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Goldenarrow74 (10 KP) rated Nudist Colony of the Dead (1991) in Movies
Feb 24, 2018
Ridiculous. Ridiculously silly. Ridiculously fun.
Ridiculous. Ridiculously funny, silly and blasphemous.
“Your children can’t praise the lord if they’ve got genitals in their mouths!” - Reverend Ritz
So much to snigger at here - notably the slightly-more-mature nudist Mrs Druple and her hazardous wrinkly swinging boobs.
There’s things to learn as well - whoever knew that devilled eggs came from possessed chickens?! Beware folks- evil lurks in the most unlikely of places.
“There’s a history of fornication in my family.” Fanny Wype
Actually, there are some deep theological questions raised here, such as, Why does this god guy get lost so much? Everyone is always trying to find him.
“Your children can’t praise the lord if they’ve got genitals in their mouths!” - Reverend Ritz
So much to snigger at here - notably the slightly-more-mature nudist Mrs Druple and her hazardous wrinkly swinging boobs.
There’s things to learn as well - whoever knew that devilled eggs came from possessed chickens?! Beware folks- evil lurks in the most unlikely of places.
“There’s a history of fornication in my family.” Fanny Wype
Actually, there are some deep theological questions raised here, such as, Why does this god guy get lost so much? Everyone is always trying to find him.
Taryn K (441 KP) rated Curiosity Thrilled the Cat (A Magical Cats Mystery, #1) in Books
May 4, 2018
Curiosity thrilled this reader too
This is a great start to a fun cozy series. Kathleen, our heroine, is fairly believable, for the most part. Her quirks are unusual, but so are her cats, Hercules and Owen. As an almost-new-to-the-area librarian, in a library needing many renovations, she meets many interesting people, including Gregor Easton, our victim. There are incidents, near misses, and several Fred the Funky Chickens involved before justice is served.
I've read this series through three times so far, and I'm working on a fourth run-through because of the new book Paws and Effect. I'd definitely recommend it to others.
I've read this series through three times so far, and I'm working on a fourth run-through because of the new book Paws and Effect. I'd definitely recommend it to others.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated There's Someone Inside Your House (2021) in Movies
Oct 27, 2021
Straight off the bat, I didn't hate There's Someone Inside Your House. As far as 90s inspired teen slashers go, it's relatively entertaining - it's has some solid gore, it's pacing is snappy for the most part, and the opening 15 minutes or so has some genuinely unsettling wide shots of houses with subtly open doors, hinting at someone unwanted being inside. It's a neat trick that's repeated once, but then unfortunately abandoned.
The main issue with TSIYH is how darn predictable it is, down to every set piece and narrative beat. The eventual killer reveal is sadly an obvious one, and there are even moments where the plot threatens to get a little ballsy but chickens out at the last second.
TSIYH had some fun slasher moments for sure, and I did like the multiple mask concept of the killer, but it's over reliance on genre tropes, and tendency to play it safe drag the overall experience down.
The main issue with TSIYH is how darn predictable it is, down to every set piece and narrative beat. The eventual killer reveal is sadly an obvious one, and there are even moments where the plot threatens to get a little ballsy but chickens out at the last second.
TSIYH had some fun slasher moments for sure, and I did like the multiple mask concept of the killer, but it's over reliance on genre tropes, and tendency to play it safe drag the overall experience down.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2091 KP) rated Murder Most Fowl in Books
Mar 9, 2018
One morning in March, Cam’s neighbor dies at his breakfast table, just hours after his chicken farm his hit by animal rights activists. Wayne was a very nice man, often offering Cam advice on her own heard of chickens. When the man’s daughter turns to Cam for help understanding what happened to him, Cam starts investigating. But can she find the killer?
I always enjoy my time on Cam’s farm, and this book was no exception. The pacing was a tad uneven, but that was only a minor issue. The mystery is still strong, with good clues, red herrings, and a great climax. While a couple of supporting characters sat this one out, the rest of the cast is back and as strong as ever. This will leave you turning pages until you read the end.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-review-murder-most-fowl-by-edith.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
I always enjoy my time on Cam’s farm, and this book was no exception. The pacing was a tad uneven, but that was only a minor issue. The mystery is still strong, with good clues, red herrings, and a great climax. While a couple of supporting characters sat this one out, the rest of the cast is back and as strong as ever. This will leave you turning pages until you read the end.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-review-murder-most-fowl-by-edith.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
_RainAllTheTime (17 KP) rated Farm Together in Video Games
Jul 12, 2019
Farm Together is a casual farming game on the PS4 *also available on other platforms*
You can customize your farmer, you unlock different hair styles, outfits etc as you level up. You can even customize your pet which follows you around your farm. You can have a dog, cat or parrot.
