Friday's Film Adaption: Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

Summary:
It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades--all before his suicide at age forty-one. This acclaimed biography of the founder of computer science, with a new preface by the author that addresses Turing’s royal pardon in 2013, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life.

Capturing both the inner and outer drama of Turing’s life, Andrew Hodges tells how Turing’s revolutionary idea of 1936--the concept of a universal machine--laid the foundation for the modern computer and how Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. The book also tells how this work was directly related to Turing’s leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II, a scientific triumph that was critical to Allied victory in the Atlantic. At the same time, this is the tragic account of a man who, despite his wartime service, was eventually arrested, stripped of his security clearance, and forced to undergo a humiliating treatment program--all for trying to live honestly in a society that defined homosexuality as a crime.

The inspiration for a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, Alan Turing: The Enigma is a gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution.

Film
During World War II, mathematician Alan Turing tries to crack the enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians.

Release Date: November 28, 2014
Release Time: 114 minutes

Cast:
Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing
Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke
Matthew Goode as Hugh Alexander
Rory Kinnear as Detective Nock
Allen Leech as John Cairncross
Matthew Beard as Peter Hilton
Charles Dance as Cdr. Alastair Denniston
Mark Strong as Maj. Gen. Stewart Menzies
James Northcote as Jack Good
Steven Waddington as Supt Smith
Tom Goodman-Hill as Sgt. Staehl
Alex Lawther as young Alan Turing
Jack Bannon as Christopher Morcom
Tuppence Middleton as Helen Stewart
David Charkham as William Kemp Lowther Clarke
Victoria Wicks as Dorothy Clarke
James G. Nunn as Sherborne Boy

Awards:
2015 Academy Awards
Best Picture - Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman - Nominated
Best Director - Morten Tyldum - Nominated
Best Actor - Benedict Cumberbatch - Nominated
Best Supporting Actress - Keira Knightley - Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay - Graham Moore - Won
Best Editing - William Goldenberg - Nominated
Best Original Score - Alexandre Desplat - Nominated
Best Production Design - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald - Nominated

2015 Golden Globes
Best Motion Picture – Drama - The Imitation Game - Nominated
Best Screenplay - Graham Moore - Nominated
Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama - Benedict Cumberbatch - Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture - Keira Knightley - Nominated
Best Original Score - Alexandre Desplat - Nominated

2014 BAFTA Awards
Best Film - The Imitation Game - Nominated
Best British Film - The Imitation Game - Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay - Graham Moore - Nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Benedict Cumberbatch - Nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Keira Knightley - Nominated
Best Editing - William Goldenberg - Nominated
Best Production Design - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald - Nominated
Best Costume Design - Sammy Sheldon Differ - Nominated
Best Sound - John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen - Nominated

Author Bio:
A mathematician, an author and an activist in the gay liberation movement of the 1970s.

Since the early 1970s, Hodges has worked on twistor theory which is the approach to the problems of fundamental physics pioneered by Roger Penrose.

He is a Tutorial Fellow in mathematics at Wadham College, Oxford University. Having taught at Wadham since 1986, Hodges was elected a Fellow in 2007, and was appointed Dean from start of the 2011/2012 academic year.

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Sugar & Spice Audiobook by RE Hargrave

Title: Sugar & Spice

Author: RE Hargrave

Narrator: David L White

Genre: Romance

Release Date: September 30, 2013

Audiobook Release Date: January 3, 2017

Summary:
Lacey Harrison has been dealt an unexpected hand in life: being a single mom. With her father's help and that of the residents at Royal Hills Nursing Home, she thrives and goes on to become a successful baker. She is content with her life but knows that she and her daughter Candy are missing something. Will things change for the better when Trent Childress moves into town and adds some spice to her sugar?

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Before I knew it, my kitchen had been taken over once again. Now I was standing next to a table decorated with bunnies and eggs decorated in bright colors, peddling our wares. Candy had run off, saying she wanted to find someone that, “I had to meet.” I was hoping she’d moved past the mysterious Coach C to someone closer to her own age.

“Enjoy, Steve,” I said, thanking Coach Rose’s husband for his purchase of two dozen honey carrot cookies. He stepped away, revealing my daughter, who had her hand latched onto the arm of my Valentine’s Day egg disaster: Trent.

“Lacey,” he murmured, his eyes meeting mine and igniting a tugging feeling inside of my stomach that crept lower the longer he looked at me.

“Hey, Trent,” I choked a bit on his name. “Gonna support the school again?” His spreading grin changed the tug to a full on twist and pull, and I lost my breath.

“Least I can do, seeing how they employ me and all,” he answered with a cheeky tone.

“Coach C?” I hazarded a guess, my nose scrunching up.

“Yes, ma’am. Nice to meet ya,” he extended his hand. “Your daughter is a delight to have in class,” he teased with a roll of his eyes. I laughed.

“I bet. I’m guessing you're aware of a certain crush?” I asked, leaning in so that gossipy ears could not overhear me, though our positioning itself was bound to start gossip.

He turned in toward me, his breath a warm whisper on my cheek as he replied, “Yes, I am, and I’m handling it by openly flirting with her mother.”

Author Bio:

Domestic engineer. Author. Burgeoning editor. And quite possibly certifiable. Believing every story can shine bright with a bit of tenacious tough love, R.E. Hargrave is thorough and to the point. An international bestselling author, she takes storytelling and manuscript polishing seriously, working with her authors and on her own creations to ensure they come to life, crawling from the pages and into the reader’s souls.

Hargrave lives on the outskirts of Dallas, TX and is married to her high school sweetheart; together they are raising three children. A native 'mutt,' she has lived in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and California. She is fond of setting her stories—which range from the sweet to the paranormal, to the erotic and horrific—on location in South Carolina and Texas.

