Tyson Adams's Blog, page 59
July 14, 2016
Book reviews: No Safe Place by Matt Hilton
No Safe Place by Matt Hilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This review wasn’t able to be submitted as it was stolen by a guard dog. I swear, it really happened.
Joe Hunter is back in the game and ready to be bashed and shot, and possibly paid. This time Joe is hired to protect a young boy whose mother has just been killed during a home invasion. But the boy’s father knows there is more to the death than that – hint: revenge, it’s always revenge – and Joe suspects so as well. Of course, Joe decides to dig into what is really going on, even if his police friend Bryony would prefer he wouldn’t.
In the interests of full disclosure, I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. You know it will be an honest review because it was only a book and not accompanied with whiskey.
No Safe Place is Matt Hilton’s eleventh Joe Hunter novel and it did not disappoint. I’ve been a long time fan of the Joe Hunter series, and of Matt’s other works. His writing is well paced, packed with vivid fight scenes, and has compelling plots. This instalment particularly interested me because I noted that there was more of the Northern England language flavourings to the writing than I’d previously noticed. This could be because after ten novels in a series editors concede you are allowed to write whatever the hell you want. They can’t make all of their writers sound like they come from the same place forever.
Looking back through my reviews for the rest of the series I note that I frequently used the term “gritty thriller” and rated them 4 stars. Not much has changed. This is another very reliable, entertaining, crime thriller; add it to your To Be Read pile.
Tagged: Book review, Book reviews, Gritty thriller, Joe Hunter, Matt Hilton, No Safe Place, Right What You No, Rink Rington, Thriller, Tyson Adams
July 12, 2016
What I think of Dean Koontz
I was watching Odd Thomas, the adaptation of Dean Koontz’s novel starring Anton Yelchin, on Netflix and realised I haven’t read a Koontz novel in years. The last one I remember reading was Night Chills, which I read as a child. Probably the closest I’ve come to reading a Koontz novel lately is watching the movie Phantoms.
Odd Thomas was an enjoyable movie, a bit cheesy, but entertaining none-the-less. Same could be said of Phantoms. Even though I read Night Chills over 25 years ago, I can still vividly remember a lot of it because of the interesting take on mind control and what it could be used for. So it seems odd that after having had no bad experiences with Koontz’s novels (and movie adaptations) that I wouldn’t have read more of his work. I mean, he didn’t become the sixth highest paid author by accident. And how many other novels do I remember reading that long ago?
Could it be that “no bad experiences” doesn’t exactly act as a glowing recommendation? Is it just that I’ve written him off as an inferior Stephen King clone? Or is it that whenever I think of Dean Koontz I think of this scene from The Family Guy?
Of course, Koontz isn’t the only author whose career I seem to have glossed over. It is easy to miss an author. With so many great books by so many great authors, the issue becomes one of hours per lifetime. I’ve long held that a lifetime of reading doesn’t amount to many novels read. Don’t believe me? Allow me to mathetise you:
Let’s use two averages 50 books per year and 100 books per year.
Assume average reading lifespan is between age 10 and 80 = 70 years.
Assume you only read any one novel once.
Assume that you aren’t tragically hit by a car and can’t read.
Thus, in a reading lifetime you can read between 3,500 and 7,000 books.
There were over 300,000 books published in the USA last year. Over 8,000 in my home country of Australia.
So we do have to be picky about what we read. You can’t just waste time slogging through a book you aren’t enjoying: that’s valuable reading life you’re wasting! Not to mention your poor brain being haunted by the experience. Glossing over authors who could possibly be entertaining me greatly in service of finishing that award winning novel literature professors deemed important, is madness. Dying knowing that you had read all of the Harry Potter books would be far more satisfying that dying from sheer boredom in the middle of War and Peace.
Reviews and recommendations obviously become very important here. Being picky about what you read has to come from good advice. That’s why I post reviews of books I’ve enjoyed. Hopefully I’ll help others find something to read that won’t make them regret paying money for. Movie adaptations are part of this recommendation process. Despite the movies always being worse than the book (except when they aren’t) you do get an impression of the book and whether it would be worth reading. I mean, nothing like taking 15 hours of entertainment and squeezing it into 2 hours to help avoid bad books. Odd Thomas recommended its source material enough to make me question my entire accidental Koontz avoidance. I Am Number Four made me erroneously assume you couldn’t write a worse book. The Bourne Identity made me question if they knew it was meant to be based on a book.
