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Morgan Sheppard (926 KP) created a post
Aug 30, 2021
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Minds of Men (The Psyche of War #1) in Books
Jan 14, 2021
8 of 250
Kindle
Minds of Men ( The Psyche of Wars book 1)
By Kacey Ezell
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
Evelyn Adamsen grew up knowing she had to hide her psychic abilities, lest she be labeled a witch. However, when the US Army Air Corps came calling in 1943, looking for psychic women to help their beleaguered bomber force, Evelyn answered, hoping to use her powers to integrate the bomber crews and save American lives.
She was extremely successful at it...until her aircraft got shot down.
Now, Evelyn is on the run in occupied Europe, with a special unit of German Fallschirmjager and an enemy psychic on her heels. Worse, Evelyn learns that using her psychic powers functions as a strobe that highlights her to the enemy.
As the enemy psychic closes in, Evelyn is faced with a dilemma in her struggle to escape - how can she make it back to England when the only talent she has will expose her if she uses it?
A different spin on a part of world war 2 that was a very male dominated area. I found Kaceys version enthralling. At one point my heart reached out to Lina for you know they were all following orders! Donât worry it didnât last and I was back routing for Evie and her men! I also got so lost trying to pronounce those German words. Overall it was a decent read!
Kindle
Minds of Men ( The Psyche of Wars book 1)
By Kacey Ezell
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
Evelyn Adamsen grew up knowing she had to hide her psychic abilities, lest she be labeled a witch. However, when the US Army Air Corps came calling in 1943, looking for psychic women to help their beleaguered bomber force, Evelyn answered, hoping to use her powers to integrate the bomber crews and save American lives.
She was extremely successful at it...until her aircraft got shot down.
Now, Evelyn is on the run in occupied Europe, with a special unit of German Fallschirmjager and an enemy psychic on her heels. Worse, Evelyn learns that using her psychic powers functions as a strobe that highlights her to the enemy.
As the enemy psychic closes in, Evelyn is faced with a dilemma in her struggle to escape - how can she make it back to England when the only talent she has will expose her if she uses it?
A different spin on a part of world war 2 that was a very male dominated area. I found Kaceys version enthralling. At one point my heart reached out to Lina for you know they were all following orders! Donât worry it didnât last and I was back routing for Evie and her men! I also got so lost trying to pronounce those German words. Overall it was a decent read!
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2067 KP) rated Evans to Betsy (Constable Evans, #6) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Betsy the barmaid is discovered to have psychic powers by a visiting American. Evan doesn't believe until Betsy shows up at his house with a vision of a dead body - a vision that turns out to be true. Does she truly have a gift? Another great read with a strong plot and charming characters.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/03/book-review-evans-to-betsy-by-rhys-bowen.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/03/book-review-evans-to-betsy-by-rhys-bowen.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Scanners (1981) in Movies
Oct 12, 2020
Horror-SF from David Cronenberg. A man with psychic powers is sent to infiltrate a dangerous network of others with similar abilities: they have many subtle telepathic and telekinetic powers, such as being able to make people's heads explode.
Actually rather less graphic and icky than the film's reputation (and advertising) might suggest; the really spectacularly gory bits bookend the movie, and much of the rest of it looks like a relatively conventional thriller. The film is arguably ahead of its time in its suspicion of the military-industrial complex and big pharma; there is perhaps a subtext about the souring of 60s idealism as free-thinkers are persecuted or exploited by vested interests. Pretty good performances from the hero and the villain, but (not really surprisingly) Patrick McGoohan steals the film as the protagonist's father-figure. A thoughtful and intelligent film that isn't afraid to really go for the splatter now and then.
