New Year's Reflections

Not resolutions.

This is the time to write a long list of resolutions that will be broken at approximately 3am on New Year Day. This year I’ve decided, in an attempt to be a bit more positive, to reflect on things I have actually achieved or things of note from not just this past year but over my 20 years on earth (oh yeah, I turned 20 last week. That’s… old.)

So, in no particular order…

Passed my first year of university

With a 2:1. Hooray!

Abseiled down a 100 foot tower

Admittedly this was with the instructed strapped to me and I cried half the way down but… I was 13 and it was scary, okay?

Been to two music festivals, Leeds 2010 and Beach Break Live 2011.

Leeds was amazing, favourite bands had to be The Midnight Beast, Weezer and definitely Blink 182. Absolutely epic live!

Beach Break was also really good, although a lot rainier and a lot windier. Also, we set fire to our tent whilst attempting to cook canned chicken korma. At least we laughed a lot. Plus we got to see Ed Sheeran live, the moment that I promptly fell in love with him.

Scuba dived in the Atlantic Ocean

When on holiday in Cape Verde, October 2009. It was pretty scary but lodes of fun!

My sister and me, looking good in scuba gear

Lived in 3 decades, 2 centuries and 2 millenniums

I have happily fallen into the generation that can say that at the ripe old age of 20. As long as I never mix up that “in” with a “for”.

Seen my favourite band live

Fall Out Boy, March 2009. Right at the front, was half crushed but it was completely worth it.

Pete Wentz, Bass Guitarist of FOB

Seen my second favourite band live many times

I’ve seen them about 5 or 6 times, I’ve kind of lost count. And I’ll be going again in April… I regret nothing.

Rock climbed, on an actual rock

I got 2/3 of the way up before I was just holding on an whimpering a little and had to come back down. Still.

Volunteered in a third world country

Two weeks in Ghana, July 2009. We helped build the foundations for a new toilet block at a daycare centre, painted a school and hung out with the pupils, and did visited children in an orphanage to do arts and crafts with them. Absolutely incredible experience and I met some amazing people. 

Trinity Orphanage

The school we painted, inside and out

Seen many of my favourite comedians live

Russell Howard, Lee Mack, Michael McIntyre, Lee Evans, Jimmy Carr. Have yet to see Alan Carr and Jason Manford, plus I’m sure many many more. 

Meeting Jimmy after the show. He's actually really lovely in person!

Learnt to play a musical instrument

This is pretty major as I am the least musical person ever, but I’d always loved the ukulele and when I joined university and they had a ukulele orchestra, how could I not buy one straight away?

Visited Disneyland Paris

Twice! Once when I was younger and once for my 18^th birthday. One of the friends I went with, Becca, fell off the pavement on our first night and we ended up in French Casualty until 3am. It all worked out though, after a LOT of me battling with the hotel/staff (as there had been no lights on in the park when she fell over) we got her free use of a wheelchair for the weekend, plus the fast track pass for all the rides. 

Been stranded in Paris

I love the way that sounds. This was the same trip as the Disneyland debacle above. Epic snow back home meant that flights were cancelled for three days, but again it worked out. They put us up in a hotel and we we got to spend a day zipping round Paris. We visited the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Louvre, where we saw the Mona Lisa (Becca’s exact words on seeing this masterpiece: “Is that it?”)

Been on Safari

Kenya, February 2009. There aren’t any words to describe how absolutely amazing this experience was for me (so here’s a bunch of photos instead).

This little guy was sat on our porch one morning

Also whilst there, I accidentally knocked over something in a shop and when I apologised, the shop keeper just waved his hand and said “Hakuna Matata.” Hakuna Matata. I had to leave quickly before I hugged him I was that excited.

Completed my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award

Sure, I was always at the back of our group on every practice walk (there were many). But I still did it! Eventually.

Learn to Ski

Anything steeper than a blue run still freaks me out but I’m perfectly happy meandering down the greens and blues.

Visited Canada

Where I…

-          Did a lot of skiing

-          Went husky dog sledding

-          Walked (and jumped) on a frozen lake

-          Ate the biggest breakfast I have ever had in my life (and spent the rest of the day recovering)

-          Visited an outdoor natural hot springs. Felt pretty weird looking up and around at the mountains and snow, whilst in a swimming costume sitting in a pool.

-          Inwardly screamed with excitement every time a Canadian or Australian spoke to me. They have the BEST accents!

Learnt to drive

If you want to get technical, I haven’t actually passed my test yet. But I can drive! I just can’t when there’s a guy with a clipboard sat next to me. I’ll get there eventually.

