Daily Shenanigans, 06/07/2014: Barclaycard Presents: British Summertime!

I am buzzing so much right now. I woke up pretty early this morning in order to get ready for what turned out to be an amazing day out in London's Hyde Park! I've never really been to a Festival before but this was an awesome first ever one! Mat picked up George (including Bev, we went as a group of four) and then came over to ours. It was really good not only to be off out to listen to lots of good music, but also to spend a day with some of my favourite people! The line-up included:

• Diversity
• Scouting For Girls
• The Vamps
• Backstreet Boys
• McBusted

When we got to the venue, we actually managed to secure a pretty good spot at the railings (so right at the front of the General Admission area) and stayed there for pretty much the whole thing. I have a couple of pictures included but my sister will be posting some really good ones on her blog tomorrow, so I'd advise checking those out. Much better quality! The acts/bands that we saw were pretty good, McBusted were an obvious highlight for me. I also really enjoyed watching Scouting For Girls! It was really good to see McBusted again, they played the same set but in a totally different environment and I'm so lucky that I've got to see them twice. The others really enjoyed themselves too, though the beautiful hot weather we were having lasted until the second to last act, then it chucked it down. It even hailed! Currently, I can't feel my feet or keep my eyes open, so I'm off to bed!

Tomorrow I plan to sleep a lot and really catch up on my reading. Maybe I'll even finish another book! I might see Mat but I have a feeling he'll be far too tired!

Weekly Wishlist #20

So as you may know from my Daily post yesterday, I'm off to Hyde Park for 'Barclaycard presents BST' and I hope to have a really good time! I thought that this week's Wishlist could be music related in the spirit of that!

1) A McBusted Album? So this was definitely hinted at when Mat and I went to see McBusted at the O2 Arena, and I'm hoping we might learn more at the Festival today! McBusted were such a great live act, and I loved watching them revisit the classics. But if they were to make an album with brand new material, that would be awesome! They have already started writing some things and there's a single they are definitely working on called 'OMFG'. Fingers crossed!

2) 'Salute' Album by Little Mix. This is not the sort of music I would normally listen to, but I have a pretty massive soft spot for Little Mix. I loved them in The X Factor and was so pleased when they won, and I thought their album 'DNA' was amazing. I haven't got my hands on 'Salute' yet though! Frankly this needs to change ASAP, I love the track Salute and have every faith that the album will be amazing.



3) 'Pure Heroine' Album by Lorde. So I hadn't really listened to an awful lot by this artist until I listened to her cover of 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World'. I fell in love with it immediately and now I would love to get hold of Lorde's album and listen to more of her music! She's become quite big recently and I think she's very talented! I hope I find more great songs from this CD.

4) To see Florence & The Machine live. Now this is probably not going to happen anytime soon! As far as I'm aware, the Florence & The Machine music is pretty much on hold and I haven't seen any Tour Date announcements. But it has always been a dream of mine (since I fell in love with their music) to see this amazingly talented band live! Please? They've sung so many good songs and I want the buzz of listening to my favourites in a live crowd!

5) 'The Hunting Party' Album by Linkin Park. I have always been, and probably will be for a pretty long time, a huge Linkin Park fan. Most of their music just seems to tick the right boxes for me and though their style changes quite a lot, I still find that I haven't really been all that disappointed with any of their albums. This one, I haven't actually got hold of (yet)! I would really like to.

Daily Shenanigans, 29/06/2014: Officially going to 'Barclaycard presents British Summer Time'!

So now I've sorted everything out with work shift wise, I can announce that I'm extremely excited because I'm going to 'Barclaycard presents: BST' in Hyde Park, Sunday 6th July! I'm literally jumping up and down at this news, I wanted to go so much but I didn't think I would be able to because the tickets were so expensive! But a few days ago, a link got leaked to get them for very cheap prices, Mat snatched some up before they went and then it was announced that the tickets would still be honoured despite the leak! Mat and I will be going with our friend George and my sister Bev to see McBusted (again), Backstreet Boys, The Vamps, Scouting For Girls and Diversity! I can't wait!

