Last Week's Shenanigans (25th July - 31st July)...

The week itself was pretty mixed in terms of things that happened, but in the end I had a wonderful week. To begin, Mat and I travelled down to Ashford to attend a funeral (which was definitely the lowest point, though the service was lovely). We only remained in Ashford for a few short hours before coming back up to London, mostly because that evening was the evening of my Birthday Present from Mat: tickets to see 'Aladdin' in the West-End. Honestly, it was such a great day and really helped to lift our spirits after such an emotional day. The Genie was great and some of the special effects used were phenomenal. I quite liked the added songs and thought the casting was pretty good (and impressively diverse). All in all, wonderful show and I recommend any Disney lover to go and see it! You're in for a real treat!

Work filled the remainder of my week, which was hardly surprising. I also went to visit the new flat of my flatmate's boyfriend which was fun. A group of us were there and we played games and ate pizza. Best of all, I had Saturday booked off for one very special reason: YALC! The highlight of my week! I did a separate post on this event so click the link if you want to find out more on my adventures there, or even what YALC actually is. Anyone who can get to London around this time next year and loves YA, I highly recommend it, especially as it's part of LFCC (London Film & Comic Con). Of course, from YALC, I bought a ton of books which I'll include on here too. Sunday was not such a busy day, I mostly prepared suitcases and packing for our official move into the new flat the next day!

I Read:

I Received:

- 'Beautiful Broken Things' by Sara Barnard: Purchased at YALC (30/07/16)
- 'End Of Days' by Susan Ee: Purchased at YALC (30/07/16)
- 'Am I Normal Yet' by Holly Bourne: Purchased at YALC (30/07/16)
- 'A Monster Calls' by Patrick Ness: Purchased at YALC (30/07/16)
- 'The Rest Of Us Just Live Here' by Patrick Ness: Purchased at YALC (30/07/16)
- 'Illuminae' by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff: Purchased at YALC (30/07/16)
- 'Under Rose Tainted Skies' by Louise Gornall: Purchased at YALC (30/07/16)
- 'Dear Charlie' by N.D. Gomes: Received ARC at YALC (30/07/16)

- 'The King Of Rats' by Melinda Salisbury: Received at YALC (30/07/16)
- 'Kindred Spirits' by Rainbow Rowell: Received at YALC (30/07/16)

Memes:

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Books Have Made Me Want To Do/Learn

I Posted:

YALC (Saturday) Round-Up Post
July Wrap-Up

Last Week's Shenanigans (12th October - 18th October)...

I've had a really enjoyable week this week, mostly because it hasn't been entirely made up of work! On Monday I went shopping in Stratford with high hopes of assembling most of my Scarlet Witch costume because I'm going to London Comic Con! Hooray! This is hugely exciting for me because I've only been once and I've never Cosplayed before! It's on Saturday 24th October so I should have plenty of pictures for you guys next week. I've made up a good majority of it now, just a few final bits to go. I then worked until my booked day off on Thursday, which was both busy an semi-stressful but not terrible.

On Wednesday evening, Mat, Tash and I set out to go and see a production of 'Twelfth Night' at the Rose Playhouse. Anyone who knows me will know that it is my favourite Shakespeare comedy of all time and so when Mat said he was studying it I had to go! It is actually being shown in the form of a Gender experiment, so there are four different cast combinations: traditional, reversed roles, all male and all female. We went to see the Traditional, own gender version Wednesday, and on Tuesday 20th (tomorrow) we are going to watch the reversed roles version. The play itself was very well acted and I greatly enjoyed performances from all cast members. They did a smashing job considering the small amount of space they had to work in. For those that don't know, The Rose Playhouse is actually an ongoing archaeological project and if you're in London and a fan of the bard, well worth a look considering it is where the actors would have performed.