Maybe I should read Odd Thomas, or one of the other hundred odd novels Koontz has written. Maybe I should see if the author who managed to write something that lingers in my memory decades later is able to leave that sort of impression again. Maybe I should see how faithful the movie adaptation was and how suited Anton Yelchin was to the role.
Or I could continue to avoid reading Koontz’s books. You know, whatever.
Tagged: Book adaptations, Books, Dean Koontz, Family Guy, Family Guy Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas, Phantoms like a mother fucker, Reading, Reading lifespan, Reading lifetime, Right What You No, Stephen King, Tyson Adams
July 10, 2016
How can someone from Australia, get into an American University such as Harvard?
Widener Library, Harvard University
Australians have a proud history as the descendants of convicts. As such there is no place we can’t break into if we so desire.
The first thing is the loooonnngg plane ride from Australia to the US. Due to customs it is advisable not to bring your B&E equipment with you but rather acquire it from those new-world criminals in the USA.
The second thing is staking out the campus. Surveillance is the key to any decent break-in. You will need good notes from your observations to use in the next step.
The third thing is to have a plan for your break-in. Know your target, ingress point, egress point, contingencies, and make sure you have a cover identity setup just in case things go south.
The final point is to make sure your risk:reward ratio is balanced enough to make the operation worth it. There is nothing worse than putting the time and front money in place for low returns, especially if the penalties are high.
Of course you could just send in an application to Harvard like every other Aussie student who applies to US universities. Maybe the ex-Harvard Student Association in Australia could be of help.
This post originally appeared on Quora.
Tagged: American universities, Aussie alumni, Aussie students, Harvard University, Humor, Humour, Quora, Right What You No, Satire, Tyson Adams
July 8, 2016
Book Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I wouldn’t make much of a supervillain. My weakness is chocolate. And quality whiskey. And a beautiful guitar. And a great novel. And…. this would make a long list of things to kill me with.
Steelheart is the first book in the Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson. David was only a child when the Epics (supervillains) appeared. He also has a secret: he saw the greatest of the Epics bleed. The supposedly invincible and invulnerable Steelheart is now the Dictator of Newcago and David wants to avenge his father’s death at the hands of Steelheart.
After enjoying the Mistborn series I have been trying other Sanderson book series, expecting more great novels from him. I struck out with The Way of Kings, which could best be described as using 100 words when 10 would suffice, but Steelheart promises an exciting series.
Leaving aside the (acknowledged) improbable superpowers and raised middle finger to physics, the novel manages to be engaging and intriguing. In this David versus Goliaths tale there is plenty of suspense and fear that the heroes may not triumph. The series is intended as a Young Adult adventure, but YA is the new A must read, so don’t be put off by that.
Can’t wait to read the rest of the series and see how the handwavium works.
Tagged: Book review, Book reviews, Brandon Sanderson, David vs Goliath, Epics, Fantasy, Mistborn, Reading, Reckoners, Reviews, Right What You No, Superhero, Supervillain, The Way of Kings, Tyson Adams
July 5, 2016
Dead Tree Book Art
An artist by the name of Sebastian Errazuriz makes, among other things, functional sculptures. And what could be more functional than a bookshelf?
He turns dead tree branches into bookshelves for ultimate in dead trees holding up dead trees.
Click to view slideshow.
Original: http://www.boredpanda.com/tree-shelf-creative-bookshelves-bilbao-sebastian-errazuriz/
Tagged: Art, Bookshelves, Cool bookshelves, Functional sculptures, Reblog, Reblogged, Right What You No, Sebastian Errazuriz, Tyson Adams
July 3, 2016
Will Australia become a Chinese state?
Xenophobia: just history repeating.
1, there’re many industries like dairy & realestate purchased by Chinese and their govt.
2, more CHN immigrated to Oz, but didn’t integrate into local society. They’re criticised coz of their “traditional” habits.
3, many Chinese prefer profits rather than quality. many ppl argue oz will be destroyed*
Little known fact: the entire world will be owned by the Chinese in the next two decades. Unfortunately, when Western governments stopped their wars against the “reds under the bed” they left the door open to the great peril. Since that time, China has been buying up everything it can get its hands upon. So it isn’t a matter of if Australia and the rest of the world become a Chinese state, but when.
