Tassie Dave’s Comments (group member since Mar 27, 2011)

Tassie Dave’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

I think this is still getting a cinema release in Australia. I'm not sure if they will also do the Disney+ Premium thing.

"Wonder Woman 1984" has made US $18.5 million here so far and Black Widow would do similar numbers.

I don't think they would get anywhere near that number if they released it as Disney+ only.

https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Won...

Black Widow is a movie I'd go to a cinema to watch if I was near a city while it's on. (No covid in my state and we have been community free of it for 9 months)

Highly unlikely 😉 unless they make one in the west.

Geez I hope the US Top 10 on Netflix is better than the Oz Top 10.

I find it no guarantee of quality. Anything new or featured, will instantly jump high inside the Top 10

I would like to see a better rating system and a Top 10 based on ratings for the last week.

I find recommendations from friends, forums like this and podcasts I trust, like Cordkillers (Tom's show with Brian Brushwood) are best for me finding new content to watch rather than what Netflix tries to push or their Top 10 which is broken.

Beach novel, pulp fiction etc

Which is perfectly fine. Most books we will never read again. They serve their purpose and as long as you have fun while reading it, then it has done its job.

It's debatable whether 1 a week is a good thing or a bad thing given the low rate of good Netflix original movies.

For every "The Queen's Gambit" there are several "The Midnight Sky". Sorting through the garbage is hard enough as it is.

It might be better if they spent 4 times as much money to make 1 really good movie/TV series a month.

Iain wrote: "This is the year for.... The Hanging Tree (or Midnight Riot if in the US for some strange reason)...."

Did you mean Rivers of London ?

The Hanging Tree is Book 6 in the series.

If you meant Rivers of London, then I will second it.

Finished The Fold last night. Started Heaven's River the latest Bobiverse novel.

It is fun old school sci-fi for sure.

Your spoiler didn't surprise me. (Book 1 of series spoiler follows)(view spoiler)[14 has a portal to the land of Lovecraft tentacle flying monsters also (hide spoiler)]

John (Taloni) wrote: "I'm modestly surprised that people are watching the show the morning it comes out."

It releases here at 7 PM Friday nights (Which is Midnight PST)

I usually watch it a few hours later after whatever sport is on that night (cricket or footy)

I like to catch shows before the internet can start spoiling them.

This is the episode we needed to have. I don't mind mystery, but I like to have it eventually explained.

A mix of both worlds will work for me from now on.

(view spoiler)[It is fun to have Darcy back. She was one of the quirky highlights from the Thor movies. (hide spoiler)]

It's not really much of a spoiler, but fine

Rick wrote: "I've long thought that the best rating system is Yes/No. I recommend reading this or I don't. I would drink this wine or not. I'd recommend seeing this movie... or not. Want more information? Read my review."

Netflix has a thumbs up or thumbs down system, but I don't think it works and it stuffs up my recommendations.

I may watch a movie/TV show and I find it "ok" and give it a thumbs up. Now all of a sudden I'm getting recommended similar average movies.

I'd rather have a Star system and only get recommended movies/TV shows that I rated 4 or 5 star.

i have taken to only rating movies/TV shows I really love (Thumbs Up) or really hated (Thumbs Down) and don't rate everything in between.

I give many books I enjoyed 3 stars, including The Marrow Thieves.

I save 4 and 5 Stars for above average or exceptional books. I wish Goodreads had ½ stars or an out of 10 system for more nuance.

I'm not a fan of rating systems like Uber, Yelp etc that treat anything lower than 5 Stars as a poor rating.

Tamahome wrote: "Would Vision be a sci-fi friend?"

He can be your Sci-Fi friend, because Wanda is definitely my fantasy
friend 😏

I loved the Powder mage series.

I haven't read the sequel "Gods of Blood and Powder" series (yet)

Trike wrote: "Can it be read without knowing anything about that world?"

I've read all of the Books and most of the novellas in the "Powder Mage" series.

The novellas do assume that you are familiar with the world and the characters.

You could read them as stand-alones, but I doubt you'd get as much out of it as a fan.

I really enjoyed 14 Book 1 in the same series as next month's pick Book 2 "The Fold".

I gave it ★★★★. I'm looking forward to "The Fold" even more now. It's obvious that they are separate stories in a shared universe and not connected too closely.

The "Lost" (the TV show) (except in an apartment building) vibe is a fair comparison for "14". I could compare it other genres, but they'd be too big a giveaway to what is going on.

One of the characters even references "Lost". Though you'd have to be a fan of the show to catch it.

It's a bit of both. But it is much more Laser than Sword. It is futuristic dystopia (the level of tech is irrelevant)

I wasn't having a go at people who think US$10 is high. All our circumstances are different.

The reason I think that $10 is cheap is because for most of my life I was used to the extra costs that were applied because I live in an isolated country, then charged extra because I live on an island and then extra on top of that because I live in a remote part of that island.

A book that cost $10 on a shelf in the US in 1990, would be close to $30 by the time I received it, after every person along the delivery chain added their cut.

Around US$10 seems to be the norm for eBooks.

I'm one of those people who think US$10 is cheap for a book.

Before eBooks became a thing, I'd regularly pay between US$20 and US$30 for books (even paperbacks) and also have to wait weeks for them to arrive, by snail mail.

Less than half the price and instant access. Take my money 😉

YMMV

I've started reading the 1st book in the series 14.

It has an intriguing blurb comparing it to TV show Lost that hooked me.

I'm about 15% in and the Lost vibe and mysterious goings on is there. Except it's an apartment building instead of an island.

I'll be interested to see what connections it has to the February book pick.