#book review of part 1 of a book

[abybweisse]

Ch209 (p1), Cover and title page

Yeah, there's a lot of deception going on....

"A sinister smile that spells trouble" oddly refers to both of them here. "Smile" (our earl) isn't smiling, but that was the name he was given, but "Black" is smiling, and we know his sinister nature.

More to come soon, but I'm still reading.

[galaxysweets]

In my personal opinion;

Dune Book > Dune Part 1

Dune Book < Dune Part 2

[episodicnostalgia]

Spider-man: The Animated Series, 109 (May 6, 1995) - “The Alien Costume, Part Two”

LAST TIME… On Spider-man:

You can read my review for part one HERE (if you haven’t already), but there was one subplot involving Eddie Brock that I didn’t really get into because my post was already running long.  Basically Eddie was still sore at Spider-man over that time he got fired for being bad at his job.  Consequently, he decides to sell Jonah pictures that make it look like Spider-man stole the Promethium X [*dangerous radioactive space McGuffin] from John Jameson’s space shuttle, instead of correctly laying the blame on Rhino, whom Eddie both witnessed and photographed (that bastard).  As a result, Jonah has bounty placed on Spider-man’s head, and Eddie’s sittin’ pretty with his old job back.

AND NOW… The continuation

The Breakdown

Despite the constant barrage of bounty hunters trying to take him down, Spidey is doing pretty well at staying the-fuck-outta dodge thanks to his enhanced strength (courtesy of the new suit), indeed he seems virtually untouchable.  Still the inconvenience of constantly being attacked is getting on the web-head’s last nerve, leading to an all out confrontation with Jonah that… doesn’t exactly go well (the wall crawler uncharacteristically loses his shit and trashes Jonah’s office), but it does lead Jonah to discovering the truth about Eddie’s deception regarding the Rhino.  And so, Jonah must face humiliation by releasing yet another retraction to Brock’s latest and-most-brazen fuck-up (which of course prompts his immediate re-firing).

MEANWHILE… Wilson Fisk is still on about that whole Promethium X thing (trying to sell it to terrorists or some-such).  The Problem is, Eddie Brock’s public humiliation makes him liability to Fisk since he holds the only photographic evidence of Rhino’s involvement (who I guess can be linked to Fisk through payroll statements or something?). So Fisk sends his latest super-minion, THE SHOCKER, to deal with it using murder.  But of course, just as the Shocker shows up to vibrate Brock to death (Kinky), our less-friendly neighbourhood Wall Crawler arrives on the scene to save the day [also because he wanted to bully Eddie a bit himself, almost as if… SOMEthing is making him more behave more aggressively?  But WHAT, I wonder?].  The ensuing fight ends up with Spidey buried in rubble just long enough for Shocker to think he’s won, and for Eddie to make his escape.

Chuffed at his supposed victory, Shocker rushes to Allistair Smythe’s hideout so he can boast about it, but of course Spider-man just follows him there.  Another fight leads to Spidey stealing back the Promethium X so he can run some tests on it back at his place. Of course this naturally escalates things even further, and Allistair sets another trap with the Shocker using John Jameson as bait (kidnapped straight out of the hospital, no less.  Poor guy is having a rough time).  The deal is simple, Spider-man and Jonah are to meet Allistair at an old church building, where John will be returned to his father in exchange for the Promethium X.

Spider-man may be a little more violent than usual, but he’s still Spider-man, so he willingly hands over the Promethium in exchange for John, which is when Shocker shows up to spring the trap.  While Allistair makes good his escape (as well as the Jamesons), Spidey and his foe have at it, and it does NOT go well for Shocker. 

Like, Spider-man is UNHINGED you guys; it’s truly some meme worthy stuff. 

Eventually Shocker [SHOOOOOCKKKEEEEEERRR!!!!!] gets chased to the top of the building where the belltower is located (oh yeah there’s a bell tower. Now you know), and proceeds to get the living tar beat out of him [YOOUU CAN’T ESCAPE MEEEEEE!!!].  But Just as Spider-man is about to drop the ol’ Shockster to his untimely demise [I’LL CHASE YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EEEAARTH!!!], he remembers that Uncle Ben used to have a whole speech about Responsibility (I won’t get into it here, but it involves great power) and resolves not to klll his hapless foe.  Except… the suit has other ideas and autonomously produces a tentacle to force the issue by shoving Shocker off the tower against our hero’s wishes.  Thankfully, the suit still respects Spider-man’s impulse to shoot a life-saving web line, thus sparing Shocker from death-by-impact.

