Let's talk about the history of Ukraine. The area belonging to Ukraine today had been inhabited by Slavic tribes since the 4th century AD, with Kyiv as its chief town. In the mid-13th century, the Mongols conquered the area. For the next 450 years, portions of Ukraine were ruled by Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Then, in the 18th century, most of Ukraine fell under Russian rule. In the aftermath of World War I, most of the Ukrainian region became a Republic of the Soviet Union. However, parts of Western Ukraine were divided between Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. Under the rule of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Ukraine suffered a severe famine in 1932-33, as Stalin attempted to rapidly collectivize all farming. Then, in 1941, during World War II, Ukraine was overrun by Axis armies and was consequently further devastated, only to be retaken by the Soviets in 1944. By the end of the war, the borders of the Ukrainian Republic of the Soviet Union had been redrawn to include the Western Ukrainian territories. For nearly half a century after this, Ukraine remained part of the USSR. In 1991, with the collapse of communism in Soviet Russia, Ukraine finally became independent. Unfortunately, during the 1990s, Ukraine experienced more turmoil, as the government tried to implement economic and political reforms suited to the nation's newly found independence. This culminated in a disputed presidential election in 2004. The mass protests that followed became known as the Orange Revolution. Since then, the country remained divided along regional and ethnic lines. In 2014, another mass protest movement that took place on Kiev's Independence Square toppled the government. As the interim government struggled to resolve the country's dire economic situation, Russian troops occupied the autonomous Ukrainian Republic of Crimea. Shortly thereafter, in March 2014, Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and was annexed by Russia. The conflict between pro-Russian separatist militias and Ukrainian government forces remained ongoing in eastern Ukraine. In late 2021, Russia began a military buildup along its border with Ukraine, and in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Hopefully, a peaceful solution can quickly be found for the conflict that continues to ravage Ukraine since this invasion.


Hello, everyone. And welcome to today's stream. We're doing day nine of AdWords of Code. We've been coding for three days, so this is a fourth day, and we caught up. We did day one, two, and three, three hours, and we did day four and five and three hours. And then yesterday, we did day six, seven, and eight. And the creator of AdWords of Code even showed up to the stream. Eric Wassil. Shout out to that guy because without him, we would not be here. Hi, little Lennie. My biggest fan. She might be bringing some Haldi milk later. You know, I should always drink Haldi milk because doing otherwise would be unhealthy. Classic joke. Anyway, let's get started with day nine. I don't think it will take three hours today because we're only doing one day. But who knows? Let's see what happens and get on with it. What is today's problem? Let's click day nine. Mirage maintenance. You ride the camel through the sandstorm where the ghost's map told you to stop. The sandstorm stopped to the sides. All right, yesterday we're like doing a map. The answer was least common denominator. We'll see. OK, we found out in Oasis, stretch your neck. There's another floating island made of metal with parts to fix the sand machines. OK, cool. The lore today is excellent. There's even a hand glider. Once the sun rises, it's a sand. Oh, cool. Yeah, because like the warm air erupts from the sand, so it will lift you up. That's cool. It's the middle of another diocese, delicate ecosystem, ecological readings. Maybe you can report anywhere about disabilities. Well, Oasis Instability Center. OK. Your surroundings. The Oasis is pretty nice. But it doesn't report many values and how they are changing over time. Each line in the report contains the history of a single value. For example, rub. Let me check the input. OK, let's parse this. We have a negative number. OK, that changes our parser of it. Well, not too much. OK, let's just see. Let's put a module. Oh, module. Let's just put the language back in here. Right away. OK, and the example is a list of string. Let's see, parse. For example, list of things. And let's copy the split on function from day seven. No, maybe use it day seven, day eight, day six. Day copy. So this is just parse example is equal to parse prime. Where parse example prime string is equal to split on space. And then map read. Let's see, main equal to print. R is example, x. Now, let's say GZO day nine. Like it's day nine, digest, day nine, day nine. How is everyone feeling today? Saturday, I did a bunch of Christmas stuff. It always happens. I don't know. I think it's something in the case or something. Let me see. OK, I think it's maybe just because I have this one at the end. Yeah, OK. So next time I should just do like this. Oh, it should be day nine. OK, nice. Let's just grab the input. Make sure we can parse that also. But with all the negative numbers, read file input into print.pars example. Got it now. OK, no pausing failure. Failure. There are some negatives in there, so that's good. Now, let's get on with the problem itself. OK, each line in the port is because history, prediction of the next value versus always plus three.  