End of July Extravaganza

I don’t know about you, but time really is flying by at the moment. It’s the last day of July so as usual it’s time to end with a look back at the month and reply to some of the things you have been saying!

The Comment Parade

Old School Game Blog [on The Best Social Games]: I totally agree with Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart Wii. Those games are a blast in multiplayer. My personal favourite is Mario Kart 64, even though it is showing its age these days. The levels are excellent and the gameplay is smooth and simple. What I like about the Wii version is that you can play Online.

I feel I’ve missed out with many Nintendo 64 games. My Mum and Dad had one when I was young but it was strictly grown-ups only. The only 64 games I’ve played are Super Mario 64 and Goldeneye, both of which are fantastic. I agree with the online features with the Wii version (and the 3DS version), being able to race online greatly enhances the longitivity of the game!

Amada R [on How Internet Dating is Changing the World]: I'm really pro internet dating, but I think this post only focuses on one medium for internet dating. People can 'date' and find their other half on places like MMORPGs, which unfortunately might not always be as safe as a dating website.

No people really meet on MMORPGs? Surely the majority of people that play them are men and children. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t see MMORPGs as another source of internet dating. There are other forms of internet dating though, I know of one couple who met on Twitter.

Raz [On Friday Review: The Amazing Spider-Man]: I love that you reviewed this movie. You can check out my review if you want :) Great minds... I tell you what. This time, we're on the same page. I thought the movie was great--leagues better than the Raimi ones--and have fallen in love with Peter Parker. Anyway, nice review!

Amanda, via e-mail [On Friday Review: The Amazing Spider-Man]: Your Spiderman review has convinced me I need to go see it! I really liked watching the cartoons and I was so hyped when the first Spiderman movie came out but alas, I really couldn't get on with Tobey Maguire. Excellent review, though!

I am glad the review went down so well. The new Spider-man has generally been well received. It’s that and the Avengers which are my kind of superhero film, I’ve no interest in The Dark Knight Rises. I just don’t get why Nolan made it all so serious and ‘realistic’ when the whole thing is really, like all other superhero films, totally impossible.

Nellie Vaughn [On Sebastian the Slug]: You got sick, dear, because you didn't go out much. That's how it works. That slug is so adorable. I've always been fond of them.

I’m confused. Yes, colds are more common in winter due to people spending more time indoors and more easily passing it to each other. But the word people is important in that sentence. It’s was just me and I was in a virtually germ-free environment.

Josh, via Facebook [On Sebastian the Slug]: Just read Sebastian the slug and its true they do need more love but if they didn't eat through my hosta first I would show it more. That’s like going to see a friend, them taking your shoes and throwing them in a canal then saying "HUG?"

My friend Josh there, being his usual hilarious self. Though I’m not sure what a “hosta” is. A coaster I would assume.

Niamh [On London 2012: Opening Ceremony]: I loved it and know exactly how you feel about being proud to be British! I just think the last two years have been fantastic for us with the wedding, the Jubilee and now this. I wasn't really looking forward to the Olympics and I'm not looking forward to the hours of sports but I'm most certainly proud to be British!! :D

Catherine Holt [on London 2012: Opening Ceremony]: Love your write up of the ceremony. I agree it was truly an amazing show...very slick! I myself have migrated from England to Australia and also feel very proud to be British right now. You have given the ceremony true justice in your write up...well done!

I can tell when a post is a good one when I get comments like these. The opening ceremony was so fantastic and so far it’s led into some fantastic sport. I’ve been watching intently and trying to miss as little as I possibly can. You can expect a special post from me taking a different angle on the Olympics on Thursday!

Thanks to everyone who wrote a comment and I’m sorry I couldn’t fit them all here! Keep them coming!

Minion of the Month: This goes to Horus, for reading and commenting regularly. Thanks for keep visiting Horus! (Also Horus is the best name ever).

Into Geek Highlights: The best posts from July are…

My Weekend in Wales (Two Parts)    Sebastian the Slug    Hot Right Now   London 2012: The Opening Ceremony

Guest Post of the Month: The most popular guest post this month, by a long way, was Strange Olympic Events by Precious. It’s a fantastic post which I really recommend you check out if you haven’t already!

Blog of the Month: This goes to the fantastic Lux Life. That blog actually won this award some time ago, albeit under a different name. Recently Catherine has been to all sorts of swanky events and been on a great tour of the USA and she’s blogged about all that wonderfully. I’m very jealous of all the awesome stuff she gets to do that those of us outside of London can only dream of! It’s a great blog and I order you to visit!

Ah, July. You were a interesting weren’t you? My dull summer mostly continued but at least some things did happen. A weekend in Wales, seeing The Amazing Spider-Man, having a job interview, work starting for the summer and the Olympics starting. So I reckon July wasn’t half bad and if every month was as good as it I would be fairly satisfied with my life.

Thanks for reading and I’m also pleased to announce July 2012 saw the most views EVER on Into Geek so thanks for visiting and I hope you’ve been enjoying it. See you soon!

Chart Chasers #26

It’s time to scrutinise this week’s chart and rip apart the majority of the new entries. At least that’s what normally happens. This week there are SIX new songs to check out!

Listen to this week’s songs on Spotify

Our first song comes from Clement Marfo & The Frontline. It’s called Champion and I know absolutely nothing about it. Let’s have a listen then!

It turns out that it’s not a bad song. The best bit is the music and I almost feel it would be better without the lyrics at all. The rapping really doesn’t fit the music and the chorus is pretty decent but nothing very special. 3/5.

