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Shadow Souls (The Vampire Diaries: The Return, #2)
Shadow Souls (The Vampire Diaries: The Return, #2)
L.J. Smith | 2010 | Paranormal, Young Adult (YA)
2
6.5 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is my review on Amazon.com:

I have to be honest. This book was actually better than The Return: Nightfall (Vampire Diaries). Sadly, this does not prevent it from being a horrible book.
This book was all over the place and the plot was barely coherent.

Here's the deal: Damon was possessed at the behest of Hot Topic rejects, Misao and Shinichi. This led him to tricking Stefan into going into a place called the Dark Dimension. Elena gets over floating like a balloon to team up with Damon to get him back.

Caroline is still possessed and trying to have Matt arrested for assaulting her. I have to say that the parts with Caroline were the only things remotely interesting about the book. Unfortunately the Matt/Caroline?Mrs Flowers scenes were shoved aside in favor of feeble attempts at eroticism with Damon and Elena.

Stefan and Elena bored me. Every time Elena had an out-of-body experience, I grit my teeth at the insipid dialogue and promised my brain Milk Duds to soothe the loss of brain cells.

Bonnie and Meredith? Strictly on the sidelines and BORING. Meredith was one of my favorite characters and now she's been reduced to generic friend. Ugh.

Another thing that bothered me was the unhealthy obsession with the ideas of purity and virginity. Elena is a virgin. Uh, okay and this is a secret WHY?

Also, readers do not need it pounded into their heads how hot Elena is. Seriously, it seemed like every five pages I was subjected to how awesomely and mind-blowingly hot she is. COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY!

Oh, and THE END *deep breath*... This could have been a shocking and heart-wrenching development, but for some reason LJS decided to play it for comedy. This left me feeling overtly hostile to the book and not at all looking forward to the next installation.

The thing is, LJS did better. I expect better of her. Come on! This is the woman who wrote Secret Vampire (Night World)!
  
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    The Polo Magazine

    Sports and Magazines & Newspapers

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Brendan Benson recommended track Diamond Dogs by David Bowie in Best of Bowie by David Bowie in Music (curated)

 
Best of Bowie by David Bowie
Best of Bowie by David Bowie
2002 | Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Diamond Dogs was another one from my Dad’s record collection. That record and Ziggy Stardust had a huge impact on me, I liked the glam aspect and the production was so cool. I liked the cover of Diamond Dogs, with the half-dog, half-man and I listened to “Rebel Rebel” - which I loved - but then I got into ‘We Are the Dead’ and that was some next-level shit. That song showed me some of the theatrics and drama that you could do with music and how you could create such a mood. It’s not just about plugging in the guitar and singing a song, it’s also about the production work and choosing the right instrument for the purpose. “We Are the Dead” literally scared me to death as well, I’d put it on just to torture myself because it was so creepy. Diamond Dogs is such a theatrical record. It’s so diverse and dramatic. It changes throughout the record and every song sounds different - it’s like a storybook or something. It had a gatefold sleeve that the lyrics were printed out on and that was the kind of shit that I loved to look at and read while he sang. Bowie’s my hero and I’ve cited him in every interview I’ve ever done. I met him once when I was just starting out on Virgin Records. I was backstage with my manager and they arranged for this meeting, he came out and sat with me, we spoke about being on the same label and me having a record coming out. It was so cool, it was like meeting a president or something, he was still so otherworldly and unattainable. It was very brief, and it was very formal. I maybe could have met him in different circumstances at some point along the line, but I’m glad I didn’t. He remains this ever-changing mythical character. I love him."

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Last Flag Flying (2017)
Last Flag Flying (2017)
2017 | Comedy, Drama
The true cost of war goes beyond the numbers of the dead and wounded that we see in textbooks, lectures, and in news reports. Each number represents a person who either perished or was injured. We overlook the extended impact that this loss of life or experience has on their families and friends. Even more, we often overlook the lasting impact that warfare has on the men and women exposed to it.

In Last Flag Flying Steve Carell (The Office, 40-Year-Old Virgin), Brian Cranston (Breaking Bad), and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) play veterans who reunite thirty years after serving together in Vietnam to bury one of their sons who has been killed in Iraq. Doc (Steve Carell) tracks down his friends in order to find some closure as to events they faced in their past and to find some sanity and clarity in the death of his son.

The film brings home the horror of war and demonstrates how men and women, out of a sense of duty, find themselves in the same situation as previous generations as they left home to serve their nation. The film is uncomfortable, with good reason, as it makes audiences reflect on the meaning of sacrifice, duty, and honor. The three characters offer the film the opportunity to demonstrate the contrast between youth and experience. It demonstrates how people can have the same experiences but are changed by it to varying degrees. Nothing is uniform about how they adapt to their experiences or in how they cope with the horrors they witnessed.

Last Flag Flying offers a much-needed, sobering perspective about war and how the experiences of war never quite leave those who survived. Carell, Cranston, and Fishburne offer up performances that demonstrate the power of friendship and brotherhood that forms for those who serve together. For those who served and those who haven’t, the film offers audiences the ability to gain a greater understanding of what life is like for those men and women once they take off the uniform.
  
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