6/10/2023 0 Comments Axes of Evil by Alex S. JohnsonBut can this elevation only happen with stories of kindness? Must the rest of the news abandon us to despair?The world is asking us to consider that question deeply. She defined kindness and heroism as “moral beauty,” which “triggers ‘elevation’ – a positive and uplifting feeling” that “acts as an emotional reset button, replacing feelings of cynicism with hope, love and optimism.”The study suggested this happens when one watches a news story about kindness after watching ones about bombings, cruelty, and violence. They support “the belief that the world and people in it are good.” And they provide “relief to the pain we experience when we see others suffering.”It was her fourth point that stuck with me. A week ago, a British researcher published an article titled “Stories of kindness may counteract the negative effects of looking at bad news.” As you might imagine, I was intrigued.Kathryn Buchanan of the University of Essex shared four main takeaways from her research: Stories of kindness remind us of our shared values.
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6/9/2023 0 Comments Outrage inc by derek hunterThe growing role of celebrities in the political world, and movies with a "message" that dominate awards season, but rarely the box office.With research and a biting, sarcastic wit, he explains: Tired of being forced to believe or else, Derek Hunter exposes the manufactured truths and unwritten commandments of the Establishment. Now a CNN segment is seven liberals versus a sacrificial lamb. Just a few years ago, the media pretended they were honest brokers. Worse, they are using that consensus to pull the country even further to the left, by bullying and silencing dissent from even those they've allowed in. They give their most political members awards, and then say the awards make their liberal beliefs true. There are three institutions in American life run by gatekeepers who have stopped letting in anyone who questions their liberal script: academia, journalism, and pop culture. They use their cult-like groupthink consensus as "proof" that science, reporting, and entertainment will always back up the Democrats. Progressives love to attack conservatives as anti-science, wallowing in fake news, and culturally backwards. From Derek Hunter-one of the most entertaining political writers today-comes an insightful, alarming look at how progressives have taken over academia, pop culture, and journalism in order to declare everything liberal great, and everything great, liberal. 6/9/2023 0 Comments Not Your Sidekick by C.B. LeeBeyond that, there is a normalization of they/them pronouns and even a scene where characters introduced themselves and included!! the pronouns they preferred!! in their introductions!! Honestly my heart sang it was glorious. Bells' identity is never called into question at any point, and his pronouns are a constant and an absolute. I am cis and cannot comment on the accuracy of the trans rep, but I have heard really wonderful things from trans and nonbinary reviewers so please seek their voices out! I will say I loved the normalization of pronouns throughout this book. And can we talk about how brilliant it is to see a black trans guy on the cover of his own book? I can't stop staring at this cover and grinning. His general excitement over being a superhero was so contagious and joyful. He's so awkward and nerdy sometimes, but he can also be a glorious show off and I adore it all. I loved Bells in Not Your Sidekick so of course I had to love him when he actually got his own book. These books make me so happy I lose the ability to be coherent. Oh my god this was so lovely and wonderful. The character was consistently portrayed by Robert Englund in the original film series as well as in the television spin-off Freddy's Nightmares. Over the course of the film series, Freddy has battled several reoccurring survivors including Nancy Thompson and Alice Johnson. This glove was the product of Krueger's own imagination, having welded the blades himself before using it to murder many of his victims, both in the real and dream worlds. He is commonly identified by his burned, disfigured face, dirty red-and-green-striped sweater and brown fedora, and trademark metal-clawed, brown leather, right hand glove. However, whenever Freddy is pulled back into the real world, he has normal human vulnerabilities and can be destroyed. In the dream world, he is a powerful force and seemingly invulnerable. Krueger goes on to murder his victims in their dreams, causing their deaths in the real world as well. He was created by Wes Craven and made his debut in Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as the malevolent spirit of a child killer who had been burned to death by his victims' parents after evading prison. Michael Bailey Smith (Super-Freddy) (1989)įreddy Krueger ( / ˈ k r uː ɡ ər/) is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series. It's a challenging concept, of course, but that made writing this novel so much more