Jane Austen 90's vs 00's : Sense & Sensibility

One of my most treasured movies of alllllllllll time. I love Emma Thomson's 1995 adaptation is heartfelt, funny and utterly compelling! Its won so many awards at the BAFTA's and the Oscar's. Kate Winslet was great as Marianne, her daily life was driven by her emotions in a society that encouraged young ladies to hide them. She manages to express herself in such away that you laugh with her rather than at her. With the book I found myself wanting to shake her and say, 'get a grip'. But in this adaptation all I can do is clutch a pillow and morn her loss. The scene where she is walking in the rain is the most dramatic scene ever. I have walked in the rain and I have never looked glamours or romantic, but Ms Winslett manages to do it and I take my hat off to her.

Alan Rickman plays the dignified Colonel. He's the knight in shining armour that is pushed aside and is forced to watch from the shadows. Basically he is = love.

You don't have to be a fan of Austen fan to like this movie.  I've just seen a review of this movie on ew.com and the reviewer has complained that Thompson was to old to play Miss Dashwood. Well yes she was, but she was deliberately cast so modern audiences could understand and relate to the difficulty of finding a husband  after a certain age. So shut ya face haters!

The 2007 adaptation falls on its face and fails to evoke any of the warmth or irony that 1995 adaptation did. If I had to describe this Tv movie in one word it would be 'blue!'. That was the only color I could associate with this film. It just seemed as if they had drained all other colors out and left the only depressing one left. Marianne in this version is more subdued and at the end is tamed like a'horse'. She looses all interesting aspects  of her character when she goes off and marries Brandon. I didn't even get excited about the sword fighting, I just didn't care enough to get excited.  Elinor is just plain and boring. Willboughy is not convincing as a handsome cad more like a self pitying boy who doesn't know who to blame for his predicament. What was Alan Davis thinking by adding a sex scene at the beginning.The key to all Austen films is to leave sex out of it and let the eyes do the flirting! The only good thing about this adaptation was Edward's character not only did he do a great job of becoming the slightly lazy care free gentlemen he is incredibly good looking.

But apart from that there is nothing to recommend this film. The 1995 wins hands down.

2:1

Jane Austen's 00's vs 90's : Persuasion

I know, I know, I know  I promised to do  a list of music but this really must take precedence over it. This passing few weeks I have let my obsession of  fiction of the 19th century literature consume me body and soul. Not a day has gone by that I have not watched or read something that hasn't been originally written by Austen, Bronte or Gaskell. It is very very sad  I know, but there is something about them has taken over me.

It might be the sexual tension in a simple handshake or the fact that you have to watch 6 episodes before anyone reveals their feelings. I like the politeness, the bonnets and the courtesy that everyone has for each other. Either way I'm hooked.

During my addiction I have managed to stumble upon the newer versions that the BBC has provided for Austen's 'Sense & Sensibility', 'Northanger Abber', 'Mansfiled Park' and 'Persuasions'. The originals as I call them were done in the 90's apart form Northanger Abbey which was made in the late 80's.  I've been both pleasantly surprised and also disappointed.


Persuasion 
Surprisingly my utter favorite out of the four. I remember watching it when I was younger and not thinking it had a patch on Pride & Prejudice and it was just really boring. Maybe I've grown up a bit or maybe its because I can relate more to the themes. For those who don't Persuasion it contains themes of; social status been gained by a proffesion, the importance of marriage, class rigidity and people who have more money than sense. Persuasion is different from Austen's novels as the heroine is Anne who is well past a marriageable age of 27 and is not that pretty. She is level headed, practical  and is surrounded by bumbling idiots. Anyway cutting along story short 8 years previous she was 'persuaded' to turn down an offer of marriage from a poor navy officer because he had 'nothing but his charms to recommend him'. 8 years later he is back a very rich captain and ignores Anne for half the book treating her with contempt. I won't spoil the ending but it is very good. Some people think the plot is to simplistic compared to her other works but I love it! Now on to the bbc 1995 version.

I'm afraid I cannot find fault with it. Anne is everything I expected plain, slightly submissive. The actress who plays Anne manages to show her exasperation for her father  without making it look like contempt. When we meet Anne she has resigned herself to help others, has hidden the pain of past disappointment and is just 'getting on with it' without dwelling.  The captain is proud but still engaging enough for you to root for him.
The only tiny tiny niggly thing that we don't get to see is that of the enigmatic Mr Elliot who will inherit Anne's father's fortune when he dies. He barely gets three  scenes. But apart from that it is bliss. (BTW Aunt Petunia is in it too!)










