The Into Geek Awards 6#

Hello and welcome to the Into Geek awards, my monthly feature that will essentially highlight my favourite things of the previous month. You’ve been given exclusive access to the Into Geek July 2011 awards because you are reading this blog. So let’s give away some awards shall we?

Best Day: Whilst the whole holiday in Majorca was brilliant, the best day for me was when I moved into my new house. That house is going to be my home for at least the next two years and hopefully longer and really like my dungeon room, despite the many faults it has. I am very much looking forward to spending a longer amount of time there.

Geeky Exciting Thing: This month I give that award to the return of Torchwood. The new series, Miracle Day, has begun airing recently. It’s very different and many would agree not as good as past series but that doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying it. It’s still epic and lovable with only Jack and Gwen returning.

Movie of the Month (this is the best movie I saw this month, not necessarily the best movie that came out this month): An easy choice this month, it’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. I think all the Harry Potter films would have got this accolade if this feature existed for their release and none are more deserving than the finale. An epic battle and the end of an era. It’s so, so, so good.

Song of the Month (again, my fave song during the month, not necessarily one that came out during it): I really haven't listened to much music over the past month which is unusual for me. I am giving this award to Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night, because I’m allowed to do that.

Website of the Month: I’m choosing Google+ for this, simply because it’s the best new social network I’ve seen in a long, long time. In my opinion it’s much, much better than Facebook. I can give you an invite if you comment with your e-mail address of e-mail me at intogeek@hotmail.co.uk

Person of the Month: I am giving this to my good friend Josh, despite the fact that I only spent the one weekend with him this month. He made it an excellent weekend. In fact I have been pretty solitary all month so you are lucky that anyone got this award.

Minion of the Month: Wow, you lot have been rather busy over the last month. I’ve had comments flying in all over the place. But I can only choose one and this month I am giving it to Jay who has only recently started reading this blog but has commented loads already. But thanks to all you over people that have been commenting, keep them coming :) (And thanks to Abby Noel for pointing out that links were hard to see, have fixed that now!)

Blog of the Month: There seems little point in having a blog of the month because I only recently wrote a post about some excellent blogs, you today I am going to point you over to my July ‘11 Blogs of Note!

And that’s it for another awards ceremony, thanks for coming.

In My Dreams

Today’s title is to be taken very literally: this post is all about various odd dreams I have had in the past few weeks. I have particularly weird dreams as dreams go so be prepared to read what my subconscious can create!

1) I was at a local fete and my Dad was chairman of the company that sponsored it. As his son, I was responsible for helping to run the parrot show (because that’s obviously what I would end up doing). I had to take this one parrot across the fete from it’s cage to the show (it was a blue and yellow macaw). I had the parrot on my arm and felt fairly confident about my required job. After some time of wandering around, I realised I didn’t know the way to where the show was taking place.The parrot was beginning to get restless and was trying to fly off and I was struggling to contain it by holding down it’s wings. To solve the problem I put the parrot in a brown paper bag.

After a while of still looking for where the show was, I felt I ought to check on the parrot. I opened the paper bag to find a distinctly dead parrot and knew instantly that I must have inadvertently suffocated it. Feeling guilty, I threw the bag, still containing the dead parrot, into a convenient nearby wheelie bin. The news somehow spread around the fete that the son of sponsor’s chairman had “ruthlessly murdered an innocent parrot”. In the car on the way home I had to explain to my Dad and the rest of my family that it had been an accident.

Possible causes:

• Being forced to hold a parrot on holiday
• Having to dispose of a dead bird by cat brought in
• No idea where the fete or my Dad becoming a chairman of some company came from.

2) Suddenly I found myself in the middle of humanity’s greatest fear: a zombie apocalypse. All around the square the walking dead in various stages of decomposition were growling towards me, using that stagger that zombies always seem to have. I was alone and I knew that within seconds I would be bitten very badly and probably killed by the undead.

Possible causes:

• Not sure. I think it was before I saw any promo for The Walking Dead season 2 so I’m guessing it’s just because by mind is often filled with the thought of zombie apocalypses.

3) It looked like a normal crowd of people my age I was stood in. The crowd were encircling me and another guy and we were both brandishing wands. Suddenly I realised that I was about to take part in a wizard duel. What was that spell Harry Potter always used? Ah yes, expelliarmus. Now what other spells did I know. I turned to the girl stood behind me who I instinctively knew was my friend, despite the fact I had never seen her before in my life. I kept spouting random Latin words and asking if they were spells. The occasional one was but most were not. The duel ended very quickly when I used Petrificus Totalus, the full body-bind, to paralyse my opponent.

Cause

• Watching a lot of Harry Potter recently.

And there you have it, a selection of random dreams which demonstrate the weird individual I am. The dead parrot dream is one that particularly worries me. I must have some unusual psychological issues!

Friday Review 2#

Hello and welcome to another Friday review. Once again I shall be sharing my thoughts about a variety of things that I have seen, watched or used over the last week. ★ is the number of stars each item got and a ☆ is an empty star, showing how many away the item was from getting top stars.

Books

Neverwhere by Neil Gaimon: This book takes us into London below, a whole other world beneath the city for the people who have fallen through the cracks. It is largely based off the idea that London place names are literal, like Blackfriars having actual friars, Earl’s Court having an Earl and there being an angel called Islington. There are also two men who are gruesome assassins. This is quite possibly the best book I have ever read. It’s wonderfully imaginative and the telling of the story is truly magical. ★★★★★

 

Torchwood: Bay of the Dead by Mark Morris: This Torchwood novel is essentially Torchwood does zombies which is a wonderful combination. It could have been a disaster though but manages not to be. The zombies are confined to Cardiff and the explanation for their existence is satisfactory. Unlike other Torchwood novels it barely slows at any point. The book begins with zombies appearing everywhere. I was a bit disappointed that the author chose to have Gwen separate from Jack and Ianto for almost the whole novel though and it’s annoyingly short: it took me only around two hours to read the entire thing and that was me attempting to savour it. ★★★★☆

Films: Both of the films in today’s reviews are ones I have seen before, but not since I was much, much younger. So I have seen these from an adult’s perspective for the first time.