As for the rest of my day, obviously I had work (we were completely rushed off our feet) and that took up most of my day. I did manage to post my 'Paper Towns' review before I left though, as promised. When I got home from work, I posted my Weekly Wishlist, and then proceeded to make a start on Stant Litore's 'No Lasting Burial'. What happened to 'Divergent'? I really wanted to finish this Netgalley read before the month was out, it's important that I keep on top of those. And I really fancied reading it to see what it was all about! I've made a good start on some other posts too so I feel pretty organised at the moment.

Tomorrow I'm seeing Mat for most of the day and we'll probably be not doing an awful lot other than chilling out. I will be doing as much reading and blogging as possible though! 

Weekly Wishlist #12

Just got back from doing a spot of shopping so I thought I had better do this Wishlist before I forget!

1) Tickets to see Trafalgar Transformed's 'Richard III'. It is no great secret that I am a fan of Shakespeare and I also happen to think that Martin Freeman is an incredible actor. So when I heard the two were combining? Of course I wanted tickets! I have never seen Richard III performed live before, it should be really good!

2) 'Sisters Red'; Jackson Pearce. This looks like such a great series of books. Seriously, I am a sucker for Fairy-tale re-tellings and I really want to read these ones! 'Sisters Red' is the first in the series, followed by 'Sweetly', 'Fathomless' and 'Cold Spell'. They look like really interesting reads, and have been rated pretty highly. This one in particular is a re-telling of 'Little Red Riding Hood' which is one of my all time favourite fairy-tales. Pretty please?




3) 'A Monster Calls'; Patrick Ness. Okay before I say anything, how creepy is that cover art? I love it! I've heard a lot about Patrick Ness' books recently and I really would like to start getting into them. He gets so many high reviews and having read the synopsis for this one it sounds like my kind of book! I'm also intrigued by the fact that the idea was originally Siobhan Dowd (who wrote the beautiful 'A Swift, Pure Cry'). It certainly looks worth a read!



4) 'Ultraviolence', Lana Del Rey. On my 'Life Of A Blogger' post a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was a bit of a fan of Lana Del Rey. I think her voice is just gorgeous and I like to listen to her songs no matter what mood I'm in! I'm so excited that she has another album coming out! It won't be released until June, and the sooner that date comes, the better! The songs on this particular album are apparently a little darker than some of her previous work so I'm certainly intrigued!


5) 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' DVD. I was completely blown away by this movie when I saw it in the cinema! 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' is such a hilarious film, the acting was superb and the concept very original. I really liked it a lot and it seems that it will be released on DVD very soon. I would really love to get my hands on a copy to watch the film again, I enjoyed it so much!





This week's Wishlist is complete! My birthday is very, very soon now. I can't wait to see if I can cross a few things off of some of these lists I've been making!

Weekly Wishlist #11

I've spent quite a lot of the day out today so have only just got round to doing this, but I've got some exciting picks today!

1) 'Sparks', Imogen Heap. Now I actually only heard that this was coming out pretty recently, but now I just want it so badly, I'm a huge fan of Imogen Heap's voice. It's due to be released in June, which isn't too far away. One of the tracks, 'Me The Machine' has been created using an awesome (and slightly strange looking) glove that she invented to act as an instrument. Mat showed me a video all about it and I was instantly intrigued about the glove, but even more to the point I fell in love with the song itself and so I really look forward to hearing the rest of the album.

2) Harry Potter 'Always' Necklace. Harry Potter will never stop being one of my favourite childhood stories, and I especially appreciate it to this day. Snape is one of my favourite characters and I always found his back-story so tragic. This necklace is one of many gorgeous pieces that can be found on an awesome Etsy shop, KawaiiCandyCouture. Seriously I'm in love with so many things in that shop, but I've picked this one because it's subtle yet with an obvious Harry Potter reference for those that have read the books or seen the film. "After all this time?"..."Always."

3) 'Splintered'; A.G.Howard. I'm in such a fairy-tale retelling mood as of late, they're my favourite kind of books to read. A.G.Howard's 'Splintered' caught my eye quite a while back, but I'm getting pretty desperate to get my hands on it! It is based on Lewis Caroll's 'Alice In Wonderland' a story that I have grown up with and loved! It puts me in mind of the dark style of Tim Burton's adaption of the story, or even the dark game series 'American McGee's Alice' and 'Alice: Madness Returns'. With that in mind, it's a must read!

