APT APT APT

Catchy and fun tune/video. I love it!

Maria

tags: Maria Callas, Netflix movie

⭐🥱

Don't bother. The movie is extremely boring. I must be crazy to even consider watching it because I don't care much for Angelina and Maria. They are both overrated performers. Maria Callas dubbed as the greatest diva ever is laughable, IMHO. I never owned a single song/aria nor watched any of her performances. Same with Angelina. I have seen just two of her movies, Hackers and Salt. 

Yeah, I was a bit nuts to watch the Netflix movie. 45 minutes in, I started looking at my cellphone and realized the movie is making me sleepy. I stopped and removed it from my list. 

Christmas Tree Cats

Cats and trees.. 😂

Who can relate? pic.twitter.com/JCQMMm25Q6

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) December 6, 2024

Mary

 

December 6, 2024 on Netflix

The Fiery Priest Season 2

Finally, the wait is over after 5 years! Kim Nam GiI, Honey Lee, and the gang are back. I miss the old villains but the new group of villains, led by Sung Joon as a drug lord in Busan, is as good if not better. 

From AsianWiki 

Kim Hae-Il (Kim Nam-Gil) is a hot-tempered Catholic priest with a burning sense of justice. He heads to Busan to pursue a drug case which originated in Gudam-district, Seoul. Helping him in his pursuit are Prosecutor Park Kyung-Sun (Lee Ha-Nee), Detective Gu Dae-Young (Kim Sung-Kyun) from Gudam Police Station, and Detective Gu Ja-Young (Bibi) from Busan.

Sung Joon

The Forest Of Lost Souls

tags: mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From GoodReads 

A fearless woman, raised in the forest, fights against a group of powerful men in a novel about good versus evil, the enduring nature of myth, and the power of love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

Raised in the wilderness by her late great-uncle, Vida is a young woman with an almost preternatural affinity for nature, especially for the wolves that also call the forested mountains home. Formed by hard experience, by love and loss, and by the prophecies of a fortune teller, Vida just wants peace.

If only nearby Kettleton County didn’t cast such a dark shadow. It’s where Jose Nochelobo, the love of Vida’s life and a cherished local hero, died in a tragic accident. That’s the official story, but Vida has reasons to doubt it. The truth can’t be contained for long. Nor can the hungry men of power in Kettleton who want something too: that Vida, like Jose, disappear forever. One by one they come for her, prepared to do anything to see their plans through to their evil end. Vida is no less prepared for them. Vida, the forest, and its formidable wonders are waiting. She will not rest until goodness and order have been restored.

Dean Koontz's latest book is absolutely riveting. A fight between a young woman living alone far from the town and seriously evil men. She was orphaned at 5 years old and adopted by her great uncle who died of old age and she never left her forested 18 acre home.

The degenerate men who came for her with murder in their mind didn't know what was coming. The story unfolded slowly and the reader would feel scared for Vida but will find out how clever and prepared she was.  

A Hazard of Hearts

tags: Amazon streaming, gothic romance, rewinding the 80s

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

From IMDB

When compulsive gambler Sir Giles Staverley (Christopher Plummer) has lost his estate and all of his money playing dice, he realizes that he only has one thing left of value: his daughter Serena (Helena Bonham Carter). In a final game, he stakes his daughter's hand in marriage, convinced that this time he will not lose. Unfortunately, however, he does lose; to the evil Lord Harry Wrotham (Edward Fox). Unable to return home and tell his daughter that he has lost her in a game of dice, Sir Giles kills himself there and then.

Lord Justin Vulcan (Marcus Gilbert), who has witnessed the events, takes pity on Serena Staverley, although they have never met. He challenges Lord Harry Wrotham to a game of dice in which the winner takes Staverley Court and Miss Serena. Lord Justin Vulcan wins and is simply pleased that he has saved someone from the nasty Wrotham, he thinks no more about the event. One evening, however, Vulcan's friend Lord Peter Gillingham (Robert Addie) insists upon them going to Staverley Court to take a look at Vulcan's "prize". When arriving there, Vulcan finds Serena Staverley more beautiful than he ever imagined.

The gothic romance movie is based on a Barbara Cartland book. I've read a few of her books eons ago. They are all the same. You read one and you don't need to bother with the rest of her novels. They have the same stories with new names and titles of the lead characters. LOL.

I was not expecting much but I did enjoy it. It has the 80s campy vibes but with a British Lord and his household.  I couldn't believe how bad the movie is, yet I couldn't look away. I just had to finish it and liked it. Diana Rigg's acting as the evil mother is over the top, but I also liked it. hahaha. This movie with all its flaws is much better than the garbage Hollyweird is making these days. 

Recommended for fans of British period romance movies. 

Killer Heat

tags: murder mystery

⭐⭐

From IMDB

Follows twin brothers who find themselves in a dangerous love triangle on an isolated Greek island. The investigation is given to "The Jealousy Man," a wounded detective.

I knew this movie would be mediocre but it is based on a Jo Nesbø short story The Jealousy Man, and I just have to watch it. 

It is set in an island in Greece which is beautiful BTW. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, and Richard Madden. I've never seen anything with Shailene Woodley. She's alright but not a very good actress IMHO. 

