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Merge branch 'release/20200219'

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Julio Biason 5 years ago
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  1. 42
      content/reviews/books/adult-stuff.md
  2. 25
      content/reviews/books/broetry.md
  3. 29
      content/reviews/books/christopher-walken-a-to-z.md
  4. 38
      content/reviews/books/employees-gone-wild.md
  5. 35
      content/reviews/books/k-is-for-knifeball.md
  6. 47
      content/reviews/books/the-league-of-regrettable-superheroes.md

42
content/reviews/books/adult-stuff.md

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title = "Adult Stuff: Things You Need to Know to Win at Real Life - Robert Boesel, Matt Moore"
date = 2020-02-09
[taxonomies]
tags = ["books", "reviews", "fun", "robert boesel", "matt moore"]
+++
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26544444-adult-stuff):
Sometimes your first steps into the "real world" send you falling flat on your
face. It's natural to be optimistic about new experiences, but most of us set
ourselves up only to be let down every time. And disappointment hurts like a
$%&*#.
News flash: You don't have to be an Einstein to survive adult life. You don't
even have to abandon your standards to get what you want. All you have to do
is keep your expectations realistic.
<!-- more -->
{{ stars(stars=3) }}
Alright, right up front, let me say that it is weird to read a book about "How
to Survive Real Life When You Just Got Passed Your Teens and Now Need to Work
and Keep a Place and Have a Life" when you're 43. But here we are.
One thing the book does (although a bit too flourish for my taste) is to
destroy all those dreams of a perfect life: Oh, you're out of your parents
apartment? Sure, you can have that huge loft Tom Hanks have in "Big", or a
nice apartment like the ones in "Friends"? NOT! Oh, sharing with someone you
go fine? It will be like "Friends", every day! SIKE!
So, yeah, it is not that bad, but it is not a dream.
But instead of saying "Nope" all the time, the book tries to give some advice
on how to survive this dark times. I think it missed the point sometimes; for
example: dripping faucet? Hire someone. Why not buy two, play with one till
you understand how it fits and then try the other one. Sure, hiring someone
and watching over their shoulder how to do is something I do all this time --
I'm not kidding here -- but you can also experiment yourself. You'd pay
double, but if you manage to understand how things work, you'll have a spare
and if you break it, at least you got it shouldn't work.

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content/reviews/books/broetry.md

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title = "Broetry Poetry for Dudes - Brian McGackin"
date = 2020-01-26
[taxonomies]
tags = ["books", "reviews", "fun", "brian mcgackin"]
+++
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10326288-broetry-poetry-for-dudes):
As contemporary poets sing the glories of birds, birch trees, and
menstruation, regular guys are left scratching their heads. Who can speak for
Everyman? Who will articulate his love for Xbox 360, for Mama Celeste's frozen
pizza, for the cinematic oeuvre of Bruce Willis?
<!-- more -->
{{ stars(stars=4) }}
Don't let the title fool you: It may sound like a book with bro-dude stuff,
like women being bitches, the parties all nights to get bitches and so on, but
there is none of this here.
It's more about life, about growing up, with some fun tones -- I specially
recommend the one that describes a whole life in 3 or so pages using only
movie titles.

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content/reviews/books/christopher-walken-a-to-z.md

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title = "Christopher Walken A to Z: The Man, the Movies, the Legend - Robert Schnakenberg"
date = 2020-02-18
[taxonomies]
tags = ["books", "reviews", "fun", "biography", "christopher walken", "robert schnakenberg"]
+++
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23838378-christopher-walken-a-to-z):
The Complete Guide To All Things Walken.
<!-- more -->
{{ stars(stars=3) }}
It's "The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray", but for Christopher Walken: Stories,
people, movies, things related to the Christopher Walken, in alphabetical
order.
Is it good? Well, that's the point I can really say. One thing that annoys me
is that most of what is said in the book comes from other sources; Walken is
never interviewed, but all the information is taken from other books and
interviews and whatnot, but nothing directly said for the book. Also, because
I'm not a super-fan, I can't validate if things are interesting or not, so it
ends up being a compilation of information about an (recluse, private) actor.
It may be good if you just found out about Christopher Walken and want some
opinion about his movies, and what to watch next and such and get some
information in the more boring scenes.

