Brave/ Billy Connolly
351848
These movies were on my great granddaughters Xmas wish list. I was thrilled to get her something that she really wanted. Thank you for making a 12 year old very happy.
2304110
I read the book last December and loved it. The rest of may family read it as well. Last night we went to see the film. Highly recommend both (read book before watching the film).
911357
A friend directed me to one Billy Collins poem. I read a second. Now I need to get them all. : )
1447869
I bought this for my son while in jail. He is a history nut and loves stories of courage, which he needs right now. I'm told that it was difficult to get into at first, but he tells me it's really wonderful. He's already read Stephen Ambrose's work in "Band of Brothers" and this is equally inspiring.
1020428
Fell asleep watching Rescue Me last tuesday and woke

up to catch the last 5 minutes of the show .

This song was playing, All The Wild Horses!

Went out the next day and bought the record.

Shelter!  Amazing.
944587
Beautifully and sparely written, moving and terrifying, this book is raw and difficult to put down. It's a story of bravery, cruelty and love, complicated and simple. These polarities are all there, all the time, and I recommend it for anyone brave enough to read it.
3773430
THIS WAS THE FIRST BOOK I EVER READ OF JOHN CONNOLLY. IT WAS GREAT. THE FIRST COUPLE OF CHAPTERS WERE A LITTLE SLOW BUT AFTER THAT IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I CAN ONLY COMPARE IT TO A TRAIN WRECK: YOU DONT WANT TO LOOK BUT CAN'T STOP STARING. THE DESCRIPTIONS ARE SO VIVID YOU ARE GOING TO WANT TO PUT THE BOOK DOWN AND FORGET ABOUT IT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. I STRONGLY RECOMENDED.
2668733
Courage the Cowardly Dog is a weird cartoon.

Two of its stars are an elderly couple. The characters don't fall in love. Not every episode ends happily or wraps up nicely. It toggles between having a horror bent to a fantasy bent. It's has its own brand of humor, but is occasionally slapstick.

Reasons to Like Courage:
A) Amazing photo-realistic and CGI images of oddities, characters, and dream sequences. They are spliced into some episodes and they're often pretty captivating.
B) Occasional touching and sweet episodes that are warm, but never mushy. They teach themes like tolerance and appreciating the smaller things in life. It's ironic for Courage to be lined up with such product-placement characters when the show itself seems against those ideals. (Eustace always pays for his greed).
C) Bizzaro story lines that just seem to come out of nowhere. Some of the plot lines are just plain weird. Because of this, Courage would probably never find a huge mass audience and not everyone will like it.

There's a reason Courage was aired later at night. Some of the episodes can be pretty creepy. And yes, there are occasionally less creative or more childish themes. Still, there's no cartoon like Courage. Can't wait for the series to be released!
3854321
THIS BOOK HAD ME FROM BEGINNING TO END. THO GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING IT WAS ALSO CAPTIVATING.  I LOVED IT KUDOS TO MR CONNOLLY
2027642
A very sad tale of the bravery of a man who had polio and was placed in an iron lung.
The ending is wonderful.....as you read, you want to know how it does end!  P
1397223
Night Music: Nocturnes, Vol. 2 is the second story collection by author John Connolly. Connolly is one of my favourite writers and this collection is a good example of why. The range and diversity of these stories guarantees that there is a little something something for anyone with a love of all things supernatural from the creepy horror of Razorshins to the sweet sadness of A Haunting. It contains 12 stories and novellas and, as in any collection of stories, I Iiked some better than others. My favourite is the novella The Caxton Lending Library & Book Depository. In this wonderfully imaginative tale, after authors die, their characters, at least those that have become part of our collective consciousness like Anna Karenina or Dracula, move into a hidden library in the British countryside.  This august establishment plays a role in another story, Holmes on the Range which is a rather quirky tale about the possible consequences of an author killing off a beloved character and later bringing him back to life. The book ends with a fascinating and often laugh-out-loud essay titled I Live Here in which Connolly discusses the writers and books that influenced his own writing among other things including his definitely not-stalking of Stephen King.

If you're a fan of the supernatural or just good writing and are looking for something that you can read at your leisure at this busy time of year, this may be the perfect solution although, warning, you may find yourself so engrossed in this collection you may forget to put it down to get back to those other things.