The 2007 version is also very good! The Captain in this adaption is slightly more handsomer if I dare say so myself. Anne is slightly more outspoken but does not veer off from Austen's original outline of Anne. There is more sexual tension in this film more longing looks and heavy sighs. There are also more laughs and the film is of more fast pace. Unfortunately this is not an asset as with so many characters your wondering who is who for quite some time. If I had not read the novel I would have had rewind to try and understand. The best bit is at the end when she has to catch the Captain before  he leaves, you literally scream with frustration as all her relatives descend on her at once demanding her attention. Whilst she is running through Georgian Bath you can't help cheering her along and curse her for being so selfless. The kiss at the end is smoldering *melts*.


Overall for Persuasion the 90's version as well as the 00's version are both excellent so I will declare it a draw.So far  its 1:1. Both versions will sit proudly on my shelf and I will not mind either I watch as they both different in the approach but are still faithful to the novel.

I'm sorry who?

I've recently been trailing through lists of greatest songs ever written, and frankly I am disappointed. The Rolling Stones has listed Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone'  as the best song of all time and in the greatest music artist The Beatles came at number 1. Don't get me wrong The Beatles are great but the fact that Queen came a lowly 56 has really ticked me off. So I'm gonna make my own list of greatest songs, but because I've got a variety of taste I am going to split into the different genres.

Pop, Rock, Movie/Musical Soundtrack, Indie/Pop, country.

I'll probably do the top 5 of each when I have time  so watch this space...........................

Oh God Oh God Oh God

Sometimes I really do despair with myself. I leave things to the last minute and expect things to be fine and dandy, and of course it isn't. I hate that horrible spiral of doom sensation that things are creeping up on me.

My online friend pulled out of the house deal. Thank god theres still time to apply for the campus accommodation. =_= not exactly over the moon about freshers week . Theres stuff with student finance thats getting to me to. Arck I hate stress I just want to run away just get on a train and GO!

Lots of other stuff bugs me to! My blackberry phone isn't as cool as I thought it would be.

Another thing is when I ride to work, the wind blows in my face going down hill, so I don't go very fast ans wobble a lot , then on the way back it blows in my face going up hill, so I go at a snail's pace. I mean WTF? Does the direction of wind change as soon as I get off work?

I also wrote my will last week it made me feel very grown up and slightly morbid. Its given me great calm now that I know what I'm doing with a few handful of assets that are my own.

I haven't read anything in ages, normally I would go to the library but Ive had these two books for agggges and I'm scared what the fine will be so I'm putting it off. So I'm feeling pretty dumb and stupid.

If there is such a thing as reincarnation, knowing my luck I'll come back as me.

I've been watching a lot of only fools and horses recently its the only thing to do in the evenings, I find I can switch off and just knit while I watch it. Fingers crossed in a few months time my evenings will not be spent knitting and embroidery but will include nights out and getting very drunk.

This year I've decided to bite the bullet and live off campus. I met someone over the internet and will be moving in with them. I know it sounds dodgey  and my stomach flips sometimes when I think of loads of other people that have been conned over the internet. But they only need a £25 deposit and when I do go and meet them I'll bring someone with me. Still haven't asked that 'someone' to come with me, but she's the only one that reads this blog so hopefully she'll get the hint.

Drama seems to be in everyone else's life except mine. My friend has got back together with her gf, my other close friend is moving in with her boyfriend and approaching her finals. It just seems like I'm the one witnessing the drama and giving advice but nothing happens to me.My future  biographers will address this as the tumbleweed period of my life when nothing exciting happens.

Something Borrowed

Last night my friends and I went to see this, due to the holy  Orange Wednesdays.  Are lives are so consumed with the build up of Orange Wednesdays that we are too exhausted to do go out on Saturday. Basically we need a life.. But for now we have a cheap night out a week.

I'd seen the trailer and knew roughly what the storyline would be. The main male lead annoyed me more than usual he didn't say a lot. I'm sure if you counted his lines they would amount to less than 10. It was if he was letting his looks speak for him. I couldn't decide whether he was staying with Hudson's character just to be close to her best friend or was too lazy to go and find true love for himself.

