Nanowrimo

I've changed my idea! ARGH! Four days in and I'm starting again am I nuts!?

Okay probably but still. Wish me luck because i'm gonna need it, starting again.

Nanowrimo Update!

And you wouldn't believe it but i'm behind already! I've been so caught up this week that I haven't been able to start writing until today! However I believe i've made good progress as I need to catch up on 5,000 words and so far I've got just over 2,500, so half-way there. I've got a good feeling I can do this even though I was wondering if I shouldn't be spending more time elsewhere, but hell you can use that as an excuse for anything! Would love to have some buddies so I can watch your lists grow too so comment with your username if you're taking part.

Good luck to everyone!

I'll tell you how i'm doing and what i'm writing about next time!

Chocs ;)

(p.s. this post is a day late because of faulty internet connection)

Writing Dribbles Challenge :D

Yes you read it right "NaNoWriMo", and no it's not the dribblings of a a toddler, oh no my friends. THIS is something truly epic. This idea has, of course ;), been nicked off of Shelley, but what an idea! The basic idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month! Okay from your stunned silence I know this isn't the best thing since Dexter (gotta love those serial killers...) but I love the fact that loads of people are going to be writing utter nonsense along with me! It's a heck of a challenge alright and although "NaNoWriMo" may sound like the workings of a toddler it's the whole point of the excercise. Quantity over quality. I can write about how the ducks are awesome for 50,000 words and I'd still win. Woo! I've copied this from their website so you can get a broader idea, and heck join up with me! I'd love to see how you're all doing. And I'm going to try and keep updating how many words I'm doing...Might even have another mini-blog. :D. Oooh i'm excited. May the dribbling (in scribbles) and word vomit commence!

p.s. will not be writing about how ducks are awesome, I know i'm crazy but it is 50,000 words...although a story about a duck...hmm...

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.
(nanowrimo.org)

I vant to read your book BLEH!

Onto the next book! I was having a look through my list and though what book would i want to read more then one about sparkling, annoying, damned all to hell- *whispers...Wait it's not twillight vampires, it's actual proper vampires! I'm SAVED!* Awesome, can't wait to get my teeth into the one *ehem, just laugh i'll stop soon with the puns*

Anyone else read it? Hope i haven't offended any tween readers out there but twilight really sucks. It's about a girl's choice between necrophilia and beastiality.

Life Of Pi Review

This book was really not what I was expecting at all. I thought i'd be a kids tale about a boy and a tiger who get stranded on an island and have to live together... God knows why! The first portion of the book - as demonstrated by my first outraged review - seems to be a mix between factbooks of zoology and religion, mixed in with the musing and life of a seemingly uninteresting nobody. The story takes ages to get to the point you actually want to read about, and although you could argue that the build up prepares you for the disaster waiting to happen, therefore making it more interesting...It doesn't. Not for me anyway. However I did EVENTUALLY get gripped in once the 'real' story started to take place and a really felt for this guy and all the struggling, the writing making it very believable. A few surprises thrown in but no dramatic twists really, unless you count ones that make you read the same sentence again...and then again...and then the page once more, pause for a bit and really think about it, then finally shrug your shoulders and get on with it. No joke that actually happened at one point. If you're planning to read this book then GOOD LUCK! I'm not sure if i enjoyed this or not, i did and i didn't. I wouldn't put it up there with my greats, but hey, what do i know.

Anyone else read it? Tell me what you thought ;)

Kindels, Sloths and Swimming Pools

My mum has just gotten herself a new amazonkindle - the digital book - and like any respectable teenager before me i immediately asked if i could borrow *cough*steal*cough* it for a while on my quest of classical book reading. Feeling somewhat in a mood for a light-hearted book and an easy read, i've opted for THE LIFE OF PI. I remember trying to read this book when I was younger and give up very quickly, so hopefully my reading skills have somewhat improved and i'll enjoy it more. It wouldn't be on the best book list for nothing right?
Oh and a quick note about the Kindle....The screen's awfully dark! And there's no brightness option. So for all our technology and wisdom of having a million books in one small gadget is flawed by the fact that it's hard to even blooming see it. So i've currently got a desk lamp balanced precariously next to me on the sofa...So if you're getting a kindle don't get the 6 inch get the other one. :P

Book Review -Warning may contain spoilers!
If I had to imagine a gripping way to start a book it certainly wouldn't be the line 'My suffering left me sad a gloomy' followed by a description of this characters' academic life of zoology and religious studies, his essay focusing on three-toed sloths... >.> and this is page one....