It’s time for the Finale now. It’s happened pretty quickly. No, it’s not the end of the post but a track by Madeon. Expect a dance track which might be OK on a night out but is pretty dull to listen to at home.

Well that was exactly what I expected. A pretty dull track, with a decent bit around the two minute mark. By that point though you are so bored it’s difficult to be that excited by it. 2/5.

Writing these intros is actually Harder Than You Think. Except for ones like this, which pretty much write themselves. Here’s Public Enemy.

This is some ‘classic’ hip-hop which has charted due to an advert. I’m not getting into a debate about different eras, but this is complete crap. The tune is OK but as with virtually every rap track ever, the rapping ruins it. I never want to have to listen to that again. 1/5.

Next up is Cedric Gervais with Molly. I think they should bring the name Cedric back. There are not enough Cedric’s in the world- the only one that comes to mind is Cedric Diggory and he’s dead.

(This video is NSFW. Lots of mild sex/nudity. Audio Only Version here)

Apparently “Molly” is slang for Ecstasy. So this is a track about drugs. DON’T DO DRUGS KIDS. I prefer to take this much more innocently and imagine someone is actually looking for someone called Molly. It’s a great tune and I’ve recently begun to enjoy songs which are a bit odd and use sampling. I want to hear this next time I go out in da club. 4/5.

Up next is the Brokenhearted Karmin. This is the first time I have ever been that I will tear a song apart. Which makes me very excited because I love nothing more than tearing songs apart…

I’m a little disappointed. I don’t completely hate this one. I mean the Nicki Minaj-style rapping is the worst thing I have heard today, followed only by the dreadful chorus. But the main verses are actually quite listenable. I feel that Karmin actually has the potential to produce some fabulous material, but she has completely messed up with this mish-mash or various styles in one song. 2/5.

Our final track today comes from someone who has been described as “the British Justin Beiber”. Personally, I think that’s not a bad description. Here’s Conor Maynard with Vegas Girl.

It’s rare that I laugh quite so much as I did during that video. Firstly, the acting at the beginning is abysmal. And the song itself is not much better. It just seems to me that Maynard has very little talent apart from being an annoying little twat, if that can be called a talent. Still, it’s not quite as awful as his last track “Can’t Say No”. 1/5.

That’s all for today. By the way, has anyone seen Molly? I have been looking for her…

London 2012: Opening Ceremony

Last night was the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. 27 million Brits sat down to watch what we all assumed would be a complete disaster. But then suddenly it became clear that Danny Boyle had done a fantastic job and it was actually pretty awesome.

It all began with Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins ringing a massive bell and shortly after Kenneth Branagh appeared in role as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and read a line from The Tempest by Shakespeare. Then, in a great representation of industrialisation the British countryside was literally rolled away and massive smoking chimneys came out of the ground.

^{Professor Lockhart still confused after the backfired memory charm. “Do you live here?”}

Then something really special happened. A pre-recorded sequence showed James Bond meet the Queen and escorted her to the stadium, where she skydived from a helicopter. You can relive it below (UK only I'm afraid):

After this J.K Rowling appeared and read a line from Peter Pan. Cue a great scene involving nurses looking after children and a group of Mary Poppins defeating Lord Voldemort.

^{The Ninth Harry Potter film takes an unexpected direction…}

We had a showcase of British music from the 60s onwards which ended with Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the internet. Yes world, not only can we claim all that fantastic music and literature, we can claim the internet is ours. There was also a great scene from Rowan Atkinson, as Mr. Bean or at least a Bean type character, as part of the orchestra playing Chariots of Fire. It was hysterically funny and for me the highlight.

Eventually it came the time for the ridiculously long parade of all the Olympic athletes. We had to sit through hours of obscure nations and beige outfits (the amount of beige this year was incredible!). My favouritely dressed country had to be the Czech Republic who decided to have a laugh at how rainy Britain is…

After the parade and a fantastic performance from The Arctic Monkeys, David Beckham’s boat arrived with the Olympic flame. Steve Redgrave and our Olympic legends both literally and symbolically passed the flame onto the next generation, who proceeded to light what became the cauldron. And what a cauldron it is!

^{All the petals rose up together to represent the coming together of the countries. Nice touch.}

Now I have never before felt proud to be British. I’ve not felt ashamed but I’ve never had any reason to feel proud. But by the end of the ceremony, getting on for 1AM, I did feel proud. Look what my country can do. I think it was better than the Beijing opening ceremony. Perhaps not in spectacle but I know which I would rather watch again. We did a fantastic job at opening what will hopefully be a fantastic Olympic games!

I’ll be reporting a bit on the Olympics and have plans for a very special post(s) which will take a rather different look at things. Let me know what you thought of the opening ceremony, especially if you’re not from Britain! See you soon!

Friday Review: Book Club #2

It’s time for the second edition of this new monthly feature, where I review my recent reads. It’s a fantastic combination this time as I end up reading all sorts of things on my Kindle, which I fall more in love with every day. Let’s get to the reviews shall we?

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

It's not very often I feel let down by a book. Here I was. The story sees a sailor travel through the Congo and meet an extraordinary man called Kurtz along the way. That's all that happens.

The style of this book is the first point I want to complain about. The story starts on the Thames on a boat and then Marlow tells his story whilst on the boat. The situation that the story is being told in is hardly referred to and it made the story harder to read as it was written in blocks of dialogue. When someone is telling the story with speech in it's difficult enough to follow but here the speech was often not even separated into new lines. It would have felt a much more enjoyable read if it had been a standard first person story.

