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Ross (3284 KP) rated Black Mirror - Season 3 in TV
Feb 8, 2018
The third series of Black Mirror (the first made for Netflix) sees another 6 standalone episodes offering a frightening glimpse at the future use of technology.
Nosedive looks at people's obsession with likes and ratings and that each interaction becomes either tooth-achingly sweet to secure that rating, or a desperate attempt to get that good rating from someone higher than you. While I liked the premise, I thought this episode was a little too long.
Playtest sees Pokémon Go type AR go wild, as a young American backpacker desperate for money agrees to test a new brain implant that allows people to experience horror games as if they were real. A well executed thriller of an episode.
Shut Up & Dance looks at blackmailing/revenge porn and shows the lengths people will go to to avoid their secrets being revealed, as a young boy afraid that footage of his one-handed solo adventures being shown to his friends and family ends up on something of a treasure hunt with Jerome off of Robson & Jerome (who has lost that loving feeling and started seeing an escort). The story is very gripping and well shot.
San Junipero was a surprisingly uplifting, heartwarming episode. I won't spoil the reveal too much but it is the rare occasion where Black Mirror shows the good side of technology taken to extremes. Absolutely beautiful.
Men Against Fire was a clever episode looking at the uses of brain augmentations in the armed forces and how they can be used and abused in warfare. An apparent zombie apocalypse scenario is turned on its head and shows the Black Mirror take on such technology.
The final episode, Hated in the Nation is a look at online trolling and bullying and how this can be taken to extremes. it shows that even when people know there are real consequences for the victims, because it is largely anonymous they will carry on doing it. Quite a long episode but gripping and keeps the viewer guessing throughout.
Nosedive looks at people's obsession with likes and ratings and that each interaction becomes either tooth-achingly sweet to secure that rating, or a desperate attempt to get that good rating from someone higher than you. While I liked the premise, I thought this episode was a little too long.
Playtest sees Pokémon Go type AR go wild, as a young American backpacker desperate for money agrees to test a new brain implant that allows people to experience horror games as if they were real. A well executed thriller of an episode.
Shut Up & Dance looks at blackmailing/revenge porn and shows the lengths people will go to to avoid their secrets being revealed, as a young boy afraid that footage of his one-handed solo adventures being shown to his friends and family ends up on something of a treasure hunt with Jerome off of Robson & Jerome (who has lost that loving feeling and started seeing an escort). The story is very gripping and well shot.
San Junipero was a surprisingly uplifting, heartwarming episode. I won't spoil the reveal too much but it is the rare occasion where Black Mirror shows the good side of technology taken to extremes. Absolutely beautiful.
Men Against Fire was a clever episode looking at the uses of brain augmentations in the armed forces and how they can be used and abused in warfare. An apparent zombie apocalypse scenario is turned on its head and shows the Black Mirror take on such technology.
The final episode, Hated in the Nation is a look at online trolling and bullying and how this can be taken to extremes. it shows that even when people know there are real consequences for the victims, because it is largely anonymous they will carry on doing it. Quite a long episode but gripping and keeps the viewer guessing throughout.
BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated Werewolf: A Party Game for Devious People in Tabletop Games
Dec 6, 2018
Easy to play (2 more)
Good quality cards
Easy to carry around
A little to many people need to play (1 more)
I wish there were more player options that came with the game.
Fun and simple with a cool concept.
I received this game through a giveaway here on smashbomb I was really excited to try it out at first but I hit a bit of a snag because I didn't realize just how many people it took to play the game it's recommended 7 to 35 players usually for game nights there's about five of us but once we were able to play the game it was really fun and simple everyone had a blast and honestly we didn't want to stop playing had to finally call it quits when it just got too late. Since it is just a deck of cards it's easy to take around and bring with you to group gatherings and parties it has a set of rules on one of the cards or it gives you a web address to look up the rules on your phone which is really handy. The cards are thick and well-made the artwork is clean and simple we all really enjoyed that they give you options to make your own characters along with their own set of rules but honestly trying to come up with stuff spur-of-the-moment was a little hard. we all enjoyed the witch card a lot really tested a couple friendships there. The length of the game really just depends on how many people you have playing the most we played with was 8 so the game was good length that gave us time to play a couple rounds. But we all really would like to try and play with the most amount just haven't been able to get that many people into it though hopefully sometime soon.
Thanks again for giving me the chance to win and play this game.
Thanks again for giving me the chance to win and play this game.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2460 KP) rated Blood Alone in Books
Jan 22, 2021
Can Billy Recover His Memory in Time to Complete His Mission?
As this book opens, Billy Boyle is waking up in a field hospital. He can’t remember who he is or what he is doing there. Slowly, he begins to piece together things like his name and the fact that he is in Sicily in the summer of 1942. He also believes he has an important mission to carry out for his uncle, General Eisenhower. But he can’t remember what that mission is. However, he knows he has to keep moving, especially when he stumbles upon a dead body. Following the only clues he has, he sets out across the island, soon joined by a local doctor. Will he recover his memory in time?