How do you find out what page number you're on on this thing? It says what percentage - 3% and it's still talking about sloths - but oh well...

I'm getting the feeling that although well written and vaguely interesting, there has yet to be a point...Is this us trying to get into the mind of the character? Must keep reading, not everything delves straight into the plot..

BLAST THIS LAMP! ARGH!

It would be nicer if the kindle had a page flicking thing to make it more realistic, instead of making your eyes hurt as the colours invert, change, and then disappear...

Chapter 3 and am still waiting for anything other than this person's -who i'm guessing is Pi but it hasn't said yet - Life story. Is my impatience due to the fact i'm used to reading quicker books or am I completely missing the point...!? Speaking of Paris - yes it has now finished with sloths and gone onto swimming, with a seemingly more interesting character called Mamaji - has anyone read Perfume? Loved that book. I'm drifting, this book hasn't grabbed me yet will keep reading. End of Chapter three, yes the person who has been talking is Pi...And he's none too interesting yet.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH! Get on with it! I don't care about swimming pools and sloths and dates and ARGH! I'm waiting for this blooming tiger and a boat!

Okay i'm going to start skim reading. I usually read at a normal pace because I enjoy taking in the book and really remembering each part, but this is just so dull i think a brief overview will do. I'm not skipping; i'm skimming to make it clear.

Creatures of the zoo...might do some sketching down there at some point...Going off book again, argh focus!

Okay it's talking about animals and the way we perceive them... Is the boat coming soon? I was promised a boat damn it!

OMG the book has made a wild stab at humour! Listen to this: 'I couldn't bear to have yet another French speaker guffawing at my name, so when the man on the phone asked, "Can I 'ave your name?" I said, "I am who I am." Half an hour later two pizzas arrived for "Ian Hoolihan"'
Okay don't cough up a lung, this book is priceless right? I mean I know it's called "the life of Pi", but from the cover and the blurb and everything i heard, i sounded like an adventure story of this man who gets stranded in the middle of the ocean with a group of animals, who later find some exotic island and spend the rest of their happy days! What have I gotten myself in for!? I might as well be reading about Steven Fry, at least that would be more interesting, but hilarious and have a point!

Okay, i've ranted now... On with the book.

(To be continued)

(continuing....)

Okay, so far I’m on Chapter 9 and an apparent 13% through the book. It’s just gotten a tad more interesting in that the boy’s father has just taught them a lesson they’ll never forget about the animals. It’s the first time I’ve actually woken up in reading this book...

Chapter 14 now, and I’ve been kept amused by some cool facts about the dominance needed in a ring, and the alpha/omega psychological situation that lions find themselves in. O.o ... So yeah, interesting but why? For what purpose? Does this relate to anything!? The only running theme in this book so far seems the need to talk about animals. Why did Yann Martel not just write a bok on animals!? I’d love to read that book, as long as I knew what I was expecting it’d be great. But what does this have to do with anything here? Even if you’re building up the fact about dominance and animal behaviour and so on and so forth, why do we need so much detail? Chapters and chapters devoted to this – 14 chapters and not a credible storyline so far!!?! ARGH! How long does this book take to get going?

(to be continued)

Eating Challenge

Okay, so I said that I’d do the ‘BBC’s 50 things to eat before you die’ challenge, and believe me I started writing it all out. As i went through them I thought it was way too easy! Anyone in this world who hasn’t eaten pizza, pasta and ice cream in their life is either living in a cave or grew up WAY too quickly. But I kept going because hey, an easy thing off my forever growing list right? Then I came across moreton bay bugs…okay I can eat bugs…Alligator? Okay, i guess that i’d be hard to find but it’s just like any other meat right??….Kangaroo? Okay, it makes me feel slightly queasy thinking of that but i’ll do it i guess….and then it came up, i’m NOT joking: Guinea Pig. GUINEA PIG! Are they insane! Why don’t they just feed me dog or rabbit while I season it with tears of pets past? Okay i know it’s just another meat but can you serious eat this?:

*Shudders* The horror. I just don’t see how reindeer and sharks can rest beside Sushi and Paella in the normal order of things… So I took some time looking for another list *Don’t boo me!* and I think I’ve found one that’s actually MORE challenging and would be MORE fun to do. Now these actually sound delious and more like a meal than a slab of meat: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/50-things-to-eat-before-you-die-2217612/

So that’s the one I’m sticking with, I refuse to eat guinea pigs.

