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Maris (8 KP) rated Crow Flight in Books
Jun 10, 2019
I'm very very VERY thrilled that I gave this book a chance. No mystical creatures, no royal families trying to take over the world its just a smooth read from the beginning to the very end. I could not put this book down. This is my first Susan Cunningham book I read from her and she brought it all in this lovely gem. <br/><br/>I was a bit nervous about getting into the book, I was thinking this was going to be like the Matrix with a little twist with some Crows into it. I was totally wrong and that's a good thing! The beginning of the book hooked me and I needed to know more of what was going to happen and therefore I could not wast any time with anything else besides reading the whole book to find out.<br/><br/>From the beginning, we are introduced to a very intelligent young girl name Gin. Gin has a dream to get into Harvard University. She has a talent for designing programs. Programs that help you on what to wear, what to eat, when to be social, and possibly who you should date. <br/><br/>Going to Harvard is not her only goal. Gin is taking a computer simulations class that is a college-level course. The mentor of the class is Ms. Sandlin who is offering a summer internship to the best modeler. Gin who is determined to get this internship and put her talents to the test to achieve this goal. <br/><br/>Gin meets a boy in her class name Felix. Felix is also very intelligent with computers and designing programs. They are partners where they have to work together and design models. Gin starts to fall for Felix and learns that he and his father like to train Crows as a hobby.<br/><br/>"A plane flew across the sky and for a second, she imagined the rows of people tucked neatly inside, watching movies and sipping sodas. No idea they were flying over a boy training crows."<br/><br/>For their final project, they decided to use the Crows and all the data over the years. Felix's father who owns one of the biggest tech companies is not too excited about learning that his son and his partner are using the Crows for their project. With that being said things get really interesting and a dark secret that Gin will soon discover. <br/><br/>Susan Cunningham was detailed with her writing and I enjoyed every second of it. She did a wonderful job putting this story together and the pace of the story was perfect where I just wanted to know what was going to happen. I adore Gin's and her best friend Hannah relationship (We all need a Hannah in our life's) The ending was great! Highly recommend this lovely gem. I am not big on computers or designing but this story was just too good where you don't have to be into computers or programming to have an understanding of the story. <br/><br/>Unique story, mystery vibes, a little romance! 5/5
David McK (3372 KP) rated Truckers (Bromeliad Trilogy, #1) in Books
Dec 13, 2020
First book of Terry Pratchett's so-called Bromeliad trilogy (consisting of this, Diggers and Wings) which, I believe, was turned into a stop motion kids TV series in the early 90s.
This follows a race of tiny people known as 'Nomes' from another planet, who have crash landed on planet Earth thousands of years ago and have now all but forgotten their own past, with some living in the fields where they are preyed upon by wildlife and others in a large department store and refusing to believe there is such a thing as 'outside' ('did not Arnold Bros., est 1905, say "everything under one roof" ...')
This belief is put to the test when Masklin - one of the outside Nomes - arrives in the store leading a ragtag group of (mostly older) Nomes, just before said store is about to be demolished, and having to hatch a plan to rescue as many Nomes as he can and get back home safely, aided by 'The Thing' (what we would term a black box computer) that has been dormant for many centuries in (again, what we would term) power-saving mode.
This follows a race of tiny people known as 'Nomes' from another planet, who have crash landed on planet Earth thousands of years ago and have now all but forgotten their own past, with some living in the fields where they are preyed upon by wildlife and others in a large department store and refusing to believe there is such a thing as 'outside' ('did not Arnold Bros., est 1905, say "everything under one roof" ...')
This belief is put to the test when Masklin - one of the outside Nomes - arrives in the store leading a ragtag group of (mostly older) Nomes, just before said store is about to be demolished, and having to hatch a plan to rescue as many Nomes as he can and get back home safely, aided by 'The Thing' (what we would term a black box computer) that has been dormant for many centuries in (again, what we would term) power-saving mode.
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Jump into your car and discover green hills, snowy mountains and desert dunes in this unique blocky...
Lindsay (1717 KP) rated Counterpunch in Books
Jun 14, 2019 (Updated Jun 14, 2019)
Counter Punch is a really short story to me. What you do if you were a mother and something happened to your daughter. How much would you do to protect your daughter? Well this story kind put that mother and daughter relationship to the test.
We also learn that Mo is struggling with not only the loss of her dad but on top of that we get hear about an assault on Mo. Her mother is worried and knows something is wrong when her daughter do not come home after 3 hours of waiting.
We are some what left in the dark as to who exactly attacked Mo? How it ends you will be surpised to no end. It leaves you wondering did Mo's mother help or did she kill the wrong man? The cops seem to have hunch but is it right?
The author does have us hang on to find out what happens next. I would suggest this book for children at least be ages 15 and up. Though I am only suggesting that and it is really up to the parents of the child or children. They can decide for themselves. This book has death and crime and like I said an assault.
We also learn that Mo is struggling with not only the loss of her dad but on top of that we get hear about an assault on Mo. Her mother is worried and knows something is wrong when her daughter do not come home after 3 hours of waiting.
We are some what left in the dark as to who exactly attacked Mo? How it ends you will be surpised to no end. It leaves you wondering did Mo's mother help or did she kill the wrong man? The cops seem to have hunch but is it right?
The author does have us hang on to find out what happens next. I would suggest this book for children at least be ages 15 and up. Though I am only suggesting that and it is really up to the parents of the child or children. They can decide for themselves. This book has death and crime and like I said an assault.
Johnny Messias (25 KP) rated Ad Astra (2019) in Movies
Oct 10, 2019
Brad Pitt's hair (3 more)
The moon buggy chase.
The space station accident.
Space Monkeys!
The story. (4 more)
The science.