Started a blog!

I know that I have been severely neglecting it but I have been in a bit of a rut these last couple of months, so I’m hoping that this will change soon.

That made me feel a whole lot better than sitting and writing a long list of things that in my heart I know I wouldn’t achieve half of… however there are a few things I would like to aim to do over the coming year.

I would like to be able to worry a lot less about what people think of me, starting with how I look because I obsess over that way too much. First mission; stop asking everyone I know going to an event what they will be wearing, then spending hours fretting that I am over/under dressed!

I also want to concentrate a lot better on my uni work. I did a lot better at that last term than I did in first year so hopefully I can continue that and start getting better marks.

BUDGET BETTER! I am in a dire financial situation at the moment and it’s all my own fault. Must sort that out!

For the love of god, go swimming. This is the third year running I have vowed to do this. Let it please be third time lucky!

So Happy New Year everyone. Make it a good one.

xxxx

Help Harry Help Others: RIP Harry

HELP HARRY HELP OTHERS

RIP Harry Moseley

 Last night, an eleven year old boy named Harry Moseley lost his fight against Cancer. I didn't know Harry, but have been following his twitter for some time now and am a supporter of his campaign. This brave, inspirational little boy set up a website selling bracelets to make money for Cancer Research to help others... not himself. Others.

We all get caught up in our own personal day-to-day problems. Seeing Harry's mother tweeting about how Harry was doing put things into perspective for me every time. I wear my bracelets every day to show my support, and will continue to do so now that he's gone. Harry Moseley was a spark of good in an often dark world, doing something simple to help the fight against Cancer.

My thoughts are with his family, and the people close to him. He will always be remembered by those who knew him, and of his campaign, as an extraordinary boy with a huge heart.

If you do one good thing today; please buy a bracelet or donate to Help Harry Help Others. It's not too late to carry his memory and his dreams on even now he has left this world.

The Girl Who Waited (For A Decent Episode): Doctor Who Review

** CONTAINS SPOILERS **

Third week of Doctor Who and you have no idea how happy I am to be typing that it’s third time lucky. After two fairly disappointing weeks “The Girl Who Waited”, written by Tom McRae, really renewed my faith in the series with a well-developed and deep plotline. It brought out some raw emotion and heartbreaking decisions, unhidden or obstructed by unfathomable alien technology and complex (and sometimes unnecessary) character backstories.

First off, Saturday (10^th September)’s episode took less than 5 minutes for the danger to begin. Too many Moffat episodes (most notably the half-series finale “Demons Run”) try to throw in too much at the beginning that can have me thinking, “Will you get to the point already?” No sooner have they landed on Apalapucia (say it three times fast), Amy is separated from the Doctor and Rory and landed in a separate, faster time stream. Very quickly the threat of time slipping away becomes obvious when Amy asks, “Where have you been?! I’ve been here a week!” It’s immediate, and it’s not painfully overcomplicated whilst still being interesting and making you think.

The ‘villains’ in this episode posing a second threat other than time, are the faceless white robots that work in the Apalapucia “kindness facility” helping to deal with a plague known as “Chen7” that affects races with two hearts (thus stranding the Doctor in the TARDIS for the remainder of the episode). The robots, however, are not villains at all and merely do not understand that their medicine will be fatal to humans such as Amy and Rory. This is a plot device I always find wonderfully ironic and always interesting, when the threat is great but no one actually means anyone any harm. Like the treat of time passing quickly in Amy’s time stream, it is merely bad circumstance and misunderstanding that lands the characters in danger. I think that this can sometimes be even more worrying than a conscious villain with bad intentions, as it isn’t something that can be reasoned with or appealed to.

"Do not be alarmed, this is a kindness..."

Another thing I thought was extremely well written in this episode was the characterisation of Future Amy, the Amy that has been through thirty-six solitary years in the time it took Rory and the Doctor to park the TARDIS in a different room. She was completely believable as the hardened, bitter future version of Amy Pond, who began to (understandably) hate the Doctor as she entered her fourth decade waiting to be saved. However it was the small human touches that made her character perfect for me. How her hand nervously brushed back her hair and she muttered “Thanks…” when Rory was shocked at hold old she was. The way she almost applied her old lipstick to look nice for her husband. How she had painted a smile on the faceless robot she had reprogrammed to keep her company. That after all this time alone and hating the Doctor, she still wanted to be taken away in the TARIDS and travel the stars. She was definitely a changed Amy… but still Amy nonetheless, and still in tune with the present version of herself wandering the halls of the “kindness facility” in a separate time stream. Brilliantly written, and brilliantly played.  

