Posted in book reviews, bookit

Bookit Review: The Last in Love

Posted on by sokorra

Title: The Last in Love  (Book 5 in the Ardent Springs series)

Author: Terri Osburn
Release date: 2017
Medium:  E-book (Kindle Unlimited)

My grade:  B

I believe this is the last book in the series, though the end of it hints that if the author could make it a six book series if she wanted to.  This one focuses on Abby Williams, a widow of two years who ends up falling for a man five years younger than her – and someone she used to babysit back in high school. Justin Donovan is recently home after having lost his job, his fiancée and best friend. Both Abby and Justin have some issues to work through.

The book in general is good.  The pacing is a little off, but not so much that it really bothered me.  It was a nice lazy morning read.  Some of the accessory characters (such as Justin’s former fiancée and best friend) are a bit flat as well.  It did well to tie up some loose ends from previous books in the series, as well as tie up overall arcs (such as the Ruby Theater, and Carrie’s women’s shelter).

I did like the theme of women discovering themselves, and building each other up.  Other then Victoria, most of the women in this novel are friends or at least friendly towards each other.  Sometimes when you pick up novels (and definitely tv shows) there is this inclination to make cat fights or have a love triangle where the two women don’t get along because they are fighting over a guy.  This novel stays free of that for the most part.

So if you enjoy low-key romances, I can recommend this book.  Terri Osburn in general is a good author and I have enjoyed both the series that I have read from her.  Many of her novels are available on Kindle Unlimited if you subscribe to that service.

Posted in essay, history

Women of History: Isabel la catolica

Posted on by sokorra

Isabel la Católica-2

While researching my last featured woman of history, Catherine of Aragon, I came across stories of her mother Isabella of Castile (also known as Isabella The Catholic) and decided that she should be my next featured Queen.

Note: Some of the words used should have marks on them but don’t due to me not remembering how to open my character map on my PC.

Isabel (Isabella being the anglicised version of her name) was born on the Iberian peninsula, the modern home of Spain and Portugal. At the time, however, it was the home of several different kingdoms.  She was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres in Availa, a providence in Castile located almost center in modern Spain. Continue reading “Women of History: Isabel la catolica” →

Posted in film, movie reviews

Movie Review: Rough Night

Posted on by sokorra

Title: Rough Night (2017)
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Director: Lucia Aniello
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Kravitz, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer and Paul W. Downs

This movie is awful.  Honestly, the highlight of the movie was seeing Colton Haynes dressed like a stripper since I’ve been watching a lot of Arrow lately.

The funniest person was Paul W. Downs. Actually, his Peter might have been the only funny bit about the movie. Demi Moore is randomly in this movie and comes off kind of creepy rather then the sexy they were going for. Kate McKinnon failed to wow me in this movie like she did in Ghostbusters.  Scarlett Johansson didn’t wow me either, and I usually like what she does.  I know she can do comedy – The Nanny Diaries proves that.

The movie has some ridiculousness to it that is weirdly next to moments when they reference real things.  Honestly it doesn’t work.

My final grade is a D-

Posted in movie reviews, Star Wars

Movie Review: The Last Jedi

Posted on by sokorra

Note:  I haven’t written anything for a while due to being extremely busy with my day job, and various illnesses.  Starting next week I hope to get back on a regular schedule. Now to the post

Title: Star Wars:  Episode VIII The Last Jedi (Or as I call it, Empire Strikes Back Anakinized)
Released:  December 2017
Genre: Sci-fi & Fantasy
Grade:  C

I saw this several weeks ago, but held off reviewing it because I was a bit confused by my own reaction.  I loved the movie, yet at the same time was oddly disappointed.  It took me awhile to figure a few things out.

I love Star Wars.  I’ve enjoyed the films, and the books and eventually plan on watching the animated TV shows.  I’ve seen each one in theaters since Attack of the Clones came out.  So seeing this movie was important as a lifetime fan.

Yet, after the awesomeness that was Rogue One, this movie failed to really impress me.  While it wasn’t as direct in its channeling of Empire Strikes back as the Force Awakens was with A New Hope, you kind of could see it following the same basic plotline. Our heroes are separated, the Jedi apprentice seeks a mentor, while the rebel members of the trio deal with gamblers and the bad guys while trying to save the alliance.  The characters were rather flat, which surprised me.  Even Leia, who I expected more from, was a bit flat.  Snoke was a disappointment because for a villain he’s rather flat.  Palpatine had more character in his scenes in the original trilogy and he barely had any scenes.

Also, Luke for all intents seems out of character for the man we saw in the last trilogy.  The only characters with any real sort of development was Luke (meh quality) and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo.  And even then it seems rather a let down.

I feel like JJ Abrams & Company are trying to recreate the Original Trilogy, yet with some of the Prequel style effects and characterization.  Kylo/Ben comes off as whiny as Anakin does in the prequels.

I have a few more specific problems with it, but I’m trying to make this as spoiler free as possible.  So my thoughts basically are this:  Enjoy the movie, but don’t expect something amazing.

Posted in general, movie reviews

Christmas Movies Edition 2017

Posted on by sokorra

Last year I wrote a post about my favorite Christmas movies.  This year I’ve decided to search through my streaming accounts and find various christmas movies to watch/review over the next two weeks.  So consider this an introductory post (or warning).

