End of Month Extravaganza #6

It’s that time of month (the end) where I look back at the past month, try my best to find some highlights and moan a lot. I also try and give a bit of space to the things my minions have been saying this month!

Comments Galore!

I’ve been fairly active in getting people visiting my blog over the past month and so I’ve received a lot more comments than usual. Here’s some of the best, with my responses.

Sogata Khan (on the Friday Review): Hi, wouldn't it be better to write each review as a separate post. the way i see it, you have already done the hard work. why make it look like 1 when it can be 5-6. anyways nice blog.

I could do that but the Friday Review works wonderfully and seems to be pretty popular. I’m not a lazy blogger and think that I’d rather write one long review post every few weeks rather than short reviews more regularly. The Friday Review is the one bit of this blog I know actually works!

I received an interesting mix of comments on my silly Money Saving Tips:

Jay: I literally laughed out loud at this and my boyfriend thought something was wrong with me, so thanks.

Vimal Dwivedi: That were the funniest recommendations I have ever read..... I am surely not gonna try any of these...

Daniel Kidd: I think you were almost trying to be funny. Good effort but barely got a laugh out of me- probably a difference in British/American humour.

I think that last one might be my first “hate” comments. Of course I was trying to be funny, it would be pretty awful if I accidentally was funny. It’s clear who appears to be in the minority here though. If I didn’t find it funny I think I would have had the decency to have not said anything though. Some people just can’t help but be critical. *awaits response and hopes for big fight on internet*

A few general good ones now, because these all made me smile.

Vimal Dwivedi: The post is awesome and it bound me till the end. Keep Blogging...

I.B.G.: Hi! Thanx for joining the group in bloggers. You are so gorgeous. Love your blog so much

MedReigns: Hey, good stuff man...keep at it

Jay: There you go making me enjoy learning again

Thanks for those lovely nice ones and for all the comments I have received, including many more that I couldn’t fit in here. It’s really good to hear what people think so please continue to comment and tell me! One more comment for this section which makes no sense whatsoever:

Anon: I'm in the weird part of YouTube again...

So many questions! Who are you? What the hell are you talking about, the post didn’t have anything at all to do with Youtube. And how can you be in Youtube? Sucked into cyberspace? The mind boggles!

Minion of the Month: This month the award goes to the lovely Ellen because as well as commenting a few times here I’ve noticed her presence on various part of my blog’s world, like the Google+ page. Thanks Ellen and may I add how lovely it is to have you back in the blogging world!

The One Post You Should Go Back and Read: My posts seem to have varied a lot this month, looking back my blog has gone a bit crazy! The one post I’m sending you back to is Money Saving Tips, which is unfortunately the dullest sounding title ever. It’s actually a fun post in which I sort of parody online articles about saving money by suggesting outrageous things to do. If you haven't read it go and do so and decided whether you are on the love team or the hate team!

Blog of the Month: Sometimes this award is challenging to decide on but without a doubt January 2012’s blog of the month is A Bit of a Geek by Miranda. It’s a fantastic geeky blog which is well written, looks great and is just generally brilliant. I would think there’s something for everyone there too in terms of what she posts about. Go and check it out, it’s really worth a read.

And now to finish with the ominous personal review of the month. In a word, rubbish. Complete and utter garbage. The worst month in a fair while and the worst start to 2012 I could have possibly hoped for. Everything’s gone wrong and I feel so low it’s unreal. More details on that tomorrow. I have little hope that any month this year will be much better to be honest, although my month in placement (March) has a little potential. We shall see. If there’s a God or such thing as destiny, I think that I must deserve some goodness. I always try to do the right thing and be the best person that I can but I get nothing for it. It just doesn’t seem fair…

Chart Chasers #1

Hello and welcome to something new. I am extending the Music Monday feature to include this. The normal Music Monday post will be here every other week and in the other weeks will be this, Chart Chasers. In this feature I shall share with you the top five highest new entry singles in the UK chart (i.e. the top five singles that are new to the chart). I shall no doubt decide I really dislike some of them but some of them may be great. It’s time to go and see which of those today’s songs will be!

1) In at number 29 is everyone’s favourite ginger singer, Ed Sheeran and he’s been at the alcohol again and is therefore Drunk…

First of all, that is a brilliant video. Funny and emotional at the same time. The song is a typical Ed Sheeran song, this one focusing on a break-up it would seem. The songs all feel a bit samey but having said that I rather like this one. Well done Ed, nice work. I give this 8/10.

2) The next track is at number 19 and is by an artist called Redlight and is called Get Out My Head. I have literally no idea what to expect for this but here goes:

Well that was a bit weird! I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it very much either. It’s mostly the word “get out my head” repeated a lot with some horrible noises along the way. I should also point out that the correct grammar would of course be “get out of my head”. And it would be polite to add a “please” in as well.  I give this 4/10

3) In at number 14 is Lana Del Ray with Born to Die. Sounds cheery. The media seem to think Lana Del Ray is going to be pretty big this year but I’ve yet to hear any of her songs. Until now…

I have quite a lot to say about this. Firstly, I really don’t approve of tigers being used for a music video, that doesn’t seem right to me at all. Secondly, Lana has very odd lips. They look lopsided to me. Thirdly, though the song does go on a bit I quite like it. It’s certainly different to most of the other stuff in the charts. I wouldn’t really want to listen to that if I was feeling a bit down though. I shall give it 6/10.

4) Number five in the chart is Flo Rida with his new track Wild Ones. It also features the CIA apparently. Oh, my mistake it features Sia. I don’t have high hopes for this one. I’ve never like Flo Rida very much, partly because he just used the place where he came from as his name. If I did the same I would be Hamp Shire which would be ridiculous. Anyway, it’s called Wild Ones:

No video apparently. Sia has a decent voice and her sections are OK. Flo Rida, as usual, ruins this song by appearing on it. It’s a shame really. Apparently Sia also appears on David Guetta’s latest track Titanium. She doesn’t look like you’d imagine her to look though…

Anyway, I give the song 5/10, mainly for her efforts.

