you physically have to walk around to move in game. This is where the Procedural generation comes in to play, the game knows the size of your play area and will generate the game map to fit. The use of impossible spaces means that a corridor can spiral around and you can find yourself in an area that couldn’t exist in normal reality which means that the game is easily playable in a small area. I only have a small area myself and have never walked into anything (except maybe the odd cat).
The controls are simple, to move you walk and you use the controls to shoot and pick up items. The game play is entering, there are a number of different robots of different sizes and weapon capabilities and they could be hiding around any corner.
The game is currently listed as being pre Alfa so should only get better. Tea for God is currently only available from the creators site ( https://void-room.itch.io/tea-for-god).
  
His Rockstar Dom
His Rockstar Dom
Morticia Knight | 2023 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
HIS ROCKSTAR DOM is a standalone novella that tells of a well-established rock band, Glitter Kinks, and the musicians that make it up. Most of them are okay (or more than okay) but Sal is causing them BIG problems. Braylin was hired as a guitar tech. Also plays guitar and is a lifelong fan of the band and the lead singer, Zen.

What I loved about this was the communication! It's there - on every page! A couple of misunderstandings are quickly dealt with by talking it out. Wow, consider that! Zen knows what he wants out of the relationship, and Braylin is completely innocent but prepared to be guided by Zen. Zen listens and is prepared to take things slowly, going at Bray's pace. Oh, man! Be still, my beating heart. It was just perfect. The relationship between them was natural and unforced and I loved every word.

It wasn't just the dynamics of Zen and Bray though, it was between Bray and the whole band, the whole on-tour group. They melded and made it perfect.

I love Morticia Knight's books and this is no different. If I had one complaint, it would be that I didn't want it to end!

Hot - Innocent - Perfect! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by me.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Nov 14, 2023
  
I'm Your Venus
I'm Your Venus
Diane Vallere | 2018 | Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sylvia’s Back on the Space Case
Sylvia Stryker has landed a job on the new Moon 6. Again, she's in charge of the uniform department, but this time she's legitimately on the ship. Neptune is also on board this cruise, with the destination being Venus. Everyone is determined to make things go smoothly for the passengers. However, the ship has barely set out when Sylvia finds a dead body outside the uniform department's door. Then Neptune comes to her with a surprising plea for help. Can she figure out what is going on?

Yes, this book has a science fiction setting, but it is still mostly a mystery. In fact, the setting is developed just enough for us to feel at home, but the story doesn't stop to explain every little detail to us. Still, there are some fun nod to pop culture science fiction and some of the tech they do have in this book would be very cool. There are a trio of characters we spent a lot of time with, and they are the best developed. The rest of the cast is still strong enough for the parts they play in what happens. The plot is quite a ride, with plenty of keep us engaged and the pages flying. I read the book in just two days, in fact. I do feel like some of the character's actions over the course of the book weren't completely explained at the end, but that is my only complaint. I'm looking forward to getting to book three as soon as my schedule allows to see how some of the threads introduced here play out.
  
The Source of Magic (Academy of Falling Kingdoms #1)
The Source of Magic (Academy of Falling Kingdoms #1)
Marissa Mills, Drake Mason | 2019 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
32 of 250
Kindle
The Source of Magic ( Academy of Falling Kingdoms book1)
By Drake Mason and Marisa Mills

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

I can speak to demons. The punishment is death.

The mission: put on a dress, pretend to be a lady, and infiltrate the academy of mages to steal a journal from the forbidden archives.

The problem: I’m no mage and I’ve never worn a dress in my life.

But it’s not like I have a choice. My bastard of an uncle basically sold me to a dangerously pretty nobleman, and they can’t pull off this heist without me. Unfortunately, once I fake my way through the entrance exam with a piece of hacked mage tech, and reach the floating kingdom of Reverie, my problems are only just beginning.

Keeping my secret identity is hard enough without a suspicious prince following me around, and the jealous rich girl who wants to marry him threatening me at every turn. But I know I’m in real trouble when my magic sword starts to talk to me. If I can survive the demon attacks, the backstabbing nobles, and the piles of homework long enough, I may discover the source of magic… and if the truth gets out, it will shatter everything.


