Search
Search results
The Trinity: How Not to be a Heretic
Book
"Trinity" is Christianity's most basic description of who God actually is-and who he needs to be in...
London Underground by Design
Book
London Underground By Design is the beautifully illustrated new book from Mark Ovenden, the...
Turkey Crossing
Podcast
This is a podcast about education and my attempt to use classroom 2.0 tools in my classroom. I...
Legal Professional Privilege for Corporations: A Guide to Four Major Common Law Jurisdictions
Book
A comprehensive account of legal professional privilege as it applies to corporations covering four...
Tractor Driver Transport 2017 – Farm Simulator
Games and Entertainment
App
Are you expert driver to transport on tractor? Have you ever tried to drive a tractor in present...
Duchess of Malfi, the White Devil, the Broken Heart and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
John Ford, John Webster and Jane Kingsley-Smith
6.5
Rate It
Book
These four plays, written during the reigns of James I and Charles I, took revenge tragedy in dark...
Ross (3284 KP) rated Doors: Twilight in Books
Mar 24, 2021
Great idea, poorly executed
The idea behind the Doors books is that of three different versions of a story with a shared beginning, but the stories diverge when the characters go through one of three (actually five but two are ignored as far as I'm aware!) doors. A team of people, each hired for their own area of expertise, are tasked with rescuing a rich German man's daughter who has wandered down into the mysterious cellar of their former family home, where a series of doors are believed to lead to strange new places.
The first quarter of these books is identical, with the damsel in distress being introduced and the team coming together and being given their tasks. At this stage, there is next to no organisation around their approach, it really is simply a bunch of people heading into the unknown and being drastically under-prepared. When the team quickly find the missing and take her back to the surface, the reader is left somewhat taken aback at the speed with which it was resolved. This is nothing compared to how the reader feels when the team go back looking for the real missing woman, simply based on their employer's assistant's momentary mistake that the woman's eyes were the wrong colour. This is not challenged by anyone in the team, who head back downstairs. It's a bigger WTF moment than the Batman vs Superman 'Martha' fiasco.
As with some of Heitz's Dwarves books, I think this suffered from fairly poor translation, as a number of phrases and words just are not clear. At no point did i really know where the team were heading, forwards or backwards, which door they went through etc.
And the promise of heading into the future was very much an empty one. Some members of the team briefly find themselves in near-future Frankfurt and there is a short section of the book which adds no value and has no connection to the rest of the book whatsoever. Thereafter, there is just some cliched mysterious dark maze adventures, with some unexplained conspiracy around the use and beginnings of the doors and their purpose. (I am currently around 80% of the way through the 'Colony' book, having mercifully skipped the first, repeated, quarter, and am starting to realise that there is likely to be an overall story arch that only becomes clear once the reader has read all three books).
This book, and the series as a whole, offered so much potential and teased so much, but this one at least completely failed to deliver for me.
Advance copy received from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
The first quarter of these books is identical, with the damsel in distress being introduced and the team coming together and being given their tasks. At this stage, there is next to no organisation around their approach, it really is simply a bunch of people heading into the unknown and being drastically under-prepared. When the team quickly find the missing and take her back to the surface, the reader is left somewhat taken aback at the speed with which it was resolved. This is nothing compared to how the reader feels when the team go back looking for the real missing woman, simply based on their employer's assistant's momentary mistake that the woman's eyes were the wrong colour. This is not challenged by anyone in the team, who head back downstairs. It's a bigger WTF moment than the Batman vs Superman 'Martha' fiasco.
As with some of Heitz's Dwarves books, I think this suffered from fairly poor translation, as a number of phrases and words just are not clear. At no point did i really know where the team were heading, forwards or backwards, which door they went through etc.
And the promise of heading into the future was very much an empty one. Some members of the team briefly find themselves in near-future Frankfurt and there is a short section of the book which adds no value and has no connection to the rest of the book whatsoever. Thereafter, there is just some cliched mysterious dark maze adventures, with some unexplained conspiracy around the use and beginnings of the doors and their purpose. (I am currently around 80% of the way through the 'Colony' book, having mercifully skipped the first, repeated, quarter, and am starting to realise that there is likely to be an overall story arch that only becomes clear once the reader has read all three books).
This book, and the series as a whole, offered so much potential and teased so much, but this one at least completely failed to deliver for me.
Advance copy received from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Doors: Colony in Books
Mar 26, 2021
A slight improvement over the other book
This is another in Heitz's Doors series, three books telling the same underlying story up to a point, with a different story taking off depending on which of the mysterious doors the characters go through. In this book, the group of people employed to find and rescue rich Van Dam's daughter go through the door marked with a question mark. They find themselves in the cellar of a German bierhall in an alternative history of WWII. The war is over, the Germans having capitulated after Hitler's assassination and there is now a struggle between the Russians and the UK/USA over control of what remains.