  1.  White Christmas (via Netflix or DVD)
    This is a traditional christmas movie.  I’ve seen it, but I’ll be looking at it more analytically this time around.
  2.  Christmas Prince (Netflix)
    Netflix has released its own christmas movie about a News Reporter who goes to investigate a Prince who is supposed to be crowned on Christmas but may abdicate.  I’ve watched in bits so I kind of have an idea of whats going on but haven’t watched it in full.  Looks like it will be cute.
  3. Home Alone 3 (Amazon/Starz)
    Ok, so I’ve grown up with the first two but never watched the third movie.  So hopefully I will be finally watching this weird sequel (Where’s Kevin?).   THere are actually 5, which surprises me.
  4. Die Hard.  (rental from Amazon)
    For Alan Rickman.  And I’ve got to see what’s so good about this movie that they’ve made half a dozen sequels.
  5. Love Actually (Netflix)
    Its tradition.

What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Posted in essay, history

Women of History: Catherine Trastámara

Posted on by sokorra

Out of Henry VIII’s six wives, the ones that are most remembered are his first three.

Catherine of Aragon: His first queen and mother of Queen Mary.

Anne Boleyn: mother of Queen Elizabeth, and a woman who is also known for helping cause a religious revolution in England and her tragic end.

Jane Seymour: the young woman who gave birth to his only son. To be fair, Jane is often forgotten and limited as “mother of Edward” then anything else.

I will admit that I am biased against Henry VIII who I felt was a bit of a bastard towards his wives in more ways than one. I also feel that general history has basically reduced these women to just being one of the six wives, without a sense of individuality. There has to be so much more to them then just their spouse.  In that respect, I have decided to learn more about these six women, starting with the first, Catherine of Aragon.

Catherine aragon Continue reading “Women of History: Catherine Trastámara” →

Posted in Television shows

TV Review: The Orville 1×12

Posted on by sokorra

Episode Title: Mad Idolatry 1 x12 (Season Finale?)

Original Airdate: 12/7/2017 on FOX (Watched via HULU the next day)

Grade: C

NOTE:  This is quite possibly the season finale of the Orville, which was renewed for a second season.  I am not sure if they ordered more episodes for Season 1, or if they are planning on going on shorter format series similar to other sci fi series like Doctor Who.

Notable Guest Stars

Kelly Hu (Admiral Ozawa) – Ms. Hu has appeared on numerous hit TV shows as recurring characters, as well provide voice for many comic-based animated TV shows.  You might recognize her though from X-men as Lady Deathstrike.

Brannon Braga (Director and Producer) – Also Director and Producer on Star Trek.

Notable Quotes

Alara:  But how can that happen?

Gordon:  Drugs?

SPOILERS BELOW

Continue reading “TV Review: The Orville 1×12” →

Posted in general

December Overview

Posted on by sokorra
Four red candles burning in a snow bank
Source: PixaBay

It’s a week into December, so I thought I would do an overview of what I am planning this month.

November was Nano, which is why my posts were infrequent and not coming out on time.  Hopefully this month the normal schedule will resume. On my off days during Nano, I wrote a few posts for the upcoming month, so at least that is there.

For those of you interested in my reviews, I plan on continuing my Orville reviews on this blog.  They should come out every Friday following the airing.  I watch it on Hulu, so I can’t put up reviews till its up on Hulu (which is usually the day afterwards).  I try my best to remain relatively small on the spoiler fare, but avoid the bulk of the post and scroll to the end if you want the actual grade.  I am planning on reformatting my reviews so the grade is closer to the top to help those with strict spoiler avoidances.

Other TV reviews will be moved to a new blog coming next year that I plan on sharing with a friend.  We plan on reviewing currently airing shows we seem to like as well as older shows.  If anyone remembers my talk of a Star Trek rewatch, the idea will be going forward in this blog.  Whether I will redo my lost rewatch, I have yet to decide.  I’ll post more about the new blog when its closer to being functional.

Book reviews will continue on this blog, although not many will happen this year due to various proirites that keep me from reading.  But next year I’m trying for 50 in a year.  (Have a recommendation?  Leave a comment below).

For those who wander here for the history essays, I have some planned for this month.  At the very least I have a mostly written essay on Catherine of Aragon, my favorite Tudor Queen, and a half written essay on her mother Isabella I of Castile.   I’m also accepting more sugestions for more ladies to add to the list of articles.  Right now, my sphere of knowledge is sadly very Euro-American centric, but I hope to have women from other cultures as well.

I also plan a few posts outlining some plans for the new year over the course of this month, integrating some art/writing posts back into my life.

Hope everyone has a lovely December, and a happy holiday of your preference, (in my case MERRY CHRISTMAS).

Posted in Television shows, tv reviews

TV Review: The Orville 1×10

Posted on by sokorra

Episode: Firestorm (1×10)

Original Airdate:  Thursday, November 16, 2017 (Watched via Hulu on 11/17)

Notable Guest stars:

Richard Picardo (Ildis Kitan):  Known for being on Star Trek (As The Doctor/EMH) , and Stargate (as Richard Woolsey), as well as promoting science.   He’s one of my favorite guest stars to see.
Molly Hagan (Kitan):  I looked her up because I couldn’t figure out why she looked so familar.  Turns out that Ms. Hagan is a Frequent Flyer guest star on several programs I like.  Usually for only one episode.
Continue reading “TV Review: The Orville 1×10” →