I am devestated to have woken up this morning to this news. So horrible and sad. This is a guy I looked forward to seeing a lot more from.
Love and prayers go out to his family and friends.
100 childhood books January 22, 2008
The telegraph.co.uk have produced a list of 100 must read books for children, of which I have read about 15. Thought it was a good excuse to reminisce on some of the books I grew up with, which suprisingly don’t make it on the list:
The Babysitters Club
Classic teen girl reading, as I followed the adventures of Dawn, Kristy, Mary Anne and co. Each book came from a different character’s point of view, with dilemma’s including Mary Anne and Logan’s relationship, Claudia’s gran dying and Stacey’s diabetes. It’s funny that to me these girls all seemed so grown up, and yet in the book are 11-13 years old.
Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret
An intriguing book about a girl with Jewish and Catholic parents and struggling to find God inbetween these two faith communities. The book includes Margaret’s prayers to God and now, as a Christian, I smile looking back and realising what a big influence it had on me.
Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Book 1: Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging.
I have never laughed out loud so hard when reading a book. I would have to take breaks in between chapters to allow myself to breathe properly. Georgia is such a brilliantly hilarious character with outlooks on life that are wonderfully original and frustrating. The follow ups: Dancing In My Nuddy Pants, It’s Ok I’m Wearing Really Big Knickers, Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas and many more. I recommend the Wikipedia site which provides ‘Georgia Slang’ and ‘Snog Scale’. Brilliant.
NEWS! A movie shall be coming out in July! Amazing.
Enid Blyton’s Adventure Series
These were the books of my childhood. The Island of Adventure actually fell apart from me reading it so many times. The adventures of Phillip, Lucy-Anne, Dinah and Jack convinced me that every child ate canned tongue and drank ginger beer. Kiki the parrot would provide witty remarks, and Bill the policeman always came to the rescue at just the right moment.
Pride and Prejudice
I read this for my Year 9 English essay and fell in love with every single page. I have read it once a year since then, and I love both the BBC adaptation and the recent movie. This was the beginning of my Jane Austen appreciation and unrealistic romantic views. As I once read, there are too many Wickham’s in this world and not enough Darcy’s.
Sex and Sensibility? January 17, 2008
The BBC has just finished its latest Jane Austen adaptation: Sense and Sensibility.
The writer decided to meet the media’s expectations of a ’sexed up’ series by beginning with a blurry close up of a mystery man (a.k.a. Willoughby) getting intimate with an unnamed girl, with lots of heavy breathing and pouting. Other than that, the ’sexed up’ nature was simply lots of ‘artistic’ shots of waves, people looking ‘romantically’ out of caves, and close ups with dramatic lighting.
I am an Austen fan. I have been to her house. I own 5 copies of Pride and Prejudice + one of each other novel, the TV Series on DVD, the movie on DVD, Sense and Sensibility the movie, Emma Thompsons book about the making of Sense and Sensibility the movie etc etc etc. The movie caused me to have the biggest crush on Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson’s script (and acting) was pretty much faultless. So, you can understand my interest in a new adaptation.
I was very concerned about David Morrisey (Blackpool) being named as the new man to fill Colonel Brandon’s shoes. I stand corrected though as he fully impressed and charmed me completely. Edward was played like a Hugh Grant character, but this time not by Hugh Grant whilst Dominic Cooper (The History Boys) made a wonderfully haunting Willoughby.
One tv review asked simply what the point of this adaptation was. I can not pin point anything new this brought, apart from being an hour longer than the movie. I laughed as I read a review describing the script as ‘Part Austen and Part Chav’. The story was handled a little clunkily with the dramatic sword fight left unexplained and underwhelming.
Ultimately, I was charmed by the cast, with Colonel Brandon standing out as the strongest character. I still feel though that BBC are searching to live up to the standard set by Pride and Prejudice 13 years ago.
It will never happen people, move on.
Inside the Actor’s Studio January 13, 2008
The American equivalent of Parky sees James Lipton interview actors on a stage in front of a theatre full of budding thespians. The interview is mostly biographically focused, with the first question always being ‘Where were you born?’. Each interview is with just the one guest and an hour long (as opposed to Parky’s 10 minutes!) and gets personal in the aim to understand the art of acting a bit more. There have been over 200 shows and have brought some real highlights. These include:
Robin Williams being himself….
Kate Winslet and the Harvey Keitel story…
Every interview finishes with the same set of questions. Since I have no plans of ever acting and therefore never being on said show, here are my answers….