Finding Nemo: This Disney Pixar film sees Marlin the clownfish, aided by the ditzy Dory, travel across the ocean to find his some Nemo. Of course there are lots of adventures along the way involving sharks and turtles along the way. It’s really quite enjoyable but for some reason I just don’t enjoy it as much as other Pixar films like Toy Story, Monster’s Inc and Up. For me it doesn’t quite reach the same levels of perfection that they do but it’s a lovely little film. ★★★★☆

Mrs. Doubtfire: Out of work father Daniel Hilliard (Robin Williams) find himself suddenly divorced without custody of his kids. To solve this problem, he disguises himself as an old Scottish nanny to get hired by his ex-wife and be closer to his kids. It’s a comedy of a man dressed up as a woman but you know it is only a matter of time before he is found out. And it’s certainly a heart-warming film, how can a film about a father’s love for his children be anything else? However, the plot is very predictable and some of the humour just isn’t that funny. It’s enjoyable enough but I’m in no hurry to watch it again. ★★★☆☆

It’s Taking Me Higher

Bienvenue à mon blog! Thought I’d throw in a little French to kick things off. Now I feel I should update you on something. The other day I wrote nearly a whole entry based on the fact that a wheely bin which wasn’t ours had appeared in the street. Well now I can tell you that my housemates rang Serco (the disposal company and not a criminal gang boss) and they are going to collect the bin. I will miss it. Actually scratch that, I won’t it was a bloody inconvenience

Good, now let’s actually talk about something other than the bin. What have I been up to over the last few days you ask? You didn’t ask? Well I’m going to tell you anyway so enough with the sarcasm reader. I did two days work. Like actual paid work. OK, one was only training which involves little more than sitting in a room and listening intently. But the other was an actual day running after small children (and I mean actually running, I was exhausted). It was nice to do paid work again and is the first time I’ve actually done any so far this year with one thing or another. I have done loads and loads of unpaid work though so don’t think I’m lazy. And today’s session marked the beginning of my sixth summer working for the same charity. That sort of thing makes me feel old. I don’t even want to think about the fact I am twenty years old in March next year. Two decades! Goodness me!

I have done various other things like go out with my grandfather and go for a cycle ride with my mate Chris but I figure you as a reader aren’t hugely bothered about those things. So instead I shall discuss Foursquare. It’s the social networking site where you “check-in” to places and I have become a little obsessed recently. As I’ve been out and about I’ve been checking-in all over the place, though the number of mayorships I have has drastically reduced in recent weeks, mainly because I don’t keep going back to the same place. I am the mayor of my town though which I am pretty pleased with. You can view my Foursquare profile here and even add me as a friend if you really want to.

In other news, my facial hair has taken over my face. By saying that I mean I actually have a full-on beard now. There is no way you can call this stubble, it’s a proper beard. I haven’t shaved in weeks and am beginning to think I probably should before I have a beard that I can trip over. That would take quite a while actually. I still haven’t decided whether I like the existence of a beard or not. I guess it makes me feel older and different to my old, less confident self so maybe it’s a good thing. I can also now stroke my beard when I am thinking about something, which is pretty cool.

I feel I’m rambling now. I’m sure there was another thing I was going to say in this entry but that appears not to be the case. I’ll shut up now I think. See you tomorrow for Friday Review 2#.

Guest Post: Jay From HFAUL

It’s Wednesday and as you know by now that means it’s guest post day! Today we have the lovely Jay from Happenings from an Undisclosed Location answering by questions. You should check her blog once you read this as it’s wonderful and deserves more followers then it has!

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First of all, thanks so much Dan for inviting me to write a guest post for your blog. This is my first guest post ever! I have been blogging for nearly a year now (my first blogiversary is September 30^th).

Now, I’ll just be completely unoriginal and uninspired and answer Dan’s questions instead of coming up with a topic. (I’m a graphic designer, not a writer, so give me a break.) A bit about me: I am a 19 year old female who recently dropped out of college because I couldn’t get into the design program. I am now attempting to save up for art school. Saving up might be a lot easier if I had a job. I actually do have a job as a book cover designer, but it only pays twice a year, and is much more of an investment in my future than a way of generating steady income. So I am trying to find another job. I’m wanting to hear back on a job I inquired about on Ye Olde Craigslist. It merely said that I could work from home as a Photoshop artist. Pretty vague, but I do artsy things using Photoshop. My luck with finding a job lately is about the same as my luck with men, but more on that later. My main drive in life is creativity. I design things in print, but I also make jewellery and (attempt to) sell it, and I play guitar, flute, and piano. I want to learn to play drums, but I’m a starving artist, so any money will go toward food and rent, not drums. My goal in life is to be able to combine my passion for music with my love of design and become a designer in the music industry, designing album art, promo posters, logos, merch, and all that jazz. (More rock/metal than jazz) I could tell you about the music I enjoy, but if I start listing bands, we’ll be here all day. You’ve seen how long this post already is, and I’m only on the first half of question 1! Suffice it to say that I mainly listen to rock and metal, but I’ll listen to pretty much anything except rap and country. Rise Against is my favourite at the moment.

My blog arose from boredom and curiosity. It is called Happenings from an Undisclosed Location, and began as an attempt to see if I can stick with journal writing longer if people are reading it. The answer is a resounding yes. Journal writing the old school pencil and paper way, I could only ever last 3 days at the most. It has served as a place for me to vent, express worries, work on recognizing my emotions, make friends, share stories, review movies, and really just be able to write anything I want without worrying about what people will think. I only have 17 followers, but they are some of the nicest people, and they’re always there for me with a helpful comment and a listening ear (a reading eye).

Hey, look guys, I made it to question 2 finally. And this will be a long answer as well. It might be easier to share what doesn’t make me a geek. I do not read comic books (yet) and I’m not really into anime, and I’ve never watched Doctor Who. The things that do make me a geek/nerd are many. In no particular order, my collection of Rubik’s cubes is pretty intense. I can solve all of them except the 4x4, which I haven’t taken the time to learn just yet.

Appearance-wise, I’m fairly pale, skinny, and I wear glasses. I also wear guy clothes a lot, but that doesn’t make me a geek, just weird. And I have no problem with being weird. I love Star Wars, so much that my username on multiple websites is JayTheJedi. I watched the original trilogy a few weeks ago as a first date, and it was great fun until the guy tried to put the moves on me. Sex on the first date is a no for me. And on the subject of guys, I can never meet nice ones in real life, only creeps. Well, mostly, there was one very nice guy, but he moved to California L I have never had a boyfriend. To make this even geekier, I can only seem to meet nice guys on the Internet. I have so many friends on the Internet, many of whom know me better than my friends in real life. I also love to read, and recently had to sell most of my books to get money for rent. I nearly cried, and I don’t cry, ever, only when someone I love dies, so that should give you an idea of how much I love books. I love good books. I have never read, and will never read, Twilight. Fun fact: they scouted my high school, and were considering filming the movie there. Thankfully, they didn’t. I like to read thrillers. Dean Koontz is my favourite author of all time, followed closely by Michael Crichton. Other nerdiness: I was valedictorian in my high school, mostly because my social life in high school was non-existent. I only ever went to one dance, my senior prom, and I didn’t have a date, and it sucked. I did Knowledge Bowl, which is like Jeopardy, and my team got 2^nd at state my senior year. I am teaching myself Latin, for no reason at all. I like cracking codes. I love typography, which is good since I’m a graphic designer. I can spend a whole day just browsing the web for good fonts.

