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Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Special Effects (1 more)
Music
SO MANY PLOT HOLES (0 more)
The force is weak with this one...
You've either already seen "The Rise of Skywalker" or you probably don't care too much about it. I won't go into major spoilers, except to say this: this movie is swiss cheese. It has so many holes and unexplained plot points that it would be futile to try to list them all. But here are a few:

We are told in the very beginning that the Emperor is still alive. Why? How? The last time we saw him, Darth Vader was throwing him over a railing to a definitive death. But they don't bother to explain it, other than some vague "This isn't the logic you're looking for..." hand-waving.

Apparently there are tons of new Force powers that nobody knew about. Like, for example, how Kylo Ren can not only see what Rey is seeing, but he can actually physically reach into her physical space and grab something. Even though he's not really there...? And if you think "Sure would be nice for a Jedi to be able to heal things. It could have saved so many characters over the years!" then you're in for a treat when Rey learns to heal a giant worm. How? Who knows? Cuz she's a badass chick, that's how! Shut up, misogynist!

There's this knife, see, and it contains a map, just like the doubloon in The Goonies, and the map points to one of only two thingamabobs that somehow lead to the secret hidden Sith planet. Don't ask why someone made the knife. Or why it was hidden where it was. Or how they knew where the thingamabob was. Or why they hid the map to the Sith planet that sounds like "Icicle" when people say it but is actually something like "Exegol."

Han Solo is dead. We know that from The Force Awakens. Except here he is, except not really, but possibly he is. He's at least talking to Kylo Ren. Or is he? Is he in Kylo's head? Is the guy hallucinating? "Don't know, don't care," say the writers. Just be happy you can see Harrison Ford's face again!

Apparently thousands of Sith have been hiding on a planet building hundreds (thousands?) of old-school star destroyers. How did that work? Where did they get the material? How many people does it take to build and run those ships and with that many people, how did they feed themselves? What resources do they have on Icicle to make clothes, weapons, etc.? It looks like a dark, empty, lightning-filled place and I didn't see any grocery stores or McDonald's. But somehow those millions of people are there and they survive ... somehow. Don't question it.

I think that's enough. You get the point. This movie is fun to watch, but it is a mess. You have to turn off your brain to enjoy it.
  
The Wife's Shadow
The Wife's Shadow
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Wife’s Shadow by Cath Weeks is one of those reads where a perfect life (or should that be wife?), plunders into chaos and snowballs out of control within a short matter of time. It’s a tense, fulfilling read and I raced through it!
Suzy is being harassed and there is apparently nothing she can do about it. She doesn’t know who it is, or why they are doing it. So, how the hell can anyone stop him then? The police are clueless, and her husband has only so much patience before he starts to lose sympathy. Is someone really out to get her, or is it just down to a vivid imagination and the stress of losing her mother very recently? In her husband’s eyes its a case of ‘come on luv, pull your socks up!’
And yes, I do have quite a lot to say about darling husband and stay-at-home dad, Mike. At first he’s very understanding, and quite rightly so, but there is only so much he can take when his paranoid wife keeps going on and insisting someone is watching her. What he does, during her worst moments, had me practically screaming at the book in anger! (In a good way!) Honestly, I became so involved in this story I felt worn out by the end of it, which I loved.
This is a well-written, tense read, and one I found myself trying to guess who the culprit was all the way through. The final revelation was just as much as a shock to me as it was to Suzy! I did not see THAT coming, and I’m one of those people who always thinks I know who’s done it. lol (Yeah, one of THOSE readers!) But it’s the final act that Suzy puts into action, which really rounds this story off well. Thankfully, I could breathe again when I closed the last page.
Imagine a small dream snowballing into an even bigger nightmare! That’s what Cath Weeks made happen to Suzy Taylor. Big time!
  