Goodwin's character is spineless and is airy fairy in her ways that it made me cringe sometimes. She's obviously intelligent with her law degree so why put up with both her best friend and her crush's behavior? I can't understand why she put up with Darcy  for so long. The only time they have a friend bonding moment is during and after a 'salt and pepper' dance routine.

The best character in it all is Rachel's best friend Ethan, he seems to be the only who is wise to Darcy's ways and is willing to give frank and honest advice to Rachel even though its advice she doesn't want to here. His scenes are funny and quick and I was hoping for Rachel to fall for him. But sadly it wasn't meant to be.

The whole thing is like a movie soap opera; the wimpy girl, the domineering best friend and the handsome but stupid boyfriend. It's ok, if you your on the sofa in your pjays and are nursing a hangover but I wouldn't pay the £12 for the DVDs 

Rateing: 2 stars out of 5

Champagne taste lemonade income

Yesterday, on our way back from a wedding, my mum and I talked about life after university. I must have rambled along about having a nice house, some 1920's inspired hats, frequent stays in posh hotels and good book collection. It didn't take me long to realize that my dreams and ambitions are all about material gain and have nothing to do with family or getting married. I think this is to do with the fact that I get bored of things very easily. When I had my little godson it was all arrrr he so cute for about an hour and then I got really bored of playing his mud pie games and just wanted to watch TV. So I think I'd be a really naff mum as the novelty would wear off a few hours after birth.

And as for marriage.........well its not that I'm against the idea. Don't get me wrong wearing a ball gown and eating cake all day sounds great. But the thought of committing myself to someone for the rest of my life and never having a moment alone *shudders*. I don't think its for me. There have been lots of divorces in my family so I've seen first hand the hurt and angst that comes with it. It just doesn't seem worth it. So not for me thanks, maybe I'll change my mind but I doubt it.

So for now let me plan my comfortable middle class life, let my friends and family have the babies (I'll baby sit every now and again!) and if I get a lonely I'll get a cat.

The devil makes work

Ok so I got a bit bored on the internet the other day and I went on Live journal to look at stock icons.  Yes I know, but i like to have a little folder of cutesy icons that I like to browse through every now again matching them up to songs on my ipod. It's a past time that I have given to my sister who also does it. These are some of the ones I picked up recently. FYI I did not make these I'm not taking any credit for them I'm just showing what I've found on other sites.

 aren't these the loveliest things you've ever clapped your eyeballs on??

Taken a leaf

Got distracted from my initial blanket plan and am now doing some embroidery  This is due to the fact that my friend Chazza has become a bit obsessed by it. So I've taken a leaf out of her book and started on some unfinished stuff that I've had for years. What will I do when I've finished. No idea, maybe hand it off as a present.  I think Thursday is going to be are arts and crafts day with True Blood in the background. Sounds good!

This night was flawless

The night I had been counting down for came and went. Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now' tour 2011! Was epic as predicted. Didn't sing as many songs as I hoped but was still amazing.

Starting to get a bit giddy and bottom shuffly while waiting....

We were so close to the stage but high up enough to still see.
See where that white blur is.... we were hanging over that bar waiting to shake her hand which I did!







Opened up with 'Sparks fly' which had explosions of gold sparks flying across the stage. Then sang mine, which had cartoons of Taylor and her love interest act out the song on the screen. Missed the funny documentary that they did last time but it was still very good.

Loved her dress while they sang, 'Speak Now', the background art was really cool to with its 50's glamor look. When she sang on the mini stage she was sooo close to us! And then she came round and touched my hand it didn't matter that my legs were being crushed against the bars I got to touch her!!

One of my fave songs was 'Enchanted' it was beautiful!

I think its needless to say I sang every song, only sat down for one, and stomped and cheered for the entire performance. Would I go again? Need you ask I'm already trying to work out when her next album is coming out then I will stalk the ticket pages and keep refreshing until they are for sale!

R.I.P Diana Wynn Jones

I was completely thrown by this news, I didn't even though she was ill. I thought DW would be around for ages and would write loaddddds more books. But looks like it wasn't meant to be :(.  I found out on twitter can you beleive? and she had only died this morning, thats how amazing twitter is.  I can't see it being broad casted on the news so otherwise I might not have known .  Reading 'Howl's moving castle' was what first got me into anime. It's one of my favorite books and favorite studio ghibli movies even though they take different directions there really great. Howl is such a great character he is a coward and knows it but never leaves his friends in danger, he can't be pinned down and is hopeless vain. But after all that he is a great guy.


