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The Ruff Guide to Trading: Make Money in the Markets

Steve Ruffley

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Book

If it's trading, then Steve Ruffley has seen it and done it! Steve Ruffley has been involved in the...

Eyeing the Red Storm: Eisenhower and the First Attempt to Build a Spy Satellite

Robert M. Dienesch

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Book

In 1954 the U.S. Air Force launched an ambitious program known as WS-117L to develop the world's...

Binatex – currency and stock rates in real time

Business and Finance

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App

Using application Binatex, you will be able to check the currency and stock rates in real time!...

Mr Renard (10 KP) rated Ready Player One in Books

Jul 25, 2017

Ready Player One

Ernest Cline | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry

8.9

(161 Ratings)

Book Rating

Promising concept buried under clumsy craftsmanship

A great concept that should in theory be catnip to an 80s kid such as myself. However this is to pop culture junkies what Fifty Shades of Gray was to S&M enthusiasts: poorly written, drawn out fan fiction that is in dire need of a more competent editor.
The 80s pop culture references are so clumsily laid on, they lose any fun they may have held for me after the first chapter.
Sure, the author has done his research, but this reads as if it was written by a machine trying to approximate human emotion and interaction; technical pitches for gadgets yet to be commissioned in place of wit, story and heart.

Very disappointing.

Kudos

David McK (3547 KP) rated The Day of the Jackal (40th anniversary edition) in Books

Apr 23, 2019

I think I first read this book in the mid 90s when I was in my mid teens, pre-GCSEs.

Flash forward about 20 years, and I think I picked it up again when it was on offer on Kindle. As I didn't really remember all that much about it - save that it detailed a plot to kill Charles de Gaulle, and that there's a film starring Bruce Willis based on it - I thought I would give it a re-read.

While there's no doubting the technical proficiency in it, and the (almost) insane amount of detail, if I'm honest I actually found this to be rather plodding; rather pedestrian. I get it: most police work is such, but (IMO) that doesn't really make an engaging read.

Kudos

Barry Newman (204 KP) rated Melancholia (2011) in Movies

Feb 8, 2020

Melancholia (2011)

2011 | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

7.5

(13 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Essentially the Lars Von Trier version of ‘Armageddon’ and probably about as accessible as his films get. Undoubtedly an impressive and well constructed film on a technical level, it’s gorgeous to look at and has a decent performance from Kirsten Dunst who convincingly portrays a manic depressive. Unfortunately It’s also painfully slow, ponderous and quite dull at times with incredibly long drawn out scenes of conversation that could have been more effective if they were half as long . I would have certainly preferred a snappier cut especially as there isn’t really that much in the way of story. So in artistic terms it’s quite impressive but it’s certainly a slog to get through and isn’t something I would watch again.