astyle-alex
Immoderate Musings
Media Reviews, Write-Life Struggles, and the Day-to-Day Heartaches of a Passably Employed Millennial.
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Deeply disappointed in #afternoontea at the St Regis. Obscenely overpriced. Terrible service. And while the tree is pretty, it's not very impressive, and the overall lack of festive decoration was pathetic. The ribbons didn't even look like they'd been dusted off after being yanked out of storage. The St Regis tea blend was delicious, and definitely my favorite part of this fiasco, but nothing redeems it enough to make it anything less than a travesty. I've been to countless teas around the world, and at least a dozen in DC, and the was both the most expensive and the least valuable experience of them I've ever had. #teatime is important. (at The St. Regis Washington, D.C.) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmRtpNnpdv9/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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The magic of an actual DAY OFF! Went with Mum ( @swordskimberly ) to the @vangogh.experience and had a great time! It was a little disappointing how much of his life was glossed over and how adamant the creator was about the Suicide Theory (which more and more research suggests was NOT what happened), but it was still a terrific experience! The music choices, in particular, were delightfully on point! #art #publicart #museums #mediastudies #artexhibition (at Washington D.C.) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClQnU4vAZWc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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It's not vacation until you're watching the sunset off a pier. XD (at Kent Island, MD) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce9zTkiJ2-l/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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Perks of being a #GrownUp: I can go to the store, just cuz I feel like it, pick up the fixings for #smores , and light my own candle to toast the marshmallows without help, supervision, or anyone to tell me I can only have 1, or 2, or 4. XD I just got my Final Grades back for my latest semester of my Masters' and it is officially #summertime !!! (And I aced my big paper: ~30 pages on the taxonomic impact of corpse embalming on the American Vampire Panic and the evolution of modern Pop Culture Vampire; for reals, peeps.) Seriously, I love my major... #folklife #folklore #mediastudies for the win. 🏆 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd4D2oVpM4O/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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We had a swanky Country Club set-up today! Lugging all this stuff over there was a pain, but the fresh flowers and fun music while we worked was nifty. ^_~ https://www.instagram.com/p/CbyBFjDJTRu/?utm_medium=tumblr
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Whelp... I'm not mad at it. I set the bar really low going into this one and I'm pleased to say that it has managed to surpass those wary expectations. I'm not actively offended to the point of having to write an angry letter to her publishers / editors / agents... Which, despite being the lowest bar ever set, still makes this the best thing #sarahjmaas has released in years. Now, there are some good points. The sex wasn't super creepy, for one! (I mean, it was still largely inappropriate and awkwardly squicky, but at least consent was proactively acquired). The actual language of the narration was lovely, nothing truly lyrical, but lovely. And the banter was nifty enough to keep the conversations feeling mildly entertaining. The most glaring issue with it is that it's fricken long. It does not need to be 800 pages. Is should not bee 800 pages. First off, the only real reason that it's 800 pages is that there's filler sub-stories about side characters that are followed with absurd detail. And they're all the SAME subplot, too, with no real variation. Speaking of a lack of variation: there's still ZERO diversity. Like you can call a group of people whatever you want, give them all kinds of different powers and theoretical inter-group rivalries and grudges, but unless you make something about the sects culturally unique, it's not diversity. There's only two body types mentioned for female characters (supermodel / action-hero and pixie-lithe ballerina), and only one for guys (supermodel / action-hero). Also, none of the characters change... they take a few, teeny tiny baby steps towards dealing with specific traumas and such, but no one actually changes through the narrative, they reveal that they'd been changed by the magic of insta-love, but none of them actually, visible evolve in any notable manner. It's just plain BORING. And the secrets that get 'revealed' are painfully dull. Nothing anyone who was paying attention wouldn't already know. This series is crap. And it's a shame because I used to LOVE #sjm . #bookstagram #crescentcity https://www.instagram.com/p/CbH8ecqOnMY/?utm_medium=tumblr
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Once last ❄ snowstorm ❄ for the 2021-2022 season! Had to run next door to Starbucks to grab sign materials, but now we're safe and warm and caffeinated! (at Barnes & Noble) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbAkrj9usli/?utm_medium=tumblr
