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<i>Oliver the Ornament </i>touched me in ways I cannot even explain. From the feel of the paper to the colorful illustration, to the thoughtful words. This book pulls you in and stays with you long after you have read it. Todd M. Zimmermann did a phenomenal job with the ideas he conveys in this book and I know it will be one I pass down for many generations to come.

   When I first picked up <i>Oliver the Ornament </i> to read, I expected just another book about Christmas. What I got was so much more. Oliver pulled me into his story with his friends and family so much so that by the time I was done I could not stop thinking about my own cherished Christmas ornament memories. The story was easy to read, although more of a 7+ age range in terms of page length, but so engaging and colorful. I loved the page layouts and enjoyed the twists the author/illustrator used to interactively engage with the audience. The themes of always having something positive to say to others, the consequences of bullying, and remembering to hold on to memories no matter how small they may seem combined made this an endearing story. I also am thankful for the author's thoughtfulness in providing a place to write my own ornament stories in the back of the book. But I cannot forget one of the most important interactive aspects of the story, Oliver the ornament himself! He is well made, heavy-duty, and when I look at my tree now, I am reminded that <i>“Every Ornament Tells A Story”</i>.

This is one of my favorite Christmas stories ever as it encourages remembrance, communication between parents and their kids, and the themes of forgiveness, dealing with bullying, and the art of storytelling. I <b>HIGHLY</b> recommend this book for any age to read and enjoy. 5 out of 5 stars.

*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
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Suggs recommended Roxy Music by Roxy Music in Music (curated)

 
Roxy Music by Roxy Music
Roxy Music by Roxy Music
1972 | Electronic, Rock
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"My mate used to work at WH Smith’s record department, and the salesman from Polydor had been in and said “’Ere, we’ve got this record. It’s a bit weird, lad, but everyone seems to like it…” So he bought the lot, 50 copies. And it’s that old cliché: it sounded like it came from outer space. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before. I wasn’t really mad on rock music as such, and I was young, so I heard it with my formative listening ears, and it struck me as something really exotic and other-worldly. You listen to those songs: no choruses, solos that go on for hours, and… not that I’d compare us to Roxy Music in the slightest, but when we were writing some of those early songs like ‘Night Boat To Cairo’ and ‘Embarrassment’, they were songs that had no chorus, and verses and solos that went all over the place, and didn’t have a verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, and I’m sure that in some very small way was informed by Roxy Music. Even down to the fact that they don’t mention ‘Virginia Plain’ until the very end, which is what we did with ‘Embarrassment’! “You’re an embarrassment…“, the last word of the song. I never saw them live, but I do clearly remember seeing them on The Old Grey Whistle Test, and old Whispering Bob (Harris) saying ‘If that’s the future of rock & roll, then I’m fucking off!’ And fortunately, it was. And the whole glamour of that album sleeve, and the portraits of the five of them inside the gatefold, and the clothes they were wearing… Andy Mackay had these sunburst crepe-heeled Toppers, I think they were called, that I spent months trying to find, and they were fifty quid even then. And you’d nick the poster off the Tube, but you’d have to rip off eight posters in one go, so you ended up with this completely rock-hard Roxy Music poster that you couldn’t roll up under your arm, and you’d try and pin it to your wall but it would keep coming off. All that formative stuff’s so important…"

Source
  
The Second Resurrection of Jack Selkirk (The Dragon&#039;s Bidding #2.5)
The Second Resurrection of Jack Selkirk (The Dragon's Bidding #2.5)
Christina Westcott | 2021 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
wonderful descriptions of inside cyberspace!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 2.5 in the Dragon’s Bidding series, and it could probably be read as a stand-alone, but I would recommend you read books one and two before this one.

Jack has been banished into cyberspace for his crimes against Wolf in book 2. He is filtering bits and pieces of information, passing on the bits that are helping his mum build a nest egg that he wasn’t able to. While doing that, he comes across some information that threatens his existence, even in cyberspace. He just needs Wolf and Fitz to believe him.

