Month: June 2019

Audiobook Reviews 2/5 Stars: 30-Seconds Inexpensive & Proven Anxiety Hack (Stop Panic Attacks, Enjoy a Relaxed Life and Peaceful Sleep)

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Nonfiction ,

Narrated by Kerin McCurdy

Summary:

A sad, simplistic attempt to offer answers for those with anxiety to deal with it.

Additional Comments:

  • Disclaimer: I do not have anxiety. I was asked to review this, and I was curious because one of my friends has anxiety. Most of the comments will be hers.
  • Second Disclaimer: My opinion on the book and the narrator are independent of each other. The narrator did a fine job. The book was useless.
  • This might help if one is just developing anxiety and wants a list of methods to deal/cope. (Me: Google or a decent doctor could provide you with the same for free.)
  • The methods (spoilers ahead): Working out, grounding, and yoga are time intensive. Not everybody’s life is conducive to such things. Grounding (there are multiple methods, this author mentions coins, but there are others) might work, but reminding yourself that you’re safe doesn’t really. That’s sort of the definition of anxiety – you irrationally think you’re gonna die even though you know you’re completely safe.
  • My friend thought the author may not be somebody with anxiety because he starts out with a list of things that cause anxiety that could be taken as a blatant “this is your fault.” That’s intimidating and could lead to more anxiety. (From the outsider point of view, I actually liked this part. That was probably the only part of the book I thought was interesting.)
  • Coin grounding could actually trigger other phobias (like an obsessive need to clean one’s hands from the dirty coins.)
  • If you don’t have anxiety, the book will likely just tick you off.
  • Calling your friends or family could lead to more issues with social anxiety. (You’d then be worried you’re ticking them off.)

Conclusion:

If you’ve recently developed anxiety and want a curated list, this might suffice. Otherwise, it really offers nothing new.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

Movie Reviews 2.5/5 Stars: Shaft

Julie Gilbert mystery, thriller ,

Summary:

The next generation of Shaft detectives is on the rise. JJ Shaft wants to investigate the mysterious death of a friend. But his job as an FBI data analyst doesn’t exactly leave him well prepared to walk on the wild side. He turns to an unlikely source for help: his old man.

Additional Comments:

– I have not seen any of the others, but I’m assuming they’re much the same.
– Humor 3/5: There were definitely quite a few amusing points. Unfortunately, most of them relied on innuendos to work. (I’m guessing that’s a series thing, so this won’t bother 99% of the audience.)
– Action 4/5: The action portions were cool.
– The running gag of them being completely oblivious to traffic around them stayed true throughout the movie.
– Plot 3/5: There’s only one point that makes zero sense unless you want one of the characters kidnapped. Other than that, it works decently. They also chose the politically correct “bad guy.”
– I think 90% of the script consists of expletives.
– Samuel L. Jackson was great, as usual. Rest of the cast did fine too, but I probably wouldn’t have bothered seeing it just for them.

Conclusion:

Not my thing.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

Audiobook Reviews 4/5 Stars: Exit Strategy

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, thriller , ,
book cover from audible

Summary:

Kat’s a forensic accountant. Her personal finances are a bit of a mess, but she knows how to track down money. She’s been hired by Liberty Holdings (they run Diamond Mines) to recover 5 billion allegedly stolen by one of their top execs.

Additional Comments:

– What follows the opening sequences is a series of unfortunate events for the accountant. But in the end, it ends the way you’d expect it to end.

– Kat and Jace are an interesting non-couple.

– Uncle Harry’s endearing in a bumbling sort of way.

– Content Warnings: I probably would have rated it higher if there weren’t random f-bombs (at least 2) being dropped for no good reason. It doesn’t make the characters sound tougher. And they would be just as credible without that. Other than that and a few other curse words, the book’s surprisingly clean. Violence is included, but no racy scenes.

– A few plot points had pretty convenient coincidences or wild leaps of logic that panned out perfectly, but that’s a minor complaint.

– Narration fit nicely.

Conclusion:

It’s an enjoyable thriller.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

Is Men In Black: International Worth Seeing Twice in Theaters?

Julie Gilbert Action Adventure, Movie Reviews, scifi , ,

*Spoilers Possible

Summary:

Had some time to kill last Friday (6/21/19), so I decided to see MIB 4 again. Was it worth it? Yes. This is the type of movie that’s better to see in theaters. Also, it’s nice to be able to pay more attention to the little details rather than the big picture.

Additional Comments:

  • Would I see it a third time? Probably not with the same people, but if the chance arose, sure.
  • What did I pick up on this time? The story doesn’t have all that many twists, but the tie-ins between the past and the present were a little clearer the second time around.
  • If you’re a diehard MIB fan, you’ll likely enjoy seeing it twice to catalog the little throwbacks to the original.
  • It’s a standalone movie, but there are enough tie-ins and references to make it fun to search for such things. I really like the paintings in the back of High T’s office. I bet anything some day they end up being auctioned for a charity.
  • The buddy cop relationship between Agent M and Agent H is also fun to focus on upon rewatch. There are a few moments at the end where it could have gone either way, but I like the road they chose.
  • I definitely missed the bulk of the Riza connection the first round.
  • I still love Pawny. 90% of his lines are awesome.

