Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Nov 17, 2021  
Stop by my blog to read part of the prologue from the contemporary Western fiction novel THE BIG EMPTY by Loren Steffy. If you like what you read, enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of the book as well as a logo hat - three winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/11/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-big-empty.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
When Trace Malloy and Blaine Witherspoon collide on a desolate West Texas highway, their fender bender sets the tone for escalating clashes that will determine the future of the town of Conquistador.

Malloy, a ranch manager and lifelong cowboy, knows that his occupation—and his community—are dying. He wants new- millennium opportunities for his son, even though he himself failed to summon the courage to leave familiar touchstones behind.

Witherspoon, an ambitious, Lexus-driving techie, offers a solution. He moves to Conquistador to build and run a state-of-the-art semiconductor plant that will bring prestige and high-paying technology jobs to revive the town—and advance his own career.

What neither man anticipates is the power the "Big Empty" will wield over their plans. The flat, endless expanse of dusty plain is as much a character in the conflict as are the locals struggling to subsist in this timeworn backwater and the high-tech transplants hell-bent on conquering it. While Malloy grapples with the flaws of his ancestors and his growing ambivalence toward the chip plant, Witherspoon falls prey to construction snafus, corporate backstabbing, and financial fraud. As they each confront personal fears, they find themselves united in the search for their own version of purpose in a uniquely untamable Texas landscape.
     
WordPress For Dummies
WordPress For Dummies
Lisa Sabin-Wilson | 2017 | Computing & IT
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Are you a dummy? Will you be needing this?

WordPress For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) is a fairly big book and the 8th edition of all things WordPress. Now I’ve used WordPress for a short while after spending years over at Blogger (yep, it was a difficult decision, but one I’m glad I made). WordPress has got a lot of extra, really cool features for bloggers, although I would not say it’s a blogging site for everyone as I think the UI is not as easy, and some technical ability is required, hence this book.

I’m no expert, but you’ll be surprised at just how much technical ability to learn just by blogging for years, so the change my not be that difficult for you.

So what if you’re already there? Well, if you are new to WordPress this is an invaluable tool, as it covers all the basics including how to customise the default templates, Twenty- (seventeen, or eighteen etc) and it really does give you a good grounding of where to start if you are a complete novice. There’s also information about widgets, plugins, themes and customisation.

The latter can get a little more complicated and this is where I enjoyed this book even more, as it also teaches you a little bit of code required, covering tag values, PHP functions, style sheets, query string parameters and CSS basics. Some of this goes way over my head, but there are bits here and there I’ve picked up and I’m currently using, that I wasn’t before.

Good clean technical fun. Only three stars because “I liked it” – not anything necessarily wrong with it, it’s just this sort of book doesn’t get me over excited!
  
Child's Play (2019)
Child's Play (2019)
2019 | Horror
Good Kills (1 more)
Good Doll Design
Slasher Cliches (1 more)
Predictable
A.I. Chucky reborn in a tech savvy world.
As Chucky embarks into a new century, the filmmakers realize that it was time to make Chucky into artificial intelligence. In previous films, there was always a sense of witchcraft going on where it made Chucky come to life. This makes more sense of making Chucky as a Amazon Alexa type of technology. A Buddi of sorts.

They cleverly weave that into the depth of where Chucky's madness is taking over him. In how it started was a little far fetched. A guy decided to break the rules at his job because of poor working conditions and a over the top douche of a boss. It was mishandled how it happened.

I think that Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, and Brian Tyree Howard are amazing in this movie. They really sell the world that was created for them, especially Bateman who is tortured by Chucky's antics.

As for the doll design, I think it looked really good. There are moments where rendering in the CGI was needed, but overall, it looked amazing in some scenes. I specifically remember the moment where Bateman is walking Chucky into his room and the way his facial expressions are used makes him weirdly human, and that increases the creepy factor within Chucky.

As for the negatives, it follows the typical ground plan of every slasher, especially Child's Play movies. Mom's boyfriend is a douche. Mom doesn't believe her son. Friends believe Andy. Nice cop who lives with mother may be the knight in shining armor. We can see where this is going, and it also takes a while for Chucky to actually kill something. It panders too much and I think they could've had more potential with the horror.
  
40x40

Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) in Movies

Jul 3, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)  
Johnny English Strikes Again (2018)
Johnny English Strikes Again (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Our favourite budget Bond is back in the third installment of Johnny English, and it basically "does what it says on the tin." It's amusing and it's exactly what you expect it to be. Nothing groundbreaking.

They've thankfully updated some of the aspects where needed. We've got a tech genius, cyber threats, VR, and we've got health and safety regulations like you wouldn't believe!

Boff is back too and he's the brains behind the outfit managing to make English's buffonary work, as always. To be fair, English does have some pretty good ideas but they seem to either be accidental or poorly executed!

All of the characters are entertaining and their reactions to Johnny's behaviour are entirely inkeeping with what you'd expect. Ophelia getting exacerbated by his evading/dance technique is quite amusing.

My general feeling about this type of humour though is that you can have too much, or to be more accurate, it can go on too long. Some of the skits feel like they tip just slightly over the line between "that's funny" to "is this still going on?"

The audience in Bristol did appreciate one of the particular cyber attacks... "all the trains are trying to stop at Bristol Temple Meads"... yep, that seems about right to us!

What should you do?

You could probably hold out and watch this when it streams, it's quite a short film so it's probably not going to feel like you're getting your monies worth from a cinema ticket.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

Oh so many options, but I think I'll pass on the spy gadgets and go straight for some of Johnny English's dumb luck!
  
    Grammaropolis

    Grammaropolis

    Education and Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    "The linguistic insights are pure gold." - Wired "Learning grammar has never been more fun!" -...