#but had pretty good reviews

[thegoblinwitch]

today was a monochrome kinda day (yes, okay, most days are monochrome, i know).... 🦇

yes, that silver chain is indeed linked to a mechanical pocket watch (as seen (more or less anyway) in the second pic).... ⏱️

it's not an antique as i would've preferred, 'cause either they're too expensive or i don't have the skills to repair them *pouts* i find the ticking very soothing 🐇

[dammjamboy]

BETTER CALL SAUL!

[deoidesign]

Hm... I'm feeling benevolent...

[bookishfreedom]

this one was pitched to me as “if The Summer I Turned Pretty grew up” - and somehow it’s totally true and I still ended up loving it ?

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

i think the diamond dogs should play improv games just bc it would amuse me, an ex theater kid, specifically

[everfascinated]

And that’s my ratings and explanations for who makes the best chef in Naruto. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

If you’d like a specific explanation they can be provided by request lol

Explanations: Sand Siblings

[zincfingermotif]

smooth talker

[james-stark-the-writer]

feel like pure shit, just want her back

[noperopesaredope]

Just saw the new Mean Girls movie, and I don't care what the internet is probably gonna say about it because IT WAS GOOD!!!!

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread    

The Art of Prophecy

Wuxia inspired epic fantasy

about a spoiled prophesied chosen one who’s never been in a real battle

the greatest war artist of her generation takes things into her own hands and decides to train him, but things go wrong and they both have to go on the run

martial arts, bounty hunters & assassins, some steampunk vibes, mentor relationships

no romance!

this is so fun and funny I loved it.  the MCs three awesome baddass women and one pathetic teen boy and i love them all

[permanentreverie]

.

[juneviews]

why is Gawin so GOOD at being SAD? 😭😭 my heart can't handle it, I want to protect him at all costs. Pisaeng is really unlike any other Jittirain seme, this feels like sorcery fr

GAWIN ACTING KING!!! I already expected to love pisaeng just bc he's played by him but GODDAMN he's exceeding my expectations as a character! I get what you mean about jittirain's love interests, while I do sense some common pathetic-ness between him & khai lol, pisaeng is very mature, healthy & not pushy at all. he's actually a pretty withdrawn love interest compared to the usual ones (I haven't seen vice versa so only talking about khai, sarawat & mork) that are very involved in the main character's life. it's honestly refreshing, and perhaps why I love pisaeng so much? he feels very realistic bc he's honest to himself & his feelings but doesn't make it kawi's problem either which is amazing :)

xxx

[libertyreads]

Book Review #4 of 2024--

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. Rating: 4 stars.

Read from January 17th to 20th.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Del Rey Books for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Tainted Cup is a Holmes and Watson-esque novel that follows investigator Ana Dolabra--a detective whose eccentricities are matched only by her brilliance--and her assistant, Dinios Kol who are called to work a case after a high imperial officer is killed when a tree erupts from his body. As they follow the clues, Dolabra and Kol just might uncover a darker secret than this poisoning. The Tainted Cup comes out on February 6th and is available for pre-order now.

I had such a fun time with this one. I'm a bit of a Sherlock Holmes fan girl so I was worried that picking this one up would set off a chain reaction of disappointment. But the way this story unfolds in this fantastical world and the way the mystery gets laid out for the reader makes it so much more fun and accessible to the reader. In most of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I've read over the years, there would be leaps in logic that were too difficult to follow unless you had very specific, detailed knowledge. And, while Ana does had a little bit of that going on, the author managed to find a way to keep the reader invested and to keep the reader's suspension of disbelief going. The world building and the pace of the story worked really well for me. There was a small section at the beginning where it felt like you were just thrown into the story, but given the fantastical world and how short that feeling lasted I'm going to say that part was still a thumbs up from me.

