#iain reviews

[theromanticrationalist]

My Thoughts: Young Sheldon 7x02 A Roulette Wheel and a Piano Playing Dog

Look how cute he is! Cute as a button! 😙 Awwww! Baby! It is so difficult for me to watch Sheldon struggling. Imagine being a fish out of water your entire life where your one socially acceptable trait is your intellect, which surpasses everyone’s, only to be thrown into A WHOLE OTHER COUNTRY, taking the fish metaphor to a whole other level, only to discover THE one quiver in your arsenal is utterly moot.

Damn. My poor baby string bean! But he handled it so well. He pushed through! I am proud of my Shelly! It is the aspect of why YS is better than TBBT because they allow for Sheldon to be a more complex individual and don’t treat him like a child, even though he is literally a child. The show allows circumstances to push against him, to make him stronger, and the narrative isn’t constantly belittling him as if he can’t handle life at all. It is actually quite a big deal that Sheldon was able to keep his mouth shut and humbled himself under an authority in order to learn what he needed to. And he did this by HIS choice! He listened to what those around him where telling him, and chose the wiser path. He didn’t have to be coerced, manipulated, or browbeaten into it, which was often the route TBBT took.

Well, his tutor DID use physical reinforcement, but a wrap on the hand is good for the boy. 😁

Which brings me into my next thought, I don’t think this moving back and forth from Texas and Germany is going to work really well for the storytelling. I want to see how the whole Cooper family is doing, of course, but I am primarily watching this show for Sheldon! I don’t feel like they are able to spend the amount of time necessary to really explore this experience he is having. It feels so rushed. I don’t like it. I want more time to process Sheldon’s life lessons here and how he is feeling about it. It is the same old story! This is literally one of the biggest problems with American media.

They. never. give. enough. time. to. the. story. EVER. !!!!!

🤦‍♀️ Why are you the way that you are, American Media. I hate so much everything that you choose to be.

Anyway, I did love the heart to heart chat between Missy and Georgie this episode! That was so sweet! They are learning what it means to have responsibilities and that growing up requires so much thankless sacrifice. I love the bond that Missy and Georgie have, and I am glad we got to see them process this experience together. And way to go Missy for not only stepping up, growing up, and being so mature and on top of things, but she also is learning about boundaries! Damn girl! 🔥 I know Mary Cooper loves serving her family so I love that aspect about her, but the boys definitely shouldn’t leave all the house stuff to the women folk, as if they have to be served and waited on. Missy is killing it! 💪

Missy and Sheldon, two sides of the same coin! I hope to talk more about that later! 😉 Now it’s time for...

My Favorite Sheldon Cooper Quotes: Sheldon: "And they laughed at me for not knowing something they knew! Who does that?!" Mary: ". . . you do." Sheldon: "This is no time for a teachable moment! Your child is hurting." Mary: "Sorry." *pats him on the arm* "There there." Sheldon: "I guess that'll do. Now how about a hot beverage?" Mary: 😑

Sheldon: “Oh! I see the problem! This is stupid! You can’t just invent dimensions. There is this one, this one, and this one.” Mei-Tung: “You forgot the dimension of time.” Sheldon: . . . Sheldon: *holds out his hand* Mei-Tung: *slaps it with a pencil* Sheldon: “Ow! . . . Thank you." Sheldon Prime: "I wanted to give up and runaway. But I had read enough comic books to know that heroes don't quit. Instead of running I decided to stay and face the biggest challenge I've ever had: keeping my mouth shut. This turned out to be a pivotal moment in my life. By being open to people smarter than me, I grew as both a man and a scientist. Humble. Brilliant. I really am the whole package!"

[thebooksareeverywhere]

life recently🥰

[roseshavethoughts]

Lost River (2014)

Lost River (2014) #Review

Synopsis-In Lost River, a deserted city, Billy finds it hard to retain her ancestral home as she defaults on a loan. To save his family from bankruptcy, Bones, her son, tries to unearth the town’s origins. Director- Ryan Gosling Starring- Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Eva Mendes Genre- Thriller | Fantasy Released- 2014 ⭐⭐ Rating: 2 out of 5. Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut “Lost…

[casualtysteviefan-slay]

Series 37 Episode 38 review

- Episode was very different, loved the setup and interjections/narrations from NHS workers

- Iain with HEMMS is always a slay,

- Stevie looking gorge, as per. Eyeliner really slaying. However, I think she's anxious about something, they kept zooming in/focussing on her rubbing her neck/shoulder, and she looked exhausted all episode. Almost half broken mentally, not like normal sympathy and upset at patient dying, but genuinely broken. I think she was about to cry at one moment and that really shocked me, please someone back me up at how not ok Stevie seemed to be last night.