5) The highest new entry is actually at the top of the chart and is by a “band” called Cover Drive. The song is called Twilight though fortunately it’s nothing to do with vampires. I’ve heard this one a few times before but here it is for anyone who hasn’t:

I really quite like this tracks. The lyrics might not make much sense and it’s blatantly obvious Mini paid the band to have their car in the video but it’s a great pop track. It’s another 8/10.

And now for the fun bit of this feature which I really hope will work. I’d very much like it if you would also rate each track out of ten. Then in the next edition we can get an overall rating of each track by combining all the scores! Just comment on this post or the link to it with the number of each track and the score for each track. You could even send it as a Tweet to @zotwot! I’ve done mine as an example in the comments section!

Muppet Mania

There is little point to this post but I couldn’t resist it. I love the Muppets and this all stemmed from The Muppet’s Christmas Carol which remains to this day on of my fave movies ever. So the prospect of a new Muppet movie got me very excited indeed. It’s frustrating that the film came out in the US at Thanksgiving in November but doesn’t come out here until February 10th. I could have illegally downloaded it but that would be wrong and I want that trip to the cinema to me really special. Over the last week the Muppets have been in the UK promoting the movie and I’ve been watching and reading every interview that’s been on. This post will pretty much just sum all that I’ve seen up!

It all began with my picking up this week’s copy of the Radio Times which has a big Muppet feature and an interview with Miss Piggy. Michael Caine also tells the magazine how wonderful it was to work with the Muppets which is lovely. My  favourite part is where Miss Piggy is asked “Is your first name really Pigatha?” to which she replies “No. But congratulations, that is the silliest question I’ve been asked since I started this press tour six months ago.”

By pure chance I happened to be online for the press screening which was broadcast live on the internet on Friday. Kermit, Miss Piggy and the movie’s director were there, but Miss Piggy turned up late, as always. The Muppets handled the questioned brilliantly and were hugely funny as ever. My favourite bit was Kermit saying green screen didn’t really work with him because it just looked like an ad for ping-pong balls!

After that I watched the Muppets appearance on The Chris Moyles Show from Friday morning. It features Kermit, Fozzie Bear and later Miss Piggy, when she eventually turned up. I see a pattern here. Here’s the interview for those in the UK (and US people can’t complain because you’ve probably already seen the movie!):

Thanks to the lovely Miranda at “A Bit of a Geek”, I found this brilliant video showing a Muppets level of Playstation’s Little Big Planet. It’s a fantastic watch!

On Saturday night Kermit and Miss Piggy appeared on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show. Whilst it wasn’t the best interview ever, it was quite fun. Particular highlights included Miss Piggy talking about the pair’s sex life, though hardly graphically, and comedian Jack Whitehall getting drunk and flirting with Miss Piggy.  UK users can watch the show on ITV Player here, for the next seven days. The Muppets section starts at 33 minutes in but there’s lots of behind the scenes bits all the way through.

That’s all the Muppet press appearances from the last week. I shall leave you with three Muppets videos which appeared on their Youtube channel over the last few years (they’ve ben building up to this movie for ages!). I hope you enjoyed this random post and expect more mentions of the Muppets here in the near future, especially once the movie is finally out here on February 10th!

Here’s the Swedish Chef making popcorn and making a right mess of it as usual:

Next up is Beaker singing Ode to Joy, playing all the parts at the same time:

And here’s a recent Muppet classic that you’ve almost certainly already seen but it never gets old: it’s The Muppets singing Bohemian Rhapsody!

And finally here is the trailer for the actual movie:

The Bowling King

I believe it’s time for one of those posts where I talk about the recent happenings in my life. It’s been a fairly average week really, not especially bad but not especially good either. I’m not sure how you describe that sort of week in works. Middleish? That’s not really a word. But it could be if it gets enough uses! I now require you to use the word “middleish” as often as possible in the hope we can eventually get it into the dictionary. Anyway, on with the post.

The biggest news is that I’ve finally found out which school I’m going to be spending my next placement in. The placement is pretty much the whole of March and it’s in a school which is a half hour train ride away. This is frustrating as the uni have provided no transport and are just giving me £10 a week to get there. It’s going to cost be about £8 a day so I am going to be hugely out of pocket. Still, the school looks to be really very good so it should be a good experience. The form says I’m in a class of seven/eight year olds though there is a chance this might change. But even if it doesn’t, I’m fairly happy with that, it should be a fun year to teach in. I don’t yet know the other student I’ll be working alongside but after some Facebook stalking I’ve decided that she seems OK. It’s by no means a perfect placement but at this point I remain fairly optimistic about it. I now have to wait five weeks before it starts though!

I’ve even been out on a couple of evenings this week. One was last night where we all went on a bit of a pub crawl which was quite fun. I didn’t get drunk. Well not that drunk anyway. And that was mostly because I ended up drinking something hideous. Tiff bought a drink which was supposed to be a margarita but was very salty and pretty horrible. It changed glasses and then various other bits of drinks were added to it. Jaz promised that he’d buy me a pint if I downed it in one and being one to never turn down a freebie, I decided to drink it. I’d got about half way through before anyone noticed what I was doing and Jaz’s expletive made me laugh which lost me my freebie. To be honest it wasn't that horrible but for some reason it was ridiculously cold. My teeth have never been that cold before!

On Wednesday night we hopped on a train to the nearest bowling alley and went bowling. Actually it took a while before we actually did any bowling because most of the gang got very excited by the various amusement machines and tried their best to get lots of tickets. They did get a fair few in the end though, mainly because Tiff is a demon at the Deal or No Deal machine. Jaz managed to injure himself on the basketball one too, the one where you try and score as many baskets as you can. I kept out of this and hung around with Louise and Katie mostly. Eventually we did actually do some bowling and I am proud to say I was the victor. Top place out of nine is pretty good and I got a whopping score of 133. I have now worked out how to bowl well so I expect a higher score next time I play. Perhaps bowling is an actual talent I possess!