You are given quests, for example to plant so many of a certain crop, and for completing the quest you earn ribbons and/or experience.
You can have animals on your farm which, when ready to harvest, give you things like eggs (chickens, ducks, turkeys etc), milk (cows, goats), wool (sheep), or truffles (pigs) and also different types of fish available.
It's a nice relaxing game with cute animals and soothing music. The only slight con would be the wait on some of the crops/animals/trees etc but they do earn you alot of money and it is very easy to gain alot of money and experience in a short amount of game play.
You can customize your farmer, you unlock different hair styles, outfits etc as you level up. You can even customize your pet which follows you around your farm. You can have a dog, cat or parrot.
You are given quests, for example to plant so many of a certain crop, and for completing the quest you earn ribbons and/or experience.
You can have animals on your farm which, when ready to harvest, give you things like eggs (chickens, ducks, turkeys etc), milk (cows, goats), wool (sheep), or truffles (pigs) and also different types of fish available.
It's a nice relaxing game with cute animals and soothing music. The only slight con would be the wait on some of the crops/animals/trees etc but they do earn you alot of money and it is very easy to gain alot of money and experience in a short amount of game play.
David McK (3233 KP) rated Jurassic Park (1993) in Movies
May 26, 2020
I've just realised (at the time of writing) that this movie is nearly 30 years old.
Man, I feel old.
Taking some liberties with Michael Crichtons's source material (Hammond dies and was not a very nice man; Grant likes kids), this is a disaster movie with stunning effects (that still hold up pretty well today) for the time, even if our understanding of the 'headline' dinosaurs has changed somewhat in the intervening years since its release (Raptors were the size of chickens, had feathers, and were NOT pack hunters. or so we now think).
Set on a tropical island hit by a storm just as the owner is given a pre-release tour to special invited guests to show off his scientific breakthrough - cloned Dinosaurs, because that's ALWAYS a good idea … - a series of events leads to the power going down, and the 'exhibits' breaking free to wreak havoc amongst those guests. And, lets not kid around the bush here, despite having the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Sam Neil, Laura Dern and - uh- Jeff Goldblum ("life, uh, finds a way") amongst the cast - the real stars are those dinosaurs.
All the sequels (4 so far, with a 5th ion the way in Jurassic World: Dominion) pale in comparison.
Man, I feel old.
Taking some liberties with Michael Crichtons's source material (Hammond dies and was not a very nice man; Grant likes kids), this is a disaster movie with stunning effects (that still hold up pretty well today) for the time, even if our understanding of the 'headline' dinosaurs has changed somewhat in the intervening years since its release (Raptors were the size of chickens, had feathers, and were NOT pack hunters. or so we now think).
Set on a tropical island hit by a storm just as the owner is given a pre-release tour to special invited guests to show off his scientific breakthrough - cloned Dinosaurs, because that's ALWAYS a good idea … - a series of events leads to the power going down, and the 'exhibits' breaking free to wreak havoc amongst those guests. And, lets not kid around the bush here, despite having the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Sam Neil, Laura Dern and - uh- Jeff Goldblum ("life, uh, finds a way") amongst the cast - the real stars are those dinosaurs.
All the sequels (4 so far, with a 5th ion the way in Jurassic World: Dominion) pale in comparison.
Michael Adams (5 KP) rated Egg, Inc. in Apps
Jun 5, 2019
Idle play (2 more)
Can be F2P
No ads unless you purposely watch a video
Awesome idle game
Egg Inc is a great idle game that requires very little time investment on the user. You can spend lots of times in one sitting if you'd like, but most of my playing is once a day in 5 minute or less intervals.