- No reference to last week's EP at all, bar Max not being in it (I think maybe Dylan referenced it very briefly but I might be wrong). I thought very strange as surely Jodie would be upset more.

- ED very busy, lovely highlighting in that EP as to how hospitals normally are now.

- The guy filming when HEMMS arrived at the scene was wholly inappropriate, but again too normalised

- Cam being anxious, please let him grow as a character because he stood up to Ryan last week!!!!

- Donna is being a great guide to the younger nurses (notably Cam and Jodie) this episode, loving it!

- Jodie and Stevie friendship need to see more of, they are such cuties really!

- Jodie getting smacked in the face wasn't expected

- I didn't like that Rob dude, the one that operated on the patient, he was a bit of a prat and he ground my gears

- "Cam, go move your butt and get one" - Stevie. I don't need to say anything else

- Iain promised his famous brew. Thank you Casualty for consistency!!!! Even if it is only Iain's tea making skills

- The patients wife was lovely, and I felt so bad for her, especially as she was pregnant

- Dorothy. Such a sweetheart. Love her.

- RYAN WAS ACTUALLY NICEEEEEE! We love that. Slight redemption in my eyes! Him getting Dorothy's family down because it was meant to be her birthday and she was meant to be travelling to Manchester to see her son, and getting everyone to sing happy birthday to her was adorable and it was soooooo wholesome. Love it.

- Stevie's a sweetheart really. I have no clue what I meant by that.*

- Was the team operating on that patient one from Holby City? Was Eli in Holby because I recognise the name but am not sure as I never got fully into Holby before it got cancelled

- Stevie and Dylan slay as a duo and we need more of this, along with more Dylan and Donna and Jodie and Stevie.

- Also, absolutely no mention of the Sah/Paige kiss this ep. Very confused because, like, very big moment, why no mention?

- I think it's because it was a 75th anniversary special for the NHS they tried to avoid too many regular storylines, but I have no clue.

*To make this, I used the spam I sent to my friend as the show was happening, so some of my notes I have no clue what happened in the ep to trigger that response.

This is a learning process these next few weeks as to how I set out the weekly opinions, so please be patient and/or give feedback

Stevie is a fave right now, so there is very likely to be heavy Stevie analysis. Enjoy!

[nostalgia-tblr]

sometimes while reading review of history books on amazon i come across one that seems to think the book is fiction. i don't mean they bought the book in the mistaken belief that it was and now they're complaining about that, i mean they've read the book and they're saying it's quite good but a bit dry and goes off on odd tangents and the characters were poorly-developed so they found it a bit difficult to get into the story.

i'm going to chose to believe this is just people who read almost exclusively fiction failing to adapt their review vocabulary when discussing a work of non-fiction, because the alternative's just a bit much for me to accept.

[abookisafriend]

the player of games, by iain m. banks: four and a half out of five dice

the player of games is one of my favorite science fiction novels, up there with dune and the left hand of darkness. it helps that i am also a player of games. i understand the way the protagonist feels when he strives to win: it is a test of intelligence and worth -- if not socially, genuinely, then in the player's own mind.

this is one of the first culture novels, a series set in a galaxy-wide human (and ai) culture that has eliminated want and social hierarchy (mostly). player of games follows a protagonist who, in this post-scarcity* economy, has a role as a professor of game theory. (this is not game theory as in economic decision making but as in the theory of actual games.) he is a renowned player of games with a reputation as being one of the best -- but not the best -- gamers in the entire galaxy-wide culture. he stakes a great deal of personal self-worth on his skill, and it is implicit but tangible that he burns with the knowledge that he is not the best. still, he's bored, and he's frustrated that he seems to have hit a ceiling. throwing a wrench into this stagnation, someone blackmails the player of games, and, desiring some time to let the situation cool down, he leaves his comfortable life and takes on a new role for the culture.

the player of games ends up on a diplomatic mission of sorts for the galaxy-wide culture of humans he represents. there is an empire in a distant part of the galaxy who -- are you ready for this? -- bases the selection of their leadership entirely on the results of a game. the game represents all of life as they see it. the time for the regular tournament has arrived, and the role of the protagonist is to serve as a diplomatic representative for his culture … and to play the game.

witnessing the gameplay in this novel is fantastic. although the rules of the game are never fully enumerated -- it would be too complex and turn the novel into a rulebook -- we learn enough of it to understand the players' strategies and victories. the game is described thoroughly enough to build a sense of drama. the world of the empire is also vividly illustrated; be warned that it will not be a pretty one. the violence of the empire is portrayed at an angle, but starkly.

the character work, although not as strong as leguin's, and the social storytelling -- the drama of societies -- will pull in the reader, and the drama of the game will grip them. if you love games, that goes doubly. i do think that the story will appeal to a wide range of readers, though, not just the gamers, because i shared the book with someone who has little interest in gaming and who still agreed that this novel stands with the greats. if you've never tried the culture series before, give this book a spin; roll the dice.

