Quran Majeed - Sheikh Abdul Basit
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Reference and Book
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● ● ● This app contains full recitation of Sheikh Mahir-al-Muayqali (no download is needed for...
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Travel and Education
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We just added Spanish Latin, Arabic, Brazilian, Portuguese, Russian to make up 17 languages in the...
iHandy Translator Pro
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iHandy Translator Pro is the most powerful translation tool on your iPhone/iPod touch. Translate any...
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Attention : This application is displayed in Japanese. 'Road Station Map' helps you to find road...
Toddler Counting 123
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Ticket to Ride
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With elegantly simple gameplay, Ticket to Ride can be learned in under 15 minutes, while providing...
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Hazel (2934 KP) rated In The Shadow of Death: The Story of a Medic on the Burma Railway 1942-45 in Books
Dec 26, 2021
Ever since I found out my grandfather-in-law was a prisoner of war at the hands of the Japanese, I have had an interest in the subject. He would never speak about his experiences, bar a couple of stories, and having read this, I can understand why.
It is dreadful to think my grandfather-in-law was in a very similar situation as he was there at the fall of Singapore. The author describes a massacre in a hospital in Singapore in which my grandfather-in-law was a patient after being admitted with shrapnel injuries. He could quite easily have been a victim of that massacre and if he had, it's scary to think that my husband of 30 years wouldn't be here.
One thing that both surprised me and horrified me in equal measure was the conduct of the prisoner of war officers. I can't understand how many lived with their conscience after watching their comrades starving to death whilst they ate their fill or how they could inflict further punishments when they were already enduring so much. I wonder if any were reprimanded for their despicable behaviour?
If I have one little gripe is that I wanted to know what happened to some of the other people after the war; there are some but it would have rounded things up for me if some of the main prisoners and Japanese stories were updated.
This book is heart-breaking, horrific and hard to read at times. It is a real story of survival against the odds and a story of keeping your humanity and compassion in what was clearly pure hell. Many times his compassion and descriptions brought me to tears and saying to myself "how did anyone survive that?" The addition of pictures also helped bring Idris's words to life.
I defy anyone not to be moved by this book and it is one that I would recommend to anyone who has any interest in this part of the War.
My thanks must go to Pen & Sword Books and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Godzilla Minus One (2023) in Movies
Dec 14, 2023
Yes, a GODZILLA film.
From famed Japanese Studio Toho, makers of the original Godzilla film from the 1950’s plus other “man in a rubber suit” monster movies like MOTHRA and WAR OF THE GARGANTUANS, Godzilla Minus One subverts the genre for a moment for instead of presenting a “Monster stomping on buildings” movie with some people in the background, this film is about the Japanese people and how they deal with the aftermath of World War II while (also) running from a giant monster stomping on buildings - but the monster story is the “B” story and the people story is the “A” story…and this subversion of the genre works very very well.
The title of the film, Godzilla Minus One, refers to the fact that…after World War II….Japan was “starting from zero”. When Godzilla starts attacking, it knocks Japan back another peg, hence…Godzilla Minus One.
Director and Screenwriter Takashi Yamazaki tells the tale of Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who encounters Godzilla towards the end of WWII and freezes, causing the death of his fellow soldiers (so his PTSD continues to tell him throughout the film). Once back in Japan, he encounters a young woman, Noriko (Minami Hamabe) who has been left orphaned, homeless and alone and is sheparding an abandoned baby. This unlikely trio form a bond…and a home…while trying to rebuild their lives and (in Koichi’s case) tries to make sense of the devastation he encountered in the war.
Into to this rebuilding stomps Godzilla.
This story is effectively told by Yamazaki, who knows when to focus on the people aspect of the film and when to focus on the building stomping of Godzilla. It’s a delicate balance that is helped by the performances of Kamiki and Hamabe…and the special effects that brings the spirit of the 1950’s and 1960’s Toho monster films to light.
A surpwisingly rich entertainment, Godzilla Minus One will entertain you with monster stomping…and deep human emotion.
Letter Grade: A- (I’m as surprised as you are)
8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)