I didn't like the narration by the hired PI, played by Levitt. I find it overused, pretentious, and tried too hard to sound noir. Gordon-Levitt is no Bogart, sorry. I also knew right away who the murderer is and why. It is so obvious. If viewers are surprised by the "twist", then they don't know murder mystery at all. Newbies to the genre, maybe. 

I also didn't like that some innocent people were killed but the 2 main characters did not even talk about it as though they are pieces of trash. The director and writer should have shown that the 2 main characters grieved for them because it was their mistake. Amateurs.

Not recommended.

The Five Red Herrings

tags: classics, Dorothy L. Sayers, Lord Peter Wimsey, mystery, puzzle, Scotland

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

The body was on the pointed rocks alongside the stream. The artist might have fallen from the cliff where he was painting, but there are too many suspicious elements -- particularly the medical evidence that proves he'd been dead nearly half a day, though eyewitnesses had seen him alive a scant hour earlier. And then there are the six prime suspects -- all of them artists, all of whom wished him dead. Five are red herrings, but one has created a masterpiece of murder that baffles everyone, including Lord Peter Wimsey.

The novel is a seemingly never ending puzzle with so many characters and their disappearances the very next morning. They rode trains and bicycles. I have never read a novel where the schedule of trains is very important to the story. With 6 suspects, the different schedules of train they took to different destinations is dizzying. And the missing bicycles! Oh, boy.

I like the novel for the descriptions of Galloway, Scotland as though I was on a tour with Lord Peter. The language is also very interesting. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote the words as they are pronounced and it was fun reading and understanding them. I probably would not have understood everything if I listened to the audiobook.

The exchange between the Scots Police Inspector and the H-adding English butler of one of the suspects is entertaining.

The Inspector opened his notebook. 

"Your name is Halcock, is't no?" He began. 

The butler corrected him. "It's H'alcock", he said reprovingly

"H, a, double l?" suggested the Inspector.

"There is no h'aitch in the name, young man. H'ay is the first letter, and there is h'only one h'ell."

"I beg your pardon", said the Inspector.

"Granted", said Mr. Alcock.

"Well, noo, Mr. Alcock, juist as a pure formality, ye understand, whit time did Mr. Gowan leave Kirkcudbright on Monday night?"

"It would be shortly after h'eight."

"Whae drove him?"

The novel will probably appeal to puzzle enthusiasts. Highly recommended.

The Last Murder At The End Of The World

tags: dystopian, murder mystery, sci-fi, simulacrums

⭐

From GoodReads

Solve the murder to save what's left of the world.

Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay.

If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it. But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don't even know it.

And the clock is ticking.

The synopsis made me read it hoping it might be as good as Kazuo Ishiguro's novels. Alas, it isn't and disappointing. 

I'm tired of reading about climate change hoax killing everyone and everything on earth. Authors (or people who think they are good enough to write a book), think of something else and not rely on friggin' climate change. Read some Philip K Dick novels to see how creative one could be. Sheesh!

Someone died, an over 150 year old scientist. What's the big deal? She died, alright but there was no murder. The author tried so freaking hard to make it a murder mystery, going round and round, pointing to 2 people. But it was not murder! The author just wants to show that the simulacrum leading the investigation is as smart as a human and therefore worthy of replacing humans when they go the way of the dodo. 

  

Skip this pretentious and boring book.

Romance In The House

tags: favorite for 2024, Korean  family dramedy, mystery, Netflix

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Asianwiki

Byeon Moo-Jin was married to Geum Ae-Yeon. They had a daughter, Byeon Mi-Rae and son, Byeon Hyeon-Jae, during their marriage.

Byeon Moo-Jin attempted various business ventures while married, but they all failed. His family could not take him anymore and they cut him off from them. After going through a divorce, Geum Ae-Yeon experienced difficulties raising her two children by herself.

Now, 11 years later, she works part-time at a big mart. Her daughter and son are all grown up. The daughter, Byeon Mi-Rae, wanted to become a person her mother could rely on. She works as the MD at a big mart. She is also the breadwinner of the family. The son, Byeon Hyun-Jae, has a unique charm, but he also the troublemaker of the family.

One day, Byeon Moo-Jin appears in front of his family as the owner of the villa building where they live. Byeon Moo-Jin hopes to reunite with his beloved ex-wife Geum Ae-Yeon and even tries to seduce her, but the daughter, Byeon Mi-Rae, is strongly opposed to her father's idea. Unlike his sister, Byeon Hyun-Jae supports his dad's attempt for reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Byeon Mi-Rae gets involved with Nam Tae-Pyeong (Minho). He was once a member of the national taekwondo team and now works as a security at the same mart as Byeon Mi-Rae. He hides his real identity and the fact that his father is the owner of the mart.

There are 2 Korean dramedy series currently streaming on Netflix. Romance In The House just finished airing the 12th and last episode. I love the series more than the other one, Love Next Door which I stopped watching at episode 7. It is the same old same old storyline. I might go back to it when there's nothing else to watch.

Romance In The House is somewhat different from the usual Korean drama comedy series because the main "romance" is between a couple in their late 40s. The second main romance is between the daughter and the security guard played by Minho who is still so cute with his big anime eyes. The series also has a chaebol who is kind and understanding, not the usual cruel and greedy character. The series has no evil or manipulative character. 