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#bookstagram #yabooks An epic duology that pulls on the #gladiator game of sancient #rome and on elemental magic like #avatarthelastairbender ! It's perfect for kids who've read their way through #rickriordan but aren't quite ready for the more intense YA mythology stories! https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ886EluJvI/?utm_medium=tumblr
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2022 Getting started off RIGHT! Here's to taking a lovely walk in my neck of the woods on a snowy morning! ❄ ❤ ❄ https://www.instagram.com/p/CYRO15BLcXV/?utm_medium=tumblr
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If you guessed Mad Hatter, you're totally right! ❤ https://www.instagram.com/p/CVtIwk_JUIW/?utm_medium=tumblr
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Sneak Peak: what am I for Halloween??? https://www.instagram.com/p/CVsgnkOgg6p/?utm_medium=tumblr
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...So, it started raining inside my store the other night... can I, like, just go back to the beach now? https://www.instagram.com/p/CViF7mNB6qo/?utm_medium=tumblr
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Evening on the boardwalk at Seaside Heights! (at Seaside Heights, New Jersey) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUD5iRoJeA2/?utm_medium=tumblr
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Science Comics: SHARKS | Book Review
Whelp, I had to do SOMETHING book-related to Shark Week!! This is an excellent intro to the world of legitimate, detailed Shark Science. It's absolutely perfect for kids age 7 to ~14, and honestly it's even pretty for grown ups.
Most people really only think of Great White Sharks when thinking of sharks, but they only comprise a tiny fraction of the worlds sharks (and they aren't even responsible for most of the fatalities they get blamed for ((yup, I'm looking at you, Bull Sharks))...).
This graphic novel introduction really drags readers into developing a more nuanced understanding of sharks, both their incredible variation and their unique behaviors (including some of my favorites, like Lemons, Black Tip Reefs, Nurses, and Epaulettes). It has a simple story that really does well to work in a startling number of important shark-y factoids.
It's a really good bit of exposure to the fact that sharks are Nature's Perfect Hunters without over-doing the scary bits. It does very well with showing that sharks all have individual personalities and are generally pretty shy and anxious creatures.
I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who is at all interested in learning a little bit more about our Oceans' most important Apex Predators!!
#science!#Popular Science#Genre: science#SHARKS!#Sharks#Shark Week#Discovery Shark Week#SharkWeek2021#Science Comics#comics#non-fiction#non-fiction comics#graphic novel#graphic novels#comic#SharkFest#book review#Book Recommendations#media review#Media Review: Book#Media Review: Graphic Novel / Manga
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the Choices of One (a Star Wars Story) - Timothy Zahn
So, I've got another Star Wars Expanded Universe novel under my belt! I'm trying to keep a good balance going of Legends media to Canon media, so here's another story from the Legends array! I really, deeply enjoyed this one, definitely enough to recommend it with substantial enthusiasm!
This novel continues (and purportedly ends) the Hand of Judgement duology, the first one being Allegiance, as reviewed a few weeks ago. I enjoyed this one MUCH more than the first on in the sub-series. I felt like the inclusion of Chewie, Han, Luke, & Leia made a lot more legitimate sense in this novel than it did the other one (where they were essentially just bandied about as prop pieces). Here, they actually have ROLES in the story's plot progression, and more than that they have genuine personalities. I DEEPLY enjoy the way in which Luke is basically universally disparaged by everyone on all sides of the conflict as well-meaning, but absolutely useless at 99% of the Things that Need Doing... It's adorable (and as rendered here, it's actually endearing). And as we're still in a setting that's only about 8 months out from the destruction of the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin IV in Episode IV, it makes perfect sense to include the mainline protagonists.
But, as with the first one, the real bit of excellence in this story is the Storm Trooper dynamics with all their complicated loyalties and dedications. The crew we've gotten to know in this sub-series is excellent and they show off their training and inter-personal coordination extremely well here. It's AWESOME. Even their interactions with Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker, and the crew's new Troukree associates are all delightfully character-exposing, for everyone involved!
The part I was most surprised about in this story was Thrawn's involvement. I think it was well rendered, even if there was a bit of a bait-and-switch about it where the reader really had no chance at figuring out the truth of the matter until Zahn only exposed it. Though I have to admit I am SUPER confused at the repercussions of Thrawn's declared stance at the end of this one...
