Daily Shenanigans, 15/07/2014: Secret Unlimited Screening!

I've had quite a day today, starting off with a lovely lay-in because I was absolutely shattered after yesterday! When I finally got up about mid-morning, I got straight on with writing my Top Ten Tuesday post and browsing the others on my Bloglovin' feed. I feel like I've been neglecting commenting on other people's blogs recently, so have tried to do a bit of catching up. I've also been pretty busy job hunting, sorting out the consoles that Mat and I are going to sell tomorrow, and doing a bit of reading. I really need to get back into that, especially as I now don't have a work shift for a good week and a half!

The main highlight of the day however came when Mat and I went to the Unlimited Screening. We didn't know, until tonight, what the film would actually be. A few clues had been let slip on Twitter, but nothing definitive. When I found out it was 'Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes' I had a pretty mixed reaction. First there was the fact that I hadn't seen it's predecessor, so I was a little annoyed that they had decided to show a sequel for that reason. Secondly, the website advertised the secret screening as being shown 'well ahead of it's release date'. Is two days before it's released 'well ahead'? I think not. 

Nevertheless, despite feeling a bit negative to begin with, the film itself was phenomenal! I didn't need to have seen 'Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes' to understand it (though there were references) and I thought the animation was just fantastic. I really got into it a lot and regretted my initial annoyance, though I do still feel a little cheated. Anyone who was wondering whether it would be worth a watch, it is. For the CGI alone! The expressions on the apes were beautifully rendered, managing to look both human and convey emotion, while most definitely ape-like. I really bought into the story and the acting, and I loved the soundtrack.

Tomorrow I have to run a couple of errands and I'm seeing Mat for most of the day. I should get some reading done though and I really hope to finish 'The Silent History' and get onto 'Dragon's Curse'.

Daily Shenanigans, 16/06/2014: 'The Fault In Our Stars' Advanced Screening.

So I've had a pretty exciting and productive day today, certainly in terms of reading! To begin with, I was staying at Mat's last night and I've spent the day at his. We mostly relaxed, playing games and watching Game Of Thrones. As well as that I managed to finish that very book! I enjoyed it so much, and the review went up today as promised. I thoroughly recommend the book, it's a brilliant start to the epic saga!

But now for the main crux of my post. This evening, Mat and I made use of our Unlimited cards and watched the advanced screening of 'The Fault In Our Stars' (it actually comes out Thursday here in Britain). I will start by saying that I majorly cried and it was not a pretty sight at all! The whole cinema was in floods of tears and anyone who has read the book will know why. It was definitely worth the sobbing though, the film was fantastic! Hazel and Augustus had a wonderful onscreen chemistry that far exceeded my expectations and I enjoyed every minute of the film. They stuck pretty closely to the book as well which I was pleased about. I really appreciated seeing some of my favourite quotes in there, but I actually found a new appreciation for some parts of the film that I didn't take much notice of in the book.

The casting was fantastic. Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were wonderful as the two leads,  as I have said. In addition, Nat Wolff played Isaac perfectly! I had such a soft spot for Isaac in the book that it was important to me that the film got him right, which they did. I was also very impressed with Willem Dafoe as the eccentric and bitter Peter van Houten. I am so glad that I enjoyed this film,  which was very funny at times, but heart breaking and emotional throughout.

Tomorrow I'm off to stay round a friend's house who I haven't seen for a very long time! I'll also be posting my Top Ten Tuesday post!

Daily Shenanigans, 04/02/2014: Being productive and facing fears!

I am on a roll with this promise keeping thing, I managed to be far more productive than I was yesterday. I got up early, drove my Mum to work, then came back and began my busy day of doing as much as I possibly could. This included a little Uni work (though not nearly as much as I should have done), emails etc. but as well as this I got a very decent amount of reading done. I'm now about three quarters of the way through 'It' so could have a review of that for you much sooner than anticipated. Speaking of reviews, a good majority of my morning consisted of writing book reviews (and entering a lot of Giveaways in hope) on Goodreads, for books that were on my 'read' list that I haven't (until today) managed to do anything for except rate them out of five. I feel so much better for doing this as it gave a definite fresh perspective on what my next few titles to read will be and allowed me to revisit fond memories of some of my favourite books. So, after 'It' I will be reading: 'Pure' by Andrew Miller, followed by Patrick Rothfuss' 'A Wise Man's Fear', the second book from the 'Kingkiller Chronicle' series, and after that I will finally get to read the fourth and final installment of 'The Inheritance Trilogy' by Christopher Paolini, 'Inheritance'. To check out my reviews of the others in the series, I suggest you take a look at my Goodreads account as I probably won't be revisiting them in the near future to give a full length review on here.

It is so nice to have some sort of plan to this, and I feel rather proud of myself for getting my act together a little more. I have got a list of the books afterwards and I think I have an order, but I know me and it will probably change, so I will give you all those titles as definite promises and get back to you on the next lot after I've made good headway through those. Another achievement of mine today is that I have upgraded my Cineworld Unlimited card (it needed renewing) into a Premium card. This means another year of films for me with some added perks! I felt this particularly needed mentioning as it involved me having to ring them up, an act that always leaves me shaking and in tears whenever I have to do it. I have no idea why but speaking on phones, particularly to strangers or companies has always frightened me and I was proud of my achievement today as it's a fear I am desperate to get over.

As far as tomorrow goes, I have Uni in the morning till early afternoon and then I desperately need to work on my script for my end of year project. I must remember that as much as I enjoy browsing the internet, updating my Goodreads account and writing this blog, I do have to actually do some work too. I probably, therefore, won't have an awful lot to report in terms of reading done but I may find some time after I have really worked to my own satisfaction. There you go, that's another promise I now must keep. It's worked so far, so I'm going to keep using this method as it seems to ward off my procrastination problem quite nicely.