I also love the OST. Where can I download the songs??!!

 

Fruitcake

 

tags: comedy, Filipino movie, Netflix

⭐⭐⭐⭐
 

From IMDB

In modern-day Metro Manila, a diverse group of Filipinos faces life's lows as their destinies collide on a fateful train ride, unfolding a heartwarming and comedic tapestry of interconnected stories.

First time I watched a Filipino movie in 1 sitting. I usually stop the movie or series to decide if it is worthy of my time then I eventually abandon it. Filipino movies are always either dramedy romance or horror usually with subpar script and acting. 

Fruitcake is mostly comedy except for one character who got pregnant after a drunken night with her ugly co-worker. She wanted to abort the baby and asked her brother, a priest, for advice. Naturally the priest was against it and gave her the reasons why she shouldn't. And they were good reasons too without him being preachy. The movie bombed at the theaters. I knew why I liked it because Filipinos didn't.

The characters have indirect connection with each other except for the guy who wanted to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend. The movie will be funny only to Filipinos. Foreigners won't understand the jokes. Example: the guy who went to Manila to look for his ex-girlfriend has a piggery he runs with his mother. The sows have names of famous movie personalities with 1 or 2 letters altered but still recognizable as the celebrities they are named after. One of the pigs was sold by the mom so he can afford the trip to Manila from the province. It was later shown being roasted over live coals, a Filipino delicacy called Lechon. 

Photo by DUDE FOR FOOD

Spoilers

The Water Keeper

tags: contemporary Christian fiction, human trafficking, mystery, romance, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

Murphy Shepherd is a man with many secrets. He lives alone on an island, tending the grounds for a church with no parishioners, and he's dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. But as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, Murph himself may be more lost than he realizes.

When he pulls a beautiful woman named Summer out of Florida's Intracoastal Waterway, Murph's mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn.

Drawn to Summer, and desperate to find her missing daughter, Murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery.

With help from some unexpected new friends, including a faithful Labrador he plucks from the ocean and an ex-convict named Clay, Murph must race against the clock to locate the girl before he is consumed by the secrets of his past--and the ghosts who tried to bury them.

I never heard of this author before this book appeared on my Hoopla suggestions. It is a mystery with  romance and Christian quotes on the side. The first few chapters were not so exciting but picked up as soon as the mother looking for her daughter appeared. She started telling the story of a book series she had gotten addicted to and declared the books cured her of narcotics addiction. The story of the books [within the story] is a truly engrossing action thriller with a hint of romance between a priest and a nun working as a team to rescue young girls from predators. The story parallels the actual novel. There is a reason and it is easy to guess why. 

I'm rating it 5 stars regardless of the many many coincidences and the super duper hard-to-kill Murphy and the dog. The main character, Murphy, meeting the other people and even the adorable "super" dog Gunner is too contrived but I am giving the author a pass because I enjoyed the book. The sequel is already on my Kindle. 

Highly recommended for readers who like thrillers and are not easily offended by Christian and Bible quotes.

The Perfect Couple

 

tags: murder mystery, Netflix series, parody-ish

⭐⭐⭐

Amelia Sacks is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket. Her disapproving future mother-in-law, famous novelist Greer Garrison Winbury, has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the premiere wedding of the season — until a body turns up on the beach.

As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that feels plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect.

Starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber.

Nicole Kidman never appealed to me but the description seemed interesting. I binge-watched it and enjoyed it a little. It is better than Knives Out IMHO because I viewed it as a parody of Hollywood produced Agatha Christie style whodunnit. I like the comedic parts with the characters of Isabelle Adjani, the butler, and the housemaid.

The series is a red herring galore: all the members of the family, the female French friend, and male Indian friend were all paraded as suspects, most of them snitching on each other, except the real murderer. 

The series is a dark comedy IMHO although almost everyone got on my nerves specially Amelia, the hypocrite holier than thou fiancée of the couple's second son.

The 60s

My favorite song of the 1960s - Repent Walpurgis by Procol Harum.

The Influencer

tags: influencers, Korean, Netflix, reality show 

I was curious so I watched and was utterly surprised when Jang Keun-suk came out as one of the influencer "contestants". What???!!! Well, he's one of my original idols so I watched the first 4 episodes. I'll tune in next Tuesday and if he is there I'll continue watching. If he gets eliminated, then bye bye tv show. Jang Keun Suk is the only reason to watch this reality show. 

The first Korean drama with Sukki I watched was Beethoven Virus in 2008 or 2009. 15 years ago when he was just 21 years old. He's now 37, has gained a few pounds, but still cute. He stopped making dramas for a long long time and he is no longer as popular in Korea.

I even bought his music album, Just Crazy. All the songs are in Japanese. He had tons of Japanese fans but I'm not sure if he still is in demand in Japan.

 

Hillbilly Elegy

tags: JD Vance, memoir

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate now serving as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for the 2024 election, an incisive account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class.

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility.

But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.'s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. With piercing honesty, Vance shows how he himself still carries around the demons of his chaotic family history.

