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Entertainment Editor (1988 KP) created a video about SpiderBeetleBee by Bill MacKay in Music

Nov 12, 2017  
Video

Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker "Lonesome Traveler" (Official Music Video)

  
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Andy K (10821 KP) rated Starbucks in Apps

Feb 4, 2019  
Starbucks
Starbucks
Food & Drink, Lifestyle
10
7.7 (24 Ratings)
App Rating
The Starbucks app is the greatest. I'm sure I don't use all the features within the app since I get the same thing every time I go there, but it is convenient. I don't understand why everyone who goes there does not use.

I feel a tad guilty when I walk past the long line and just walk in, pick up my beverage and walk out. Plus, who wants to wait in that massive drive thru line? Screw that.

Plus my venti, nonfat, no whip 2 1/2 pump mocha is heavenly.
  
The Long Walk
The Long Walk
Richard Bachman | 1979 | Fiction & Poetry
5
8.6 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
I like going for long walks.

Not sure I'd like to participate in The Long Walk, though!

An early King novel, writing under the pseudonym Richard Bachamn, this is (or was, I think, at the time of writing) a near-future-set dystopian novel where the national pastime has become The Long Walk that happens once a year, where 100 teenager contestants (all male, although I don't know whether that's part of the rules or not!) participate in The Long Walk: basically, walk for days on end without being allowed to drop below a certain pace (4 miles per hour), and with 3 warnings given before you're out for good.

Out out, as in that (more modern) episode of Dr Who with the Weakest Link ripoff - shot by the soldiers pacing the Walkers in their relative safety and comfort.

The novel, as a whole, relies on character development, which there is no denying happens throughout. I just wish, well, that something actually *happened* (apart from a few brief scenes), and that more background had been given into how this state of affairs came about.

It also has a very open-ended 'ending' (it just sort of stops), which is a matter of taste whether you prefer that or not - personally, I could have done with a bit more clarity around that!
  
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Doug Jones recommended The Mummy (1932) in Movies (curated)

 
The Mummy (1932)
The Mummy (1932)
1932 | Classics, Horror
8.0 (12 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The first horror movie I ever remember even seeing was The Mummy with Boris Karloff, so that would be my first monster that is beloved to me. Boris channeled something so haunting with that role, and close-ups on his eyes were enough to give me the heebie-jeebies for the rest of my life. The way he physically channeled that walk and the creaky movement of someone who’s been dead for that long and decaying for that long in bandages, he really gave it something beyond that era."

Source
  
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meg (46 KP) rated The Witness in Video Games

Aug 11, 2018  
The Witness
The Witness
2016 | 3D, Puzzle & Cards
9
This is a beautiful and relaxing game. You walk around an open world, which is bright and calming and full of trees and flowers. Within the world there are many maze-like puzzles, which you solve to open new parts of the world. Play is very simple and intuitive, but it takes a long time to get bored of this game. It's really satisfying to solve the puzzles, and gameplay is very relaxing and meditative.
  
Rage
Rage
Stephen King | 2000 | Horror
10
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Intensity (0 more)
Keeps you on the edge of your seat
This is another one of King's great short stories, up there with The Long Walk. A very insightful psychological thriller, that has, at some points in time, been banned from book shelves. It is one of the stories in the Bachman Books, one that is always well remembered, probably because of the effect reading it has on you.
King delves into the mind of a high school shooter, it's violent and graphic, it is not tasteless. As Bachman King did some of his best writing.
  
Right Direction by Benjamin Lazar Davis
Right Direction by Benjamin Lazar Davis
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
This is Beck, circa Sea Change, but with a boxier mix and these lo-fi drums that sound like old sneakers. The songwriting is top notch. This track will resonate with anyone who has had to walk through the darkness. That's always the question: am I doing this right?

Davis got his start in New York City as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer. We like where he's going with this:

“Fade out but the lights are still glowing
tell me where to go
how long will I run without knowing
if I’m running in the right direction...”
— Benjamin Lazar Davis
  
LT
Long Trail Home (Texas Trails, #3)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Long Trail Home is a compelling story about forgiveness and ultimately coming back home. Not only in the natural but in the spiritual.