4) 'The Lies Of Locke Lamora'; Scott Lynch. I am a big fan of Fantasy books and Scott Lynch has somehow evaded me for years. He is such a highly recommended author, and the story-line of this series appeals to me so much that I'm not entirely sure why it isn't mine as of yet. After reading a fairly recent blog post by Patrick Rothfuss about being compared to Lynch I knew I had to have it. Rothfuss is one of my all time favourite Fantasy authors and if the two are comparable at all then it looks like I've been missing out! It's part of a series so the sooner I can get hold of them, the better!

5) The 'Game Of Thrones' Box Set. I started watching this series two days ago. I'm only two episodes into Season 1. I'm completely hooked. This box set includes the first three seasons and I would really love to get hold of it and catch up on what I've been missing out on. It also makes me want to read the books even more (I put them in my first ever Weekly Wishlist!) Let's hope I get the opportunity to watch the rest of them soon as I'm suffering from serious cravings right now!


I told you this week's picks were exciting (at least for me they were). It isn't too long until my birthday at all now, how exciting! If I get some money, I might be able to buying some of these things.

Weekly Wishlist #10

I'm finally getting round to posting this! I'm struggling a bit because I have woken with a pounding headache which no painkiller in the world seems to cure. So I won't make this too long.

1) A New Camera. This Thursday just gone, you are probably aware that I went to go and see McBusted, and it was here that I realised I had a bit of a rubbish camera. Not terrible, just not great. Of course I haven't gone out and picked a new model or anything like that, I would just really like one that could take some decent pictures.


2) 'Sign Of The Throne'; Melissa Eskue Ousley. This book, like most that appear on the Weekly Wishlist, has been on the TBR pile for a while. I want to read it so badly! The cover art is amazing and the plot concept looks so interesting! It also has a sequel, 'The Rabbit And The Raven'. I really need to actually get my hands on all of these books on my Book Wishlist, it's getting far too long and I still feel no closer to reading them!




3) 'The Boy That Never Was'; Karen Perry. I'm a bit of a sucker for stories that look a bit creepy, and this one looks so good! Having read a bit about it, it looks like it will be an emotional read, with plenty of crying involved. I normally try to avoid unhappy endings like the plague, but I feel like I need to confront this irrational fear, as I'm probably missing out on a vast number of really great books! This one has been highly reviewed so I hope I can get hold of it soon.




4) A New Music Player. Much like my camera, my current MP3 player isn't overly outstanding. In fact, I much favour listening to music through my phone which not only drains battery but takes up stupid amounts of space. I really need to get out of this habit! I would really like to get myself a good one, with a long battery life and plenty of space to listen to all my favourite songs on!


5) 'Alias Hook'; Lisa Jensen. I realise that this Wishlist is a bit book dominated but I couldn't not include this one! I love Fairy Tales and their retellings, and this looks like it could be a great adaption of J.M.Barrie's 'Peter Pan'. Captain Hook has always been an intriguing character to me, I have high hopes for it! I've requested it off of Netgalley, so fingers crossed!

Daily Shenanigans, 24/04/2014: So...I've been to the Year 3000...

I have no words for what I've just experienced, McBusted put on one heck of a show! I'll start with the rest of the day. I basically spent it doing as little, and being as lazy, as possible. I finished 'The Hunger Games' which was awesome and I'll be reviewing it tomorrow! I also did a lot of sleeping and watching Mat play 'Mass Effect 3', so nothing too strenuous! Then at about half four in the afternoon, we hopped on the tube and made our way to the O2 Arena. I've never been before and it is huge and very impressive! Before doors opened, we needed to go and get something to eat so we ate in a lovely Italian Restaurant found inside the O2 Arena Building. The food was gorgeous, particularly the Chocolate Melt pudding. Yum!

Then of course, it was time to see the show! There were three warm up acts before McBusted. All of them were good, E of E did a great cover of Billie Jean! Also, Vix played and the front girl had a phenomenal voice! Well worth checking out! Of course, it was clear who everyone was really waiting for. Their entrance was just awesome, and they went straight into 'Air Hostess' which of course everyone knew! For those of you who don't know, McBusted is a fusion of McFly and Busted, two of my favourite bands from when I was younger. I have grown up knowing all the words to their songs and so I leapt at the chance to get tickets to see them live together!