A deeply moving memoir, with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

I had no idea this memoir was written by JD Vance. I borrowed it from our library as soon as he was chosen by President Trump. I finished the book in one day. I did not have a rough childhood to identify with his but the narrative is so riveting and heartbreaking for a child to experience so much trauma and to end up a winner in life. He wrote the book not to have a pity party but to tell his readers that nothing is impossible if someone thinks positively and perseveres, and has the good luck of having loving and supportive family - grandparents. an older sister, aunt and uncle.

His childhood was unbelievably chaotic with his mother being an alcoholic and addicted to drugs and men. His mother married 3 times and had many boyfriends after he was born that he had a hard time having a male father figure to look up to because of the revolving door of men. His grandparents therefore became his guide to life, specially his grandmother whom he calls Mamaw. She was a larger than life character, as if she came out of a fiction writer's book. She was fierce, argumentative and prone to physical fights, but was loving and loyal to his family specially his 2 older grandchildren.

JD's father was his mom's second husband. They divorced and the father gave him up for adoption to the third husband. JD as a small child changed his name from James Donald Bowman to James David Hamel, the surname of his stepfather and his mom's third husband but unfortunately also divorced and left his mother, never to be seen again. To avoid having to explain why he has the surname of the man who is not his biological father but is not present in his life, he changed his surname to the one constant surname, his grandfather and mother's surname, Vance. Poor kid. He officilaly changed his surname to Vance in 2013 to honor his grandparents.

He didn't get good grades in Elementary nor in High School but he was determined to go to college. He was encouraged by his sister or aunt, if I remember correctly, to sign up for the marines where he spent 4 years. He enrolled at Ohio State University for his undergraduate degree. He worked hard to get the degree faster because as a 24 year old freshman, he felt he was much much older than his classmates. He worked 2 jobs while in school and even spent sometime in the hospital for overworking himself. He graduated Summa Cum Laude then applied to Yale. He didn't have any help from anyone but was accepted. At Yale, he was encouraged by his freshman professor, Amy Chua, to write this memoir. [Amy Chua is the famous or maybe infamous author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.]

He never mentioned politics nor his political leanings although he briefly mentioned that his Mamaw was a Democrat and only voted Republican just once in her life, for Ronald Reagan.

Highly Recommended. Keep an open mind and don't insert politics because there is none in this memoir although he cited Clinton and Obama, positively.

***********************************************************************************

I have heard of Senator Vance when he was endorsed by President Trump. JD Vance didn't like candidate Trump in 2016 and he voted for another candidate. Yes, he was a NeverTrumper and said negative things about President Trump because he didn't know him and he was probably convinced by the lying main stream media about President Trump. He obviously changed his mind after 2 years of President Trump in office when he saw the economy growing, fairer trading with other nations, increased employment and wealth for minority citizens (not illegal invaders) specially Blacks and Hispanics, tough in dealing with foreign nations sucking on USA teats, negotiateddiplomatic relations between Arab countries and Israel, and NO WARS throughout his 4 years in office. When President Trump chose him to be his vice presidential candidate, conservatives who didn't know much about Vance were divided. We either like or don't like Vance. After reading the book, I am on the LIKE list. He is a genuine person who loves his country.

The Genome

tags: mystery, parody-ish, Russian, sci-fi, 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Genome" is a new science fiction thriller by the author of the bestselling Night Watch series.

Five months after the horrific accident that left him near death and worried that he’d never fly again, master-pilot Alex Romanov lands a new job: captaining the sleek passenger vessel Mirror. Alex is a spesh—a human who has been genetically modified to perform particular tasks. As a captain and pilot, Alex has a genetic imperative to care for passengers and crew—no matter what the cost.

His first mission aboard Mirror is to ferry two representatives of the alien race Zzygou on a tour of human worlds. His task will not be an easy one, for aboard the craft are several speshes who have reason to hate the Others. Dark pasts, deadly secrets, and a stolen gel-crystal worth more than Alex’s entire ship combine to challenge him at every turn. And as the tension escalates, it becomes apparent that greater forces are at work to bring the captain’s world crashing down.

According to Goodreads readers, the author included a coded message that the novel is supposed to be a parody of space operas. My copy of the book doesn't have it. Maybe the author removed it, I'm not sure.

The odd characters, the good story, and the humor made me think it is sort of a parody. The murder mystery is very interesting. I enjoyed the book very much. Highly recommended.

The book is written by the author of Night Watch Series.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Impeached

Arrested

Convicted

Shot

Still standing

President Trump 2024

Pray for and God bless the GOAT, President Trump, the savior of our great country. 

Fight Fight Fight the true enemies of our Republic - the demonrats, globalists, fascists, socialists, commies, demonrat controlled media, ignorant robots voting for demonrats, pedo Hollywood denizens- all advocating for assassinating President Trump.

Violence always comes from the demonrats and the left

Fact check: Democrats are the ones calling for violence or physical confrontations❗️❗️ pic.twitter.com/RVetbNlbWY

— ͏͏͏𝐉𝐚𝐲 2.0 (@JayMaga47) September 3, 2022

Kindle First Reads For August 2024

Amazon Prime is giving 2 free books for August Kindle First Reads. I rarely download First Reads anymore becaue I always get disappointed at the quality of writing and the stories. I dared to download 2 books hoping for the best.

tags: friendship, motherhood, mystery

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

In a funny and suspenseful debut, Christine Gunderson explores the myth of the perfect mother, the bonds of female friendship, and the haunting impact of secrets.

