INTERACTIVE PROJECT - Horror Scene

For all you editing enthusiasts, Here's a project to practice with. Real 4K footage from a scene of a horror film. I love that Framelines is providing this opportunity and hope to see some interesting takes of the footage from everyone, so make sure you post your results for us all to see.

Till next time,

Renee

Review: Meditation and Mindfulness in Everyday Life: A Step-By-Step Approach to Reduce Stress, Regain Happiness and Good Health

Meditation and Mindfulness in Everyday Life: A Step-By-Step Approach to Reduce Stress, Regain Happiness and Good Health by Jere Taft
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'Mindfulness in Everyday Life' by Jere Taft offers its readers a jump start to a new lifestyle of meditation. Most people know how difficult it can be to integrate changes in our daily lives. Consistency is probably the most difficult part for anyone attempting to change their lifestyle or daily habits that have been practiced for years. It seems natural to get up out of bed in the morning, brush your teeth, shower and have breakfast, coffee, or whatever the case may be, but in realty you have trained yourself to do these things on a regular basis. It starts with the training you received from your parents, they woke you up in order to go to school, which began a lifetime of morning routine. You weren't born doing these things, your parents helped train your mind and body to do them making them seem quite natural today.

Meditation works the same way and Jere's book gives you an easy guide to begin that training. His easy to follow steps will help put you on a path to achieve the clarity you deserve. This book offers exercises that will start you on your journey to meditation offering you step by step instructions on how to begin your journey and most importantly how to keep going and reach your goals.

I feel there was a part of the journey missing in this book and that would be Jere's personal journey. Although this books offers explanations of why, how and when, a reader considering beginning this new journey, an easy way to integrate the process into their daily lives, leading them on the path to success, I feel having Jere's personal experiences of why, how and when he began his journey would have brought the book to a new level.

Overall, I would recommend this book to readers looking to start their own journey.


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Review: The Gift: A Short Story

The Gift: A Short Story by Maryann Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

'The Gift' by Maryann Miller is a cute short novella about a woman attempting to cheer up her depressed husband for the holidays. The story was short and sweet offering an original idea I had not read before. The only problem with this story was that I wanted more. I wanted to know what when on with the men she was trying to help. This story was a delightful read especially at the holidays. Kudos to this author.

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A Christmas Con by Erik Hanberg

The Con Before Christmas by Erik Hanberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Christmas Con by Erik Hanberg was a cute novella about a mother and son who get conned at Christmas and set out to find the persons responsible. The story was a nice read that made me laughing, in suspense and wondering if they would ever get there things back. What a delight read on the eve of Christmas. A recommend to anyone looking for a quick Christmas story.

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A Family Affair

A Family Affair by Mary Campisi
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

If you're looking for a story that has a happy ending no matter what happens, then this is the book for you. I am not a fan of happy endings in unbelievable circumstances, those kinds of stories just never did anything for me. I realize that most readers want a happy ending where everything is wrapped up nicely, but I'm more of a realist and I would rather not have everything work out good where it is not warranted, I would rather things end messy, if that is what the story calls for. And, I believe that this story would call for that.

It was slightly unbelievable to me that this girl would find out everything about her family, from her father's affair, to his secret daughter, to her Uncle and her mother, all in a matter of months and somehow find the love of her life, forgive everyone and live happily ever after. No, too far-fetched for my liking.

The potential for this story was there and the writing was good, the author has 8 more books in this series, perhaps the next one will be more to my liking.


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Snatched by Stephen Edger

Snatched by Stephen Edger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was offered free on Amazon and the description was appealing enough to prompt me to put it on my want to read shelve.

The story flowed at pace suiting the mystery of the novel, however, there were many times I felt too much description and background on characters were unnecessary and weighing the novel down. One part in particular was during the attach on Sarah, she passes out, the chapter ends and the next chapter begins with her father and all about how he didn’t want a mobile phone, his new girlfriend etc… None of this moved the story forward, in fact, I skimmed over most of those pages. There were several other errors throughout the story, but I don’t feel the need to point them out, the only thing I would offer this author it to be careful when writing dialogue. Throughout this novel I found the dialogue too exact, saying things that would be written, not said by a character.

There is also a fine line between fictional and reality and sometimes it is hard to distinguish between what a reader may believe and accept against what could be real and true. This novel pushes that barrier a little further than I could accept leaving me without the ability to immerse myself into the story. There were too many things that left me saying that all of this couldn't possibly happen to one person.


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Inheritance: A Psychological Mystery and Suspense Thriller by Thomas Wymark


What an intriguing read this book turned out to be. From the first page I was hooked trying to figure out what was really happening. The author had me guessing for quite some time about the mental status of the main character. I truly believed the book was heading in one direction, but half-way through the story took a sudden twist.

It’s interesting when you think you’ve figured out what is going to happen within a story to find out you were utterly wrong. The old saying, ‘nothing is what it seems,’ was on repeat in my mind while reading this novel.

The overuse of description at times had me skimming a few pages and I believe there is a fine line between too little description to move the story forward and not enough to visualize the story. The ability to balance the two becomes very difficult when writing a mystery novel. This novel was well written, quite an easy read with an ending sure to shock you.


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