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.

The Bad Weather Friend

tags: horror, humor, mystery, sci-fi. supernatural, suspense

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

Benny is so nice they feel compelled to destroy him, but he has a friend who should scare the hell out of them.

Benny Catspaw’s perpetually sunny disposition is tested when he loses his job, his reputation, his fiancée, and his favorite chair. He’s not paranoid. Someone is out to get him. He just doesn’t know who or why.

Then Benny receives an inheritance from an uncle he’s never heard of: a giant crate and a video message. All will be well in time. How strange—though it’s a blessing, his uncle promises. Stranger yet is what’s inside the crate. He’s a seven-foot-tall self-described “bad weather friend” named Spike whose mission is to help people who are just too good for this world. Spike will take care of it. He’ll find Benny’s enemies. He’ll deal with them. This might be satisfying if Spike wasn’t such a menacing presence with terrifying techniques of intimidation.

In the company of Spike and a fascinated young waitress-cum-PI-in-training named Harper, Benny plunges into a perilous high-speed adventure, the likes of which never would have crossed the mind of a decent guy like him.

Amazon Prime First Reads for the first time ever offers one great book and possibly one good book to start the year.

Dean Koontz's The Bad Weather Friend is superb. The usual sci-fi, horror, humor, mystery, and supernatural are all present, with a little romance added to the mix. It has a fabulous happy ending and I laughed out loud at the parts where Dean Koontz poked fun at almost everything from "climate change advocate"(Greta), pronouns (he/she/it/they/them), smutty fictions (A Game of Thrones), industrial cheap home decor (Ikea), EVs, artists with no actual talent (Francis Bacon, Edvard Munch, Jackson Pollock), and so much more.

Nice Benny never gets angry and doesn't get shocked by anything. When he was a small child, his abusive and drunkard father was shot and killed in front of him. He was spared by the killer because he didn't go into hysterics nor manifested fear. He instead proudly showed the LEGO he was building, a staircase to heaven, and the killer probably thought he was a retard. 

His most horrible experience was in a private school out in the remote mountains when he was 13 years old. The demented wife of the school principal seemed like a descendant of Dr. Moreau, experimenting on unsuspecting children of wealthy parents. She was actually infected by aliens and was being used by nefarious secret government agency to study how to subdue the citizens but she had a more sinister plan which was to rule the whole universe. 

When he was a 23 year old successful realtor, he received a shipment from his weird Uncle and the box contained an 1800 year old 7 foot tall alien being called a craggle. Spike, the craggle reminds me of a golem or a jinni. He has super powers and is staying with Benny to protect him from evil people, AKA the elites, who cannot stand nice people and want to kill them all to prevent more nice people to multiply.

I like the humor, the political jabs, and Odd Thomas vibes, although I find Dean Koontz inserted too many metaphor.

I love the book and recommend it to Dean Koontz fans. (Leftists will find themselves being ridiculed in the book so avoid if you are a humorless leftist.) 😁

Best Book Review

I wouldn't go to this extreme because I don't have the tools nor the knowledge. 

This guy made a nice work of art out of a book he deems trash. From trash to a beautiful trash bin. 😄

Best book review IMHO. 

My Demon

tags: fantasy, Kdrama, Netflix, romance, supernatural 

16 episodes, Friday and Saturday

A demon Jeong Gu-won is superior to humans in every way, but when he loses his powers, he will have to work with a chaebol heiress Do Do-hee to recover them, and romance begins to bloom in this process.

Song Kang and Kim You-Jung. They are both pretty. Kim You-Jung is not only beautiful, she is also one of the best acting actresses in KDramaland.

Song Kang's Sweet Home Season 2, a horror fantasy series is coming on December 1, 2023 on Netflix. Can't wait.

Adjustment Team

tags: Philip K Dick, science fiction, short story

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

After getting held up on his way to work, Ed Fletcher worries about the repercussions he will face when he reaches his office. Little does he know that his late arrival will give him a glimpse behind the very fabric of human existence and put him at odds with powers he cannot comprehend.

"Adjustment Team" is a science fiction tale of Ed Fletcher, a real estate salesman who leads a normal life, until one day, when he leaves the house for work a few minutes later than he should have. A man called the Clerk approaches a talking dog, and explains in businesslike manner that "Sector T137" is scheduled for "adjustment" at 9 o'clock. He instructs the dog to bark at exactly 8:15, which the Clerk explains will summon "A Friend with a Car", which will take Ed Fletcher to work before 9, but while the Clerk is preoccupied, the dog falls asleep and as a result barks a minute too late. Inside Ed's house, while he is getting ready for work, Ed is accosted by a door-to-door insurance salesman and doesn't leave for work until 9:30. Ed arrives at his office building, but upon stepping onto the curb, finds himself in a sunless version of the world where everything and everyone is immobile, ash-grey, and crumbles at his touch. Ed is accosted by white-robed men, who talk about "de-energizing" him with a hose-like piece of equipment, but he flees outside and across the street, back to the everyday world, fearing he's had a psychotic episode.

