Thursday 17 March 2011
back!
oops, I took a slightly longer break than anticipated, but I'm back now! Proper post to follow detailing all the new things i'm into!
Thursday 26 August 2010
Apology
Sorry I've been away for a few weeks not posting, but I've been super busy! The shop where I work closed for refurbishment so I've been working long hours helping with that, and I've also been away for a few days staying with my future in-laws in Wales. I fully intent to post about what I've been upto once my crazy schedule calms down and I've got time, so please bare with me!
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Toy Story 3
I got a David and Goliath T-shirt for only £7.99 from TKMaxx which I was very pleased about. I also found 'Look Sharp!' by Roxette on vinyl in a charity shop for 99p so I had a good day for bargains. I also got the cutest little Sylvanian Families bear in a carry case.
I really enjoyed 'Toy Story 3'. I thought it was much better than the second one and easily as good as the first. All the old gang were back although some of the minor ones were missing and there was some great new characters too. I LOVED Barbie and Ken for obvious reasons, having collected Barbie's for years it was great to see them in a new light. I've also found my new catchphrase in "your just an accessory!".
I recommend this to all, if you haven't already than go and see it!
Toy Story 3 at IMDB
Books I've read this past week
I'm an avid reader, and with so much travelling on trains this past week, I've had even more chance than normal to do some extra reading. I don't often read 'serious' book, I much prefer fun, silly books that are easy to read.
First book I read (sorry about the dodgy pic!) was 'Picture Perfect' by Jodi Picoult. The book is about a woman who has amnesia and finds out she's actually married to a famous film star, however as she begins to regain her memory she comes to understand that her life is far from perfect.
I believe this was one of Jodi's earlier books that's recently been republished (but I could be wrong) if so it explains why it lacks some of the more thought provoking plots of her later works. It's still a good story and I enjoyed it, but it doesn't have quite such a unique angle on the topic of domestic violence as I would have expected based on some of her other books.
Next I read a Criminal Minds media tie-in novel by Max Allan Collins. This is a continuation of my current obsession with all things Criminal Minds. Even though the reviews on amazon weren't great for all three of the Criminal Minds books, I decided to get them anyway and see what I thought for myself.
This is the first book in the series, and the only one to include Gideon placing it in the second half of series two timeline. The team head to Kansas to investigate homeless people being murdered.
I found that the story over all fitted quite well within the framework from the T.V. series, however it wasn't anything really special. The biggest compliant I came across in other reviews was that the plot could have just been another episode of the show, and the writer made no effort to make the most of his medium by elaborating on a story that wouldn't be possible to produce in a 45 minute T.V. show. I found that whilst I agree with this sentiment, it's not really a big issue for me. I think that the T.V. show does a fantastic job of not being constricted by it's limitations and including everything from its plots, and so the book followed suit.
The only slight criticism I have of the book is that the author seemed to get a few of the characterisations a little inaccurate, at least as far as I perceive the characters to be from watching the show. There was also a little too much emphasis on what people were wearing/eating/listening too music.
Overall I really enjoyed the book, and don't feel that I wasted my time or money on it, and in a few years time I may read it again, I'll also lend it to other fans of the show that I know.
Following on from reading 'Jump Cut' I then read 'Killer Profile', another media tie-in for Criminal Minds by Max Allan Collins.
In this book the team, now including Rossi instead of Gideon head to Chicago to investigate a series of murders based on the crimes of other famous serial killers.
I enjoyed this book more than the first one. There was still a little too much emphasis on what people were wearing for fans of the show, but in fairness to the author if your also making your book accessible for people who aren't as familiar with the characters than descriptions of people are necessary.
The final book I read this past week was 'Waking the Witch' by Kelley Armstrong.
I've been waiting for this book to come out since I finished reading the last one a year ago. Kelley Armstrong is the only author whose books I buy in hardback because I'm just too impatient to wait for them to be released in paperback!
This is the eleventh book in the 'Woman of the Otherworld' series and it's narrated by Savannah Levine.