*a post-scarcity society is a society in which the distribution of goods no longer operates under the logic of "scarcity" -- the logic that comes from having fewer goods than there are demands. when supply fully meets demand, there's no longer any material reason to trade goods based on extracting value from each other; instead, we can all have whatever we want without depriving anyone else. in the culture novels by banks, artificial intelligence and a stupendous physical capacity for automated labor make it such that anyone can more or less have anything, except for command over other people.

[moviesandmania]

OPERATION NAPOLEON: FROZEN CONSPIRACY (2023) Reviews of action thriller

‘A dark secret hides beneath the ice’ Operation Napoleon: Frozen Conspiracy is a 2023 action thriller film about a female lawyer who is accused of a murder she didn’t commit. Her only chance of freedom lies in uncovering the secret of an old German WWII aeroplane, long buried deep beneath the ice, before the CIA… Directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson (I Remember You; Black’s Game) from a screenplay…

[bormgans]

EXCESSION - Iain M. Banks (1996)

People change. It must have been 2008 when I started reading fiction again, and Iain Banks’ Culture series became among the first things I devoured. Excession was my favorite of the series back then, and I decided it was time to reread it – hopefully to be entertained and awed again, and, at the very least, to take a long, hard look in the mirror of time. For those unfamiliar with Banks & the…

[shippinginthedeep]

I really liked the first episode, even when it was focused on Derfel and I was thinking "well, I guess no more Arthur till next episode" I was interested in Derfel and Nimue and their story and relatioship and I liked how the show took its time to introduce the characters and establish the situation and I didn't find it boring at all. I like fantasy and period shows and I like the schemes in pursuing of power and the medieval setting so I liked the episode for the potential it shows for the rest of the series that makes me think I'm going to enjoy it (besides Iain de Caestecker hehe) I really can't wait till next chapter.

[biblioklept]

Iain Banks's The Wasp Factory is an abject coming-of-age novel narrated by a teenage psychopath

Frank Cauldhame, the narrator of Iain Banks’s 1984 debut novel The Wasp Factory, is a teenage psychopath. Frank lives with his eccentric father on an island in rural Scotland. He is an unregistered person with “no birth certificate, no National Insurance number,” nothing to officially prove his existence. He enjoys this unofficial existence, patrolling his island, which he protects through…

[lostinaflashforward]

SILO - Recensione 1x08 “Hanna”

Silo non si ferma e a due episodi dalla conclusione della stagione regala un capitolo sorprendente e tesissimo, che pone le basi per un' esplosiva fase finale... 

RECENSIONE 1x08

[earnestlyeccentric]

The Crow Road

Author: Iain Banks Rating: 1/5 Prentice McHoan is recently estranged from his father, experiencing unrequited love and is totally curious and confused about all the weird happenings in his family. Spoilers ahead. (more…) “”

[deepdarkspaceblog]

'The Algebraist' Is The Last Iain M. Banks Book I Will Ever Read

The Algebraist is the Last Iain M. Banks Book I Will Ever Read #bookreview #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheAlgebraist

Iain M. Bank’s The Algebraist was published in 2004. I picked up my copy sometime in 2007. Over the years I have picked up The Algebraist to read, but for one reason or another put it back down. I would get to it, I thought. Sadly, in 2013, Iain M. Banks (or Iain Banks for readers of his more mainstream works) passed away from inoperable cancer. I immediately began a reread of his Culture…

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

The Swimmers (15): Swimming the Aegeon in a Quest for Glory.

#onemannsmovies review of "The Swimmers" (2022). #theswimmers. An extraordinary true story of refugees beating the odds. 4/5.

A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Swimmers” (2022). Yet another film on my BAFTA catch-up list, this one nominated for “Best British Film”. “The Swimmers”, on Netflix, tells the true life story of two sisters, both professional swimmers, and their journey to escape the war in Syria. Bob the Movie Man Rating(s): Plot Summary: Yusra Mardini (Nathalie Issa) and her sister Sara (Manal Issa) are…

[adamwatchesmovies]

Hackers (1995)

Hackers is on the cusp of being a good film. Even if you don’t like it, you can understand its appeal. A product of its time (for the better I say) it may in no way reflects what computer hacking is actually like but the picture’s got plenty of style.

Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) is a prodigal hacker who has finally gotten off of his no-computer parole (as per a judge ruling). Now 18, he befriends a group of hackers at his high school and, while proving his computing skills, stumbles upon a corporation's extortion scheme.

In reality, hacking more often than not consists of guesswork. Is the password their birthdate? The name of their first pet? They seem to have a strange fascination for Deep Blue Sea, so perhaps you should try “shark”? Hackers dips its toe in this reality but if you can operate a computer in this film, you’re basically a wizard. Turn traffic lights on and off? Sure. Alter someone’s criminal record? Easy peasy. Why not go all the way and pronounce them dead? No problem. You'll either cringe at the inaccuracies or appreciate the 90’s-ness on display. Today, hackers are stealing your credit card information or locking you out of your computer unless you pay a ransom. Back when the internet was a new thing, being a hacker meant you were part of this elusive group that was “In the know”. It meant you knew how computers worked and that - if you were stealing from anyone - it was from a big corporation that was probably up to no good. You were a criminal, sure, but really, you were someone who had a cheat code to life, a person to be admired. That’s the headspace you have to put yourself in while watching this Iain Softley picture. If you can manage that, you'll have fun.

Even for the time, aspects of "Hackers" are flimsy. The characters are flat. Aside from liking computers and having a certain disregard for authority figures, you don’t know much about Dade. Similarly, his new friends Ramon “The Phantom Phreak” Sanchez (Renoly Santiago), Emmanuel “Cereal Killer” Goldstein (Matthew Lillard), Paul “Lord Nikon” Cook (Laurence Mason) and Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford) are so thin they basically become generic hacker stand-ins. Angelina Jolie as Kate does a little bit better, mostly because she's the only female in the group and has more screen time than the rest, but even then, you wouldn’t know what to bring up in a conversation. At least they fare better than the picture’s villain, Eugene “The Plague” Belford (Fisher Stevens, looking an awful lot like Billy Mitchell). They all fit in this era of filmmaking, but there’s much more that could’ve been done with them.

One of the film’s most notable aspects has to be its visuals. “Wait, what? Isn’t this film about people typing on their keyboards?” Yes, but that’s not what you see. It’s not quite on the same level as Tron, which is really a fantasy film with a coat of “computer jargon” on top, but it’s getting there. When Dade and his friends hop online, the audience is treated to cool sights as city blocks turn into visual representations of what it would be like to navigate the web if websites where three-dimensional. We all know it’s nothing like that in real life, but it sure makes for some interesting images.

While Hackers does not reflect what breaking into a corporation’s server is really like, it does understand the mindspace of its people. It shows you that desire to stand out from the crowd, the need to create a new identity via handles, breaks down why someone would find it so exciting to spend hours (theoretically) pouring through code to find that one line that allows them access into a backdoor in a program. This is a wild exaggeration, but it has some distant ancestor that was the real deal. There are a few too many parts that’ll make you go “Come on, REALLY?” but I can still mildly recommend Hackers. (On DVD, May 4, 2018)

[mylifeinfiction]

We Spread by Iain Reid

What I’ve done is enough. It’s beautiful only because there’s an end. There are so many things we can just let go. Tant de choses à laisser aller.

It's been a long time since I've read an entire ~300 page book in a single night. The prose is just so incredibly succinct throughout that the pages flew by. Iain Reid's  We Spread isn't a book about the fear and horrors of death, but what comes before it. It's about that crushing sense of confusion and exhausting helplessness we witness in the elderly we love. It's about the desperation that comes with the realization that wanting to live forever and wanting to be remembered aren't one and the same, and time is finite. It's a lightning fast read that's as disquieting as it is sorrowful as it is subtly sanguine. I would've liked the themes to come together in a slightly less convoluted manner in the end, but they still hit home as intended. Also, the similarities to Florian Zeller's The Father are ever-present, and if treated similarly, this could make one devastating film.

“What’s the lie this time?”

“This lie is one about life, that we need more of it, that we need to be more productive, produce more, that it has to be longer, that death is the enemy. It’s not true. Infinity is a breathtaking mystery, or so I used to believe. Now I know it’s not. Infinity is stagnant. It doesn’t expand. It can’t. It’s just immeasurable. It’s not a mystery, it’s simply endless.”

8/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

Note: Rather than making my own original photo of this book, in an insomnia-fueled decision I opted to create something using the book artwork off Amazon and a random stock image I found in a Google Image search. It’s not the highest of quality, but for making it in a sleepless daze on my phone, I really like how it came out.