Actually rather less graphic and icky than the film's reputation (and advertising) might suggest; the really spectacularly gory bits bookend the movie, and much of the rest of it looks like a relatively conventional thriller. The film is arguably ahead of its time in its suspicion of the military-industrial complex and big pharma; there is perhaps a subtext about the souring of 60s idealism as free-thinkers are persecuted or exploited by vested interests. Pretty good performances from the hero and the villain, but (not really surprisingly) Patrick McGoohan steals the film as the protagonist's father-figure. A thoughtful and intelligent film that isn't afraid to really go for the splatter now and then.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the PlayStation 3 version of Psychonauts in Video Games
May 8, 2020 (Updated May 8, 2020)
Whats In Your Head
Psychonauts- I remember playing this game on the oringal Xbox and PS2 and now with the second game coming out this year hopefully. At Pax East this year, I did see the Demo and it looks excellent.
Im going to review the first one. This is the PS3 remaster verison review.
Psychonauts- is a platforming game developed by Double Fine Productions that first released in 2005.
Psychonauts follows the player-character Raz (voiced by Richard Horvitz), a young boy gifted with psychic abilities who runs away from the circus to try to sneak into a summer camp for those with similar powers to become a "Psychonaut", a spy with psychic abilities. He finds that there is a sinister plot occurring at the camp that only he can stop.
The game is centered on exploring the strange and imaginative minds of various characters that Raz encounters as a Psychonaut-in-training/"Psycadet" to help them overcome their fears or memories of their past, so as to gain their help and progress in the game. Raz gains use of several psychic abilities during the game that are used for both attacking foes and solving puzzles. The player can assign three of these powers to their controller or keyboard for quick use, but all earned powers are available at any time through a selection screen.
The game includes both the "real world" of the camp and its surroundings, as well as a number of "mental worlds" which exist in the consciousness of the game's various characters.
The mental worlds have wildly differing art and level design aesthetics, but generally have a specific goal that Raz must complete to help resolve a psychological issue a character may have, allowing the game's plot to progress.
Within the mental worlds are censors that react negatively to Raz's presence and will attack him. There are also various collectibles within the mental worlds, including "figments" of the character's imagination which help increase Raz's psi ranking, "emotional baggage" which can be sorted by finding tags and bringing them to the baggage, and "memory vaults" which can unlock a short series of slides providing extra information on that character's backstory.
The story is set in fictional Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, a remote US government training facility under the guise of a children's summer camp.
Psychonauts is a platform game that incorporates various adventure elements. The player controls the main character Raz in a third-person, three-dimensional view, helping Raz to uncover a mystery at the Psychonauts training camp. Raz begins with basic movement abilities such as running and jumping, but as the game progresses, Raz gains additional psychic powers such as telekinesis, levitation, invisibility, and pyrokinesis. These abilities allow the player to explore more of the camp as well as fight off enemies.
Despite being well received, Psychonauts did not sell well with only about 100,000 retail units sold at the time of release, leading to severe financial loss for Majesco and their departure from the video game market; the title was considered a commercial failure. Psychonauts since has earned a number of industry awards and gained a cult following.
Its a excellent and phenomenal game and cant wait to play the second one.
Im going to review the first one. This is the PS3 remaster verison review.
Psychonauts- is a platforming game developed by Double Fine Productions that first released in 2005.
Psychonauts follows the player-character Raz (voiced by Richard Horvitz), a young boy gifted with psychic abilities who runs away from the circus to try to sneak into a summer camp for those with similar powers to become a "Psychonaut", a spy with psychic abilities. He finds that there is a sinister plot occurring at the camp that only he can stop.
The game is centered on exploring the strange and imaginative minds of various characters that Raz encounters as a Psychonaut-in-training/"Psycadet" to help them overcome their fears or memories of their past, so as to gain their help and progress in the game. Raz gains use of several psychic abilities during the game that are used for both attacking foes and solving puzzles. The player can assign three of these powers to their controller or keyboard for quick use, but all earned powers are available at any time through a selection screen.
The game includes both the "real world" of the camp and its surroundings, as well as a number of "mental worlds" which exist in the consciousness of the game's various characters.