38
content/reviews/books/employees-gone-wild.md

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title = "Employees Gone Wild: Crazy (and True!) Stories of Office Misbehavior, and What You Can Learn From the Mistakes of Others - Richard Burton"
date = 2020-01-26
[taxonomies]
tags = ["books", "reviews", "fun", "richard burton"]
+++
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23130072-employees-gone-wild):
Richard Burton has tales you won’t believe actually happened over his decades
spent as the attorney hired by companies to protect them when their employees
act out. Employees Gone Wild collects some of the most outrageous and
absolutely-true stories (names changed to protect the guilty of course) from
Burton’s years on the job, along with his indispensable practical advice on
how companies and the people that work for them can avoid the same pitfalls.
<!-- more -->
{{ stars(stars=3) }}
Strange office stories happen everywhere, being passed along from generation
to generation of new employees by old sages.
And this book captures the stories of one of those sages.
Some of the stories are funny, some are really weird, but all of them have
some points in case you get caught in a similar situation, by someone who has
some ideas about labor law and works for HR (the author mentions that he is,
actually, a labor lawyer, but since there is a disclaimer that you shouldn't
take the suggestions as facts, I'm downplaying the position a bit). This means
that every freaky story have some pointers on what one shouldn't do and what
management should do in case something like that should happen.
The last chapter is a downer, though. Instead of funny/freaky, the stories are
mostly discrimination and the tone gets really serious -- with reason.
Still, it's kinda interesting seeing that your office is not the only weird
one

35
content/reviews/books/k-is-for-knifeball.md

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title = "K is for Knifeball: An Alphabet of Terrible Advice - Avery Monsen, Jory John"
date = 2020-01-26
[taxonomies]
tags = ["books", "reviews", "fun", "avery monsen", "jory john"]
+++
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14553581-k-is-for-knifeball):
From the authors of the breakout bestseller All my friends are dead. (more
than 175,000 copies sold) and in the humorous vein of Go the F**k to Sleep
comes a laugh-out-loud collection of bad advice that turns the children's
alphabet book on its head. Adorable illustrated characters lead readers down a
path of poor decision-making, and alphabetical, rhyming couplets offer
terrible life lessons in which O is for opening things with your teeth, F is
for setting Daddy's wallet on fire, and R is for Raccoon (but definitely not
for rabies). With plenty of playfully disastrous choices lurking around every
corner, this compendium of black humor may be terrible for actual children,
but it's perfect for the common-senseless child in all adults.
<!-- more -->
{{ stars(stars=3) }}
What would happen if you mix "Please Go To Fucking Sleep" with an ABC book? "K
is for Knifeball".
It's a "for-kids-but-not-kids" kinda of book: For example, "D is for Drifter,
which you should call to get in when your parents aren't at home" and "F is
Food, which you should give for the drifter living under your bed" (or
something around those lines)... Pretty much what "Go To Fucking Sleep" does.
Surely one wouldn't recite the book to a kid anyway, and being really short,
I'm not sure about the re-readability of it. Still, it is somewhat amusing.

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content/reviews/books/the-league-of-regrettable-superheroes.md

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title = "The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half-Baked Heroes from Comic Book History - Jon Morris"
date = 2020-02-02
[taxonomies]
tags = ["books", "reviews", "fun", "comics", "superheroes", "jon morris"]
+++
[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23164984-the-league-of-regrettable-superheroes):
You know about Batman, Superman, and Spiderman, but have you heard of Doll
Man, Doctor Hormone, or Spider Queen? In The League of Regrettable
Superheroes, you’ll meet one hundred of the strangest superheroes ever to see
print, complete with backstories, vintage art, and colorful commentary. So
prepare yourself for such not-ready-for-prime-time heroes as Bee Man (Batman,
but with bees), the Clown (circus-themed crimebuster), the Eye (a giant,
floating eyeball; just accept it), and many other oddballs and oddities.
Drawing on the entire history of the medium, The League of Regrettable
Superheroes will appeal to die-hard comics fans, casual comics readers, and
anyone who enjoys peering into the stranger corners of pop culture.
<!-- more -->
{{ stars(stars=4) }}
An encyclopedia of failed super-heroes.
The intro for the book is really good in the point that, today, super-heroes
are all in rage in the movies. But there are those who failed to get some
attention and died in the darkness of the comic book world.
So, here they are.
I just felt it could have a bit more about the background of the heroes. Sure,
some were promotional heroes (like NFL hero, the trucker hero, and so on) but
still, what was the catalyst for the creation of such hero: Was it the times,
the culture change, some requirement from higher ups, drugs...? Also, powers:
Some have a short list of super powers they got, but they are not complete --
surely, it's mentioned that some heroes go through several revisions, so their
powers change, but one could consider a revision another hero and just keep
the powers with the heroes+revision. I'm saying this 'cause, as an
encyclopedia, it would be nice to have an index by powers, so when one is
looking for that hero that have, say, the power to create bubbles, one could
just check the index for "bubbles" and there you go.
The book also need some more careful work by the editors. There are a couple
of misspellings around, like a "thsoe" in the middle of the sentence. It's not
that hard to figure out what was meant in these cases, but still... annoying.
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