Conclusion:

Go see the movie in a theater.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

Audiobook Reviews 3/5 Stars: The Triplet’s Curse Book 1: Hope’s Story

Julie Gilbert Fantasy, Young Adult ,

Narrated by Kathleen Li

Summary:

Hope Baskins and her sisters are triplets. On their 16th birthday they come into strange powers. This is about Hope, so everything is from her or Bryce’s perspective.

Spoilers possible in discussion. Definitely included after the ads.

Additional Comments:

  • Side Note: Switching character perspectives is fine in a story. I do it all the time, but it’s really, really annoying if the exact same spot is covered from multiple perspectives, right down to lines of dialogue. Don’t repeat lines of dialogue.
  • Story 3/5: I think 90% of the story is Hope and Bryce training or talking to his dad. And the father saying “gee, that’s weird. Lemme go research that.” Or them eating tuna sandwiches. Or buckling their seatbelts to go from her place to his or vice versa. Or them kissing.
  • Main Characters 3.5/5: Hope’s ice powers are cool. She never gets the hang of the visions though.
  • Side Characters 3/5: Sean and The kid Bryce doesn’t get along with (I forget his name) don’t really do much.) There is a big twist at the end but I think it might be undone in a future book.
  • World building 3/5: The beginning prophecy is cool, but not much else happens. Even if it got more confuse, it might have made more sense if we even got a smidge another other sister’s’ abilities. There are a lot of questions about the secret society the 3 boys and their dads belong to. Where are their mothers? The secret society is named once early but I forget its name.
  • I think the series and premise have potential, but the end battle was kinda anticlimactic. We don’t even get to experience it from Hope’s perspective. We get it second hand through Bryce.
  • I do love the sisters’ names. I just wish we knew a little more about them. That would allow for more attachment to them.
  • The narrator did a fine job.
  • We hear a lot about a great evil and then get 1 mediocre representative of them. What is their motive?

Conclusion:

If you love YA paranormal stories, check this series out.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

Questions that contain spoilers:

  • Why bother kidnapping Destiny? Why not just kill her. End of triplets.
  • Will Sean come back from the dead because he’s connected to Destiny?
  • What are the other sisters’ powers? The secret society ought to know a little about that.
  • What is this grand evil they need to face? Curse puts a negative connotation on the whole gifts to save the world thing.

4/5 Stars: The Secret Life of Pets 2

Julie Gilbert children's, Family, Movie Reviews , , , ,

Summary:

Max has a big life change when his owner meets and marries Chuck and they have a kid. When they go on a family vacation to visit Chuck’s uncle, Max gets some life lessons. Duke’s just along for the ride. Max is super worried about everything that could possibly happen to his boy. Meanwhile, Gidget has to retrieve something she lost. Snowball is playing hero with a new dog, Daisy.

Additional Comments:

– Better than the first movie. That’s a rarity.

– Specific hilarious moments and deeper comments below in a spoiler section after ads.

– Characters 4/5: Most of them are adorable as they’re meant to be. The bad guy is completely over the top, caricature type villain.

– Plot 4/5: Quite a lot happens. But there is nice balance between the various threads. Gidget is left to safeguard Busy Bee while Max goes on vacation with Duke and the family. Daisy really wants to rescue a poor tiger from the circus. Max is facing his fears.

– Rooster’s awesome. They put a lot of the amusing parts in the trailer though. Daisy’s fun too. Max is good old Max. Snowball is still nuts.

– Honestly, I don’t remember much about the first movie.

Conclusion:

Not sure it’s a must see in theaters movie, but it’s definitely up there on the you-should-see-it list.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

Spoilers:

– My favorite part by far was Gidget eating the red dot to impress all the cats. The whole crazy cat lady angle was amusing. The Roomba ride through the room topped it off nicely.

– The train fight is actually similar to Dark Phoenix. Not sure why everybody thinks a fight on a train is a must for a movie these days.

– I loved how they managed to balance the screentime for the 3 threads.

– Cotton made me laugh. Typical sheep.

Movie Reviews 4/5 Stars: Men in Black (4): International

Julie Gilbert Movie Reviews, scifi , ,
Standard movie promo poster

I’ll attempt to keep spoiler free

Summary:

Molly witnesses something inexplicable as a child. From then on, she makes it her life’s mission to track down and join the men in black. She succeeds to a point, but her first official mission as a probationary agent is a doozy.

Additional Comments:

– Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth do great in their roles as Agent M and Agent H respectively. It’s definitely a star studded cast.

