Saw it today. It could have been so much more. Lots of inconsistencies regarding what the child can do.

Pretty much a blow everything up, action, special effects type of movie. Story was okay. Somewhat original. A few emotional manipulation tricks towards the end.

I’d give it a B-.

Update: wanted to add the cinematography was really good. Very inspiring scenery. That was the best part. The child actor was very good too. Those were the best parts of the movie. The US Army General was one dimensional, shallow, and just a bad stereotype. Very poorly done. That was the stupidest/worse parts of the movie.

This is a pretty common wish, I’d wager. Know everything you know now with no responsibility. Ace school cause it’d be like a review. Friends and romance would be much, much easier with your experience. You would be SO free simply be knowing it’s such a waste of time and energy worrying about certain things (am I normal, does she like me, am I ugly, etc.)

Oh to just sit back and relax with nothing hanging over my head and no responsibilities (compared to an adult). Oh, to have that very strong feeling of wonder and know your while life ahead of you and the possibilities are endless!

What a beautiful and splendid fantasy. If only.

For $13,000 I can be 16 again? SOLD!!!

I second Octavia Butler.

On my list to read, but haven’t yet, is N.K. Jemisin.

A fairly new author is Malcom Turnbull. He was on a radio interview a while back and the book (The Lesson) sounded interesting so I gor it and read it.

A lot of the sci-fi books I’ve been reading lately have black [main] characters. I don’t know if those authors are black though. I have to look into it.

Watched all the Expanse series and started reading the Expanse books. I’m now on book 4 (Cibola Burn). When I watched the series, I really could figure out or understand what was going on. I just kept watching due to the charismatic enthusiasm of the fans online. I finished the TV series but still didn’t quite “get it” and still felt lost. But now that I’m reading the books, I now understand what’s happening and am enjoying it.

Understood. I like seeing the movie or series after reading the book, for some reason.

I understand and agree regarding a stale take on an existing trope. It is hard to find a new take on a concept, but just as you, that is exactly what I’m looking for too.

I understand, thank you for your input,

Of course if you enjoy it, the time is not wasted. Worthy to me, means I enjoy it. I’m sent dozens of book recommendations each week from various sources in which I subscribe. I have to weed them out because I certainly don’t have time to read each one. The longer my queue becomes, the stricter my criteria becomes. I read almost every night for hours before bed, so not sure why you think I spend very little time enjoying a book. What an odd thing to say.

That is interesting and a good way to do it. What about authors you haven’t heard of? How do you filter those?

What’s the threshold? Can you articulate it, or is it more of a feeling to match your mood, or something like that?

That’s nice and easy. I didn’t say it in my post, but I too will commit to reading the first 100 pages before deciding whether to go on or abandon it.

Too restrictive? Yes maybe so. There are always exceptions which I haven’t verbalized in my post.

Nevertheless, I fear if I used your method, in total I’d spend years reading samples. It’s good it works for you though.

I read so much, I just don’t have time to invest in reading samples.

UPDATE: I’ve been wondering why the down votes. I suspect there is tone in my response which I did not intend. I get a lot of recommendations I want to weed through to find something I’m interested in. I couldn’t possibly read all the samples. That’s all I’m saying.

ConnectBot SSH Android client also on F-Droid

gReader Premium. It is no longer available on the Google Play store, but you can still find it on alternative sites like Aptoid and such, I think.

I’ve tried LOTS of them. This one is the best, in my opinion. Works with Feedly and other online services, as well as stand alone subscriptions.

Here is the URL to the Play Store as it still shows up for me, but might not for you.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noinnion.android.greader.reader

I used to use MJ PDF, but recently switched to the built-in PDF reader for FOSS MiX file explorer.

For AntennaPod, there are fast forward and rewind buttons. You can set a preprogrammed duration for each button. I have my fast forward button set to 30 seconds to skip commercials.

In addition, for AntennaPod, you can set a skip x seconds on podcast start, so if the podcast normally has 2 minutes of ads, jibber/jabber upfront, you can skip it. Also same for the backend of the podcast you can skip x seconds of the end of the podcast. This provides a way to skip ads, smalltalk, or jibber/jabber at the end of a podcast as well.

Given all that, which is great, be aware that AntennaPod doesn’t automatically skip ads on its own. You must press the preprogrammed duration fast forward button manually.

How does one know if this is a real photo or AI generated?

I tried it the other day. I couldn’t do SMS. So I think the answer is yes, it’s dropped.