Fan Art, Friends and Cars

We lost our second cat at the start of this week.

It seems so long ago already as I've been back to London since then and met up with a few friends.

It was only in April that Smudge was taken from us unexpectedly. He was hit by a car sadly, such a horrible way to go.

But Kittie, she was getting on a bit so we knew it was coming soon.

Mum said she was purring right up until the end. Heartbreaking :(

 

Sorry to start this post off with a bit of a downer, but just look at how beautiful she was.

She was always there for a cuddle when I was growing up. Sixteen years of my childhood.

Anyways, I am now back at home again after a whirlwind few days at work, just so I get to see mum and Neil before they go back to Dubai.

I've seen a couple of friends already and have a couple more to go as well as my grandparents. Just trying to relax mainly as I haven't taken any holiday in quite a long time.

I went bowling last Saturday with a friend from college I hadn't seen in 2 years. Saw another friend from college for dinner after work one day.

I also saw one of my best friends yesterday and she's obsessed with gaming and tumblr and whatnot. So now that I've come back from seeing her I have a new (old but returned) love for tumblr again.

We looked at a lot of fan art yesterday (mainly for Fallout 4 as she loves it) and it's made me want to start sketching again.

I miss it so much.

I used to do it all the time. I mean I worked my butt off at GCSE and got an A*.

I was so proud.

And then college came along and my art class got dropped and photography took over my world. If only I'd have continued drawing.

There may be a few dodgy sketches to come before I can get back into the swing of things, but I really am hoping to start up again if I can find the time.

I've also been trying to get a car as I suddenly got the urge to drive (plus Adeel's insurance is super expensive since his accident)! I've put a deposit down and test drove it, so I should be picking it up Tuesday if all goes smoothly.

Fingers crossed! (I'm sure I'll post pictures once it's all official, got to drive it back to London on Wednesday yet - scary!)

And on another note, as this is an arty post, I still haven't thought of a name for my bloody novel.

At this rate it never will have a name. Why is this bit harder than the actual writing?

Ah, oh well. I've got a few more days here and then I'm back to normality.

Wish me luck.

Independence Day: Resurgence

I really need to start writing these reviews as soon as I've seen the film otherwise I lose all memory of details and end up spending an age trying to remember what actually happened.

Now, Independence Day.

I wouldn't say I was a hugeee fan of the first one. It's good, don't get me wrong. But Adeel is a massive fan so I always knew we'd watch the second one.

I was pretty excited though, wondering what they'd do different this time.

Image from Pinterest

Like with everyone else (I assume), I was disappointed that Will Smith wasn't reprising his role after 20 years. Everyone else managed to be in it, yet one of the main characters wasn't. Annoying much?

However, I did find Liam Hemsworth to be a pretty good substitute.

He's playing his usual sort of charming, funny role. But I enjoyed his subplot with the romance and even more so the fact that his girl got in on the action of fighting with the aliens as well.

Maika Monroe was pretty good as Hemsworth's love interest and the former President's daughter. Like I said, I loved how she was able to be a helpful role in bringing down the alien force. It wasn't all left down to the men as usual which was nice.

Jeff Goldblum as always was amazing. I will forever enjoy anything he is in after playing Ian in Jurassic Park. Enough said.

The rest of the cast were good too, especially Bill Pullman as a slightly going-off-the-rails Whitmore.

The storyline was pretty much the same except with bigger aliens and some of the characters (like Whitmore) having all of these visions to sort of predict their next attack.

I liked the added element of alien and human working together against a bigger alien foe and the CGI and finale were spectacular.

I can't really remember much else, I just know I enjoyed it!

Plenty of action, some edge of your seat moments and a good dose of romance/feel good moments.

---

Rating:
★★★★★



✌

Medieval Rochester

I feel exhaustion deep in my bones this week. 

It seems working hard constantly for months on end is beginning to take it's toll.

Thank God I'm headed home this weekend. 

My mum and step-dad are coming back from Dubai for two weeks and I haven't seen them since early December so that should be nice.

Last weekend, however, I went to Faversham, right after work, to my dad's place.

I've only been there 3 times and only twice on the train after work. 

But I noticed the first time and this time going past a stunning harbour with a crumbling, cobblestoned town.

When we pulled into the station not long after these sights, the sign said 'Rochester'.

And funnily enough that's where my dad suggested we go the following day.

It  was supposed to be such a beautiful, warm weekend, but the weather wasn't all it was meant to be.

I still had a good time though.

We settled in to watch the Olympics on Friday night, my sister arriving a couple of hours after me.

And then on Saturday we headed to Rochester Castle where there happened to be a medieval festival on as well.