Saying this I found some of DW other books a bit hit and miss. I read one book I can't even remember what it was called but it was so weird I got to the end and was still baffled to what the story was about. Then there were other books that were just 'meh, okayish' these were: 'A tale of time city', 'Dogsbody' and 'Eight days of Luke'. I'm sure there are more. Maybe she was just having a bad day, or maybe I was to old to enjoy these ones. *shruggs.

But others she  hit the nail on the head! Like the chrestmanci series which is epic and funny in its self. So I guess what I'm trying to say is when she wrote well she wrote really well and when she didn't she really didn't. (Apologizes I can't think of anything more literally fluent to express what I mean). I'm very sorry that she is gone from the world but hope now that she is at peace.

Excuse me, my leg has fallen asleep. Do you mind if I join it?

Work reached new levels of boredom. I had to count knitting patterns as we are stock taking today. Do you realize how many knitting patterns we have?? Thousands! After the first few I start to make stories up about the people modeling the knit wear. This couple are farmers looking for a lost duck ( White jumper flecked in grey with plait patterns on), these girls are sunbathing in the Antarctic ( knitted bikini (even I double take at that one), two women discovering they were lesbians (two boring grey cardigans( they had princess Diana haircuts and were looking at each other with simmering fire in the background), and it goes on. The one thing that worries me is that people actually wear these things!! There are people out there right now walking around in these eye saws, they probably cause traffic accidents. So in effect I would be doing a lot of people favors by burning them.

Only interesting thing was that one of the models looked like one of my friend's sisters and was using various facial expressions to try and make the knit wear look more acceptable and exciting than it really was. Needless to say she failed but it gave me a giggle. I wonder if the photographer ever shouts out, 'make it look sexy!'. How do you make knit wear look sexy?? I think in my mind knitted jumpers will always be for grannys, farmers and fishermen, and none of them are sexy.

The eggs have fallen out of my basket

Urghhhhh i think I'm in a bit of a pickle.  Looking around universities thought I'd found the one for me and neglected the others.  Keele seemed perfect what with me visiting last year and all the societies matching my needs I thought this is the one. Visiting today was a bit of a wake up call everything just seemed to be really dull and shabby. The lecturer for media sounded like a tired bee buzzing away buzz buzz buzz never actually making a point. Everything just seemed so blahhhh maybe it was just me. The premier accommodation is nice but you need a medical excuse to guarantee to get one. I've seen the standard rooms and so if I do decide to go here I will be faking life critically illness to get in. I know its snobby but there is no way on God's green earth I'm staying in that crappy excuse for rooms. I'm sorry but 2 toilets between 14 it aint gonna happen!

As soon as I got home I googled my other uni choice unfortunately the open day has been and gone. Oxford B is not on a campus so its spread out quite a bit :( which I'm not sure I will like.  The accommodation is ridiculously expensive so I dont know if its worth taking the chance???

The other uni is near my friends which is a plus and the last time I went the lectures where quite passionate about what they taught. When I visited it was pretty grim the inside was nice but the outside just made me depressed. So I'd probably commute from Lancaster, but its just so low on the the uni tables I wonder if it will do me more harm than good. The employment rate after 6 months is 57%. I mean thats not huge, I can't believe that the other 43% were sat on their bums they are probably really smart =_=.

So I'm kinda going round in circles, should I bite the bullet with keele and take the chance of being bored to death or go to Oxford B where I've never been and risk hating the isolation of not being on a campus. Or go to uclan be close to my old friends but risk not getting a job at the end of it?

HELP???

Barbie Syndrome

I have something to say and just wondered if anybody does this too. I'm not very good at expressing my anger only my sister has  experienced any physical punishment from me so this is the only way I can deal with stressful situations.

When I'm really annoyed with someone and can't think what to say I imagine that the person is suddenly turned to plastic and has shrunk to a Barbie sized doll. I then imagine that I have grabbed hold of their legs and am repeatably whacking their bodies against the window in my room. If I am REALLY p*ssed off I'll imagine I'm putting their heads in the door and repeatedly slamming the door until their heads pop off.