What is your favourite word?
Guacamole
What is your least favourite word?
pathetic
What sound or noise do you love?
popping bubble wrap
What sound or noise do you hate?
Ice scraping against itself – like when you take things out of the freezer
What turns you on?
A really good sense of humour
What turns you off?
Arrogance
What is your favourite curse word?
The nice and gentle ‘CR*P’
What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
Be a cricket journalist – travelling and cricket all in one job? Heaven. Or maybe musical theatre….
What profession other than yours would you not like to attempt?
Chef: too stressful
If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
Welcome home 
JK Rowling: A year in the life *CONTAINS BOOK 7 SPOILERS* January 2, 2008
A usually camera shy JK opened her life up to a year of cameras and interviewing as she completed book 7 and looked forward to life after Harry. The documentary didn’t necessarily bring out anything new about the author’s well known difficult life before publishing success, but it was nice to hear it in her own words.
The end 15 minutes saw JK discussing the ending of the series for the first time, and there she explained her decisions that influenced the ending of the very long saga of Harry Potter. Anyone not wanting to know the ending, please stop reading now!!
***SPOILER***
‘I thought a lot about people who had been through terrible things like wars, and having to come back and rebuild after seeing horrors. It’s always seemed to me to be such a courageous thing to do: climbing back to normality after trauma. It’s much harder to rebuild than to destroy. In some ways it would have been a neater ending to kill him but I felt it would have been a betrayal. I wanted my hero to come back and do the most noble thing, which is to come back from war and try to build a better world.’
Upon finishing the book my first reaction was, ‘is that it???’. Yup the final battle was pretty impressive but the last chapter felt a bit weak really. JK has helped a bit… I think we were meant to feel a bit deflated: our big hero just enjoying a rather mundane life – no huge happily ever after or ‘where are they now’ conclusion with a summary of the exciting lives they went on to live. Instead, just a final chapter to give us a few (rather predictable) details and to show life in its normality (as normal as Hogwarts can be…)
As a documentary it did its job, and for the hardcore fan it tied a few ends up. And now it is all over. Thank goodness.
P.S. for anyone who longed to know the career which our hero went on to, check out JK’s website and view the Wizard of the Month.
And yes, I know I am a geek.
Moments of 2007 January 2, 2008
This is just a quick look at some of the highlights of my year:
Sophie and Kristian’s Engagement Party
A night full of very special people and good tunes. Danced the night away…
Superhero Party
This crazy event, held by the wonderful Tom and Abi in their back garden, saw the entire CYO staff, plus numerous people from the Colchester scene, dress as Superheroes and generally make fools of themselves. The highlight was driving to Mersea with me in my shiny cape and Aly dressed as Catwoman. Got some looks…
Twenty 20 Finals Day
Definitely towards the top of the list, this day was as amazing as I had hoped. Take two 20 year old cricket crazy girls, put them in fancy dress (the superhero outfit came in handy again), throw in a road trip to Birmingham, some very drunk Brummies in the row infront, many mexican waves and 3 pretty awesome games of cricket and you have one of the best days of my life.
Last Day of 1st Uni Year
Just one of those things we could never have planned. A random decision was made to go punting (well, we are in Cambridge afterall). Once there we are informed that tonight, of all nights, is the Cambridge Uni’s summer ball for which a huge firework display will take place by the river bank. Rocking to a display set to Queen, Blur and U2 on a punt is just one of those moments you won’t forget easily.
My Birthday
A day out to Colchester Zoo before sitting and watching Bring It On and High School Musical, with a chinese take away and a bottle of wine. Perfect.
Spamalot
In February my family and best friend travelled to London to watch the Monty Python Musical after 2 hours shopping in Covent Gardens. I don’t think I stopped laughing throughout the show and I urge you to go and have the funniest 2 hours theatre can offer.
Mum!
On October the 28th, at the CYO Celebration, my Mum became a Christian. And that’s all that needs to be said about this incredible year!
TV take 2… January 2, 2008
I realised I had forgotten one show, so thought I had better include it:
Dr Who
With a less annoying companion (loved Rose… but she got on my nerves), Shakespeare, John Simm as the Master and Reggie Yates from CBBC/Radio 1… brilliant. ‘Blink’, the one with the evil statues, was so scary it caused the four of us watching to hide behind pillows and be very wary of the statue of a lion ouside Lisa’s house.