They played a great set and I recognised most of the songs, including some of the classics, 'What I Go To School For', 'Five Colours In Her Hair', 'Obviously', and of course 'Year 3000' which is the one I think everyone was waiting for! I really enjoyed myself, the tech and set were absolutely amazing and they did a lot of really cool things (including flying down on a UFO) to entertain and astonish. If in the future you ever get the chance to see them, don't hestitate, just book! Our seats were pretty good too which made me happy. Not overly close to the stage but we could see perfectly. Mat and I came away with T Shirts and Souvenir Brochures/Programmes. I've just got through the door and I'm sat with a cup of tea while typing this, absolutely knackered. Okay so tea may not be the best idea at this time of night but hey, you only live once!

Mat has a couple of Uni bits to do tomorrow, so I'll be reviewing 'The Hunger Games' and doing a bit more reading. Next up is Holly Black's book of short stories, 'The Poison Eaters' which I imagine I'll get through quickly. 

Weekly Wishlist #9

It's Sunday, which must mean it's time for my Weekly Wishlist! I've been quite busy this week so haven't been able to write it in advance.

1) 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' Soundtrack. I made no secret of liking this Soundtrack when I posted about the film a few days ago. I really thought it was one of the better ones that I've heard this year in a film, and although it hasn't been released yet, I want it very much for when it is! My favourite theme was the one used for Electro, who was an excellent villain! There seems to be plenty of Electro-related tracks on there, so even more reason to be desperate to have a listen!

2) 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children', Ransom Riggs. I see this book everywhere. It has appeared on my Amazon recommendations more times than I can count and Bloggers all over have raved about how good this book is and how much I should read it. I've put myself on a paperback book ban which is very aggravating but necessary for shelf space. I think I'm going to have to consider getting it on the Kindle, I really need to read it!

3) 'Shiver', 'Linger' and 'Forever', Maggie Stiefvater. I have never read a book by this very popular author and I am deeply ashamed. I actually saw the first one, 'Shiver', a long time ago, and it was recommended to me by various friends of mine, but I never got round to getting or reading it! A lot of people have highly rated it (as well as it's sequels) and I really feel like I need to give some Stiefvater a try. So yes please to this book series!

4) Chocolate! Well it's Easter Day and so of course chocolate had to go on here. It is the great love of my life, the stuff that I can't live without and I adore Easter Eggs in particular for some bizarre reason. I got a couple this year of the Lindt variety (yum!) but the more chocolate the better in my opinion so it would be greatly appreciated in my opinion!

5) To go to the 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past' Premiere. I have found out that the date has been set for the London Premiere for the 12th May, the day before my birthday! I have never attended a Premiere before, though I've always wanted to. But if there was ever a good first one to go to, it would be this one! Anyone who read Thursday's post on my favourite stars will know that the idea of potentially meeting Jennifer Lawrence or Ian McKellen (slim, but a possibility) makes me a very happy bunny! 

Weekly Wishlist #5

I'm having a busy day today with all this blogging! It's that time of the week again, time for my Weekly Wishlist!

1) The 'Field Rose' Foldaway Holiday Bag from Cath Kidston. I have noticed today, while packing for my stay in London, that I desperately need a new Travel Bag. I go and stay away from home fairly regularly and have had a spotty black one that has served me well for a long time, but the straps are wearing a bit thin. I have admired Cath Kidston bags for a long time, I have a bit of a thing for Floral Designs and this one is beautiful! For this reason, it goes on today's list!


2) 'A Perfect Contradiction', Paloma Faith. I really enjoy listening to Paloma Faith, she has a very sultry voice and has written a lot of good songs over the few years that I've been listening to her music. Her newest album, 'A Perfect Contradiction' is out tomorrow and I would really love to get my hands on it! Hopefully it will be as good as her other music, which I enjoy very much.



3) 'The Book Of Crows'; Sam Meekings. I saw this book in Waterstones while I was having a browse a while back, and was immediately intrigued. It looks like a very good read, and having looked into his other books, I would also like to get my hands on 'Under Fishbone Clouds', and even his book of poems, 'The Bestiary'. All have been highly reviewed and I look forward to hopefully being able to read one at some point.