I also got rather bored because not much happens. I could have probably told the same story in a couple of pages but Conrad filled it with subtle symbolism. It's all symbolic but because it's so subtle it's hard to interpret it at all. If you're going to be a symbolist you should at least give people an opportunity to understand the symbolism.

The only parts of this book I did like were a couple of the descriptions. Scenes of a steamboat going through a dense jungle on a river are described excellently and make you feel like you are there. But then Marlow starts talking endlessly again and you wish you weren't there and indeed wish you'd never decided to read this stupid book in the first place. 1/5

Doctor Who: Snowfall by Gavin Collinson and Mark B. Oliver
A great Doctor Who short story. Well actually its more like three short stories. Two men meet at an obscure train station and discover they have both met the Doctor. They share their stories.

The first involves a weird alien race in a theatre (written by Mark B. Oliver) and the second, far superior one involves vampires- well an alien race who are vampires. In between these and at the end we learn who the two men are and why they have been brought together.

It's a surprisingly good little Doctor Who story with an unusual format which makes it much more interesting. The Doctor is capture wonderfully for the most part and I wouldn't mind seeing this as a TV story. In my mind if a Doctor Who story feels like it would be good on screen then it has done the job, and this one has. 4/5.

(You can download this and other Doctor Who stories here)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The ever so handsome Dorian Gray has his portrait painted by a truly talented painter. Whilst he is having this done he meets Lord Henry, to whom people are an experiment. Lord Henry has an influence over Dorian who soon wishes that the portrait could age and show the stresses of life whilst he could remain the same. The wish comes true and gradually Dorian changes into an entirely different person, with each deed he does showing in the picture.

This book is a clever tale about vanity, one which is even more relevant in modern society. It's a showcase of Wilde's talent, displaying long emotional thoughts as well as so many witty quotes and an element of humour.

I think it leaves you with many thoughts. Dorian could so easily be a modern day celebrity, though the Victorian setting and wording feels so right for the story. The lovely flow of it and the intriguing storyline make it a great novel which leaves you in no doubt that Wilde was a genius. 4/5.

Talulla Rising by Glen Duncan
This is a fantastic sequel to The Last Werewolf featuring the werewolf Talulla. After the events of the afore mentioned book, Talulla is the last werewolf in existence but she is pregnant with another. She gives birth to twins though the first is snatched by a vampire cult. Talulla is determined to get her son back but this is no easy task in a world with the occult hunt in disarray, vampires getting more powerful and the gradual increase in werewolves.

A superior sequel is a rare thing but Duncan manages it. Talulla is a great protagonist and it's great to see a female character so well developed by a male author. She's no less determined or strong than Jake of the previous novel yet she still feels like an American woman...well, werewolf.

The plot is full of twists and turns that are pretty hard to see coming. It almost feel like an adventure novel at times but there are still plenty of gruesome horror moments. Unlike this first book, this one doesn't overdo the sex. There are still sex scenes but they feel less used for the sake of it and actually important for the plot.

All in all this is a great werewolf book which is more than worthy sequel. It sets up a third novel very nicely and I am already eagerly awaiting that. 5/5.

The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer

So after all these years we come to this, the Eighth and final Artemis Fowl novel. This time things are more at stake than ever with Opal Koboi back with nothing to lose. She plans to destroy the world with the ancient Berserker's as her minions, possessing the bodies of everyone from Artemis' twin brothers, Juliet Butler, a load of dead pirates and the local wildlife.

It's the usual crazy adventure but this time Opal has nothing to lose and is more prepared than ever. Artemis, Butler and Holly are out of their depth and with the world's technology brought to a standstill they are alone. Meanwhile Foaly is forced to rush out and save his wife and Mulch isn't sure whether this is his fight.

Though being the final novel, this doesn't really feel that final. The threat is higher than usual but apart from that it's the same action-packed Artemis Fowl we've grown to love, complete with all the witty lines from Colfer. For me it ends perfectly and whilst others may argue it doesn't close things off, I feel it's the right end of the series. It has to end somewhere and this is a great ending and I shall miss waiting for the next instalment of the juvenile genius.

Fantastic Artemis Fowl adventure and a great farewell to the fairy world. 4/5.

The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells

This is my favourite HG Wells book yet. It sees the worthless Mr Bedford met ingenious scientist Mr Cavor who invents a substance which can defy gravity. This soon leads them to an improbable trip to the moon where they discover a live a race called the Selenites who live underground.

Scientifically the book doesn't score well, with cavorite being a ridiculous substance and what the moon being life fairly wrong. But it's excusable given the date it was written and things like the gravity levels are fairly accurate. It's perhaps easier to imagine it's a distant planet rather than the moon!

The reason I think this works so well is having two main characters, unlike in Wells' other books where there tends to be a solo hero. This means we get stacks of character interaction, which Wells does brilliantly this makes the whole thing more tangible. The characters are extremely believable and they make the plot much easier to grasp.

It's a great book and the only reason it doesn't get five stars is the ending. It ends fantastically but then carries on with the second ending being far less satisfying and the part leading to it being particularly long-winded. But apart from that it's a fantastic sci-fi story which is hugely enjoyable. 4/5.

 

So there you go, six little reviews of books I largely enjoyed reading. Apart from Heart of Darkness which I consider to be the worst book ever. You can read my reviews and little updates on what I’m reading over on Goodreads. I hope you liked the post and please share your views if you’ve read or want to read any of these books!

