Zailer and Waterhouse investigate when housewife Geraldine Brethrick and her young daughter are found dead. The early view is that Geraldine killed them both, an opinion endorsed by criminologists Harbord and Hey – but her husband Mark, away on business at the time, claims she was perfectly happy and would never have taken her own life.
If It Bleeds (2020) is a collection of four previously unpublished novellas by American writer Stephen King.
“Mr. Harrigan’s Phone”
“The Life of Chuck”
“If It Bleeds”
“Rat”
With Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, once again King proves he is the best of all the great story tellers.
Craig gets a job working for the retired Mr. Harrigan, who gifts Craig a winning lottery ticket.
Craig then buys Mr. Harrigan a cell phone using some of the money won from the lottery ticket.
Eventually, Mr. Harrigan dies and later, Craig leaves a voicemail on Mr. Harrigan’s old phone about a bully. The bully is later found to have died by suicide. …
I also enjoyed If It Bleeds,a stand-alone sequel to the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, specifically The Outsider.
King is a terrific story teller. You quickly relate to his fictional characters.
Injustice (2011) is a five-part Britishdramatelevision series about criminal defence barrister William Travers, who has lost faith in the legal system following a traumatic series of events. …
Quality British TV. One of the best miniseries I’ve watched recently.
The Brits treat their audience as much smarter than the Americans. 😀
Charlie Creed-Miles is excellent as DI Mark Wenborn, a rotten cop and weasel you simply want to punch out.
Script was written by Anthony Horowitz, one of my favourite authors.
The story follows the journey of Celaena Sardothien, a teenage assassin in a corrupt kingdom with a tyrannical ruler …
Celaena is given the chance to leave the slave pits, and become the king’s personal assassin. She’d have to survive a contest with the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. …
I listen to more audio than anyone else you know. 😀
Mostly audio books and podcasts. Mostly when I am on the move or exercising.
I cursed Steve Jobs thousands of times for not promoting wireless headphones.
Steve died too young in 2011 (aged 56) — RIP.
AirPods were launched 2016 alongside the iPhone 7.
My entire life was instantly 13% 😀 improved.
I’ve used the least expensive 1st generation AirPods until 2023 and have been very happy. Amazingly, I’ve only lost two individual AirPods and kept using the rest, often syncing one AirPod at a time.
Finally I upgraded to AirPods Pro 2 in 2023. Expensive. But worth it for me.
I somewhat appreciate the improved sound quality and noise cancellation capabilities, and extended battery life — but the main reason I’m endorsing the product are the volume adjusting gestures and better Find My tracking.
The original AirPods had no physical volume adjustment.
The case has an external speaker so you can more easily located it when lost between pillow cushions.
Pausing audio by clicking is far better than the old double tap.
Maximum volume is quite a bit higher in the Pros.
Another plus is faster connection via Bluetooth.
I don’t like AirPods switching automatically. The default. But it’s easy to turn that off. AirPods stay connected to the device of your choice — unless you tell them to switch.
Of course I got the case engraved with my email address in case I leave it somewhere. 🙏
The sound has more base. Not super important for me, but it does seem to make female voices richer in podcasts.
The plot centers on five pivotal moments in the life of a self-proclaimed “lummox” named James “Jimmy” Tock. …
Moments before his grandfather’s death, the old man makes 10 cryptic predictions: among them that his grandchild will be named James—but that everyone will call him Jimmy.
Josef also predicts five terrible days to come in his grandson’s life. And announces those dates.
As the prophecies are fulfilled one by one, and he survives each, Jimmy learns many things.
An odd book, it launched Backman’s career as a major novelist.
That said, I’ve tried to read it twice and got fed up both times.
The premise is enticing:
Ove is a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him ‘the bitter neighbour from hell.’ However, behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. …”
Age-59, Ove’s wife recently died. And he’s not handling it well.
The Swedish film adaptation looks more entertaining than the book.
Rick McCharles 