Having finally accepted that the suit is responsible for his new bloodthirsty attitude, Spider-man attempts to remove it, only then realizing that IT has other plans (even though Doc Conners totally warned him about this in an earlier scene). While thrashing around in a fruitless attempt to take his ‘costume’ off, the massive tower-bell starts ringing at such a volume as to drive the suit utterly BANANAS. It’s at this point that Spider-man figures out that sound is the suit’s weakness, after correlating this incident with a bounty hunter’s sonic weapon from earlier.  Considering he has no other viable options, Spidey pretty much just hangs out nearby the ringing bell until the suit gives up and separates from him.  From there it eventually succumbs into a puddle and slithers off into a crack, NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

[Oh and I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning, but Eddie Brock followed Jonah to the church, where he tried his level best to kill Spider-man while was distracted with the Shocker.  Of course he failed even more miserably than he did at his job, and Spider-man easily wrapped him up into a web cocoon, and strung him up inside the tower chamber beneath the bell.]

Anyways, with the alien symbiote out of the way Spider-man completely forgets to check in on Eddie who is still literally hanging out in the church tower.  At the same time, it turns out the alien symbiote is still very much alive after all (which Spider-man probably should have double checked) and in need of a new host. Since Brock is available for a rebound (not to mention unable resist), the Symbiote helps itself.  Eddie quickly goes from being terrified, to WAY TOO into it, and while we don’t yet see the end result of this new unholy alliance, it seems unlikely that it’ll be good. 

I bet they're gonna be Venom now though.  I just have an instinct about these things.

TO BE CONTINUED!

The Verdict

Man these episodes are fun.  On the one hand, this show takes a fairly complicated piece of Spider-man’s lore, and streamlines it nicely for children’s television.  On the other hand, it’s still AN OBSCENELY convoluted 20 minutes of unrestrained structured chaos.  I’ve talked about this before in my other posts, but watching this show as an adult is leaves me both constantly impressed and confounded at the same time.  Every choice the characters make are so hilariously unhinged, and yet somehow it all works perfectly within the context of what the show is trying to be.

One element that continues to work especially well, is Spider-man’s transition towards insanity as a consequence of wearing the suit.  The original comics really didn’t lean into this idea as comprehensively back when the symbiote was introduced, mainly because the writers were still figuring it out as they went, and Venom himself was still some years away from even being conceptualized. But It’s telling that virtually every version of the character since this specific adaptation has incorporated the symbiote’s tendency to alter, dominate, and/or consume the host.  It’s a story telling choice that makes sense, and one that this series deserves credit for bringing to the mainstream.

I also feel compelled to give Christopher Daniel Barnes a shout-out for this episode.  Spider-man losing his shit over Shocker is (unintentionally) so funny to me.  Shocker has always been a C-list villain at most, and up against the Symbiote-Spider-man he amounts to little more than a mild inconvenience, so the idea that Spider-man JUST HATES this guy to the point of flying into a murderous rage, cracks me up (even though I realize the suit is responsible).  At the same time, Barnes really commits to the role here and, hilarious or otherwise, Spider-man is believably psychotic.  Gotta love it.

3.5 stars (out of 5)

Additional Observations

There’s a scene where Spider-Man pays Dr. Curt Conners (aka the Lizard) a visit to help him figure out the mystery surrounding his fancy new extra-terrestrial duds.  In order to run his tests Conners tries to take a sample of the organism, only for it to retreat from his grasp when he reaches out with a pair of scissors.  Spider-man helps out by stretching out (pictured above) some of the suit with one hand so the Doc can cut it, which does work, but that still leaves the freshly cut piece of alien ‘material’ loose INSIDE Spider-man’s palm, which is also notably enclosed within the symbiote.  As a kid it always bothered me that the symbiote wouldn’t have just reabsorbed the freshly cut piece back into itself before Peter could hand it over to Conners. Thankfully I’m a well adjusted adult now, so I’ve moved on from such petty concerns.  Haha.  Ha. …ha.

The Promethium x subplot is officially resolved in this chapter, and it’s obvious the writers barely cared about that thread more than I did.  It turns out the substance has a short half life, before becoming inert, thus foiling the Kingpin’s plans and leaving Part 3 with more time to focus on Venom.

Spider-man’s personal microscope and PC must be incredibly advanced!  Within seconds he’s able to determine the Promethium X’s density, structure, and molecular weight, all with sharp colour-coded images rendered directly to his computer in real time!  Remarkable!