Hot Right Now

Hello there! First of all I have to say welcome to the new look Into Geek! I seem to change things here quite a lot but I am never quite happy! As much as I liked the old header, it’s been replaced with something simpler but cooler. The TARDIS still provides the nod to the geekiness but apart from that it’s all very arty and, dare I say it, professional. Let me know what you think.

^Before/After

Finally, after months of almost continuous rain, the UK is going through a hot spell. Over the past few days it’s stayed between 26-28º Celsius, which although isn’t hot compared to a lot of other places, it’s pretty hot for here. Probably a few degrees too hot for us to be able to cope with but I won’t complain because it’s still great that’s it is sunny for once.

This means various things. Firstly it means it’s time for cold teas (dinners) in our house. It’s sort of a family tradition that when it gets hot we don’t eat the same food as the rest of the year and the evening meal consists of a pile of assorted snack foods stacked up onto a plate. Well I probably stack them up more than everyone else but it does include some fruit so I can claim it’s healthy.

It also means everywhere looks pretty spectacular. Cue lovely sunny landscape photos;

^{The local fields looking particularly wonderful}

^{The local lake doing the same}

It’s quite funny how our two cats are reacting to the weather. Sherbet, the more adventurous of the two, has decided nice weather needs to be used and at the moment rarely steps inside the house, only then to have something to eat. Minstrel on the other hand is enjoying it much less. Being mostly black, she’s overheating a fair bit and is looking a bit overwhelmed and miserable.

Bless her! So right now I am sat in my garden writing this, which I love to be able to do. I’ve also been spending lots of time reading out here but it’s sometimes a bit weird as you can hear other people doings things in their houses. Everyone’s got their windows and/or doors open and you can hear the private things you don’t normally hear. People sorting out their dishes, telephones ringing, random conversations and even at some point someone singing (it was “Feel the Love” but Rudimental).

It really feels like summer now what with the temperature and the fact I’ve started work for the school holidays. I work for a charity who provide “play opportunities” for children with specials needs and disabilities. I look after and play with the kids which is usually great fun. I started as a volunteer back when I was 14 so this is my 7th summer of doing the same thing (as well as most of the over school holidays since then).

Some kids say the best things. Yesterday I was informed that the soft toy crocodile only ate bad people and that good people could even touch it’s teeth and it wouldn’t hurt. A crocodile with morals then. I didn’t like to bring up the philosophical question of whether eating bad people was a good thing or not. A truly moral crocodile would surely turn to vegetarianism wouldn’t it?

In my spare time I’ve been watching a fair bit of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I did watch it regularly at uni for a while until Sky Atlantic bought the rights. But seeing as though we have Sky at home I can watch it to my heart’s content. It’s a great show and I love it. Though Counsellor Troi does annoy me as she is the most useless person on the entire ship! After coming to the realisation that there is a primary school on board the Enterprise, I have now decided that I when I qualify as a teacher I will do my best to end up teaching on a Federation starship. Preferably the Enterprise itself but I’d settle for one of the little ones!

And on that note I must end for today! I’ve got more weather to enjoy and Olympic football to watch! Adios!

Guest Post: 20SB Blog Swap

Hello. Today is the day of the big 20 Something Blog Swap and I’m delighted to have B writing on the theme of Childhood Summer Vacations. Or “holidays” for us Brits!

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I'm B from The Brunette Cashier. I'm terrible at this intro thing, so I'll just jump right to it. Dan and I have swapped blogs for the day, and we're writing on our favorite Childhood vacations...

Being that I'm one of six children, my childhood vacations were nothing to boast about. However, some of my favorite memories from summertime were camping with the family.

After my parents divorced when I was 10, every year for the next six years, Mom would take all of us camping for ten days over the 4th of July week. We didn't have much money, so we used tents instead of a camper.

Mom taught us how to pitch tents, cook on open fires, start a fire, and how to fish. My brothers and I would swim across the man made lake at the campgrounds every day. We'd try to beat previous times, each other, and just have fun. I wish I had pictures from those moments, because it was always so much fun.

I remember one summer, I think it was the second to last year we all went, the campgrounds was having the annual 4th picnic and scavenger hunt. The object was to go around from campsite to campsite and retrieve certain items. My siblings and I were always on the same team, but this particular year we decided to do boys versus girls... See I have three brothers and two sisters, and together, the six of us were an unstoppable force. We always came in first or second place on the scavenger hunt, but we wanted to challenge ourselves this year. My two sisters and I took off running to get the required items while my brothers went off in another direction. Before I knew it, all the items had been collected and we headed back to the finish line - only to discover our brothers had beat us to it. They never let us live that one down.

While my vacations were often drama-filled and pure craziness, I'm incredibly thankful for the opportunity to spend my summers with my family; bonding and becoming great friends. While I know it's not much, it is what it is, and it's mine. I'm thankful for the opportunity to go camping, appreciate nature, and learn to love my family.

Thanks for letting me takeover, Dan :)

-B.

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Thanks B, I enjoyed that too. Make sure you go and visit the Brunette Cashier and there you will find my post for the blog swap!

Chart Chasers #25

Hello! Time for another dive into this week’s singles chart and have a listen to all the new songs!

This week’s Spotify Playlist

At the moment the chart’s aren’t really that exciting. For two out of the last three weeks the top 10 hasn’t changed and there have been very few newly charting songs. This week there are four and once again I’ve topped it up to five by finding the first track beyond the top 40 I’ve never written about!