Then it's 3 plus 3 plus 3 plus 3 plus 5. There's some arithmetic here going on. OK, OK. Let's write x, 0, 8, extrapolate. Let's just see. Extrapolate x, y, x is equal to y minus x. Extrapolate, extrapolate. Now, let's just see what happens here. So we get the, I need to extrapolate y, x is, and then, OK, it's just anything left. OK, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3. Let me see. There's a function called apply, I think. It takes in, it's like a list of a to a, a to list of a, iterate, OK? So we're going to say, iterate, iterate, extrapolate. And then we're just going to iterate, extrapolate. And so we're going to map, iterate, extrapolate. And we're going to say, take while, not dot all equal to 0. Will this just crash? It rate is applied to too few arguments. OK, nice. So we're getting all of them that are not 0. Start by adding a new 0 to the end of your list of 0s. Because the 0s represent difference between the values, let me see. OK, so part 1 is equal to list of int. Let's just say part 1 here. What is the type here? I think it's list of int to, OK, nice. Where seek is equal to s is equal to take while s, seek. And then to the end of this list, let's see. I want to say this is going to be, replicate is going to be, replicate 0, right? So replicate, and s, s, s, s. OK, so now we have the 0s. So what do I want to do? We want to fill in the placeholders. Let's actually then, let's just say like this. And then we're going to say map, reverse, s, q. Now d1 is equal to, OK. So I want to look at this sequence. So let's see. And I don't care about map.reverse. I only care about the, it's going to be map.reverse of this. And I don't need that 0 at the beginning, because it doesn't do anything actually. OK, 3 and then 15. So let's do here, OK. So go, so if I have an x and I have a y, this is going to be equal to y plus x by x's. And then go, which is an empty list, right? But then I need the 0 at the front. 0, 3, 15. And then I'm going to say, go, that's 3, 18, OK. And then 1, 7, 28. 1, 7. All right, let's see. So we get 5 plus 6, 1, 7. I think maybe we have to say x like this. 1, 7, 28, 2, 8, 23, 68. OK, nice. 21, 3, 601, 158. You don't add the, so you take the last, OK. And then we do so. Nice. OK, let's do this again. Sound up, and let's see. All right, we got part 1. 25 minutes, not bad. Continue to part 2. Oh, extrapolate backwards as well. For each history, repeat the parts of finding difference until the sequence of the 0. Then rather than adding a 0 to the end, you should instead add a 0 to the beginning of your sequence of 0s. Let's see. Why is it supposed to be so much harder? OK, let's see. What are we doing now? Let's look again at these lists. Ding, ding. Let's reverse it. So 2, 2, 2, 2, 2. So the first one will just add the same number, right? So reverse, reverse. OK, again, we're looking at these numbers. Let's say here. We just want the last one. OK, now 0, 0. 2, 2, 2, 0, 2, 4, 6. What if we map head? Let's see. Got some healthy milk. It's good. Quite hot. 0, 2, 0, 3, 10. 0, 2, 0, 3, 10. Like this. OK, so if you have 0, it must have been, don't you just do y minus x? Minus x axis. 2, minus 2, 5, 5. OK, we get the example correct. I don't know. All right, we did day 9. It took 35 minutes. I don't know. Usually part 2 is like a lot harder. But this time, it was just very easy. We just extrapolated. And then we, I mean, it took a lot of explaining. But we extrapolate backwards. And then it just worked out. Well, I guess we're lucky sometimes. But it's also day 9. I feel like day 10, it's going to be harder again. Anyway, thanks for joining it. I think I'll call it a day then. And I mean, we've been doing double features, triple features. So it's nice to have one. That's just simple, right? Get add, get push. All right, the video for yesterday will be out in about three hours. And we had the creator of it as we come along. That's cool. It's going to be on the YouTube channel. And this video will be out in about 24 hours. All right, thanks for tuning in. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's easy. But that's how life is. Thank you for tuning in. And see you tomorrow at the same time for more Android of code in Hustle. All right, bye-bye.


