MOVIE: Inside Out (2015)

Inside OutYear: 2015Rating: PGLength: 95 minutes / 1.58 hours It's amusing that a movie studio like Pixar—which has been making us feel all our emotions for decades— made a film solely about those emotions. They already succeeded in making me cry in almost every other film of theirs, and this is no exception. And while they've always had some significant lesson in them, Inside Out (2015) feels like the best kind of therapy you can buy to make discussions with your kids much more approachable. After all, emotions are part of the human experience and everyone can relate to these feelings in some small way, at a minimum. Visually, Inside Out is great because it combines some well-done realism with the spectacular imaginative world inside a pre-teen girl's head. There are a ton of great jokes based on wordplay that are both funny and somewhat educational. The voice acting is superb, and the plot is a solid exploration of how to navigate...
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BOOK: Solutions and Other Problems (2020)

Solutions and Other Problems Year: 2020 Author: Allie Brosh Length: 519 pages My first introduction to Allie Brosh's work—as I'm sure is the case for many—was the "all the things" meme. For those looking for more depth from these drawings, look no further than the humorous illustrated memoir, Solutions and Other Problems. I have never quite read a book like this. When I picked it up off the shelf, I was expecting a graphic novel, only to be surprised with big chunks of text between illustrations. Clearly, the best of both worlds here. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll be glad you read this book. While it might be easy to discount the simple drawing style at first glance, many illustrations in this book prove to be quite exquisite. The stories themselves, which are not all silly or humorous, aid this distinction. Solutions and Other Problems subverted my expectations by being both hilarious and deeply profound. I've never read a book that had both a story...
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