I also loved that this episode wasn’t quite as predictable as past ones have been. When is becomes apparent that both the present and future versions of Amy will be returning to the TARDIS, and after both Amys and Rory have battled past the robots and look as if they’re going to make it into the TARDIS… the Doctor slams the door in future Amy’s face. Rule number one: the Doctor lies, and future Amy cannot possibly travel on board the TARDIS with another version of herself. It almost seemed out of character of the Doctor to simply abandon someone like that, especially Amy, and to let the responsibility fall on someone else by making Rory decide whether or not to let her in. However it did give Amy the opportunity to show the best of herself, by taking the weight of the decision off of Rory’s shoulders and telling him not to open the door for her. In this way she wasn’t abandoned again; she took control, and gave herself up to the Apalapucian robots who killed her with kindness as she reminisced about “a boy she once met”. Although tragic it was a perfectly rounded ending, especially when the present Amy woke up in the TARIDS and her first words were, “Where is she?”

If I had to say one negative thing about this week’s episode (there’s always something…) I would have to point out that there was a severe absence of the Doctor… he was only really required to pilot the TARDIS. He even refuses to make the big decision in this episode, as after he shuts out the future Amy he ultimately leaves the choice about whether to let her on board again up to Rory, delivers his second impact-heavy line of the episode, “This isn’t fair! You’re trying to turn me into you!” (The other of course being “Then I don’t want to travel with you anymore!”, perhaps foreshadowing more of these feelings to emerge in later episodes?). However apart from that, this has definitely been my favorite episode out of the three so far!

Next week; “The God Complex”, and I think the trailer speaks for itself. Absolutely can't wait, and really hoping that it matches up with this episode’s level of quality and pace!

Night Terrors: Doctor Who Review

** CONTAINS SPOILERS **

Week two of Doctor Who, and this week it was “Night Terrors” penned by Mark Gatiss . As I said at the end of my last review, this episode looked like it was set to be one of my favorites. I love the Doctor Who episodes that play on the fears of the eight-year-old inside us all, the part of our brain that whispers cruel things to us when the lights are off and the shadows on our bedroom walls look like they’ve been cast by something other than our desk chair. These plots work so well because pretty much everyone can relate to them, and can scare even the least superstitious amongst us. Episodes that do this so well include “Silence in the Library” and “Forrest of the Dead”, which justifies a very primal fear of the dark. Another is “Blink”, which ends beautifully by suggesting that every statue is in fact a Weeping Angel. The drive “Night Terrors” can be summed up by one of the Doctor’s opening lines; “We’re going to the scariest place in the universe; a child’s bedroom”.

I really enjoyed watching the character of Alex in this episode, as he was quite believable as the confused and worried father of George, the little boy whose desperate plea to “Save me from the monsters” called the Doctor from across the universe. I love watching the interactions between various human personalities and the Doctor, and this one was particularly enjoyable with echoes of the relationship between the Doctor and Craig Owen (from “The Lodger”, series 5). Alex will do anything to try and help his frightened son, though once the Doctor starts talking about real monsters he panics and demands he leave the apartment, accusing him of making George worse. Once he accepts the idea that George’s monsters in the closet are genuine, the pair of them make a great team at eliminating them. When separated from his companions, I love watching the Doctor make new acquaintances and introduce them to his crazy, scary, wonderful alien world.



The Doctor and Alex

Some more in depth character development for George would have benefitted this episode. Revealed to be a Tenza child, an empathic alien, we discover that George that out Alex and Claire who were desperate to have children but unable to conceive. But apart from this revelation, all George seemed to do was stand/sit there terrified, which was fine for the first half of the episode. I think it would have been brilliant for him to have full on faced his fears instead of just staring at them, and for him to have opened up the cupboard that held everything he was most scared of and shout “I’m not afraid of you!” at the contents, vanquishing the creepy wooden dolls and saving all those inside the doll house. Personally I feel that would have been a more satisfying ending that the whole “Whoever you are, you’re my son” thing with Alex, which was bordering on cheesy.



"Thanks Dad, but I asked for an X Box..."