The reason I booked a day off on Thursday was because a group of my Uni friends (who I have not seen in well over a year) were coming up for one of their Birthdays to London! I was relieved to find that work let me change my holiday date, as I was so worried that working full-time would force me to miss out on yet another thing that I wanted to do. We had a great deal of fun, meeting at mid-morning and having a quick Burger King/Subway before spending a great many hours in the Natural History Museum (a place I haven't been since I was very young). It was a really enjoyable day out and it was so nice to see so many of my friends again all in one day!

I Read:

Memes:

Top Ten Tuesday: Author Duos I'd Love To See Write A Book Together

Daily Shenanigans, 14/07/2014: 'Richard III'.

If I could I would go to the theatre every day. I absolutely love it, and today's trip to see Trafalgar Transformed's adaption of Richard III was no exception to that rule. Mat arrived at mine about mid morning and we set about completing tasks before heading off to London. Firstly, Mat sorted out our consoles so that we could set about selling the ones we don't need anymore in preparation for our new flat. While he was doing that I decided to update my CV as it truly needed to be done. We had lunch then headed off to London. We actually spent most of our afternoon back and forth on the tube, travelling first to Stratford before returning to Central London. The intention was to spend the afternoon job hunting before having a nice evening and we were pretty productive. After getting lots done, we headed to a nearby Italian restaurant for some dinner.

After dinner we walked across the road to the Trafalgar Studios, picked up our tickets and then eagerly awaited the show. It was fantastic! I had a faint idea about the synopsis of the play though I actually had not ever seen it performed before or studied it. The first thing I noticed was the really cool set, which looked like something out of a 1970s war film. It was amazingly realistic, it even had lifts which I was so impressed by. The soundtrack was really attention grabbing, ever-present and adding plenty of atmosphere. I loved the costume designs too, it was a wonderful adaption of the play. Martin Freeman as the titular character was just phenomenal (and hilarious) I thought he did a great job at playing the villain. I was pretty impressed by the whole cast actually! 

I'm currently so tired, I'm having a lay in tomorrow before doing more jobs. 

Daily Shenanigans, 05/06/2014: 'Let The Right One In' on stage!

Let me just start by saying I've had a really nice day today. I did manage to get a small bit of reading done, and generally relaxed in the morning. It was nice to be able to do so again and it really hit me that Uni is actually over for good. Gulp! We went to view the house in the afternoon, only to find that no Estate Agent turned up! Apparently they had rung and left a message to cancel the viewing, though Mat didn't have a missed call so I'm not so sure. Still! The trip wasn't entirely wasted! we went to the nearby Sainsburys and bought a few bits and bobs, including some Ben & Jerries! Yum!

After going out for a lovely Italian, we made our way to the Theatre to watch 'Let The Right One In'. My parents bought me the tickets for my birthday and I've been really looking forward to watching it, the Swedish Film Adaption has always been one of my favourite films. I wasn't sure what to expect. I wondered how on earth they were going to stage half of the scenes, but having seen 'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime' at the Apollo, I have every faith that it would be an awesome show. I was not in the least bit disappointed and found myself blown away on so many levels! I'll start by saying that the seats we had gave us an amazing view, and the set looked just beautiful. I've included a picture, and I was shocked about just how realistic everything was! They even had a sky scene on the roof that you could see if you looked up.

So, the acting. Rebecca Benson as Eli was just fantastic. She gave the character a beautiful mix of vulnerability and ferocity, and she really did seem so otherworldly. Martin Quinn was also amazing, especially considering that it was his professional stage debut! When I read that in the programme, I was blown away! The two of them together were just lovely to watch and I really liked watching the relationship build, just as I did in the film. I also liked that the show as a whole really heavily drew from the film, but managed to be it's own thing as well. It had a perfectly creepy atmosphere, amazing soundtrack (so beautiful at times) and I almost cried at a few points during the show. The way that they achieved some of the effects as well were just amazing. If you enjoyed the film I really recommend this show. See it while you still can!