Every year I love to do this video where I read your favourite books of the year and it's time. Listen, you pick up a lot of books that I love and there's a lot you could go if you're watching me then you have similar reading days and I should pick up the books that you love. I've connected the two dots.  So I asked on Instagram and my YouTube community page what your favourite books of the year have been and I'm gonna read the ones that the most of you said. Last year wasn't the worst but it wasn't the greatest. I don't think I had a five star from this video when I did last year. I had one DNF. I feel like a couple four stars and then we won three star. We're hoping for better this year but yeah I'm gonna put my fate in your hands, my reading fate and let's go see what your favourite books of the year had been. Okay so what I do when I do this video is I ask you guys on Instagram and YouTube community page what your favourite book of the year has been and then I go through and I make a spreadsheet and I write down every single book mentioned. Every single book mentioned. It takes me hours. Probably I spent like six hours doing that. I've been working on this for five weeks. I don't have better things to do in my time. No I don't. No I don't. This is in the pursuit of science. Before we get into the books I'm gonna be reading. I thought let's chat through the books that are really popular that I'm not gonna be reading. Now most of these are books I've already read but the most popular book that I'm not gonna be reading in this vlog and really should be is a book I haven't read. This isn't the most popular book. The most popular book with 13 is one I'm gonna be reading. This had 12 people say it was a favourite book of the year but I'm not gonna be reading it and it's the last I want to tell you about Rich Losman because I'm reading this like next week. When I do my Goodreads Mystery Thaler Awards top 10 vlog which I'm very excited for. I hope you are too. So I had to save that for that vlog. I couldn't read it in this one okay but 12 of you did say it was your favourite book of the year which like then in terms of other books that I have read that a lot of you said. We have Babel by Arif Kwong which was the most mentioned book last year. 11 of you said this this year. We have Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow which was in the vlog last year which 11 of you also said and then with seven we have Ledges and Lattes by Travis Baldy and with six we have Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. So I just want to say we have three five stars out of this four and a four star for Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Now that should bode well right? Your most favourite books of the year.  But let's talk about the books that I am going to be reading. I'm so excited. I'm so excited for all of these. These all sound really good and I'm very I'm very excited. So the most popular book this year the book that most of you said was your favourite book of the year with 13 of you is Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. I'm very excited to give this a go. So for those of you who don't know I have read A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross. I think I gave that a 3.5. I did enjoy there were aspects of it I thought could be better but I thought was a very unique book and I know lots of people have been loving this one. I know a lot of people don't like this cover but I love this cover.  I hate it. I think it's the ugliest thing I've ever seen and for those people I think this one's ugly. I love it. And this is about some journalists and a war with gods and there's a romance between them that's what I really know but I'm excited to give it a go. I've been very intrigued by this one. Yes it's YA and I haven't had the best luck with YA in past years but I don't know I'm really excited to give this one a go. Then the other two I'm going to mention seven of you so they were your favourite books of the year. First we have Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. Now I've only ever read Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. I've never read a Cosmere and I know this is one of his secret projects that he like crowdfunded to Kickstarter. I don't really know what it's about. I'm gonna be honest with you. It's about Tress of the Emerald Sea. I don't really want to know anything going into this. I want to go into it blind okay. You guys have put these books on my lap that I probably, I mean divine rivals I was interested in but these other two I probably wouldn't have picked up if it wasn't for this video. So I'm putting my fate completely in your hands. Um yeah I don't know what it's about. I'm excited to try my Brandon Sanderson. I'm excited to try his fantasy because like I said I've never read anything in the Cosmere and I think that's probably where you should go with him. Like I did not love Skyward. My dad loves Brandon Sanderson. He has all his books next door in the library room that's there. So I'm excited to give this one a go. And then a final book that we're going to be reading that seven of you also said there was another book that I'm not going to tell you about that seven people also said but I'm reading it next year for a video that's starting January. So we're not reading it in this vlog. So the only other book that seven of you said I had never heard of. I have since heard of people talking about it but when I was doing this spreadsheet I was doing it in like October time.  