Top Gun: Maverick

tags: awesome sequel, free streaming for Amazon Prime members

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The New Confessions

tags: British, favorites, historical fiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

In this extraordinary novel, William Boyd presents the autobiography of John James Todd, whose uncanny and exhilarating life as one of the most unappreciated geniuses of the twentieth century is equal parts Laurence Stern, Charles Dickens, Robertson Davies, and Saul Bellow, and a hundred percent William Boyd.

From his birth in 1899, Todd was doomed. Emerging from his angst-filled childhood, he rushes into the throes of the twentieth century on the Western Front during the Great War, and quickly changes his role on the battlefield from cannon fodder to cameraman. When he becomes a prisoner of war, he discovers Rousseau's Confessions, and dedicates his life to bringing the memoir to the silver screen. Plagued by bad luck and blind ambition, Todd becomes a celebrated London upstart, a Weimar luminary, and finally a disgruntled director of cowboy movies and the eleventh member of the Hollywood Ten. Ambitious and entertaining, Boyd has invented a most irresistible hero.

William Boyd is a great story-teller and has again written an unforgettable character in John James Todd who is maybe a genius but is also clueless half of the time, resulting in his many failures. I love it and is worth a reread. 

Highly recommended. I also recommend The Blue Afternoon.  

The 10th Victim

tags: comedy, fantasy, farce, sci-fi 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 From IMDB

In the 21st Century, where a human vs. human "Big Hunt" is used as an alternative to war, a veteran huntress agrees to kill a "victim" to get a major TV sponsorship deal, but romantic entanglements between the two complicate matters.

Before The Running Man, The Hunger Games, and Battle Royale, there is the 1960s Italian movie, The 10th Victim, with Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress as prey and hunter. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. 

The movie is funny and satirical. The opening scene with Ursula wearing a shiny silver bikini while dancing and slapping men inside a masochists club is specially hilarious and ending in her triumphant elimination of the "hunter". 

The movie is also rather prescient with regard to current reality shows where contestants are being filmed in real time. I liked the costumes, jazz music, the witty dialogue, and specially the beautiful Ursula. I enjoy watching these types of old movies with cheap gadgets and sets but with beautiful leads unlike the latest Hollyweird drecks filled with fat ugly unfunny people like Melissa McCarthy, Whoopie Goldberg et al. Bring back the beauties, Hollywood!

Mystery Of The Blue Train

tags: Hercule Poirot, murder mystery, romance 🙄

⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

From Goodreads

Robbery and brutal murder aboard a luxury transport ensnares the ever-attentive Hercule Poirot in The Mystery of the Blue Train, from Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie. When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But she will never wake again—for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing. The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Hercule Poirot is not convinced, so he stages an eerie reenactment of the journey, complete with the murderer on board.

This is the only book of Christie's where I guessed right away the murderer but it didn't affect my enjoyment reading and it still deserves a 4 stars out of 5 IMHO.

The only thing I noticed and didn't like is her excessive use of adverbs in the early chapters but they disappeared as the book progressed. There is a bit of romance at the end which is not necessary. Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels so it's okay if romance suddenly sneaks in her mystery novels.

Recommended for die hard Agatha Christie readers.

Stuck In The 80s

Death Of A Gentle Lady

tags: Hamish Macbeth, mystery, Scottish highland

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

Gentle by name, gentle by nature. Everyone in the sleepy Scottish town of Lochdubh adores elderly Mrs. Gentle - everyone but Hamish Macbeth, that is. Hamish thinks the gentle lady is quite sly and vicious, and the citizens of Lochdubh think he is overly cranky. Perhaps it's time for him to get married, they say.

But who has time for marriage when there's a murder to be solved? When Mrs. Gentle dies under mysterious circumstances, the town is shocked and outraged. Detective Inspector Blair suspects members of her family, but Hamish Macbeth thinks there's more to the story, and begins investigating the truth behind this lady's gentle exterior.

I thought I have read all of the Hamish Macbeth mystery books and found out I missed reading this one. The last book was completed by another author after M.C. Beaton's passing.

Hamish didn't like Mrs. Gentle at their first meeting and vice versa. Hamish who has been wishy washy with regards to marrying either Priscilla or Elspeth, suddenly proposed to marry the "Turkish" maid of Mrs. Gentle to save her from being deported. The woman, named Ayesha is very tall, beautiful, and has blonde hair. She says some Turks are very fair. On the day of the wedding, Ayesha didn't show up and disappeared. 

Divorce Attorney Shin

16 episodes, Saturday and Sunday

tags: dramedy, Korean, Netflix streaming

From Asianwiki

Shin Sung-Han majored in piano and became a professor at a music university in Germany. One day, Shin Sung-Han hears shocking news. To find out the truth, he travels back to South Korea and works on becoming a lawyer. He eventually begins to work as a lawyer, specializing in divorce. He made the choice to specialize in divorce, due to reasons from his childhood. Shin Sung-Han faces his clients, with various unfortunate stories, and stands up for them. While doing this, he approaches the truth that he has been seeking.

I like it already with just 2 episodes. Cho Seung-Woo playing the title character is not the best looking guy in Kdramaland and is very short in stature but he is excellent in all the Korean dramas I've seen him in. He can also do comedy and credible as a sci-fi action hero.

Elle King Does Country

I wasn't aware Elle King has a new album and it's country. Country!!! Try Jesus is in the album Come Get Your Wife which came out in January 2023. The album is available to download from Freegal. It is a good country pop rock album. I like it.

BTW, playing a guy with short hair, she looks so much like her dad. 😀

Punishment Of A Hunter

tags: historical fiction, mystery, Russia

⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

1930s Leningrad. As a mood of fear cloaks the city, Investigator Vasily Zaitsev is called on to investigate a series of bizarre and seemingly motiveless murders. In each case, the victim is curiously dressed and posed in extravagantly arranged settings. At the same time, one by one precious old master paintings are going missing from the Hermitage collection. As Zaitsev sets about his investigations, he meets with suspicion at practically every turn, and potential witnesses are reluctant to provide information. Soon Zaitsev himself comes under suspicion from the Soviet secret police. The embittered detective must battle increasingly complex political machinations in his dogged quest to uncover the truth.

The novel is good but I didn't enjoy the style of the author constantly dropping parts of the story and left hanging after building tension. The continuation is revealed later on but what was her intention because I lost interest. I also was able to guess the who and the why. I think this will be a series and I'm not sure if I will read the sequel.

It's The 90s