TV Show Review: Evil Genuis

Warning: There will be spoilers (it’s based on real events after all)

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I remember this briefly appearing on the news when I was young, but beyond hearing that a guy died trying to rob a bank with a bomb attached to his neck, I didn’t think much of it at the time. So when I saw it on Netflix, I couldn’t help but be curious.

I am kicking my younger self that should have followed this case. The writer in me would have loved it.

The intro music was enjoyable to listen to and the images used were simple. I enjoyed how they used an old image of Marjorie and then it morphed into a picture of her frowning.

Watching the first episode it introduces Marjorie than jumps to the bombing itself. it flashes back to old news footage (which is strange for I recall some of it) and also includes interviews. Near the end, the case takes a strange turn and the episode ends on a cliffhanger (no surprise there).

The second episode involves more of the individuals involved in the case, although the documentary doesn’t state that just yet. It takes a bizarre turn and involves the murder of a woman’s ‘boyfriend,’ Marjorie. They go into the relationship between Bill Rothstein and Majorie. It gets strange because abruptly the producer begins to speak up and reveals his involvement in the case, which hadn’t been introduced before now.

Movie Review: Gosford Park

I had no idea what to expect from this movie when I got it for 25 cents at a used books and movies store, but I wasn’t expecting much for I had never seen the trailer.

And now that I have I’m glad I didn’t for the trailer is quite misleading in what kind of movie this is. In fact, I probably would have been disappointed and not like the movie as much.

This movie takes place in the early 30s in the country. The rich and titled, along with their servants come to a country estate for a weekend shooting party. By the end of the weekend, someone is murdered.

With looking at the trailer and having read the back of the case which I have included below, I assumed it was going to be like a classic murder mystery. It’s not.

Although we see many points of views of different servants and wealthy people the movie begins with Mary Maceachran and her employer, Lady Trentham (played by the wonderful Maggie Smith) on their way to a country estate for a weekend shooting party in 1930s England. As they get to the house we are introduced to more characters and it is overwhelming to remember them all at first and to keep the names straight.

As we travel throughout the estate it gives us a clear picture of how fast-paced and lively a servants life is below. All the while above we see how ideal, but pressured the wealthy are. Even among them, there is a divide that is clearly seen, the titled and the non-titled (untitled?). Each having their own pressures and struggles they deal with.

The cast does an excellent job of portraying their roles and at no point does the story feel slow. At certain parts, you can feel the suspense building up until the moment when someone is finally murdered.

Now by the time it comes to the person who is murdered, it’s really no surprise who the victim was and the suspects are many.

It’s what happens from after the murder that things at first watch are unsatisfactory. From here I will be spoiling things to explain my reason as to why I was disappointed. And then I will explain why I changed my mind.

Graphic Novel Review: Casa Nostra

 

I’m going to break this down into story and art, then give a final overall rating.

Story:

Let’s look at the plot:

In 1933 Chicago, four women run a comforting safe house for Chicago criminals looking to lay low. But when the ladies find themselves violently betrayed by one of their distinguised guests, revenge becomes their new business. Daring heists, dirty money, infamous gangsters and Tommy guns are all a part of the plan in this original noir graphic novel.

The story was simple in a good way and I really enjoyed it. I loved how there are no good guys, only bad guys and those that help bad guys.

It did get confusing for me for a moment around page 20 (there were no page numbers in the book) and it just skipped to another scene abruptly. It does that a couple more times in the book which is my only complaint story-wise. Those moments were jarring and it took me a second to figure out, ‘oh this is a different part of the same story. This is a different scene’

I’m not going to give you context and I’ll try not to spoil much but here’s an idea of what I mean.

Book Review: The Hazel Wood

Warning: There will be spoilers

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Title: The Hazel Wood

Author: Melissa Albert

Pages: 386

*Takes a deep breath in and exhales*

Before I critique this book, I have to give a few disclaimers regarding this review. This will explain my feelings and thoughts on this young adult story as I read this book.

1. I saw this on a bunch of books of the year to read lists on Pinterest. It cropped up a lot on my feed.
2. I fell into the trap of judging a book by its cover. The cover is simply gorgeous and aesthetically pleasing.  Jim Tierney was the person responsible for the beautiful design and he did a great job of suckering me into getting this book.
3. From reading the plot summary, blurb, whatever you want to call it… I was excited for what I thought was going to be a darker fantasy YA.

To put it simply, I was excited about this book and to get my hands on it. I haven’t read a Young Adult book in ages, so to be reading a dark fantasy; this is up my alley.