It  was definitely an interesting day.

People genuinely dress up in medieval gear and live like they did back then for an entire weekend.

Imagine that?

Medieval stories always fascinate me - Robin Hood, Merlin and Arthur, The Musketeers.

There's just something about sword fighting and men in armour that will capture my attention every time.

Anyways, I'm getting diverted. After wandering around the stalls for a bit (maybe stalls isn't the right word) and catching Pokemon, we decided to stay and see the falconry show.

There were about five birds they showcased - an eagle, two owls, a falcon and a vulture.

They were incredible.

They introduced their different talents: speed, sight, smell, flying.

I enjoyed watching the vulture the most. Apparently they are rubbish flyers, preferring to hop about. It's hilarious.

Another could watch TV from 2 miles away (if it was so inclined), it's eyesight is amazing.

They really are beautiful creatures.

There was a beautiful cathedral nearby but we didn't go in it in the end, just took photos of it.

We didn't go inside the castle either, but there was probably more to see in the grounds anyway.

We finished off the weekend watching The Hobbit, playing countless games of Uno and reading.

It  was such a relaxing weekend, I just wish it didn't go so quick!

♚

The City of Mirrors

By Justin Cronin.

My God, I waited 6 months for this.

I pre-ordered it and everything.

And this epic finale has definitely not disappointed.

I even think this trilogy (The Passage and The Twelve also) has just overtaken The Lord of the Rings as my favourite novels.

Really.

[The plague that almost ended humanity
is finally over. For a new generation of
children, the once-feared virals have
begun to seem almost like imaginary
monsters, creatures from a fairy tale they
no longer believe in.

For Alicia, however, the bad dreams can
never be forgotten. And the voice in
those dreams is leading her towards one
of the great cities of The Time Before.
The ruined city of New York.

Ruined but not empty. For this is the
final refuge of Zero, the first and most
terrible product of the viral experiment.
And Alicia knows that the nightmare can
never truly be over until he is destroyed.

But what she finds is not what she's
expecting.

An opponent at once deadlier and
more human than she could ever have
imagined, who takes her on a terrifying
journey into the past to learn how it all
began.

And to find out how it must end.]

Can I just say? Justin Cronin is a God of literature and I am sorely tempted to pick up The Passage once more and start the trilogy all over again.

Seriously, the plot, the characters, the writing style, the imagery, everything = PERFECT.

I loved the backstory of Zero's character. Although the content of his history was almost mundane, boring in a way, the way it's written and just the pure fact you - as a reader - know what's coming is enough to keep you hooked.

The rest of the original characters (that are still alive) are back twenty years or so on. I must admit I was a little disappointed they were all grandparents at this stage. It created a whole new spin on their situation though.

As always, Cronin draws you in, building up for the tension to hit and he sure didn't hold back.

I don't even know what else there is to say that won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read any of them.

It was a novel of heartbreak, beauty, friendship, love, soul-searching and a new beginning.

I can't suggest you read it enough.

---

Rating:
★★★★★★★★★★



✌

Feelin' Twenty Two

Okay, I don't really know how to start off this post because it happened so long ago. 

So I'm just gonna jump right in I guess.

To kickstart my twenty second birthday celebrations (17th March, St Patrick's Day), the team and I went to Nando's for lunch and my manager brought in two massive boxes of Krispy Kreme (yes, I went to work on my birthday, only a half day, as it happened to fall on a Thursday and that is my busiest day!)

So after Nando's, my usual lemon and herb butterfly chicken, with creamy mash and garlic bread (yum), I headed home with what was left of the Krispy Kreme's (there was no way I was leaving them at work, they would be demolished on the way to Oxford and in Oxford if needs must).

Now, this bit I cannot remember, so my helpful diary is assisting me. 

Once I got home, apparently I phoned my mum (standard), squeezed in a few episodes of Pretty Little Liars before Adeel came over and then we just watched Gogglebox. I don't even remember what we had for dinner (I don't think I wanted anything takeaway-ish because of the weekend ahead was sure to have lots of bad food).

The next day we woke up reasonably early and drove to Oxford. The drive was surprisingly short compared to what I thought it could have been.

We didn't need to check in until around 3 o'clock and we arrived in Oxford at about 12pm. So instead we went for a wander. Adeel showed me where he worked and we came across a few sites along the way to the town centre. It was absolutely freezing so we kept ducking into places before finally reaching Christ Church.

We  wanted to see this because of the Harry Potter scenes filmed here and it definitely did not disappoint. It was beautiful. We took a load of snaps and walked around the grounds (unfortunately we couldn't go into the hall as the students were on lunch or something).