Whereas to find out if I was interested in reading I'd heard of Trusty and we'll see I wasn't particularly interested in reading it. This I'd never heard of and it is The Will of the Many by James Islington. Seven of you said this one. Again I don't really know what it's about. It's about an elite academy which maybe is like spies? I don't know there's a map. Again I'm going to go into this not really knowing anything but guys why are you doing this to me? How long is this? Let's consult. Let's consult. Over 600 pages. Absolutely not. You guys why are you doing this to me? You are rotten to the core. Call the police. Why can't we have a little little short book? Do you get Sam for the Wild Bill which I know is on about I got six. Why can't just one more of you fuckers said that one honestly? The audiobook for this is 28 hours long. I don't think I've read a book this long this year. This is going to be the longest book I've read this year and I'm probably going to have to read it in like two days because I've got a lot of books to read at the end of the year. So I'm trusting you that it's going to be worth it. I'm excited to give it a go but I really I don't know anything about it. I'm going to go into this one blind as well. So those are the three books that we're going to be reading in this vlog. I think I'm going to read them blind. It's Startle of Divine Rivals because that was the most popular one and then we'll just see how it goes but I'm really excited. We're reading all fantasy for this vlog which is interesting. It wasn't all fantasy last time. We had a horror, we had a couple contemporaries and one fantasy but all of your favorite books are fantasy this year or the most popular books which is interesting. We all need to escape the world at the moment obviously. So I'm going to start with Divine Rivals and I'll check in with you when I'm a little bit off the way through. Hi friends! As you can see there's empty shelves here because let me show you all of my books. Can you see that? What can you see? Hang on then we look in the viewfinder. All of my books are on my bed. Oh god I just filmed the video where it's like all of my um all of my unread books are on my tv and now I've got to put them away. And I nearly scratched my head and I wonder where's God when you need him. Anyways let's talk the reading vlog shall we? So I'm just looking at them and I just want to figure out where they go. This car is like two steps away from breaking. I'm halfway through Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross and I have thoughts. So vague synopsis of this it's set in like a vaguely fantastical world but it feels a bit World War II but if there were gods leading the war basically like that kind of timeframe like everyone's writing on typewriters kind of thing. And we've got these two journalists who um hang on what's not a spoiler. Two journalists who are competing for the same role at a newspaper as columnist.  What's his name again? Roman. But what's actually happening is they are writing letters to one another so Iris doesn't know it's Roman but Roman knows it's Iris and they've got these I don't know I won't tell you how it happens but basically they're writing letters that magically get sent to one another and confiding in one other so they hate each other at the job because they're competing but the letters are like you know.  I just I really enjoy that setting I think it's a very interesting setting I get a lot of the journalism lingo and like I don't know I think it's a cool setting especially something with a bit of like an older time zone when it's all like you know like you can hear the typewriter is clacking and like you know it just feels a bit like there's a certain genocide to like an older journalist newspaper office. And I do think there's something about this book that feels nostalgic I don't know how to describe it but it has that fantasy old it doesn't feel like a historical new release it has this oldness to it and this nostalgia to it that I'm getting while reading. However I do think the world building is a bit info dumpy and I had this issue with a river enchanted by Rebecca Ross where I loved the writing in this one but there were times when the world building was a little bit info dumpy in fact a lot info dumpy. It's the truth. It just seems to be an issue she has and it's not it's not in a way that actually annoys me she gets away with it like it's not I'm not sitting there going oh this is so badly done it's so annoying I think if you're gonna do info dumpy she has some of the best execution of it but I would prefer if you didn't but she does manage to like think of interesting ways to info dump like oh tell me this story or like I don't know it's it's it's introduced in interesting ways but it is like two pages of like world building and I'm not quite like I'm even a little bit in there's something about the magic system in the world and the gods and whatever I'm like no scoop mate no scoop don't get it so I don't know I'm a bit torn on that from but something that is interesting right is their journalists right and they're they're both known for their great writing how their words capture you and like oh my gosh their writing is so incredible I'm like it's an interesting point that the writing in the rest of the book because you have excerpts of their writing that the writing in the rest of the book the normal book kind of has to be average enough that their writing stands out because their writing is standing out I'm like wow that's really good but it kind of means that that's like at the sacrifice of the rest of the book like I could read a whole book in the writing style that Iris writes in but I'm not getting to because her writing has to stand out from Rebecca Ross's writing even though it's obviously Rebecca Ross's writing I just think that's an interesting point and I think it has an interesting effect on the story but I'm not hating it but I'm not like oh my god this is the best book I've ever read it's like a full start I'm really enjoying it but like all of the books in this video come with quite high expectations because they're your guys's favourite books of the year oh no but I had stuff that I wanted to show you really quickly do you think some Costa Rica that I read I didn't show you in the Costa Rica vlog if you haven't watched it yet go check it out it was like the trip of a lifetime so one of the travelers Chelsea made everyone these little crochet octopuses can you see that is that focusing yeah look at them and I'm trying to show you both at the same time look and they have little tails oh my god I love them how cute are they um it was so kind she made one for everyone this is mine and Tom's this way I've got two but how kind is that so I relieve Chelsea's crochet Instagram down below but I I can't wait I'm deciding what to put them on I put them on my key chain so I'm putting them on like my bag because I have some like little I have an evie head on one of my bags so like do I put it with that but aren't they so cute I love them and then guys you're gonna scream Erica another one of the travelers bought me the US cover of how to set a haunted house I'm so happy it's the US cover I hate the UK cover so much I'm so happy I love it it's so pretty so now I can finally read how to sell a haunted house I won't read it fully into the year as you know because I'm just reading loads of mystery thrillers after