Adding a new one! Tim, you’ve been nicked :P

I was reading a Tim’s blog and found one thing on his list that was to eat everything on the BBC’s “eat before you die list”. What a fantastic idea! A goal that is comprised purely of eating! So that will be added in due time. Thanks Tim (Young) :).

Ticking off a bunch of holiday achievements :)

Well unfortunately it’s back to school. Where the heck did the summer go? Anyone else feel like it came and went in the blink of an eye or just me? At least I managed to tick a bunch of things off, so not too bad. Hopefully I’ll remember them all:

#22 Surf out at sea (We went for a full surfing instruction day, and I’d recommend it to everyone! So much fun, but surprisingly a heck of a lot of work!)

#47 Speak German outside of a school event (I actually did this twice so that’s THAT well and truly crossed off….With bonus points for them all actually understanding me XD)

#65 Wear slippers in Summer (Not a hard one to tick of I guess, but it’s a mad little thing to smile back fondly on when i’m old and grey, taking comfort in the fact that I’m just as mad today as i’ll be at 100 :P)

#70 Dance with a stranger (Or a few lol :P)

(not a complete but-) 93# learn to drive – passed my theory!

The films from my list I saw were:

Die Hard (All four actually!)

In Bruges (Hilarious, and it has Irish people in it! (L))

Harvey (A really cute, classic film.)

Book i’ve read:

Animal farm by George Orwell

1984 by George Orwell

Both of these book are very clever, if not leaving you with the happiest of endings…

#1- Cosplay at Comic Con

Horray! The biggest thing off my list so far. It was a great day out in London, spending around 4 hours in the actual Comic Con, then parading around the rest of London still in cosplay… Good times :D. It was really great fun, would recommend it to everyone! There's also an anime con hmmm...
(in middle of first photo, meant to be Poison Ivy :) )

Books

Okay, so I've realised that my previous book list only contained non-fiction, so I wanted to broadern it out a bit... And found this other list instead :)

1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
7. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
8. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
9. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
10. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
12. Animal Farm by George Orwell
13. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
14. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
15. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
16. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
17. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
18. Ulysses by James Joyce
19. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
20. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
21. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
22. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
23. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
25. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
26. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
27. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
28. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
29. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
30. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
31. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
32. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
33. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
34. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
35. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
36. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
37. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
38. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
39. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
40. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
41. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
42. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
43. The Stranger by Albert Camus
44. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
45. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
46. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
47. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
48. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
49. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
50. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
51. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
52. Watership Down by Richard Adams
53. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
54. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
55. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
56. His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
57. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
58. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
59. Middlemarch by George Eliot
60. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
61. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
62. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
63. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
64. The Stand by Stephen King
65. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
66. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
67. Dracula by Bram Stoker
68. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
69. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
70. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
71. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
72. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
73. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
74. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
75. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
76. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
77. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
78. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
79. Dune by Frank Herbert
80. The Trial by Franz Kafka
81. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
82. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
83. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
84. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
85. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
86. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
87. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
88. Persuasion by Jane Austen
89. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
90. Atonement by Ian McEwan
91. Emma by Jane Austen
92. Beloved by Toni Morrison
93. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
94. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
95. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
96. I, Claudius by Robert Graves
97. Light in August by William Faulkner
98. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
99. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
100. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Wow... I reaaally don’t read classics much do I? O.o

Film Update

Okay, so being ill does have some advantages :). Pulled out some good old Hitchcock movies to cross off my list (now at the bottom of the page), both of which are pretty epic, very clever.

