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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
2017 | Racing
Still one of the best
Mario Kart is one of the classics. Despite now on its 8th iteration, it’s still as good as it ever was and is one of the best games out there to play. No matter which version of Mario Kart I’ve played, I never really have a bad word to say about it, and 8 is no different.

The graphics are fantastic, and a great step up to those I was previously used to on the last version available on the Wii. The gameplay is as you’d expect from Mario Kart and this isn’t a bad thing. Why fix what isn’t broken? I also love the fact that you can now play this online properly against anyone in the world - it’s such a great feature and brings a whole new level of fun to the game. It can get a little dull and predictable if you’re playing locally as a couch co-op (or at least that’s what my other half says as I always win ?), but being able to play online multiplayer is so entertaining and we can play it for hours. Yes it is very frustrating, as sadly real players are a lot more ruthless than the computer players you’re up against locally, but it’s still a lot more fun.

My only criticisms about this game are that whilst it has quite a lot of levels/courses, for me it still isn’t enough. They’re not exactly long races and you can get through them all fairly quickly, and there’s only so many times you can do the same courses. And the only other criticism relates specifically to online play. Online play gives you points, but some players have a lot more points than others (i.e. 5k+, 10k+) which indicates they’ve been playing for a lot longer. The online match ups take no account of points and you can potentially end up playing against players with a huge difference in skill and points level. It’d be nice if they could try and match players together within a certain points, as it might make it more of a fairer race and a little more challenging if players are all similarly matched.
  
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
2016 | Action, Sci-Fi
When I first heard that Warner Bros. was planning a series of films based on the classic DC Comics characters akin to what Marvel has successfully done, I was intrigued with the possibilities. With the release of Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, we get the first look into that universe and I have to say it is one that has more than a few stumbles.

The film follows Superman (Henry Cavill), as he deals with a plot that is set to discredit him and make the people of the world fearful of him and his abilities.
One person affected by this is Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who has seen firsthand the devastation that Superman is capable of after seeing the city practically destroyed in the events that culminated in “Superman: Man of Steel”.

Wayne has devised a plan for his alter-ego Batman to put a stop to Superman before he can become an even greater threat to the public and despite the urgings of his butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons), Batman continues with his plan.

As if this was not enough for Superman to contend with, neurotic tech giant Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), has decided to manipulate events into a larger and even more dangerous game as he has set his sights clearly on Superman but would also love to see Batman removed in the process.

One would think that with a premise such as this it would be a non-stop action fest that would thrill fans from start to finish. Sadly this is not the case. The first hour and change of the film plods along with little action and we get a cast, some of whom I believe are badly miscast, plodding along and blandly brooding. The characters are so unlikeable that I found myself not caring for them or their fates and was shocked how a film with so much potential and a reported $250 million budget could be so under-whelming.

The final part of the film is non-stop action but Director Zack Snyder allows his film to become awash in all the Hollywood action film stereotypes. I thought I was watching an over-the-top special effects reel as all of the action unfolded, it was very hard to get overly thrilled about it despite the skill that went into crafting it.

Affleck does a passable job in the role and hopefully as he has more outings he will grow on me, but I just never really embraced him in the part. His Batman acts out of character in many sequences as he jumps to an extreme conclusion without taking the steps in between. Eisenberg is so neurotic and annoying that you just want to slap him. He is so difficult to watch. The biggest issue I have is with Cavill. He is just so bland and uninteresting to me as Superman. Yes, I know it is unfair to compare him to Christopher Reeves, but even Brandon Routh did a more acceptable portrayal of Superman. He just is not very interesting to watch in the role, with his monotone delivery and lack of facial expressions. I want heroes that I can get behind and care about, not one-dimensional characters that do little to generate my interest and sympathy.

The most telling thing for me was for an audience that was so keyed up at the start of the film, they were pretty silent for most of it, save for when a certain character appeared and even at the end of the film, offered only a small round of applause.

The film did try to be epic in scale and it is clear that this is just the opening round of a much larger series, but for now, I could not help but feel disappointed with the result and I would be shocked if the next offerings from Marvel are not considerably better than this film.

http://sknr.net/2016/03/23/81808/
  
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Natasha Khan recommended Bad by Michael Jackson in Music (curated)