I finish these fantasy books for this video so but how kind was that so they're both so kind and I just felt I felt so lucky so yeah anyways I am gonna go put all these books away and cry whilst I do it and I will see you once I've finished divine rivals wish me luck I had no desire to pick it up I had no desire to read it this book took me far too long it took like three days four days to read I don't have that kind of time I need to be reading a book a fucking day I was positive in my last check-in right like I'd say I give the first half of this a fourth star I'd say I give the second half of this a two star so over I'm gonna give it a three but like my lasting feeling of it is one of boredom and annoyance subscribe everyone I liked the journalistic setting of this I think the war setting felt very unpolished it felt like I was like what the hell is going on I have no clue do I mean it felt completely um lacking and the romance it didn't work for me it didn't work for me I didn't mind the characters individually but girl this is okay no I've really got to talk about this because it really pissed me off this is a spoiler I'm putting spoilers up on the screen you can skip ahead to where it no longer says spoiler do you want spoilers they get fucking married a day after professing their love for each other basically or like within a week married she's like he's my husband girl girl and I get that it's like this is sad you know in kind of our equivalent of like 1940s like world war two maybe that would be a bit more normal back then but like it just meant that I as a reader felt like the romance was moving at such a pace that I didn't feel like we'd established right like I they were on like let's kiss and you know make out and like they've made out maybe once or twice and you're getting married absolutely not it's just because they wanted to fuck which does still happen you know like both the Mormon University and they're like oh my god everyone gets married in a week so I guess it does still happen but just as a reader I felt like the romance had not been established enough to get us to that point okay spoilers I have for one I've said wouldn't need to be sad but that I was like really and you know my biggest feeling with this is actually let me go get it hang on I believe I only gave over enchanted 3.5 so it's only half star above this right but what I loved about this is it felt so unique it didn't feel like it was following the patterns of every book on the market it felt like it was doing something different it felt like it wasn't just trying to be so marketable to the current like book landscape just playing into the tropes and the story beats that like tiktok loves right it was something different and it had this quietness and uniqueness to it this feels like the opposite for me it feels like listen I'm always I'm here for Rebecca trying to get her coin but it feels like it's just trying to play into what tiktok loves at the moment what is going to get it to go viral what do you know what I mean I felt like there was some artistic integrity and uniqueness to this that really felt like it was lacking in this one for me especially more towards the end so I'm not going to be continuing on with the series I know it's only duology but you know I really enjoyed the first half of this but the second half of this just really lacked for me anyway I have another book that I need to talk to you about let's go down stairs we break up the scenery a bit because I need to talk to you a bit about our next book false alarm tom's cooking downstairs and it's noisy so I am already a hundred pages into tress of the emerald super brownish hamster and I'm loving it guys I'm obsessed I'm loving it I'm loving it I'm loving it oh my god jesus christ check out the label so basically all you need to know about this is tress has lived on her island for like all her life she falls in love with this guy charlie but then his father makes him move away and charlie's like don't worry I'm not gonna be like the father wants him to go marry a princess right and he's like I'm not gonna marry anyone trust don't worry I'll keep sending you cups so you know I'm not marrying any of these princesses and his father catches wind of it and punishes him and like makes him live with the source the deadly sorceress right and then tress is like I'm gonna go save my man I'm gonna go save my man I love the way that this is written this is very cozy fantasy it's very like it's got this dry sarcastic sense of humor it's got this omniscient narrator not not not not omniscient necessarily but kind of feels like it he is a character in the story but we don't know much about him but he's like telling tress's story and I just love the tone that it's written in I've got the audiobook which is how I've gotten a hundred pages in because I was like kind of reading this alongside that second half of divine rivals which I also think didn't help because I was loving this so much I was like why do I have to keep reading divine rivals why I just want to read this so now I can't just read this I'm gonna finish this in like today I'm gonna finish this by this afternoon I just know it and so yeah it was very dry sense of humor to it and I just think it's amazing if you're looking for cozy fantasy this would be where I'd go if you're looking I've read so much cozy fantasy after loving legends and lattes and I just feel like so much as cozy fantasy and name only and like yes there's a bit of death in this but it's kind of like in a way where it's not gory and it's just the plot I don't know there's a talking rat there's a talking rat there is a talking rat what more do you want it was a talking dog you know I love it I love when the writer breaks the fourth wall and talks to us directly as the reader oh guys it's so good so she's on this ship now and I'm just I'm kind of what I wanted to get off the ship soon like I like the ship vibes but let's get on to the next stage of the journey the one thing I would like about this book is for it to like have a lot of stages to it I said I've never read any Cosme I've never read um any Cosme I can't think of the names of any of the books but I've only read Brandon Turner's Sci-Fi I didn't love it but this to me just feels like and you can tell it's one of those secret um the secret projects that he had and it feels like a passion project it feels like a book written freely and with joy and with excitement I don't know I think with with