This showed so much potential but for me book 1 didn’t deliver in some areas! I got a little bored but ploughed on as I don’t like giving up! It was a 2.5 until the end which gave me a bit of a boost to try book 2!
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Apr 13, 2021  
Visit my blog to listen to the awesome playlist for the women's fiction novel DIRE'S CLUB by Kimberly Packard, and enter the giveaway to win one of five copies of the book!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/04/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-dires-club.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Dying isn't just hard on the ones left behind, the regret of unfinished lives weighs heavily on the terminally ill. That's where Dire's Club steps in, a specialty travel agency that takes a small group of dying people on one final adventure-so they can be free of guilt, be more than a diagnosis, and find a way to confront life ... and death.

Life Coach Charlotte Claybrooke built a successful second career guiding people out of grief, but the impending tenth anniversary of her own heart-wrenching tragedy sets her on a journey to find life among the dying.

Staring death in the face was Jimmy Dire's business. He met it with a warm hug, a kind word, and a smile. Dire's Club gave the terminally ill one final, bucket-list adventure before passing on, but dying was expensive. The bills, like Jimmy's lies, were piling up. It's only a matter of time before he's forced to face a different type of death.

A rock god, a telenovela star, a grandmother living her life-long dream, and a young tech genius round out this group of strangers facing death together. But when tragedy strikes, their bond is shattered. Lies and fraud surface, forcing the dying to come together to save someone's life.

Everybody dies. The lucky ones have fun doing it.
     
Cars 3 (2017)
Cars 3 (2017)
2017 | Animation, Comedy, Family
There was me thinking that seeing Cars 3 on a Friday morning when most of the schools are still in sessions would be a nice and peaceful affair... *insert annoyed face here* Sadly, this was not the case and I was the only person in the screen without a child. There were probably only about twenty of us there... but still, when are they going to do adult only screenings of things?! Anyway, enough of that.

Lightning McQueen and his fellow racers have been enjoying the road together for a long time. So when the newcomers start to make waves it means there are hard decisions ahead. McQueen isn't ready to take his last pit stop though and so he has to train harder, and smarter, if he's going to beat his new high-tech competition.

With the help of Cruz Ramirez, he could be about to start the next phase of his career. But is it enough to beat Jackson Storm?..

Pixar have made another winner with this one. I'm not even sure how they manage to make me cry at animated cars... damn you Pixar, I never have enough tissues.

Cars is the least successful of the Pixar franchises. Don't shoot the messenger, I checked on box office sales. (It's not the worst performing film if that's any consolation, but it was fairly close.) But even Pixar's worst is still pretty amazing. Their films are all round fun, they have the ups and downs of any adult films, PLUS you always get an amazing short to go with it. Here's a quick trailer for Lou.
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Nov 17, 2021  
Stop by my blog to read part of the prologue from the contemporary Western fiction novel THE BIG EMPTY by Loren Steffy. If you like what you read, enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of the book as well as a logo hat - three winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/11/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-big-empty.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
When Trace Malloy and Blaine Witherspoon collide on a desolate West Texas highway, their fender bender sets the tone for escalating clashes that will determine the future of the town of Conquistador.

Malloy, a ranch manager and lifelong cowboy, knows that his occupation—and his community—are dying. He wants new- millennium opportunities for his son, even though he himself failed to summon the courage to leave familiar touchstones behind.

Witherspoon, an ambitious, Lexus-driving techie, offers a solution. He moves to Conquistador to build and run a state-of-the-art semiconductor plant that will bring prestige and high-paying technology jobs to revive the town—and advance his own career.

What neither man anticipates is the power the "Big Empty" will wield over their plans. The flat, endless expanse of dusty plain is as much a character in the conflict as are the locals struggling to subsist in this timeworn backwater and the high-tech transplants hell-bent on conquering it. While Malloy grapples with the flaws of his ancestors and his growing ambivalence toward the chip plant, Witherspoon falls prey to construction snafus, corporate backstabbing, and financial fraud. As they each confront personal fears, they find themselves united in the search for their own version of purpose in a uniquely untamable Texas landscape.
     
