This isn't Gilligan's Island
347400
I'm really not a huge fan of the big budget hollywood movie, but I have to say that Castaway was very well done.  The most likely reason is the masterful direction of Robert Zemeckis who continues to create quality motion pictures time after time.  Tom Hanks gives one of his stronger performances as Chuck Noland, a Fed-Ex higher-up who gets stranded on a desolate island after his plane crashes.  There is little dialogue during Hanks' time on the island, but it is not needed as Zemeckis tells his story through the camera.  It becomes quite interesting to see the de-evolution of this man as he gets back to primal survival skills.  Castaway is chock full of memorable moments and will stick to your ribs, it is a movie you will not soon forget.
792498
This is Jules Verne's attempt at writing a Robinson Crusoe / Swiss Family Robinson castaway story, with the twist that the five castaways crash-land a balloon and thus come to the island with almost nothing -- unlike Crusoe or the Swiss Family, the castaways here don't have a boat-full of resources, tools, etc., to fall back on, and have to make *everything* themselves, from the ground up, armed only with their knowledge of science and engineering. Since it always seemed to me that Crusoe and the Swiss Family cheated a bit by bringing so many tools and so forth along with themselves, I really enjoyed the more scientific focus, and this has now replaced Swiss Family as my answer to the "what one book would you want with you on a desert island?" question.

Parts of the novel drag a bit, but it's a Jules Verne novel so there's a good story here -- the Island has a mysterious unseen inhabitant, also, there are pirates, which is always awesome.

The main flaw is that this is based on the 1875 Kingston translation, which makes a fair number of edits on Verne's original -- for example, it changes some of the protagonists's names and removes some of Captain Nemo's anti-imperialist, anti-british rhetoric. There's a more accurate translation available for free in the Kindle store, so I'd recommend grabbing the accurate version instead (look for the edition where the engineer is named Cyrus Smith, rather than Cyrus Harding;  Kingston reportedly felt "Smith" was a "gypsy name" and hence unsuitable for a heroic character. You can find that version in the kindle store here:<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Mysterious-Island/dp/B000JQV2I4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Mysterious Island</a>)

Oh, yeah, Captain Nemo. This book is in some ways a sequel to Verne's _Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas_, as well as to his _In Search of the Castaways_. The sequence isn't direct -- really more a case of cameo characters than a direct plot sequel to either book -- but you might want to read those two books first before picking this one up.
1114832
Bill's writing is OK and I usually enjoy his show but found it beyond disingenuous when he claimed that "The cover art has nothing to do with the book title." Give us a break! The Title reads from Left to Right (as English does) and the original book artwork is Obama (on the left), O'Reilly (on the right). So he calling the President a "Pinhead" and himself a "Patriot". So what? It's his book he can do as he pleases. Just really turned me off that he made that ridiculous claim (SPIN). Does the picture of President Lincoln on the cover of his book "Killing Lincoln" also have nothing to do with the title? Absurd.
4806319
This is a case of reading a book after seeing the tv program. They are not the same, of course, but I did not expect the type of explicit violence being described. The characters are ok. I did not finish the book due to the violence in it.
3169705
The Mystery Series is obviously styled like a Hardy Boy or Nancy Drew book. The big difference is these kids are 5-10 years younger than Frank, Joe, and Nancy. That's the difference between children and adults. While the story is fine and could be lifted straight from one of Nancy Drew's adventures, I can't get over the ages of the kids.

Yes, they could theoretically do these things, but the risks they take are unnecessary. And I know their original plans were forcibly changed, but by not going where their parent's believed and not being able to notify them of a change in plans, they were placed in harm's way and - since their boat was destroyed - their parents would have had no way of knowing where to look for them when it was discovered they were missing.

For the price of free its worth a try, especially if you talk to your children about the poor choices the characters made, but I'd rather give my kids one of the Hardy Boys' adventures instead.
4755070
Actually, and I know, everybody else loves this, but I do not.  It is not the book and it is not the translation.  It is the reader.  What were they thinking?  Odysseus was at war at Troy for 10 years and then wondered the known world for another 10.  Remember, at the end, Odysseus wept.  This gentleman does not sound like he knows how to use a hammer let alone which end of a stick to put in the eye of a Cyclops.  The British accent here is "cute," but he sounds 12.  There is no season in this chaps voice, no echo from a struggle, no boar tusk wound in his tone, no loves lost or gained.  I am sure he is a nice young man.  Yet he would not know one end of a javelin from the other let alone be able to remind me of a man who stood before the walls of Troy with his men, losing them left and right, for 10 years.  Sure, - if this were the only trireme in the audio harbor and you had to find a ship to Pylos, roll up your himation and jump.  Still, you do not get a 23 year old to read Hemingway - it does not work.  I know.  It is a question of style, but, after all, it is Homer.
2140126
The fact that this and Desperate Housewives have become major hits shows that American's tastes have gone downhill. People become stranded on an island and have to learn how to survive. Oh, and by the way, some mysterious things happen. So what? Just

how manuy times has this storyline been used? Too much. All J.J.