I would have also really liked to know a bit more about the monsters of this episode, the eerie clockwork dolls that haunted the dollhouse in George’s wardrobe. Were they merely figments of George’s terrified imagination, animations of real dolls (though I’m not entirely sure what kind of parent would buy their child any toy that looked that creepy)? They were a brilliant concept, and beautifully scary… my step-sister whom I was watching this episode with could barely look at them. To me, this means that the idea is spot on. But I still don’t quite understand what they were in relation to George. I’m all for mystery, but some things an audience needs to know otherwise they’re just left confused rather than spooked. For example, why did other characters in the episode, including Amy and Rory, fall through into the miniature doll house world from various parts of the apartment building? It is explained that George is terrified of the lift, so it sort of makes sense that he would “put this in the cupboard” with the doll house. But the living room floor of the landlord? The overloaded bins outside? This needs a bit more than the sweeping generalization that “George is scared of everything” to explain why people disappear in these places.

Sweet dreams kids!

Finally, I really wish the writers would stop using the whole “perception filter” as a shortcut in every other plot. It was a great idea in “The Eleventh Hour”, acceptable to use in “The Time of Angels”, and getting old by the time it was used in “The Lodger”. Now it just feels like cheating. Maybe it has something to do with the Silence, the fantastically haunting race of aliens that you forget as soon as you look away, but personally I’m getting a little board of every other alien using a perception filter to hide their misdeeds. If anything, you’d think that the Doctor would be completely used to it by now.

Once more, this episode has all the components, characters and concepts to be a classic Who episode. Unfortunately the plot remains jagged and doesn’t flow as well as it could do, without the much needed explanation and development. Though I have to say I did enjoy Rory’s reference to the fact that Moffat loves to kill him off whenever possible, with his line “We’re dead, aren’t we? Again.” Something to make the regular fans chuckle is always appreciated.

Here’s hoping that next week’s episode “The Girl Who Waited” will approach some of the personal dilemmas that were disappointingly absent in “Let’s Kill Hitler”.

Let's Kill Hitler (Or Just Put Him in the Cupboard): Doctor Who Review

** CONTAINS SPOILERS **

For those who were not aware, as well as being a huge Potterhead I also consider myself to be a fairly hardcore Doctor Who fan (or ‘Whovian’ for those familiar with the term).  I recently commissioned a very cool charm bracelet off of Etsy.com on a Doctor Who theme. You can call me a geek all you like, but I have already received several compliments and I love it to pieces.

Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, TARDIS, Weeping Angel, Dalek

Seeing as my blog has been distinctly inactive all summer (I know, I’m sorry) and that the second half of Doctor Who series 6  started on Saturday, I thought I’d give the internet the benefit of my thoughts on each episode. This is mostly to get myself back into blogging regularly, but also because I think if I try and talk to my friends about my opinions on the subject one more time they might disown me.

Kicking off with episode one, “Let’s Kill Hitler”, and I’m sorry to say I was actually less than impressed.

There were three main things I took issue with in this episode, the first being that the entire episode was answer, answer, answer. For me the only redeeming thing about the character of River Song was the air of mystery that surrounded her. It was endearing, and put the Doctor on edge in a way he usually isn’t. He didn’t know who she was, and that made for some excellent chemistry between the two characters. I really love the idea of River… but aside the series 4 double episodes “Silence in the Library” and “Forrest of the Dead”, her personality really grates on me. I’m not even going to get started on the inappropriate and, for the Doctor, out-of-character flirting that goes on. In front of her parents no less, something that they may not know but she sure does. Now her mystery is almost entirely gone. We know she’s Amy and Rory’s daughter, we know that she has Time Lord DNA, we know the reason we never see her regenerate after she does from Mels (a character I will come to shortly). There’s hardly any mystery left in her anymore, and for a character I have a love/hate relationship with anyway, this just pushes her more in the red.



Can't help but question if this shot was really necessary...

 Another thing about the opening episode that I really disliked was the character of Mels. Or rather, not the character but the way that she was simply thrown in for this episode but is shown to be a friend to Amy and Rory from very early on. The flashback scenes of young Amy and Rory were wonderful for the most part, exactly how you’d have imagined their childhood days to have been like. A particular favourite of mine was a young Rory coming into Amy’s bedroom, dejectedly stating “I thought we were playing hide and seek. I’ve been hiding for hours.” The character of Mels herself wasn’t bad. A sassy, over-confident and rebellious friend to both Amy and Rory, not to mention a perfect fit to regenerate into who we know as River Song. But the revelation that she indeed was Amy’s daughter Melody all along sort of flops on screen as she is not an established character. There has been absolutely no mention of her before this episode, but she is supposedly a lifelong friend of the two companions. It wasn’t so much “Oh my goodness!” as “What just happened here?” This would have worked so much better if it had been thought of last series, so we could catch a glimpse of her (even a mention would have been nice) before this “big” revelation.