Responsibility Count – 2: Uncle Ben’s famous line returns!  I’m actually surprised that it’s been used as infrequently as it has been up to this point.  In my memory, future seasons would start to abuse the “power and responsibility” spiel with increasing regularity.  I suppose we’ll find out as we go.

Spider-man really needs to keep better tabs on his enemies after defeating them. Last episode he just leaves Rhino unrestrained in a military facility that carries sensitive technologies, and in this episode both Shocker AND Brock are just webbed up left behind. A few episodes back (in the Mysterio episode) it’s established that Spider-man’s webbing eventually dissolves, which means Eddie probably would have fallen to his death if the Symbiote hadn’t found him.  Oh well, I guess it all worked out.  Besides, what are the odds of something crazy happening like all three characters returning in the very next episode? Amright!?

[azazel-dreams]

FAB book 1 (graphic novel)

Rating: ❤️❤❤❤❤

[mermaidsirennikita]

Goodreads review pet peeves:

--using gifs

--using photos of people you imagine as the leads (which are always like, 10 years out of date, or like, Victoria's Secret Angels for the girl next door heroine, Henry Cavill, Henry Cavill, and Henry Cavill, especially when the hero is described as: scarred, kinda ugly, GIANT, blond, brutish, none of which describes Henry Cavill)

--"I love a man in uniform" okay blue lives matter

--"I loved this book.... but the heroine was SUCH a bitch, he deserved better!!!" [heroine had an active role in the plot, basically]

--"it just bothered me that he used violence against her" [consensual spanking]

--"I just wish authors would keep their pOLITICS out of MY BOOKS" [hero or heroine expressed regard for basic human rights]

--"I miss accurate historicals" [there was one (1) person of color who may or may not be a lead and wasn't suffering, OR the heroine is not a virgin and is not a widow]

[kimsmingyu]

i'm a hater so i'm gonna say the way prime reading amazon books are titled are so funny because it's like "thrilling novel: a completely gripping psychological suspense" and it's absolute ass

[broke-on-books]

I think the universe just hates me personally (can't find my scooby doo comics)

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Well, i have read the sample from Shusters book and what can i say. Now i get what the other anon was saying. Just from two chapters it’s already clear that Shuster is trying to paint Ze like some applause dependent dictator, who doesn’t give a fuck and his kids and wife(As Shuster wrote «Puts his work above everything else»🤡🤡)

Interesting, what you can say about that book because i’m already disappointed…

.

[inconsistently--consistent]

Tuesday April 9th 2024

Happy International ASMR day to those who celebrate. I usually watch those ASMR postive affirmation videos while I'm getting ready for bed now and I think it's helping. I have less nightmares when my head is filled with good thoughts before bed, who could've guessed.

I haven't done much today so far.

Book Review

Yesterday I finished

I really liked it. I really enjoyed the movie and was thinking about reading the book but I was worried it'd be too complex and I wouldn't like the book. So this was a great compromise, the graphic novel format allows for a lot of the confusing background information to be depicted instead of read. I've probably missed on some nuance as a result. Maybe in the future I'll read the original book and get that.

The art is beautiful. I especially like the protective cover over the hardback.

I felt like I got more detail and worldbuilding than I did from the movies.

[abybweisse]

Ch208 (p1), Cover and title pages

The licensed translation went with "Released". Apparently, my copy/paste method didn't keep the online translator from sometimes pasting the wrong character anyway, so ok.

This copy comes from Kobo books. Please support the author and her staff by (eventually) buying your own copy.

[jonberry555]

Rereading Star Wars: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule | Part 1 Review | #starwars #thehighrepublic

I'm rereading 'Star Wars: Light of the Jedi' by Charles Soule, a part of the Star Wars: The High Republic publishing line. This is my review of Part 1.