Let’s look at some facts. So much of Australian land is being bought up by the Chinese. Of the 134,000 farm businesses in Australia, only 99% of them are family owned and operated.
Aussie farms – after providing 93% of the domestic food requirement – export a massive 14% of produce to China. Australian Social Trends, Dec 2012
You also have to look at the huge influx of non-Aussie farmers. It won’t be long before we’ll be overrun with non-Aussies. It may be 11% of farmers being born overseas, and most of those being from the UK or Europe, but won’t somebody think of the Aussie Children!!
More broadly the immigration of Chinese people to Australia threatens to displace all those good white Aussies. Including second, third, fourth and fifth generation Chinese-Australians, they make up a whopping 4% of the population. They don’t integrate at all, since only 3.4% are Catholic, with most of them (63.2%) practicing the heathenish No Religion. Clearly they can’t integrate if they don’t follow the traditional religions of this nation.
And it is just like those socialist commies to prefer profits above all else!!
We should live in deep fear of China. Definitely don’t worry about real issues, like climate change.
This post originally appeared on Quora.
*NB: The question and quote are verbatim.
Tagged: China, China a threat to Australia, Chinese, Chinese invasion of Australia, Quora, Quora answers, Racism, Right What You No, Satire, Tyson Adams, Xenophobia, Yellow peril
June 30, 2016
When bands become popular
I have no idea who this is a picture of…
What is term for when you like a band and then they become popular and more people like their music and you become jealous because it’s “your band”?
It’s called being a wanker.
Wankers only really think of themselves. They love everything about themselves and hate to think that someone else could intrude on them. So when a wanker becomes fixated on something, they hate the idea that someone else might intrude or interrupt their joyful moment alone.
The reality is that most wankers are so self-absorbed that they fail to realise just how precious they are being about sharing the love. Say a wanker goes to a gig and listens to a new band, and thinks to themselves, “This is mine.” Except they fail to remember that they were standing in a room full of people, some enjoying the show, some cringing, and some utterly disgusted. So when that band starts playing bigger and bigger gigs, the wanker is now surrounded by more and more people, many of whom aren’t the sort of people the wanker likes being around. They start getting performance anxiety because they will be surrounded by people that “don’t get it” like the wanker does. They are afraid of being judged, because they are so judgemental.
Music is meant to be a shared experience and wankers don’t generally like to share. Don’t be a wanker.
This post originally appeared on Quora.
See also: http://www.salon.com/2013/08/10/15_most_hated_bands_of_last_30_years/
Tagged: Bands, Humor, Humour, Quora, Quora answers, Right What You No, Snobbery, Tyson Adams, Wankers, Your favourite band, Your favourite band sucks
June 28, 2016
20 Cool Bookshelves
There are so many cool bookshelves around – yes, cool still applies to books. Here are 20 cool designs that will keep your books safe, albeit only a few as the shelves themselves are the centrepiece, not the books. I mean, who needs a bookshelf to actually store books? The Tardis and Tree bookshelves are my favourites.
Click to view slideshow.
Original: http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-bookshelves-bookcases/
Tagged: Bookshelves, Cool bookshelves, Cool designs, Reblog, Reblogged, Right What You No, Tyson Adams
Book review: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
In Russia serial killer not Russian.
Child 44 follows MGP – Russian police- security officer Leo Demidov. Leo tows the party line until circumstances force him to accept that crime does actually does exist in the Soviet Union. Leo is the only person interested in bringing a prolific serial killer to justice.
I’d heard many great things about Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. It won a pile of awards, even being included on the Man Booker long list, and became a must read for crime fiction fans. You know there is a ‘but’ coming. I like my buts big, and I cannot lie.
But Child 44 annoyed me. The story itself is well told. The characters are interesting. The antagonist is based on the real serial killer Andrei Chikatilo. Those points didn’t stop the nagging at the back of my brain. The premise is a great example of a nagging point. If the Soviet Union didn’t believe there was crime, let alone murder, after the revolution, then why the hell did they keep crime statistics? And there were no serial killers in… Oh wait, there are 9 acknowledged from Russia alone in the 20th Century.
