Murder, Interrupted book 1 by James Patterson

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

Murder, Interrupted book 1 is two true crime thrillers, as written by the famed author.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

In the first, a rich — but criminal — accountant hires an incompetent hit man to kill his wife.

In the second, a single mother tirelessly cares for her wheelchair-bound, chronically ill daughter. But when the teenaged Gypsy Rose realizes she isn’t actually sick and Dee Dee has lied all these years, Gypsy Rose exacts her revenge .

These two stories made up the first two episodes of Discovery’s Murder is Forever TV series

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I read the second book in the series, as well:

Home Sweet Murder.

Gideon’s Corpse by Preston and Child

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Not being much of a fan of thrillers, I have to admit this one is not bad.

  1. Gideon’s Sword
  2. Gideon’s Corpse
  3. The Lost Island
  4. Beyond the Ice Limit
  5. The Pharaoh Key

The plot is insane, at times. But it’s certainly never boring.

Gideon is an art thief and nuclear researcher turned government agent — who only has 11 months to live.

Gideon’s Corpse (2012) is a thriller by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

… a sequel to Gideon’s Sword.

The plot focuses on a nuclear scare, the federal reaction, and Gideon’s attempts to unravel the mystery.

My NEW DJI Mini 4 Pro Drone

On By Rick McIn photos, travel, video1 Comment

I’ve been really enjoying flying drones.

Mine was the dumbest — and least expensive — in the DJI line-up, the Mini SE drone.

Getting ready for hiking / cycling 2024, I upgraded to a DJI Mini 4 Pro. (My old drone broke in Idaho.)

Click PLAY or watch samples on YouTube.

I now have the DJI RC-N2 controller with the built-in screen. And no longer need to hook up my phone.

I got the full Fly More Kit which includes 3 batteries, charging hub, carrying case, and extras.

Not inexpensive at CAD $1500 including tax.

Of course buying a warranty is essential. I paid CAD $170 (USD $125) / 2 years. I can replace the drone carcass up to 3 times. But IF I lose the drone, no warranty coverage.

I bought some accessories, as well:

I could have gone for the less expensive Mini 2, or Mini 3, but decided on the 4 for these features:

  • 360 degree obstacle avoidance
  • better low light video
  • it has a built-in light, so I can see the drone in the sky at dusk or dawn
  • vertical video in 4K
  • more Quickshot options

Most importantly, super powerful Activetrack options. The drone will follow-me wherever I go, avoiding obstacles so I need not manually watch it every second. This is ideal for cycling.

Summing Up

I’ll shoot video in 2024 with drone, iPhone, and Ace Pro Action Camera

My guru is DC Rainmaker.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

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This is only the 3rd novel by Julie Otsuka.

Short. In fact, I’d call it two novellas not particularly related to one another.

The 1st a very original and wonderful tale about the people who use a local community pool.

Swimmers.

Almost magic realism.

“In our ‘real lives,’” Otsuka writes, “we are overeaters, underachievers, dog walkers, cross-dressers, compulsive knitters (Just one more row), secret hoarders, minor poets, trailing spouses, twins, vegans, ‘Mom,’… .”

But once in the water, swimmers are only “one of three things: fast-lane people, medium-lane people or the slow.”

L.A. Times review

It reminded me of my days in the Brainsport Running Club.

Once having changed out of work clothes, people group into entirely new castes based on running ability.

The second half of the book — “Belavista” — finds Alice in a long-term memory residence by this name.

While very insightful into life (prison?) in a care facility, I did not enjoy Belavista as much as the first half.

Otsuka is obviously an excellent writer.

I’ll be reading her two earlier books, as well.

Now You See Me 1 & 2 (films)

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How did I miss this FUN movie?

The plot is nonsense, of course. But simply enjoy the ride.

Now You See Me is the first installment in the Now You See Me series.

The film features an ensemble cast of Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Mélanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman.

The plot follows an FBI agent and an Interpol detective who track and attempt to bring to justice a team of magicians who pull off bank heists and robberies during their performances and reward their audiences with the money.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Enjoying that, I streamed Now You See Me 2, as well.

Entertaining. But nearly as good as the first.

Now You See Me 3 is in the works.

HOW I Edit My Photos

On By Rick McIn Apple, photos, videoLeave a comment

My main interest is VIDEO.

But I end up taking and posting quite a few photos online, as well.

Of my current cameras, I find my iPhone 13 best for photos. Quick. Easy.

I copy those over to the PHOTOS APP on my Mac.

Here’s an unedited photo.

Quite good, as is.

In the free APPLE PHOTOS APP, I most often consider adjusting these settings:

  • Auto Enhance Magic Wand
  • White Balance ➙ Auto
  • Curves ➙ Auto
  • Levels ➙ Auto
  • Vignette ➙ Radius up to 100%
  • Vignette ➙ raise Strength
  • Adjust Light
  • Adjust Color

For this photo that took about 45 seconds.

I like both the original and edit. But like the edit slightly better. Especially Vignette.

Also, it’s brighter. And you can see the couple more clearly.

The Method by James Patterson, Michael B. Silver

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Bit of a silly novela. BUT very memorable.

It’s only available as an Audible original.

James Patterson leads you into the darkest recesses of the mind with this chilling, immersive audio thriller. We meet Brent Quill, a frustrated actor trying to take his game to the next level.

When he learns about the intensive Method acting process, he dives in deep—and immediately lands the lead role in a TV series about a brutal serial killer.

But when the Method’s controversial techniques start to take over Brent’s psyche, the lines between real life and acting begin to blur dangerously. How far will Brent go to “become” the character?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Gideon’s Sword by Preston & Child

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Outrageous and entertaining.

Outlandish and silly.

And entertaining. 😀

Part of the Gideon Series:

  1. Gideon’s Sword
  2. Gideon’s Corpse
  3. The Lost Island
  4. Beyond the Ice Limit
  5. The Pharaoh Key

Gideon’s Sword is a novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. (2011) …

… first installment in the Gideon Crew series.

The story introduces Gideon Crew, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who is also a former art thief and master-of-disguise.

He learns from his mother that his mathematician father—who had developed a flawed encryption—had actually warned his boss about the flaws, only to be murdered.

Gideon exacts revenge from his father’s murderer.

As a result of this, he is recruited to be a freelance operative by an ultra-private security and engineering firm working for the Department of Homeland Security.

His mission: to trace and retrieve plans for a mysterious super-weapon being brought to the United States of America by a Chinese scientist before the Chinese can recover them.

Unstable – season 1

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

I’ve always liked Rob Lowe comedies.

This show is funny.

A father-son comedy in which socially shy son Jackson (his real son John Owen Lowe) begins working for his successful and admired, but eccentric and narcissistic-adjacent, father Ellis (Rob Lowe) at his high-tech bio research facility in order to help save him from spiralling further following the death of his wife.

Good cast. I particularly like Rachel Marsh as Luna and Emma Pilar Ferreira as Ruby.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.