The group find themselves slimmed down very quickly as members of the group drop like flies. Soon a small number of them find themselves in the company of some Russian spies, looking to stop the Americans' attempts to take power. For some reason, phony clairvoyant Coco Fendi now has actual powers and is capable of mind-reading, earning the respect and assistance of these spies.
There then follows a fairly enjoyable attempt to catch up with a train and board it to stop a nuclear war from breaking out.
The translation again is quite poor here, as some phrases do not make sense and make the reader work to understand what is meant. I am giving Heitz the benefit of the doubt and laying blame at the door of the translator here (though looking at some of the reviews on goodreads in German I'm not sure this is fair). However, there are some very odd passages that take the reader right out of the book, for example 'the time had come to test the 4x4's four-litre twin turbo engine promising 650 horsepower and a top speed of 190 miles an hour'. I mean, what the hell? Has Clarkson been asked to translate this book? It was completely irrelevant and odd.
In the 'Twilight' book of the series, there were some hints at other users of the doors and their purpose and provenance. This book builds on that to an extent, which is a clever idea from Heitz - in order to answer the questions, I think you need to read all three books. However, as a book in its own right, there are simply too many unanswered questions left (though slightly fewer than in 'Twilight').
An improvement, with a more coherent story once through the door in question, but still not a great read. As the first c25% is duplicated between books, I merrily skipped through this section looking for the distinct part starting off.
I received a free advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The group find themselves slimmed down very quickly as members of the group drop like flies. Soon a small number of them find themselves in the company of some Russian spies, looking to stop the Americans' attempts to take power. For some reason, phony clairvoyant Coco Fendi now has actual powers and is capable of mind-reading, earning the respect and assistance of these spies.
There then follows a fairly enjoyable attempt to catch up with a train and board it to stop a nuclear war from breaking out.
The translation again is quite poor here, as some phrases do not make sense and make the reader work to understand what is meant. I am giving Heitz the benefit of the doubt and laying blame at the door of the translator here (though looking at some of the reviews on goodreads in German I'm not sure this is fair). However, there are some very odd passages that take the reader right out of the book, for example 'the time had come to test the 4x4's four-litre twin turbo engine promising 650 horsepower and a top speed of 190 miles an hour'. I mean, what the hell? Has Clarkson been asked to translate this book? It was completely irrelevant and odd.
In the 'Twilight' book of the series, there were some hints at other users of the doors and their purpose and provenance. This book builds on that to an extent, which is a clever idea from Heitz - in order to answer the questions, I think you need to read all three books. However, as a book in its own right, there are simply too many unanswered questions left (though slightly fewer than in 'Twilight').
An improvement, with a more coherent story once through the door in question, but still not a great read. As the first c25% is duplicated between books, I merrily skipped through this section looking for the distinct part starting off.
I received a free advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Mandy (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Red Miller (Nicholas Cage) is sent on a rampaging quest for vengeance when an evil cult abducts and kill his partner, Mandy Bloom.
The story is simple, Mandy and Red live alone in a forest. By chance Mandy is spotted by a cult leader who decided that he wants her to join him. Things don’t go to plan and Mandy ends up dead and Red starts on a quest for revenge. Simple and familiar, it’s not an uncommon plot, however Mandy is part film, part drug filled dream with snippets of animation thrown in, overlaid with a psychedelic, prog rock soundtrack. It has drugs, cults, demonic, slipknot esc bikers, (male) nudity, chainsaws and crossbows, religious parables and Jesus parallels. There is a metaphorical decent to hell and there is Nicholas Cage. All this is shot with constantly changing, coloured filters and distorted voices.
You can probably tell that Mandy isn’t for everyone, at times the film feels like an Italian horror, something like Suspiria or Deep Red and other time it seems like someone has brought a 70’s or 80’s rock/metal album cover to life. Throw in some animation that would be at home in ‘Heavy Metal’ Magazine, turn the crazy dial up to 11 and let Nicolas Cage (slowly) off the sanity leash and you have Mandy.
There are plot point that are not explained, for example Red suddenly has a friend who has a cross bow stored away for him and Red suddenly has a forge and knows how to use it. Is Mandy some kind of witch and, of course, is Red dead at the end.
I would say that there are some crazy scenes but the whole film is crazy but it does lead to some great scene’s like a chainsaw duel.
As I said, Mandy isn’t for everyone, it has a simple plot that has been turned in to a surreal nightmare so if you don’t like weird don’t watch this.
Mandy is also slow to get started as it builds up the atmosphere. I think that, if the film kept the atmosphere it starts with it could have been a similar tone to something like Midsommar however by the halfway point it has past that and, by the end the film just takes a head dive down the rabbit hole (almost literally).
Given all that I found it hard to rate, it has the feel of a 70’s horror and an 80’s grindhouse, some of the filters make it hard to understand some of the lines and the colour filters were disturbing and distracting although most of this was on purpose but over all I did enjoy it.