It doesn't even have to a real person, it can even be a person in a book that has annoyed me. See I'm not discriminative. My sister has started to spot the signs of this 'Barbie Syndrome'. Apparently I frown and get distracted and she'll say, 'You're doing it again! Who has earned your wrath this time?' So if you talking to me and I suddenly go quiet with a frown , beware I could be mentally tearing your head off. There, you've been warned!

Song: Valerie by the Zutons

To be old and wise, you must first have to be young and stupid

This week has been unexpectedly good. I was ummming and arrring about going to Lancaster for ages but on the 11th hour I decided to go and I'm really pleased I did. I needed to be somewhere that wasn't Hull.

The night out was good too. I did'nt drink a lot but I mixed quite a bit: 2 eggnogs, one red rum, one red wine and some champagne (which was given to us free by the Carlton). So yer if thats not a cocktail for a hangover then I don't know what is. But thankfully I was ok and spent the rest of Thursday in bed watching 'Sleepless in Seattle'. The afternoon I went to a place called Soupanover, which is a really groovy cafe that sells homemade soup. On the walls are movie posters form the 50's with some reference to soup and they play really relaxed Motown songs.

My Friend had this Pea soup this morning and even now my moth is watering as the taste is always amazing. *drrrrroooooooool*

It was nice to see everyone and catch up, but you still feel like a bit of an outsider since your no longer living the student life. I really miss it :( 6 months to go!


We also have a wii! This is really cool but I have a feeling that my mum and Naomi will soon bore of it how long shall we give them??

I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested!

The title is reference to the Bag Bang Theory, I've been watching a lot recently. Debating whether to purchase season 4 because it is just so good.

Not a lot to report, this week has been pretty slow. With my granddad being at home the stress is starting to show. I'm not sure what happened but i think my sister talked back to my granddad (just to be clear on this my sister and I never do this we have so much respect for him that its almost like an unwritten rule. I know this must seem child like but its always been like that). To put it blandly  my mum went ape sh*t and my sister had to stay in her room for the whole afternoon. He goes home in week so it wont be long before I can go downstairs in pjays in the middle of the day and watch movies without squirming if something rude happens.

Book wise I've finished 'the choice' by N.Sparks, inspired by seeing the notebook on DVD.  To be honest I was a bit disappointed. If anyone reads my blogg regular they will know that i usually dedicate a whole entry to a review but this drained me so much that I don't have enough energy. The book left me with the feeling of 'meh'.  Reading Sparks I was expecting a bit more magic after all the hype over him. The book had the feeling of it could have been written by any mills and boons author. I didn't care for the main characters enough and the apparent 'choice'  ( I wont spoil it for you) wasn't shocking, in fact its been used as a soap story line so many times its nearly cliche.   But I'm not giving up I'll give him another shot when I can get my hands on another of his books, as this was the only one they had in my library.

Also reading Chris Bradford's Young Samurai series. I read the first one a while ago and enjoyed it and it was a while before I read the next, and it was probably treble the amount of time when i read the next one. When ever I read these books I aways feel like I'm attempting to go in a cold swimming pool, (I'm not crazy I swear). I don't want to do it, but it will be fine once I'm in. I don't know why its like this, its almost as if I've forgotten how good the series is and don't have the energy to read it. Sometimes I have to trick myself into reading, like when I get into bed and the only book within reach is Young Samurai, so I'll curse and force myself to read it rather than getting out of my warm bed. Now that I've read the third one I assumed that it would be the last one, but to my horror I've found out there are 5 more after this! Poor Jack, he is never going to get home to England.   I also feel tricked, its almost as if I now have to read all of them. Grrrrrrr.

At the moment I'm trying to find  Dear John the movie on my laptop but it seems its not to be. I've seen it before but I just wanted to remind myself .

On my 35th square 109 to go.

Listening to 'With a girl like you' not sure who it is by but its from the Boat that rocked soundtrack.

London's calling

So beside the rant about disappointing books I've been pretty busy travelling up and down the country and sailing to Holland to the land of clogs and dope.

Lets start with London, hotel lovely greeted by eager to please Swiss concierge felt a bit uncomfortable by the fact that my eye was watering due to the fact I had just recently just hit myself in the eye with my own belt. Unsure whether to tip or not only had a tenner on me and felt that was a bit much, he probably thinks we are now stuck up oh well.