4.5
289707
Here's a quick review.  I loved the performances on here.  Its great to see Emo Phillips in rare form.  You have Monty Python, Beyond the Fringe, Spitting Image, and many others.  You have music performances by Sting, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler, Chet Atkins, and Lou Reed.  Yet, it shows that this is not the complete films when you have one of the best performers not even shown on stage: Billy Connolly.  I loved his material from the Secret Policeman's Ball from 1979.  Its a shame that he has been almost redacted from the films except for a prominent mention in the featurette on the fourth disc.  This is pretty much the biggest reason why it doesn't deserve five stars in my opinion.  Had they had the decency to include the Big Yin, this would be a sure-fire five star.  If you ever see the full 1979 concert on VHS, you'll see what I mean.
4165807
Love love loved it!!!! He did it again! Much heavier in the supernatural, which I prefer. And true to form, John Connolly has created another fantastic, twisted, antagonist for our hero to bring to justice. More please!!!
1530862
Let me introduce the new Mr. Darcy - Richard Armitage. Loved the movie on netflix so I had to buy it for my mom for Christmas. Will make her watch it with me next time I visit.
4657922
Comedian:  Wow!  Intense, loved it!  Really fabulous backstory on what shaped this man.  Starting with the Kennedy years of playing football with Jack, Bobbie and Ted; Eddie (the Comedian) had friends in high places who used his superhero status to further their political ambitions.  Moving from the world of Jack and Jackie, Comedian goes to Vietnam as a figurehead but can't not play the part of leader.  Men respect him and follow him, he has a plan and wants to end the war, contrary to the government's wishes.  He's a patriot with a bad ass attitude and we learn the early story of what shaped this man, what 'friends' he had to kill along the way for what he believed was the best for his country.  Dark, stark and violent.  Loved it.

Rorschach:  Rorschach's background story is covered in the Nite Owl book, so with this one we jump right into superhero mode with R. as he works his cases.  He is being set up and left for dead by a big ugly dude named Rawhead then goes out to work his revenge upon him while at the same time working on the Bard serial killings.  While simply a superb story we get a clear picture of who R. is, with and without the mask,  and how he works.  The art is simply stunning, very modern and life-like.

This was my favourite of all four Before Watchmen books.  I loved the Nite Owl story but I loved both stories presented in this volume and it wins hands down as my favourite.  I enjoyed them all though to one degree or another.
4660626
The Society of Timid Souls is an exploration of stories of bravery from the mouths of those who have exhibited bravery and courage.

The stories themselves are rather engrossing and we learn the narrative surrounding those moments of bravery and courage as though we are sitting across from them, sharing a cup of tea or a pint of beer.  I enjoyed the stories immensely.

I wasn't so crazy about the exploration of those individuals and their stories and the concept of this book as her journey from timid soul to a broader awareness of the definition of bravery, seems weakly structured and doesn't compel me to even want to get from one intriguing tale of bravery to the next because it seems like she is thinking aloud, and I think I understand where that comes from.

As I read the "about the author" blurb at the end, I realized why this particular book had me feeling like I enjoyed it but not really.  As it turns out, Polly Morland is a documentary filmmaker.  That explains so much that bugs me with the structure and patterns within this book.  I feel like Ms. Morland is trying to tell us what she would typically be showing us visually, via film/video.  It feels like she has to find the words because it's a book, for adults and sans illustrations, but the old adage of "show, don't tell", seems to have escaped her.  She refers to the reader as a fellow "timid soul", which frustrated me a bit because I am not such a soul and I have indeed been to hell and back but I read this because I was hoping to find narratives on the post-bravery experience, to some degree.  That expectation, is my fault, not the authors or the publishers.

Now, looking back at the book, I can clearly see the documentary film structure in Polly Morland's writing and as a whole, being aware of that structure, I can appreciate the cadence of the piece, much more than I could without that awareness.  It really does read like a documentary film.  I do hope that there will be a documentary of this, as I think the emotion and storytelling by the subjects and the in between analysis and comparison by Morland, would be more accessible on film (I keep thinking that her book would make a fantastic episode of PBS's "This Emotional Life").

So, it is a good read, even just for the stories of bravery.  I did find myself sharing those stories with my family, as I read them.  The in between stuff didn't teach me anything I wasn't particularly aware of (being a non-timid soul, generally speaking).  I think if she could show us, instead of dictating to us, her collecting and processing of stories and experiences, and perhaps share more of her own vulnerability (beyond declaring herself and the reader "timid souls"), the entire piece would have been worthy of four or five stars and would be a piece I'd suggest to friends and family who are curious about the definition and catalysts of bravery.
2760649
I really enjoyed reading the short stories from The Brave New World anthology. The only downside is that the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman (one of the main reasons I bought the book) is unreadable without a magnifying glass in the Kindle version. Boo.