interesting for me!. Of course, I don't have an answer to this question, but I decided to switch to second person to bring the reader closer to Ansel's mind: you are the serial killer. I suspect we are curious how their minds work because we want to know how people become evil. "He lifts his thumb to the light, examines it close." I asked myself a lot of questions about why we love serial killers so much, what interests us about them. It's a challenging concept, of course, but that made writing this novel so much more When I first started writing this novel, Ansel's perspective was written in the third person. Danya Kukafka is the internationally bestselling author of Girl in Snow. Katie Kitamura, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (Editors Choice) 'A searing portrait of the complicated women caught in the orbit of a serial killer. I suspect we are curious how their minds work because we want to know how people become evil. Notes on an Execution is nuanced, ambitious and compelling. When I first started writing this novel, Ansel's perspective was written in the third person. 6/9/2023 0 Comments Weather by offillpart of the brilliance of Offill’s fiction is how it pushes back against this self-deception. Offill’s writing is shrewd on the question of whether intense psychic suffering heightens your awareness of the pain of others, or makes you blind to it. fragmented structure composed of short bursts of mundane intensity that make me think of Dalí’s animal sketches, in which a few spare ink strokes evoke the essence of each beast. Offill takes subjects that could easily become pedantic and makes them thrilling and hilarious and terrifying and alive by letting her characters live on these multiple scales at once, as we all do. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them - consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can - training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. ON MORTAL INSTRUMENTS AND CASSANDRA CLAREĬity of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) Cassandra ClareĬity of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass.City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4). He had tasked his underling, the unloveable Major Sebright Saunders (Michael Maloney), with strong-arming Siegfried into passing the beast as hot to trot, and Siegfried’s protestations that the horse might be left permanently lame were brusquely brushed aside. River had an injured leg, but the colonel was determined that his horse should nonetheless race. The unwitting fall guy in this dastardly scheme was River, the racehorse belonging to a man we know only as “the colonel”. Screenwriter Ben Vanstone, who must still be counting his blessings for the way the rejuvenated All Creatures… has blasted off into ratings heaven, had devised a plotline whereby Siegfried was prepared to commit a grotesque breach of veterinary ethics if it would enable him to pluck Tristan out of the firing line and back into the friendly embrace of the family business. So it proved, and Tristan’s determination to join the war effort, and the despairing efforts to stop him by his older brother Siegfried (Samuel West), provided the running theme of this Yuletide one-off. The sheriff’s son, he’s expected to set a role model for other kids. Matt is the son of Blackwell’s political leaders and has been held to a high standard from an early age. Each of their perspectives adds to the story and builds upon one another with each adolescent bringing a unique view to the story. The story is told from the perspectives of Matt, Fen, and Laurie. It was a bit odd to learn that the story takes place in South Dakota, mostly because I had a picture of Norway in my mind until there, but it’s a small detail. Armstrong and Marr have done their research, and they incorporate the mythology so well into the novel that it not only fits into context, you get an overview of Norse mythology as you read this novel. ◆ A copy was provided by Little Brown for review ◆ĭrawing heavily from Norse mythology, Loki’s Wolves tells the story of the descendants of the Norse Gods as they battle monsters, seek the special items, and overcome the tests in order to prevent the end of the world. Leaving New York City to join a hunting expedition in Alaska, Greg’s plans are turned upside down when he is shot on Gwich’in land and ends up on Sarah’s operating table. She hopes to help usher in an era of independence and stability for the town, but for now, her focus is finishing med school so she can become Beaver’s resident doctor.īusiness owner Greg Andrews wants to escape his philandering wife and his life in general. Despite her reluctance to marry without love, Sarah is unwilling to defy her father’s wishes. Raised in a strict household, she learned early on to do what is expected of her and has agreed to an arranged marriage. A loyal member of the Gwich’in tribe, she accepts the rules set by her father, the leader of their small town. Pre-med student Sarah Jones is back in Beaver, Alaska, for summer vacation. |