In terms of lectures, this week hasn’t been the best. Wednesday’s lectures may have been missed because I was still in bed. Oops. Sometimes sleep is more important. Science was an odd seminar because it was for the most part very dull. I spent much of the seminar looking longingly into the adjoining art room where all sorts of fun things were going on. But said seminar did hold one of the highlights of this week’s lectures, a random tug of war. I won’t go into explaining how this was relevant but it sort of was. My friend Stefan was on the winning side and got very excited to say the least. There was quite a cheer. The people in the art room probably thought one of us was having a nervous breakdown having seen are incredibly bored faces.

Today I continuing my recent cooking craze and made another cake. This one was a victoria sandwich, namely two bits of sponge with buttercream and strawberry jam in the middle. Here’s a picture:

Unfortunately it’s a bit too sweet. I thought that and I have quite a sweet tooth so I dread to think what others will think when they have a taste. Still, I felt very energetic after having a slice. I shall probably do some more cooking soon as it’s beginning to become a new hobby of mine, much to everyone I knows surprise. That was pretty much all I did today apart from meet my fried Mike but by the time I got his message I could only spend a few minutes with him before he had to go home. It was great to see him though.

I also wrote a short children’s story this week which is inspired by my walks around the local nature reserve. It’s called “Neil and the Duck” and you can read it by clicking here. I’d be really appreciative if you could comment here with your thoughts but I doubt anyone will. People never comment when I ask them too!

This blog seems to be going through a busy period at the moment. Stats are up and the number of minions has risen hugely. It’s hard to give an exact number as there are people that follow on Google Friend Connect, people that are members of the Facebook and Google+ groups, people that are following on various blogging website and people that follow through my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts. Details of where to find most of those are on the sidebar to the right and on my About Me page. It’s absolutely wonderful to see my little community grow and I hope this continues. Thanks to all who read and comment (and if you do read but don’t comment, why not?) and I shall be working hard to make this blog as great a read as I can over the coming weeks and months. I’ll be back with a fun and unique post tomorrow!

PS: My post titles are getting more and more obscure as time goes by. I have to call them something!

Friday Review #13

It’s time for another edition of the Friday Review, where I review things I’ve read, watched, listened to or played recently. As always let me know if you agree or disagree with any of the things I’ve said!

TV Shows

Sherlock: Series 2

After a fantastic first series, the modern retelling of Sherlock Holmes returned for another three-episode series. And though three episodes seems short, they are all ninety-minutes so it’s more like three films. This time round Sherlock deals with Irene Adler, the hound of Baskerville and face Moriaty for the final time. All three episodes were very different but brilliant. My personal favourite of the three was The Hound of Baskerville as it was a clever retelling of the story which I thought worked brilliantly. The series was left with a big question about how something was achieved and this makes me look forward to the next series all the more. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are the perfect Holmes and Watson in my eyes, with fantastic acting and a great chemistry. The show is also brilliantly written and cleverly put together with some fantastic visual scenes. One in the Hound of the Baskerville cleverly showed us Sherlock’s thinking process like an iPad app without the iPad. It even had a random snippet of Elvis’ Hound Dog in there. I can rave about this show forever but I shall contain myself. It will take a true masterpiece for anything on TV this year to better this. One of the best TV shows to have aired in my lifetime. ★★★★★

Books

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Wow! There's a lot of hype about this book and I somehow doubted that it would live up to the high expectations I was given. It did though. The concept of a dystopian world where children from different districts forced to fight for the state's entertainment is both interesting and scary: it almost seems too possible.

Katniss is an easy character to relate to and the first part of the book introduces her and the world she lives in without being too slow. From when the games begin the book is a real page-turner, full of action and suspense. Despite the dark premise, there is actually fairly little violence and its skills and wit which win the games. At first I thought it was odd that Collins wrote the book in the present tense but actually this makes it more exciting as the events are happening as you read them.

This is the point where I'd normally say the bad things of the book. I'm really struggling though with this one, it is so brilliant. It's catapulted itself into my list of favourite books and I just hope that the next two books in the trilogy live up to the first!  ★★★★★

 

The Warlock by Michael Scott (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #5)

I have very much enjoyed the series until this point but felt a little let down by this one. Don't get me wrong, it's still good but it's clear The Warlock is the build up to the end of the series. In terms of what actually happens there isn't really that much. It focuses much more on the history of the mythology, a mixture of mythology's from all over the world, and on how the characters are developing and connected to each other. In fact it seems that every character has a link with another that you wouldn't foresee.

I like how it flitted between several stories but it seemed to lack the plot of the others. I was expecting another huge battle at the end but it just didn't materialise. And Nicholas Flamel has suddenly become a fairly minor character which is disappointing considering the series takes his name.

It won't be until the series is complete that this book's full value will be known but I feel that it's the calm before the storm. It's good as a continuation of the series but if it was a one-off book I would be really slating it now. ★★★☆☆

 

The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Having read The Jungle Book some time ago, I thought it was about time I read the sequel. It's certainly a development from the first and sees Mowgli as a teenager being used to death and the way of the Jungle. There's quite a focus on humans in this one and it is clear from the start that Mowgli is destined to return to live with his kind and this ending is brilliantly done. It's heartfelt and Mowgli isn't sure what he is doing is right but his friends in the Jungle tell him it is.

There's also a couple of great other stories, including a particularly interesting one featuring Inuit's but quite how that is supposed to relate to the Jungle is beyond me.

It's every bit as good as the first and Kipling's writing is beautiful, if quite dated. It's a classic and is well worth reading if you liked the first.  ★★★★☆

Sliding Void/Transference Station by Stephen Hunt

These are actually two separate books but they tell one story and are so short that I have reviewed them as one. Reading eighty pages and coming to a cliffhanger is very frustrating but apart from that these books are great. They follow the adventures of a space ship and it’s crew as they travel the universe trading anything they can. The first book sees a new crew member, living on a planet in the dark ages join the crew and the second sees him begin to fit in as the ship goes on a mining mission to an unknown planet.