I enjoyed this so much MORE than book 2, I really did!

Yes, it’s very technical again, but while Cypher is about the augmentations and things, THIS book is about Jack, and his place in cyberspace. And that place is so beautifully described, it really is. The data streams are different colours. There are guard dogs in those streams, and you gotta be careful of them. Jack dips in and out of places so fast, they don’t get a chance to catch him, though.

Finding the assassination plot means Jack has to think fast, and he HAS to get Wolf to believe him. While Jack can fix things, he needs Wolf’s codes. And that means Wolf has to play nice with Jack. Fitz ain’t best pleased about that, though! Because that means Wolf has to enter cyberspace, and the risks are much greater to Wolf than they are to Jack, since Wolf doesn’t know how to get by.

The bugs from books one and two rear their ugly heads, again, much to Wolf’s dread.

The line of the book is this though: Jack visits me and plays his rotten roll! Oh that made me chuckle. I’ll let you read to get the full story though!

Jack gets a second chance here, and I wonder what will become of him in future books. Great reading, much MUCH better than book 2.

4 stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
The Dark Side of the Wall by The Stallion
The Dark Side of the Wall by The Stallion
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is a project from Ben Wallers and Alastair Mackinven from Country Teasers. We moved in similar circles in the mid-90s. I saw them do the whole of this at the Moth Club earlier this year. You could think 'oh what a funny idea to cover the whole of Pink Floyd's The Wall', but they actually did it really well. I used to be a Pink Floyd fan, and one of the first albums I bought was Dark Side Of The Moon, but The Wall is where I parted company with them, I thought it was just a self-indulgent mess. So I was amazed to go and see that they'd actually made it palatable, they'd done something interesting with it. I know it's not coming from a take the piss point of view, Ben's got an actual affection for that record, and they'd really thought it out. The Wall is one of the most indulgent, over-produced records ever done, and so the idea of two guys on a stage at the Moth Club doing it is like 'how the fuck are you going to do that? Where's the choir, where's all this?' But it worked, it was really good. I preferred their version of The Wall to the Floyd one. I remember going to see the film version of The Wall, and Bob Geldof played the main character, and it was so rubbish and painful, the worst kind of that rock star moaning about nothing in particular. There's something in that record to do with a performer's relationship with an audience that's interesting - there is something strange about getting up on a stage and performing in front of people. In Ben's live performances as The Country Teasers or The Rebel, sometimes people think he's trying to wind the audience up or whatever, but it's always important that the audience is there and you're never allowed to be a passive spectator. I don't know if that's why he finds [this album] an interesting thing to deal with, but you could tell that there's a reason for it, it wasn't just 'let's try and do something ridiculous'. "

Source
  
Decimation: Son of M
Decimation: Son of M
David Hine | 2006
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
In the voice of a goth-wannabe, darkly-attired conductor's voice: <i>"All aboard, the Angst Express is now departing..!</i>

I was quite pleased with David Hine's "Rebirth" storyline on Top Cow's THE DARKNESS. During my extended read of most of what made of HOUSE OF M, and the subsequent M-DAY stuff, I learned that Hine helmed DECIMATION: SON OF M, a 2006 mini-series that dealt with Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver) and how he comes to terms with being de-powered. I was anticipating a great read, one that would make sense, as well as leaving me satisfied as I said goodbye to HOUSE OF M and all that followed it. Sadly, that was not the case at all!

The story itself seemed to be written well enough. However, I felt Pietro's almost nihilistic mood was too much to bear! Yes, losing your super-quickness was something that would take time to fully settle into, it was not the end of the world! Nor was it worth kidnapping your daughter Luna from her mother, the Inhuman Crystal, or stealing terrigen crystals from Attilan!

