
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Never Say Never in Tabletop Games
Jan 22, 2021
Never Say Never is a party card game in the same vein as Never Have I Ever, but plays oppositely. So gather your friends (well, up to 20 of them and only after COVID passes by) and get ready to amaze them all.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. Like what you read? You may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, have each player draw five cards from the massive deck. You are now ready to play!
On a turn the active player will choose one of their cards to be played to the table. When read aloud, the active player will score one point if everyone says they would never do the action played. If people say they WOULD do the action, however, they immediately explain themselves and why they would or how they have in the past. The greatest story wins the point. The first person to 10 points wins the game or is very drunk (if playing by the alternate rules).
Components. This game is about a million cards in a box with the rules of the game printed on the back of the box. The cards are all fine quality and minimal art is used, but the layout is decent and legible. No real problems to be had with components.
The game itself isn’t what I would call “bad.” In fact, it is enjoyable for what it is: a simple party game offering some new and imaginative prompts for when your brain cells aren’t necessarily firing correctly. Instead of coming up with the prompts from experiences you have actually had, these offer off-the-wall scenarios that many people have not done, but may actually consider. A small change, but an interesting one.
Obviously this one probably will not rank highly on many gamers’ favorite lists, but I think it is one that is handy to keep around when something of this style is needed. I know there have been times when the game night invitee list was bloated with non-invitees and I had to scramble to come up with some engaging activities. Never Say Never would certainly have saved my bacon on those occasions. Especially when non-gamer spouses are added to that number.
So I think that if you are a fan of party games and want to try a spin on an old standard, give Never Say Never a shot. If, like me, you struggle to entertain the non-gamers who show up to game night, give this a try. You might very well open up some peoples’ minds to other games that night as well. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an 11 / 18. I personally would never eat rat meat, but under the right circumstances would certainly consider shaving my eyebrows completely off. HBU?

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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Tenet (2020) in Movies
Aug 30, 2020
A CIA operative is brought into the fold of a secret operation to prevent a Russian arms dealer starting World War 3 with the most extraordinary ordinary weapons anyone has ever seen.
My initial reaction on Tenet as I walked out of the cinema was that I'd just watched the most predictable and confusing films I've ever seen... I really don't know how it manages to be both.
There are lots of faces in Tenet you'll recognise and all of them do a wonderful job of delivering their parts. I was particularly impressed with Kenneth Branagh and John David Washington, though the latter felt rather understated for an operative at that sort of level... but then that's probably just my opinion on something I only know about from action films. RPatz felt wrong, his delivery was good but my personal preference about his acting technique came out in full force.
When you have a lot of characters it can be difficult to follow everything but surprisingly that was the easiest thing to keep track of. I'm not sure if I was surprised about the way they were handled though. We delve heavily into Andrei and Kat with background and their life, and yes they're main characters but apart from them we don't seem to learn a great deal about anyone else. Is it because of the secretive nature of their situation? Perhaps, but it felt very off balance.
I want to talk about the predictability very briefly because it crosses over into my next point as well. Once you discover the reality behind everything it actually becomes very easy to spot things that are going to lead to something, and that partly because bit stick out like sore thumbs. A few pieces did elude me, but I'm putting that mainly down to the other distractions getting in the way.
So, those distractions came in two forms for me. Firstly, the sound. The music was good and the sound effects there helped with tension and atmosphere... but the volume... there's intense and then there's feeling your ribs rattle in your chest. I wondered if it was the screen's audio initially but there are so many other people saying it that it's definitely designed that way. At its most intense I found it difficult to follow anything, some times we got speech that was hidden by the sound intentionally but at least once the sound overtook some lines with no real purpose. Secondly, the action sequences. They are impressive, you can't deny that, but I found the necessary "transitions" distracting from the scenes which was a major drawback. Any momentum and excitement of the action was knocked straight out of me when I'd noticed that odd movement, it was rather deflating.
There are several good things about Tenet but I think I'd want to watch it twice more. I like going back to watch films to catch the little things I missed, but a second rewatch would almost be a first watch. I'm sure this won't go down well but perhaps it thinks it's rather clever when in fact it's just slightly too complicated to be enjoyable... there are several pieces that feel like they're from other things and in the end I don't think that enough comes together to be good enough to deal with the sound issues.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/tenet-movie-review.html

Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Falling Short in Books
Oct 2, 2020
About the book:
Frances Pilgrim’s father went missing when she was five, and ever since all sorts of things have been going astray: car keys, promotions, a series of underwhelming and unsuitable boyfriends . . . Now here she is, thirty-bloody-nine, teaching Shakespeare to rowdy sixth formers and still losing things.
But she has a much more pressing problem. Her mother, whose odd behaviour Frances has long put down to eccentricity, is slowly yielding to Alzheimer’s, leaving Frances with some disturbing questions about her father’s disappearance, and the family history she’s always believed in. Frances could really do with someone to talk to. Ideally Jackson: fellow teacher, dedicated hedonist, erstwhile best friend. Only they haven’t spoken since that night last summer when things got complicated . . .
As the new school year begins, and her mother’s behavior becomes more and more erratic, Frances realizes that she might just have a chance to find something for once. But will it be what she’s looking for?
My thoughts:
I am usually good at explaining why I don’t like a certain book, or why I feel the way I feel, and believe me, with this one, I have spent two days and 6 sittings in front of this draft (now published post) to try and write about it. So I am doing my best now…
First of all, there has to be something about a certain book to make me want to read it. With this one – there were two things:
I love romance and intrigue, and the blurb promised two people not really talking to each other, but sparks flying around… so yes, that got me.
The Alzheimer’s disease – as a person that has worked with people suffering from Dementia and Alzheimer’s, this subject is very close to my heart. I couldn’t miss this book for this reason.
Now – the romance part disappointed me, as there was no romance. No romance at all. Unless, of course, you count as a romance a person in their mid-forties sleeping around with drunk teens, and is then too complicated of a character to even realise who he loves, and why, and the moment he does, he still has no idea what to do with that information.
The other disappointment I had was that I expected to read about the Alzheimer’s, and not only that they weren’t there, but also some of the symptoms mentioned were not correct at all. There were only sex relationships and sex scenes, and that was supposed to define their relationship in the end. Not realistic at all.
Even though it seems that we follow Frances’s story throughout, we actually follow Jackson’s story as well. Their characters were too complicated and confusing for me, and it let me to now feel nor care about them at all. I honestly cared about Frances’s dog the most in this book.
The plot wasn’t perfect – there were times when the information given didn’t match.
[SPOILER ALERT]
The scene how Frances searches on Google to find the address of her dad. We are then told that she found out his address through Jean. Which one is it, then?
I am actually quite sad that I didn’t enjoy this book, but I will still be curious about new works from Lex Coulton, because, somehow, I really liked her writing style, despite all the flaws.