The story is simple, Mandy and Red live alone in a forest. By chance Mandy is spotted by a cult leader who decided that he wants her to join him. Things don’t go to plan and Mandy ends up dead and Red starts on a quest for revenge. Simple and familiar, it’s not an uncommon plot, however Mandy is part film, part drug filled dream with snippets of animation thrown in, overlaid with a psychedelic, prog rock soundtrack. It has drugs, cults, demonic, slipknot esc bikers, (male) nudity, chainsaws and crossbows, religious parables and Jesus parallels. There is a metaphorical decent to hell and there is Nicholas Cage. All this is shot with constantly changing, coloured filters and distorted voices.
You can probably tell that Mandy isn’t for everyone, at times the film feels like an Italian horror, something like Suspiria or Deep Red and other time it seems like someone has brought a 70’s or 80’s rock/metal album cover to life. Throw in some animation that would be at home in ‘Heavy Metal’ Magazine, turn the crazy dial up to 11 and let Nicolas Cage (slowly) off the sanity leash and you have Mandy.
There are plot point that are not explained, for example Red suddenly has a friend who has a cross bow stored away for him and Red suddenly has a forge and knows how to use it. Is Mandy some kind of witch and, of course, is Red dead at the end.
I would say that there are some crazy scenes but the whole film is crazy but it does lead to some great scene’s like a chainsaw duel.
As I said, Mandy isn’t for everyone, it has a simple plot that has been turned in to a surreal nightmare so if you don’t like weird don’t watch this.
Mandy is also slow to get started as it builds up the atmosphere. I think that, if the film kept the atmosphere it starts with it could have been a similar tone to something like Midsommar however by the halfway point it has past that and, by the end the film just takes a head dive down the rabbit hole (almost literally).
Given all that I found it hard to rate, it has the feel of a 70’s horror and an 80’s grindhouse, some of the filters make it hard to understand some of the lines and the colour filters were disturbing and distracting although most of this was on purpose but over all I did enjoy it.
HerCrazyReviews (247 KP) rated Super Size Me (2004) in Movies
Sep 8, 2019 (Updated Sep 8, 2019)
Fast Food May Be Bad But Most Points Made In This Documentary Are Worse
We had to watch this film in school when I was younger and I remember agreeing with most of his points. After re-watching this though, I agree with a few of his statements but what mainly puts me off is how he conducted his thirty day challenge. He went from exercising every day (more then the average person) and eating extremely healthy to not exercising at all and ordering RIDICULOUS sized portions. After ordering these portions instead of saving some for later (you know, like most people do) he decided that he had to eat it all which caused him to constantly throw up. He did this over and over! His doctor also recommended to drink water instead of constantly drinking pop. Even told him that this would help him out a lot but he still didn’t listen. Like, DUDE, listen to your freaking doctors. Instead, he decided not to put his health in peril. I don’t get why he wouldn’t because obviously McDonalds serves water and not everyone gets pop.
This could have been a great documentary talking about how bad fast food is. Which I mean, most people already know about, but he still could have made serious points. And I will admit there were point in here that were good. Such as the Super Size portions are not necessary and when he interviewed that doctor whose family founded an ice cream business. When the doctor was describing the connection between his family’s severe health problems and their eating habits I felt like that was an excellent point! Other then that though most points aren’t proven in the best way possible. Plus, he was adding in bits that didn’t even connect to the fact that fast food is bad. For example, when he showed a child a card with Jesus on it and was surprised that the kid didn’t know Jesus but knew Ronald McDonald. Dude, there is more then one religion out there and not everyone is even religious! (This just upset me a ton!)
I’m just going to jump straight into it and say this documentary pisses me off. While, yes, some people may be obese it isn’t always because they eat too much fast food. There are other reasons why they may not be societies perfect skinny ass version of the normal weight. I do understand though that he is focusing on people being overweight because of fast food not because health reasons or why the BMI index is wrong. I just think that he is going to extreme lengths on purpose which showed an inaccurate representation of what fast food does to the normal consumer because most people don’t eat fast food everyday like Don Gorske.
This could have been a great documentary talking about how bad fast food is. Which I mean, most people already know about, but he still could have made serious points. And I will admit there were point in here that were good. Such as the Super Size portions are not necessary and when he interviewed that doctor whose family founded an ice cream business. When the doctor was describing the connection between his family’s severe health problems and their eating habits I felt like that was an excellent point! Other then that though most points aren’t proven in the best way possible. Plus, he was adding in bits that didn’t even connect to the fact that fast food is bad. For example, when he showed a child a card with Jesus on it and was surprised that the kid didn’t know Jesus but knew Ronald McDonald. Dude, there is more then one religion out there and not everyone is even religious! (This just upset me a ton!)
I’m just going to jump straight into it and say this documentary pisses me off. While, yes, some people may be obese it isn’t always because they eat too much fast food. There are other reasons why they may not be societies perfect skinny ass version of the normal weight. I do understand though that he is focusing on people being overweight because of fast food not because health reasons or why the BMI index is wrong. I just think that he is going to extreme lengths on purpose which showed an inaccurate representation of what fast food does to the normal consumer because most people don’t eat fast food everyday like Don Gorske.