The Langham was lovely, felt like royalty when we pulled up and a doorman helped me out of the taxi XD One day I will stay at this hotel it was wonderful. A pianist played Pocohontus's colours in the wind' as we ate it under a chandelier. I will never forget it as long as I live

The ballet was a bit of let down due to the fact we felt a bit sickly due to the champagne we gulped down at the Langham, are seats werent that great we were leaning over the bar a lot to see. Giselle just could not compare to the Nutcracker but I guess it was ok for £10. Some of the expressions the ballerinas pulled reminded me of some of the expressions seen in anime which amused me.

The light that Camden once had for me seemed duller this time, maybe it was the fact I didnt have much money but it seemed a little bit less exciting than last time I visited. I don't think it helped that I had a sore nose  from blowing it all day either.

Phantom of the Opera was heart stopping.


Overall it was good trip but I wish I had been feeling better then some of my pictures would have been a bit better as most of them have me looking stiff and fed up. Arrrgh I hate colds!

Talk about Holland another day. Currenty listening to TS - fifteen. There are also  6 mugs and one glass in my room just thought you ought to know.

Septimus Heap

Hiiii haven't updated in a while but in my defence ive been in London and Amsterdam so I've been one busy bunny, but before i ramble about my ramblings I have to discuss this series of books I have read.

The Adventures of Septimus Heap.


Heard of it? No neither had I till since a few days ago. While being stuck in bed with a cold and nothing to read I raided my sister's bookcase and found this.  There are currently 5 books out and I've read 4 of them.

The first two books were quite good and they gave off a spark which suggested that maybe 3 would be just as good, how wrong I was. The whole plot of the first book was charming what with the mix up of babies and the long lost princess. I found that it was a nice stroke of Sage's to make the the main character seem insignificant and cowardly throughout the first half but then find his feet and reclaim his name.

I liked the character of Marcia, strong willed wizard who is not intimated easily this is definitely refreshing but was slightly disappointed when in the second book she seems just childish and silly refusing to see Septimus point of view.

I sympathised with the character of Merrin he had spent the whole of his life been told his name was Septimus Heap it was'nt his fault, he was bound to feel some bitterness to the real Septimus but I can only roll my eyes at his stupidity and his constant repetitiveness of making the same mistake other and other again   (of siding with the biggest bully in the play ground).

My favourite character was Simon Heap. I know too much about sibling jealously not to connect with him. He's hurt and annoyed that his younger long lost brother has been handed everything on a plate, I mean wouldn't you be if you had studied for years?  Maybe it was a bit extreme to pull the skeleton of your brother's arch enemy out of the water but people have done stranger things. I've read on forums that people have type cast him as the typical bad guy that waits to long to kill their enemies. I can't believe that Simon would have ever of killed Jenna he would have let go at the last minute.  He also genuinely loves the stubborn Lucy Gringe whose father is the mean gate keeper. His devotion is sweet and was the only thing i read about during book 5 the rest  I skipped.

I didnt read book 3 as my sister didn't have it but if it was anything like book 4 and book 5 I am glad I missed it out. Sage seems to running out of ideas and recycling old ones. Something goes missing main character goes off to find them not before calling on sister or aunt to let them know what has happened, something old nemesis appears something unrelated happens blah blah blah *yawn* they have to travel somewhere and then come back, and then anti climax ending where a lot doesn't happen.  I found myself scan reading most of the dialogue as a lot of it seemed unnecessary.

As the books go on the main characters seems to become more self righteous and more predictable is this Ms Sage's idea of character development?!?? As I would certainly not want to hang around with them in real life.

The illustrations in the book are lovely and I always looked forward to seeing the next one but they were always seemed to be repeated in other chapters. Was this laziness or way to cut expenses in the publishing department?? It would have been nice to see a new one in every chapter.

Another thing I liked was the catchup chapter they did it at the end where she told you what happened to less important characters which I thought was a nice touch.

I've read the reviews and have been surprised to see that there have been comparisons made to Harry Potter. Lets get things straight, when I first read HP i roared with laughter, after many rereads I still have a good chuckle. When I first read this i gave a weak smile and even if I did reread i hardly think that even a muscle would twitch in my face. Nothing can compare to HP NOTHING!!. HP is so easy to read you can just sit there and realise you've read a chapter without a blink of an eye. But with this it sometimes felt as if I was swimming in treacle.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh they are targeted towards 12 year olds and maybe as a 12 year old I would have  like it more. I just think Sage should have stopped at number 2!