It's Savannah's first time as a narrator and she's all grown up now, having first appeared in the books as an annoying 12 year old, daughter of Witch Eve Levine and Sorcerer Kristof Nast. Savannah goes to a small town in Washington State to investigate a series of murders of young woman that have ritualistic overtures.
I enjoyed the book being from Savannah's P.O.V. but that was about all. Definietly not one of Kelley Armstrong's best efforts, the plot was a little thin in some places and didn't flow very easily and it wasn't very cohesive. None of the plot points fitted together very well and things just kept happening that weren't very logical to the story. The end twist felt like something that was thrown together at the last minute as there were NO indicators at all throughout the book that would allow the reader to come to that conclusion without being told first.
Having been looking forward to this book for a while I was a little disappointed, however I shall continue to await the next one with anticipation in the hopes that this was just a blip.
 |
| Picture perfect by Jodi Picoult |
I believe this was one of Jodi's earlier books that's recently been republished (but I could be wrong) if so it explains why it lacks some of the more thought provoking plots of her later works. It's still a good story and I enjoyed it, but it doesn't have quite such a unique angle on the topic of domestic violence as I would have expected based on some of her other books.
 |
| Jump Cut by Max Allan Collins |
This is the first book in the series, and the only one to include Gideon placing it in the second half of series two timeline. The team head to Kansas to investigate homeless people being murdered.
I found that the story over all fitted quite well within the framework from the T.V. series, however it wasn't anything really special. The biggest compliant I came across in other reviews was that the plot could have just been another episode of the show, and the writer made no effort to make the most of his medium by elaborating on a story that wouldn't be possible to produce in a 45 minute T.V. show. I found that whilst I agree with this sentiment, it's not really a big issue for me. I think that the T.V. show does a fantastic job of not being constricted by it's limitations and including everything from its plots, and so the book followed suit.
The only slight criticism I have of the book is that the author seemed to get a few of the characterisations a little inaccurate, at least as far as I perceive the characters to be from watching the show. There was also a little too much emphasis on what people were wearing/eating/listening too music.
Overall I really enjoyed the book, and don't feel that I wasted my time or money on it, and in a few years time I may read it again, I'll also lend it to other fans of the show that I know.
 |
| Killer Profile by Max Allan Collins |
In this book the team, now including Rossi instead of Gideon head to Chicago to investigate a series of murders based on the crimes of other famous serial killers.
I enjoyed this book more than the first one. There was still a little too much emphasis on what people were wearing for fans of the show, but in fairness to the author if your also making your book accessible for people who aren't as familiar with the characters than descriptions of people are necessary.
 |
| Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong |
I've been waiting for this book to come out since I finished reading the last one a year ago. Kelley Armstrong is the only author whose books I buy in hardback because I'm just too impatient to wait for them to be released in paperback!
This is the eleventh book in the 'Woman of the Otherworld' series and it's narrated by Savannah Levine.
It's Savannah's first time as a narrator and she's all grown up now, having first appeared in the books as an annoying 12 year old, daughter of Witch Eve Levine and Sorcerer Kristof Nast. Savannah goes to a small town in Washington State to investigate a series of murders of young woman that have ritualistic overtures.
I enjoyed the book being from Savannah's P.O.V. but that was about all. Definietly not one of Kelley Armstrong's best efforts, the plot was a little thin in some places and didn't flow very easily and it wasn't very cohesive. None of the plot points fitted together very well and things just kept happening that weren't very logical to the story. The end twist felt like something that was thrown together at the last minute as there were NO indicators at all throughout the book that would allow the reader to come to that conclusion without being told first.
Having been looking forward to this book for a while I was a little disappointed, however I shall continue to await the next one with anticipation in the hopes that this was just a blip.
Thursday 5 August 2010
Buttercup family
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| Buttercup Family |
I started collecting Sylvanian Families at Christmas, and I have quite a collection so far. I even made a pilgrimage to the Sylvanian store in London (will be writing about that in more detail in a future blog).
I love the detail on this family. The Father is Hornbull Buttercup ad he likes taking walks in the forest according to his bio. I love his cute little horns and his red necktie.
