David McK (3425 KP) rated Before They are Hanged: The First Law: Book Two in Books
Jan 28, 2019
This is also a true sequel to the previous, in that if you hadn't read the earlier you wouldn't have a clue what was going on/who was who. As before, this pretty much jumps between characters chapter by chapter, while the novel is also split into two distinct sections, with the split coming roughly at around the halfway mark with the fall of Dagoska after the torturer Superior Glotka is recalled.
Of them all, I have to say, I found 'his' chapters to be the most interesting, in particular his continued snarkiness to any and all around him.
I also found this to be very much a bridge novel - after being introduced to the characters in [b: The Blade Itself|68616|The Blade Itself|Marcus Sakey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437443720s/68616.jpg|1002512], a lot of this seemed to be setting the scene for what-I-imagine-will-be the events in [b: The Last Argument of Kings|944076|Last Argument of Kings (The First Law, #3)|Joe Abercrombie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1302062699s/944076.jpg|929012].
However, I need a break from all the darkness now for a while!
Not that long ago, I picked up the sequel (for want of a better word) of this on Audible, as part of their 30 day trial. That was The Silent Guides, and largely wasn't really all the relevant to me. However, it did have a short section in which the author summarised his previous work (this), enough to arouse my curiosity.
After finishing it, I still had some credit left, so thought I would pick that earlier work.
So, what is the Chimp Paradox? Basically, it's a metaphor: Dr Steve Peters has us imagining our minds as (largely) split into 3: The 'Computer' where we store experiences and information, the Chimp (who always acts first and is the emotional part of our mind) and the Human (or us, the more logical part).
This work then provides more details on each of these, and on how they affect our day-to-day life along with theories and suggestions on how to improve said day-to-day life through (and I quote) 'managing our chimp'.
This, I felt, was more relevant to me and my circumstances than the later work (which I picked up first): there were elements in this where I could find myself going "oh, that's an idea … maybe I'll do that …" or "oh, right, I see what he's getting at here …".
Maybe not life changing or the be-all-to-end-all, but it does have some useful suggestions, yes (it's just a pity that Steve Peter's voice is a bit monotone!)
Rebecca Billcliff (2409 KP) rated Eragon (2006) in Movies
Nov 11, 2019
The design is apauling, did anyone read the descriptions in the book? Sapphire "Brightscales" with feathers, the Urgls. Nuff said.
The script, apauling.
Why do they hate montages? I mean, Saphera needs to grow, okay, great, I get you don't have time to show all the months this took, but what the hell!? She flies into the air, and when she lands she is massive??? No explanation. You know what would have worked... her flying up, the when she comes back down, there is snow, showing the passage of time!!! Even a dam "3 months later" would have been better!
Sorry, moving on.
I know adapting a story from one medium to another is not easy, but this was a shocking way of doing things.
It was like no one read the actual book. One of the main themes running through the books is the power of language, how knowing something's true name gives followed over it. So when you give a dragon called "brightscales" feathers, and have the Gedwe Insignia ( meaning "shiny plam) as a crappy scar, you are missing the dam point!
Even if it had been popular enough for a sequel, it would not realy have worked, given all the changes they made.
To sum up... READ. THE. DAM BOOK!
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
It is a sequel to the 2011 film ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, which I never saw, nor even knew existed.
The idea is that a hotel in India becomes a permanent residence for elderly retirees at their last stopping point before their journey to ‘the great beyond’.
We follow their relationships and interactions, all wrapped up in the hotel proprietors (Sonny) desire to expand his hotel into another additional location, and his pitch to the (supposedly) undercover Hotel evaluator (Guy Chambers).
Sonny is willing to go to almost any length, up to and including sending his mother as an ‘offering’ to Chambers, in an attempt to secure the financing for the expansion.
In the meantime Sonny sacrifices a bit of his relationship with his fiancé,
Sunaina (played by Tena Desae), because she is wanting him to focus more on their upcoming wedding, than his business plans.
I thought the movie was ok, it had some funny parts. My husband almost fell asleep twice during it because it moved along pretty slowly.
It wouldn’t have been my pick to see ‘on the big screen’, to me, it just doesn’t need a movie screen to tell its story.
My guess is folks in the older generation will appreciate it and enjoy it much more than we did.
It certainly wasn’t ‘horrible’, it was just slow and rambling, without enough funny parts to hold our interest.
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