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Dana (24 KP) rated Crown of Midnight in Books

Mar 23, 2018  
Crown of Midnight
Crown of Midnight
Sarah J. Maas | 2013 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
9.1 (48 Ratings)
Book Rating
If I could, I would give this book more than five stars. I know I say this about a lot of books, but honestly, this was one of the best books I have read. As you know, I freaking loved the first book. When people say that it only gets better from there, they are not lying. A lot of times, second books fall flat, just place markers for the next book. This one far exceeds those. The characters are continuously evolving and reshaping their identities. The plot is very interesting and has almost no slow spots (which is really rare for books). The stuff that happens will make you sit on the edge of whatever seat you are reading this book on! Even though the book has a lot of pages, the pace is set so you don't even realize how fast you are reading it.

I am not going to lie, there are a lot of really intense moments in this book. You will have to be prepared for that. The emotion is very raw and it gets dark, but if you work through those dark places with the characters, you will not be disappointed! There are a lot of really cute and fluffy moments too that will make your heart very happy! (I know those moments made me have a lot of feels!!)

This is a great series to start fantasy with if you are not very acquainted with it. While there are quite a few magical elements to the story, there are a lot of really down to earth moments that go along with them. You never feel like there is too much going on at once with the fantastical things. It all blends very nicely together!

If you want my advice, pick up this series right now and start reading it. You will definitely not regret it.

Sarah J Maas, you did an awesome job with this and I can't wait to read the next one!!
  
Live at Carnegie Hall by Bill Withers
Live at Carnegie Hall by Bill Withers
1973 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Do you remember the story Bill Withers tells on this record about 'Grandma's Hands'? When he was a kid, he was really close to his grandma. He talks about one of those churches she used to attend and this was a proper happy church where his grandma used to smack everything with a tambourine! Singing something that you really believe is incredible. Not everyone in a gospel choir has that faith – I don't have that faith in the way they do. I have faith in something – not sure what it is – but being around a few gospel choirs, there's a joy in it! And because of this belief. I did a couple of tunes with a choir on it – one of which was 'Cry For Help' in 1991. We recorded it in LA with what was the best gospel choir in the world at the time and hearing them sing the words made me believe them more even though I wrote the bloody words. But listening to Bill Withers talk about being a kid and going to those churches as a kid…[shakes head in disbelief] - he's a good storyteller and it's a great record. I find it a bit odd that if Bill Withers walked down any main street in the world, I would challenge anyone to recognise him. If you sang anyone of his songs to anybody from a group of teenagers up to a grandma, they would know it instantly. Can I hold a note as well as Bill Withers? No one can do that! It's physically impossible. He must have been drinking something very special at that time in his life. There's a bunch of songs that he wrote and he nailed a lot of emotion in those songs. 'Lean On Me' is often the first song people play on the piano when they start – it's all really gifted song writing, distilling things down to a simple thing. 
"

Source
  
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
1968 | Classics, Sci-Fi

"""2001: A Space Odyssey. What I love about that is, in a similar way to Spinal Tap, it trusts the audience to have the patience that there’s gonna be something fulfilling in there. Not only the visuals. I think if you watch it now, with 21st century eyes, it can seem to some people like a very slow movie, where nothing happens for a long time. Visually it’s very innovative, but we’re so used to 15 cuts a second now that we’re not used to things being played out with that much pace and that much finesse and style and patience. I think, to watch it now, it’s seeing filmmaking with such confidence, the fact that he can hold those shots for as long as he holds them, and he can trust the audience to come along with him on the ride. It can be slow. It’s always visually breathtaking. But I think, to see it now, it looks like filmmaking from such a different time. If it was made now, it would be an assault on the senses. Everything would be very quick, everything would be breathless, everything would be very frantic, but Kubrick was such a confident filmmaker that he was able to play that whole story out with such pace and such style and trust that the audience was smart enough to be dragged along for the ride and stick with it until the end. That’s what I love about it, the pace of it. The respect for the audience’s intelligence. I like to feel part of those clubs and I think 2001 is the ultimate example of that kind of club where, if you understand why this is brilliant, then you’ll do for me. If you understand why this is brilliant, then you’re my kind of guy. And I like being involved in those miniature elite subcultures. 2001 is the perfect example of that."

Source
  
If I Were A Weapon (All These Gifts #1)
If I Were A Weapon (All These Gifts #1)
Skye Kilaen | 2022 | LGBTQ+, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
IF I WERE A WEAPON is the first book in the All These Gifts series, and we find ourselves in an Earth of the not-too-distant future where alien ships crash-landed to Earth, killing or displacing the inhabitants. For those that survived, for the lucky majority, life continued as normal but, for some, their lives were irrevocably changed.