There are some fantastic sci-fi ideas in it and the characters, not all human, are both entertaining and engaging. There’s also a sense that there is an overall plot. The captain, Lana Fiveworlds, lost her memory and we find out the android knows how and why. At some point no doubt it will all be unveiled but I get the impression it will take a while. The series is pretty much being released in an episodic formula, which is very frustrating. I await the next one eagerly!  ★★★★☆

 

These book reviews come from GoodReads, a site where I share reviews of all the books I read including some which won’t ever appear on this blog. You can visit my profile and add me as a friend here.

Other

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

This is a retelling of HG Well’s classic novel The War of the Worlds but with music. It is narrated by Richard Burton and tells the story of Martians invading Earth. It’s dramatic and very emotional in places. Now I despise most musicals but this almost doesn’t even feel like a musical. It’s tracks vary from sci-fi noises to tracks which sound almost classical to the odd one which sounds like a pop song. It’s a great combination and not a single one of those tracks feels out of place. I fully recommend downloading or purchasing this, especially if you are a sci-fi fan. It’s impossible to describe really but listen and you’ll realise why I recommended it. It’s awesome. ★★★★★

That’s all for today but they’ll be another edition in a few weeks. Thanks for reading!

Guest Post: Vegetarians

Hi Guys! It’s been a while but today I’ve got a new guest post and it’s a fun one by Lilly about vegetarians. I love it and I hope you will too!

I love meat! A choice cut of beef is enough to set my little omnivorous heart a flutter. That being said about 25% of my friends are vegetarians, with 75% of that going the total vegan. (Of course those are on guesstimates since 68% of statistics are made up on the spot) I mention these numbers to illustrate a point. When I ask these people why they chose to cut meat from their diet the main argument I get is animal cruelty. “It's a living thing.” While I do feel the plight of our furry four-leggers, I do feel the need to ask, mostly in jest, what about your salad?

In college I made a video: Vegi-cide:Salad Slaughter. I had a choice; a film about death or taxes, and a film about taxes seemed too depressing. In the film, my friend played the avid reporter trying to find the truth about the terrible injustice done to plants when they are plucked and forced to slowly die for our consumption. My favourite part was a moment of sheer brilliance. We see an apple picked from a tree. Suddenly another apple cries out, in obvious voice over,“OH NO FRANK! NO! He was still green! I can't live without him. I can't take it anymore!” At this point the other apple drops and hits the ground. We had the VRG, Vegetable Rights Group, and they spent most of the film shouting at people as they ate their salad, tofu, and bread. In one scene we even doused someone wearing a hemp shirt in tomato juice while chanting murderer. It was campy and not meant to be taken even a little seriously, but some (and I reiterate some, not all) vegetarians got offended. Truly and honestly offended. I guess some people just have no sense of humour.

We are Vampires, the ones who drink blood not the ones who sparkle. We kill living things and devour them to survive. If you stopped eating anything that cost a life our diet would be very similar to that of an earthworm, dirt with occasional hints of excrement, or maybe not because even dirt and excrement have tiny organisms that are killed upon consumption. Don't worry, our quadrupedal friends consume life to survive as well. Cows eat grass, grass is a living thing. Plants eat other plants. Animals eat other animals. It's natural.

I know this will sound crazy when I say it, but it's true. Plants actually put off a chemical when plucked signifying pain. El Ron Hubbard did a test with his e-meter to see if tomatoes felt pain. He claimed his results showed they felt pain when sliced. For years it was debunked as a myth but in the end several scientists got together and found that plants see, touch, smell, hear, and taste in ways we are just beginning to comprehend. Mimosa leaves respond immediately when touched, trees germinate during fires to spread seeds and keep the forest alive, seeds can pull themselves into the ground., Venus fly traps eat bugs. Pretty awesome for a sentient faceless being. “But plants don't have a face or nerves.” You are correct. They don't. Neither do worms. Chow down my vegan brother.

That burger I just finished came from a cow. He was completely dead when they cut him up and ground him down and fried him into that patty I just consumed. How do I know, because a friend of mine gave me the meat and he knows how to properly, and quickly slaughter an animal. Disgusting to think about right? What about the tomato on top. Unlike animals when they are properly slaughtered, death is instantaneous and painless, no matter how you pick a plant it has to wait to die and will technically still be alive if it arrives to you in it's whole original form. That apple you just popped into your mouth, it's still alive and crying out in it's own appley anguish. The sliced cucumber in your salad, clinging to it's crunchy life. Have you ever seen what we do to plants, imagine if those were people or animals. Disturbing isn't it? If we waited for plants to die they would be inedible. It's not until the plant is processed that it becomes truly dead.

In all seriousness I have total respect for those who choose the vegetarian lifestyle. You have a belief that we should not raise animals in the horrible conditions they are in for consumption by the masses. Great! I think the we were given animals to eat. I don't tell you to drop your belief system. I expect the same in return. Do not turn your nose up at me for eating a burger with chilli, bacon, and cheese while you nibble self-righteously on your salad. I am an equal opportunity eater. I will never be a vegan and you will make sure your food never had a face. So grab your multivitamins and I'll grab my chicken fingers and lets just all agree to get along. Signed, the Rodney King of Turnips.

Trouser Trouble

Hello there. It’s been a difficult few days for me. More on this later but let’s talk about the good stuff first.  Well the not totally depressing stuff anyway.

By far the highlight of my life at the moment continues to be my wildlife walks. I have a lovely walk at home but it’s nowhere near as wildlife-rich as the local nature reserve. I have literally no idea what the next thing I will see is. I was stunned yesterday when a pair of roe deer were stood staring at me from across the river. I really didn’t expect to see deer there considering how close it is to the town. And I got a perfect look at them until they ran off. I try and go at the same time every day, just before it gets dark as I know that’s when I will see the most wildlife. Over the last week and a bit I’ve got to know individual birds as well. There are a pair of kingfishers which live along the river. You see little more than a blue flash though with them. Then there’s Mr and Mrs Swan, who go off separately in the day but meet in the evening to sit by the river together. And hiss at me to go away. And there’s also Tom and Stella, a pair of ducks who sit in the shallow water at the edge of the path every evening and find bits of food. To be honest I see most of these birds more than most of my friends. I’ve even got to know Tom and Stella a bit. When I first saw them they would run away from me but now they will let me crouch down right next to them and take photos. The duck from the photo post the other day is Stella.