ABRAMS did to create this series was: Take Gilligan's Island, replace the charachters with smart people (as well as people who are buff and handsome or sexy), use a plane crash to get them stranded on the island, and then use a few storylines that make it seem new and interesting, even though it isn't. This is an action packed soap opera. With a little luck, people will get tired of having to wait months and years to find out the answers to these mysteries.
4025612
Who wrote this ? No! No! No! This is not Baldacci s type of book not his type of story or writing !
2695865
From the kitschy cover image, with its too-tall megaliths for Ireland's usual stone circles,  to the misuse of the Tuatha de Danaan as a "Celtic" group much less a "tribe" ,  it is difficult to know where to begin to adequately skewer this dreck.

The loose plot and pandering to the trendy YA market have been remarked upon already in other reviews.

What is distressing is that young readers' minds are being fed this pablum. Archaeology has moved on from the pseudo-nationalist "Celtic" paradigm.  Why can't authors catch up?  Also, this narrative is not historical fiction.  It is fantasy,  albeit scrambled, and giving it that much is doing it a great favor.
1604202
I have been reading science fiction for 60 years.  If this reflects the current state of the art, I will just abandon the genre.  If it is not global warming gone wild, with sea levels approaching those of Water World, it is the normalization of homosexuality.  Not the science fiction of the Golden Era.
1621558
Well, there goes another great show off my list because of syndicated cuts. I don't mind one or two syndicated versions in a season set, but not the entire season. Sorry. Anchor Bay and Carsey Werner messed up on this. I won't be buying this set unless it is the complete uncut episodes. I can watch the butchered epidsodes for free on TV. Poor, poor, poor release of such a great show.
2123038
Even Marie would enjoy this book but I will have to tell her that it is not a fishing book
2514669
Spoiler Alert: There are casting changes which take place this season which were heavily reported online even before the season began.  If you missed those articles and also do not want to know who is being eliminated then do NOT read this review.

CRIMINAL MINDS had protracted ways of getting rid of cast members this season.  When networks do this, the members leaving are not pulling in enough favorable ratings to make the network offer them lucrative staying options.  So the solution is to then get rid of those members.  Thus two female members of the team were given very plot heavy exits which went on and on over many episodes.  I could have completely done without this and found both stories boring as they were of little to no forensic interest.  It seems that CM knows which characters to keep for the long haul and those are all of the guys and Penelope, the computer whiz gal.  Anyone else who comes in may be there only a short while.  All of these "exiting cast member episodes" were barely watchable.  Ironically, if you are a really good looking person, you are almost certain toast for remaining in this show.  These actors who look like movie starlets are the ones being let go, not the ones who might pass as real FBI agents.  So I suppose that at least is refreshing.

The other episodes were business as usual and delivered the same high quality law enforcement and forensic cases we've gotten used to over the past six years.  Perhaps my favorite one was a serial killer with Alzheimer's who has been "retired" for many years who comes out of retirement for one last killing spree.  That was a very unique episode.  When the show sticks with the team flying off to go help local law enforcement solve a very complex murder case, the show is first rate.

So I hope this season sees the end of the musical chairs.  There is a British show called MI-5 about UK spies.  Whenever a cast member leaves that show, typically the cast member is just blown up in one episode and that is that.  It is a bit jarring but I will take that approach rather than these protracted leavings.