WordPress For Dummies
WordPress For Dummies
Lisa Sabin-Wilson | 2017 | Computing & IT
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Are you a dummy? Will you be needing this?

WordPress For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) is a fairly big book and the 8th edition of all things WordPress. Now I’ve used WordPress for a short while after spending years over at Blogger (yep, it was a difficult decision, but one I’m glad I made). WordPress has got a lot of extra, really cool features for bloggers, although I would not say it’s a blogging site for everyone as I think the UI is not as easy, and some technical ability is required, hence this book.

I’m no expert, but you’ll be surprised at just how much technical ability to learn just by blogging for years, so the change my not be that difficult for you.

So what if you’re already there? Well, if you are new to WordPress this is an invaluable tool, as it covers all the basics including how to customise the default templates, Twenty- (seventeen, or eighteen etc) and it really does give you a good grounding of where to start if you are a complete novice. There’s also information about widgets, plugins, themes and customisation.

The latter can get a little more complicated and this is where I enjoyed this book even more, as it also teaches you a little bit of code required, covering tag values, PHP functions, style sheets, query string parameters and CSS basics. Some of this goes way over my head, but there are bits here and there I’ve picked up and I’m currently using, that I wasn’t before.

Good clean technical fun. Only three stars because “I liked it” – not anything necessarily wrong with it, it’s just this sort of book doesn’t get me over excited!
  
Child's Play (2019)
Child's Play (2019)
2019 | Horror
Good Kills (1 more)
Good Doll Design
Slasher Cliches (1 more)
Predictable
A.I. Chucky reborn in a tech savvy world.
As Chucky embarks into a new century, the filmmakers realize that it was time to make Chucky into artificial intelligence. In previous films, there was always a sense of witchcraft going on where it made Chucky come to life. This makes more sense of making Chucky as a Amazon Alexa type of technology. A Buddi of sorts.

They cleverly weave that into the depth of where Chucky's madness is taking over him. In how it started was a little far fetched. A guy decided to break the rules at his job because of poor working conditions and a over the top douche of a boss. It was mishandled how it happened.

I think that Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, and Brian Tyree Howard are amazing in this movie. They really sell the world that was created for them, especially Bateman who is tortured by Chucky's antics.

As for the doll design, I think it looked really good. There are moments where rendering in the CGI was needed, but overall, it looked amazing in some scenes. I specifically remember the moment where Bateman is walking Chucky into his room and the way his facial expressions are used makes him weirdly human, and that increases the creepy factor within Chucky.

As for the negatives, it follows the typical ground plan of every slasher, especially Child's Play movies. Mom's boyfriend is a douche. Mom doesn't believe her son. Friends believe Andy. Nice cop who lives with mother may be the knight in shining armor. We can see where this is going, and it also takes a while for Chucky to actually kill something. It panders too much and I think they could've had more potential with the horror.
  
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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) in Movies

Jul 3, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)  
Johnny English Strikes Again (2018)
Johnny English Strikes Again (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Our favourite budget Bond is back in the third installment of Johnny English, and it basically "does what it says on the tin." It's amusing and it's exactly what you expect it to be. Nothing groundbreaking.

They've thankfully updated some of the aspects where needed. We've got a tech genius, cyber threats, VR, and we've got health and safety regulations like you wouldn't believe!

Boff is back too and he's the brains behind the outfit managing to make English's buffonary work, as always. To be fair, English does have some pretty good ideas but they seem to either be accidental or poorly executed!

All of the characters are entertaining and their reactions to Johnny's behaviour are entirely inkeeping with what you'd expect. Ophelia getting exacerbated by his evading/dance technique is quite amusing.

My general feeling about this type of humour though is that you can have too much, or to be more accurate, it can go on too long. Some of the skits feel like they tip just slightly over the line between "that's funny" to "is this still going on?"

The audience in Bristol did appreciate one of the particular cyber attacks... "all the trains are trying to stop at Bristol Temple Meads"... yep, that seems about right to us!

What should you do?

You could probably hold out and watch this when it streams, it's quite a short film so it's probably not going to feel like you're getting your monies worth from a cinema ticket.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

Oh so many options, but I think I'll pass on the spy gadgets and go straight for some of Johnny English's dumb luck!