This morning, for reasons which weren’t really very clearly explained, we were instructed to go and visit the cathedral rather than attend our history lecture. So we did. It didn’t really take very long to go round and most of the group left but a few of us ended up going on a tour. There was a point where I thought this could well become the dullest few minutes of my life but the guide was pretty engaging and it was actually rather interesting. I learnt various bits about local history, national history, architecture and the cathedral’s history. The cathedral has some great bits of British history attached to it. Mary Tudor married King Phillip of Spain there, William II’s bones are supposedly in a chest and the windows were all smashed by the Puritans in the English Civil War. The locals kept bits of the smashed windows and eighteen years later the biggest window was replaced with all the broken pieces stuck together. Turned out it was really interesting.

Now onto trousers. All my clothes have to be purchased really cheap and therefore are a bit rubbish. For no apparent reason, all of the trousers I’ve worn have ripped lately. It’s not because I’ve put on loads of weight, if anything I’ve lost a bit of weight recently. It’s just because they are so cheap. I also recently bought a lovely new hoodie now which is black. Then I realised my one remaining pair of trousers is also black. This led to the challenge of finding a pair of trousers that fitted the following criteria: not black but not a hideous brown which seems to be all the fashion at the moment (goodness knows why), not hideously expensive and not too bad quality. All this in a town with only one cheap clothes shop and very few shops that actually sell clothes at all. I wandered round all the shops, which are spread out much further than is really necessary, desperately attempting to find some trousers which fitted the bill (and me!). I ended up returning to several shops several times. It was a nightmare. And people kept getting in the way and being generally annoying. I hate people in town centres. Humanity becomes mindless, just staring at phones and rushing to get whatever needs doing done. Anyway, I found some trousers in the end but had to skip the good quality bit of the criteria in the end. At least I wear my new black hoodie now without looking ridiculous.

Now here’s the tricky bit. I don’t want to sound like a miserable sod but life has been pretty damn awful for me lately. My timetable means that everyone else in my house has only just got up when I’ve got home and then they’re off to lectures. I sort of feel they’ve all moved on anyway. That cosy friendly atmosphere we used to have is pretty much gone due to girlfriends, new groups of friends and things. I barely really see anyone and most of the time there’s not a lot I can do about it. But it’s not just that. I just feel empty. There is so little to look forward to. In fact the only thing in my life is teaching and I sat studying often irrelevant things rather than actually teaching. It’s still another three years pretty much before I am actually fully qualified. And there’s massive chunks of holiday time when I have no plans whatsoever. Any day now I will find out about my next school placement which takes place in March and it’s this knowledge that’s keeping me sane. Hopefully it will be good. I just have to keep going no matter what, no matter how bad it feels. Times are very hard at the moment.

That’s enough pointless rambling for today. I’m sorry for the quality of this post. You probably get the idea why. Normal service will be resumed too, promise!

Music Monday 10#

It’s Monday and it’s time for another five tracks that I’ve been loving lately. The future of this feature is really in the balance. Should I ditch it, change it a bit or keep it as it is? There’s a poll over there → somewhere for you to let me know and feel free to add a comment to expand your opinion. Now let’s get on with today’s edition.

Today’s first track is one of the lesser known songs from Adele. Whilst this track still has her beautiful voice and is full of emotion, it doesn’t make you want to cry every time you hear it. As lovely as Someone Like You is, there are times in a person’s life when it’s all a bit too much. Here’s Cold Shoulder with some lovely ice sculptures in the video:

Next up is a recent rediscovery of mine. I loved this song when it came out but for some reason it never found it’s way onto my iPod and I’d pretty much forgotten it. It’s Freemasons Feat. Sophie Ellis Bextor but it’s Sophie who deserves top billing for that wonderful voice. I love S.E.B. and it’s a shame she’s married to Richard from The Feeling. She’s far too old for me anyway. Here’s Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer):

Next up is a song which randomly popped up on a music channel the other week and I realised I rather like it. I’m not really sure what an earth the lyrics are trying to say but no matter, here’s Bohemian Like You by The Dandy Warhols.

Something a bit different for the next track. It’s from Jeff Wayne’s wonderful Musical War of the Worlds which I think is quite possibly the best version of the War of the Worlds that has ever been created. Expect more raving about this in the upcoming Friday Review. This is my fave track from it Forever Autumn. And you have to listen to the talky bit, it’s all part of it!

And it’s now time for record of the week. The rest of this week’s choices were fairly obscure and unexpected so I think I can justify having one current popular song in the mix. As usual it’s been around a while and I’ve only just got into it but this is Aviici with Levels.

I hope you enjoyed the selection, now go and vote on the poll! Thanks!

A British Winter [Pics]

Over the past few weeks I’ve been walking all over the British countryside and I’ve been taking my camera along with me. I imagine you know where this is going now. Here come the photos:

This was a sunset that happened one evening before I returned to uni. It’s lovely isn’t it?

I love the local nature reserve, Winnall Moors. It’s wonderful no matter what season.

Here are some swans. I am very pleased with the second shot, which I was very lucky to get it!

And here are some ducks. I love ducks.

And here’s a blackbird.

Today I found a place called the Magdalen Butterfly Reserve. Obviously it’s the wrong time of year for butterflies and there wasn’t really much there at all. But there were some cows.

This is a lovely view over Winchester from St. Giles’ Hilltop. The city looks even lovelier from here.

And here is the incredible statue of King Alfred which is at the end of the High Street. It’s an inspiring sight.