The mental worlds have wildly differing art and level design aesthetics, but generally have a specific goal that Raz must complete to help resolve a psychological issue a character may have, allowing the game's plot to progress.
Within the mental worlds are censors that react negatively to Raz's presence and will attack him. There are also various collectibles within the mental worlds, including "figments" of the character's imagination which help increase Raz's psi ranking, "emotional baggage" which can be sorted by finding tags and bringing them to the baggage, and "memory vaults" which can unlock a short series of slides providing extra information on that character's backstory.
The story is set in fictional Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, a remote US government training facility under the guise of a children's summer camp.
Psychonauts is a platform game that incorporates various adventure elements. The player controls the main character Raz in a third-person, three-dimensional view, helping Raz to uncover a mystery at the Psychonauts training camp. Raz begins with basic movement abilities such as running and jumping, but as the game progresses, Raz gains additional psychic powers such as telekinesis, levitation, invisibility, and pyrokinesis. These abilities allow the player to explore more of the camp as well as fight off enemies.
Despite being well received, Psychonauts did not sell well with only about 100,000 retail units sold at the time of release, leading to severe financial loss for Majesco and their departure from the video game market; the title was considered a commercial failure. Psychonauts since has earned a number of industry awards and gained a cult following.
Its a excellent and phenomenal game and cant wait to play the second one.
Hadley (567 KP) rated Handbook of Paranormal Powers in Books
Jun 2, 2019
I have always believed in the paranormal, but I am careful not to take everything at face value. When I picked up this book, I unfortunately took it at its face value, thinking that it was about how people developed these paranormal abilities and the things that they achieved with them.
But this book seems to have been written by a skeptic that disguised it as a book from a believer in the paranormal, which to say is a pretty clever way to sell a book when the belief in the paranormal is at an all time high. The author spends much of the book detailing people who have exhibited paranormal abilities just to quickly tear them down. I will say that Brian Haughton did a wonderful job on researching for this book, bringing up not only the history of paranormal abilities, but also self proclaimed psychics that readers may not have even heard of, such as Florence Cook, who had her abilities tested by none other than William Crookes( the discoverer of the element thallium).
Haughton's 'Handbook of Paranormal Powers' should have been titled something else, mostly because it's a history lesson in ESP and also, obviously, from the point-of-view of a skeptic. Yet, it doesn't lack for reading by believers; one such part I found interesting was a part on dowsing- the supernatural ability to find hidden objects, substances, geographic features, or sometimes even people- which you may have seen someone doing by holding two rods to find underground water. This part was about when dowsing became popular in the seventeenth-century France, and was being considered 'evil': ". . .with the dowser Baroness de Beausoleil and her husband, a mining expert, journeying across Europe and allegedly locating ore deposits of iron, gold, and silver. The couple established a thriving mineral company, but when their methods of locating metal ores became known they were accused of practicing the 'black arts' and imprisoned for the rest of their lives. " Readers learn that it wasn't until the nineteenth century, with the rise of spiritualism, that dowsing was no longer considered 'evil.'
Another one that interested me concerned the comedian Andy Kaufman, and his pursuit to rid himself of a rare lung cancer with psychic healing: "In March 1984, US comedian Andy Kaufman traveled to the Philippines for a six- week course of psychic surgery after being diagnosed with a rare lung cancer. The surgeon, Jun Labo, performed the operation, and claimed that he had removed large cancerous tumors from Kaufman's body. On May 16, 1984, Kaufman died from renal failure as a consequence of a metastatic lung cancer. "
I hate, but also love this book, not because Haughton backs up all of the skeptic claims with scientific research and tests, but because he claimed this to be a handbook or paranormal powers. If you glance at the cover, just below the title is: 'discover the secrets of mind readers, mediums, and more' - this can be taken that it's written by someone who believes in the paranormal, as well as someone who may have had personal experiences with the unknown, but with that said, I did learn a lot about the history of paranormal powers as well as people I had never heard of.
