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Smashbomb (4683 KP) created a post in Smashbomb AMA

Jun 12, 2019  
AMA: SANDHYA MENON (AUTHOR)
We are excited to announce that our first AMA 'ask me anything' session will be with author @Sandhya Menon who has agreed to answer a number of 'Ask me anything (AMA)' questions for Smashbombers.

Sandhya is a New York Times bestselling author and has written 4 novels, and has 3 on the way! Her books have been featured in several cool places, including on The Today Show, Teen Vogue, NPR Book Review, Buzzfeed, and Seventeen.

Sandhya is probably best-known for her bestseller @When Dimple Met Rishi - which is currently rated a 7.8 on Smashbomb :)

Joanne's other works include:

      @From Twinkle, with Love

      @There's Something About Sweetie
      @Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love

Please leave your questions in the comments below, all of which will be sent over to Sandhya for her responses. Please remember to be inventive and original in your questions ?

(Image credit: sandhyamenon.com)
  
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Lynne M Campbell (0 KP) created a post

Mar 18, 2018  
Hey Im Lynne an avid reader of thrillers Chris carter,Jk Kerley and Richard Mobtanari are my top 3 but I will read most things that grab hold of my thoughts,I am also a fan of Biographical books i love the Torey Hayden and those along those lines triumph over adversity if you wanna ask me anything dont be afraid what is the worst i can do other than say No
     
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Smashbomb (4683 KP) created a post in Smashbomb AMA

Mar 6, 2019 (Updated Mar 26, 2019)  
AMA: JOANNE HARRIS (AUTHOR)
QUESTIONS CLOSED - https://smashbomb.com/content/perma?id=539628
We are excited to announce that our first AMA 'ask me anything' session will be with author Joanne Harris who has agreed to answer a number of 'Ask me anything (AMA)' questions for Smashbombers.

Joanne has written more than 15 novels, two novellas, two collections of short stories, a @Doctor Who novella, guest episodes for the game Zombies, Run, the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays, a musical and three cookbooks.

Joanne is probably best-known for her award-winning novel @Chocolat (Chocolat #1) , which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche .

Joanne's other works include:

     @Blackberry Wine
     @Different Class
     @Five Quarters Of The Orange
     @Gentleman and Players
    @The Girl with No Shadow (Chocolat #2)
     @Peaches for Father Francis (Chocolat #3)

Please leave your questions in the comments below, all of which will be sent over to Joanne for her responses. Please remember to be inventive and original in your questions ?

(Image credit: joanne-harris.co.uk)
  
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DaveySmithy (95 KP) Mar 11, 2019

1. What makes you roll your eyes every time you hear it?
2. Do you think that aliens exist?
3. What song hits you with a wave of nostalgia every time you hear it?
4. Does anything worry you about the 'kids of today'?

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Random47 (97 KP) Mar 14, 2019

1. Do you write with a pen or on a machine? If either, what type?
2. Who are some of your biggest inspirations?
3. What books are your guilty pleasure?
4. When did you first start writing?
5. Where are some of your favourite places to write?

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AnnieW (23 KP) rated Google Home Mini Smart Speaker in Tech

Dec 27, 2018 (Updated Dec 27, 2018)  
Google Home Mini Smart Speaker
Google Home Mini Smart Speaker
Home Audio & Theater > Speakers
See review title (2 more)
Always reacts
Easy setup
Much quicker than typing questions into my phone!
I just got my Mini and I love it. Not sure the cat trusts it yet though - she goes on alert every time I ask it to do anything!
I can ask the Mini for radio stations I can only listen to online and it's playing within seconds, which I love. I listen to a lot of music and my app of choice is Deezer. It took a while to get that connected, but it was down to my phone rather than the Mini (resolved as soon as I set the default browser to Samsung Internet).
And, a little thing, but I love it - my clock battery has run down so just saying 'Hey Google, what time is it?' has been very useful. I also found it really useful when cooking to say 'alert me in 25 minutes'.
So far, it seems I can ask pretty much anything and it'll have an answer of some sort, but I'm still learning what it can do. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun.
  
Bared to You (Crossfire, #1)
Bared to You (Crossfire, #1)
Sylvia Day | 2012 | Erotica
9
8.3 (23 Ratings)
Book Rating
Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness. He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily.

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds and desires.

The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart

This is possibly my 10th reread I have lost track. So I ask myself why do I keep coming back to this book and series? Well I can honestly say I just love how Sylvia Day writes I've read almost everything she has written. I enjoy reading the Cross series especially this one. Gideon Cross is just so yummy I adore Eva and Cary. I do have people who just don't understand why these books are so enticing to me and no it's not just the sex!! I think this says to me that no matter how hard your life is or how screwed up your past is you can still find love in the darkest places!!
  
The Dark Tower (2017)
The Dark Tower (2017)
2017 | Horror, Sci-Fi, Western
Average
Hollywood seems to be going for a Stephen King binge at the moment, and this one isn't great. I haven't yet read the books and even though this doesn't do anything to promote them it hasn't put me off.

There was so much potential for this film to be amazing but it felt so rushed, as if they weren't confident it would be good enough to get a sequel so they crammed as much as they could to get the story properly resolved (like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children). None of the characters developed beyond your initial impression of them, almost as if that was all sacrificed at the expense of fitting too much into the film. I'm sure there were also little details about the world that would have made it much more interesting, if the few bits that made the final cut were any indication.