Tomorrow, Mat and I are in all day. He needs to pack up most of his things to move from Uni and has told me I can spend the day reading if I like. I'll probably help him a bit, but I hope to make lots of progress!

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!

Daily Shenanigans, 13/04/2014: Tea, Chocolate and the Olivier Awards!

I have had a really good day today again, and quite a hectic one actually. My Dad bought a new Motorbike, and managed to sell his old one, all in the same day! The new one looks very nice, I don't know much about bikes but it's very cool and sporty looking! The weather was so lovely today that I actually myself went out for a drive with my sister, I really hope the weather stays like this, it's getting so hot now and beginning to feel like actual Summer! . We went to get a few bits at Tesco (which is incidentally where Mat works) and said hello to him as a surprise! Those bits included some more books which was really rather naughty of me because I have such a shelf space crisis at the moment. The two reads I picked up today were 'Half Bad' by Sally Green, and 'Mother, Mother' by Koren Zailckas. I've heard really good things about 'Half Bad' and 'Mother, Mother' I keep seeing in basically every book shop I walk into.

Talking of books: a progress update on 'The Fault In Our Stars'. I've finished the book! I won't say much, I'll save it for the review because Myra won't finish until tomorrow and I need time to recover/gather my thoughts/stop crying. The review itself will be up either tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on what we decide to do! Next on the TBR list is 'A Certain Slant Of Light'. I'm really excited about this one, I'm on a real roll with books at the moment and don't want it to stop. Incidentally, I'll be reading 'The Hunger Games' after that, which I'm desperately excited about. I love the films so much, it has basically become a crime that I haven't read a single one of the trilogy yet!

Right now, I'm sat in my room with some chocolate, tea and the Olivier Awards on TV. I'm a little sad because none of the shows/actors/actresses that I wanted to win actually won, but the ones who did win deserved it so I'm happy too. Plus, the intermittent performances were great! It's finishing now and I have work tomorrow, so I think I should probably get to bed and get some sleep. My whole day will pretty much be in Canterbury, so my weekend of relaxation is sadly over. I will be seeing Mat though, which is a bonus! 

Daily Shenanigans, 12/04/2014: Time for something new!

Well today was very lazy but very exciting! It started off like a normal day, and I made a start on John Green's 'The Fault In Our Stars'. But this time, I'll be doing things a bit differently! I'm currently reading it alongside the lovely Myra from I'm Loving Books and we have decided that after reading we will do some kind of joint review together for a bit of fun! I'm really excited about this, it's nice to do something different every once in a while. As for the book itself, so far I love it and I can't wait to get it finished so I can let you guys know my thoughts on it.

Such good things have happened today, my sister convinced my Dad to buy a pack of BN Biscuits, which were the most delicious biscuits of my childhood. On top of that, my Mum sat down with me and bought tickets for Mat and I to go and see 'Let The Right One In' in June, as part of my Birthday present. I am jumping up and down because I really thought I wouldn't get to see it, and it turns out I will! I saw Mat today after he finished work and I had such a lovely evening with him. We decided not to go to the Cinema this evening because the traffic was predicted to be pretty bad (some kind of motorway closure) and a night in watching the first episode from the new Britain's Got Talent series with tea and biscuits sounded much more appealing. Oh! I got a First for my Stage Management grade too, so I'm really glad I did well at that!

Tomorrow promises to be a really good day. I will be posting another 'Weekly Wishlist', hopefully finishing 'The Fault In Our Stars', and watching the Oliviers highlights later in the evening when they're on. Lots to look forward to!

Weekly Wishlist #7

This week will include a couple of things that I thought about putting last week after I had done the list! Still, that's why I do one every week!