And there you have it, that’s all the photos I’ve got at the moment. I hoped you like them. And before I go I thought I should tell you I’m changing round some of the regular features I do. It would have been a Thoughts From the Dungeon video today but no-one really seems to watch them so it’s been axed. I think I will probably ditch some other features too if there’s no demand for them. The Friday Review is definitely staying and so is Music Monday for the time being anyway. If you really want to see a feature stay then let me know as a comment. Don’t worry, the content will be largely the same!

The Master Chef

Hello there lovely person. My,my, what a crazy week the first week back at uni has been. That’s largely because studying to become a teacher leads to some lectures turning pretty odd without any warning whatsoever. But that makes it brilliant!

Amongst various typical lectures, there were several that stood out. One of these was English where we were looking at picture books as inspiration for children’s writing. The main book we looked at was Gorilla by Anthony Browne. In the illustrations there are lots of hidden gorillas and we ended up spending far longer than we probably should have. I think every book should have hidden gorillas in it, it makes it much more fun. We also looked at Not Now Bernard by David McKee in which a small boy is eaten by a monster but his parents don’t notice. This led us to doing some fun activities, one of which was called “Conscience Alley”. One of the group pretended to be Bernard’s mother and walked between two lines of people and we took it in turns to say things from her conscience. I was on the negative side and informed the mother that she was being a terrible parent. My conscience is as honest as they come.

Science was a fairly ordinary lecture about energy but in the middle of this we were suddenly given a load of toys to play with. You might not expect a group of young adults to be that bothered by this but actually we all got very excited and played with everything we could get our hands on. All of the toys needed energy to work and then we had to explain this. I had one of those toys which has a suction cup and a spring which eventually launches itself into the air. This happened lots of times during the lecture because I couldn’t leave it alone. I now want said toy to entertain myself with at home.

The university are throwing assignments at us from all angles at the moment. Though actually nearly all of them are pretty straight forward. A few presentations, a leaflet (it’s A3 size though which is really silly) and an essay based on some lesson plans are what lies ahead for me. None of those are really causing me much worry which is good and there’s a hope that I’ll get some good marks somewhere amongst that lot. It’s just a case of actually doing them all now!

On Thursday evening I gave blood for the fourth time. It’s all fairly routine now, though I can’t say the experience is in anyway pleasant. Still you get to save a life and get free biscuits for doing so. I was in the middle of giving blood, quite literally, when a voice says “Are you Richard’s son?” and a woman who I’d never seen before in my life appeared. I am indeed Richard’s son and although it’s not implausible that someone would know him thirty miles away, it seems fairly unlikely, especially given the circumstances. I was a little stunned and said “He knows everybody!”. The woman turned out to be the mother of my brother’s friend and proceed to have a conversation with me. As nice as this was, I’m not really in the conversation mood when the life is being sucked out of me, pretty much literally, so my responses were probably complete rubbish. It was all very weird.

Now cookery show Masterchef, where amateurs try and compete to be named the country’s best cook, returned to TV this week and I’ve been watching it avidly, along with new fave daytime show Come Dine with Me. All this cooking and the bid to lose some weight has inspired me and this week I’ve been cooking all sorts. It began on Wednesday with these lovely cheesy potato skins I made (with a few chicken nuggets):

On Thursday I cooked a huge jacket potato and the biggest achievement about this was putting it into the oven before I gave blood so it would be ready at about the time I got back. Fortunately it all went to plan and was perfect for my return.

Friday night saw the most ambitious cooking yet, with a Tuna Pasta Bake being made. Tuna, pasta, cream of mushroom source and cheese made this delight. The pictures a bit rubbish but I can tell you it tasted wonderful.

And today I spent several hours baking. First ready was chocolate brownies. This picture makes them look horrible but they looked better in reality and were really tasty. And to make things even better they’re low fat because the recipe uses mayonnaise of all things. It worked wonders though.

But the best looking item of the day and indeed the week is this wonderful chocolate cake. It was more challenging then everything else to but I’m really pleased about how it’s come out. I’ve yet to eat any yet but if it’s anywhere near as good as it looks it will be lovely.

Now you may be thinking none of this looks or sounds particularly impressive I never cook. Most meals are just something pre-made shoved into the oven. To produce all of these wonderful things, and all in the same week, really is quite an achievement for me. I think cooking could be a great new hobby and I have promised my Mum that I’ll make something for the family next time I’m home. That will be quite a challenge but I hope to continue cooking things over the next few weeks and hopefully I’ll be reasonably skilful in the not so far away future. 

Tales From Childhood (Part One)

In which my childhood self causes lots of mischief.

I was wondering what to blog about today and was struggling with a topic, seeing as though there continues to be little of excitement going on in my life. Then I realised that there’s a massive portion of my life that I haven't ever talked about here: my childhood. I shall share a few of the funnier stories with you, written in the same fun style as current stories are. Lots of fun, here we come!

Let’s begin as young as I can do really, when I was in my first year of school so must have been about four or five. As the first year of school is for most people, we could pretty much do what we wanted most of the time, with a little guidance. There was water and sand trays, painting, a little robot you could make drive around the carpet and various types of building block, with a new object you were supposed to make every week. At that time I was very good friends with a girl called Sarah. Now it would be silly to say that there were proper romantic feelings there but perhaps there was as close as a five year old could have to romantic feelings. We went everywhere together and on the day of this story we were walking across the classroom holding hands when we came across a fellow pupil building a house with wooden blocks. (Quite why we were holding hands I don’t know, but during her sixth birthday we jumped into bed together so make of that what you will.) Now the theme for the week was cars and so technically the boy should have been building a car rather then a house. At least, that was the excuse I used when the two of us kicked his wooden house over. As any five year old would, the boy quickly told the teacher who was not a happy bunny. We were given the worst punishment available: our names were written on the blackboard (and yes, we had a blackboard in those days kids). To make matters worse, the teacher’s teddy became very upset due to our naughty behaviour and so was put away in the cupboard to cry. This seems quite a bizarre method of keeping discipline and I’ve never come across it outside of that classroom but somehow it worked. I felt very bad for my actions and didn’t want to upset the teddy again.