So, this week’s “bonus” track which has hit the chart once more is Summer of ‘69 by Bryan Adams. I can tell you only one thing about the summer of 1969 and that is that my Dad was six years old.

Well, what can I say this is a classic? I think it has charted because One Direction have done some kind of cover of it which is something I will go to extreme lengths to avoid. Great song, 4/5.

Moving onto the chart proper now and we’ve got a song by Far East Movement, featuring Cover Drive, which is called Turn Up the Love. I can only assume they use the word “love” to mean volume. Perhaps there’s a great anecdote about how it happened: “I meant to say Turn up the volume, love but what came out was turn up the love”. I say this because obviously love cannot be adjusted and there is not currently any way to measure it. Anyway, here’s the song:

It has a fairly decent chorus thanks to the great voice from Cover Drive but the rest is absolute rubbish. Far East Movement are just dreadful and they’ve not done anything to change that opinion with this track. 2/5.

Next up is B.o.B with Both of Us. And the song features Taylor Swift which I am hugely pleased with. As much as I feel I shouldn’t I love Taylor’s music but I love the woman herself even more. We all have a celebrity crush and she is mine. So I am very pleased that I get to watch this video now!

Once again I like the chorus (and not just because it’s Taylor Swift) but the rest is not great. It’s a pretty decent rap but nothing really special. I think the answer is more Taylor Swift (although in my world that’s the answer to virtually every question. Decent song, B.o.B needs to try harder. 3/5.

Music from the heavens next as Angel brings us a song called Wonderful. Who is Angel? Is this song to do with something holy or a Buffy spin-off? And what is so wonderful? Time to find out!

A disappointing lack of cherubs and vampires. I didn’t expect the artist Angel to be like that. The song is pretty boring. It was one of those songs which I really had to concentrate to get through. Nothing special at all. Except you see the shoes in the video image? I used to have those shoes and I loved them. They were the best shoes ever. 2/5 to the song but the shoes would score much higher.

And we are already on to our final song of the week. It’s a song all about baseball. At least that’s what I’m assuming given the title is Home Run. It’s by Misha B (as opposed to Misha A,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y or Z.)

Oh dear. This reminds me of Nicki Minaj, something which I never want to happen. It’s flipping awful. My poor ears. 1/5.

Well that’s it for another week and it was a pretty disappointing selection. Still, Taylor Swift put in an appearance so I’m happy. More of the same next Monday and join us here tomorrow for the 20SB Blog swap!

Sebastian the Slug

Hello. I am writing at the end of a fairly rubbish week for me. Despite trips to the dimension known as “outside” being fairly rare, I somehow managed to catch a cold. It could possibly be even described as a flu, I have felt pretty rough at times and it even came complete with eye infection. My whole head just felt wrong and disgusting. And in fact I’m still not over it. But I shall survive.

Despite all this, I’ve actually had a couple of busy days. This week I have been my Grandfather’s garden assistant. Well not his garden but it’s complicated to explain. I have been helping doing some jobs in a huge and beautiful garden in the New Forest. On Wednesday it was bonfire time as I helped burn lots of cut down trees and bushes. Because it has been so wet though everything was a bit damp and it took a considerably long time before the bonfire actually got going properly. It was pretty infuriating. Yesterday was even more hard work as a team of relatives and neighbours turned up to cut down a huge great tree. My main job was carrying/dragging cut offs to the relevant piles and chopping it all up. It was the most manual labour I have done in years. I got “paid” in cheese though, which I almost prefer more than money. Almost.

I also had another of my particularly bizarre dreams. It involved John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who/Torchwood) and his (awful) TV show Tonight’s the Night. I was shopping for some shoes (fairly likely the way I get through shoes) when I leaned against a column in the shop. An alarm went off and I ran away to another shop. It turned out it was all a set-up and as I was looking for shoes in the next shop John Barrowman appeared and I was very confused. At this point I woke up and wondered what on Earth I would do on the show. Most people sing or dance but neither of those would be a good idea. All in all it was a bit weird and a very odd thing to dream.

In between the rain I’ve managed to go out a few times this week and capture some pretty awesome photos:

^{Some lovely pinky/purplely flowers}

^{The insects were liking the flowers too!}

^{A former railway bridge. It looks so sad slowly falling to pieces there :(}

^{I love fields of long grass like this. They just look so fantastic!}

^{A Grey Heron I spotted doing a spot of fishing. This isn’t supposed to be a river but the area is severely flooded!}

^{Slug! I love this picture. Slugs need more love, they are pretty damn awesome. Look at the cute little fellow! I have called him Sebastian.}

I have one last thing to share today but it kind of makes up for this being a fairly short post. I often think about things and wish I could share my thoughts so this is where the idea of where my new Scrapbook comes from. It’s a blog where random things from my mind get posted. There’s thoughts on things I’ve watched, reactions to the news and various random things that go through my head. There’s a little scroll thing in the sidebar with the latest posts and you can view my scrapbook of thoughts here.

I’ll leave you to dive into that and I shall see you for lots of fun things as the week goes on. And it’s finally going to get sunny here! Happy times!

Guest Post: Strange Olympic Events

Hello there! This week’s guest post comes to you from Precious of Riding Giraffes in Stilettos. It’s all part of a blog swap with the theme of Summer. Full details on that at the end, but first enjoy the post!