Finally, this episode is another classic example of how Head Writer Moffat tries to cram in too much at once. With such a striking, speculation inducing title and a very delicate interesting concept to play with, fans of the show were probably expecting to see more of Hitler than about five minutes at the beginning before Rory is told to “put Hitler in that cupboard”. While this was indeed comical, this is the last we see of him. The idea of the Doctor meeting Hitler had the potential to be another brilliant utilitarian versus deontological head battle, after series 4’s “The Fires of Pompeii”, but was reduced to a couple of one-liners for the sake of comedy. A better developed storyline was sacrificed for the sake of the anti-body robots and miniature space police inside a human-sized morphing robot. I’m not saying this idea wasn’t good; on the contrary. It was so good it could have held itself in its own episode, with a more developed plotline. I don’t know what happened on the cutting room floor for this episode, but it almost felt like two storylines had accidentally been spliced together.



I still wonder who let him out of the cupboard in the end



As I have said many times to literally anybody that will listen (and even to those whose eyes glaze over as soon as I approach the subject), I love Moffat for his plots, his characters, his villains and his hilarious one-liners. He’s a fantastic ideas man, and his stand alone episodes in past series (Blink, and the Weeping Angels? Genius) are some of my absolute favorites. But unfortunately, for me, his writing is jerky, flows poorly, and leaves a lot to be desired. “Let’s Kill Hitler” is a classic example of this. Aside from the one-liners, for me this episode’s only plus point was the fact that Matt Smith’s Doctor finally seems to remember his past companions, in the form of the TARDIS’s hologram. Most fans were beginning to wonder if he’d suffered a hit to the head shortly after regenerating causing him to forget about Rose, Martha and Donna completely.

The trailer for this Saturday’s (3^rd September) episode “Night Terrors” looks a lot more promising, looking like it will play to Moffat’s strengths; one-shot episodes about things that go bump in the night. He always creates wonderfully scary Who monsters, and your classic hide-behind-the-sofa episodes. I am a huge fan of the Silence and the Weeping Angels, so am very much looking forward to this Saturday evening!

Pottermore, What Are You?

Okay, even though I’m nearly done with my Beach Break Live blog (alternatively, How Not to Camp) I feel as a loyal and long-time Potter Nerd I need to say something about Pottermore.

For anyone living under a rock/without internet access (same thing really?), J.K. Rowling released a teaser website about a week ago called Pottermore. Instant hype, with all us hopefuls thinking, “Pottermore? MORE POTTER! She’s writing new books!” and dusting off our robes/wands etc. (NB. I do not actually own robes and a wand… sadface). However today, this is the video announcement that was released.

First thoughts from a Harry Potter lover since she was eight years old? Sadly not superexcitementohmygodthisissofantastic.  More like, “Wait… what?” From what I can gather this website (because at the end of a day, it really will just be the website) is going to combine fan fiction, extra information and backstories from J.K., the change to get a (I presume digital) wand and get sorted into a house.

Now, all of this is great. 18,000 words worth of new material and more to come? Brilliant! However I think giving everyone a week to speculate and dream up bigger and more groundbreaking announcements was a bad idea. And that’s really all I have to say on the subject while I still technically have no idea what Pottermore is.

And of course all this is not to say I won’t be fighting tooth and nail to be in the first million fans to sign up early. I’ve now been a Potter nerd for over half of my life. And PROUD OF IT!



http://acciohedwig.tumblr.com/tagged/house+pride/page/3



I have tumblr now! http://becki-says-rawr.tumblr.com/

Things I Have Learned As a Uni Fresher

Saturday was my university’s Summer Ball, an event where the tagline “the best night of the year!” actually lived up to its expectations. There was fancy dress, live music tents, a very long queue for a fairground ride and about fifty “where the hell are you?” text messages of varying legibility, depending on how much alcohol the sender had consumed at that point. I’m already planning for next year.

However what this (amazing) event meant was, I have finally come to the end of my first year at university. It was the last official university event of the year and it only really hit me on the bus journey there… I am no longer a fresher. Nor will I ever be. Oh my god, I’ll be twenty at the end of this year too… that’s old.

So for all the uni freshers feeling nostalgic and the freshers-to-be for next year, here’s a list of some of the things I feel I have learnt this year.

1. Freshers Week does not have to be ‘the best week of your uni life’. There’s no saying it can’t be as it’s definitely a lot of fun, but for me some of the best nights out at uni have definitely been the ones in the second or third terms, when I know more people and am closer with the people I met during Freshers Week.  Some people bond with each other instantly, but if you’re not one of those people don’t be put off if Freshers isn’t quite what everyone raved about.