I love playing Flash games. I used to play Runescape. I have never played WoW, but mainly just because I know that I would become addicted to it. I have OCD, and the obsessive part makes me become addicted to games easily. When I was 10, I played this Game Boy game called Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle for 10 hours straight. I love video games, and sadly had to sell my Nintendo DS last month to get money for rent. I really enjoy Mario and Zelda games. I also love playing Zombies on Call of Duty: Black Ops. I used to play it with the guys down the hall from me in my dorm before I dropped out of school. I also enjoy contemplating such things as quantum mechanics, and had a long discussion about it yesterday with an Internet friend. I’m very word-oriented, which means that I spell things correctly and I always spell things out instead of abbreviating them (such as “be right back”). I love puns, alliterations, and other sorts of wordplay. Sometimes I invent words, like fripperous. My friends refuse to play Hangman with me. I am a trivia fanatic. I know random bits about lots of different things. I started watching Jeopardy as a 3 year old, and I had a photographic memory way back then, so I just kind of absorbed a bunch of knowledge. I learned how to read when I was 3 years old, and because of that, I skipped first grade. As far as anime goes, I guess you could say I enjoy more mainstream anime. I love Dragonball Z. I also really enjoy Miyazaki movies: My Neighbour Totoro has been my favourite since I was 5 and hadn’t yet heard of anime. There’s this show called Yu Yu Hakusho that I used to watch religiously. I also really got into Yugioh. I had Yugioh cards and everything. I got really mad at my brother when he sold my Yugioh cards without my permission, and I didn’t even get any money for them.

I’ll try to keep my answers to the next questions shorter. It’s my last day on Earth. I will spend it by first actually punching a creeper in the face instead of just doing it in my mind, then getting lots of delicious food and watching good movies with my friends and family.

My favourite place in the world is called Falls Creek Falls. It’s located near my hometown, and it’s a good hike followed by a triple waterfall, and you can feel the mist on your face. It’s really great.

The most important thing in my life is the people who I choose to associate myself with. I don’t waste my time with fake friends. I only have friends who like me and accept me exactly as I am. My family is really important to me too. They have always been there and supported me no matter what. Sure, they get on my nerves sometimes, but most of the time, they’re some of the most amazing people I know. I have a brother who is two years older than me, but everyone thinks that we’re twins, and he is my best friend in the entire world. He is in the Marines and he leaves for boot camp in September.

My favourite type of cheese is provolone. When I can afford the luxury of going to Subway, I always get it on my sandwich, with chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, and mayo.

If I could be a ghost for a day, I wouldn’t really take advantage of it. I would probably have a Ghostbusters movie marathon, because the irony would be too much for me to resist.

So I guess that’s it then. That wasn’t so long, was it? Okay, yeah, it kind of was. I did enjoy it very much and I hope that people actually stuck with it all the way to the end. Thanks again for this opportunity, Dan. And if anyone feels compelled to, you should check out my blog and say hi. But only if you really want to. Farewell.

Winchester’s Criminal Underworld

I am once again back. I seem to be coming and going all over the place at the moment. I feel so disorganised and everything seems to be happening last minute. Still, it’s a fun way to live.

I have been back at our house in Winchester because my mate Josh was moving in. In fact four out of the five of use were there for the weekend which was brilliant. When my mum asked me what I had done over the weekend I actually struggled to answer. I’m not entirely sure what I actually did all weekend. I seem to recall going round virtually every shop in Winchester at various points. In fact, a trip to Tesco is a day out in itself. As usual I managed to return from the superstore with all sorts of items that I didn’t really need. Though I did get a free Nesquik whisk which I have to say is pretty awesome:

I must however tell you about the whole dustbin dilemma. On arrival at the house we found a wheelie bin in front of it. It’s not ours so I moved it down the street at the side of our house in the hope that someone would claim it. The next morning it has returned to in front of our house and later a note was attached to it. It informed us that we should not put the bin out unless it was the day they are emptied and even had an attached photocopy of the bin schedule. We were told to contact “Serco” if we had any questions.

Now I don’t know about you, but Serco sounds like the name of some really powerful Mafia boss or something. Of course the bin isn’t ours so we put a message on the bin saying so but within minutes the message had mysteriously disappeared. It seemed that one of Serco’s henchmen had already picked it up. The next day we were concerned that there was a man hanging around right next to the bin but it turned out that he was not part of Winchester’s bin-related criminal underworld but was waiting for someone to pick him up.

Yesterday the whole thing became much less exciting (OK, so it never was that exciting but we liked to think it was). Our next-door neighbour informed us that a woman down the road was something of a “nazi” and often attached messages to bins. And then by pure chance Josh and I discovered that Serco is not even her name, it’s the name of the company that collect bins in the area. In fact, the word Serco suddenly seemed to appear everywhere, a bit like the phrase “Bad Wolf” in Doctor Who.

The wheelie bin is still there but hopefully someone from Serco will come and remove it at some point in the future. It’s amazing how entertaining a lost wheelie bin can be, though it is disappointing that that Serco isn’t a criminal mastermind. There’s a story in that somewhere.

I’m now wondering if I can justifiably leave a post which is mostly about a bin without adding anything more to it. I think that’s fine. You can tell I have spent the weekend with some crazy people, I am losing it. I’ll see you tomorrow for something that will probably be less weird.

Friday Review 1#

Hello and welcome to the brand new Friday Review feature. We are starting things slowly today with a short one because I’m in a rush but it’ll be a good taster of the sort of thing that will be coming to your screen every Friday! ★ is the number of stars each thing got and a ☆ is an empty star, showing how many away the things was from getting top stars.

Web

Google+: It’s the new social network that everyone’s talking about. To me it seems very much like a version of Facebook that actually works properly. Unlike Facebook though, you can easily group people into “circles” such as family, friends and acquaintances and then only share things with one selected groups. You can make your own circle too if you wish. As a site it works perfectly and much more smoothly than Facebook ever has done. The only current issue is that it is invite only so hardly anyone is using it. Hopefully though it will eventually become much more popular and could even replace Facebook. If anyone wants an invite e-mail me on intogeek@hotmail.co.uk . Overall I give it ★★★★★

Books

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaimon: When Fat Charlie’s father dies he is suddenly told that his father was actually the trickster God Anansi. Not only that but Fat Charlie has a brother who inherited his father’s powers called Spider. And when Spider comes to stay, Fat Charlie’s life is changed forever. It’s a brilliant tale and very funny. Gaimon is such a brilliant author and has a magical way with words. Not his best though, but still brilliant. ★★★★☆

Torchwood: Consequences: Unlike the other Torchwood books, this one is a selection of short stories from different points in the Torchwood timeline focussing on the idea of consequences. It’s brilliantly done and refers back to all the other Torchwood books in the series. It does feel a bit like it was thrown together through lack of better ideas though and some of the stories are weaker than others. If you’re a Torchwood fan it’s well worth reading though. ★★★★☆

TV Series

The Apprentice Series 7: This year’s series of The Apprentice was different to those that fell previously to it because the prize was not a job but a business partnership with Lord Sugar. The tasks were better and more entertaining than before but there were less strong characters amongst the contestants and it was hard to have a favourite for much of the series because of this. Not the best series ever but it’s still The Apprentice and still top-notch TV. ★★★★☆

Games/Software

Nintendo Video (3DS): The idea of Nintendo Video is to give you free 3D videos to watch on your 3DS. The channel is updated every week, though this happens very slowly. That’s not really the biggest issue here though. A service like this needs strong content and preferably variety. This may happen in the future but currently every week you get a 3D Magic Trick and a children’s cartoon series called Oscar’s Oasis. The magic is ok but nothing spectacular and the cartoon is pretty rubbish. This 3DS channel has the potential to be brilliant but at the moment it just isn’t living up to that potential.  ★★☆☆☆

Hopefully this post has posted automatically as I have set it and I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any suggestions for future things I should review, let me know in a comment. The next post on this blog will be on Monday, see you then!