Amnesia isn’t a new plot device, but I thought it was handled well here to set up the story and draw us in. As Billy relearns who he is, it also offers reminders on what has happened before without saddling us with long exposition. New readers should be warned that this does contain some pretty major spoilers for the first two books, however. That information is needed since it allows us to see real growth in the characters; I love how they are developing. We also see the impact of the war, not only on Billy and the other soldiers but also on the people living in Sicily at the time. All of this does sidetrack the mystery at times, and I’m torn on this. I appreciate how rich the book is, but I wish the pacing were a little better. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of action; so much so that Billy feels like an action hero at times. There is a solid mystery in the book with some good twists that took me by surprise. Overall, this is a great third book in a series I wish I had started sooner.
Amnesia isn’t a new plot device, but I thought it was handled well here to set up the story and draw us in. As Billy relearns who he is, it also offers reminders on what has happened before without saddling us with long exposition. New readers should be warned that this does contain some pretty major spoilers for the first two books, however. That information is needed since it allows us to see real growth in the characters; I love how they are developing. We also see the impact of the war, not only on Billy and the other soldiers but also on the people living in Sicily at the time. All of this does sidetrack the mystery at times, and I’m torn on this. I appreciate how rich the book is, but I wish the pacing were a little better. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of action; so much so that Billy feels like an action hero at times. There is a solid mystery in the book with some good twists that took me by surprise. Overall, this is a great third book in a series I wish I had started sooner.
Hohner SqueezeBox Pro - Three-Row Diatonic Accordion
Music and Entertainment
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Based on Hohner's iconic Corona Classic diatonic accordion, this intuitive virtual accordion app...
Dakotah Salazar (12 KP) rated Yesterday (2019) in Movies
Jul 6, 2019
Charming (2 more)
Cinematography
Hamish Patel and Lily James
Script (3 more)
Lack of Premise Progression
Stale Use of Songs
Overshadowed, Bland Romance
A Beatle Bummer
In a ambitious musical fantasy shows Jack, played by Hamish Patel as a struggling musician looking to find a break in his career. With the help of his manager Ellie, played by Lily James, believes in his dream to stick by his side throughout the struggles. Jack gets hit by the bus and the world seems to have forgotten one of the most popular bands of all time: The Beatles. And now only Jack knows and tries to revive their catalogue for the world to hear again.
It is a pretty charming film throughout, and it really had a lot of strong performances to carry it's premise. Hamish Patel and Lily James have good chemistry, and there is a sense of history between them, as they have been good friends all of their lives, but never tried to put themselves in the next step. Lily James is the one who tries to pursue into that more, while Hamish is focused on himself and the music. Truthfully, there isn't a whole lot of depth besides that history. We are relied on this to carry the romance which is a huge factor of the movie. So much that it distracts everything else and both characters act irrational instead of acting like normal human beings and having a conversation.
It's a sharp film to look at. The lighting, production design, cinematography is wonderful. It has the Danny Boyle stamp on there, especially an obvious slanted shot in the beginning of the film. Even the score has trinkets of The Beatles layered throughout.
The script needed rewrites...there are many ways that this premise could've been successful, but after the film was over, it proved me wrong...this premise is troubling in many ways. There isn't a good way to progress this kind of story and I wanted the film to pursue the story from a fantasy perspective. Especially with something like Rocketman where the songs become part of its whole story. Every Beatles song after another sound so trite and it's because they lack the flavor of what they are genuinely about. It rushes through each one and uses a LOT of songs that it becomes a headache after a while. I think Hamish has a great voice for it, but I couldn't stand how the songs were treated throughout this movie. Especially with it's terrible third act where it becomes a huge, convenient mess for everyone. The script was simply bad.
I would wait for it if interested. Seeing it in a theater might give an impression for its great filmmaking, but a very hollow experience in my opinion.
It is a pretty charming film throughout, and it really had a lot of strong performances to carry it's premise. Hamish Patel and Lily James have good chemistry, and there is a sense of history between them, as they have been good friends all of their lives, but never tried to put themselves in the next step. Lily James is the one who tries to pursue into that more, while Hamish is focused on himself and the music. Truthfully, there isn't a whole lot of depth besides that history. We are relied on this to carry the romance which is a huge factor of the movie. So much that it distracts everything else and both characters act irrational instead of acting like normal human beings and having a conversation.
It's a sharp film to look at. The lighting, production design, cinematography is wonderful. It has the Danny Boyle stamp on there, especially an obvious slanted shot in the beginning of the film. Even the score has trinkets of The Beatles layered throughout.
The script needed rewrites...there are many ways that this premise could've been successful, but after the film was over, it proved me wrong...this premise is troubling in many ways. There isn't a good way to progress this kind of story and I wanted the film to pursue the story from a fantasy perspective. Especially with something like Rocketman where the songs become part of its whole story. Every Beatles song after another sound so trite and it's because they lack the flavor of what they are genuinely about. It rushes through each one and uses a LOT of songs that it becomes a headache after a while. I think Hamish has a great voice for it, but I couldn't stand how the songs were treated throughout this movie. Especially with it's terrible third act where it becomes a huge, convenient mess for everyone. The script was simply bad.
I would wait for it if interested. Seeing it in a theater might give an impression for its great filmmaking, but a very hollow experience in my opinion.
Contacts Journal CRM
Business and Productivity
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Shopping and Lifestyle
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Amazon Now - Grocery Shopping
Shopping
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Domesticating Drones: The Technology, Law and Economics of Unmanned Aircraft
Henry H. Perritt and Eliot O. Sprague
Book
The public debate over civilian use of drones is intensifying. Variously called "unmanned aircraft...