Deneve and Jolie are some that changed. Deneve has the ability to predict the future in certain circumstances, with the nanites ramping up until she acts to change whatever it was she saw. Jolie has the ability to play with fire. Both are hiding from people who might use them and neither wants anything long-term. When Deneve has a vision about Jolie being in danger though, she has to stay to make sure Jolie is safe, even though they don't know each other.

This was really well-written, with plenty of backstory and build-up to move the story along. Deneve and Jolie don't know each other, and their relationship reflects that, although it will change as the series progresses. For now, they share a kiss and that's it. For the most part, it is stilted formality between them, which somehow works and lets you see more into their personalities than if they had been best buds from the outset.

Set in Austin, Texas, you get a story rich in detail, where the differences between those that are 'normal' and those that are not are highlighted in simple and subtle ways. This is a series so don't expect to have all the answers given to you in book one, because you will surely be disappointed.

As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to continuing with the series to see where it takes me next. Absolutely 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, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

 Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Ladies of the Canyon by Joni Mitchell
Ladies of the Canyon by Joni Mitchell
1970 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I love her words, I love her guitar playing and the tunings, and it’s just constant inspiration for me, especially in that very, very personal ‘writing about your own life as subject matter’ stuff. She’s the queen of it in a way. I’ve been talking a lot about that first record that some people call Song To A Seagull and the songs are beautiful on it, but it’s also got this great over-riding concept, there’s a side about the country and a side about the city. You could say Joni is this folk singer but at the beginning she had this whole conceptual side and her early records are very conceptual. Ladies of the Canyon I’ve just started listening to again recently. I feel like besides Blue it’s just one of those ones that’s so classic and overheard you just stop listening to it because you’ve heard it so many times. I listened to it again and realised it’s also this concept album about this place she lived at the time and it’s got all these great, heavy songs on it including ‘Circle Game’ and ‘Woodstock’ and its an amazing record. It defines this Topanga Canyon era as much as Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush does – it was one of those places in time like Athens, Georgia when REM was starting or Seattle when Mudhoney and Nirvana were coming up, it was a really special place with a really tight knit musical community and a lot of people sharing ideas and songs and lovers, whatever it was, and I think that record really defines it in such an amazing way. I’m kind of obsessed with this song on that record called ‘Conversation’ which is about a secret love affair. The way she tells her stories are so amazing, and on that record the guitar playing is exquisite and the way she uses these women’s’ choruses behind her sounds almost like it could be off a Meredith Monk record or something like that, so I’m always bouncing around her early records. Everybody always picks Blue as the classic and I fucking love that record so much, but I really love all of those early records, up through Court & Spark she could do no wrong. You could almost pick any one of them, and I felt like I’d been neglecting Ladies of the Canyon recently so it’s been on a lot in the last week or so. Every time I hear it I feel like it tells me new things about my life as well."

Source
  
TB
True Born (True Born Trilogy, #1)
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fantastic read! Well written with a great plot and characters. It took me a few chapters to get into this book, but once I did I couldn't put it down. I feel it is a cross between X-Men, Divergent and the 100. Lucy and Margot Fox are twins and they have a unique bond. They are daughters of the Chief Diplomat of Nor-Am. Being born to the Upper Circle sets Lucy and Margot apart from the rest of her dying world. The world has fallen victim to the plague. The breakdown of society wasn't fast, but it was messy, leaving three types of people in the world: Lasters, the ones who don't survive the plague. Splicers, humans whose bodies can be spliced with alternate genes to help them fight off the plague and survive. And the True Born, those who are immune to the plague, but they come with animal attributes (fins, claws, fur...). People don't learn if they are Lasters, Splicers, or True Born until their reveal on their 18th birthday. Lucy and Margot's 18th birthday is coming and they don't understand why they keep having to go through Protocols to determine their path in life. Lucy meets True Born Jared and do they have chemistry. Lucy and Margot's new security detail, is the True Born leader Nolan Storm. I love this series already! I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley.