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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Hidden Power (Academy of Elemental Magic, #1) in Books
Jan 6, 2021
I got this as a freebie a few months ago as I hunted for books to finish my Paranormal Roman & Urban Fantasy A-Z challenge on Goodreads.
This starts with Avaline doing her job as a lifeguard at the lake when she is attacked with magic by two assailants who know her name. She wakes up a month later to learn she, too, has magic. A dangerous magic. She has two choices and decides to stay at the school to learn how to control her vox magic.
I can't decide whether I liked this or not.
Everything was happening so quickly in it. She meets the guys, she lusts after them, she sleeps with one of them very quickly. She gets to lessons and on her second try ever she manages to make fire. I just expected things to take time...for her to initially struggle considering she didn't even know she had magic until a day or two ago.
I struggled to connect with the characters and wasn't really convinced by their relationships. I didn't feel any real sort of chemistry going on between any of them. Once again, I feel like this bit was rushed. I get lust but... I wasn't a fan of how the author wrote the romance parts.
This story had a lot of promise but we don't really learn much of anything. Ava learns about magic in lessons but we don't get to hear it. To me it feels like a bit of paper that's been scrunched into a ball and then flattened causing creases and ripples that means some details in the story have been glossed over. It could do with expanding a little with more details on certain aspects.
At this point I don't believe I'll be reading more of this series.
This starts with Avaline doing her job as a lifeguard at the lake when she is attacked with magic by two assailants who know her name. She wakes up a month later to learn she, too, has magic. A dangerous magic. She has two choices and decides to stay at the school to learn how to control her vox magic.
I can't decide whether I liked this or not.
Everything was happening so quickly in it. She meets the guys, she lusts after them, she sleeps with one of them very quickly. She gets to lessons and on her second try ever she manages to make fire. I just expected things to take time...for her to initially struggle considering she didn't even know she had magic until a day or two ago.
I struggled to connect with the characters and wasn't really convinced by their relationships. I didn't feel any real sort of chemistry going on between any of them. Once again, I feel like this bit was rushed. I get lust but... I wasn't a fan of how the author wrote the romance parts.
This story had a lot of promise but we don't really learn much of anything. Ava learns about magic in lessons but we don't get to hear it. To me it feels like a bit of paper that's been scrunched into a ball and then flattened causing creases and ripples that means some details in the story have been glossed over. It could do with expanding a little with more details on certain aspects.
At this point I don't believe I'll be reading more of this series.
Jerry Cantrell recommended Back in Black by AC/DC in Music (curated)
Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) rated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) in Movies
Apr 22, 2021
What the hell was that?
I've never watched a full Tarantino movie. They're long. They drag on. I get bored. I've heard that they're ultraviolent, which usually isn't my thing but since I'm interested in true crime and this movie is based in LA at the time of the Manson murders, when I had nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon and it was on the station the tv was tuned to when I turned it on, I decided to give it a go. I missed most of the Leo parts. I think he was throwing a fit in the trailer when I flipped it on. Either that or Brad Pitt was driving down the strip and picked up a cute girl and drove her to her friend's place (you know where it was.) So, okay. Very long scenes with not much dialogue happening. Lots of establishment of mood and atmosphere. I'm pretty sure I lost three hours while Pitt walked around her friend's place. Eventually, and I dunno when, I got confused, we come to the night of the event, and I was expecting a fact-based, but a gruesome retelling of the Manson murders. Is that what I got? Hell no! What did I get? I don't have any idea. It certainly wasn't that. Seriously, it was so stupid. It was laughable if it wasn't so embarrassingly stupid. Unrealistic and stupid. Obnoxiously stupid. Why did I waste my time watching the part of this movie I watched? Those are hours I will never get back.
This kind of cinema is lost of me, guys. I'm glad you enjoy it. But I'll never watch anything like it again. It's okay, though. I'm sure Tarantino will be just fine without my money. He seems to be doing all right for himself.
This kind of cinema is lost of me, guys. I'm glad you enjoy it. But I'll never watch anything like it again. It's okay, though. I'm sure Tarantino will be just fine without my money. He seems to be doing all right for himself.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2165 KP) rated Bones to Pick in Books
Apr 18, 2021 (Updated Apr 18, 2021)
I’m Glad I Picked This Debut
Vegan chef Brie Hooker hadn’t planned to start working on her aunt Eva’s goat farm and dairy, but when Eva needs help, Brie is happy to step in. That’s before a pot-bellied pig turns up bones – human bones. The skeleton turns out to be Eva’s husband, who disappeared four decades ago. There was no love lost between Eva and her husband, but Eva didn’t kill him. However, he has too many relatives in the area who are willing to blame Eva, so Brie starts investigating, hoping to clear her aunt. When another dead body turns up, Brie finds herself in trouble with the law as well. Are the two dead bodies related? Can she figure out what happened?
The characters drew me into this book right away; they are fully developed and fun. Their teasing and Brie’s creative meat and cheese curses added a level of humor that I enjoyed. The book was hard to put down with plenty of events to keep me engaged. Unfortunately, I did feel that the events took the place of the investigation moving forward, which frustrated me. However, the climax resolved things and upped the stakes in a major way. This book is a bit edgy for my normal reads, on the border between PG and PG-13, thanks in part of the teasing Brie gets about her love life. Yes, this book does introduce a love triangle. While I am getting tired of them, I do like both of the guys here, so I hope it doesn’t get dragged out for very long. Overall, I enjoyed this book. If you enjoy humor in your mysteries, you’ll be glad you picked up this book.
The characters drew me into this book right away; they are fully developed and fun. Their teasing and Brie’s creative meat and cheese curses added a level of humor that I enjoyed. The book was hard to put down with plenty of events to keep me engaged. Unfortunately, I did feel that the events took the place of the investigation moving forward, which frustrated me. However, the climax resolved things and upped the stakes in a major way. This book is a bit edgy for my normal reads, on the border between PG and PG-13, thanks in part of the teasing Brie gets about her love life. Yes, this book does introduce a love triangle. While I am getting tired of them, I do like both of the guys here, so I hope it doesn’t get dragged out for very long. Overall, I enjoyed this book. If you enjoy humor in your mysteries, you’ll be glad you picked up this book.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) in Movies
Jul 4, 2021
80s horror is its own unique thing, and nothing quite encapsulates the era as well as A Nightmare On Elm Street. Another series that spawned a whole bunch of sequels, the original holds the crown, and still stands the test of time.
For one, iconic slasher villain Freddy Krueger is a scary motherfucker here. There are glimpses of the more comedic elements that would encompass his personality in later entries, but here, for the most part, he's a no nonsense, nasty SOB. Of course Robert Englund relishes in his role, and it's hard to see anyone else effectively filling his shoes.
Opposite Freddy is Nancy Thompson (a fantastic Heather Langenkamp), a well written and hugely likable final girl, a final girl who rivals Laurie Strode in the pantheon of horror protagonists.
The premise of ANOES is wonderfully simple. Don't fall asleep. This film scared the living shit out of me when I was a young teenager. Wes Craven was extremely successful in doing for sleep what Jaws did for swimming in the ocean. As an adult, it's less scary sure, but still makes me feel uneasy. This is thanks to a wonderfully creepy score by Charles Bernstein, and the of course, the incredibly executed, and imaginative kill scenes. The gory moments are paced out nicely, and hit hard when they arrive. The first kill in particular is a solid all timer, and then the infamous scene where Johnny Depp meets his demise is so otherworldly. It really drives home the near impossible odds that the good guys are facing.
ANOES is obviously a genre classic, and I personally think it just gets better with age. One of the all time greats, from one of the all time greats.
For one, iconic slasher villain Freddy Krueger is a scary motherfucker here. There are glimpses of the more comedic elements that would encompass his personality in later entries, but here, for the most part, he's a no nonsense, nasty SOB. Of course Robert Englund relishes in his role, and it's hard to see anyone else effectively filling his shoes.
Opposite Freddy is Nancy Thompson (a fantastic Heather Langenkamp), a well written and hugely likable final girl, a final girl who rivals Laurie Strode in the pantheon of horror protagonists.
The premise of ANOES is wonderfully simple. Don't fall asleep. This film scared the living shit out of me when I was a young teenager. Wes Craven was extremely successful in doing for sleep what Jaws did for swimming in the ocean. As an adult, it's less scary sure, but still makes me feel uneasy. This is thanks to a wonderfully creepy score by Charles Bernstein, and the of course, the incredibly executed, and imaginative kill scenes. The gory moments are paced out nicely, and hit hard when they arrive. The first kill in particular is a solid all timer, and then the infamous scene where Johnny Depp meets his demise is so otherworldly. It really drives home the near impossible odds that the good guys are facing.
ANOES is obviously a genre classic, and I personally think it just gets better with age. One of the all time greats, from one of the all time greats.
Thundercat recommended Jaco Pastorious by Jaco Pastorious in Music (curated)
Martin Carr recommended track Love Action (I Believe in Love) by The Human League in Very Best Of by The Human League in Music (curated)
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Palo Alto (2014) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
Flooringly seismic, as someone who was around this exact age in this exact time period - this is the perfect representation of high school in 2012/2013 to a T. I'm always put off by how high school kids in movies from around this time never talk right, and even when its ever so close there's still just that slight amount of "out-of-touch adult writes how they think teens speak" jargon which completely takes me out of it. Not here, the way people talk to each other here is scarily dead-on to how me and my shithead friends used to talk to each other to the comma. The fact that there's no clear-cut good or bad guys, just varying degrees of shitty; those tiny but thick iPod touches that had the messaging apps with the grey background and green messages; weird fake meme-sounding music abound parties with lethal amounts of alcohol... trades in the (still tantalizing in its own way) metaphorical cringe that these movies usually have and finally depicts high schoolers from this time as the snaky, rash, social-status obsessed psychopaths that we were - the type who would sooner ask for mouthwash after they vomited up hours worth of alcohol rather than water. The déjà vu I felt during this was unreal, and beyond that it's the movie equivalent to an opiate - not to mention daring, economical, accurate, and cautiously brisk with tremendous performances across the board (Nat Wolff holy *shit*). What happens when you stick a bunch of emotionally unstable sociopaths who don't like each other (or are at least fooled into thinking they do) into a 5-days-a-week institution and leave them to their own devices in the early 2010s. I fucking *lived* this movie - which may even be the best one directed by a Coppola.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled (2002) in Movies
Nov 28, 2020
Honestly, watching the alarmingly sharp decline of the Wishmaster films in terms of quality, I was expecting this last entry to be nothing short of hot burning turd, but I actually found it to be pretty watchable!
Starting with the positives - Tara Spencer-Nairn is easily the most likable protagonist in the whole franchise. The dude who plays the Djinn in human form isn't Sean Connery's son. It low-key has one of the most hilariously unnecessary kills in cheap-horror history (of course it's the nice older lady being flat out beheaded by a massive sword), and not importantly, it tries to do something different plot wise! I mean, it's soooo fucking stupid (essentially revolving around the Djinn falling in love and getting laid) but it's way more entertaing than 2 and 3.
It's not all good though (surprising, I know). As mentioned, it's still cheap as hell. The movies subtitle suggests that finally were going to get to see some form of Djinn fronted apocalypse, but the closest we get is the Djinn and the aformentioned old lady decapitation dude having a Power Rangers style sword fight near some shrubbery.
Also, the gore effects are silly - there's one point where a guys nose gets cut off, but when the shot flicks back to his face, it's clear that his nose is still there, just covered in red make up. The same thing happens to someone's hand later on.
This whole series has been a chore to be quite honest, but I can safely say, that this is the best film I've ever seen that involves a bar tender becoming a zit on a strippers butt cheek (that we don't even get to see boooooo).
With one final push, Wishmaster finally ascends from bottom of the barrel tripe, to so-bad-it's-kinda-good.
Starting with the positives - Tara Spencer-Nairn is easily the most likable protagonist in the whole franchise. The dude who plays the Djinn in human form isn't Sean Connery's son. It low-key has one of the most hilariously unnecessary kills in cheap-horror history (of course it's the nice older lady being flat out beheaded by a massive sword), and not importantly, it tries to do something different plot wise! I mean, it's soooo fucking stupid (essentially revolving around the Djinn falling in love and getting laid) but it's way more entertaing than 2 and 3.
It's not all good though (surprising, I know). As mentioned, it's still cheap as hell. The movies subtitle suggests that finally were going to get to see some form of Djinn fronted apocalypse, but the closest we get is the Djinn and the aformentioned old lady decapitation dude having a Power Rangers style sword fight near some shrubbery.
Also, the gore effects are silly - there's one point where a guys nose gets cut off, but when the shot flicks back to his face, it's clear that his nose is still there, just covered in red make up. The same thing happens to someone's hand later on.
This whole series has been a chore to be quite honest, but I can safely say, that this is the best film I've ever seen that involves a bar tender becoming a zit on a strippers butt cheek (that we don't even get to see boooooo).
With one final push, Wishmaster finally ascends from bottom of the barrel tripe, to so-bad-it's-kinda-good.
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires (Half-Moon Hollow, #1) in Books
Jan 11, 2021
I've always been drawn to this book - series, really - so when I saw it at 99p a while back I couldn't resist buying it.
This starts with Iris in the supermarket buying items for her vampire clients to make their lives easier, sorting out their wants and needs while they sleep during the day so she never actually comes face to face with them. She heads over to leave a welcome basket for her newest client, Cal, when she ends up falling over his body in his kitchen. He's been poisoned and they negotiate for him to come stay with her while he recovers and tries to find out who's behind his poisoning
This was equal parts fun and quirky, intriguing and romantic. Fun and quirky because it's full of snark and some strangely funny vampire related conversations. Intriguing with trying to figure out who's behind Cal's poisoning. And romantic because Iris and Cal have some really cute and some really hot scenes together. There was a really sort of cute bit with Cal and Gigi - Iris's younger sister - where he gets really protective of her seeing guys and buys her a bubble-gum pink taser so she can protect herself.
I was not expecting the bad guy to be who it was. That took me by surprise, so well done for that. I was convinced it was someone else for most of the book.
I did like the romance between our main characters. As I mentioned above it was really cute at times and that end bit where he pretty much re-staged their initial meeting with him laid out on the floor so she can fall over him. What else can I say but CUTE.
This was just a fun all round read and I cannot wait to read more of this series.
This starts with Iris in the supermarket buying items for her vampire clients to make their lives easier, sorting out their wants and needs while they sleep during the day so she never actually comes face to face with them. She heads over to leave a welcome basket for her newest client, Cal, when she ends up falling over his body in his kitchen. He's been poisoned and they negotiate for him to come stay with her while he recovers and tries to find out who's behind his poisoning
This was equal parts fun and quirky, intriguing and romantic. Fun and quirky because it's full of snark and some strangely funny vampire related conversations. Intriguing with trying to figure out who's behind Cal's poisoning. And romantic because Iris and Cal have some really cute and some really hot scenes together. There was a really sort of cute bit with Cal and Gigi - Iris's younger sister - where he gets really protective of her seeing guys and buys her a bubble-gum pink taser so she can protect herself.
I was not expecting the bad guy to be who it was. That took me by surprise, so well done for that. I was convinced it was someone else for most of the book.
I did like the romance between our main characters. As I mentioned above it was really cute at times and that end bit where he pretty much re-staged their initial meeting with him laid out on the floor so she can fall over him. What else can I say but CUTE.
This was just a fun all round read and I cannot wait to read more of this series.