The characters are probably what I think could have used the most work. We do get some of the Holmes and Watson-esque interactions between our investigator and her assistant but I felt like we could have gone further with it. I still feel like I know so little about Ana. Maybe that's a choice the author made because of her being a representation of Sherlock Holmes. But I just wanted more from her. I also spent a lot of the book thinking there would be some dark reveal about Dinios but it never went in that direction. And I kind of wish it had. He's a little too squeaky clean for me. But know that's coming from a girl whose favor characters are all morally grey.

Overall, this was a fun and engaging read that I think fans of Sherlock Holmes can enjoy while acknowledging that it's separate from the original stories. It always felt like the plot was pushing me to read more and more which made it a faster read than I was expecting.

[paladincecil]

After like a month of going back and forth I've finally settled on a new mattress \o/

I'm not going for a top line one but after some research I've settled on this one from Rem Fit. It's not actually that expensive. They're doing that bullshit where they jack up the price then give you a code to reduce it to the sale price so it looks like the discount is larger -_-

[disneynerdpumpkin]

Just went to see Wish! Literally JUST came out of the theater about a few hours ago.

SPOILER WARNING, PROCEED WITH YOUR OWN DISCRETION

Reminder: these are my opinions on this movie. This is just a fun review I'm writing

Needless to say, this movie is a MASTERPIECE.

I'm not going to lie, it was too fast-paced and it could've been a lot longer (it was only an hour and 30 minutes, after all), and it re-used a lot of previous Disney material, I really expected it to be better; but that doesn't make it any less amazing!

It definitely wasn't what I expected, but it doesn't mean I love it any less 🥰

The animation was GORGEOUS. Literally STUNNING. I was in awe the entirety of the movie. LITERALLY IN AWE.

(I was among like 3 other people in the theater, so it was almost like I had the whole experience to myself! Not sure if I'm happy about it or angry that more people didn't come to watch it tho)

Okay now I'll get into the plot:

:inhales:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The first few minutes of the movie, and I was already fangirling SO HARD. And within the first few MINUTES of the movie, I was CRYING. (You know a movie's good when the movie's barely even started and you're CRYING.)

THEY MADE THE OPENING A STORYBOOK OPENING 😭🥰❤️ (like the storybook openings in Cinderella, Snow White, Pinocchio, The Sword in the Stone, Enchanted, etc.)

I had to PHYSICALLY RESTRAIN myself from screaming (because of course I'm in public movie theater and I can't disturb the audience)

(As an actual ballet dancer, I loved how Disney accurately depicted the dancer in the storybook, not with a frilly tutu and pointe shoes with ribbons tied way too high above the knee. Cuz as a dancer I can confirm that that "stereotypical" ballerina appearance is not how we dress at all and Disney depicted the dancer more accurately! And they had the dancer in a gorgeous purple!!!)

And I was freaking out seeing all the songs and their fully animated scenes. (There were literally only like 3 other people in the theater so I sung the songs and I wasn't disturbing the experience for anyone at all while doing it, so that was fun) I FREAKED OUT during "Welcome To Rosas"

"AT ALL COSTS" WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! A villain-heroine duet was an interesting choice for this song; and the lyrics had so much meaning behind them (Asha's words being genuine, and Magnifico's being for his own desires)

STAR IS SO ADORABLE!!! I can't say it enough, STAR IS SO ADORABLE I LOVE HIM SM ❤️ I CRIED when Star got sucked into Magnifico's staff (but thankfully he was okay in the end!)

I can't say it enough, "This Wish" was BEAUTIFUL I love it sm!!! Ariana DeBose performed it BEAUTIFULLY. So perfect 😭

And there were so many twists in the plot that made me audibly GASP. And I cried a lot lol There were so many great moments of humor that actually CRACKED ME UP so hard!!!