Dial M for Murder:

and Strangers on a Train:

Ill –.-

So i’m ill; Pounding headache, desert dry throat, aching limbs and a leaky tap for a nose is not how I wanted the last two weeks of school to end :(. But will hopefully be back on my feet soon, seeing as Comic Con is THIS WEEKEND, and i’m really looking forward to it :D.

Oh yeah, I need to visit a costume shop! Or else i’m going as Poison Ivy :P who looks like this:

102 Get first job

I’ve gotten my first job! It’s a Saturday job working in a hairdressers woo! It’s not amazingly paid, but I’ve been kept on my toes rushing around a lot, which I personally would much rather be doing then standing still. Horray! What was you first job, or where would you get one if you could?

Suggestions!

Just thought of an idea! If anyone out there has a great idea for another thing to put on my list, go ahead and suggest it. It might just get put on! :)

An Update

I thought we missed Comic Con but we haven’t! Phew. What a scare haha. Still need to think of and make a costume though… My friend is going as a KISS member, so i’m free to do pretty much anything LOL. I was thinking poision ivy or something because of my red hair… But isn’t that what loads of people go as? Have you ever been? Love to know if you have and if you dressed up. Sounds like loads of fun and can’t wait :D.

Three weeks until I go on holiday for 2, I’m so excited. Just two whole weeks in the sun, messing around and windsurfing. What could be better?

I’ve also added now a few more ‘firsts’ to the end of my list, such as driving and jobs etc. They are things that aren’t too extreme and aren’t goals as much per se, but they are milestones and it’s a step in my life when I reach them so I think that counts.

SOOOO, plans for the holidays anyone? Tell me! And thanks for reading, leave a comment ;)

Number 27: Experience someone I know being unexpectedly kind to me. COMPLETED

I was going through a bit of a rough time lately with school and pressure and stuff my best friend Ollie cheered me right up. My awesome dad usually does this along with my great sister, but what helped most this time was my friend. This is what they usually what she tries to do anyway, but was was unexpected was how well they know me and it took me by surprise a bit. There are a few other things that took me by surprise with people being nice to me, to mention a few was Ollie’s mum who fed me when I turned up uninvited and a great friend who took me out for chips on one of the worst days of my life. You know who you are ;). So thanks guys, you rock! And also a surprise visit at the hospital. You know who you are too and I can never say how much it meant to me!

#21 Solve a Rubik’s Cube

Okay, I tried…Got pretty far too! But another day maybe… At least now I can change it to, oh maybe 75% done? I got pretty far, but had to use an online one because i couldn’t find my real one haha. This is to show I have actually tried:

This is the opposite side, but still have the green at the bottom ;):

and then i messed it up…Pretty close though. This is all thanks to this guy too, great video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja9hleuUEhA&annotation_id=annotation_918028&feature=iv

Dads' Suggestion

My dad suggested that two of the things I had to add were to go to a blues bar in Chicago and…something i’ve forgotten :S. It was to go to a jazz bar somewhere in America but I’ve forgotten where! I think I might change the ‘visit every continent’ and the ‘7 wonders of the world’ aspirations too, and make them more specific, and things that would be more special to me personally. Instead of what other people would want to see and do. I’ll get on that. Plus had my exam yesterday and I’ve got another one the day after tomorrow. Sigh* Have also been trying to look up some flash stuff for my website, but haven’t gotten too far :(.

The Film List

Okay, so my friend found a MUCH better list of the best movies than I did on IMDb…So i’m changing it…Again… :D

