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InfernalNinja (49 KP) rated Vorpal Board in Apps

Jun 10, 2020 (Updated Jun 10, 2020)  
Vorpal Board
Vorpal Board
Entertainment, Games
Stream any board game you own! (2 more)
Simple web based invite system (think jackbox)
Supports voice and video chat
Requires two cell phones for games with " secret hands" (2 more)
Still in beta. Limited digital deck functionality
Will come with a small subscription fee to host games. (Not to play)
  
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Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated Cell in Books

Jan 12, 2018  
Cell
Cell
Stephen King | 2006 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
8.0 (29 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have you every found yourself refering to people who have their face buried in their cell phones as zombies? Stephen King took it a step further and made the cell phones turn them into killing monsters at a single pulse through the phone. As a middle school teacher this though terrifies me, I would never get out alive.

It is an interesting twist on the zombie/apocalyptic theme that seems to make a social commentary as well. The characters are typical Stephen King so they are developed but not complex. There is a certain amout of familiar predictability. I was quite disappointed by the ending though. Still it is a good beach read.
  
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Tabitha (19 KP) rated Cell in Books

May 28, 2018  
Cell
Cell
Stephen King | 2006 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
8.0 (29 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fantastic as usual!
Stephen King once again does not disappoint! A definite must read. This book will draw you in and you'll find yourself sitting up all night trying to reach the end. Follow a group of strangers as they try to navigate a new world after the use of cell phones devastates the planet in a completely unexpected phenomenon.
  
AI
Alien Infection
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I kept wanting to look at the author's name again, to be sure I wasn't actually reading an old Heinlein novel updated with some 21st century concepts like throwaway cell phones. That's not a bad thing, depending on how far along Mr. Bain is in his own career, I suppose. I'm not really familiar with him, as I believe this is the first of his novels that I've read. In any case, it was a fun read, if a wee bit predictable to those of us who have read the master's works.
  
H2O (The Rain, #1)
H2O (The Rain, #1)
Virginia Bergin | 2014 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
6
5.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
H20 is a different type of post apocolyptic read. First off the killer is bacteria in water, not really something you can avoid. Secondly the main character, Ruby, is not a prepper, survival type but a regular self centered teen. She only survives long enough to figure things out becuase of the people around her but that makes her more realistic. How many teens do you know are preppers or care about anything but their cell phones? As a long time middle school teacher I can tell you not many.

It was a steady paced quick read. I plan on reading the next in the series. It is in my "pile".
  
Dead Island (2018)
Dead Island (2018)
2018 | Horror
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Shot in 2010 on an iPhone 4s.
Contains spoilers, click to show
Set on a secluded island with no cell phone service, 17 year old twins, Kelsey & Devon, who are aspiring film makers are forced to move there just before their senior year. They decide to film everything as their phone are otherwise useless. Then masked killers show up and torment the family throughout the night.
It is basically a found footage film, but filmed entire on mobile phones. To be honest I found a lot of the jerky shots and continual movement both off putting and annoying, when they did have static shots they were far too long and not interesting enough. The last fifteen minutes or so of the film are not bad but by then I'd lost a bit of interest. There is some pretty shocking acting as well.
Not really a good film, but deserving of a "good" Mark purely for the novelty of the filming medium.
  
The Nun (2018)
The Nun (2018)
2018 | Horror
So often now the theater experience gets ruined with people talking or on their phone, but tonight was a great experience, and nights like tonight, are the reason why I keep going. Whether it was slip of tongue or said on purpose I don't know, but the guy who checked my ticket at the theater said, "Good luck" as he directed me to my screen. And before even touching on the movie, which was amazing, I got super excited seeing the new Halloween trailer on the big screen for the first time; perfect mood setter leading into the movie. Couldn't have asked for a better group of people to watch a movie with tonight. No talking, no bright lights of cell phones, just the sound of chuckles during the few funny lines and the occasional jump and slight screech of a few.

Now, to the movie. There have been some great horror movies in recent years and this one is right up there with the best of them. The Nun was so well done! Set in Romania during the early 50's, it just had that classic horror movie feel to it. I'll finish by decribing and praising it like this, it felt like if The Exorcist was made by Universal back in the 30's/40's era then the result would've been The Nun.
  