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Louise (64 KP) rated The Problem with Forever in Books
Jul 2, 2018
Mallory Dodge hasn’t had the easiest start in life, she grew up in Foster homes and some that were pretty awful, so much that she becomes withdrawn and the only way to keep herself safe and from drawing attention to herself is to remain as quiet as a ‘Mouse’. Until one horrific incident she manages to escape the horrific abuse that she was subjected to and adopted by Carl and Rosa two doctors that treated her but she will forever be scarred mentally and physically. Mallory is returning to a state school after being home schooled for the previous 4 years and somewhat apprehensive. Being silent has held Mallory back and she needs to start getting on with her life and one is to start socializing with people her own age and building her confidence, otherwise she fears she will be this way forever.
All is going well on her first day, well she hasn’t spoken to anyone but at least she is at school which is a big tick in the box. One of her classes is speech, one of the hardest lessons for her to overcome. She spots a boy who feels familiar to her, but it couldn’t be, could it? When the boy seats himself next to her in speech she is shocked, the boy is Rider Stark…. her best friend from when she was in the foster home, her saviour and protector, one that experienced all those awful things with her, he knows her like no-one else. With emotions and feelings about Rider all over the place, her foster parents not happy with his sudden appearance and what it will mean, Mallory has to break the silence to save everything.
OK! I need to start off with the cover, how beautiful is this book and the colours? This would instantly draw me in and buy it, you can just tell its contemporary. This book a massive 480 pages and there wasn’t a dull moment. This is such an emotional story, there is swoon worthy romance with a hot guy, there are sad times and times when my heart was racing because I was scared for Mallory and Rider, what would happen to them both.
Mallory’s character was amazing with so much development, she was such a different girl at the finish and I was overcome with pride as of how well she had managed and grew. She is a likeable character always trying to please everyone, she is shy and timid making you really feel for her.
Rider, he is Mallory’s protector and he always will be. It’s what he knows best. He skips class to make sure Mallory is not alone at lunch, he doesn’t do much when he does attend his lessons but he is an artist (not to him). He is so caring and like perfect boyfriend material it was impossible not to swoon.
Some could say the romance was a bit insta-lovey but for me it wasn’t. They hadn’t seen each other in 4 years and they were reconnecting wanting to get to know each other again and find out how life has been since they last saw each other. But their friendship was totally different from 4 years ago, and they both knew it. There was an attraction that wasn’t there before.
Throughout the story Mallory has flashbacks to when she was younger and the abuse(physically and verbally) that herself and Rider were subjected to and what lead to the incident. It shows how Rider cared for Mallory and how there pasts had shaped the people they had become.
I really liked most of the side characters in this book, there was Ainsley which was Mallory’s best friend outside of school. Hector and Jayden were cheeky chappies who Rider lived with. Paige and Carl I didn’t really warm to but I think that’s mainly because they were getting in the way of Mallory’s happiness .
This story is addictive, beautiful and heart warming, I enjoyed every page and would definitely recommend it.
I rated this 4 out of stars
I received a copy of this from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

kitty ♡ (68 KP) rated 13 Reasons Why in TV
Jan 9, 2018 (Updated Jan 9, 2018)
TRIGGER WARNING: I will be talking about suicide here, which should be no surprise as this is a show about suicide, but I will be doing so in semi-detail.
The main bone I have to pick with this portrayal of 13 Reasons Why is that they changed the way Hannah kills herself. In the book, Hannah Baker kills herself by swallowing a handful of pills. And as the book is limited to Clay's point of view, Asher doesn't describe it in greater detail. If I can recall, he just leaves it as that (but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!) In the series, however, Hannah kills herself by bleeding out in the bathtub. Instead of showing her swallowing pills, the writers decided that having the girl slit her wrists would be a better option which is WRONG. They really wanted those bonus points for gore, huh? The fact that they made her death more gruesome than it already is, is simply just disgusting, in my opinion.
Actually, the fact that they even showed her death scene at all is just disgusting. Not only is it so, but it may also be triggering for some people. They shouldn't have done it in such detail. What they could've done was they could've shown the blade (if she were still going to bleed out) and a little bit of blood to allude to the fact that she died this way. But no, they just had to show the whole process, which can easily turn into a how-to for viewers in a bad place.
Really, the only good thing I have to add about this is the fact that they show Tony giving Hannah's parents a copy of her tapes, and by the looks of it, the tapes may be handed to the police, which means Bryce's nasty ass can get what he deserves. Hopefully. But we really don't need a part 2. Sorry about it.