– Plot 4/5: There’s a mole in MIB. While there aren’t many options for who the traitor could be they do make some valiant efforts to throw people off. Other than that, the plot’s a fairly loosely related string of events that involves a lot of running and fighting. Quite a few points rely on great leaps of logic/convenient connections.

– Pawny’s probably my favorite character.

– It’s not exactly a kids’ movie. I believe there is one F-bomb. Was never meant to be, but I’m surprised at how much Hollywood is letting/ encouraging go into a movie.
– Would I rush out to see it again? Maybe. There’s a lot to see these days. If the opportunity arose, I wouldn’t balk at it, but I probably wouldn’t move heaven and earth to create the opportunity either.

Conclusion:

I have fairly low satisfaction requirements. Make me laugh. Keep me interested. Men in Black International met both requirements.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

Spoiler Section:

Movie Reviews 4/5 Stars: Dark Phoenix

Julie Gilbert Action Adventure, Fantasy, superhero , , , , , , ,
Standard movie poster

Spoilers possible in discussion

Summary:

Jean Grey, one of the X-men, nearly dies in an accident up in space. She mysteriously survives.

Additional Comments:

  • Typical action movie. It’s half about how much stuff can be destroyed.
  • More than half the movie has this poor woman running around saying “I don’t know what’s going on.”
  • There are definitely some cool moments. I will include those later.
  • I enjoyed how the alliances shifted throughout the movie.
  • Charles seems to go through some development.
  • The script was subpar. Quite a few lines could be finished based on going with the most cliched response.

Conclusion:

Was it entertaining? Yes.

Would I go out and rush to see it again? Probably not.

Am I glad I saw it? Sure.

Would I buy the dvd/Blu-ray? No.

Is it skippable? Yeah, likely.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

Spoilers

  • cool moments: end of the train fight when Jean fights back; Jean’s choice to protect her friends.
  • The overall impression I got was they were like “Well, gee, our cast is getting kind of long in the tooth. Better off some of them.”

2/5 Stars: 100 Ways to Make $100

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Nonfiction ,

Summary:

Let’s be clear, the average star rating is brought up by the narrator. She did a decent job. The book’s just worthless.

Additional Comments:

  • This is a list of 90+ ways to earn $100. In reality, you’d probably earn a lot more than that doing each of these things because most are actual jobs that take skills and a license to do them correctly/legally.
  • Babysitting and dog walking are good ideas. He mentions that the first might be embarrassing to do as an adult, but it’s more embarrassing not to be able to pay your bills. While I can’t argue with that logic, there are also better and steadier jobs out there that come with insurance and whatnot.
  • At least 3, Bingo, Fantasy Football, and Slot Machines are straight up gambling. That’s not exactly the sort of message you want to be touting in your “ways to make money” spiel. I think the only good advice he gave was know when to quit because the house eventually always wins.
  • Another whole slew of items started “tutor/ teach ___.” It’s absolutely true that you can make good money tutoring/teaching, but that should have been 1 item with a long-ish spiel about finding the right thing for you to tutor or teach.
  • Can’t tell you how many of the items started with “grow ___” in your backyard. I just had to laugh. While it might be lucrative if you own the right land, you’ll likely pay more for the tree saplings/seeds. Then, you have to wait for the plant to mature enough.
  • He lists buying stocks and then says, go watch youtube videos to learn how to do this well. Gee. Thanks. Never woulda thought of that.

Conclusion:

It’s a quick audiobook. If you can snag a free code, go for it. You might find a treasure among the rubbish.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR

3.5/5 Stars: Disney’s 2019 Aladdin Reboot

Julie Gilbert children's, Family, Fantasy , , ,
standard movie poster

Summary:

A poor boy with a pure heart finds a magic lamp and wishes himself into a prince so he can see the Sultan’s daughter, Princess Jasmine.

Additional Comments:

  • A valiant effort for rebooting a classic tale.
  • I still think the animated version is better, but they handled the beloved story with love.
  • Casting fit pretty well, though personally I think Naomi Scott had a stronger singing voice than Mena Massoud. They both did fine though. Will Smith put in an admirable performance as the genie. Nasim Pedrad gave life to a new character, Dalia, handmaiden to the princess. She was hilarious. Hands-down, my favorite new character. Alan Tudyk also did a nice job with Iago.
  • Comparison to the old version: I miss Gilbert Godfried’s Iago and Robin Williams’s genie. The new ones were fine but just not the same.
  • They definitely added some new songs and overall smacked the production with Bollywood style. They also kept some of the old classics and the basics of the storyline. I hadn’t seen the animated one in forever, so I forgot how things played out.
  • Were the additions worth it? Not really. They’re fine, but the movie doesn’t come close to the wow factor I had as a kid. That could partly be because I’m not a kid anymore, but I’m left with a feeling of “yeah, it was good.” Maybe the issues is my expectations were too high because the original left a very high bar to reach.

Conclusion:

Decent in its own right, but I’m still not convinced Disney needs to keep digging into its archives to find worthy stories to tell.

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.


OR