[jackstheprinceofhearts]

my review of "last violent call" by chloe gong

(side note from the future, i forgot to make part 2 and i will at some point but idk when 🧍‍♀️ i have been distracted lately so idk 😭😭😭 i'm sorryyyy)

spoiler warning for:

these violent delights duology

foul lady fortune

last violent call (obviously)

alright so let's talk about "a foul thing" first!

some things i found to be a bit odd:

why did they keep saying how worried they were about being recognized but kept their appearances pretty much the same (besides Juliette's long hair) Benedikt and marshall's hair is the same from what I remember, and their faces still look the same (they're obviously older) and all of this other stuff but I'll get to more of that when we talk about "this foul murder"

also, why tell pretty much everyone EXCEPT rosalind and alisa who are family?? like yes I get that they are trying to protect them but now rosalind is carrying this guilt for a super long time and that made me pretty sad 😭 I can't imagine the betrayal rosalind is gonna feel when she finds out celia didn't tell her. same with alisa, I bet she'll feel pretty bad that she didn't know.

but that's enough about that, for now, let's get on to stuff I liked :)

JIOGVFDRJIDOFFDVVDSFKJVFDSJMKOVDSFKI I LOVE ROMA SO MUCH HE'S SO SWEET AND KIND AND HIS BANTER WITH JULIETTE WAS SO FUNNY AND SATISFYING AND DIDN'T SEEM FORCED

sorry, i really needed to say that omfg they were so cute in the entire novella. rdbmbbb I just love them they are so precious to me 🙏🏼no ship will ever hit as good as they do (ofc evajacks because come on it's evajacks and they are my otp) I love the way chloe wrote them in this novella as well. they were still the old roma and juliette but you could tell how they'd matured and how everything had affected them in so many ways and just fdfdkvfdk,dvfl, i loved it, man, i live for fluff but MARRIED COUPLE FLUFF??? AFTER BEING ENEMIES??? HELL YEAH it was everything i wanted it to be and more fluff and romance-wise!!!

alright, now we need to talk about roma and juliette's death, and also the connections with foul lady fortune.

so it is said in the first chapter that this takes place in 1931, the same time as the beginning of foul lady fortune, shown here in these two pictures

(top is a foul thing and the bottom is foul lady fortune)

so as you can see they start at the same time. so the start of "a foul thing" takes place while rosalind is on the train in the first chapter after the prologue. i found this to be interesting since i thought "foul lady fortune" was spread out for months but at the end of flf (foul lady fortune) Rosalind receives this letter:

and at the end of afl (a foul thing), we get a page of juliette writing that same letter.

(also side note but i really appreciate this, isn't it so nice how chloe gong managed to tie both books together SO WELL in only 117 pages???)

So because of this, I found the timeline confusing because this takes place in September in afl BUT it seemed like way more than a month in flf?? if anyone has answers on why this is or corrections for the timeline, please comment them cause this confused me quite a bit.

this might've been just me but i also think I missed a lot of important information and how flf connects to the novellas because I am really REALLY bad with names 😥 I am trying my best guys ok 😭

i also liked the introduction of new characters in this and also how much chloe was able to get done within 117 pages like god damn, she got a lot done writing this. new characters and a new plot, answers to roma and juliette's death??? angst??? fluff??? it was all there and did not disappoint.

also, i would like to say that I KNEW it was very likely they couldn't be dead because there was no body, no leftovers, no nothing. like yes i know they were supposed to be exploded or whatever but even in explosions there's gonna be uhh leftover flesh 👁

anyways, let's move on to my favorite quotes and then we can talk about "this foul murder"

alright here are the pictures i have >:)

uh oh, i have come to the startling realization that I can't add any more images 😭 and I need to send some pictures to talk about "this foul murder" and the rest of the quotes... alright I guess I'm gonna have to add a part 2 to this post 😭

let me close this by saying that "a foul thing" was so amazing and up there in my favorite books definitely!!! more authors need to write novellas taking place after the couple is together, it just hits different. but overall for this first part of "last violent call"?? 5/5 stars!!!

[whalehouse1]

My brother, parents and I watched The Menu two days ago and I wanted to see reaction videos for it. I told my brother all that was popping up were “Why the Hamburger Scene Is the Most Important Scene”, “The Hidden Meaning Behind Course #”, “The Symbolism of -insert part of the movie here- That You Missed.”

My brother just laughs, “Don’t they realize they are the exact people that movie is making fun of?” And agreed that they give Nicholas Hoult’s character a run for his money with that.

[lovehandelreunion]

i can't help but laugh when i watch the new p/jo show and it uses all of its effort not to deliver a good story, but to go out of its way to never use more of its vfx budget than absolutely necessary

finished episode 3 and not only do they turn medusa invisible to mime cutting her head off so they don't have to show it but they also have the turning a fury to stone be blurry through a window???

am i crazy? am i a hater?? am i living in an alternate reality where the show is just bad???

