The Name of the Wind novel by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind  is a fantasy novel by Patrick Rothfuss, the first book in a series called The Kingkiller Chronicle. It was published in 2007 . …

Rothfuss wrote The Name of the Wind during his nine-year advance toward his B.S. in English. …

I listened to the audio version by Nick Podehl. He’s excellent. And the book is very well written. Rothfuss is a masterful story teller. 

His protagonist is Kvothe:

You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of Kvothe—from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe as a notorious magician, an accomplished thief, a masterful musician, and an infamous assassin. But The Name of the Wind is so much more—for the story it tells reveals the truth behind Kvothe’s legend.

“The originality of Rothfuss’s outstanding debut fantasy, the first of a trilogy, lies less in its unnamed imaginary world than in its precise execution…As absorbing on a second reading as it is on the first, this is the type of assured, rich first novel most writers can only dream of producing. The fantasy world has a new star.” (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review)

“New fantasy authors are usually overhyped, and it’s rare to find one who writes with such assurance and narrative skill right from the start. I was reminded of Ursula LeGuin, George R. R. Martin, and J. R. R. Tolkien, but never felt that Rothfuss was imitating anyone. Like the writers he clearly admires, he’s an old-fashioned storyteller working with traditional elements, but his voice is his own. I haven’t been so gripped by a new fantasy series in years. It’s certain to become a classic.” (Lisa Tuttle, The Times)

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“Waterside is where people are poor. That make them beggars, thieves, and whores. Hillside is where people are rich. That makes them solicitors, politicians, and courtesans.”-p160

Presbyformed review

I’ve already downloaded the second book in the series — The Wise Man’s Fear (43 hours)

There have been rumours of a Movie and TV version.

meh – Fantastic Beasts

Give it a miss unless you are a serious Harry Potter fan. Too long and not fantastical enough for me. None of the characters charmed me aside from this Muggle.

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Jacob Kowalski

Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein was probably my second favourite character.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them … A spin-off of the Harry Potter film series, it was produced and written by J. K. Rowling, in her screenwriting debut, and inspired by her book of the same name. … 

… Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 73% based on 264 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. …

Rick is downsizing

What, you ask? A smaller backpack?

ALL my cassette tapes, reel-to-reel and VHS are headed for Value Village. A few CDs, as well. Software. Old electronics.

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Even that romantic mix tape. img_3890

I’ll donate at least 75% of my old clothes. Less is more. 🙂

related – my philosophy of Voluntary Simplicity

The Edge of Seventeen

The Edge of Seventeen received positive reviews from critics, with Steinfeld’s performance earning praise. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95%, based on 140 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10.

7.8/10 sounds about right. It’s not bad.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Rogue One – a review

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Neither.

Both are part of my cultural upbringing. But I’m not passionate for either one.

I was happy to skip Rogue One until Dave insisted I needed to see it. Cheap Tuesday, he recommended.

I liked it. Found it surprisingly fresh. The dialogue entertaining and surprising. Casting eclectic.

K-2SO is the best actor.

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K-2SO’s Top 10 Lines In ‘Rogue One’ That Immediately Made Him Our Fan Favorite Forever

Too much WAR in this Star Wars, however. It would have been better with more dialogue, less fighting.

On the other hand, I admire Disney for killing off pretty much every actor I cared about. A gutsy decision.

Disney had most of the highest grossing films of 2016. They seem to know what they are doing these days.

Click PLAY or watch trailer #3 on YouTube.

Rogue One received generally positive reviews, with praise for its acting, action sequences, musical score, and darker tone, although some criticism was directed at its use of computer-generated imagery to revive certain characters. It has grossed over $983 million worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2016. …

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (film)

A sequel to the 2012 film Jack Reacher, the film stars Tom Cruise …

The plot follows Reacher going on-the-run with an Army Major who has been framed for espionage. …

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It’s been successful at the Box Office. But reviews have been poor.

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Personally I very much liked the film. It’s stays quite true to the minimalist Reacher books.

And I’ve always liked Cruise as an actor.

Cobie Smulders is very believable, too.

Snowden – the movie

I’ve had mixed feelings about Snowden himself. Watching the film was one way to learn more.

Sorry to say I ended up not much more enlightened. You can call him a a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, a traitor and a patriot. All true. Certainly he’s a criminal.

I’d like to think I would have done the same thing … in his position.

His girlfriend Lindsay Mills is a much more interesting character. She’s an acrobat.

Snowden’s “breaking point” was “seeing the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, lie under oath to Congress”. That’s shown in the film. Initially hopeful that Obama would improve things, ultimately he gave up on him.

Snowden was right, of course.

N.S.A. Collection of Bulk Call Data Is Ruled Illegal

Trump’s pick for CIA director has called for Snowden’s execution.

I’ve been following Glenn Greenwald over the past couple of years. He’s smart. But accurately depicted in the film as a jerk.

In the movie Snowden smuggles the classified information hidden in a tile in his Rubik’s cube. That may not be how he did it.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Snowden is a 2016 German-American biographical political thriller film directed by Oliver Stone and written by Stone and Kieran Fitzgerald, based on the books The Snowden Files by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena. …

For his role as Snowden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt pledged to donate his entire salary from the film to “help facilitate the conversation” about the relationship between technology and democracy  …

Due to fear of interference by the National Security Agency, Stone decided to shoot the film mostly outside of the United States …

Snowden received mixed reviews from critics, but Gordon-Levitt’s performance garnered critical praise. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 61%

film set in Rio – Elite Squad

I stayed 5 nights in Rio’s Babilônia favela.

Here’s the balcony view.

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It’s very tranquil in 2016. I’d recommend you stay there if vacationing in Rio.

Babilônia was controlled for years by drug traffickers linked to the Terceiro Comando (Third Command) organization. In June 2009 police occupied the area without firing a shot. It’s been pacified and gentrified.

The film Tropa de Elite (2007) is about the police actions in Babilônia in 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, when the elite squad BOPE (Special Police Operation Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged. …

The movie is based on Elite da Tropa, a book by two BOPE policemen (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais – Rio de Janeiro military police squads for special actions)

Elite Squad was an outstanding commercial success, and became a cultural phenomenon in Brazil. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Its sequel, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, released in Brazil on October 8, 2010, holds industry records in the country for ticket sales and gross revenue.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

Money Monster

I quite enjoyed this film. It has many surprising twists and turns.

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Money Monster is a 2016 American thriller film directed by Jodie Foster …

The film stars George Clooney (who also co-produced) as Lee Gates, a TV personality who advises his audience on commerce and Wall Street …

Money Monster has received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 58%, based on reviews from 231 critics, with an average rating of 5.9/10. …

It’s clearly based on Jim Cramer, host of the TV show Mad Money.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.