with books but also with like things like music or whatever you can tell when an artist has like lost the love of it a bit and is doing it for commercial pressure and like I mean that happens to all of us we don't need to make coins you know what I mean but I think there's something special about a book that's written free from constraints and is just written for fun and enjoyment and love of the art and that's what I feel like this book is so I'm obsessed you guys are gonna have to pry this away from my dead cold hands I'm just gonna keep listening to the audiobook the audiobook though I had to get it on Spotify I was like I was struggling to read I was like okay I need an audiobook so I got it on Spotify which like pained me a little bit because I had to pay for it but yeah it wasn't on scribed on audible any one of my library services and my library have a pretty good selection now so alas anyways I'm gonna go read some more I'll check in with you once I've read some more but I aren't absolutely I'm loving it I'm obsessed I'm obsessed you guys okay you're gonna redeem yourselves from whatever divine rivals was okay I have gotten up to part five someone paged like a hundred and ninety I'm still loving it guys I think it's gonna be five stars I think it's gonna be five stars I think it's gonna be five stars oh my god am I about to have another five star in my hand is today a good day today's a great day it's a blessed day I'm just loving the writing we're still on the ship I think maybe this whole book is really on this ship but um it doesn't bother me it doesn't bother me I'm enjoying the progression of the story I just can't believe how much I'm loving this I heard mixed things about these special secret whatever projects written Sanderson so let me know is this just like the best one because everyone's loved this one is this like the one that's good and the others aren't is great because I'm like tempted I'm loving this oh and like I am so happy to be reading a fantasy that is a standalone like thank the lord like every fantasy I read is part of a series do you know I mean it's so hard to find fantasy it's a standalone but like I'm kind of like I could take a series I could take a series so also let me know does Brandon Sanderson have anything that's a similar tone to this in its coziness because like I'm liking the low stakes low magic you know confined book and also I don't usually love piratey sea books but I'm really enjoying that aspect of it as well but you know the perception of his other books to me is like it's a very big fantasy and that's not necessarily what I'm looking for but does he have any other books similar tonally to this because I'm intrigued I'd like to see that I would like to see that anyways I also just got a package from Amazon I think it's from my Amazon wish this someone's got me something so I thought I'd open it with you um because this makes me so happy I feel like I've been struggling through it a little bit this week I've been struggling and this is exactly what I needed like a little pick me up so let's see oh my god there's two books okay let me pull out one first okay okay okay okay this is a Shark Heart by Emily Habeck this is nominated so I did a live show with my patrons I know who this is from I think I think it's from Cade one of my patrons but I did a live show where I reacted to the Goodreads awards like the nominees and this one just sounded so amazing to me it's about this couple who I think are artists but Lewis finds out he has a rare diagnosis he will retain most of his consciousness memories and intellect but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark and I am just so intrigued oh interesting it's like a lot of really short chapters I'm so excited to read this this definitely sounds like my kind of like if it's gonna be fiction it's the least weird fiction you know so I'm really oh look look at the short little line I'm very excited and everyone else in the live show seemed very intrigued by this as well so oh my goodness and then what is the other book there's some messages as well let me get the messages out I'm getting the messages out I'm not looking at what the other book is oh don't okay okay this is from Cade Cade says you you helped bring back my love of reading and I'll always be grateful for that stop it stop it you're gonna make me cry the other book this monster oh I'm really excited for this one too I know this has been a horror that everyone's been loving it um that everyone's been loving it that everyone's been loving um I don't I feel like a lot of horror especially horror like this I kind of want to go into it not knowing anything so I'm gonna be honest I don't know much in fact I don't know anything but I want to leave it like that I just know that people have been loving it I don't want to know the plot I know it's a thing about like it's a following a family and it's like maybe about grief and like you know I think it's saying stuff but I've heard amazing things about this thank you so much Cade what an incredible gift thank you so much oh my gosh I'm so excited oh beloved by Anthony Dower for Shark Heart thank you so much Cade now guys something momentous I'm about to go and do I'm gonna go dye my hair we're saying goodbye to the highlights and we're going fully dark like my roots I'm ready to go back to my roots I feel like we've had our fun I've had the highlights you know obviously I've had them redone but I've had them for like a year and a half now I want to say close to a year and a half and I'm ready I want like autumnal dark hair and I've just had my fun with it I'm ready to go back dark so I need to head out because I'm running late for the hairdressers but let's go and you'll see my hair this is my hair before I mean my roots are really grown out I should have like basically I wanted to keep the light hair for Costa Rica and there was no point like getting my highlights done again to then like read dye it like a month after so I just had them quite grown out but anyways let's um let's go down my hair I'm gonna keep listening to the audio book of this in the car because I am loving it I said I wanted my natural hair color oh my god this is so crazy I can't do this she where did you find her I'm like looking at myself like who is but I said I wanted my natural hair color with like a hint of red not red hair just like a like a dash of warmth and I feel like she did perfect guys I was looking at myself in the mirror as like