I will give a brief summary and then I will go into detail as to why this book left me disheartened and unfulfilled as a reader.

I hate to say it, but this book left me incredibly disappointed.

The very first thing I can say about this book was that it took me a long time to read for numerous reasons. Not because of my health and not because I haven’t read YA for so long. The reason why I kept putting it down because I was not interested in the story. The more I read. I didn’t even want to finish it. I forced myself to finish this story, keeping it next to my bed as a gloomy reminder to read it.

Now a story should captivate the reader, they should hate the idea of putting it down, and setting it aside. That as soon as they finished the necessary tasks of the day, the reader should have this urge and desire to immediately pick up the book again. When they do pick it up, they can immediately get back into the book and where they left off.

That didn’t happen with this book for me.

I couldn’t wait to finish a couple chapters just so I can put it down and say I read for the day. And I love reading!

When I would pick it up again, it would take me a while to find my groove in the story. Now what I mean by that, is when I read I get in this mindset of where I’m lost in the world the author created and I can just fly through the pages. In this case, it was as though I was swimming upstream with lead weights. By the time I was finished all I could think was, ‘Thank God.”

I would not recommend this book to anyone. The best parts of the book were the side characters, Ellery Finch and Audrey, the two fairy tale chapters, and the cover of the dust jacket.

If you have come this far, you are probably wondering, ‘why?’ Don’t worry, I’ll tell you.

Is it Narcisstic?

While listening to the Make It Happen podcast by Jen Carrington who was talking to Lauren Williams about writing, the issue of social media was brought up.

Carrington mentioned that she had issues with social media and wonders:

• Is it normal for people to share so much of our lives?
• Are we all just narcissists?

A big thing for her is that how she doesn’t want to do things just to post about them for the world to see.

As a result of this, I paused the podcast and for the next 20 minutes while walking on the treadmill I began typing up my thoughts on my rose gold iPhone.

I have wondered about both ends of the social media spectrum. Do I embrace it and post as much as possible for the world to see? Or do I become a social media nonentity and say ‘screw it?’

Starting Over

It’s scary…

I used to blog, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly. It was a huge part of my life for a few years.

Then I became ill and a bunch of events beyond my control took place. My memory became terrible.

With everything that took place, I decided to take a break from social media, for I hardly had anyone that really cared. We all know we just keep track of people that we hardly speak to as years go by, lurking behind our computers while facebook stalking them looking through the photos and status updates.

I was done doing that, it was depressing, reminding me where I wasn’t in my life.

I decided to take a break from reading the news for a good while, my health was bad and too much stress just created a lot of problems. I didn’t have time for the problems of the world, I had my own body to fix.

And I had to drop out of college… that was the hardest and most painful thing to do. There was no way I could competently participate in academics of any kind, my mind- it wasn’t operating at full capacity at that point. I mean, I was sleeping 12 to 14 hours a day because my health was so bad and I couldn’t seem to get enough rest.

For years I have been pretty isolated having lost a lot of friends, some not my fault, some may be my fault, and others probably my fault. It’s been painful.

During these isolating years with only family and two friends, one out of state, I struggled. Three years, three years dealing with this illness, recovering, and being practically isolated from the world. Lucky if I spoke to maybe one person a day- it’s been rough.

My life is not where I want it to be, nowhere near where I want it to be. I live with my parents, not something I imagined at this age.

However, I am getting back into the world again now that I am starting to finally show improvement in my health. Man, a lot has happened while I was ‘away.’

So much I don’t know and, it’s overwhelming!

So much I need to relearn, skills I need to learn that are now important in order to be able to compete in this world, to even have a chance!

I know what I need to do. I have to take these challenges, my goals I have in mind, and break them down in bite-size chunks in order to complete them. There’s an enormous difference between knowing though and your brain still being filled with massive anxiety because it won’t stop from looking at the big picture instead of all the little details I could be working on.

It doesn’t help I’m not a very positive person, the last time I was positive was when I was a child. These years of being sick haven’t really helped any potential I have had in becoming a positive person. Quite the opposite.

I’ll be honest, I’m scared.  I’m very scared as to what my future holds, because right now… it’s pretty lackluster.

In truth, I have become a very scared human being in general.

I look around my room, the books sitting on shelves waiting for me to read them, but I stare at fear. the last time I really read I could barely comprehend the words on the page despite the fact reading had been my life. That was a new feeling for me and a very scary one.