[highqueen-feyre]

While I was without power during Hurricane Ian, I finally reached my reading goal of 100 books for the year. I saved the special spot for my most anticipated release, Losers: Part 1 by Harley Laroux. Here’s my thoughts:

                                           BOOK REVIEW BELOW

WARNING: This is an 18+ polyamorous bisexual romance between one woman and four men, including MF, MM, and group scenes. Detailed trigger warnings are included before the story begins.

OVERALL RATING: 5/5

SPICE RATING: 5/5

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP OVER THIS BOOK. It was everything I wanted for these characters and more, AND THERE’S STILL A PART TWO.

Jessica started off pretty rocky, but I think I definitely understood where her character was coming from. Living in a small town, especially in the South, is hard. Your parents have strict beliefs and you’re meant to adhere to their every whim. I think seeing Jessica struggle with and finally break free from that cycle of giving a damn what everyone thinks of you and putting on a show to be what they want you to be was beautiful, and she was so strong for it. The moment in the party where she basically calls everyone around her out on their shit and throws that sangria was fucking badass as hell, and I want more scenes where she gets to be involved in stuff like that. Finally getting to be herself and telling people who have done nothing but demand shit from her for years to go fuck themselves, especially her mother. It seems like she has something going on with food that stems from her mother, and I’d love for that to be addressed. I’m so excited to see her character develop further and for her to accept her love for these boys, especially Manson and Lucas.

Manson is the definition of got it bad. This boy is so fucking in love with Jess and it is so obvious. The way he’s so soft for her, forgiving her for her bullshit no matter what, and always believing in her. Their scene at the overlook where they’re all wrapped in each other and he’s basically telling her how he feels about her is probably one of my favorites. And the way he and the boys are all mad that she has surrounded herself with fake friends who don’t actually give a shit about her and want to take her away from them and help her find people she can trust to actually care about her is to die for. They’re so protective over her. When Manson snapped after his dad showed up and he snapped out of his fury because he saw her there and was terrified he’d scared her, UGH MY HEART. I think Manson is exactly the type of person Jessica needs in her life. His love for Lucas, Vince, and Jason is just as beautiful. Finding love and acceptance in a world where your whole life has been nothing but pain and suffering is rare, and he’s built himself this little family he’d do anything for and who would do anything for him, and that he wants to include Jess in that is so beautiful. And I, for one, cannot wait for him to finally get the win over his father. ALSO, he wears contacts which implies he could wear glasses. GLASSES. I need this, Harley, please.

Lucas is my sweet broken boy, and I’ll hear nothing against him. The way he struggles with the desire to be wanted and loved softly but can’t figure out how to not only receive that kind of love but give it is heartbreaking. I need Jess to find out about why he hit Alex back in high school. I need her to find out and have the softest moment of the whole story with him. I was so impressed with how hard he worked to do better and be better for Jess and the boys, and the fact that the last chapter ended with him staking their claim on Jess and basically declaring he wanted to play for keeps was amazing.

Jason was adorable as hell with the way he loved Vincent. Also the scene where the boys gift Jess to him and he’s basically in awe is so fucking funny and cute. I think there’s nothing better than a shy boy who can get dirty in a heartbeat. And his relationship with his family is heartbreakingly real. The idea that your parents can love you until you don’t fit their ideals is tragic, and even more so because it happens so often in real life. The fact that he uses this hard time in life to finally let go and be himself and finally be happy shows just how strong a person he truly is.

Vincent is just “chefs kiss”. I mean, everything about him is perfect. EVERYTHING. This man is soft and romantic then will tie you up and zap you with some electricity?? YES. I’m so excited to see him do more magic in part two because the idea that he goes around doing random magic tricks and annoying everybody is just amazing. His love for Jason is top notch and so sweet. The fact that he almost always believed in Jess’s place with them and wanting to give her chances to prove that she wanted to be there. The fact that he DANCED WITH HER IN THE RAIN ON PROM. Like OH MY GOD. More Vincent please. And if I don’t get a scene where Vince finds out Jess draws and ropes her into a painting session that ends up with them rolling around in the paint, I’ll die.

In conclusion, if you’re asking yourself if this book is good or worth the read, the answer is YES. I’m going to go out of my mind waiting for book two, but that’s okay because it’ll be worth it too. In the meantime, I’ll just go reread this book and cry.

[in-sightpublishing]

"Only a Theory Revisited"

Publisher: In-Sight Publishing Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014 Publisher Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada Publication: Critical Science Newswire Original Link: https://ncse.ngo/only-theory-revisited Publication Date: July 16, 2024 Organization: National Center for Science Education Organization Description: The National Center for Science…