To prove the skepticism in Haughton's writing, we can turn to page 173, where he writes about how to test whether or not a self-proclaimed psychic surgeon is real. But even before this page and throughout this book, Haughton explains someone doing an extraordinary thing only to quickly explain away why it was fake to begin with. The 'Handbook of Paranormal Powers' reads a lot like a college thesis, that I found myself getting bored with the matter-of-fact tone. Some readers may enjoy reading essay-type books, but for me, it becomes repetitive enough that I don't remember much of the information I had just read.
Also, readers may come away with the feeling that Haughton doesn't care about the slight chance that some paranormal powers may be real, but instead he'd rather read about the scientific facts. I would only recommend this book to people who want to do a light reading on paranormal history, meaning mostly what made headlines in the news. For believers, I would suggest you go elsewhere.
But this book seems to have been written by a skeptic that disguised it as a book from a believer in the paranormal, which to say is a pretty clever way to sell a book when the belief in the paranormal is at an all time high. The author spends much of the book detailing people who have exhibited paranormal abilities just to quickly tear them down. I will say that Brian Haughton did a wonderful job on researching for this book, bringing up not only the history of paranormal abilities, but also self proclaimed psychics that readers may not have even heard of, such as Florence Cook, who had her abilities tested by none other than William Crookes( the discoverer of the element thallium).
Haughton's 'Handbook of Paranormal Powers' should have been titled something else, mostly because it's a history lesson in ESP and also, obviously, from the point-of-view of a skeptic. Yet, it doesn't lack for reading by believers; one such part I found interesting was a part on dowsing- the supernatural ability to find hidden objects, substances, geographic features, or sometimes even people- which you may have seen someone doing by holding two rods to find underground water. This part was about when dowsing became popular in the seventeenth-century France, and was being considered 'evil': ". . .with the dowser Baroness de Beausoleil and her husband, a mining expert, journeying across Europe and allegedly locating ore deposits of iron, gold, and silver. The couple established a thriving mineral company, but when their methods of locating metal ores became known they were accused of practicing the 'black arts' and imprisoned for the rest of their lives. " Readers learn that it wasn't until the nineteenth century, with the rise of spiritualism, that dowsing was no longer considered 'evil.'
Another one that interested me concerned the comedian Andy Kaufman, and his pursuit to rid himself of a rare lung cancer with psychic healing: "In March 1984, US comedian Andy Kaufman traveled to the Philippines for a six- week course of psychic surgery after being diagnosed with a rare lung cancer. The surgeon, Jun Labo, performed the operation, and claimed that he had removed large cancerous tumors from Kaufman's body. On May 16, 1984, Kaufman died from renal failure as a consequence of a metastatic lung cancer. "
I hate, but also love this book, not because Haughton backs up all of the skeptic claims with scientific research and tests, but because he claimed this to be a handbook or paranormal powers. If you glance at the cover, just below the title is: 'discover the secrets of mind readers, mediums, and more' - this can be taken that it's written by someone who believes in the paranormal, as well as someone who may have had personal experiences with the unknown, but with that said, I did learn a lot about the history of paranormal powers as well as people I had never heard of.
To prove the skepticism in Haughton's writing, we can turn to page 173, where he writes about how to test whether or not a self-proclaimed psychic surgeon is real. But even before this page and throughout this book, Haughton explains someone doing an extraordinary thing only to quickly explain away why it was fake to begin with. The 'Handbook of Paranormal Powers' reads a lot like a college thesis, that I found myself getting bored with the matter-of-fact tone. Some readers may enjoy reading essay-type books, but for me, it becomes repetitive enough that I don't remember much of the information I had just read.