The basic concept is you make chickens who lay eggs, upgrade certain items to increase egg value, then advance to the next unlocked egg that will be layed and restart the process. Once you hit a point (or at anytime really) where you are having a hard time progressing, you prestige and start over. Every prestige makes your egg value multiplier raise. The cool thing is you can actually "beat" this game! What I mean by that is you can complete all the objectives and trophies, though you can still play after of course.
I played this game F2P for quite a long time before I bought anything, so it is doable! I believe over the course of 3 years I have "beaten" this game twice (meet all objectives before a new patch would add more) and only purchased about $10 worth of stuff (piggy bank breaks and silo upgrade). There are no ads unless you want there to be by watching a video. Also, they have a very cool augmented reality feature!
All in all this is a great game and one I will be playing for years to come!
The basic concept is you make chickens who lay eggs, upgrade certain items to increase egg value, then advance to the next unlocked egg that will be layed and restart the process. Once you hit a point (or at anytime really) where you are having a hard time progressing, you prestige and start over. Every prestige makes your egg value multiplier raise. The cool thing is you can actually "beat" this game! What I mean by that is you can complete all the objectives and trophies, though you can still play after of course.
I played this game F2P for quite a long time before I bought anything, so it is doable! I believe over the course of 3 years I have "beaten" this game twice (meet all objectives before a new patch would add more) and only purchased about $10 worth of stuff (piggy bank breaks and silo upgrade). There are no ads unless you want there to be by watching a video. Also, they have a very cool augmented reality feature!
All in all this is a great game and one I will be playing for years to come!
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated The Birds (1963) in Movies
Mar 6, 2018
Amazing Film
Before disaster strikes, The Birds lures you into a false sense of comfort with beautiful scenic shots from a drop-top driving up the side of a mountain pass to a small boat pacing its way through the vast Pacific. If you're smart or pay any attention to movie history at all, you know what's coming next. I can only help but imagine how original audiences must have felt seeing all this serenity before being hit with a rude awakening. The word "jarred" comes to mind.
When Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) shows up in a sleepy, California coastal town, her visit turns sour when the town's birds start to randomly attack the population. The film is a thrill ride from beginning to end, relying on the tension of the unsettling and unusual to rattle your mind. Seagulls are attacking randomly. The chickens aren't eating. The next thing you know, a man is found in his bedroom with his eyes pecked out (very memorable shot) and it's off to the races.
Because of the tension from one moment to the next, every scene then becomes memorable. I'll never forget the scene where Melanie and Mitch (Rod Taylor) are walking past watching crows on their way to pick up Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). You know those birds can strike at anytime which had me waiting on the edge of my seat.
And this is where the genius of Hitchcock comes in. To be able to take something that sounds so minor on paper and make it a major deal in your mind is not an easy thing to do. He makes it look effortless. I give the film a 98.
When Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) shows up in a sleepy, California coastal town, her visit turns sour when the town's birds start to randomly attack the population. The film is a thrill ride from beginning to end, relying on the tension of the unsettling and unusual to rattle your mind. Seagulls are attacking randomly. The chickens aren't eating. The next thing you know, a man is found in his bedroom with his eyes pecked out (very memorable shot) and it's off to the races.
Because of the tension from one moment to the next, every scene then becomes memorable. I'll never forget the scene where Melanie and Mitch (Rod Taylor) are walking past watching crows on their way to pick up Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). You know those birds can strike at anytime which had me waiting on the edge of my seat.
And this is where the genius of Hitchcock comes in. To be able to take something that sounds so minor on paper and make it a major deal in your mind is not an easy thing to do. He makes it look effortless. I give the film a 98.
Akward (448 KP) rated Sea of Thieves in Video Games
Jul 22, 2018 (Updated Jul 22, 2018)
Graphics look great (1 more)
Cooperative
The entire game is a grind (2 more)
Player-vs-player interactions
Basically requires exactly 4 people
Rediculously Not Fun
This game is very, very bad for two reasons:
The entire game is a grind. The quests are all "go get this chicken" or "go kill this one guy." In order to complete the quests, you'll need to sail to a nearby island. But even sailing is a grind. Getting from one place to another requires 1 person steering, 1 person manning the sails, and 1 person on the map. At first, the cooperation is fun, but it gets old very quickly. Once you have completed the quest, you'll be rewarded with roughly 400 gold. Even the cheapest upgrades cost 8000 gold.