What you see isn’t always what you get.

Take Ainsley. The gorgeous mother of two lives a picture-perfect life with her husband, Ben—aspiring politician and heir to a candy fortune—in suburban Washington, DC. But in reality, Ainsley has no idea what she’s doing and is terrified someone will figure out who she really is and where she came from.

Nikki’s fighting to keep afloat as a stay-at-home mother of four, subsisting on chicken nuggets and very little sleep. She’s a mess on the outside, and inside yearns for the validation—and the paycheck—of the television news career she left behind.

When a dangerous figure from Ainsley’s past becomes a coach at her kids’ school, she fears the worst and confides in Nikki, spilling every detail of her former life.

Together, they devise a plan to expose the coach and safeguard their kids. But can they protect their own lives—and their new friendship—in the process?

Two women who are unlikely to be friends team up to protect young girls from a pervy predator in his mid 50s. Both are stay at home moms, one is super rich, Ainsley, and the other is Nikki, a sort of a scatter brain because she has 4 small children, 5 year old twin girls, a 2 year old boy who pretends to be a tiny Luke Skywalker, and a 2 month old baby boy, so I understand her a little bit. Nikki provides the humor and there are lots of funny passages mainly from her. Sometimes it's much too much but I prefer it rather than excessive cussing and mindless sex in a novel. 

The book is a 3 star novel IMHO but I gave it a bonus star for Ainsley choosing Persuasion as her favorite Jane Austen novel. 👍📙

tags: DNF, fantasy, gumiho, Korean folktale, mystery, romance

From Goodreads

An enemy on her tails, an innocent at her side, and a dangerous power within her that could destroy them all.

Jayci Lee melds Korean folklore with modern Americana in this fiery new series.

In a race to stop an ancient evil from destroying the worlds as they know them, Sunny comes to a startling, heartbreaking if she chooses love—everything will burn.

Sunny Cho aspires to be the dullest, least interesting person in any given room, which can be challenging for a nine-tailed fox spirit. So she drifts from city to city—staying clear of any and all attachment—and keeps her fox buried deep inside her. It is better this way. She would rather live as half of herself than risk losing control of her terrible powers.

Ethan Lee, a friend she left behind eight years ago, is a brilliant and distractingly hot PI. When he tracks her down and asks her to help him find his brother’s murderer, Sunny knows her uneventful life is about to be turned upside down.

Traversing the mortal realm and the world of gods, Sunny and Ethan discover their quest is much more dire than mere vengeance, and their friendship might be…more.

An ancient evil is stirring, and Sunny is faced with an impossible save the worlds from annihilation or claim the love fated by the heavens.

I am a Korean drama addict - action, dramedy, fantasy, historical fiction, slasher, thriller. When I read the synopsis, I was already choosing the Korean actors to play in my mind while reading, the male and female leads (Park Bo-gum and Kim Yu-jung).

Unfortunately, the novel is written in the first person present tense (FPPrT). I went ahead and downloaded, thinking I might be able to tolerate it.

I'm sorry but I couldn't continue reading. I can't explain why I am allergic to FPPrT format. I read 6% before giving up. In other words - DNF (Did Not Finish).

Back to watching Korean dramas. 

Celebrate Independence Day

Savannah GA Waterfront

 Happy Independence Day! 

Final Witness

tags: mystery-crime

⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

One summer night, two men break into an isolated manor house and kill Lady Anne Robinson. Her son, Thomas, convinces the police that his father’s beautiful personal assistant sent the killers, but Thomas is known for his overactive imagination, and he has reasons to lie.

Thomas’s father, Sir Peter Robinson, the British minister of defense, refuses to believe his son. Instead, he marries his assistant, Greta Grahame, and will be giving evidence for the defense at her trial. He will be the final witness.

Author Simon Tolkien successfully combines legal suspense and psychological tension in this sharply etched portrait of four people whose lives are changed by a murder. Alternating between the trial in London’s Central Criminal Court and private moments among the characters, Tolkien expertly describes the art of the trial, the clash between Britain’s social classes, and, most notably, the complexity of family relations. Who is telling the truth—the new wife or the bereaved son? What will Sir Peter tell the court? With tantalizing ambiguity, Tolkien keeps readers guessing about the true motivations of these characters until the final witness.

We moved to a new house and I found a hard copy of this book while putting back books in shelves. No one in my house claimed ownership of the book. I certainly did not buy it because I hardly buy hard covers anymore. I have gotten used to reading Kindle books although I have both hard and ebook copies of my favorites.

I like the book. It is not the best but a quick read and satisfying murder mystery and courtroom drama. 

Eric

tags: drama, Netflix series

⭐⭐

Vincent is a puppeteer in 1980s New York whose nine-year-old son, Edgar, has gone missing. Vincent's increasingly volatile behavior alienates him from his friends and family.

After issues with substance abuse, Vincent becomes convinced that he can reunite with Edgar with the help of his seven-foot-tall puppet, Eric.

Oh boy. What a disaster this series is. Almost all the characters are unlikeable except maybe for the homeless young Black man who is befriended by the missing child.. 

It is a mishmash of dysfunctional family, racial issues, corrupt police, gay people hiding their sexuality, pedophilia, the usual rich snobby parents, and annoying puppets. 