2. Sign up for everything. In your first couple of weeks you will have the opportunity to go to or sign up for hundreds of introductory activities, social groups and sports clubs. Try and find a couple of things from each of those activities to go to, even if you don’t know if it’s really your thing… that’s what it’s there for. Even if the club or activity itself ends up not being something you carry on, you’re out there meeting more people that you would just sat in your new room staring at the wall. I met one of my best friends at university at a meeting for a Leadership Course I never took part in after that first one.  And I made even more new friends (and went to some epic socials) on trying, loving and joining the Climbing Club. I even bought and learnt to play the ukulele in the uni’s Ukulele Orchestra. Get out there and meet people… it really does work.

3. Talk to your house/flat/street mates. When you’re not out trying every new activity under the sun, make an effort to bond with the people you live with, or you’ll spend a large majority of the time at home alone. I know people who didn’t make too much of an effort with the people they lived with and had a horrible uni experience.

4. Locating the best cook is a good idea. If it wasn’t for the fact one of my housemates for next year is the kind of cook that is scandalised at the thought of packet pasta and beans on toast, I’m pretty sure I’d develop scurvy fairly sharpish. I could probably count on both hands the number of meals I have made for myself this year that included vegetables.



Obviously the student aisle

5. Social events don’t have to involve alcohol. There’s an amazing American diner round the corner from my house that my course mates and I (if you’re reading this Harvey, that was for you) can often be found at. And of course, living near a beach definitely provides something to do in the afternoon after classes have finished. A lot of socials are club nights, but you can still have a great time and get to know people during the day.

6. High school is a million million miles away. My previous blog post goes into this in a bit more depth, but in a nutshell everyone has done a lot of growing up since high school. Cliques don’t exist, the ‘cool kids’ are friendly to you and people are judged a lot more on personality than social status. It’s awesome. Make the most of it.

 7. The drunk third years in the club toilets are right. Listen to them, they’ve already lived through what you’re about to. On one of my first nights out at university in fancy dress, we were ambushed in the ladies by a girl asking “Are you freshers?” and then proceeded to give us a stream of useful/uplifting tips on first year. She told us to get ready for the best years of our lives. I’ve only lived through one of them, but already I’m thinking she was right. Maybe next year I’ll be imparting my drunken wisdom on the freshers.

8. Not everyone is a nice guy. This is one of those things you need to trip up on before you learn, but just keep in mind… sometimes the lovely guy you met at the bar who you have tons in common with isn’t telling you the full truth. Someone once said to be that second/third year boys at fresher’s events are there for only one reason. This may not be true of all of them, but just be a wary.

9. Starting a 3,000 word assignment at 10pm the night before is generally a bad idea. Don’t try to re-define ‘last minute’. Just don’t do it. No, really.

10. Take photos of everything, and be in photos at everything. Make memories but don’t forget to be in front of the camera at times. If anything, you’ll need all the photos next year to cover up that disgusting student house wallpaper in your bedroom.

I’m sure there’s more, but part of the fun of first year is learning it all for yourself. Making a lot of mistakes academically, socially, romantically… it’s all part of the experience. If anyone has something to add, post it in the comments.

Also, here’s me at the Summer Ball as the Mad Hatter with that friend from freshers I mentioned as Tweedle Dum. If you make friends as cool as this, you’re sorted.  



Oh, Nostalgia

Title of this blog post quotes a lyric from Patrick Stump’s single “Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia)”. You should totally go and listen to it.

I wouldn’t say I was a particularly ‘musical’ person (I dabble in playing the ukulele and was once spent a brief time being a snare drummer in a marching band, as every aspiring dork must), but I take great joy in filling my life with the musical offerings of others.  Whilst discussing my absolute favourite song with a friend (‘Waterloo Sunset’ by The Kinks. I’m not going to bother going into how much I love this song, it won’t be enough) I started thinking about how someone’s love for a song can be tied to their nostalgia of the time they first heard it.

Some of my favourite songs and artists are ones that are less often come across in popular culture. I don’t say this in an obnoxious, “you’ve probably never heard of it”, Hipster Kitty sort of way. It is through no fault of my own that I came across these songs, as they were favourites of my mother during my childhood and were often heard in the car or floating from Mum’s bedroom. It was as a result of this influence that when my sister and I received a mix tape of children’s songs such as “Agadoo” and “The Music Man” for Christmas, the first two songs were our ultimate favourites… “I Love You (Always Forever)” by Donna Lewis and “You’re Gorgeous” by Babybird (which I now realise was probably an odd choice for a three year old).