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Strange Summer Olympic Events

Originally I had agreed to guest blog about what I love about summer. But as I am South African, and this is the first June / July I have spent in Scotland, I am having a really hard time getting excited about the UK "summer". Apologies to all Dan's UK readers, but to me, it looks a lot like winter - maybe just 5 degrees warmer! Oh, and with more rain. So instead, let's talk about the Summer Olympics, which kick off in London on the 27th July (like, real soon).

I don't know if you've heard but Harry Potter fans have been trying to get the mythical sport "Quidditch" added to the Olympic Games. While it is still just an idea at this stage, many fans believe they can get it added to future Games. In fact, the International Quidditch Association is insisting that the sport is worthy of inclusion as there are a lot more ridiculous sports in the Olympics.

So, what are these more ridiculous sports that have been (or still are) Olympic events, you may ask? Well, in no particular order:

1. Solo Synchronized Swimming - Um, how do you judge synchronized swimming if there is only one contestant?! Apparently the swimmer had to synchronize to the music. No-one quite figured it out and fortunately this was scrapped after Barcelona in 1992.

2. Plunge for Distance Diving - You know how when you were, like, a tween and you and your friends would stand at the deep end of the pool and have a competition to see who could dive the furthest? That was once an Olympic event. I kid you not. It consisted of swimmers diving into the pool and staying motionless in the water for one minute. The divers weren't allowed to propel themselves while in the water and whomever went the furthest got the gold medal. This must be one of the least exciting competitions to watch, EVER. Not surprising, this never made it past the 1904 Summer Olympics.

3. Race Walking - this made its Olympic debut in 1904 and lives on as one of the oddest Olympic events to this day. It's hilarious to view - try watching and successfully resisting the urge to yell "RUNNNN" at the participants!

4. Poodle Clipping - this made its debut at the 1900 Paris Olympics and was a race to see who could trim the most poodles' fur in a two hour window. Unfortunately, poodle clipping failed to get the votes to become an official Olympic sport, and was never seen again. *sad times*

Sticking with the silliness, here are 3 things that I wish were actual sports (and not just because they would make me an athlete):

1. Karaoke. Judged purely on enthusiasm and entertainment value (even if you make someone's ears bleed). Bonus points for dress-up. Negative points for hogging the mic.

2. Running at pace in stilettos carrying coffee / a laptop / very important documents. Bonus points if you do it while carrying Option D - all of the aforementioned.

3. Creative cooking. "You've got leftover olives, spaghetti, half a tomato, something that loosely resembles spinach (but could also be rocket), and chocolate. You have 4 mouths to feed and 30 minutes. ... On your marks, get set, MAKE DINNER"

So, what would you like to see as an Olympic sport?

Written by Precious

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So this is all part of a blog swap which works in a loop, or at least it will do once everyone has posted. Starting here, the loop should hopefully work like this:

• The Tattooed Type (Where my post will be posted soon, hopefully)
• Joyful Calamity (Where the Tattooed Type’s post will hopefully be posted)
• Inkspot Stories
• Threetimesf
• Dad to Libbs
• Riding Giraffes in Stilettos (Where a post from Dad to Libbs will hopefully be posted)

I’ll keep this updated and hopefully we’ll get to a point where the loop works properly!

I’ve got all sorts of great posts coming over the next week, including another blog swap, the Official 20SB one! So stay tuned and don’t forget to go and visit Precious’ blog!

Geekgasm: SDCC 2012

Last weekend was San Diego Comic Con, probably the best convention in the world. Oh, how I wish I was there. One day I really must attend. It’s full of panels for all sorts of things and I could probably write a week’s worth of posts about it. But I shall control myself and write this post about all the best news which came from this year’s Comic Con.

Doctor Who

I just had to start with Doctor Who didn’t I? Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill all took part in several panels and interviews and they were joined for the main Doctor Who panel by Steven “The Moff” Moffat and executive producer Caroline Skinner. The audience there were treated to clips from episodes 2 and 3 of the new series but unfortunately those clips won’t be finding their way onto the internet (not officially anyway). The biggest excitement we can take from it are the titles of those two episodes and now we know the titles for the first three of the new series:

Episode 1: Asylum of the Daleks

Episode 2: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

Episode 3: A Town Called Mercy

(And Episode 4 is rumoured to be titled “Cubed”.)

DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP! That sounds like brilliant madness. And Matt Smith confirmed that episode 1 will definitely air in August! The unbearable wait it is nearly over!

The Walking Dead

The zombie show had a panel too and they showed a trailer for the Third season. It shows Michonne, the prison and the Governor, as well as the return of Merle. Here it is:

Wow, that looks pretty awesome! It certainly looks like Season 3 will be more exciting than Season 2. I don’t really like the Michonne of the show, from this trailer anyway, and I’m still sceptical that David Morrissey will make a good Governor. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays differently from the comics, what with Woodbury being introduced in a very different way and Merle coming back. I’m pretty excited for this!

The Avengers

There was a whole stack of Avengers news which I am excited about. First up, a clip from the One-shot “Item 47” which will appear on The Avengers Blu-ray. It’s set after the movie and sees two people pick up a Chitauri gun and use it badly. Typically some SHIELD agents will arrive to sort things out.

Looks quite good, I’ve loved the other two one-shots (The Consultant and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer- Youtube them) and this one is set to be even better!

The next Avengers film to come out will be Iron Man 3 and this brand new suit was shown at Comic Con:

Iron Man 3 will be in cinemas in April next year. After that the next one is Thor 2 which will be in cinemas in time for Christmas 2013. It was given the new name of “Thor: The Dark World”, which tells us precisely nothing about the film’s plot. Then in April 2014 it will be Captain America 2, now titled “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. That one will feature the return of Steve Roger’s best mate Bucky, though as The Winter Soldier, a “bad guy”.