I loved seeing Magnifico go from (kindof) calm to practically INSANE with power. And I loved how Disney didn't kill him off and just trapped him inside his own staff

I will admit, Magnifico was a jerk and so manipulative and mad with power and very narcissistic, but Disney made him hot and that distracted me lol

He was evil even before he used the spellbook he's a narcissistic jerk (but he's a DILF and i've fallen for him omg)

I was really sad that Magnifico and Amaya weren't madly in love in the movie though :(

Hot villain king destroying people's wishes and making them forget them, and USING THEM to power his own sorcery?!?!!?! Now that's how you make a truly evil antagonist

MAGNIFICO DILF ALERT

"I'm A Star" was so cute!!!! I loved the "classic Disney" feel with all the animals and trees singing (the turtle was especially cute I loved him lol) I loved all the scenes where the animals talked lol (especially the ones with the deer, and the one with the bear and the bunnies!) (But the lyric with "shareholders"...Disney do you even know what that word means!?! There were plenty of other words you could've used. But overall I really liked that song.)

THERE WERE SO MANY DISNEY REFERENCES AND I LOVED IT SM (especially being an actual Disnerd cuz i understood all of them)

EVERYTHING WAS SO DETAILED AND I LOVE IT (one of things I noticed was that everyone's clothing looked like it was taken from Sleeping Beauty and Rosas looked SO MUCH like the village in Pinocchio, just a lot bigger)

(A lot of people didn't like the movie because it was combining a lot of Disney's previous work; but in Disney's defense, they said that this movie is celebrating 100 years of Disney animation, for Disney 100. So it kinda makes sense that they would do this.)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I loved it sm

And I love the concept of the wishes being in magic bubbles/spheres!

Valentino orchestrating the chickens was HILARIOUS and I loved it sm and will forever be one of my fav scenes

I love how Star gave Asha a magic wand!!! And I love that he loves yarn and knitting things 😭❤️ so cute

I loved all of Asha's friends and how supportive they are of her and how they care so much about her. Asha can I join your friend group please?!?!?!?!? Ngl, I wish they didn't base them and their personalities off the 7 dwarves and just developed their own original personalities, but they're still great characters nonetheless!

If you can get yourself friends that'll sing an absolutely AMAZING song ("Knowing What I Know Now") with you, they're keepers

I don't like how they tried to make Asha the Fairy Godmother at the end though (they don't even look the same!) Edit: It was a just a reference and I understand that now lol I was just confused for a bit

The MUSIC?!?!?! Don't even get me started The music and the songs were so fresh!!!! I genuinely loved them

And I ABSOLUTELY LOVED how they put EVERY SINGLE WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS MOVIE, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, IN THE END CREDITS (represented through characters)! And I absolutely LOVED that they used the "classic Disney" title fonts for the opening AND the credits!!!!!!

And I love how Asha's grandfather played "When You Wish Upon A Star" as the after-credits scene! I was feeling SO MANY EMOTIONS when I was watching this movie.

Basically the only thing I didn't like about the movie is that I was running late and didn't have time to buy a blue raspberry ICEE to drink while watching the movie 😔 And my popcorn was way too salty

I literally don't care about all of the bad reviews Wish got, this movie was GORGEOUS and encompasses all the magic of Disney while still being so original and detailed. Yes, there are some things that could've been better, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't good (I wouldn't PAY to see a movie I wouldn't like!) Absolutely can't wait for it to come on Disney+ so I can watch it again

So overall I would rate Wish a 9/10.

Now I have to go and start on Thanksgiving cooking lol God bless you all, have a happy Thanksgiving :)

[northern-passage]

hello! read the wlw vampire story you recommended and I loved it and was then surprised to see it was written by the author of The Hacienda, which I didn't enjoy. I was wondering if you read it? It has been pretty popular on booktube!

no i haven't! i actually had never heard of her at all, which did surprise me when i looked her up and saw she had published a book. and i very much did get the vibe that it was the kind of book that would be popular on booktube (not in a negative way like. it's just a Vibe, you can tell) so i was surprised that i had never heard of her because i do love booktube reviews lol

when i found that story i was just in the Mood for vampires (it's what i've been writing for like the last month now) and had literally just searched vampires on that website and was reading a bunch of the short stories, and that one just happened to be the best one, imo. and then i briefly looked her up before recommending it just because i like to do a vibe check before i recommend someone, hahaha