The rest of the day passed without incident as far as I am aware, until hometime came. Now I was desperate to tell my father about the most dramatic thing to probably have ever happened to me at hat point in my life, but I didn’t want to get in trouble for having been naughty, so I informed him that another child in the class who shared my name had got his name on the board. Said child quickly defended himself, quite rightly, and informed by father that it was yours truly that had actually been the naughty one. Now I was in the position where I had not only got in trouble at school, but lied about it. My terrified five-year old mind panicked and it just legged it. I ended up in the grounds of the adjoining Junior school before I got exhausted although this wasn’t really that far away, but I was pretty small then. Of course my father found me and I was in lots of trouble and got a smacked bottom. Now is not the time for a debate on smacking but I have nothing against my Dad for smacking me, I probably deserved it anyway for being a little shit. Of course if I’d have just been able to keep quiet about it the name on the whiteboard would have been the end of the incident. I think I probably learnt a valuable lesson that day!

At another point in the same school year, probably a bit later, one afternoon we were given an activity. We were going to draw a detailed diagram of a bicycle, with all the little parts. At that point in my life I had already realised that art wasn’t my forte and this seemed a hellish task. To be honest I would really struggle with that task now as an adult! This was at the point in my life where much of my time alone was spent pretending I was a superhero and perhaps it wasn’t entirely wrong as my body did something quite spectacular. The daunting task in my head somehow connected to my stomach, which then proceeded to empty it’s contents all over the classroom. And I really mean all over the classroom. The poor cleaners must have had their work cut out that day! Of course because I’d been ill I was sent straight home and therefore conveniently missed the diagram task. It wasn’t like I was sick on purpose either, I doubt my brain could have understood that concept at the time!

Let’s whiz forward to year six when I was nine. Our yeargroup was taken to a random bit of forest to do some team building activities. Quite what the point of this was I’m not sure but we went all the same. The teachers thought it would be a good idea to film the whole thing and several weeks after the event we all sat down to watch the video. Humiliation came when there was a shot of me very obviously picking my nose. I was a pretty disgusting child though I imagine most of classmates weren’t any better, but fun of me they made all the same. Unfortunately that wasn’t all that embarrassed me on the video. One of the things we did was all be blindfolded and then walk in a long line with only a rope and instructions from the front to help. I remember stubbing my toe on a big log and wasn’t enjoying the activity very much. Then my teacher came along with the camera and as I moved accidentally bashed me with it. Now I of course was blindfolded and so didn’t have the slightest idea that the camera had been anywhere near me. On the video it was quite audible of me saying “bloody tree!” and at the time that as foul as my language ever got. Goodness me that was embarrassing. I really hope that video has been destroyed and isn’t in some random cupboard somewhere.

That’s it for today. I hope you liked that and if you write a lovely comment below I’ll know to write a second part. I’ve heard about some bloggers having trouble receiving comments so if it’s refusing to accept your comment e-mail me at intogeek@hotmail.co.uk and I’ll fiddle with some code and get comments to work properly. Thanks for reading!

Trips with TIM 2#

Hello and welcome aboard TIM, my Time and Infinity Machine which is permanently stuck as a British postbox. TIM can take us anyway in time and space and in the coming weeks and months we’ll be going on lots of exciting adventures together. So let’s open the door and see where and when we’ve landed today!

The Globe Theatre, London, June 1613

Oh my goodness, that’s William Shakespeare’s actual Globe Theatre! And by the sound of things a play is about to start. Let’s go in and watch!

Check that out above the entrance. There’s a picture of Hercules holding the globe with the quote in Latin “Totus mundus agit histrionem” which means ‘all the world’s a playhouse’ if I’m not much mistaken. The phrase was slightly reworded to create the famous line “All the world’s a stage” in Shakepeare’s play As You Like It. Oh, pay the man the money, otherwise we’ll get in trouble. When the play starts that admission collector will put the box into a room backstage- the ‘box office’! It’s so cool that we’re here in the place live entertainment we know to day originated.

And we’re in! I’m afraid we only had enough money to be groundlings, meaning we have to be stand in the area in front of the stage. The richer visitors to the theatre are those in the stands. The theatre was designed like a coliseum and even acts like one at times too: they hold bear-baiting events here. Phrowar! Now I can understand why groundlings were also known as stinkards, the smell is horrific!

Ooh, there goes the trumpet. That means the play is about to begin. I wonder which one it is? Ah look, there’s a red flag which means it’s a historical play. I’m not sure which one though. Ah yes, the Globe has had music since the start of the century. And here come the actors, be quiet a minute whilst I work out which play it is.

Oh dear, it’s Henry VIII. During a performance of that play a cannon was fired and the whole theatre burnt down. That was on 29th June, which is today! We’ve got to get out of here, now! Yes I know we are turning down the chance to see a Shakespeare play performed exactly how he’d want it to be performed but we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’ll tell you about the play as we leave. Now come on!

Henry VIII was an odd sort of a play really as though it’s described as a historical play it could quite equally be classified as a romance or a tragedy. Unlike the other historical plays there are no battles at all, it’s all political about the struggle for power in Henry’s court. Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn are amongst the other main characters and I think we saw Catherine of Aragon and Henry walking onto the stage as we left. Of course all the parts were played by men, I very much doubt Catherine of Aragon was that manly. We can go and check at some point if you like.

Henry VIII isn’t performed much in your times, partly because it’s considered unlucky because of the fire that’s about to happen any minute and also because it’s a bit rubbish. Shakespeare is well into retirement as this point, he’s probably in Stratford-Upon-Avon as we speak. Some of the scenes of Henry VIII were written by John Fletcher and they’re just rubbish compared to the Shakespeare ones.

Oh, there goes the cannon now, it’s a good job we got out. Shakespeare plays were known at the time for their special effects with cannon fire, fireworks for battle scenes and flying entrances using rigging. Don’t worry too much about the Globe burning down, another will be built next year. Though Puritans will tear it down in 1644, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell because all stage plays were banned. Madness really. The site of the globe theatre was rediscovered in the 20th century and a replica was built nearby, meaning we can safely go and watch a play in your own time. Let’s get out of here!