Beiber Commits Suicide

Ahhhhh! Completely unforeseen circumstances mean I won’t be around over the weekend so I need to write some blog entries and quick! The reason will be at the end of this entry but let’s get writing!

My life has been fairly dull during the last few days. I have menial things to do like have my haircut and visit the dentist. Actually the dentist was unusually positive about my teeth which is something of a surprise. And he randomly decided he ought to take an X-ray which is always good fun. It appears that neither of my lower wisdom teeth have come through properly yet which informs me that in the relatively near future I will suffer large amounts of pain. Oh joy.

A whole selection of books I have purchased recently has arrive today, all of which will be reviewed in various future editions of the Friday review. Here’s the list:

• Neverwhere by Neil Gaimon
• The Sorceress/ The Necromancer by Michael Scott
• Time Quake by Linda Buckley-Archer
• Torchwood: Bay of the Dead/ The House That Jack Built

Let me know if you have read any of those and share your thoughts.

I have found a bizarre new hobby of turning the sound off on music channels and then commentating on what’s happening in the videos. It made me discover the music videos are quite dull and mostly very similar. I was amused by the fact that Justin Beiber looks like he is about to jump off a building in the video for the song by Chris Brown she features on. I was begging for him to jump. Apologies to “beliebers” but this isn’t the place for you. Go away and get a life.

Thanks to the wonders of Twitter I have been able to track my friend Chris’ journey across the world as he returned from his three week’s in Australia. It was five hours flight from Australia to Singapore, five hours stop in Singapore, twelve our flight from Singapore to London, three and a half hour wait at London coach station and an hour home from there. That’s a lot of travelling to be doing in one day and he must be exhausted. Whilst this has been happened I have had two night’s sleep and read about where he is on the internet from the comfort of my bedroom. I feel rather lazy. It is fortunate that I have had the sound off though because Cher Lloyd’s awful song “Swagga Jagga” has been playing a lot. Is that phrase even English?

So this weekend I am going to my university city of Winchester to spend some time with my good friends Josh and Alice. I haven’t seen Josh in ages so it will be great to spend the weekend with him. However, internet will not be set up in our uni house until September so I can’t post to this blog. I shall however go and write the Friday Review for tomorrow and schedule to publish at some point then. The next post after that will not be until Monday I’m afraid, but hey, you can live without me for a few days. See you soon!

Guest Blog: Unstoppable Nerd

It’s been a little while but today we have another guest post! Today Alice from the wonderful Unstoppable Nerd answers my questions.

Tell us about you and your blog.

Hi, I’m Alice, 15 year secondary school student and self-proclaimed nerd (although everyone calls me one anyway so I don’t know whether I can really say it’s self-proclaimed). My blog is called Unstoppable Nerd and is basically a collection of my ramblings. I do blog reviews, talk about the latest news and update you on interesting points in my life.

What makes you a geek?

Probably my obsession with Harry Potter and also the TV show’s the The Apprentice and Doctor Who. I’m also in two school bands (although I do play the saxophone… is that cool?) and I’m quite socially awkward around people I don’t know too well. But I wouldn’t change being a geek (or nerd, whichever you prefer) for anything.

This is your last day on Earth. How are you going to spend it?

I’d start by having an amazing time with my friends, go to Thorpe Park or somewhere similar. I’d tell everyone how I feel about them and forgive the people who have done me wrong (now I’m getting preachy). Lastly I’d have a great meal with my family and play cards with them afterwards. And if I can accidently discover the secret to time travel during all that, well that wouldn’t be too bad.

Tell us about your favourite place in the world.

I want to say somewhere beautiful and majestic, but it’s probably going to have to be my room instead. I can do anything I like there, lounge around, listen to music, eat junk without anyone knowing…

What's the most important thing in your life?

Great moments are only great when you share them with the people you love, so I have to say my friends and family.

What is your favourite type of cheese?

Really, really, really strong cheddar.

If you could be a ghost for a day what would you do?

Enjoy walking through walls for a while. Then I’d probably go see what famous people do in their spare time and spy on them (although you can’t really spy when you’re invisible, so it’s more like stalk). I’d probably terrify the people I don’t like too.

This post is over now. Well done. Did you enjoy it?

Yes actually, I got to do what everyone loves to do and talk about myself! And in thanks to Dan for inviting me to post on his blog I’d like to direct him to cheese.com. Enjoy!

Peace out :P <3

 

Thanks Alice!

<Goes to visit cheese.com…>

A Tuesday Post With No Proper Title

Hello and welcome to another blog entry. Today I am going to try and write a post of reasonable length with no plan whatsoever I my mind. It’ll probably be rubbish so I apologise in advance.

I spent much of yesterday and Sunday sorting out my room. And I don’t mean that I just tidied it. I properly sorted it out, resulting in two bin bags of rubbish and numerous bigger things to get rid of including a six foot shelving unit, my ancient TV (it has a VHS player in it, it’s that old) and my old keyboard, which I never used. There are several reasons for this sort out. For one thing I have been used to having a tidy and well-organised room at uni and I have returned to my bedroom where there is ten years worth of clutter as well as various bags and boxes of uni stuff clogging the way. And I have to be realistic and think that in three years, when I graduate, I will probably be moving out entirely so I ought to at least think about getting rid of some stuff.

During all this sorting out I realised that I am a hoarder: I just keep things, whether I need to or not. I found paperwork back to at least 2008 and all sorts of reminders of my past. I threw away a whole load of stuff from/about my ex-girlfriend which I found under my bed. Back when we split up I couldn’t bear to get rid of it and hoped there was still a chance in the relationship so I shoved it under all together into the drawer under my bed and it’s been there since. Well not any more. I don’t need to be reminded such things so out went all that stuff. Actually it was a bit disturbing that seemingly wherever I went in my room I’d find little reminders of my ex-girlfriend, be it messages in notebooks or presents from her.

So this sort out marks a new start in my life, particularly in terms of study. I am going to become more organised than ever before and study much harder in the upcoming year. Speaking of which, the groups and timetables for next year have been unveiled as it were. It’s mostly quite pleasing with my group having a large number of people I know from my group last year including my best mate in that group Stefan. Louise, who I have had a fair bit of conflict with in the past, is also in the group but I’ve decided it’s not a problem unless I make it one. I have bigger fish to fry in the upcoming year, namely getting a whole load of first’s on my assignments. I do not recognise a fair few of the names on the list but hopefully I shall come to be really good friends with some of them. The timetable has a few early starts but no massive gaps between seminars so I’m quite happy with that. I feel quite optimistic about the whole thing.

I saw my granddad today and along with my Dad had to save him from some stupid scam. A man with an Indian accent phoned him up claiming to be from Microsoft and told my granddad he needed to buy a certain product. Next thing my granddad knew he had given the guy access to his computer and the man then proceeded to install some anti-malware program on his computer, messing with various computer settings as he did so. The man then continued to phone back, ringing at least thirty times yesterday, being very unpleasant and demanding payment despite the fact my granddad never wanted the product and didn’t have an invoice or anything. I uninstalled the new programs and then my Dad answered the phone to this nasty piece of work. My Dad informed the man that he was my granddad’s son and worked for the local police force and then proceeded to list the various things the man could probably be charged for  The man hung up. (My Dad isn’t actually a policeman by the way but he’s not a bad voice actor). Hopefully the whole thing is sorted now but I find it horrific that such horrible people will try to rip off old people like my granddad who don’t know any better and upset them in the progress by being really abusive towards them. It’s a horrible world we live in at times.

Blimey, I have actually written loads about hardly anything. I am in my writer’s mood at the moment. I shall finish with a note on Google+. I have recently joined Google’s new social network having been invited my a mate and I shall review it in my first Friday review (very excited about that feature by the way!). But seeing as though I can invite people I did wonder if any of you minions would like an invite to join Google+. If you would, comment with your e-mail address of if you would rather let me know by e-mail on intogeek@hotmail.co.uk . If I can get a few of you to join I shall create a “Minions” circle which would be awesome. It’s free and I’m giving ‘em away, ao why the hell not?

July 11 Blogs of Note

Blogger runs a feature called “Blogs of Note” which showcases some of the best blogs on the internet. Whilst many are good, most are not suited to my tastes and those of the blog community I am in. So every now and then I like to do a little Blogs of Note feature of my own which showcases some of my favourite blogs. (This is a revamped version of the feature by the way, but is largely the same). Please have a look at these blogs, they really are wonderful.

1) Always Abby Noel: Abby’s blog is fantastic. It’s well designed, covers all sorts of things and is often very funny. That’s pretty much everything a good blog should have. Oh and the cartoon near the top of the page currently is brilliant!

2) Baby Steps by Jennifer Scavone: Jennifer has slyly asked to be part of this feature in the past (quite a while ago actually) and I have recently really got into her blog so I can’t refuse. The posts are generally about things that have happened to the author but there is a fair bit of music and other things thrown in too. Well worth a read.

3) Happenings From a Disclosed Location by Jay: I have only recently got into this blog but it has quickly become a firm favourite. The title describes the content very well and said content is well written and very enjoyable. Jay has a rather brilliant guest post coming up here in the next couple of weeks so watch out for that!

4) Unstoppable Nerd by Alice: Alice writes brilliantly and I really like this blog, partly because the author seems to be so much like me. It’s actually quite surreal. She’s into the same sort of things as me such as Doctor Who and Harry Potter plus, if I have gathered correctly, she is planning to be a primary school teacher too. She’s like my younger and opposite gender doppelganger. And like me (ahem) her blog is brilliant. You can catch a guest post from Alice right here on Wednesday!

5) The Life of an Ordinary Girl by Rebecca Armstrong: It does pretty much what it says on the tin, whilst looking lovely at the same time. Rebecca talks about her life and she does it rather well. A lot of Harry Potter stuff on there right now which never goes amiss. Go and read it!

And there you have it, five wonderful blogs. I shall let their owners know they have been honoured in such a way and hopefully it would put a smile on their faces. If I can make five people smile I day I will be a happy bunny. See you all soon!

Harry Potter 7 Part 2

Oh. My. Goodness. So many things going on in my head right now. The film was so brilliant. It really did the book justice. And yes, I know they changed a few relatively minor things but from my memory of it tells me that all the major bits were there (though my memory of the book was reading it all in one day so I didn’t find out what happened before I read it so details are very scarce).

Bits that they got pretty much right

The whole Gringott’s scene and escaping on a dragon. (Incidentally Helena Bonham Carter did a brilliant job of playing Hermione pretending to be Bellatrix)

Finding about the truth about Snape.

Molly Weasley yelling “Not my daughter you bitch” and killing Bellatrix.

Both Neville and McGonagall being really bad-ass.

The scene when Harry is “dead” with Dumbledore in King’s Cross Station.

The final scene nineteen years later when they are sending their kids off to Hogwarts.

Bits they should have put in

As with all the films, Peeves. In the books Deathly Hallows is clearly his best work.

SNAPE! More Snape. Always more Snape. Alan Rickman plays him so perfectly. Watching Snape die was very emotional because I knew what he’d done, even if Harry didn’t.

The fact that Draco called his son Scorpio. Idiot.

SNAPE! More Snape!

 

OK, so you pretty much got that I loved it. But the Harry Potter saga is now over both in book and film form and it’s a horrible feeling. The moment the caption “Nineteen Years Later” came up I knew it was soon to be over. The odd tear may have welled up in my eyes but none were released so I did quite well really. But I am emotional. I have grown up with Harry Potter as have millions of others around me. I can remember my dad reading the earlier books to me and then me reading them myself and ending up reading Deathly Hallows in just a few hours. The films though give me even more memories. The first two I went to see on school trips ran by my Junior School. I cried when I couldn’t go and see Chamber of Secrets for a second time because the cinema was full, even though I’d already seen it. Films 3 and 4 I saw with my family and film 5 I saw with one of my ex-girlfriend’s. 6 was with the family one again and 7 was with my best mate Chris. And today I saw 8 with my family, which seems quite fitting really since I have seen the majority of them that way.

But it’s all over. The magic has gone. Yes, it will live on what with Pottermore and everything and it will still be in our minds but it’s never going to be quite the same. So I should now say thank to J.K. Rowling for making my childhood and to all the people involved in the films for bringing it to life.

SNAPE! More Snape!

July Miscellany

Today’s blog consists of a wide variety of short things that I have to talk about. In fact I guess it can be one of my special miscellany posts, which are always brilliant (I like to think so anyway).

Firstly I cannot possibly restrain myself from talking about Torchwood: Miracle Day, the first episode of which aired in the UK last night. I had some fears that because it has been partly funded my American TV channel Starz and is largely set in the US that it would become American and a different show entirely. But it really wasn’t that American. The story did really focus on Jack and Gwen and the new characters, especially Rex, are really quite likeable. The scene near the end where Jack, Gwen, Rhys, Anwen and Rex were being chased by a helicopter was thrilling and amazing. And Gwen holding her baby daughter Anwen in one arm and a gun in the other is an iconic image which will stay in my mind for a long time. I am very much looking forward to the remaining nine episodes in the series!