Benedict is maybe a good actor but he can only do so much with a stupid story and script. His character is an alcoholic, does drugs, constantly quarrels with his wife, and sometimes ignores his child. 

I wasted 6 hours on this series. Not recommended. 

Night Watch Series

tags: magicians, sorcerers, Russian book series, shape shifters, thriller, urban fantasy, vampires

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

from Amazon  

Ignite your imagination with this immersive fantasy read!

"Like Tolkien getting mugged in a Moscow back alley by John Le Carre." —Bleeding Cool

The explosive first installment in Sergei Lukyanenko's visionary and internationally bestselling Night Watch series—an inventive blend of atmospheric urban fantasy and riveting spy thriller set in contemporary Moscow.

The Night Watch series tells the story of the Others, an ancient race of magicians, shape-shifters, vampires, and other supernatural beings that live among us, and swear allegiance to either the powers of Darkness or the forces of Light.

For the past 1000 years, the two sides have been locked in an uneasy truce, keeping their powers in balance as each side secretly plots to take the advantage for themselves. The forces of the Light tasked with keeping the Dark Others in check are the Night Watch.

Night Watch features Anton Gorodetsky, a mid-level Light magician, who during his first field assignment, stumbles upon a cursed young woman—an Other of tremendous potential power who has yet to choose between Light and Darkness. As the two sides prepare for battle, Anton discovers that their destinies are closely intertwined, and the slightest wrong move could cause the destruction of Moscow, or even the world.

The first story of the novel, Destiny, was made into a successful Russian film, Night Watch, which, although keeping the characters and many of the events of the original novel, alters some significant elements of the story.

6 books in the series, available on Kindle

Night Watch

Day Watch

Twilight Watch (also known as Dusk Watch)

Last Watch (also known as Final Watch)

New Watch

Sixth Watch

****************************************************************************

I saw the movies first before reading the books. I love the movies but I love the books more.

Read the synopses of the books here

City Hunter

I've been waiting a year for this live action City Hunter. Streaming on Netflix April 25. 

A Small Town In Germany

tags: comedic, mystery, spy catcher

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
From Goodreads

The British Embassy in Bonn is up in arms. Her Majesty's financially troubled government is seeking admission to Europe's Common Market just as anti-British factions are rising to power in Germany. Rioters are demanding reunification, and the last thing the Crown can afford is a scandal.

Then Leo Harting—an embassy nobody—goes missing with a case full of confidential files. London sends Alan Turner to control the damage, but he soon realizes that neither side really wants Leo found—alive.

Set against the threat of a German-Soviet alliance, John le Carré's A Small Town in Germany is a superb chronicle of Cold War paranoia and political compromise.

With an introduction by the author.

John le Carré's short novel was first published in 1968 and in the "introduction" he wrote that he was not happy with the book. He meant it to be comedic but the German people were not too happy with his depiction of them. He revised some of what he wrote and he was half satisfied with the finished novelette. 

I disagree with him. I loved the novel. It really has several laugh out loud portions specially the dinner with the German guests. The description of the wife of one of the guests is so funny. The book has the signature le Carré numerous characters that have their own quirks and personalities. 

Alan Turner, the spy catcher that everyone at the embassy despised and feared, was sent to Bonn to find Leo. He had a clever and hilarious brusque way of extracting information from the embassy people in order to know Leo and where he could be. All the embassy people told half truths about their relationship with Leo, including the 2 women, one worked at the embassy and the other was the wife of the head of the embassy. They both loved Leo. 

Leo never spoke throughout the book and only appeared on the last page but he was so alive and present through the descriptions of various people in and out of the embassy.

The book is comedic but tragic. Alan and Leo have become 2 of my most favorite characters created by  le Carré. 

Highly recommended for John le Carré enthusiasts.

Ripley

Goose🥚

The actor Andrew Scott is almost 50 years old and therefore much too old to play 25 year-old Tom Ripley. He looks more like the father of Marge or an older friend of Dickie. Who did the terrible casting? 

Scott also lacks the irresistible charm of Tom Ripley as described in the books. What young people befriend an old man with no charisma nor good looks? 

Filming in black and white screams overly pretentious and it annoyed me so much. 

I've seen two versions, one with Matt Damon and another with Alain Delon. They are not perfect but I enjoyed them more because both actors did excellent job as a con artist. Watch those instead. 

Not recommended even if you haven't read the book.

The 70s

 

Blondie and Debbie's runaway cat...

I know a girl from a lonely street 

Cold as ice cream, but still as sweet 

Dry your eyes, Sunday girl 

Hey, I saw your guy with a different girl 

Looks like he's in another world 

Run and hide, Sunday girl 

Hurry up, hurry up and wait 

I stay away all week and still I wait 

I got the blues, please come see 

What your loving means to me 

 She can't catch up with the working crowd 

The weekend mood and she's feeling proud 

Live in dreams, Sunday girl 

"Baby, I would like to go out tonight 

If I go with you my folks'll get uptight" 

Stay at home, Sunday girl 

Oooh oooh oooh 

Hé, j'ai vu ton mec avec une autre fille 

Il semblait dans un autre monde 

Cours te cacher Sunday girl 

Quand je t'ai revu l'été j'ai décidé 

Si ton amour était pareil au mien, 

Je pourrais être Sunday girl 

Dépêche-toi, dépêche-toi et attends 

Toute la semaine absent et pourtant j'attends 

J'ai le cafard, je t'en prie viens voir 

Ce que ton amour représente pour moi 

Dépêche-toi, dépêche-toi et attends 

Toute la semaine absent et pourtant j'attends 

J'ai le cafard, je t'en prie viens voir 

Ce que ton amour représente pour moi 

I got the blues

 

Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up and wait 

Hurry up, please come see 

What'cha do to me

 

Short Stories by Ellis Peters

Never Pick Up Hitch-Hikers!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

A hitchhiker is caught in a murderous web.

