A Sinner in Mecca: A Gay Muslim's Hajj of Defiance
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This is the Islam you've never been allowed to see. Daringly reported from its frontlines and...
The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?
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In The Icarus Deception, Seth Godin's most inspiring book, he challenges readers to find the courage...
The System Worked: How the World Stopped Another Great Depression
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International institutions, from the International Monetary Fund to the International Olympic...
When They Go Low, We Go High: Speeches That Shape the World and Why We Need Them
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Informed by Collins's own experiences as a speech writer, When They Go Low We Go High is a...
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe: Wunderkind; The Jockey; Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland; The Sojourner; A Domestic Dilemma; A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud
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Few writers have expressed loneliness, the need for human understanding and the search for love with...
Safety Differently: Human Factors for a New Era
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The second edition of a bestseller, Safety Differently: Human Factors for a New Era is a complete...
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Alita: Battle Angel (2019) in Movies
Jul 3, 2020
Dr. Ido (Christolph Waltz) searches the scrap pile junkyard of the metropolis known as Iron City for parts to repair patients at the clinic he owns and operates. He finds a badly damaged female cyborg (Rosa Salazar) that is still alive and chooses to repair her. When she awakens, she has no memory of her past, her name, or who she is. Dr. Ido allows her to live with him and names her Alita but doesn't permit her to venture out at night into the treacherous and dangerous streets of Iron City. However Alita has a wide-eyed view of looking at the world and with the help of a young boy named Hugo (Keean Johnson) she begins her quest to remember anything about her past and who she is.
Looks like Hollywood finally got an anime movie right. If you have any doubt you need to see this film for yourself. Definitely recommended if you like sci-fi and action movies but the heart and soul of the film is Alita herself. Her journey and transformation and her personality steal the show and make this movie great. The visual effects were awesome as well as the fight choreography and film cinematography. I'll admit that somethings plot wise fell through with the storyline towards the very end but this movie had a lot of emotion (heart and soul). I give this movie an 8/10.
How to Abandon Ship: The World War II Classic That Can Save Your Life
Phil Richards, John J. Banigan and Twain Braden
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Based on interviews with the crew and captain of a torpedoed tanker who survived nineteen days in a...
Hunting the Killer Idea
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Killer Ideas. They re out there. Wild, unpredictable and dangerous. So powerful they can stop a...
ClareR (5955 KP) rated Kololo Hill in Books
Apr 20, 2021
Asha is newly married to Pran, and lives with his parents, Jaya and Motichand, and his brother Vijay. The family don’t take Idi Amin’s threats seriously when he initially says that all Ugandan Asians must leave Uganda within ninety days, with nothing except for what they can carry, or face the consequences. But when the soldiers arrive and the violence starts, there can be no denying what they must do. Except they all have different passports. Motichand and Pran have Indian passports, Asha, Jaya and Vijay’s are British. And the British won’t allow them to stay together.
It isn’t just Asians whose lives are in danger. December, the family’s houseboy, is in hiding in their house, as the area he comes from is exterminated by the military.
The danger and fear were tangible when I was reading this book. It’s dangerous to even leave their houses or open their doors, and there is an ever present fear of violence and rape. Even when leaving for the airport, soldiers set up checkpoints so that they can extort as much money as possible form people before they leave.
And then there is the stark contrast between their lives in Uganda and England. Jaya, Asha and Vijay are initially given accommodation in an army barracks before they are placed in houses in (in their case) London.
They go from sunshine, warmth, comfort and colour, to cold, dreary, grey England, where the locals are hostile and accuse them of taking their jobs, or in the case of Vijay, who has part of his arm missing, won’t give him a job because of disability, even though he wants to work.
I was riveted to this book and really didn’t want to put it down. It poses the questions: what is home? Is it the place where you were born? The place where you live? Is home the people who you are with?
There were so many gasp out loud moments in this book. It deserves all the hype around it - and more.
Many thanks to Picador for providing me with an e-copy through NetGalley.