We follow the story of Laura, Annie and Riley. Laura is the instructor of a school for blind children. She has sacrificed her own long term dreams for the children that she loves and adores. But when the school has been threatened to be shut down, will those dreams resurface? Annie, once was a homeless orphan. Now she has a family at the school, but will her deception be her undoing? She has found God's forgiveness but will her fellow man be as forgiving? Riley, a soldier come home to devastation after the war has found peace and refuge working at the school. But will he ever find "home" again?

I enjoyed Long Trail Home. Although the story line was a bit slow at times, there is enough action to keep it going and Vickie McDonough relays a great message. Forgiveness is the main basis of the story. God's forgiveness of the sins we have committed. Forgiveness of our selves. And the forgiveness of others. Coming clean and telling the truth can be the hardest thing to do at times. Especially when we are afraid of what others think. But the best thing we can do for our selves is to walk in the truth and trust that our Heavenly Father will care for us and protect us and lead us home.

I received a free copy of Long Trail Home from Moody Publishers in exchange for my honest review.
  
Tribute to Celine Dion by Celine Dion / Vocal Ballad Community
Tribute to Celine Dion by Celine Dion / Vocal Ballad Community
2001 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’ was on the first CD that I remember buying. I had a little purple plastic CD rack and it was one of the most played on that. I loved the piano and I started playing the piano around that age, so it felt relatable for me. Again, I just loved the drama; it’s like a seven or eight minute long song, it’s so amazing, who does that? No one does that! It took me on such a story, the visuals are so clear, even now I can still feel that intense drama. Celine Dion’s amazing, it’s like watching a movie, honestly, listening to those kinds of songs. “So that was ’96, so I was nine. I was quite a melancholy child. My mum would put me to bed and I’d always get up and walk around upstairs, where there wasn’t really anywhere to walk around. I would just walk around the bathroom, sit at the top of the stairs, hold the staircase and stare out. I really was quite melancholy and I now understand mental health issues as an adult - like I had, you know, anxiety, OCD, depression; I had so much emotion. I mean that was just me as a really morose, melancholy nine year old, I really felt that intensity. “Those emotional songs can be the cloak that you wrap yourself in. I was drawn to the drama of those kinds of songs, definitely. I mean, those are pretty intense sad songs for a little kid."

Source
  
The Bachman Books
The Bachman Books
Stephen King, Richard Bachman | 1985 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.4 (16 Ratings)
Book Rating
Intro, Why I was Bachman:
WARNING read this LAST! It has spoilers in it, but definitely read it after the books. Very interesting. Why would such a famous author decide to write as someone else and keep it a secret?

Rage:
The infamous story that has been pulled from shelves due to its supposed influence in the Columbine shootings... well, this was a pretty good story. Yes, there's shooting, but it's more about the lives of teenagers. This definitely did not make me want to go shoot up a school.

The Long Walk:
Can you walk at 4mph? Nonstop? For days on end? With no sleep because you are not allowed to go below 4mph? The Long Walk is about a yearly contest where 100 teenage boys VOLUNTEER to walk until there is only one left. Nonstop. If your speed drops below 4mph, you get a warning. If you can keep up the pace for 1 hour then the warning disappears. If you do not speed up after 30 secs, you get another warning. If you collect 3 warnings and slow again you are shot dead. If you are the last walker, you win whatever your heart desires. You are fed and allowed to carry what you think you will need, but you cannot stop. No one is allowed to interfere with a walker's progress, not even spectators. Of course the whole country is watching you, many from along the side of the road just waiting a chance to grab some discarded souvenir. If you have to poop? Yup that could be a souvenir too. Make it quick though so you don't rack up warnings! The guards have no mercy and will shoot you with zero emotion on their face.
This book is brutal. You ARE in the boy's shoes. Why is he there? How do they get SO MANY volunteers EVERY YEAR? So many that they turn away most? This isn't like the hunger games. The boys are not out to kill each other. The situation is just completely bizarre.
The only thing I didn't like about the book was the very end. The end wasn't an "ending" it just kind of lingers.. This wasn't enough of a problem for me to drop the rating though.



Roadwork:
I couldn't get into this one. It is about a man who is upset about needing to leave his home because of a new roadway.


The Running Man:
A slightly creepy and action-packed dystopian future story. A man signs up for a game show whose premise is all too real! Basically, he has to run for his life. Great story.