Pulse (2006)
Pulse (2006)
2006 | Horror, Mystery
Offensively awful, legitimately reprehensible filmmaking. I challenge anyone to find a worse American remake of Japanese horror than this. Not at all shocking how mercilessly they unceremoniously gutted the original of any sense of breadth, nuance, emotion, horror, intelligence, memorability, you know - all of that stuff that actually makes a half-decent horror film because apparently us dumb Yanks just couldn't handle any ounce of it... but by God did it have to look like moldy garbage too? This may be the worst looking film I've ever seen, whoever color-coded this to look like a chemical reaction between bleach and rotting flesh better have been blacklisted from working in the film industry since. I had to stop somewhere around the halfway point (which still felt like a goddamn century even though this barely touches 90 minutes with credits) because I felt physically ill from stomaching these shit visuals for that long. Of course it's ineptly acted, too. Is this what they thought the original meant? Some doltish technophobic lecture about how cell phones are as evil as murderous demons which also doesn't have a single milliliter of character to its name? The kind of stuff that could feasibly be used in torture chambers to get information out of people. So ironic that it kept the name, because it honestly doesn't have any pulse to speak of. Needed a trigger warning for pure stupidity.
  
Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, #5)
Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, #5)
Patricia Briggs | 2010 | Fiction & Poetry, Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.6 (13 Ratings)
Book Rating
This plotline delved more deeply into the interplay between wolf and man in the werewolf, which is interesting since Mercy does not have that issue with becoming a coyote. It also explored the way that being connected to a pack could either help you or hurt you. The complexities and interplays were fascinating, especially since Mercy had to learn to fight only "in the mind." It kind of validates being intelligent as a viable form of defense. What I did find annoying was when Sylvia and her brood would use Spanish to communicate, and their words were not translated. I studied French in high school, folks, not Spanish. It's poor form to put a foreign language in your book and not at least roughly translate it. Moving on.
I thought the way that the fairy queen operated was, put simply, stupid. She got so many basic things wrong that it did not even make sense that she was even living in the modern world. For instance, she really should have thought of the capabilities of cell phones. As "bad guys" go, she was rather pathetic, and even Bran, the Marrok agreed with me, calling her "stupid fairy queen." I loved that the fight against the fairy queen brought a past love of Samuel's to the forefront, thus giving him a reason to want to live, as well as giving me a different female character to root for. I'm also hoping that Ariana will stick around in future books.
This was not my favorite book in the series, despite centering around an actual book in the plot, as well as showing a bit more "bonding" between Adam and Mercy. The climax seemed less "climactic" than normal, thanks to a less believeable villian, but there was lots for me to like about this book despite what it lacked.
  
TH
The Hawaiian Quilt
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Hawaiian Quilt by Wanda E. Brunstetter & Jean Brunstetter is a refreshing new twist on Amish fiction. This is not your typical Amish story. There is such faith, hope, dreams, heartbreak and determination throughout this wonderful story. This one will keep you turning pages right up to the very end so you can see how it ends.

A very different type of Amish story, we are going to Hawaii, and we are using cameras and cell phones, and doing tourist things, we are also on a cruise ship.
Four dear friends decide to take a trip of a lifetime, and decide to take a cruise to Hawaii and Mexico, this is happening before they join the Amish church. Now you can picture these sheltered young women being on this exciting journey, how different for them. Mandy, Ellen, Barbara and Sadie decide early on their trip to each take separate side trips and then share their experiences with each other so that they are able to see more. Mandy and Ellen are late getting back to the ship while in Kawai and when they get to the dock the ship is gone. These girls sure had God’s hand on them, you can imagine all kind of bad things happening, but they end up staying with Christians and this is where the lost quilt comes into the story.

I enjoyed this quick read, questioned some of Mandy’s actions, but then remembering they are in their run around time, but I could see that Ellen was more set in her faith. The ending to me left a lot to be desired, it seemed a bit rushed, but then I didn’t write the book, and as I said this is a very different Amish story.

I received this book from Barbour Publishing and Shiloh Run Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.