And the films just keep on coming! Due for Summer 2014 is Guardians of the Galaxy, now officially announced. It seems a really odd choice of film to make. And how will it be involved with Phase 2 of The Avengers? Here’s the first concept art:

From left to right the team are: Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon and Gamorra.

AND there’s still one more! As rumoured, Edgar Wright will indeed be making an Ant Man film. I’m not too bothered about Ant Man but the fact Edgar Wright is doing it is hugely exciting! No date for that one but based on the other dates I’d guess Christmas 2014 with The Avengers 2 aimed for either April or Summer 2015.

Wow, Marvel are really going for it on the film side of things, I just hope Phase 2 will be at least as good as Phase 1!

Deadpool Game

A completely unexpected announcement is that of a Deadpool game. I love Deadpool and this teaser looks seriously good:

It really does look awesome! No news on what consoles it’ll be out for though.

Merlin

The team from BBC’s Merlin were at Comic Con too. They released the first image for series 5 (below), in which Gwen is taking her place as Queen of Camelot. Interestingly Anthony Head is returning as Uther Pendragon (as a guest role) which is intriguing seeing as though the character is dead. Though Lancelot turned up in the last series so it’s all possible with Merlin!

Film Posters

A couple of posters for other upcoming films were released at Comic Con too.

First, one for the new Superman movie Man of Steel:

Henry Cavill (WHO?) plays Superman in that film. It could be rubbish but there’s a chance it will be pretty decent. The more realistic suit, much like in The Amazing Spider-Man, is a good start at least.

There was also a poster for the third in Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s “Cornetto Trilogy”, The World’s End:

Not the most useful poster ever. The film, another Edgar Wright film of course, sees five friends reunite for a pub crawl to meet to finish at The World’s End, at the same time as Armageddon. The pub names shown on the poster may be hints towards the plot, though if that’s the case it still doesn’t tell us very much!

And that’s it! A huge post I know but I’m sure there’s something for everyone here. What are you most excited about?

Chart Chasers #24

Hello and welcome once again to Chart Chasers, where I check out the latest songs to hit the UK chart. This is my second attempt at writing this post as the first decided to vanish just before I posted it, which was infuriating.

First up today is a bit of a bonus track as it only charted #48 this week but I needed something to boost the numbers and I’ve not yet talked about it. It’s Love the Way You Lie by Eminem, featuring Rihanna.

Now obviously this was a massive hit but I’m not a huge fan. I really don’t like Eminem’s rapping, never have done, and whilst Rihanna’s chorus is great, it’s so flipping repetitive. Rihanna’s Love the Way You Lie Part 2 tired to compensate this but it just ends up as being too depressing and downbeat. So rather controversially I’m giving this 3/5.

Onto the top 40 now and the first track is No Hope by one of my fave bands The Vaccines. In fact I do have hope that this will be a good ‘un.

At just over the 4 minute mark, that’s much longer than some of The Vaccines previous songs. And personally I don’t think it’s as good. It’s all a bit “hipster” a word which I think basically means “boring”. Seriously, hipster clothing and stuff is just so dull! Anyway, a decent effort but not a patch on many of their other songs 3/5.

I can only imagine what will come next! Oh, it’s a song called I Can Only Imagine. It’s by David Guetta with Chris Brown doing the singing and Lil Wayne doing some rapping. Somehow I can’t imagine Guetta being able to make it sound like Chris Brown can sing.

Oh dear. I think this is my least favourite Guetta song in a long time, possibly ever. The song itself is pretty uninspiring, Chris Brown is autotuned (though Guetta does a better job with it than Chris does in his own songs) and Lil Wayne’s part is bad even for a Lil Wayne part. Plus the video pretty generic. Not good. 2/5.

Next is Adam Lambert with Never Close Our Eyes. If Lambert was around I would definitely make sure I never closed my eyes so I always knew where he was. He just looks so creepy!

Look at how creepy he is! But apart from that, this isn’t bad. It’s quite catchy and the voice work is pretty decent too. It’s probably the best song so far today and for that reason I’m giving it 4/5.

The UK has a new number one! It’s Florence + the Machine with Spectrum (Say My Name). Except it’s the Calvin Harris mix. I can’t see Florence and Calvin going together particularly well but you never know…

I have mixed feelings about this. I love the song itself and it’s another great track from Florence. But I’m not sure Calvin Harris adds anything. Well a beat, obviously. But I much prefer the untainted original. I think it sounds better without the beat on it. Sometimes the addition of a heavier beat is good, but here it is not. So this version gets 4/5 but the original is 5/5.

I hoped you enjoyed that and do let me know below if you agree or disagree with any of my thoughts! And don’t forget to check out the Chart page where you can see the entire UK Top 40 and my thoughts on every song!

Wimbledon, Wispa’s and Worries

Hello! In terms of blog posts it’s been a busy week but in terms of actual life…well, not so much. But I have all sorts of things to catch up on despite this.

First of all, let’s zoom back an entire week to the Wimbledon final. Well Serena Williams won the ladies’ title though that was no surprise to anyone really. The men’s final left me in something of a predicament really as British player Andy Murray was playing the greatest player ever and one of the few sportsman I genuinely respect, Roger Federer. Most of the match took place on the journey back from Wales so we were following it on the radio and on our mobile phones. Tennis commentary on the radio is dreadful. It sounds like this:

Federer serves, Forehand return from Murray, forehand, forehand, backhand, big stretch forehand from Murray, Federer backhand, forehand, forehand, backhand. CROWD CHEERS. It’s 30-40.