I'm again on a Philip K. Dick binge-reading. It started when I watched The Adjustment Bureau on Netflix streaming which is based on PKD's short story, Adjustment Team.

The movie IMHO is a great adaptation of the story adding a love story to explain further the short story. I liked it very much regardless of the female lead, Emily Blunt. Matt Damon is very good with his boyish looks and natural acting. I also liked the script, mysterious and philosophical yet full of humor, just like the short story.

Back to the short story which feels dreamlike, maybe nightmarish. It has a "happy ending". It is equally funny and serious while imparting a relevant or maybe debatable message. I like PKD's simple writing style, no flowery language, just straight story telling.

Highly recommended.

The Nine Tailors

tags: Lord Wimsey, mystery

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

While ringing in the New Year, Lord Peter stumbles into an ominous country mystery.

Lord Peter Wimsey and his manservant Bunter are halfway across the wild flatlands of East Anglia when they make a wrong turn, straight into a ditch. They scramble over the rough country to the nearest church, where they find hospitality, dinner, and an invitation to go bell-ringing.

This ancient art is steeped in mathematical complexities, and tonight the rector and his friends plan to embark on a nine-hour marathon session to welcome the New Year.

Lord Peter joins them, taking a step into a society whose cheerful exterior hides a dark, deadly past. During their stay in this unfamiliar countryside, Lord Peter and Bunter encounter murder, a mutilated corpse, and a decades-old jewel theft for which locals continue to die.

In this land where bells toll for the dead, the ancient chimes never seem to stop.

Lord Wimsey and his valet Bunter were visiting the Fen country when they had a car mishap. They walked to look for help and Bunter guessed they were near Fenchurch St. Paul. The church clock chimed at the same time and Lord Peter uttered "Thank God! Where there is a church, there is civilization." How true! 

They walked on to the church where they met the rector and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Venables. The rector was eccentric but lovable and his wife was smart and efficient. I love the setting and numerous characters, specially Mrs. Venables. 

There is mystery alright, a dead body with an unlikely "murderer", but the story is centered on the bell-ringing called change ringing. I had to stop reading and watched it on YouTube. Very interesting. 

I have just voted it my favorite Lord Peter novel. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote a very engaging novel with her usual sense of humor. It was hard to put down once I started reading.

Highly recommended for Dorothy L. Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey fans.

Burn The House Down

 

tags: Japanese dorama, Mei Nagano, mystery, Netflix streaming, revenge

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Anzu (Mei Nagano, charming and enigmatic) watched her family home go up in flames when she was young. Her mother, Satsuki, apparently left the stove on. All her material possessions were lost and, soon afterward, her family broke apart.

Satsuki developed generalized amnesia, and her husband, Osamu, married her former best friend Makiko. The two of them now live in the same house, which has been restored.

Working with her sister Yuzu, Anzu adopts the identity of Shizuka Yamauchi and gets a job as Makiko’s housekeeper.

Anzu: "That woman stole my home and my family…”

Lovely Mei Nagano as Anzu is all grown up and starring in a revenge family drama. I first saw her in Rurouni Kenshin when she just 13 years old. She's now 24!

Mei Nagano in 2016 Japanese high school dorama, Koe Koi

Highly recommended for Japanese manga live action drama series fans. I loved it!

A Room With A View

 

Beautiful music. Kiri Te Kanawa singing an aria, Chi il bel sogno di Doretta, from Puccini's opera La Rondine (The Swallow).

Julian Sands's death was all over the news feed last week. So sad. I've only seen 2 of his movies, A Room With A View and Warlock.

A Room With A View is one of my favorite movies of all time. I watched it a gazillion times since its release in 1986 or 87. I have 3 different copies. I first watched it on Betamax. Yup, Betamax which was what's available in the Philippines at the time. When we moved to Hong Kong the following year, I had to buy a VHS copy because Hong Kong didn't use Betamax and it had a different system too (PAL). After 3 years we moved to the US so I had to get another VHS copy because USA had a different system (NTSC). When DVDs arrived, of course I had to get it. Same with Sixteen Candles. The tapes of both movies are in a box somewhere in the basement.

A Room With A View is almost perfection with a superb cast. Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy Honeychurch - her luxuriant hair was to die for and I love her character getting peevish after playing a Beethoven piano sonata. Daniel Day-Lewis as Cecil Vyse - magnificent as a snobbish aesthete but accepting in his defeat, his acting was over the top funny. I think in his own way, he truly loved Lucy. Maggie Smith - great in her role as the uptight "poor" Aunt Charlotte with her defective boiler and all. Judy Dench - as Elinor Lavish, a gossipy writer of trashy romance novels. She included the kiss in Florence in one of her novels that Cecil mockingly read to Lucy. Rupert Graves was cute as Lucy's brother Freddy. Denholm Elliot as Mr. Emerson, Simon Callow as Reverend Beebe, and of course Julian Sands as dour George Emerson.

George Emerson and Jake Ryan (of Sixteen Candles) are the best male romantic characters in a movie but are almost impossible to find in real life. LOL