 His whole life, William Banks has been trying to escape his mother, who wants desperately for him to become a lawyer. Banks wants to paint, and when he gets the opportunity to attend art school in the next county, he jumps at the chance. It’s only forty miles, but it’s a start.

Getting to class, however, will be a deadly proposition. On his way there, Banks is picked up by Alf, a down-on-his-luck crook who has dreamed up a plan involving a fire, a burned body, and a dead hitchhiker. By all rights, Banks shouldn’t live to see morning, but a stroke of luck—and a very helpful village girl—help him escape death without his ever knowing he was in danger. Caught up in a bizarre case of missing identity, Banks must think quickly to save his own life—once he finally realizes someone is trying to kill him.

First Published January 1, 1976

This novelette is more of an adventure with a bit of comedy. It has a little mystery and lots of dead [bad] characters. The women in this short story are more prominent specially the wife of the bank robber. She is formidable both physically and mentally. The setting is 1970s but she wears a 60s bouffant hairstyle, think Amy Winehouse. The wig (hair extensions) adds 4 inches to her height and when she removes it for the night, it sits on the dresser looking like a Pekinese. LOL

60s bouffant hair style

The Assize of the Dying

Aunt Helen

⭐⭐⭐

In The Assize of The Dying, a defendant in an English courtroom is sentenced to death for a terrible slaying he insists he did not commit. Rising to his feet, Louis Stevenson places a medieval curse on the prosecutor, the judge, the jury foreman, and the actual killer—the four men responsible for his fate. Profoundly shaken by the condemned prisoner’s words, a young couple looking on believes Stevenson’s declaration of innocence. And their determination to uncover the truth only intensifies when two more deaths follow in quick succession.

In Aunt Helen, the seemingly civilized residents of a stately English country house keep secrets about love, marriage, adulthood, and desire hidden behind closed doors—until the “perfect murder” threatens to expose them.

First published in 1971 

In The Assize of the Dying, there is a supernatural element, sort of, when the falsely accused hexed the judge, prosecutor, jury foreman, and the killer during the assize that if he dies in jail, all four will also die. He killed himself and all four people he cursed died one by one. There is a contrived romance in the novelette. 

In Aunt Helen, I guessed who the villain is right away. 

Most Loving Mere Folly

First published January 1, 1953 under her real name Edith Pargeter

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A pair of artists is undone by jealousy and despair on the outskirts of London

In a forgotten suburb of London recently leveled by German bombs, an artists’ colony has taken root. Theo Freeland spent the war painting, studiously avoiding danger, while his wife, Suspiria, made pottery during the day and drove ambulances at night. But now the war is over, and Theo spends his time drinking himself into a stupor while Suspiria tolerates him as best she can. She has her work, and that’s enough. After all, she and Theo are promised to each other—till death do they part. Death, as it happens, is right around the corner.

Suspiria’s life changes forever the night her husband is helped home by Dennis Forbes, a strapping young mechanic who can’t take his eyes off the drunkard’s wife. When Theo is later found poisoned, and Suspiria claims Dennis as her own, the village turns on them. But the real tragedy is yet to come.

Suspiria at 36 is 14 years older than Dennis and she is already married. Still, they fall in love a la Vronsky and Anna.. Expect tragic outcome. Poor Karenin, I mean Theo. 

*******************************************************************************

Ellis Peters, the author of the Brother Cadfael mystery novels set during the medieval period, is the penname of Edith Pargeter. She is my favoritest author and her The Heaven Tree Trilogy sits at Number One on my favorites fiction books list.

Beauty And Mr. Romantic

 

Plot Synopsis by AsianWiki Staff

Park Do-Ra (Im Soo-Hyang) is an A-list actress, but a case causes her to fall to the bottom. Go Pil-Seung (Ji Hyun-Woo) is a rookie drama series PD. He falls in love with Park Do-Ra and he tries to bring her back to the top.

My weekend might get busy again watching this new 50 episode Korean drama starting on March 23. The queen of Korean revenge dramas Im Soo-Hyang stars so I have to watch her in a romcom series. I hope there won't be any revenge and the writer doesn't drag the story or add the ever annoying amnesia.

Literal title is Beauty and the Devoted. Alternate title on drama websites is Beauty And The Pure Guy.

The Signal

tags: drama, German, Netflix, pseudo sci-fi 

Goose egg🥚

The Signal: Woke In Space 

I just wasted more than 4 hours on this nonsense. It was made to spew wokeness. It has no entertainment value. The writer made up a ridiculous nonstory mainly to promote kumbaya We Are The World stupid idiotic nonsense with some "they are so greedy" and "we should stop war" without any context or back story. 