Here are a few of the photos we took:

After that we were hungry and found a Burger King in the town centre. Because it was nearly Easter as well, I made Adeel keep stopping off so we could buy some nice eggs. We found a Harry Potter themed shop as well, am surprised I didn't buy anything from there too.

Heading to Eynsham Hall, our residence for the next few days, we found it was quite out of the way - the sat nav didn't even really know where it was (when we'd parked the image on the sat nav claimed we were sat in a big expanse of green in the middle of nowhere and told us to find a road so it could redirect us).

Eynsham Hall is a large manor, with stags heads lining the walls and olden furniture gracing every inch of floor. Our rooms were not in the manor itself but in a bunch of flat-like buildings a short walk away.

The rooms weren't all that impressive, pretty snug, but okay for just crashing in every evening.

After watching a couple of old episodes of Top Gear we decided to head back into Oxford to go bowling. I can't remember if we played one or two games, but it was quick with just the two of us. We then proceeded to play pool and air hockey in the arcade.

We almost went for dinner at Frankie and Benny's but there was a 45 minute wait and it was already about 9 o'clock so we grabbed some sandwiches/readymade pasta from Sainsbury's instead and headed back to the hotel to watch We're The Millers.

I didn't sleep all that well that night (I seem to have a weird thing where I have trouble sleeping in a new place for the first night) so the following morning we missed breakfast because of our unexpected lie-in.

Once we were up though, we got ready and drove to Bicester village. The shops were amazing, all lined out like neat little pastel coloured houses. We looked in quite a lot of them, me taking it all in in total awe as Adeel had seen it before.

I finally decided to purchase my first high end product - a DKNY handbag (I originally wanted a Michael Kors one but there was a queue outside the shop by the time I decided I wanted one and they were more expensive anyway!)

We stopped in one of their restaurants as we'd skipped breakfast and I had a really nice chicken and avocado burger thing (I think) with peppermint tea.

After we'd had our fill of browsing the shops (and going back to Ralph Lauren about 4 times before not actually buying anything), we headed back to Eynsham Hall and wandered around the grounds, taking lots of snaps and coming across a wedding party in the main hall.

Eynsham Hall is actually where an episode of Top Gear was filmed - or part of it. It was kind of why we ended up picking to stay here in the end, oddly enough.

It had a small maze by the water fountains which was creepy, but the grounds themselves were massive.

We stopped in the Gun Room Bar for a bit and ordered some food to take back to our room. Think I just had my usual, Chicken Caesar Salad. Adeel had a burger in which I stole his bacon from as he can't have it.

The Day After Tomorrow was on so we watched that and then called it a night.

The following morning, after a slightly better nights sleep, we made it to a buffet-style breakfast in time before we had to check out. I remember just having a pastry and some cheese and ham. Adeel went for a little bit more with hash browns, grapes, a pastry and a yoghurt.

We felt like the youngest people there, in fact I think we were, so we felt a little out of place the entire time but it was an enjoyable experience and a lovely way to celebrate my birthday.

Let's just hope if we ever revisit it's slightly warmer!



☘

Central Intelligence

I didn't expect to like this nearly half as much as I actually did. 

Some films surprise you I guess.

After seeing Kevin Hart live a few months back - and with A being such a huge fan of his and The Rock - I thought this film had a fair chance of being reasonably funny.

I was wrong.

Image from Pinterest

It was hilarious. And the action was good too!

I thought it would be over the top and ridiculous, with jokes that were forced. But, although the plot obviously wasn't a believable one, it was a rather amusing one and not too out there.

It starts off with a scene in high school where Kevin Hart's character is the popular kid getting an award for something or other at a football game when some of the others decide to play a prank on The Rock's character. Quite a mean prank at that.

I have to say, the CGI in this initial scene was pretty good. They both looked considerably younger in a realistic way.

The film then continues on some years later revolving around the idea of an upcoming high school reunion where the two unexpectedly meet up once again beforehand.

A series of action scenes and funny events then proceed to happen and I found myself highly entertained all of the way through.

Not only was it funny, exciting and obscure, but it also had a great message underneath.

Don't let people put you down, be proud of who you are.

Kevin Hart was great in his role - although a serious character - the sarcasm and downright panicky jumpiness of him was great.

The Rock, though, was the standout for me. I'm so used to seeing him in a purely action role, flexing his muscles and just, well, being menacing. But, you know, he actually shocked me. I thought at the beginning his character was just putting on a flamboyant, camp front but he wasn't! It was such an unusual, strange role for him to play and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him.