Also, readers may come away with the feeling that Haughton doesn't care about the slight chance that some paranormal powers may be real, but instead he'd rather read about the scientific facts. I would only recommend this book to people who want to do a light reading on paranormal history, meaning mostly what made headlines in the news. For believers, I would suggest you go elsewhere.
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Mob Psycho 100 in TV
Jul 7, 2020
Pretty Different But Pretty Cool
Mob Psycho 100 is an anime tv series adaptation produced by Bones. It was created by ONE, directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa, written by Hiroshi Seko and licensed by Crunchyroll. The English Dub was released by Funimation in 2016, a live-action adaptation premiered in 2018 and second season in 2019.
Although he looks like an unassuming person, average middle school student, Shigeo Kageyama, is actually a powerful esper with immense psychic powers. He lives his life under a constant emotional shackle to keep from losing control of his power. To help learn how to control his abilities, he works as an assistant to a self-proclaimed psychic, Reigen Arataka, who is really a con-man. As he struggles to live a normal life, trouble keeps pushing his emotions which threaten his power to break through its limits.
This anime was way better than I thought it was going to be. At first the look of the characters and the personality of the main character didn't really draw me in. In fact I almost didn't watch past the first episode, but I'm really glad I did. Not only did this series have some awesome battles and cool concepts/ideas, it was really funny and humorous. I remember laughing out loud at a couple of scenes that were just ridiculous but seemed to fit in a way that accentuated the vibe of the show. The supporting characters were very interesting as well, his mentor, his brother, and even a ghost Dimple. All had their own charm and redeeming characteristics for all their flaws. This was a really fun show and very different from most mainstream anime. Equally funny and dramatic but with good action. I give this a 7/10.
Although he looks like an unassuming person, average middle school student, Shigeo Kageyama, is actually a powerful esper with immense psychic powers. He lives his life under a constant emotional shackle to keep from losing control of his power. To help learn how to control his abilities, he works as an assistant to a self-proclaimed psychic, Reigen Arataka, who is really a con-man. As he struggles to live a normal life, trouble keeps pushing his emotions which threaten his power to break through its limits.
This anime was way better than I thought it was going to be. At first the look of the characters and the personality of the main character didn't really draw me in. In fact I almost didn't watch past the first episode, but I'm really glad I did. Not only did this series have some awesome battles and cool concepts/ideas, it was really funny and humorous. I remember laughing out loud at a couple of scenes that were just ridiculous but seemed to fit in a way that accentuated the vibe of the show. The supporting characters were very interesting as well, his mentor, his brother, and even a ghost Dimple. All had their own charm and redeeming characteristics for all their flaws. This was a really fun show and very different from most mainstream anime. Equally funny and dramatic but with good action. I give this a 7/10.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Village of the Damned (1995) in Movies
Nov 16, 2019
Thumpingly unsubtle SF remake turns up the horror dial but doesn't seem aware that sometimes less is more. After a strange town-wide blackout, the citizens of Midwich (do they really have 'villages' in Northern California, anyway?) discover ten women have simultaneously become pregnant. They give birth to eerily similar children who seem to have psychic powers.
Released in 1995, this is very much The Midwich Cuckoos for the X Files generation, but ends up just another signpost marking the decline of John Carpenter as a film-maker worth paying attention to. The sad thing is that he really does seem familiar with both the original British film and the source novel (elements of the book missing from the 1960 film reappear here) and is obviously trying to do his best to honour them, but where John Wyndham is chillingly subtle and understated, John Carpenter is just walloping the audience with a succession of predictable set-piece 'shocks'. Reasonable CGI but overall it looks cheap and unconvincing; some reasonable performances from an interesting cast, but there's a limit to what they can do with such a duff script.