Honestly, without the little bit right at the very end, like seriously the last 5 pages at most, I think it could be considered fully canon still. While I'm not exactly yet a model of Canon expertise, nothing about this story (at least while reading it without that last little assertion of Thrawn's place as a particularly significant figure in the Outer Rim) contradicts anything I've read/seen that's still considered Canon. I'm not really sure where Zahn was going to go with all that, but since it's now Legends it doesn't exactly matter any more, so I'm not counting that confusing-bit as a negative.
What I didn't like about this story was only that it felt like a little exposition and then a GINORMOUS battle sequence. While the battle was epic and interesting, I would have liked just a little more post-battle follow-up. Mara Jade totes deserves to know her Troopers are alive. How exactly Han and Chewie got out of the Golan Battle Station and away without anyone in the rest of the battle even commenting on their presence beyond a brief 'oh, right, they're still up there and stuff', is something I would've liked to see more detail on... Along with exactly what supplies and new toys were successfully acquired by the Rebels in the aftermath. And then most importantly: the whole Nuso Esva schtick needs a bit more explanation (or really, a LOT more explanation)...
This is why I mentioned earlier that this novel purportedly ends the Hand of Judgement duology... It doesn't END shit... Nuso Esva comes out of no where, proceeds to be awesomely interesting as he challenges Thrawn to a bout of War Games, and then vanishes into the Black as a problem to be Dealt With Later... Google says he dies 8 years after the Battle of Yavin IV, but then says not much else about him at all. I'm sure there's other media with him somewhere, but it really seems like a waste of a potentially interesting character (and potentially interesting character interactions) to just end.
I love Thrawn and I think having some weird, hyper-competent Unknown Regions warlord regularly challenge him would be cool, so I at least HOPE there's more media with the pair of them competing against each other in it. And honestly, having the Hand of Judgement Trooper Crew working sporadically with Thrawn and Mara Jade to train Outer Rim Aliens to fight Nuso Esva? THAT sounds like bestseller material to me...
Anywhoo~, the only other thing I disliked was the way Zahn did his chapters / PoV jumps, but as I think that's just a conversion error with the eBook version, I'm not holding that against him.
I liked it better than Allegiance and I think it can be read well enough without the first one, so it's definitely becoming a staple-recommendation of mine for the Star Wars EU!
#book review#Book Recommendations#media review#Media Review: Book#Star Wars#a star wars story#star wars legends#Star Wars EU#timothy zahn#Thrawn#Mara Jade#Stormtroopers
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Nightfall (Keepers #6) - Shannon Messenger | Book Review
This was yet another LOVELY installment in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series! This was a dramatic improvement on the 5th book, mainly for how the installment actually matters on its own rather than simply as a stepping stone towards the Endgame.
The increasing complexity of how the adults in this series relate to each other is really becoming an amazing display of awareness that is a GREAT means of helping young readers learn to understand grown-ups as people rather than as magical-all-knowing entities who have achieved a state of 'completion'. Grown-ups make mistakes, and they have emotions that cloud their judgement, and they act in ways that seem irrational because you don't fully understand where they're coming from... It's something that takes kids a long time to understand and something that is explicitly commented on in this novel, discussed in great detail at varied intervals that allow for kids to legitimately begin absorbing the lesson alongside their middle-grade protagonists.
The plot twists developed in this novel are fantastic. It takes on several necessary new-turn developments without becoming predictable and still works in a good few deeply unexpected twists! I LOVE the new characters we get introduced to, and I ADORE the new characterizations of familiar faces we'd thought we knew.
The story has developed complexity to the point of requiring multiple threads of storyline ongoing all at once, and it times out perfectly with the plot-device of teaching the protagonists the nuanced lesson of needing to delegate tasks to keep their heads above water. We're just at the edge of how complicated a book can before it gets too confusing, but perfectly well managed to help young audiences keep all the details straight. It's becoming a REALLY good transition into Young Adult and I absolutely love it!
I will DEFINITELY be picking up the next installment ASAP!
#book review#media review#Media Review: Book#shannon messenger#keepers of the lost cities#Young Reader#Middle Grade#genre: fantasy#YR Fantasy
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