Bellewether
Book
It’s 1759 and the world is at war, pulling the North American colonies of Britain and France into...
Ice Mother (2017)
Movie Watch
After her husband's death, Hana lives on alone in the family villa. Her two sons visit her with...
international comedy romance drama
Erika (17788 KP) rated The Dead Don't Die (2019) in Movies
Jun 15, 2019
Bill Murray (who was previously in Zombieland), and Adam Driver are the main characters, as cops in a small town (maybe in NY?), and their chemistry is deadpan and hilarious. Driver mentions multiple times throughout the film that 'This is going to end badly', finally Murray's character asks him why he keeps saying that. Driver's character responds that he read the entire script. Murray proceeds to call Jim Jarmusch an a-hole, since he didn't get the whole script. I about died of laughter over that.
Tilda Swinton's character is completely whack-a-doo, and cuts off zombies' heads with ease with a samurai sword. Because, as everyone knows, kill the head.
The entire movie is absurdist, and the humor might not be for everyone. It's gotten really bad reviews from a lot of critics, so I may be in the minority. Chloë Sevigny's character was the only one that completely annoyed me.
It's ultimately an homage to zombie films and, of course, an allegory of modern times, with people being absorbed in their mobile phones, unaware of the real world around them.
Alex Kapranos recommended track Tears in the Typing Pool by Broadcast in Tender Buttons by Broadcast in Music (curated)
Foinavon: The Story of the Grand National's Biggest Upset
Book
It was the upset to end all upsets. On 8 April 1967 at Aintree racecourse in Liverpool, a 100-1...
Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear
Book
"Part memoir, part history, part documentary, part impassioned manifesto...it might be the most...
In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Book
At the end of World War II, J. Robert Oppenheimer was one of America's preeminent physicists. For...
Programming Guide for Wearable Computing: End-To-End Algorithms and Infrastructure Design from Wearable-Devices to Data Centers: 2017
Omesh Tickoo, Ravishankar K. Iyer and Yueheng Xu
Book
Make the most of the common architectures used for deriving meaningful data from sensors. This book...
Humankind (Invasion Day #1)
Book
In spite of all foretelling and scientific proof, humans have ruined their home, Earth....
Ross (3282 KP) rated The Bone Ships in Books
Oct 28, 2019
The first quarter of this book feels like wading through treacle, it is so thick with unexplained terms, creatures, materials and nautical job titles. Even things like trees are renamed as "gion" or "varisk", making it really hard to make head or tale of.
The story follows Joron, a depressed man lumbered with the role of shipwife (captain) on a black ship (one manned by those serving a prolonged death sentence for numerous crimes). His ship is abruptly taken over by Lucky Meas, shipwife of great renown, and his mediocre crew miraculously turned into one that would die for each other.
The crew soon find themselves secretly hunting down a rumoured dragon, not to kill it and take its bones, but to protect it from those trying to do so. And then kill it where nobody can salvage its bones and, hey presto, the world will be at peace.
The journey part of the story is really quite painfully dragged out, with some long sections of ship training (I am now very well versed in how to load, aim and fire a made up ship's crossbow!) and some mediocre action scenes thrown in to pad the story out (most of which involve the crew embarking on an impossible mission that they accomplish nonetheless).
Joron is not a likeable main character. He, much like the main character in the Wounded Kingdom, is a whiney brat who has to be battered into submission before adding any value to those around him. I didn't care in the least about him, or the fate of those on the ship. There was a point where my reading ground to a halt, when I could no longer take the seemingly endless sea voyage and cringeworthy pirate speak.
The final quarter of the book is more action-packed and some scenes are massive improvements, compelling the reader to carry on. However, by that point I was fed up with the book and the crew and their bloody pointless journey.
Andy K (10821 KP) Jun 15, 2019