I am very much aware that the final Harry Potter film was released at midnight last night. I already feel that I am virtually the only person who hasn’t seen it yet.I’m sure I will soon, probably on Sunday. Not that I’m in any particular hurry. I know what happens so I don’t have to worry about spoilers. I have read the book and seeing as though the films are the same but for minor details there is no reason to worry. Quite why people are so worried about spoilers is beyond me.

I’m not even that excited about it though.I’m sure it will be enjoyable but I’ve sort of lost interest. The story is over I’ve kind of grown out of it. There was a time when Harry Potter was my entire life but Doctor Who took that over. And the Doctor Who story will never, ever end.Mind you I will probably become obsessed with Harry Potter all over again once I have seen the film.

Speaking of Doctor Who, I have spent much of the day continuing my quest to watch all the classic episodes of Doctor Who. I have finally started watching the second series but this will take weeks of intense watching as the series’ were so long back in the day. I am loving William Hartnell’s Doctor though and am very much enjoying the stories. You can read my thoughts about the stories I have watched so far on my Tumblr here.

Wow, this has been a particularly geeky entry so far. I shall move into something more interesting and talk about my cats. Since returning from holiday yesterday the two of them have been hardly leaving us alone. They seem to be in fear that we shall go on holiday again and never come back and the only time they see people is when the lady comes in to feed them. At the moment if we sit down on the sofa, a cat will join us within seconds. And if either cat comes into the house to find no-one is downstairs, they meow pitifully until someone appears. To thank us for coming back, Sherbet brought in a dead bird last night which I had to dispose of. She is a horrible creature at times but so loving the rest of the time.

Blogger has been given a new look (which I love by the way) and I feel that it fits in with a new era of this blog. Whilst the content will stay largely the same, the behind the scenes stuff will be much better. The new Friday Review feature will start next week, I shall be getting some more guest bloggers in and the posts will have some sort of plan to them. I shall also be promoting this blog a lot more and dragging people here by their ankles if necessary. Be excited because good times are ahead!

Oh and I have now set up a proper e-mail address for this blog which you can use to contact me for anything concerning it. It is: intogeek@hotmail.co.uk

Toodle-pip for now!

Adios Majorca!

And hello England! Yes folks, I am back in the country, looking more tanned than ever before. The journey back went unusually smoothly apart from an annoying little kid on the bus between our resort and the airport who kept saying “Mummy, mummy” over and over again. The mother in question did not appear to respond in any way.

I have written up a blog post for every day of the holiday and they are really worth looking at:

• Outward Bound- Getting there and about the resort
• Hidropark- The water park near our hotel
• El Mercado- The (rather rubbish) market
• La Playa- A brilliant beach
• Las Bicicletas- A wonderful but exhausting cycle ride.
• Marineland + Golf Fantasia: Aquarium, dolphin shows and mini golf.

Alternatively you can view all the Majorca posts on one page by clicking here.

So overall, what are my thoughts on the holiday? Well it was enjoyable but I wouldn’t call it amazing or anything. I would classify it as good and give it a four out of five star rating. It looks to be the last holiday we will go on as a family. This is because my brother, whilst lovely half the time, is a stroppy and annoying pain in the bottom the rest of the time. Though it seems harsh to say so, most of the holiday would have been more enjoyable if my brother hadn’t been there. But that’s life I guess.

I’m a bit disorientated now. I had only really planned my Summer up until the holiday and now I’m home I’m not really sure what to do with myself. I’m sure exciting things will arise and I have some good new blog posts coming soon too so hang around and see what comes your way!

Marineland + Golf Fantasia

An excursion company took us on an excursion today. We had to pay of course. The first stop was in Palma Nova and was a place called Marineland. It doesn’t exactly to take a genius to work out that Marineland is a marine wildlife park/aquarium. Within seconds of walking within the gate a parrot was plonked onto my arm and a family picture was taken. All tourist destinations like to do this now and then sell the pictures at a frankly extortionate rate. It’s a decent money-spinner I supposed.

The park is quite small with just a few little aquariums, some penguins, a tropical house and not a lot more. There was also for some reason an aviary, mostly full of parrots. Quite how parrots can be described as “marine” I am not sure but it was really enjoyable. The parrots look so lovely and we got to see a lot of interesting behaviour in the few minutes we were in the aviary, such as birds grooming each other and climbing all over the place using their beaks and feet.

But without a doubt the highlight of the visit was the sea lion and dolphin shows. Now I have always wondered whether these things are morally right and have questioned whether the animals are being exploited. But having seen the show I have come to the conclusion that it’s a generally a good thing. The animals look like they are well looked after and are content and it was clear in the dolphin show that they respected their trainers completely.

The sea lion show was quite funny with the sea lions applauding themselves, dancing with their trainers and kissing their trainers. They demonstrated that they could jump very high out of the water and also how strong their back flippers are. They could walk along on just their back flippers which is an incredible weight for something so flimsy to hold. It was great!

However, the dolphin show was something else entirely. The trainers only had to do the right hand gesture and the dolphins would happily do some performing. They did some impressive jumps, pushed the trainers around through the water, jumped over a high rope, threw their trainer over a high rope and even did an impressive move where they moved through the water on just their tail. Their whole bodies were out of the water except for their tails which flicked back and forth very quickly so that they could move. I have never seen anything like this show and I’m so glad I saw it. It was just simply brilliant.

We had lunch at a nearby cafe and then the coach took us to our next destination: Golf Fantasia. It has three mini golf courses all set in tropical gardens: that’s 54 holes! As a family we have played many a mini golf course in our time and even have a list of the top five courses. The gardens were really nice but the actual courses were nothing special. They were well-kept but they were not very inventive and became dull to play as they were so repetitive. There were a few holes with water hazards on them and these were quite funny. The pools were rather deep and so retrieving golf balls from them was quite a challenge. I am sad to say though that Golf Fantasia has not made it into our top five mini gold courses.

The excursion company were very reliable and made the day that little bit more enjoyable. They were bang on time at every pick-up and drop-off and so I have little to complain about on that front. Good organisation makes everyone much more enjoyable!

Las Bicicletas

After yet another visit to the Hidropark, this afternoon we hired some bikes and hit the road on them. We cycled to S’Albufera, a rather nice wetlands nature reserve. There were a few birds we don’t see in Britain there like Great Egrets. We went on an 11.5km trail which was brilliant but exhausting and dehydrating with a temperature of around thirty degrees Celsius and a humidity of 85% (not really sure what that means but it’s a big number so that equals hot!). Here is the view from one of the viewing platforms in S’Albufera:

 

Along the route we encountered some cows and some mules, both of which my brother was inexplicably afraid of. We had to gradually coax him around the harmless animals which was pretty funny (for me, not for him). Quite why he has a fear of animals I don’t know. Living near the New Forest, it is a fairly regular occurrence to have to exit the car and literally push the ponies out of the way, so you’d have thought he’d be used to it. Apparently not.

