Tenet | Mini-Review

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All Style, No Substance.

Intentionally confusing on the surface, but simple to understand once you take a breather from the needlessly inflated dialogue. The entire movie reminded me of academics who aim for superiority by using an excessive amount of jargon and a ‘unique’ structure, but in reality are just bad at presenting ideas to a learning audience.

The movie isn’t as smart as it would like to seem, and while it’s certainly pretty, the story itself is quite boring. Action and an interesting hook can only carry a narrative so far, and we’re given no reason to care for the main cast beside their familiar faces and some weak ‘family’ connections that are never developed.

The film does little to explore the waters of characters motivations, pasts, and personal connections to the key sci-fi element: time. Although, one motivation is revealed, it comes across as a cheap throw away line that links to real world fears. While this reasoning could have provided an interesting thread throughout the movie, it is chucked in with no reinforcement or impact.

Additionally, the ‘epic’ score, while up to Zimmer’s established standard for Nolan films (despite not being his work), is used excessively throughout; sometimes making it difficult to hear the actual dialogue. It’s a real shame as I have been excited to see Tenet in cinemas since pre-lockdown.

I have read plenty of glowing reviews that recommend a second viewing, however with a run time of 2 hours and 30 minutes, I won’t be wasting my time.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Side note: the only character name I can remember just two hours after seeing the movie is ‘Neil’. That’s probably not a good sign.

Seasons of Music | 2020 So Far

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Every few months I put together a new playlist to represent a new season of my life. And, as you can imagine 2020 has been quite the year of change.

Originally, I was going to create a new playlist every three months to correspond with the changing of the seasons; however since I have more time on my hands than expected, I’ve driven each song into the ground. So, as I commence with my 4th playlist of the year, please enjoy what I’ve been listening to so far in 2020.

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Normal People by Salley Rooney | Review

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Synopsis: Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in rural Ireland. The similarities end there; they are from very different worlds. When they both earn places at Trinity College in Dublin, a connection that has grown between them lasts long into the following years.

Goodreads Link

Despite the inescapable marketing of Rooney’s second novel, news of the TV adaptation flooding the internet, and bookstores peddling Normal People like there was no tomorrow, I somehow turned the first page with reasonably high expectations and yet absolutely no idea what I actually signed up for.

Normal People explores intimacy, depression, class divides, and the daunting march of time in a way that is now a distant memory. Reading a book so focused on how entwined it’s two central protagonists are, physically and emotionally, made me long for our pre-2020 world.

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The Reading Rush | Readathon Wrap-Up

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The Reading Rush ended nearly a week ago and I’m only just sharing my readathon wrap-up: we love procrastination. Looking back, I was pretty ambitious with my 1,900 page goal. And, despite only reading just over 300 pages in total, I have actually achieved my personal goal of getting back into reading.

For me, The Reading Rush presented the opportunity to spend a week prioritising reading, becoming part of the bookish community again, and discovering new non-fiction and fiction reads for the future. So, in that regard, I’m happy to have achieved what I set out to do.

It’s been a fun week of community challenges, discussions, and sharing recommendations. So here’s my delayed wrap-up for the 2020 Reading Rush.

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The Reading Rush | Mid-Week Catch Up

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We’re four days into The Reading Rush and wow have I read more words in passed these four days than I have in the past year. As expected, I have already strayed from TBR in an attempt to finish books opened before this week, and delve into ones that were calling my name. However, those books do correspond with a challenge so I’m not doing too bad.

Here’s a little catch-up on where I am with my Reading Rush progress from Monday to Wednesday. And if you’re not following me on Instagram, I recommend doing so as I am sharing my progress and activities over on my stories. While I am sharing my rating and a few thoughts on each book here, I actually plan on publishing separate mini reviews in the coming weeks.

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The Reading Rush TBR

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This Monday marks the beginning of The Reading Rush, a week full of challenges, community, and the opportunity to tick 7 books off your TBR Pile. This week-long readathon is open to everyone and will be the first readathon I have taken part in for about 3 years.

It’s been a while since I was a wee little book blogger caught up in the world of YA literature. But now, I’m older, have a degree in Literature and Creative Writing, and my tastes have definitely changed (well, a little). So, without further ado, here’s my TBR for The Reading Rush!

For this readathon there’s 7 prompts to help you decide what to read. And, with some of these, they can be interpreted in different ways so that you can tailor the experience to suit the books that are actually on your shelves and the location you’re in (this’ll make more sense down the line).

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