we looking at myself in the mirror as like we washed the dye off and like dried the hair and I was like oh my god I'm me again like I feel I had fun with the blonde but I feel like I'm me again I love it I am so happy I just can't stop looking at it I don't actually love myself this much I just act like I do anyways I have finished tress of the M1C by Brandon Sanderson and I'm giving it five stars I loved this I thought it was wonderful the last part of this that I've read since I last spoke to you was just so good there's some twists in this there's some twists that I did not see coming I loved the twist on this and I just loved the way that this was written I loved you know it often has these kind of like nuggets of philosophical wisdom or like you know it reminds me of it is cosy fantasy I would class it as that it's got that kind of whimsical storytelling but I do think it has a good mix of light and dark right it has some more serious topics it has some more serious moments that I do appreciate I just loved it guys and I would be intrigued to know obviously like I said I've never had any Brandon Sanderson other than Skyward before and some reviews I was reading said that this has a lot of Easter eggs both in terms of characters and I think like storytelling elements of the Cosmere so I love to know what the what the Easter eggs are I think maybe Hoyt is Hoyt like a character a well-known character as a Cosmere this makes me what if I I mean my Brandon Sanderson era next year I mean what are you supposedly gonna be my classics era what if I'm suddenly in my Brandon Sanderson era as well yeah no I loved it I loved it I loved it thank you guys for getting me through this book because I probably wouldn't have picked it up if you watch this video I loved the twist I love the journey the book goes on it's a perfect little standalone I love the found family there's a found family banging this group by the end of this book sorry in like the the crew of the ship and I loved all of those characters and their relationship I loved it I loved it now we have to try and take on the behemoth that is the one of the many by James Anderson 10 I'm doing nothing other than I've got a geogasal allows you my patrons like today it's like almost three o'clock I am just reading this the rest of the day we're definitely gonna get at least 200 pages in if not more is the goal and I'm gonna chat with you about every 200 pages because it's about 600 pages so I'll see you once I've read about 200 pages like I said I don't really know anything about this book I don't know pot I don't know the vibe I don't know anything I've never read anything by James Islington either do you need to be this long I guess we'll find that out but I'm excited I'm excited to get into this book I'm very very excited good morning I have something to talk about I am how many pages in am I I am 180 yeah about 180 pages into the world of many so I'm essentially a third of the way through but 20 pages and I have decided to softy an effort now let me explain myself a very exonopsis of this book is that we've got a guy who I think used to be a prince on a nearby island that was the monarchy was toppled he was an author and he's hiding his true identity he's saying he's just like a little fiddlin boy from the area and he gets certain powers he has gets discovered by a it's like this whole magic system of like levels of power because like people give your will to the person above you it's like a pyramid scheme it's like the like fantasy MLM basically like MLM girlies into a fantasy imagine that oh so yeah he gets discovered by one of the important guys and he's like I'm gonna adopt you and you're gonna go into this academy this elite academy and you're gonna spy on everyone there for me okay that's basically all you need to know and this has been so highly rated so many of you've been telling me not just on like tell me your favorite book post but like when I did all the books my tbr I've had so many comments of people loving this like so many people have told me they've loved this and I'm just not getting that right now I'm not disliking it at the moment it's like probably like a three three point five but I'm not I can't understand where you're coming from I can't even begin to like speculate what it is that you're loving about it it's just like an average fantasy in my view and so I think some of that could just be down to it's not the right time so that's why it's a soft DNF it's gonna stay on my tbr I do still want to read this one day but it's not even like I've been rushing it right obviously I have a lot of books that I want to read but I've been taking my time with this I didn't want to rush it I have not been like I've read a lot of it whilst playing games on my phone which I often do with books like on a slow speed I listen to the book slowly especially when I'm starting a book out I like to do that at the start to kind of like ease me into the book and then when I've been reading it physically I haven't been reading it any faster than the usual so it's not like I've been like rushing through the book I am just I just don't get where you're going from if you didn't I wasn't something to be liked it was something to be understood from an academic perspective well then obviously you're not an academic no I don't get it the writing's fine the plot's fine but it is very slow like I am 200 pages into this and nothing has happened really or a few things that's not fair a few things have happened but not much has happened and when you think like that some books of the length like a novella is the length of what I've just read and it's it's not doing as much as it could do in that time right it's a slower fantasy I don't know I don't know I'm just not connected to it I feel like maybe when you get to the the school which I think is coming up perhaps but there's nothing unique about this to me and there must be something unique for it to have only had 7000 ratings but to have gotten to this I mean the other books I've mentioned to you the other books divine rivals and trust me I would see I've got like over 70 000 ratings each I believe so they're much more likely by having more readers you have a higher chance of people saying it was their favourite book of the year this has a tenth of that so there must be something special about it in order for you to be saying that and I'm just not seeing what that is so I'm gonna leave that there um I do want to pick this up again