Visit my blog with link given on my profile page here or use this phonetically given URL (livingasseniors dot blogspot dot com). Friday's entry will always be weekend entertainment recs from my 5 star Amazon reviews in film, tv, books and music. These are very heavy on buried treasures and hidden gems. My blogspot is published on Monday, Wednesday & Friday.
4527059
The writing isn't bad, but this really isn't a "thriller" or a novel. It is more of a hypothetical, of two routes a man's life takes depending on if he gets the current standard treatment for a brain tumor, or a newer still in development treatment. Grisham is connected to the institution doing research, so really this is a way to inform us and also do an ask for donations.
1779797
The readers of this book should at the beginning be aware: this book is not a science book. This doesnt mean I said what the book told us is not true just because it is not science.  Science is the collective intellectual efforts by human beings as a whole to approach the truth, not the truth itself.  And a scientific approach is based on observations and experiments and various assumptions and principles.
Some of the contributors of this book have a Ph. D. degree, even some in geological sciences and have published scientific papers on prominent scientific journals.  But this doest guarantee what they said about or their approach of the Grand Canyon Geology is science or scientific.
Creationists and their believers seem to be more polite and sincere, therefore attract more sympathy and support.  However, again that doesn't guarantee what they said is right or scientific. Some of their argument is based on their interpretations or impressions without knowledge of basic geological principles.  For example, someone pointed out in his/ her review that a deep canyon was CARVED out in 9 hours and he/she then pointed out "The horizontal layering effect which occurred there is much the same as what is seen at the Grand Canyon".  He/She failed to realize that "the horizontal layering effect", or more accurately, horizontal stratification, is older/pre-existing sediment before the carving process that carved through these sediments and form a canyon, or more accurately, river channel.  These exposed sediments besides the channel are called terrace which is different from the rock cliff exposed at the Grand Canyon, although they look similar horizontal (however both approved the Law of Original Horizontality).  This is how these arguments are so convincing to the lay public but non-scientific in nature.  The age of the canyon landform is much younger than the age of the rocks that exposed at the Canyon outcrop (Principle of Crosscutting).  And the lower the rock layer in the stratigraphic position, the older the rock layer is (Principle of Superposition).
Evolutionists, on the contrary, are some time presumptuous and a little bit arrogant.  Many of them don't have the patience that Creationists have to reach out and persuade people.  We ourselves must not become scientific bigots while accusing them religious extremists.  We have to realize that it is nothing wrong that they have their own ideas and express them.  But the problems in this book is that it pretend to be a SCIENCE book and was once put among many scientific publications in the scientific section of the Grand Canyon book store.  This is misleading and intolerable.  This book might have far reaching negative impact on people, especially the general public that really don't know much about geology and philosophy of science.
In a word, you can virtually choose whatever you want to believe.  But GEOLOGY is based on ROCK not on FAITH.  Young Earth Creationists, please don't disguises yourself under the outfit of science and please cry out: This is religion not science.
3006806
I really wanted to love this series and I had heard good comments. I was seriously disappointed, no one expected
Breaking Bad", and there is no doubt Vince Gilligan's style is interesting, but the series suffers from sequel or prequelitis---a pale reproduction  of aspects of the original. Stories are slight, character development is laboured and often contrived and despite the fine work of Bob Odenkirk as Saul, it is Mike who makes the story interesting and there is just not enough of him and far too much of Saul's meanderings none of which amount to much. Gilligan is a genius writer and creator and director, he should b e turning his talents to feature films or something less flimsy than this PS the Final episode which could have sold me, is the least interesting episode of the whole series.
159733
If your comic fa and are looking for something other than superheroes then I highly reccomend Queen Crab.

When reading this I was thinking thins would have made a great Twilight Zone episode(original series). Hang on here there might some slighly spoilers here.

Ginger while going on her honeymoon finds herself thrown overboard but can't swim and she sinks. Then suddenly awakes on a beach not only naked but her arms are now crab claws.

I won't tell you what happens next. You need to fnd out for yourself.

So why the comparision to the Twilight Zone. What the Zone did beautifuly was take ordinary people and put the in extrodinary situations. And it wasn't the situation that drove the stories but how these regular everyday people handle said situation.

And that the beauty of Queen Crab. Ginger is like most of us. Not excactly happy with our lives but just except it. There are no cliches here. How she deals with this is how I think most of us would. And following Gingers journey is like taking a glimpse into our lives(minus the crab claws).

Jimmy Palmiotti who has written for the likes of Marvel, DC has written Ginger as a real person. And he makes us feel like we know her and doing care about what happens.  Like I said there are no cliche here.

Add that to the simply beautiful art by Artiz Eiguren. I have never seen his work before but I will be looking for it in the future. The world he draws looks like the world outside your window. Real.

Just so you know there is nudity and foul language. But it just adds to the world.

As I said if your a comic fan and looking outside of the worlds of tights and super powers Queen Crab is just what the Doctor order. You won't be sorry you picked this up.