The previously mentioned “Waterloo Sunset” is a song which I can attach to a certain batch of childhood memories. This song, amongst other of my favourites, was on one of the rarely rotated holiday CDs that would blast through the car anytime my family went camping, in the UK or later France and the Canary Islands. A portion of these holidays would be spent driving round and round and round looking for the perfect secluded beach. I can only assume we never succeeded, because we never returned to any of the beaches we visited. But I digress. The point is, although I have many wonderful and eventful holiday memories, there are also the memories of being stuck in the car bound by the law that asking “are we there yet?” was punishable by being dropped at the side of the foreign road. So what was I to do? Loose myself in the music. I believe it is these holidays that infected me with the deep love of 70s/80s music that I still harbor today.

And it’s not just the old songs I have attached events to. Various events through my teens, for example attending the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) with Air Cadets, come flooding back to me whenever I hear a particular piece of music, in this case “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” by Panic! At The Disco. I can’t hear this song without envisioning the packed mini-bus trundling down the motorway, being squashed up in the front with my then best friend and sharing her mp3 player. Good times.

There are possibly some songs in my long list of favourites I may not have liked under different circumstances. Would I be such a huge Sweet fan had that CD not been playing in the car every time we drove somewhere? If it had been The Smiths instead of The Beach Boys playing on every childhood camping trip, would I be able to name more than none of their songs? While it baffles me when people do not immediately drop to the ground and proclaim their everlasting love for my favourite song, maybe this is because the first time they hear it is in the university library surrounded by revision as opposed to on holiday in the South of France.  

Here’s a list of some my nostalgic songs that I think are absolutely brilliant. Have a listen to the ones you haven’t heard of, and I’d be really interested to know in the comments what you think about them without the nostalgic attachment.

Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks

I Love You (Always Forever) – Donna Lewis

Windy – The Association

Friday On My Mind – The Easybeats

California Dreaming – The Mamas and Papas

Itchycoo Park – Small Faces

Carrie Ann – The Hollies

You’re Gorgeous – Babybird

Sunshine Superman – Donovan

59^th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy) – Harpers Bizarre

18:00 May 21st 2011

Watch from 4.43 for clearer interview with Robert Fitzpatrick

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsN50hB8x_M&feature=player_embedded#at=105

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6hr8RdCxzM&feature=related

For the past week, or more for some, we have been very aware through various news reports, YouTube proclamations and mocking articles, of what was being called the Rapture. The belief of some was that at 6pm New York Time (appx. 11pm British time) 21^st May 2011, believers and followers of God would be taken up to heaven whilst the rest endured 5 months of “hell on earth” until 21^st October when the world would come to an end.

I would like to say before I go on that I am not a religious person, and try to be more ethically and morally lead as opposed to religiously lead. However saying that I have an awful lot of respect for people with faith. Whether it’s a gay teenage boy who believes despite his peers both atheist and religious, or a Nun who gives up her entire life to prayer and humility, I think to believe in something so strongly and purely is nothing short of amazing.  And for the people who believed in the Rapture, I can only imagine what kind of a blow this must have been for them.

The man in the video links above is Robert Fitzpatrick, a man who famously gave his life savings ($140,000) towards the campaign to make people aware of the Rapture. The video shows him surrounded by people looking very, very confused and trying to answer accusatory questions put to him by various news teams. People can be heard laughing at him and openly mocking his confusion at why nothing appears to have happened. Whilst I didn’t believe in the Rapture any more than they did, I still this it was hateful and wrong to cajole him in such a way. He hadn’t done anything wrong; simply try to spread the word about what was perceived to be the impending Judgment Day and urge people to turn to God. This is no more than what most churches and religious groups do anyway, just this time they had a deadline.

For some logical and religious minds (I by no means mean all, as many Christians were non-believers of the Rapture being May 21st), it seems understandable that they could have calculated a date to be the Rapture. When asked if he was embarrassed about the non-Rapture, Mr. Fitzpatrick simply says “I did what I had to do. That’s all I can say.”

So this short post is just my way of saying, I will no longer be mocking the believers, and making fun of their precise accuracy about the date and time of Judgment. I have always had respect for (peaceful) religious believers, and will continue to do.

Believers and Skeptics Reactions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3BATBmYxOM&feature=related

Prologue to Adventures in Canadia

I am disgusted with myself that it's been so long since I blogged. I was supposed to be keeping this up.

I am currently working on a post about my recent trip to the beautiful country of Canada, but in an attempt to update more regularly, here is are a couple of poems inspired by my trip. That may not appear to be inspired specifically by Canadian happenings, but they are. Honest. I never write poetry (I always feel way too pretentious, though I do enjoy reading poetry. William Blake is brilliant) but this was an assignment for my English degree and I don't think it's these two are too embaressing to share. However if you think they're terrible don't worry. Poetry is not usually my thing. This shan't happen again.