An easy film to watch that doesn't ask you to engage your brain but very disappointing.
  
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Steven Seagal recommended Red Beard (1965) in Movies (curated)

 
Red Beard (1965)
Red Beard (1965)
1965 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"If we now want to get into films that — I arrogantly didn’t ask you if you would know anything about them; I just assumed, and assumption is the mother of all f—ups. Me, I’m Asian. I was raised in Asia and, to be honest with you, my favorite films of all time are really [Akira] Kurosawa films. He was a friend of mine. Yojimbo, Akahige meaning “Red Beard,” [and] Shichinin no samurai meaning “Seven Samurai,” I would say those are probably my three favorite films of all time. Even though Shichinin no samurai is the more famous one, I would probably pick Red Beard and Yojimbo.Red Beard is one of the most important movies in my life because it’s… I don’t want to say a movie about me, but it’s a movie about someone I tried to emulate subconsciously — or accidentally I should say — in that I am a martial artist, I am a healer, and I am a warrior, and those are the three kind of components that really make up Toshirô [Mifune]’s kind of character, you know? So I particularly relate to that movie on a very deep level."

Source
  
H(
Heartwishes (Edilean, #5)
2
2.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This has to be one the blandest, most boring books I have ever read in my life. Conflict? The little it has makes absolutely no sense.

First, let me start by saying that everything in this book fell into place a little too easily. Everyone loved Gemma and she was just so perfect in every way. Everyone immediately got along with including the few people who don't get along with others. The only people Gemma didn't get along with were the people who were the bad guys. It was actually sickening to read how peachy keen everything seemed.

And pardon me, but isn't this story called Heartwishes? We really get to read anything about Gemma's research or the stone unless it's in quick spurts or the letter she reads at the very end. Kind of a cop-out if you ask me. I was more curious about the stone than Gemma and Colin's relationship.

This brings me to another point. The only romance novels I hate reading more than the ones where the couple fights every second they are not having sex is the ones where there is absolutely no conflict between the two. The only fight the two had, I thought Gemma had lost her mind. It seriously made no sense to me. Gemma doesn't like Colin's "jealousy" and says she can't handle it when Colin gets upset about her spending time with Tris alone, but Colin never acted on his jealousy. In fact, he had to tell her he was even jealous at all. But it's okay for Gemma to get hysterically agree and storm off when Colin says his ex-girlfriend is connected to a case he is working on. Gemma, who is carrying Colin's child, comes up with all these plans of living her life and raising the child without Colin after he tells her this. Completely ridiculous if you ask me, especially since Gemma goes around kissing everyone the entire novel. Not even kidding. It seemed like every other page, Gemma was kissing people for absolutely no reason. The first time she ever meets Colin's sister, Ariel, and Ariel tells Gemma she is getting married, Gemma turns and kisses Ariel's fiancé in congratulations. Not only had she just met the guy, I don't think they even talked to each other. A simple congratulation could have worked.

Overall, this novel bored me to death when it wasn't annoying me with its nonsensical behaviors. Had I known how it was going to be, I would have never wasted a penny on it. And I am a huge Deveraux fan.
  
SI
Stuck in the Stone Age
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This delightful story aimed at the younger independent reader had me enthralled from the start. The connections throughout to the section at the end on how to write a novel just like this and the association with a youngster whose ideas is used for this narrative all adds to the connection felt.
Tom Edison (No, not that Tom Edison) loves science and when he somehow gets a job at a science research centre he feels his life is perfect, but then the accident with the time machine happens and that is only the beginning of his adventures with his soon to become scientist friend, Dr Morice.
At times this book had me truly laughing out loud and one I had finished it, left me already wanting to read the next story with these characters. I look forward to seeing them available in the near future.
At the back of this book is a section dedicated to writing fiction, aimed at the younger writer, it serves to give them a framework in which to shape their writing and supports them throughout with positive messages and encouragement to complete. The authors even ask them to send their attempts in for them to read. So looking forward to reading the next young writers story, if it's anything like this one, it will be great.
  
Meet the Fockers (2004)
Meet the Fockers (2004)
2004 | Comedy
7
7.4 (10 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Better than the first...
Contains spoilers, click to show
Well, simply put, this was slightly better than the first. Following the exploits of the previous film, "Meet The Parents", Gaylord Focker, Ben Stiller, introduces his fiancée's parents, excellently portrayed by Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner to his family, with the obvious humorous consequences.

Dustin Hoffman is on form and Barbra Streisand, who I honestly cannot recall seeing in anything but this franchise in the last twenty years, is not bad either as the laid-back titular Fockers. Stiller's and his lies are sidelined here, as the focus is on the conflict between the parents themselves, but all is resolved by the end, obviously and even though Owen Wilson's cameo is pretty contrived and we could have done without it, it had its moments.

"Meet The Fockers" is marginally better than "Meet The Parents", I think because the characters boundaries were more clearly defined, the jokes were funnier and tended to be less reliant on the awkwardness. This lighter offering was more than worth the watch and made me laugh which all you can ask from a comedy.