1) 'Les Misérables: From Stage To Screen'. Going to see this musical was so great and I loved it so much! It is definitely one of the best I've seen live in a long time, if not ever! I also loved the movie when I saw it and would love to own this book to read about the transition between the two! I saw it on sale in the Merchandise area when I went to the theatre, but decided against buying it when I saw the price and the bulk of the book (£30). When I got home, I looked it up and as predicted, found it for a much cheaper £19.50. It includes annotated scripts, original costume sketches, film set designs and posters. A Les Mis fan's dream!

2) Tickets to see 'Let The Right One In'. When I saw the Swedish adaption of this film a few years ago I loved it. Along with Pan's Labyrinth, it is probably my favourite film that I have watched in a Foreign language. It is a beautiful coming of age tale, with the inclusion of a very well interpreted vampire. So when I heard that it had been adapted for the Theatre and was being shown in London, I might have had a mini dance for joy. I am so desperate to see it, the set just looks amazing and it has received some really good reviews.

3) 'A Long Way Down'; Nick Hornby. Well now there is simply no excuse. After seeing the new film adaption at the cinema and adoring it, I need to read this book! I was literally a blubbering wreck while watching it and I can only imagine that the book will render me unable to leave my room for days, but I frankly can't not read it. It's a risk I'm willing to take because I really want to see how they differ, if at all!




4) 'Vain'; Fisher Amelie. I have seen this book a few times around, as well as others in the series, and was immediately struck by the clever idea of doing a modern series about the seven deadly sins. The protagonists of these books sound like really intriguing characters to read about and I would be interested to see how Fisher Amelie approaches this concept. 'Vain' is the first in the series and I really want to get into this one. It's been on the list for a little while, but I do really want to read it, and the rest in the series: 'Greed', 'Fury', 'Lust', 'Idle', 'Binge' and 'Envy'!

5) Harry Potter Wizard's Collection Blu-Ray Set. Now this came out some time ago and it is so expensive. But I love these films and this series and I am just a massive Harry Potter fan. Why do I want this particular box set? Just look at it! It opens out like a magic chest! I love the design concept! But perhaps even more impressively, the extras! This set contains 37 hours of special features (heaven!) which I would happily watch,without sleep, repeatedly! The first two films have extended cut versions too which just makes me ridiculously excited! And if that wasn't enough, a Map of Hogwarts is included, and a catalogue of props, posters and concept art prints. At this point, I could cry.

Another week bites the dust! Recently the 'what do you want for your birthday' questions have been coming in, and now I have some answers! Hooray!

Daily Shenanigans, 04/04/2014: The Postman has impressed me!

So today has been one of the nicest I've had in quite a while. That feeling of not actually having anything to do that day is a rare one that I don't encounter often! I ended up having a rather nice lay-in this morning, and spent the rest of the day relaxing a lot. I replied to some comments on my blog, read a few posts, read some more of 'The Invention Of Wings' (I adore this book so far, by the way), and generally chilled out. Mat and I played quite a lot of games, and even watched a movie on TV, 'Beautiful Creatures'. I have to say I did enjoy the film, but I would love to read the book. I think I would enjoy that a whole lot more.

I returned home pretty late this evening, and found that I had two parcels waiting for me. The first was 'Good Kings, Bad Kings', which was one of my Giveaway wins that I knew would arrive soon. The second was a bit of a shock. I hadn't expected it to arrive so quickly, seeing as I only emailed my Mailing address out yesterday. It was the book that the lovely Betsy Cook Speerg had asked me to review, 'Demolition Queen: Champagne, Murder & Chaos'. In light of the fact that someone has specifically requested me to review it, I've bumped it up the TBR list accordingly, and I shall be reading it after I've finished my current read. I can't wait to get into it! It shouldn't affect my reading schedule too much, and I want to review it ASAP.

Tomorrow is my Mum's birthday, and I'm seeing Mat in the afternoon after he finishes work. It promises to be pretty relaxing again though, there is nothing planned as far as I am aware, but we'll see! Oh, I also found out today that as well as Benedict Cumberbatch playing Hamlet next year (I heard this last week), Martin Freeman will be playing Richard III fairly soon. These are both in the West End and I am desperate to go and see them, I love these actors! So there is some more exciting news from today!