As indivudally books the first 2 books get 3.5 stars out of 5
4 and 5 get one star out 5

Worth a read I guess if you got long train journey but its not a Rowling classic by any margin.

let them eat cake

So apart from staying up late and watching trashy movies, what else have I been doing?

Hmmmm honestly not a lot.  I'm loosing the motivation I first had to find a decent job, and the one I have at the moment it really getting me down. Don't get me wrong I actually like making things like clothes and knitting things, I just don't like some of the people I work with.

But the next few weeks should be promising its my birthday a week on Friday so apart from turning the dreaded 20 I'll be going to London, and spending money I haven't got. The Tuesday after I'll be going on a mini cruise to Amsterdam, apparently a wander through the red light district is needed as well as a stop as a space cake cafe, but after much consideration I've decided not to go to the dark side, so for now ill stick to the regular kind and just laugh at my friend.

Hopefully I'll have a cake something like this it looks soo yummmmm

On the blanket side of things I have knitted 31 out of 144 I might finish this time next year.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Last night I watched this film not out of a particular desire, just simply because it was set in Tokyo and there was nothing else on. I was hoping for a few view shots of the city and centre and that was it, surprisingly it didn't suck as much as I thought it would do.

I'm not really into action flicks but I thought I'd give it a chance. The story is nearly A typical of action flicks. Troubled teen is sent to a new school where he immediately meets a new enemy and starts to like his girlfriend. He finds some kind of sport to challenge and the enemy and also gains a group of supporters on the way (usually containing some kind of teacher on the way (it also helps if the teacher has some kind of tragic past of his own usually failed achievements so he usually channels his lost dreams through his student)).  The girlfriend ummms and arrrss over this troubled soul and usually secretly befriends him and then falls in love with him over his roguish ways. The enemy finds out there are several battle scenes where the each side seems to have the upper hand and eventually the troubled teen wins overcoming some great emotional obstacle.

Yer basically when you've see one you've mostly seen them all.  There were some refreshing new things that I did like.

• One it was set in Japan so I got to see some panning shots of the city centre. 
• Two it was amusing to see the main character make some social faux pas in Japanese society the shoe incident when he went to school did make me smile. 
• Three I liked two of the supporting cast I think they were called Reiko and Earl, it would have been nice to see a bit of character development as they seem prime examples of car nerds.
• Fourth (yes there is a fourth reason , even I was surprised)  it actually got me interested in cars. I know I was shocked to! I started to think actually drifting looks kinda cool and the cars look awesome.

However there were things that did annoy me the damsel in distress, Neela could apparently drift but you barely saw any of this. It would have been a nice twist if she could have raced the bad guy at the end and won instead but that would have damaged men's egos to much probably.  What also annoyed me was she barely spoke any Japanese I know she was supposed to be half Australian but still... She was also too waif like she didnt stand up for herself just let the two males fight over her. It would have been different if she had just parted from both of them and gone on to be a better drifter then both of them, but then that would have not been the stereotypical character for these kind of films would it.

The main character Sean annoyed me so much I was gritting my teeth. For starters Japanese school uniform did not suit him at all, and secondly his accent  drove me up the wall. It sounded like some lame impression of a Texas drawl it was awful. If that's what he sounds like in real life, my apologizes but I don't think I could listen to him for a long time in real life.

  Another thing the character he is supposed to be playing is a 17 year old. With my experience 17 years olds are thin, lanky and are JUST emerging from awkward phases. This actor is no where near that, hes tall muscular confident and looks about 35. I don't why American TV does this, they place people who are in the 30's and 20's into teen roles. It took me ages to figure out why teenagers in America looked so mature and spotless compared to British teenagers.


So overall I give it 2*'s out of 5*. It was a nice change to see a completely different cultural shift but as expected with all the macho mechanics thrown in. Won't be watching again, just not for me.

Baby the stars shine so bright

Eventually got around to changing my blog around a bit, not that I have a good excuse or anything its just down to laziness again. Do you like the changes? I do. The title comes from a new Taylor Swift song I heard recently which I love and couldn't agree with more.  You cant turn on the news without seeing someone bitch about  someone else over their choices in their life. Just let it go!  These kind of people wind me so bad that I end up doing the opposite of what I want to do just to please them.