David L White(Narrator)
I have my own recording facility just outside of Nashville, TN. I'm a videographer and editor by trade so I understand the importance of the story and proper pacing. When it comes to your project, I rely on my experience to think about how the listener can have the best possible experience. I hope to partner with authors and combine value of their work with my passion and experience.

RE Hargrave

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David L White

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ALEX: Perfect Opposite Book One(Extended Edition) by Zoya Tessi

Title: ALEX: Perfect Opposite Book One(Extended Edition)

Author: Zoya Tessi

Series: Mafia Bodyguards #1

Genre: New Adult Romance

Release Date: January 23, 2017

Summary:
Their wishes were simple and modest. Fate had other things in store though, and she can be a real bitch sometimes.

All he wanted was to get the job done and somehow to endure those long months playing nanny to a spoiled little rich girl. Without strangling her with his bare hands in the process. Well, it is going to be much easier said than done.

All she wanted was to escape the past and live like any other girl. Her plan definitely didn’t include the arrogant, tattooed savage, with his awful mohawk and lack of social graces, whose only mission was to stick real close and mess up her life.

But, people aren’t always what they seem to be, are they?

Sasha
I went to the kitchen and took some bread out of the cupboard, reached over for a tub of jelly on the countertop and froze. The next moment, before I could catch it in my throat, I let out a loud, high-pitched scream.

There, near my hand, was the biggest cockroach I’d ever seen. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere, either.

Hearing footsteps from behind me, I turned and almost screamed for a second time. With a knife gripped in one hand, Alex was poised in the doorway, ready to attack and looking mean. The pose didn’t hold for long, maybe only a fraction of a second after he realized there wasn’t any danger, and then all his muscles relaxed at once.

“What the fuck was that for?”

“I... I was hungry, and I saw...”

I felt ashamed when I realized I’d acted like such a sissy over a bug. With a hangdog expression, I regarded Alex in silence for a few moments, while he stood waiting for an answer.

“A cockroach.”

“What?” he asked in disbelief.

“A cockroach. A big ugly black one.” I bent my head and pointed my finger over to the sink.

“A bug? Jesus! I’d thought they’d come for you or some shit.”

“I'm sorry, I didn’t mean to get you in here, but… since you are, can you kill it? I mean, you’re here now…”

He cursed loudly and raised one arm, then brought it down fiercely, sending something whistling through the air towards me, its progress ending in a sharp snap. I jerked reflexively and looked in his direction to find that he wasn’t moving anymore. Turning back to the cockroach, I saw his slick knife buried first through the bug and then into the counter.

Approaching in a hurry, Alex pulled it out by the handle, complete with the bug, which he scraped off on the rim of the trashcan. After that, offering no further explanations he just left the room, weapon in hand. With my mouth open in disbelief, I could only stare at the mark on the surface where the roach had been. I stood for a full five minutes like that.

Alex

After placing Sasha on the back seat of the car, I turned to Mike and gave him a strong pat on the back.

“I owe you for this.” 

“Don’t mention it,” Mike exhaled, and with a resigned look on his face, he shook his head. “You sure you can handle it? Want me to take you?” 

“I’ve driven in a worse shape than this. I’m good.”

“So…what’s your story?” He nodded toward Sasha’s sleeping form before turning to look me straight in the eye.

“No story there.” I shrugged and turned to go. “She’s just a part of the job and that’s all.”

I was gripping the handle of the car door, and was about to get in when Mike’s voice reached me again. When his question came, I almost squeezed the handle clean off. 

“You sure about that?”

Alex

I stared into the darkness of the corridor, its inky blackness looking right back at me like Nietzsche's abyss.

How in the hell had I ended up in such a mess? How could I have managed to screw up so badly?

The fact that Sasha was my boss’s daughter was the least of my problems. I took the phone out of my pocket, deciding that the best course of action would be to call Nikolai right away and ask him to send some of Vlad’s guys to take my place. Punching the number automatically, I waited for him to pick up, while my mind worked overtime, trying to think up a convincing reason to relieve me of my current duties. None came, and in the eternity of the first ring, I decided to hang up and rethink.

“What's happened?” he answered just before I could cut the call.

All thoughts of making excuses evaporated, leaving me with no option but to tell him the truth, so I parted my lips to do it but no sounds came. I knew that Vlad’s guys were all hardened professionals, their skills honed through years in and out of dangerous places and lethal situations. Any one of them could guard Sasha as well as me, perhaps even better, but just thinking about the possibility of leaving her in someone else’s care made me shudder. 

“Sorry, boss,” I heard myself say, knowing all the while that I was making a big mistake, yet somehow throwing caution to the wind. “Phone was in my pocket. I forgot to lock it. Situation's normal and no one's dead.”

“Christ, Aleksey! You had me reaching for my Beretta.” I heard him let out a long breath. “ So, everything is okay?”

“Yeah.” I tried to sound casual as I squeezed my temples, mad with myself.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

When I heard the line go dead, I lit another cigarette, its tip fizzing at the end of the flame from my Zippo, the vague aroma of petrol filling my lungs along with its blue smoke. A satisfying hit in the midst of a most unsatisfactory situation. How the hell was I supposed to go back inside and pretend that nothing had happened? 

Author Bio:
Zoya spent years doing volunteering work all across Europe, from cleaning school basements in Northern Russia to excavating Stone Age artifacts in Euskadi (the Basque country) and renovating castles from the middle ages in Southern France. She always dreamed of working with ‘Doctors without borders’ somewhere out in Africa, but ended up doing an ‘ordinary job’ in one of the smaller European countries.

Her greatest passion is devouring each and every book that comes within her reach.

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