 
Bad by Michael Jackson
Bad by Michael Jackson
1987 | Pop
8.9 (7 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"My first gig I ever went to, when I was nine, was at Wembley Stadium to see the Bad tour. When he died, I was in my bedroom in Brighton and I heard it on the radio and I just spontaneously absolutely burst into tears. Michael Jackson, when I was little, was just this God-like being. You know when you're little and you're singing in the car with your mum and your brother and the sister, the world is so good, there's nothing more fun and nothing better. I don't think I've ever listened to someone singing something with that much joy, he was channelling something so fucking out there and it's like he constantly had a bolt of creativity running through his body, like the way he danced and the way he moved. A consummate dancer, referencing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and James Brown and all these people that he channelled but made completely and uniquely his own. I saw a Spike Lee documentary the other night about Bad. Someone else wrote 'Man In The Mirror' but he took and did all of his - [mimics Michael Jackson] "I'm gonna make a change" - and all of that shit. It's just like, who else would do that? Who else would wear plasters all around their jacket? Who wears white socks with loafers and manages to make it look cool? Nobody was telling him to do that. He's just this fucking eccentric one-off. When he died, I thought the climate of music will never be like that again. It was like he was a child and his brain was a playground and anything he could think of, he bloody manifested that in the world; not many people can do that. The arc of music that he lived through, his education and his training all the way through, coincided with all these revolutions in music, music videos and dance. I just think that that was a one-off thing. I'm getting philosophical now [laughs], but I was watching Brian Cox the other day and his astro-physics thing and he put 50 stones all in a row on a desert floor and he was like "each of these stones represents billions of years in the history of the universe and where it's going to go." Then he went "here's one stone" and he showed about a millimetre of that stone: "in this bit, this is where the conditions were perfectly right for mankind to exist, this is this time, we're here now". When you think about culture and popular music from the 50s through 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, it does feel like there has been a bit of a cycle, and I've been lucky that I came in at the end of that cycle. People that were born in the 50s had it amazing, because they got to see fucking David Bowie and punk music, but Michael Jackson was a guy that happened in our lifetime. I get really passionate about music, but music, for some people, it's like a religion and he was like a fucking icon."

Source
  
Insurgent
Insurgent
Veronica Roth | 2013 | Children, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
8.3 (59 Ratings)
Book Rating
Original Review posted on <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2013/01/review-insurgent-by-veronica-roth.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>.

     YAYYYYY. Le Book Club decided to go straight to Insurgent after reading Divergent. Of course, I probably would've read it right before the book came out so I wouldn't be all "anticipation is killing me!!!" But a bookworm never runs out of books to read, so I'll just sit back, chillax and wait. And wait. And wait. Until the 3rd and final book finally comes out at last so I can beg my mom to go to the bookstore JUST so I can buy it. (I can always wait for the library though.) I mean, come on. Drastic cliff-hanger there. It's agonizing. Too agonizing.

     There are lots of shocking secrets here too. For one thing, WHY, CALEB, WHY?!?!?! I'm not even gonna say what he did for those who haven't read it. I just thought I was walking on my bedroom ceiling for a few minutes there when I read it. Of course... I wasn't. Or I would see clothes littering the ceiling and whatever's on the floor (not necessarily clothes). Oh, and Peter. Wow. Just wow. -_- But hey, without that, who knows what would've happened? But I am glad to say there are some peeps that are well, good riddance to them.

     I didn't get what the title really meant at first. It didn't even make sense, in my opinion. Until later. Until it was explained (kinda). But oy, what a way to end. Totally unexpected. As much as I'm a bit exhausted with Dystopian Fiction (believe me, there are probably a lot that are lurking on my Kindle App and I have no clue about. Or do I?), I'll say Insurgent was a delightful read. On the overall end, I kinda liked Divergent more. By no means of bashing whatsoever, it was more... unique from The Hunger Games (I guess that applies to all first books in a series), in the means of corrupted government.

     But what can I say? Perks to Veronica Roth for creating a unique world with it's own unique parts. :3

     And now, I have to wait. And wait. And wait. For a few months. Or is it? *checks date on Goodreads* Oh facepalm. More than a few months. Oh wait, it comes out 10 days after I'm 16! Hey, when's the choosing ceremony for us? :p
  
    My Talking Tom

    My Talking Tom

    Games and Entertainment

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I Found You
I Found You
Lisa Jewell | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great Characters (1 more)
Interesting Plot
Pacing is slow at times (0 more)
A Thrilling Read!
I found out about I Found You by Lisa Jewell in a magazine about upcoming books. When I read the synopsis, I knew I had to read it. It sounded really good! Luckily, it didn't disappoint.

The pacing was a little slow in places. However, it was still decently paced enough to hold my attention. The last quarter of the book was fast paced, but not in a bad way where I didn't know what was going on. For the last quarter of I Found You, I found myself fully immersed within the pages. I had to know what was going to happen next.

The world building is very believable. It's not something that happens every day, but I can still picture it happening. The plot of I Found You was very enjoyable. I don't think I've ever read anything like it. It was interesting to read about the past as well as the story from two different women's point of view. It was also very interesting to see how their worlds were about to collide. There are a couple of plot twists that I had been trying to figure out from the the beginning which I got wrong. All of my questions about the story were answered by the end of the book as well as any loose ends.

I thought the characters in I Found You were very well written and fleshed out perfectly. All of them felt very real. I would have liked to learn more about Alice's past, but she was still a well written character. I enjoyed reading about Frank as he tried to get his memory back, and it was very interesting going along for the ride with Lily as she tried to find her missing husband. I loved how protective Gray was of his sister Kirsty and how much he loved her. I hated Mark, but that was the point. Mark was written to be a horrible person.

Trigger warnings include drug use, underage and of age alcohol use, violence, swearing, sexual assault, death, and implied sex.

Overall, I Found You was an enjoyable read. The plot was very interesting, and the characters felt very real. The pacing was a bit slow sometimes, but it always held my attention. I would definitely recommend I Found You by Lisa Jewell to everyone aged 16+. It is a thrilling read for sure!