The female lead character said such dialogue but they were never discussed before or after EVER. What? Did I miss something? It was frustrating. 

The script is utterly bad and so is the acting. The woman chosen to be on board the ISS looked like she was really high on something. The program funded by an evil billionaire to let 2 civilians to board the ISS for some experiment chose a woman who is a smoker, takes drugs, has psychological problems, and hallucinates. Great! Sheesh. What could go wrong?

She is so stupid for not recognizing the voice she picked up from space which is the voice of Carl Sagan's son in Voyager 1 saying "Hello". She thought it was communication from aliens. What a moron! Her equally ignorant or maybe evil partner prevented her from telling the real astronauts who would have told them it is from Voyager. They could have prevented their murder by the evil benefactor. But they are stupid so they deserve what they got. 

Avoid it. I watched so you don't have to.

The Daughter of Time

tags: historical, mystery, Richard III

⭐⭐

From Wikipedia

Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant is feeling bored while confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. Marta Hallard, an actress friend of his, suggests he should amuse himself by researching a historical mystery. She brings him some pictures of historical characters, aware of Grant's interest in human faces.

He becomes intrigued by a portrait of King Richard III. He prides himself on being able to read a person's character from his appearance, and King Richard seems to him a gentle, kind and wise man. Why is everyone so sure that he was a cruel murderer?

With the help of other friends and acquaintances, Grant investigates Richard's life and the case of the Princes in the Tower, testing out his theories on the doctors and nurses who attend to him. Grant spends weeks pondering historical information and documents with the help of Brent Carradine, a likable young American researcher working in the British Museum.

Using his detective's logic, he comes to the conclusion that the claim of Richard being a murderer is a fabrication of Tudor propaganda, as is the popular image of the King as a monstrous hunchback.

I have never been interested in reading any books written by Josephine Tey until now because all the new mystery/crime novels are garbage. Well, the Daughter of Time published in 1951 is almost as nonsense as the current novels coming from the U.K. In 1990 it was voted number one in The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list compiled by the British Crime Writers' Association. In 1995 it was voted number four in The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time list compiled by the Mystery Writers of America. 

One of the reasons for their rating is they think it is not formulaic compared with popular mystery novels written by prominent authors. IMHO, mystery novels written by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ellis Peters are hardly formulaic and I consider these writers way better than Josephine Tey. 

I am scratching my head. Really. The very short book at 200 pages is one of the most boring crime/mystery fiction I ever read. I don't give a rodent's behind about the Wars of The Roses saga and it is a forgone conclusion that the inspector will declare Richard III innocent of suffocating his nephews to death just by looking at the portrait. Ah, alrighty then.🙄

I find Grant a pompous condescending character mocking Thomas More calling him a gazillion times "the sainted" More regardless of him knowing More was just a scribe for the enemy of Richard III and was just 5 years old when the "murders" happened. A young American started helping him gather information from several historical publications available from the British Museum. Their back and forth read like they came straight out of a textbook. The author did not bother to give these 2 characters distinct and different voices and personalities. They sound alike - wooden, cardboardy, and extremely borrrring. The 200 pages seem like a tome because it failed to make me involved in the mystery. Sheesh.

2 stars because I agree with some of her ideas specially the false stories created by unscrupulous politicians helped by their lapdog journalists. Their evil partnership was present since the dawn of time and hasn't changed.

Read if you must but I'm warning you it will make you snooze. Just watch those Wars of the Roses TV series. Maybe not accurate, but so is this book.

A Killer Paradox

tags: crime, Korean drama, Netflix

⭐⭐⭐⭐

8 episodes, 55 to 60 minutes

Choi Woo-sik and Son Suk-ku. How can I not binge watch the whole thing? The series has similarity to the characters in the book Crime And Punishment but the reason for the murders is closer to the 1999 movie The Boondock Saints. The writer IMHO plagiarized the main theme of the movie which is the moral dilemma in killing evil murderers and rapists. There are too many similarities I just cannot ignore. I still rate it 4 stars.

For those who haven't seen The Boondock Saints, the movie is about twin brothers in Boston who in self defense killed 2 Russian thugs terrorizing their local pub owner. They also killed in one go 8 of the Russian mobsters, including their leader, by sheer luck. They believed and decided they are good in getting rid of mafias, drug lords, pedos, sex merchants, or anyone who is a menace to society. The FBI agent played by Willem Dafoe was no match for the boys and eventually joined them. LOL. The Boondock Saints is one of my favorite movies.

Fast X

⭐

Ugh! Enough of this series already. Just stop it! The actors are getting older, fatter, and uglier [the always grumpy Michelle Rodriguez and Vin Diesel in particular]. Even Ludacris has noticeably aged, starting to have eyebags.

I had to watch the whole movie, over 2 hours of crappy dialog and acting, explosions galore, and ridiculous car chases, so I can rate it. The 1 star is for John Cena and the boy who both did a good job delivering their lines. Almost every actor [except Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, and Sung Kang] sounds like he/she is reading. Jason Momoa's Dante is cartoonish and over the top but I somehow wanted him to win just to end this series once and for all. Alas, the movie ends in a cliffhanger and there is going to be a Fast XI. Oh dear. Why???!!!

Do not watch.