Daily Shenanigans, 13/02/2014: Recovery after yesterday's trauma.

Today has been the opposite of yesterday, a.k.a, exactly what I needed. A quiet, relaxing day where I didn't need to be anywhere or do anything and could just sit down and work on things without too much disturbance and stress. And honestly, I actually got a lot done. I spent the morning writing some more script for my Multimedia piece, I've had a mental block for absolutely ages and suddenly I got a flash of inspiration! The relief that comes with that is indescribable. Once I had most of my ideas penned, I took a break and started to write out some blog-related planned posts and enter some Goodreads giveaways. Talking of those, my sister told me she had won a book this morning! 'The Madness Of July' by James Naughtie is on its way to her and having read the description, it looks like a good read! We have already agreed that entering these giveaways is sort of a joint effort in terms of reviews, as her blog is very book based too, so when it arrives and I get round to it, expect that one to pop up on the planned reads list!

The rest of my day was spent getting a bit more work done, sorting out some emails and making sure everything was prepared for Valentine's Day! I have been told that tomorrow's lecture has been cancelled, and so I have the whole day off! I did go for a drive this evening, following my Dad to the Garage because his car needs an MOT and he wanted transport back home. Phoebe the Fiat is still working fine, I had absolutely no problems tonight! Let's hope it was just a one off. I'll be driving to pick Mat up from the station tomorrow, so I'll see how that goes. On another quick, day-brightening note, I received a really lovely tweet from Strangeface Theatre after I ranted about being unable to see their show. They told me to look on their list of Tour Dates around Kent and see if I could make any. If so, they would see if they could swing me a free ticket! How nice is that? I'll be checking that out, and hopefully someone will come with me so that I don't have to go by myself. It looks like I maybe going to see the show after all though!

I don't have an awful lot more to say. Tomorrow is obviously Valentine's Day, and I'll be spending the afternoon/evening with Mat and going out for dinner (so won' be home to blog till late), but other than that, I don't have a lot planned for the day. 

Daily Shenanigans, 05/02/2014: Up and coming opportunities?

It's that time of day (well night actually) again readers. My daily update. I had originally planned to have a little more to talk about this time, what with Uni and all. But I got an email last night telling me that my lecture had been cancelled (my lecturer is ill). Although I was pleased to have more time to get things done, I was a little disappointed that this meant another day of doing not an awful lot but work. Thankfully, as promised, I did get some done. I have stayed off the reading today (though I'll probably do a bit now before bed) so that I could focus more so I'm not much further through 'It'.

I did get some exciting news tonight. In an email sent a few days ago (which I haven't properly read until now) we were told that Strangeface Theatre Company are visiting our Uni and performing their newest production 'Shooting The Moon' for us! Having watched their re-imagining of 'Pinocchio' last year, there is absolutely no way I can miss this! It was charming, funny and a very original piece of work and I loved it. Reading up on this show, it looks to be equally as exciting, based around the life of Georges Méliès. I honestly cannot wait for this, I love the Theatre and would happily go every day if I could. Obviously, I shall post a full review in a weeks time after I have watched it. After tweeting about it, my Uni lecturer then informed me that I would in fact be helping to rig the lights for it. I'm very excited about this prospect, to even be part in some small way of this production would be an incredible thing to do.

Other than having the 'Frozen' Soundtrack stuck in my head all day, there's not an awful lot more to tell. I have signed up to the Masterclass Newsletter (worth doing for anyone interested in Theatre, both on and offstage) because I am considering pitching a play for them when they open for entries. This is at the moment a thought and depends how it will fit into the rest of my year but it's one I'm definitely thinking hard about. I will be off to bed now for a quick read before sleep, as I did not do so too well last night. The wind and rain were ridiculous last night and kept me awake until the early hours of this morning.