While the mini-series title, SON OF M, made sense, the story should have been titled THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL! Seriously, this was probably one of the most depressing mini-series (next to Morrison's WE3, which I loved, but, sadly, will not re-read as my depression is staring to rear its unwelcome head in my life again!) I have ever read! it probably should have a warning or something, especially if you are someone who is trying to keep their depression in check!

I am giving this mini 2 Stars out of 5, simply because a I think Hine is talented, even I did not like this story, and b) Roy Allen Martinez turned in some super-tight art! Mind you, I was not really pleased with Medusa's visual reworking, nor the "porn star-esque" figures given to Medusa and Crystal! However, that aside, I quite liked Martinez's art!

In conclusion, all I can say is don't read this if you are having a bad day/week, SON OF M will only make the bad day worse! 'Nuff said!
  
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Andy K (10823 KP) rated Psycho (1960) in Movies

Sep 30, 2019  
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1960)
1960 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Most Hollywood scholars and film critics agree Vertigo is the ultimate Hitchcock masterpiece with Psycho, North By Northwest or Rear Window rounding out the top 4. Although I would give each a 10 out of 10, I would say Psycho is probably my all time favorite.

Maybe you could say Vertigo is a better technical film or it uses camera, lighting, sets and scenery better, but Psycho has all of that as well and then some. I remember reading somewhere a list of movies where mid way through the film the plot was hijacked in a completely different direction than it had been going (for movies like From Dusk Till Dawn and True Lies), but Psycho was not listed.

I was extremely surprised in that by 1960, how many filmmakers would dare kill off their only main character and the only one the audience cares about partially through and leave the audience gasping as what was to happen next? I wish I had been sitting in a darkened theatre in 1960 to see just that. Working at movie theatres for years, I have had my share of watching crowd reaction both in laughter and in fear, and I can see how movie makers enjoy doing this themselves for their own films.



Great movies keep you coming back even though you are completely familiar with every detail already, but still come back to rewatch anyways.

I have to assume Anthony Perkins did too good of a job as Norman Bates to have any casting directors use him for different roles. He reprised Norman, several times in the 80s and 90s, and also had roles in other films like The Black Hole and Murder on the Orient Express, but no one really remembers him for anything other than Psycho. He was just that great.

I absolutely love the Bernard Herrmann score, especially over the haunting opening credit sequence. One of the best of all time. Have to mention Janet Leigh also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She was memorable and marvelous as well.

And Hitch never won Best Director.

  
    Sunny

    Sunny

    Jason Reynolds

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

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    Sunny tries to shine despite his troubled past in this third novel in the critically acclaimed Track...

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Merissa (13169 KP) rated Teach Me in Books

Apr 10, 2023  
Teach Me
Teach Me
Sloan Johnson | 2014 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is about how a young man's life changes when he tells his parents that he is gay... and not in a good way. He ends up on the streets, not knowing which way to turn. Luckily for him, Bree and Casey are there and they show him the ropes. Casey lets Austin know that there is work for the weekend on a construction site so off they go. There David sees Austin for the first time and the story really kicks off.

David is 15 years older than Austin and, some of the time, this is really obvious. Other times, not so much. I found it hard at times to stick with Austin's character just because he did act so immature but then you have to remember the abuse that he lived with plus his age and it does become more understandable. David certainly deserves a medal for putting up with it though - although he does also have his own temper tantrums in the book. You don't actually learn that much more about David's past than what you read in the synopsis which I found a bit of a shame.

The supporting characters are brilliantly written and do just that... support the main leads. Chad is brilliant because he has concerns about David and Austin and isn't afraid to say so. However, he also is prepared to say that he was wrong and even to tell David when he's behaving like an idiot. Becky and Bree help the female side of the story and both are warm and caring towards Austin which helps him. Casey - I'd like to see a follow-up on him even though he's not the most likeable character in the book I just know there's more to him. I don't know if I want him to have a HEA with Bree though, I sort of feel he's put her through the mill enough!

Highly recommended for all fans of the M/M genre.
 
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

August 9, 2016