 I care to much about what people think. I'm obsessed with being left out that sometimes I don't stand up for myself. Sometimes I think I just lay down just to make it easier for them. It sounds really stupid doesn't?   Let me try and explain if for instance I had an invitation to go to a party with a friend and I found out she did something really mean to me the week before. I'd probably forgive them really quickly just so I didn't have to go to the party on my own. That is how pathetic I can be. The thought of being on my own in a big social gathering terrifies me. Eating alone at school, having no one to sit next to in class prevented me from staying mad at anyone for long. I'm getting better at being alone that much uni gave me last year. But I still hate confrontation  I will always avoid it  all costs, maybe I need to be a bit more aggressive and grab the bull by the horns.....next time I'll have a try but will avoid wearing red.


I changed my background as well. I love stars there so ....... I don't think I can put into words what I think of them but I'm always slightly comforted by them. No matter what happens they will always be there (ok I grant you they may fade when they've burnt all their gas up, but that's not going to happen in my life time).

No matter how rich or poor I get the stars they will always be there. You probably think I'm getting a bit sentimentally but I think its quite a sobering thought, I could be so poor that I would have to sell the shoes on my feet but there would still be the stars in the sky. As well as my immortal soul these things would be the only thing that truly belonged to me.

A friend of mine once told me that a friend of hers who used to live in China couldn't see the stars where she used to live because of the smog. This is one of the saddest things I have heard in my whole life, seeing the stars is basic human right and it breaks my heart that some people have never seen one.  If one day smog descends on the whole world then that will be the day I pack my bags and hitch hike to space I don't think I could live in a world where you can't wish on a star.

Knowing me knowing you ah-haa

Apologise for the late update, I didn't fall off the planet nor was I too drunk off Christmas drink that I no longer could control my limbs to switch on the computer *sadly*.  I just got a bit lazy and couldn't be bothered to write anything.

This usually happens after awhile once I've found something cool to occupy my time. For instance I once found this site where you found pen pals in different countries to write to. awesome right? After finding someone who didn't look a complete psycho I sent them a letter to Australia. Many weeks later, letter didn't arrive and my pen pal asked for another one by this time I'd got fed up and and didn't reply. Bad manners I know but the person in question had a lot of other pen pals so I'm sure she got over it. Plus the fact we didn't have much in common and she had a strange obsession with a member of Boyzone. I think it was more of 'oh lookie a letter from Oz look how cultured I am' kind of thing.

Same thing happened with neo pets and yahoo answers and to some extent facebook. I hardly update any more as I've lost interest in it as most posts seem to consist of ' I had an amazing night with blank and blank' or one of my faves is 'I love blank so much hezzzz the best he makes my world complete' *vomit*. Im sorely tempted to delete my account as most friends could contact me via skype twitter mobile or email. Its not as if I would have disappeared off the planet, but there's also the panic that you'll find your self alienated because you dont have facebook. It is also handy to get photos off people too. I shall have to think further on this.

Anyway back to Christmas it was enjoyable but a bit samish, apart from the Eve where two of my friends and I went to the midnight mass. Before hand I got my self into a bit of state of worry as it must be at least 8 years since I have been Church. But it wasn't to bad as my friend Jess hadn't been in ages either. I believe we all agreed not to get blessed as non of us had been confirmed but for the life of me I don't know why my friend Charlotte came all over spiritual and suddenly said she was getting blessed, and because Jess does whatever Charlotte does she went to, not wanting to sit there like a lemon I joined in, and thus I had a tug of war with the vicar over the holy wine not wanting to make it any more awkward then it was I just made a slurping noise and hope that it was enough.

On our way out the vicar shook our hands and said something that I didn't catch so I just replied Merry Christmas which he looked a bit alarmed. Oh well. A passer by took our photo beside the church as it rang out midnight which was very nice, although the picture itself was good of my friends but of me it has my fringe all over my face making me look sweaty and awful so I wont be posting it any time soon.

New Year was spent with Naomi watching Star wars trilogy which was ok we brought in the New Year by dancing wildly to KP's California Girls (very fitting).

New Year's resolution:
- join a defence class (chances of doing this 10 chances of keeping it up 4)
- learning japanese kana (chances of doing this 10 chances of keeping it up 7 ish)
- learning to draw ( chances of doing this 10 chances of keeping it up 9 as i really want to get better)
- learning to play music again (chances of doing this 6 I have to find the lead for keyboard first)



I am thinking of changing the title of this blog as its just a bit to standard and I will soon no longer be a teenager *cries* The inspiration muses are not with me right now so I will have to be more creative later!

ta ta for now