By the time we made it back to the hotel I was literally dying from thirst. I drink a lot at home when it’s relatively cold but in this climate I have been drinking litres and litres a day. It took me a long while to recover this evening and many a Pepsi to do so!

Tomorrow: a big bus tour on our last full day here!

La Playa

Today we hopped onto a convenient shuttle bus which took us to “la playa” or the beach as we would call it in English. As you would expect it was fairly busy but we managed to find a shady spot under some trees. You have to be in a shady spot in these high temperatures because your skin starts in burn in a matter of minutes.

It wins Best Beach I’ve Ever Been to by a country mile. Lovely sand, no stones, clear and relatively warm water and it’s quite shallow for a quite a way out. It’s so much better than any British beach I’ve ever been to. We didn’t stay too long because it was so busy bust at least I can say that I have been in the Mediterranean Sea.

Onto other stuff now. Where to begin? Ah yes, the vulture-like qualities of the various staff around here. Firstly the catering staff in the hotel complex during meal times. You have barely swallowed whatever morsel the chef has cooked up for that meal when the plate is snatched from under you ready to be washed up. Similarly, on entry to the Hidropark (a now daily occurrence) the photographers line you up and snap your picture before you can tell them you have already had a family photo taken four times.

And blimey, those photographers! All women and all very attractive. In fact, the hot weather and the number of swimming pools mean I have seen a fair few scantily-clad women during this holiday so far. For someone like me who has been single for a fair while, it’s rather overwhelming. And that’s all I’m saying on the matter.

Let’s end with the language. The staff all speak Spanish to the tourists (their 1st language is Catalonian) if they can’t speak English. I did Spanish at GCSE level and got a ‘B’ so I must be quite reasonable. I’ve been surprised at how quickly a fair chunk of it has come flooding back to me. It’s a bit disappointing that almost everyone speak near-perfect English. Still, at least I can have some foreign title for this blog!

El Mercado

As any Spanish speakers may have worked out from the title, today we visited the market. It is situated in the old town part of Alcudia, so called because..well it’s quite old. It has a very Mediterranean look and feel about it with the building being a creamy sort of colour and many of the streets being really rather narrow. The best building I saw was this church:

The market itself was quite a disappointment. If you wanted to buy a handbag, some shoes or a fake football shirt this is the place to go but otherwise don’t bother. In fact, it would go as far as saying that the whole experience was quite unpleasant. Despite the lack of worthwhile goods the market was very busy and the combination of the narrow streets and already blistering temperatures made it very hot. It was pretty horrendous.

This afternoon I opted not to go to the Hidropark with the rest of my family. Among other things I finished reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which I absolutely adored. I think it may have become “the best book ever according to Dan”, which is really quite an honour. I also wrote a poem inspired by the things I have seen around the resort. It is called “Brit’s Abroad” and you can read it here. Hope you like it.

Short entry today because I am a day behind at writing this blog. Handwritten in my hotel I might add and then typed up much later. There will be much, much, more tomorrow!

Hidropark

Much of today and yesterday has been spend at Hidropark, a waterpark with slides etc that is owned by our resort, meaning we get free unlimited entry. The park has a load of slides, which are the main highlight:

1) Tube slides- Typical water slides which threw you about a bit but are generally quite lethargic.

2) Smooth slides- These result in one of two things: if you are small you get stuck on the ridge and have to push your way down. If you are big you get spun round and hit the water backwards. I got spun round and hit the water backwards. Which was a bit of a shock to begin with.

3) Kamikaze slides- It’s debateable whether the long walk and queue is worthwhile when these slides take less than fifteen seconds to ride. They are steep and therefore pretty fast. There are also some ridges which cause you to leave the slide and fly forwards for a second or two. My first ride on these actually caused a major injury in my shoulder. Quite fun none the less.

To entertain us there is also a pool which artificially produces waves and the delight of my brother in random pools when he least expects it. The heat has been a only a little more bearable than on the day of our arrival and being in water is the best way to cope with it. I was however promised that the holiday would consist of much more than sitting by pools (it’s really not me) so I am waiting to see if this promise will be kept.

Bizarrely, the resort we are in is full of Scottish people, possible because it might be school holiday time in Scotland at the moment. The presence of all these Scots in a hot climate makes me question whether I am in a parallel dimension version of Scotland, where the temperature is twice as high as in our dimension.

Speaking of silly sci-fi ideas, I have been reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy  and it is quickly becoming one of my favourite books ever. It has so many funny bits and it’s sci-fi, making it right up my street. The last chapter I read saw Marvin the Paranoid Android have an extensive conversation with a mattress. Pure brilliance!

Every evening there is some very noisy entertainment outside our hotel. Last night it was traditional Majorcan dancing which seemed to be a lot like Morris dancing but with less violence and more castanets. Goodness knows what will be on tonight!

Outward Bound

3:45AM- The alarm clock reluctantly sprang to life, marking the start of a long day, large amounts of which would be spent travelling to our holiday destination of Majorca.

The journey was fairly pleasant though distinctly cheap feeling, what with not having breakfast on the plane as it was an expensive additional cost. They showed parrot-based film Rio during the flight which I managed to miss most of due to falling asleep. An hour’s coach journey took us from the airport in Palma to our hotel in the small town of Alcudia. One woman made the journey a lot less pleasurable as she proceeded to talk rubbish for the entire time.

On arrival to our hotel we were given our “all-inclusive” wristbands and our card keys and then proceeded all the way up to the 9th floor. The complex is really nice as you can see from this picture:

The first thing that hit you on arrival on the island is the temperature, a whopping average at the moment of 30 degrees Celsius.That sort of temperature is a one-a-year type figure in the UK and I’ve never really been anywhere continuously hot before so this is a whole new experience.

Fortunately there are lots of swimming pools to accommodate for the high temperature and we made use of some of them this afternoon, after applying copious amounts of sun tan lotion I might add. I demonstrated my sheer lack of swimming skill for a bit and there were then some lovely family moments where we squirted water at each other and the like. It’s this sort of fun that makes a family holiday like this worthwhile. We were also entertained by a small child repeatedly falling off of the back of an inflatable shark.

Being all-inclusive is another new experience for me. It means all food and drink, as well as entry to the local water park, are included in the price of the hotel. It’s excellent in the sense that we can go and get food and drunk whenever we like. But the wristband is detachable and so will effectively become part of my body over the next week. It will also ruin a bit of the inevitable tan too, but I guess I shall live!

Jet-Setting

This is more of a notification than a proper post but it’s sort of important. I am going on holiday to Majorca tomorrow for a week and shall not be able to post to this blog. Fear not though! I shall write each day’s blog entry by hand and then type them up when I return. Majorca is a bit normal for my family as our holidays usually take us to somewhere more unusual, such as Switzerland and Finland. But it will still be a lot more than sitting by the pool as we shall be out exploring the Spanish island as much as we can.

I hope you a fantastic week and I shall be back as soon as I can. Expect photos, videos and some fun blog entries when I do! I’m gonna miss you, minions!