4) 'Some Kind Of Fairytale'; Graham Joyce. This book just looks awesome! Having read the synopsis, it looks exactly like the kind of story that I would enjoy reading and I'm a little bit desperate for this one!  Also, some of his other books like 'The Limits Of Enchantment: A Novel', 'The Year Of The Ladybird' and 'The Silent Land' look equally as intriguing! Honestly, there are too many books in this world that I want to read, and just not enough time for me to do so!



5) 'Starting Point', Hayao Miyazaki. Anyone who has been paying attention to previous Wishlists of mine will quickly realise I'm a bit of a Studio Ghibli fan. I think that these animated movies are amazing, well up there with Disney and Dreamworks in my eyes! Hayao Miyazaki is the man behind a fair few of them, and a bit of an idol of mine. This book is a bit of a glimpse into his own take on the process of making some of these classic films, and it has a sequel: 'Turning Point'. 



And that concludes this week's picks! I hope you enjoy reading these lists as much as I enjoy writing them, it really is a lot of fun.

Weekly Wishlist #3

I've been really looking forward to this week's Wishlist post! I mentioned earlier in the week that I found something I wanted so much it was ridiculous! Finally, I get to share it, and all my other weekly picks, with you all! As usual, the pictures link to the items in question, so check them out!

1) 'The Cabinet Of Curiosities'; Guillermo Del Toro. I was going to do a big build up to this item but I couldn't even wait to do that. Guillermo Del Toro is one of my favourite Film Directors. And this? Only a book full of sketches, concept art, original ideas, etc. for all of his films. If you've not heard of him, he's the guy behind 'Pan's Labyrinth', the 'Hellboy' films, 'Mama', 'Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark', so many great films and I could go on. His take on Horror as a genre is just astonishing and he always puts a Fantasy spin on it which I love. So as soon as I heard this book existed, I wanted it. There's a Limited Edition version that is signed and includes some awesome extra memorabilia, but as much as I would love that, £500 seems a bit steep. The hardback book by itself is £25 - £30. Much better.

2) Mad Money (Colour - Sapphire), Poetic Licence. I saw these casual shoes this week online and absolutely fell in love with them. I'm a bit of a sucker for green and like it when the shoes stand out/look a bit different. Therefore, I've always been a bit of a fan of Poetic Licence designs (they're like marmite for me, I either love or hate them). I've never really been able to afford them  though. If I could however, here's the ones I'd go for to start with! Gorgeous! As the weather's starting to improve, I thought I'd add something a bit more designed for Spring!

3) 'Frozen' DVD. I'm a bit of a sucker for Disney. In fact animated films in general I really enjoy, but Disney ones just always get my attention and I always look out for up and coming releases. I watched 'Frozen', their latest hit, in the cinema and just loved it! I have the Soundtrack which I can never stop singing and even Mat (who refuses to acknowledge any Disney films post-childhood) likes this one! It's being released on March 31st and I can't wait to get the DVD! The songs are catchy, the plot's pretty good and Olaf the Snowman just makes it.

4) 'The Book Thief' Soundtrack. I'm still on a high after seeing this film. It was so beautiful, very emotional, made me bawl my eyes out and above all, the score was sensational. John Williams is a wonderful composer, I've heard his work on many films and heard him get it right so many times. 'The Book Thief' was no exception and I would love to get my hands on the score and listen to it all day long. There is a potential side effect of it reducing me to tears with every play-through though so I'd have to watch out for that.


5) 'The Chaos Of Stars'; Kiersten White. I actually discovered this book on my Bloglovin' Feed this morning, in a post by Awkwordly Emma. Intrigued by the gorgeous cover art (seriously, look at it!), I brought up Goodreads and had a look at what it was about. As it turns out, it's a romance based around Egyptian Mythology! Perfect! I'm a bit of a sucker for learning about Myths, Fairy Tales, Legends, Folktales, etc. and as a result, Fiction books that include or are based upon them are normally something that I enjoy! It looks like a great read and it's on the list now!


Ta-dah! Another Wishlist complete! Seriously, I have so many ideas for these that I already can't wait till next week!