The Mother is Daisy Buttercup and according to her bio she likes to gossip and always knows whats going on around her.
The Son/Brother is Paddock Buttercup and he's full of beans and can't sit still. He loves playing catch in the playground. I like how his dungarees and shirt are opposite colours to his Dad's.
The Daughter/Sister is Annabell Buttercup and she's the opposite or her brother. She likes to take her time and never runs anywhere.
Check out the online Sylvanian Families shop for more!
Offical Sylvanian Families website
Tuesday 3 August 2010
Night out in Bournemouth
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| Prezzo's restaurant |
I got the train to Pokesdown yesterday and walked into Boscombe to meet Rachel, we then got a bus to Bournemouth and met Georgia and went to a cocktail bar called 1812 (I think?). We then went to Prezzo's for dinner. I then went back to Rachel's and stayed over night and got the train home this morning after going to a nice little cafe for some breakfast.
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| Strawberry Mojito |
I had a really nice dinner at Prezzo's too. Quarto Fromaggi pizza and shared Garlic bread with Mozzarella and shared chocolate fudge cake.
I had a really lovely evening and am looking forward to doing it again sometime soon.
Sunday 1 August 2010
Day trip to Malmesbury
Today Tom and I went to Malmesbury to see his Gran for her 80th birthday. Here's how it went....
After having to get up at what I consider to be a too early time (07:30) we walked down to the train station in Winchester to get the 09:30 train to Chippenham (the closest place to Malmesbury with a train station).
We paid for our tickets with the ticketman who had a handheld printer, and after buying our tickets and going to wait on the platform, I commented to Tom that I thought my ticket had cost more than when I looked it up on the interent, but I just assumed I'd made a mistake. Then lo and behold, just before the train came the ticket man came running onto the platform looking for me, he'd made a mistake with my ticket and wanted to refund me the difference, who was I to complain?!
We got the train to Reading and then changed for the train to Chippenham. As it turned out somewhere along the line the train times had gotten muddled and we arrived a whole hour earlier than we'd anticipated at Chippenham. So rather than hang around at the train station for an hour we decided to walk into Chippenham town center for a look around (unfortuantly it was a Sunday so most of it was closed) but it seemed like a nice place.
After getting picked up by Tom's dad, Mike we drove to Tom's Gran's house, where I met two of Tom's uncles and Sam's girlfriend for the first time.
We went to 'The Cat and the Custard Pot' pub for lunch and I had lasagne, which was lovely.
After lunch we went back to the house for a bit of birthday cake, and then it was back to the train station and the journey in reverse.
All in all a nice day out.
Photo copyrighted @ Phil Williams
P.S. while we were at lunch, this particular youtube video was a topic of disscusion. See what you think.
After having to get up at what I consider to be a too early time (07:30) we walked down to the train station in Winchester to get the 09:30 train to Chippenham (the closest place to Malmesbury with a train station).
We paid for our tickets with the ticketman who had a handheld printer, and after buying our tickets and going to wait on the platform, I commented to Tom that I thought my ticket had cost more than when I looked it up on the interent, but I just assumed I'd made a mistake. Then lo and behold, just before the train came the ticket man came running onto the platform looking for me, he'd made a mistake with my ticket and wanted to refund me the difference, who was I to complain?!
We got the train to Reading and then changed for the train to Chippenham. As it turned out somewhere along the line the train times had gotten muddled and we arrived a whole hour earlier than we'd anticipated at Chippenham. So rather than hang around at the train station for an hour we decided to walk into Chippenham town center for a look around (unfortuantly it was a Sunday so most of it was closed) but it seemed like a nice place.
After getting picked up by Tom's dad, Mike we drove to Tom's Gran's house, where I met two of Tom's uncles and Sam's girlfriend for the first time.
 |
| Pub we went to for lunch |
After lunch we went back to the house for a bit of birthday cake, and then it was back to the train station and the journey in reverse.
All in all a nice day out.
Photo copyrighted @ Phil Williams
P.S. while we were at lunch, this particular youtube video was a topic of disscusion. See what you think.
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