Released in 1995, this is very much The Midwich Cuckoos for the X Files generation, but ends up just another signpost marking the decline of John Carpenter as a film-maker worth paying attention to. The sad thing is that he really does seem familiar with both the original British film and the source novel (elements of the book missing from the 1960 film reappear here) and is obviously trying to do his best to honour them, but where John Wyndham is chillingly subtle and understated, John Carpenter is just walloping the audience with a succession of predictable set-piece 'shocks'. Reasonable CGI but overall it looks cheap and unconvincing; some reasonable performances from an interesting cast, but there's a limit to what they can do with such a duff script.
Erika (17788 KP) rated The Witch of Lime Street: SĂ©ance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World in Books
Nov 22, 2020
This is a book involving the 'Witch of Lime Street', a 'medium', and notorious hoax-finding Houdini.
The spiritualist movement is an interesting one, that propelled many people to fame that had supposed psychic powers. Most of these were debunked, and Houdini was the main person doing this debunking. A notable believer in this movement was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which I find so completely interesting.
While this book mostly focuses on the woman referenced in the title, it does touch on other female psychics and mediums. There was some weird stuff that happened, and one situation seriously haunts me - ectoplasm being discharged from the vag (EWWWWWWWWWWW). Apparently these ladies hid a lot of things up there, and that's why they tended to be checked.
What is interesting about Houdini, is the fact that he was always trying to connect to the spirit world, and basically got pissed off when these fakes popped up, getting his hopes up. His doubting nature of the psychics, etc, mostly comes from a personal vendetta of being screwed over in the past by phonies.
Anyway, if you're interested in weird history, history of the spiritualist movement, and Houdini, it's a good read.
The spiritualist movement is an interesting one, that propelled many people to fame that had supposed psychic powers. Most of these were debunked, and Houdini was the main person doing this debunking. A notable believer in this movement was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which I find so completely interesting.
While this book mostly focuses on the woman referenced in the title, it does touch on other female psychics and mediums. There was some weird stuff that happened, and one situation seriously haunts me - ectoplasm being discharged from the vag (EWWWWWWWWWWW). Apparently these ladies hid a lot of things up there, and that's why they tended to be checked.
What is interesting about Houdini, is the fact that he was always trying to connect to the spirit world, and basically got pissed off when these fakes popped up, getting his hopes up. His doubting nature of the psychics, etc, mostly comes from a personal vendetta of being screwed over in the past by phonies.
Anyway, if you're interested in weird history, history of the spiritualist movement, and Houdini, it's a good read.
ClareR (5561 KP) rated The Husbands in Books
Feb 26, 2024
Despite how frustrating I found The Husbands, it was a compelling read - if only for the reasons that I was hoping against hope that the main character, Nora, would grow some lady-balls and tell her husband exactly what she wanted him to do. Instead, she seems to rely on his psychic powers (he doesnât have any), and he was clearly happy with her âlettingâ him do bog-all. Honestly, I was RAGING.
Then it became a bit Stepford Husbands. Which, whilst appearing to be the ideal solution, isnât really, is it. Although, if my husband was like Noraâs, Iâd sign him up straight away.
The story takes a very unexpected turn in the second half, and I was as disturbed by it all as Nora. Dynasty Ranch, Noraâs dream housing destination, becomes a bit of a nightmare. Manipulative doesnât even cover it.
I wouldâve loved a bit more about Dynasty Ranch and a bit less Nora: how things got to be the way that they were could have been a fascinating read as well.
This was a real page turner. Very enjoyable indeed, just as long as you can put up with Nora!
Then it became a bit Stepford Husbands. Which, whilst appearing to be the ideal solution, isnât really, is it. Although, if my husband was like Noraâs, Iâd sign him up straight away.
The story takes a very unexpected turn in the second half, and I was as disturbed by it all as Nora. Dynasty Ranch, Noraâs dream housing destination, becomes a bit of a nightmare. Manipulative doesnât even cover it.
I wouldâve loved a bit more about Dynasty Ranch and a bit less Nora: how things got to be the way that they were could have been a fascinating read as well.
This was a real page turner. Very enjoyable indeed, just as long as you can put up with Nora!