1. Shawshank Redemption

2.The Godfather

3.The Godfather: Part II

4.II buono, il brutto, il cattivo

5. Pulp Fiction

6.Schindler’s List

7. 12 Angry Men

8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

9.Star Wars: Episode V

10. The Dark Knight

11. The Lord of the Rings

12. Star Wars

13. Shichinin no samurai

14. Casablanca

15. Goodfellas

16. Fight club

17. Cidade de Deus

18. The Lord of the Rings – fellowship

19. Raiders of the Lost Ark

20. Rear Window

21. Psycho

22. The Usual Suspects

23. C’era una volta il West

24. The Silence of the Lambs

25. The Matrix

26. Se7en

27. Memento

28. It’s a Wonderful Life

29. The Lord of the Rings: two towers

30. Sunset Blvd.

31. Dr Strangelove

32. North by Northwest

33. Citizen Kane

34. Leon

35. Apocalypse Now

36. Forrest Gump

37. American Beauty

38. American History X

39. Taxi Driver

40. Vertigo

41. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

42. Lawrence of Arabia

43. Alien

44. Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain

45. Saving Private Ryan

46. WALL.E

47. Clockwork Orange

48. The Shining (p.s. Book is far better :P)

49. Paths of Glory

50. The Departed

51. The Pianist

52. To Kill a Mockingbird

53. Aliens

54. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

55. M

56. Das Leben der Anderen

57. Double Indemnity

58. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

59. Chinatown

60. Requiem for a Dream

61. L.A. Confidential

62. The Third Man

63. Reservoir Dogs

64. Das Boot

65. The Treature of the Sierra Madre

66. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

67. City Lights

68. El laberinto del fauno

69. The Bridge on the River Kwai

70. Raging Bull

71. The Prestige

72. Inglorious Basterds

73. Back to the Future

74. 2001: Space Odyssey

75. La vita e bella

76. Singin’ in the Rain

77. Modern Times

78. Some Like it HOt

79. Up

80. Der Untergang

81. Amadeus

82. Full Metal Jacket

83. Braveheart

84. Nuovo cinema Paradiso

85. The Maltese Falcon

86. Rashomon

87. Once Upon a Time In America

88. All About Eve

89. Metropolis

90. Gran Torino

91. The Green Mile

92. The Elephant Man

93. The Great Dictator

94. Sin City

95. Avatar

96. Rebecca

97. The Apartment

98. Gladiator

99. The Sting

100. Slumdog Millionaire

101. The Great Escape

102. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

103. Star Wars: VI

104. Unforgiven

105. Ladri di biciclette

106. Jaws

107. Batman Begins

108. Die Hard

109. Blade Runner

110. On the Waterfront

111. Hotel Rwanda

112. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

113. Oldboy

114. No Country for Old Men

115. Touch of Evil

116. Det sjunde inseglet

117. Fargo

118. Mononoke-hime

119. District 9

120. Wizard of Oz

121. Per qualche dollaro in piu

122. Heat

123. Strangers on a Train

124. Cold Hand Luke

125. Donnie Darko

126. High Noon

127. Sixth Sense

128. Notorious

129. Deer Hunter

130. There Will BeBLood

131. Annie Hall

132. The Manchurian Candidate

133. Snatch

134. Kill Bill: Vol 1

135. The General

136. The Big Lebowski

137. Platoon

138. The Wrestler

139. Yojinbo

140. Ben-Hur

141. Into the Wild

142. Ran

143. The Big Sleep

144. Million Dollar Baby

145. The Lion King

146. It Happened One Night

147. Kick-Ass

148. Life of Brian

149. Witness for the Prosecution

150. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

151. Bourne Ultimatum

152. Smultronstallet

153. Finding Nemo

154. Trainspotting

155. Toy Story

156. Stand by Me

157. Gone with the Wind

158. The Terminator

159. The Graduate

160. Groundhog Day

161. Scarface

162. Star Trek

163. The Thing

164. Amores Perros

165. Dog Day Afternoon

166. Ratatouille

167. Gandhi

168. V for Vendetta

169. Le salarie de la peur

170. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

171. Twelve Monkeys

172. The Grapes of Wrath

173. How to Train Your Dragon

174. The Gold Rush

175. 8 1/2

176. Casino

177. Les Diaboliques

178. Hotaru no haka

179. The Night of the Hunter

180. The Incredibles

181. The Princess Bride

182. El secreto de sus ojos

183. Judgement at Nuremberg

184. The Killing

185. The Wild Bunch

186. King Hearts and Coronets

187. Children of Men

188. The exorcist

189. In Bruges

190. The Best Years Of Our Lives

191. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

192. The Kid

193. Le Notti di Cabiria

194. The Hustler

195. Dial M for Murder

196. Good Will Hunting

197. Rosemary’s Baby

198. Ed Wood

199. Harvey

200. Big Fish

I've seen 55 out of 200 so far :)