The voiceover.
The "shielding" sequence.
What happens at the end (surprising no one.)
The Emperor's New Clothes - in Space!!
Contains spoilers, click to show
Ad Astra (Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones) was just awful. More Vauxhall Astra than Interstellar. Fails the Bechdel test and the male equivalent, no one says anything interesting to another human. Not even saved by a surprise monkey attack and some spritely Moon pirates. Looked good in places but was severely lacking in the intelligent sci-fi department, which is a major flaw given the billing. It seems this is getting highly rated because everyone likes its star (and producer) Brad Pitt, and they presume him staring into deep space looking morose and quizzical makes this a profound movie - it doesn't.
A huge let-down, considering the talent involved.
A huge let-down, considering the talent involved.
A Bible Trivia quiz :- The gateway for devotional study of Jesus Christ, Moses and many holy bible characters and places for free.
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The Great Emoji Quizbook
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ABAP to the Future
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ABAP has been around for a while, but that doesn't mean your programming has to be stuck in the...
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Shape of Water (2017) in Movies
Mar 14, 2018
Beautiful, quirky love story
THE SHAPE OF WATER is the most romantic, beautiful, charming, weird and wonderful love story that I have seen in a long, long time.
The fact that the love story is between a mute woman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon makes it just that much more interesting.
From the fertile mind of Guillermo Del Toro (THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, PAN'S LABYRINTH), TSOW answers a question that a young Del Toro had when he first saw the 1950's creature feature CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. He thought, "what if the creature ended up with the girl?" In Del Toro's mind, the Creature was the leading man, not the generic hunk that was hunting him.
Wonderfully realized by Del Toro, TSOW tells the tale of mute cleaning woman, Eliza (Sally Hawkins) who works at a "secret Government agency" in Baltimore. When she is asked to mop blood up in a highly classified area, she soon realizes that a "creature" is being held there. It is her realization that this creature is not just "some creature", but an intelligent being that starts this lonely, mute woman and the "creature" on the road to a loving relationship.
Hawkins is mesmerizing as Eliza. Obviously, with her character being mute, she must express herself in other ways - and she does. Her eyes are truly the window to her soul and Hawkins' ability to "eye act" is astounding, she conveys more feeling with a look and a glance than most actors can with a mountain of work.
She is strongly aided by some really good co-stars - Richard Jenkins is marvelous (as always) as Eliza's neighbor/friend who, himself, has a handicap - he is a gay man in the 1950's. The strength of Jenkins' performance is that he is able to overcome the trap of "the sympathetic gay best friend" and bring to the screen a complete character. Michael Stuhlbarg is watchable (as always) as the main scientist that studies the creature. Here is an actor that has grown in my eyes and he is a "must watch" in anything he is in. Michael Shannon is a presence as the main "heavy" in this film and though his character is pretty one-note, Shannon hits that note strongly and holds our attention. Unfortunately, compared to these 3 (and Hawkins' lead role), Octavia Spencer's talents are not put to the test as Eliza's co-worker. She is capable of so much more and her character is severely underwritten.
But, while strong characters are a must in a successful film, it is Del Toro's direction and "sense of place" that embue this fable with the character and detail it needs. Set in a 1950's that is a bit more idealistic/stylized than is real, Del Toro steers us through a world that is fascinating to watch - and be in - and makes it seem almost plausible that such a creature could exist and that a woman could fall in love with him.
Much like how I fell in love with this film.
Letter Grade: A-
8 stars (out of 10) - and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
The fact that the love story is between a mute woman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon makes it just that much more interesting.
From the fertile mind of Guillermo Del Toro (THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, PAN'S LABYRINTH), TSOW answers a question that a young Del Toro had when he first saw the 1950's creature feature CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. He thought, "what if the creature ended up with the girl?" In Del Toro's mind, the Creature was the leading man, not the generic hunk that was hunting him.
Wonderfully realized by Del Toro, TSOW tells the tale of mute cleaning woman, Eliza (Sally Hawkins) who works at a "secret Government agency" in Baltimore. When she is asked to mop blood up in a highly classified area, she soon realizes that a "creature" is being held there. It is her realization that this creature is not just "some creature", but an intelligent being that starts this lonely, mute woman and the "creature" on the road to a loving relationship.
Hawkins is mesmerizing as Eliza. Obviously, with her character being mute, she must express herself in other ways - and she does. Her eyes are truly the window to her soul and Hawkins' ability to "eye act" is astounding, she conveys more feeling with a look and a glance than most actors can with a mountain of work.
She is strongly aided by some really good co-stars - Richard Jenkins is marvelous (as always) as Eliza's neighbor/friend who, himself, has a handicap - he is a gay man in the 1950's. The strength of Jenkins' performance is that he is able to overcome the trap of "the sympathetic gay best friend" and bring to the screen a complete character. Michael Stuhlbarg is watchable (as always) as the main scientist that studies the creature. Here is an actor that has grown in my eyes and he is a "must watch" in anything he is in. Michael Shannon is a presence as the main "heavy" in this film and though his character is pretty one-note, Shannon hits that note strongly and holds our attention. Unfortunately, compared to these 3 (and Hawkins' lead role), Octavia Spencer's talents are not put to the test as Eliza's co-worker. She is capable of so much more and her character is severely underwritten.
But, while strong characters are a must in a successful film, it is Del Toro's direction and "sense of place" that embue this fable with the character and detail it needs. Set in a 1950's that is a bit more idealistic/stylized than is real, Del Toro steers us through a world that is fascinating to watch - and be in - and makes it seem almost plausible that such a creature could exist and that a woman could fall in love with him.
Much like how I fell in love with this film.
Letter Grade: A-
8 stars (out of 10) - and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)