The problems don’t stop there, of course. The usual Russian tropes are rolled out like an “In Russia” joke. I’m not really in a position to judge how valid any of these tropes are, nor how accurate a portrait of post-WW2 Soviet Union Tom paints. But when I’ve read Russian authors in the past their novels didn’t give the sense of place that Tom does. This really did feel like a British author’s take on what the Soviet Union was like based upon those Cold War films they watched as a kid.
Another minor problem I had with the book was the way it dragged scenes out. This was meant to be about creating tension and suspense, but all it did was annoy me. My annoyance on this point may have been driven by my heightened sense of “vodka to wash down amphetamines… really?” moments from the novel.
If you can get past the generic tropes, this is a book worth reading. I’m sure I would have rated it more highly if I hadn’t read a few Russian authors and seen a few Russian films to realise how much of a Western view of the East this novel is.
Tagged: Andrei Chikatilo, Book review, Book reviews, Child 44, Cold War, Crime, Leo Demidov, Right What You No, Russia, Russian stereotypes, Serial killer, Soviet Union, Tom Rob Smith, Tyson Adams
June 26, 2016
Can you recommend some Aussie movies?
Studying Aussie films to figure out our culture is tough to do. Most of the movies or TV shows that are spoken about tend to offer up stereotypes of Aussies to showcase a facet of our larrikin humour (e.g. The Castle). Our culture is wide and varied, as can be evidenced by our films, which are as good as any other film industry world wide. I’m going to give some examples.
Aussie cinema in general is noted for producing some absolute rubbish *cough* Australia *cough* whilst audiences ignore the fantastic films. I think some of the best Aussie films have been made in the last decade and didn’t get much, if any, attention. E.g. The first one on my list is bound to become a cult classic. Non-existent distribution deals, lack of interest in lower budget movies in favour of the latest loud noises and fireballs from Michael Bay, and the generally undeserved ignominy that Australian films suffer under, and you could be excused for never having heard of any of these films. This is by no mean an exhaustive list either.
Predestination: Sarah Snook and Ethan Hawke in an adaptation of the Robert Heinlein story All You Zombies. The cast are amazing, the story is excellent, and the film just oozes intrigue. Snook is an actor to watch.
Sarah Snook is a chameleon in this film.
Daybreakers: From the same creative team behind Predestination comes this earlier vampire film. Ethan Hawke again stars along with Aussie icon Sam Neill – yeah, we’re going to claim him as an Aussie, screw you New Zealand!
Jack Irish: This series of crime films – and now a TV series – were released on the small screen and star Guy Pierce. Adapted from the excellent Aussie author Peter Temple’s book series, you’d be hard pressed to find a better cast and layered characters.
These Final Hours: With a pretty much unknown cast and made in Western Australia on a small budget, this fantastic film went completely under the radar. Set as the world is about to end, it follows Nathan Phillips as James as he tries to get to a party for the end of the world, but instead finds what he really needs to do in his final hours. Lot’s of unglamorous Perth scenery.
The Babadook: Quite simply the best horror film made in years regardless of where it was made.
The Rover: Another Guy Pierce film and also starring some guy that sparkles. Post-apocalyptic tale about Australia becoming a wasteland after the global economic collapse. Pretty much what everyone assumes Australia is like anyway, especially if they are Mad Max fans.
The Tracker: This is a historical tale about an Aboriginal tracker tasked with helping a colonial policeman find the killer of a white woman. This is a bit older than some of the other films on this list, but worth a watch as it has been overshadowed by the film The Rabbit Proof Fence.
Son of a Gun: Ewan McGregor and Brenton Twaites star in this crime drama set in Western Australia. A young crook is recruited by the experienced armed robber McGregor to pull off a gold heist. Lot’s of true Aussie scenery.
Cargo: Short zombie film that will tear your heart to shreds. Seriously, watch it now.
Special mention for Let’s Get Skase as an Aussie comedy that covers some interesting parts of recent Aussie culture.
This post originally appeared on Quora.
See also:
https://taylorlappin.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/good-aussie-films-tell-em-theyre-dreamin/
Tagged: Aussie film, Aussie movies, Movies, Quora, Quora answers, Right What You No, Tyson Adams