That brings us to the other killer: player interaction. While you are completing that quest, you had better hope that you don't run in to another player. Because that other player can easily sink your ship, killing those chickens that you just spent 15 minutes getting. This is likely fun if you are the attacker, but is aggressively unfun if you are the person who just lost an hour's worth of quest progression.
This game is not worth $40. You will be bored after 2 or 3 hours (if you even make it that long, there is no tutorial). It might be worth downloading if you have Gamepass, but even then I do not think that it is worth the space on your hard drive.
By the way, this is the first 1-star review I have ever given on Smashbomb. When I say this is the worst game I've ever played, I mean it.
The entire game is a grind. The quests are all "go get this chicken" or "go kill this one guy." In order to complete the quests, you'll need to sail to a nearby island. But even sailing is a grind. Getting from one place to another requires 1 person steering, 1 person manning the sails, and 1 person on the map. At first, the cooperation is fun, but it gets old very quickly. Once you have completed the quest, you'll be rewarded with roughly 400 gold. Even the cheapest upgrades cost 8000 gold.
That brings us to the other killer: player interaction. While you are completing that quest, you had better hope that you don't run in to another player. Because that other player can easily sink your ship, killing those chickens that you just spent 15 minutes getting. This is likely fun if you are the attacker, but is aggressively unfun if you are the person who just lost an hour's worth of quest progression.
This game is not worth $40. You will be bored after 2 or 3 hours (if you even make it that long, there is no tutorial). It might be worth downloading if you have Gamepass, but even then I do not think that it is worth the space on your hard drive.
By the way, this is the first 1-star review I have ever given on Smashbomb. When I say this is the worst game I've ever played, I mean it.
Erika (17788 KP) rated Phasma in Books
Jul 11, 2019 (Updated Jul 11, 2019)
I was pumped to read more about Phasma, after Rian Johnson did her character dirty (well, he did every character dirty in TLJ). Luckily for me, I had read the 4 issue comic run from Kelly Thompson. Protip: Read Thompson's Phasma run and skip this novel.
Firstly, this novel was not told from Phasma's point of view until the last chapter. The story is coming out to Cardinal, a Captain in the First Order that wears red armor (didn't know cardinals or chickens existed in the SW universe), from a Resistance spy, Vi. Basically, dude is jelly that he was technically demoted when Phasma arrived to the First Order. Vi rambles on the story of Phasma from the character Siv, who was a member of Phasma's band of warriors. Guess what? Phasma's from a backwater planet, color me shocked. All of the characters were bland, boring, and unlikable. I was done with the book when Siv revealed that she was pregnant, and kept rambling on about the baby and crap. Unless the baby was Rey, no one cares. Where was the editor? Also, the going on and on about how different the accents were between Brendol Hux/the First Order people and the warriors from the hell planet was so annoying.
The story was predictable, and boring. The option to tell the story of Phasma with 2 degrees of separation was ineffectual. This makes me leery about reading any other SW novel by this author. I was going to purchase Black Spire, but I'm definitely just going to get it at the library. So, not only did TLJ do Phasma a disservice, so did this novel. This is definitely one of the worst books in the new canon.
Firstly, this novel was not told from Phasma's point of view until the last chapter. The story is coming out to Cardinal, a Captain in the First Order that wears red armor (didn't know cardinals or chickens existed in the SW universe), from a Resistance spy, Vi. Basically, dude is jelly that he was technically demoted when Phasma arrived to the First Order. Vi rambles on the story of Phasma from the character Siv, who was a member of Phasma's band of warriors. Guess what? Phasma's from a backwater planet, color me shocked. All of the characters were bland, boring, and unlikable. I was done with the book when Siv revealed that she was pregnant, and kept rambling on about the baby and crap. Unless the baby was Rey, no one cares. Where was the editor? Also, the going on and on about how different the accents were between Brendol Hux/the First Order people and the warriors from the hell planet was so annoying.
The story was predictable, and boring. The option to tell the story of Phasma with 2 degrees of separation was ineffectual. This makes me leery about reading any other SW novel by this author. I was going to purchase Black Spire, but I'm definitely just going to get it at the library. So, not only did TLJ do Phasma a disservice, so did this novel. This is definitely one of the worst books in the new canon.