Now I had to decide who to support. If it had been any other player against him, I would have supported Murray, being the British hopeful. But Federer is a legend and I felt it was about time he won another Wimbledon (and also got the record for the most weeks at number one ever!). Plus when I thought about it, I don’t even like Murray very much. He’s really grumpy for one thing. And if I got asked my nationality I would say “English” and Murray is Scottish. They want to be independent for goodness sake, so I find it hard to properly consider him the same nationality; it feels like cheating.

I arrived home just in time to see the last few points of the match and to see Roger Federer win Wimbledon for the 7th time. It was great to see and I am really glad Roger won. But I did feel a bit sorry for Murray when he had a big cry. He does that though.

^{He does look pleased with himself doesn’t he? Well I suppose you would!}

You may well remember that I applied for a job at the local visitor information centre and had an interview? (I told you before, there is a definite narrative arc to this blog. Sometimes.) Well the interview was moved to Thursday and so on Thursday morning I dressed up all smart and headed into town. It’s amazing the additional respect you get is when you wear a shirt and tie in public. I very rarely have call to at the moment but I found generally everyone was more polite than they would have been otherwise. It brings respect apparently.

So the interview. Well it was pretty awkward. I think it’s actually my first job interview, the first of many no doubt. As soon as I walked in the room and was sat at a desk opposite two people I felt horrifically out of my depth. It’s wasn’t awful but it wasn’t exactly brilliant either. It didn’t help that some of the questions asked were really hard to answer. Like “What has the biggest challenge of your life been so far?” That sort of questions requires quite a lot of thinking. I said getting into university but to be honest it’s probably the right here right now. But more on that in a minute. Another question they asked was “How would your friends describe you?” I don’t know, ask my friends! I didn’t say that but I thought it. And I figured that it was probably a good thing they didn’t ask my friends as Chris and Mike especially would be prone to saying goodness knows what!

Suffice to say, I didn’t get the job. Apparently loads of people applied and I made it into the final 12 which is decent enough I suppose. It’s still disappointing though as I really would have liked the job, and not just because of the financial benefits. I feel now I ought to go in there and be really annoying to the person who did get the job. Some people would do that, but I won’t. Unless I get really bored.

On Thursday I went so see The Amazing Spider-Man (review here) with Chris. Chris is my BFF in case you’ve forgotten. Actually my other BFF Mike is currently in Cyprus looking at rocks. He does that sort of thing (he’s doing a geology degree). I miss Mike. But yeah, me and Chris hopped on the bus and went to the cinema. After a visit to McDonald’s I might add. Now I know McDonald’s food is unhealthy and everything but I LOVE IT. And actually it’s only really McDonald’s I feel that about, other places like KFC and Burger King are horrible. Another thing I love is the chocolate bar Wispa Gold. And the other day I discovered that there is a limited edition Wispa Gold McFlurry. So I had to have one!

^{An Instagram-type photo of the Wispa Gold McFlurry. Without the cool filter. So it’s just a lame photo really.}

IT WAS AMAZING! I loved, loved, loved it. I said so on Twitter and the Official Wispa Twitter account retweeted me. They have now retweeted me at least three times to my knowledge. Which gives a terrible impression of me (terrible but accurate).

My sleeping pattern is pretty messed up once again and it led me to some late night reflecting the other night. I was thinking about my current situation in life. Things are worse than they ever have been. I hardly ever go out. And I mean out of the house, let alone out clubbing or something. And it’s not really much different when I’m at university. It’s not really normal is it? At least recently I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not entirely my own fault. It’s always going to be dull in my hometown because it’s a dull place. At university I don’t have that many friends probably largely to do with the fact the female to male ratio is so high. I am perfectly happy to hang out with girls but actually they don’t really want to hang out with me most of the time. I’m always going to have a smaller social circle than the average university student because I’m not really a going out and getting drunk person. I never did it much but over the last few months I’ve realised I just don’t enjoy it any more.

It would be naive to say it’s nothing to do with me, I am rubbish at social interaction and can’t expect to meet people if I don’t talk to them. I do try though. I am just a naturally shy person. And that links to the other big issue I have with my life at the moment. I’m training to be a teacher if you remember. Being shy is not great in that profession. I wasn’t really very worried about it all but the university got me all worried after the last placement. Right now I’m considering whether I should quit the course. It would be two years of my life completely wasted but maybe this isn’t what I was meant to do. I suppose I need to prove it one way or the other and that opportunity will come in the six week placement I have starting in October.

So yeah. You can see the issues I have and why I said earlier that actually I’m going through the biggest challenge in my life. I actually have very little at the moment. Really it’s just my two best mates, my family and perhaps a couple of other friends. I’m very grateful for it all but it’s not really enough right now. It really does feel that I am spiralling into oblivion unless something can pluck me out. Hmm, that was a bit over the top but you get the point.

Sorry about that, the tone of this post when from pretty cheery to downright depressing. I like to share these things here though, it helps. Supportive or useful comments would be great right now. I’ve been enjoying all the news from Comic Con this weekend (desperately wishing I was there) and so there’ll be a Geekgasm post about it next week and join me as usual tomorrow for Chart Chasers! Thanks for reading this mammoth post, you’ve made it to the end!