Fireplace

Leaping, turning

Twisting, burning

Trapped by wire

Captured fire

Hands are warming

Cold clear morning

When at zero

Winter’s hero

A Walk in the Woods

Falling, falling, from the night

Winter’s kisses, sharp and bright

Scent of pine and crunch of snow

Treading where the grizzlies go

Fingers numb in frozen air

Casualties of this love affair

With bracing walks on untouched trails

Against nothing else this pastime fails

Silence now; no one around

Only the sound of foot on ground

Catch a snowflake, hold it tight

Just embrace the winter’s bite

Also, here is a teaser photograph for my next post. There will be hospitalisation, Canadian accents, a mermaid, too much food and the love of my life, Bradley.



Banff, Alberta



The FanGirl Phenomenon

FanGirl: (n) Typically pre-teen but in some cases can be older. Found at pop concerts, loitering around stage doors and clogging up band message boards. Emit high pitched noises such as squeaks, shrieks and cries of “OHMYGODILOVEYOUMARRYMEEEEE!!” Highly annoying.

I am suitably ashamed to admit that when attending certain band’s gigs, I tend to be unrecognizable from the type of person described above. Outside of a gig situation I refrain from posting on message boards and papering my bedroom with the faces of my favourite band members, but if my conduct at pop band McFly’s concert last Saturday (19.03.11) is anything to go by, when in the vicinity of certain celebrities I have a tendency to shriek, squeak and all the rest. However after encountering other (female) members of the audience, I realised that I am nowhere near as bad as I could be.

Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones - Photo Courtesy of Louise

After the show on Saturday (which was amazing by the way) a girl in a plastic tiara was shouting over the barrier to the roadies clearing up the stage, trying to get one of them to throw her one of the plectrums attached to the microphone stand that guitarist and lead singer Danny Jones had used. I should mention at this point, that these were unused plectrums, untouched by anyone but the roadies that put them there at the beginning of the show. One of the roadies threw one out to her, but it sailed over her head and landed in the row in front of me, two rows behind her. Suddenly she was shrieking for her friends to grab it, lest someone else get it before her. In the nicest way possible I looked at her and saw she wasn’t going to be able to easily lean or climb over the chairs to get to it herself, so I leaned over and picked it off the floor for her. I straightened up see a look of sheer desperation in her eyes… she thought that I’d keep it for myself. As it was I handed it to her with a smile, and she gushed that I was “way too nice for a McFly concert”. I don’t know about the McFly boys, but if I was a musician I would be pretty disappointed to discover that my fan base was inherently mean.

Sadly this is not the first time I have witnessed desperation for something a band member has thrown off stage. Lead singer of Scouting for Girls Roy Stride threw a towel offstage at one concert, and fifteen minutes after they had left the stage two girls were still stubbornly gripping onto it, refusing to sacrifice it to the other. I felt pretty sorry for the one of the girl’s boyfriend, stood behind her saying “please let go so we can go home…”. Again I have to confess to getting involved in this kind of thing, only I politely asked a roadie if he could give me the set list taped to the stage. I doubt I’d have fought tooth and nail with some other girl for it; I just wanted a souvenir to stick on my wall.

Set list from Scouting For Girls 2010 Tour

These are the kind of girls that profess to be “[insert band/artist name]’s Biggest Fan”. And I have to question if this level of obsession really counts as fandom. The main attraction for these kinds of FanGirls seems to be predominantly aesthetic, placing much more emphasis on how attractive the band is as opposed to their ability to play a good show. So it was interesting at this gig to meet a different kind of fan. Before my friends and I even took our seats on Saturday (three rows from the front, for anyone who’s interested…), we met up with some of Louise’s friends also attending the concert. One girl did not at first appear to be a rabid fan, especially compared to some of the other girls walking past decked out in McFly’s last tour t-shirt and with “<3 Dougie/Tom/Harry/Danny” scrawled on their faces. But suddenly she mentioned that “the support acts only do about three songs each”. How did she know this? She’d been to see the show in Sheffield the night before. This seemed like dedication, until she said that she would also be seeing the show in Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Nottingham. That’s six tour dates, on one tour. Now I’m a big fan of McFly, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle (much less afford) the exact same show and set list six times over, especially in a short space of time.

Is this a true fan? Or the shrieking, near-sobbing girls fighting over objects the band may or may not have touched?