The film also proceeded to surprise me with a few twists and turns. You didn't know who actually was the bad guy until right at the end which was good. I definitely couldn't seem to guess as they kept flicking it between a bunch of different characters.

I still can't believe how much I enjoyed this film.

If you're up for watching an easy, fast-paced, action-filled, funny film with two great actors in it then you should give this a watch.

---

Rating:

★★★★★



✌

Stand For What You Believe In

It's been a busy ol' week and I'm glad to have the weekend to chill out a bit. 

Sunday's always seem to be my favourite day as it's usually the day Adeel comes over or it's the day when I can be lazy and do absolutely nothing.

Close-up of a bee whilst out catching Pokemon

When I was at home, my mum and step-dad used to always do the roast dinner on Sunday's and we'd sit together in the lounge and watch one of those family-type programmes.

I miss that with them being in Dubai, me here and my sister just not interested in spending time with the family anymore.

I took a half day on Thursday and went home because it was my cousin's baby's first birthday, which was cute.

She had a bit of a party at hers and there were so many people and babies and balloons, it was a bit chaotic!

My other cousin, the younger one, is about four months pregnant and we just sat and chattered away the entire time as I hadn't seen her since she'd announced that she was expecting.

It was such a nice evening, which was finished off at my grandparents, eating lots of cheese on toast and listening to classical music. Perfect.

Two tiny books I got for Dolly's 1st birthday

Religion seems to have been the hot topic this week, at least for me. It was discussed earlier in the week with A, a few days ago with my colleagues at work and then with my grandparents as well funnily enough.

It fascinates me, but I don't ever think I will fully understand it not being a believer and all. I guess I just don't get why it has to cause so many problems; wars, arguments, separation between races, relationships breaking apart.

And why are there so many different Gods, wouldn't it be easier for there to just be one overall God and be done with it?

Although if people didn't fight about religion, they would find something else to fight about. It seems to be the way of the human race, we can't just all agree and get on with our lives.

I get that people need something to believe in. It's daunting to think what's actually out there, or into any of those big questions. But are we ever actually going to get any answers? No.

All I'm trying to say is, if you believe in something, no matter what it may be, you should not need to challenge anyone else's opinion or feel ashamed of your own.

From TheGoodQuote's Instagram

This post is not intended to offend anyone, it's just my honest opinion



✾

Alice Through The Looking Glass

The day we saw this was during that bank holiday weekend where I'd planned for me and Adeel to just be constantly busy the entire time. 

We'd just spent a day at the zoo, doing more than our recommended 10,000 steps a day, and decided to make a pit stop on the way home to watch this at Westfield.

It was a decision we later regretted some two hours later as neither of us enjoyed the film at all.

Image from Pinterest

Alice Through the Looking Glass was, unfortunately, a huge let down.

The trailer built it up to be another exciting adventure for Alice (Mia Wasikowska) in that she had to save the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) - and the rest of the Wonderland beings in the end - from Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen).

The plot, unfortunately, did not work out. The beginning was too long and slow and the rest not very dramatic or captivating. The climax not really very much of one at all.

I liked Alice. I never had any problems with her, being strong and independent. I think Mia Wasikowska played her extremely well with her quick wit, determination, ambition and imagination.

I obviously think Johnny Depp played the Mad Hatter well, but I am very biased. One thing I didn't like about his character was the eccentricity to him. The make-up and costumes were a little too much and needed dialling down a notch.

Time was an interesting character - one I thought I would love the idea of - yet, Sacha Baron Cohen did not succeed. He was rigid, lacked any humour even though jokes were told and was quite boring.

The rest of the characters were only okay. I still enjoyed Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of the Red Queen, the backstory to how she got her enlarged head was an interesting one, but one that made me detest the White Queen even more. 

I don't know what Anne Hathaway was trying to do with this character but she failed. She was irritating, too busy prancing about with stupid hand movements and over-the-top actions than actually focusing on her acting.

One good thing I do have to say about the film are the sets and majority of the costumes. For the time period outside of Wonderland and Wonderland itself, they were all extraordinary and a spectacular site to see for a fairytale land. 

There are two scenes that stand out to me the most. One is where Time enters a room full of pocket watches dangling from the ceiling. This is a beautiful scene, one that represents each persons life and is entirely captivating. 

The other is one of the final moments of the film where everything is being frozen in a red crust-like formation as time dissolves and Alice reaches to restore the Chronosphere in an attempt to rectify her mistake.

It's a shame this was one of Alan Rickman's last films, he deserved better. The best moment was when I saw his name come up at the end in dedication.

---

Rating: ★★☆☆☆



✌