but I'm not gonna pick it up anytime soon I feel like when you've read 200 pages of the book I'm gonna want to reread that when I start the book for the first time and I don't want it to have been so recent that I'm like feeling bored at reading that so I'm gonna give it at least six months if not a bit longer to read this again to pick this up again because I do want to give it a go because so many of you've been loving it but I don't want to leave the vlog on that note I feel like that's a bit of a dull note to leave the vlog on so I'm gonna move to one of the books that six of you said was your folk book of the year and I'm gonna read is it a psalm for the wild built by Becky Chambers the first in that geology yeah a psalm for the wild built it's on script both the e-book and the audiobook so I'm gonna pick that up it's only a short novella and I thought that would be a fun way to not let you down because otherwise it's a bit of a boring note this I've been in the middle book of the vlog that would have been fine but it's a bit boring to end on a dnf so I'm gonna read another little book a psalm for the wild built and I will see once I finish that um because I don't think it would take me that long it's only audiobook is only four hours for the whole book versus 28 hours for this so I'll see you when I finish that but um yeah I apologize but I just felt like I don't want to read this right now if it's not working for me right now and I don't often do that usually I just push through guys you know that but I just felt like in this case I should something was telling me I should stop and pick this up another time and maybe I would have more success with it then okay guys I have finished some for the wild built and I gotta apologize again because I didn't love this as much as everyone else I didn't dislike it I'm gonna give it 3.5 okay I'm giving it 3.5 but I feel like that is still not what you're hoping for me basically all you need to know about this is that it's like a sci-fi cozy sci-fi novella between this monk and this robot um discovering stuff about humanity and what it means to be human I don't really with a novella I never like to say a lot because I don't want to spoil it at all and this is one of those cozy books that is also trying to say something and I was making me think of examples I'd loved of this in cozy fantasy like legends and lattes by charles bowdry or under the whispering door by tj klune and I always think with these like I don't get how everyone doesn't love them you know like I'm like how can you give legends and lattes five stars there's plenty of people like my subscribers I see you guys like oh my god Megan I gave it three stars don't look at me you know but if you are not connecting to the message in this for whatever reason if it doesn't resonate with you you're not going to give it five stars and that's really what happened to me with this book is that I understood the message it was trying to make but it didn't resonate with me it didn't have any emotional impact with me and the message it's trying to make is something that I relate to but just how it was presented and how it was said and what we would do like it just I it didn't cut to my core and that's what I need you to do if that's the kind of book that you're doing so I just didn't love it I just didn't love it I don't think I'm gonna continue on the series but I'm glad that I've read it now because now I know you know what I was talking about it's fun to read like a novella that you've heard a lot of people talking about because it's like quick to tick off the list but also you get to kind of know what the deal has been but yeah like the latter half of it I was like oh they're gonna drag me again they're gonna be so mad at me but listen at least you did better than last year in that we got one five star I absolutely loved Tress of the Emerald Sea I cannot explain to you enough how much I loved it and we got a five star which we didn't manage last year but it was super fun seeing what some of your favorite books of the year so far have been let me know if you didn't contribute to Instagram all that community posts let me know what some of your best books of the year have been down below if you got into the end of the video comment any green emoji in homage to Tress of the Emerald Sea thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you very soon in another video bye


Welcome to Cocktails 101 by Drinks Made Easy, our ongoing series where we teach you how to make some of the simple classic cocktails at home. If this is the first episode that you've seen, you can click on the link above and see some of our past episodes. Today we're taking a look at an American classic that became really popular when Sex and the City set its center stage. There have been tons of different variations of this cocktail and different people claim it, but the modern variation came out of New York City in 1988. But many different variations of the Cosmopolitan. Some of them recently have become really, really sweet, but the original one by Tobey Chikini was just a simple 2-1-1-1 part cocktail that is actually a bit tart. Now the one that was popularized in Sex and the City that isn't super bright red but more of kind of like a pastel pink, that would be the original and I would say superior form of the Cosmopolitan. To build your Cosmopolitan, you'll start by using one and a half ounces of citrone vodka. If you don't have citrone vodka and you want to try this cocktail, go ahead and do it. But if you find that you like it with the non-citrone vodka, buy a bottle, try it out, you'll like it even more. Next you're going to use three quarters of an ounce of Good Triple Sec, in this case Quattro, three quarters of an ounce of fresh lime juice, and three quarters of an ounce of cranberry juice. Now if you use too much of this, it's going to start getting really sweet and if you want it even more tart, you can pull back on that. But these are the original ingredients, give it a good shake. Strain your Cosmopolitan into a martini glass, and if you're feeling extra fancy, you can flame an orange across your cocktail. You could also just use a peel of orange or a lime, and there you have the Cosmopolitan. Thanks so much for watching, and please remember to always drink responsibly because everybody likes to make friends, but no one likes to make them in a prison shower. We're going to need to do another one of that. That was perfect. That was awesome.