I hope you enjoyed another Trip with TIM! The idea is that I share some information about various things in a fun way. Of course it’s Doctor Who inspired… Next week TIM will be taking us on another adventure so watch this space!

Happiness

In which wildlife and TV, amongst other things, put a smile on my face.

Hello. In a change from the recent norm, I’m pretty happy and smiley today. Things are going pretty well now that I’m properly back at uni, doing lectures and things. In this post I’ll cover the things that have caused this recent change.

I’ve been on a lot of walks around the local nature reserve, Winall Moors lately. I’ve always loved being outdoors and seeing wildlife but having somewhere like this almost literally on my doorstep is incredible. Every time I go I see a fairly wide variety of wildlife but my walk round today was particularly incredible. I saw a buzzard, a bird of prey, which is always a good spot and a Little Egret, a fairly unusual wader, flew overhead but these aren’t very exciting really compared to the rest. In the distance I managed to spot a fox lurking around but the most exciting spot of the day was that of a Kingfisher. I’ve never seen one before and it was great to see the vibrant blue and orange bird sat on a branch over the river. If there was any British bird I wanted to see, that was it. It’s so brilliant to wander around in the countryside, never knowing what you are going to see and with the sound of birdsong being the sound you can hear rather than the hideous drone of traffic. I love it so much and it’s really made me happy. I’ve been taking photos here and there when I’ve been walking so there’ll be a special post featuring a whole load at some point in the future.

So as I said earlier, lectures are happening again and my first was the return of my history specialism today. We had a whole session on the Tudors though I’m quite an expert on that period having done it for my A-level exams (and I got an “A” so I must have known something). The next few weeks of history sound fun though with a visit to the cathedral, and another to the city museum as well as one session doing a history with drama session which I’m intrigued and excited by. Today I got the marks back on my history assignment I did before Christmas, and I began to panic when the tutor wouldn’t commit to an answer when asked if anyone had failed. Fortunately I did pretty well, matching my best essay mark on the essay section and getting a First, meaning it’s very good, on the resource pack. I’m really pleased with the result and it’s given me some confidence. Perhaps I’m completly incapable of getting good marks after all.

After all this uni stuff, it was time to go and buy some food now that my student loan had come through. So off to the supermarket it was. Now it’s all part of the plan to eat a bit more healthily this term and so I had to resist buying all the rubbish I’ve been eating at uni. Most of the meals I bought were relatively healthy and I bought much fewer fatty and sugary foods. Plus I’ve been buying things to actually cook. And this involves more than just shoving things in the oven, it’s actual cooking. Tonight I cooked Cheesy Potato Skins. I made the sauce and everything. Here’s a picture, along with a few chicken nuggets I had with it:

Yeah, check me out with my culinary skills. I’ve got some more dishes coming up in the week which are more ambitious. Considering I don’t usually do anything more than put things onto a baking tray and turn the oven to the right temperature, this is quite an achievement for me. Round of applause please!

It’s fairly rare that I really rave about a TV show but oh my Goodness, Sherlock! Sherlock is a modern version of Sherlock Holmes and the finale of series 2 was on Sunday night. In it was the big face-off of Sherlock Vs. Moriaty. I won’t spoil it for you, but it was brilliant. It leaves you with the big question of “how” something was done. The two, three episode series, have both been brilliant and it is one of the best things on TV that I have ever seen. It’s just a shame that the third series is going to be a long time away. I’m already looking forward to it immensely. Full review of the series in the next Friday Review.

And I have been getting into daytime TV at the moment, watching things whilst eating lunch and sorting things out. Come Dine With Me, where people take in turn to host dinner parties is great fun largely because a lot of the people that appear on it are complete weirdo's. And then there’s also The Jeremy Kyle Show in which the general public have lie detector test to prove they haven't cheated and various other things. It’s often very funny and you get to boo the dodgy boyfriends and other bad people, pantomime style.

So that’s my life at the moment. Fairly satisfying. I very much hope this run of happiness will continue in my next life update. Fingers crossed!

Music Monday 9#

What with Christmas and the Sound of 2012 it has been a long time since I’ve actually done a “normal” Music Monday. For anyone who may have forgotten, I choose five songs I am loving with you at the moment and share them with the world. I hope you like them all (or at least some of them, let’s not be overly optimistic).

As usual I shall start with a Golden Old ‘un. I’ve chosen this one simply because it came up on my iPod the other day and I remembered how brilliant it was. It’s by Welsh songbird Duffy who was last seen cycling into the sunset drinking Coca-Cola. It’s her most popular and I would say best song Mercy and the video makes me laugh because she appears to set fire to the dancers in it. What an evil woman!

The next track has been around for a while but it’s only fairly recently that I decided I rather like it. It really surprised me that a Greek maze could make such good music. And not a Minotaur in sight! This is Labrinth with Earthquake. Oh and Tinie Tempah appears on the song too.

The next track is pretty well known but I don’t like to attempt to be all obscure all the time. It’s still a brilliant song. It’s Jessie J with Domino though I feel she has missed a trick in the video. Where’s the Domino outfit. I dressed as a domino years ago (it’s on this blog if you fancy a challenge of finding it) and if I can I’m sure Jessie J could. Anyway, here’s the song.

Next up is a song that has yet to be released and it sees the return of the Scissor Sisters and also features Krystal Pepsy. Fun fact: One of the people who make up Krystal Pepsy is Azealia Banks who I decided I didn’t like very much in last week’s Music Monday. This is a great track with Jake from the Scissor Sisters doing some rapping, which unbelievably works. Here’s the wonderful Shady Love.

And time for this week’s record of the week! It’s from my fave band at the moment Rizzle Kicks and is a catchy song which you just have to dance to. The video features Rizzle Kicks’ mums and James Corden. Who#d have thought?

There we go, another odd collection of music for your earholes. Hope you liked it and they’ll be more great music next Monday!