In the mean time catch up with the last month and a bit:

• GP: Savvy: Complete with fun pics.
• Early June Happenings: All sorts of random things.
• Summer Musical Mayhem: I look ahead at upcoming music.
• My Weekend: Doctor Who and other bits.
• Nintendo @ E3 2011: I get rather excited about this.
• GP: A Guide for Geeks: The best Guest Post ever!
• I'm Glad You Came: I talk about being on placement and getting drunk. 
• Bookish Day in London: The Book Club Trip.
• GP Exemplar: I demo how to do a guest post.
• I Finish Year One of Uni: Hurrah!
• Family Matters: I discuss the importance of a stable family.
• The Pedal that Fell Off: A nightmare cycle ride.
• If I Was Never Born: What would the world be like?
• Summer Plans: A list of what I expect to do.
• I'm Pretty Sure it Ruled: A dream and a day out.
• A Twisty Cycle Ride: Self-explanatory.
• The Into Geek Awards 5#: My monthly awards ceremony.
• The New House: I move into the new house.
• Winchester Hat Fair: A street performance extravaganza!

Winchester Hat Fair

It was a fortunate coincidence that my weekend in Winchester coinciding with the part of the Winchester Festival known as the Hat Fair. This meant nothing to me when I sat in the High Street eating a Bacon and Cheese Wrap but I later discovered that the Hat Fair is more than just an exhibition of hats. It’s an event where lots of street performers come to Winchester and well…perform. The word “hat” seemed to have little relevance beyond the fact that there were lots of stalls selling types of hats. Now of course I had my camera on hand so let me talk you through the things I saw.

By the cathedral “the hairy acrobat” did lots of stunts involving climbing and hanging of a pole. His whole show was quite enjoyable as he did not speak during it, just used noises, a bit like Mr. Bean. A fair chunk of his routine involved him sort of seducing a woman by doing dancing and pole climbing/hanging to Mexican music with a rose in his mouth. A bit weird but really enjoyable.

 

At one point I saw a man pull off something quite impressive. He escaped from a strait jacket whilst sat on a unicycle without injuring himself. He must have had a lot of practice. Two members of the crowd were holding up the unicycle and were told to let go and there was a horrible moment where you wondered whether this guy knew what he was doing and feared he would fall onto Winchester’s hard high street. Fortunately no such thing happened and the guy escaped fairly easily.

Another act involved unicycles too. Two men began by juggling club but later progressed to throwing clubs which were on fire to each other whilst riding unicycle. Quite why you’d want to attempt such craziness I do not know.

And finally is the bizarre case of the French bread dancers. A man played the accordion and two men did a weird dance to it where they had a stick of French bread in their mouths. They walked around, ate bits of the bread and got the onlooking crowd to eat bits of it. Quite what the point of all this was I do not know. I do have photo evidence of such madness:

It was a lovely day for it and we all sat by the cathedral to eat lunch in the lovely sun. It was the perfect excuse for myself and Dannie to break out the sunglasses.

During the evenings of my Winchester break we watched a variety of films, none of which I had seen before, and I shall now sum each of them up in a few sentences.

• Se7en (Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, Crime Thriller)- Two detectives investigate the case of someone performing murders based on the seven deadly sins but the methods become more horrible as the film goes on. Bit of a depressing end but quite enjoyable. Shame Gwyneth Paltrow’s in it but Morgan Freeman is so epic I can forgive them.
• American Pie (Comedy)- A group of high schoolers plan to lose their virginity before they finish school. Involves cringe worthy scenes of a sexual nature but fairly enjoyable if a very predictable.
• A Clockwork Orange (Darkly satirical science fiction)- In a future world Alex likes Beethoven, raping people and being violent. The film follows him and his gang going about their horrible every day life until Alex is arrested. The government attempts to cure him in a new way but it doesn’t go to plan. Odd and disturbing film but still rather brilliant, making you have a long think about all sorts of issues.
• Knocked Up (Judd Apatow rom-com) A woman ends up pregnant on a one-night stand and so it’s a rom com sort of the wrong way round. It’s so obvious what’s going to happen and not that funny but quite enjoyable. Does contain perhaps my new fave quote: “It’s weird that chairs even exist when you’re not sitting on them”.

 

All in all my long weekend in Winchester in the new house was rather good. I had a rather brilliant time and I look forward to living in the house. The friends I have made have become very close already and it’s sad that I won’t seem them for most of the Summer. Still, it’s nice to have a break. I shall be back tomorrow with a new entry but then I’m afraid I am going off somewhere else. I shall explain further tomorrow. See you then!

The New House

Hello, I am back. The chances are you didn’t even notice I had gone. Anyway, I’ve been at our new house in my university city of Winchester for the weekend, generally moving in and getting used to it. Almost immediately on arrival I filmed a tour of the house for you, which is what this video is:

 

Shortly after this the electricity turned on so the weekend suddenly became more enjoyable. Here are a few photos of the house with lights on so that you can actually see what’s going on:

The kitchen: small but perfectly formed.

Go down those stairs and you get to my dungeon.

And here is my dungeon!

So, there you go. It’s nothing special but it’s pretty good for student accommodation. My dungeon is really cool if a little bizarre. There is only one light switch and that is at the top of the stairs, meaning that before I had a lamp I had to turn off the light at the top then make my way down the stairs in the dark. Not that it’s that dark in the room because there is a streetlight right outside our house which lights up the entire building like a Christmas tree. The other particularly weird thing about my room is that the fusebox and the gas meter are in it, behind doors either side of the wardrobe. However, I love the fact that the window opens both vertically and horizontally and the room is massive. It does smell a bit funny though.

Much of the first day back in Winchester seemed to involve me helping others to move in. I had to walk back to our old student village twice to help move Dannie and Alice’s stuff into the house and also had to help get a sofa from outside the house to Dannie’s room, which is of course the one that is furthest away on the first floor. The stairs have a huge corner on them too so it was particularly tricky. Though the sofa did come from the student village, it was not from where you would expect. It was plucked out of a skip and later cleaned- that’s what I call recycling.

Sleeping in the new house is not exactly easy. I have already mentioned the streetlight making the house very bright but the house is also on a road that is quite busy and the windows are not double-glazed. The traffic roars past in a constant stream as well as buses stopping opposite and road-sweepers going past at 4AM. The volume of traffic did seem to increase after the weekend though so perhaps it won’t be too bad. However, the house is joined on one side by another house, owned by a family with two children. One is about 4/5 and runs along the hallway a lot, which you can of course here. The other is a baby and, as babies do, spends a fair bit of time every night crying it’s eyes out. We can here every last cry it makes and it’s really annoying. My only hope is that by the time term starts in September hopefully the baby will have stopped crying in the night so much. 

But despite all the things I have managed to moan about in this entry, I really like the new house and my dungeon. It’s brilliant and I am glad I shall be spending the next two years (at least) living there. In the next entry I shall be telling you about the rest of my weekend, including the Winchester Hat Fair, which has little to do with hats.