Sunday, February 27, 2011

Book Worm

Hey all,

So I am quite a book worm. I read a lot. I am never without a book, reading every night and as a result I get through quite a lot of books. Some good, some not so good. Regardless, books are my favourite things in the world. To get lost inside a story and forget where you are and what you're thinking for a while, to just be completely absorbed by a character or witness a world you never have the opportunity to witness in real life - it's quite magical really.

Anyway, back to the good/bad books I read. I wanted to share with you some of those today. Three of the worst books I read last year, and three of the best books. Maybe it will inspire you to get out and read some of them for yourself!


BOOKS I WANT TO FORGET

Let's start with the bad one's shall we?

1. "Hush, Hush"
Now this book wasn't badly written, and the story wasn't TOO bad itself. What annoyed the hell out of me was it's very familiar theme of non-human creatures in intense love with a human, being dangerous and exciting and filled with life-threatening situations. Sound familiar? Yes. It was far too similar to Twilight for my liking.

2. "American Gods"
This book, again, wasn't bad in the sense of the writing or even the story concept. It was a cool concept, about Gods living in real life. It was also written by an author whom I quite enjoy, Neil Gaimon. However, it often made little or no sense. Nothing more frustrating then that in a novel! I was continually left thinking, "Waaaaa?" after reading chapters, particularly after a chapter in which a Goddess eats a man with her lady parts and then never appears in the story again. Very very strange.

3. "The English Harem"
This apparently has been made into a movie now. It's about a young English girl who ends up marrying a man who already has two other wives. A lot of stuff happens, yadda yadda yadda. I found the book odd at first, then got quite into the story and found myself really enjoying it. That's until the end. "And then Tracey woke up from the greatest dream of her life."
sbhadlbsdkblsdhj!
TERRIBLE ENDING! Now, this could have been ambiguous. It could have been saying she woke to reality, or alternatively she just woke up from a dream. Regardless, a book should never end with a sentence that has the word 'dream' in it. Not unless they want people to light the book on fire in pure literature rage.

BOOKS I WOULD READ AGAIN

Now onto something a little more positive. The books that were good!

1. "Good Omens"
Funnily enough, this is written by Terry Pratchett (one of my favourite authors) and Neil Gaimon, who wrote one of my least favourite books above as you have read. It was a fantastic read. All about the apocalypse and Angels and Demons, all wrapped up within a terrifically humorous writing style. I would recommend you all to read this one. Very very good!

2. "Jezebel"
I always hear people saying the name Jezebel or read it in books but I never knew who they were referring to. Now I do! The book Jezebel tells the story of the real life princess Jezebel and her incredibly powerful life. It was a fantastic read, mainly because it took a different view. Normally Jezebel is seen or referred to as being evil and corrupting. A force fuelled by sexuality and indulgence in a society and religion that abhors these things. The book took her point of view and it was altogether very interesting.

3. "The Princess Bride"
I had never read the book until last year. Of course I had seen the movie and loved it, but if you are like me and have never read the book, please go read it now! It is wonderful - better then the movie of course, as books usually are. It has great humour and a wonderful, old fashioned story-telling that really draws you in. The story is beautiful, and I believe it is loved by a lot of people simply through the movie. Go ahead and read it ASAP.

So there you go! My three worst loved and three most loved books of 2010. Where would we be without good books, hey?

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

I'm Gonna Get Up - I'm Gonna Get Out - I'm Gonna Get Up, Get Out and Live it!!

Hi all!

So I am writing this blog in a state of excitment and jitters from finishing my first two days at my new musical theatre course. Already I am loving loving loving it!! We haven't gotten way into the course yet, but we have done a lot of talking about the course in general. We've also done a dance class, an acting class and we performed solo in front of each other, so it is well under way!!

I am incredibly pumped about this year. The thought that every day I'm going to be doing what I love - completely surrounded by all things musical theatre - is one that gives me that fired up, ready for anything kind of feeling. I think it's just the prospect of what this year is going to give all of us in the course. The teachers have already said to us that we will grow and learn so much and I'm feeling that in the class environment already. There's this whole caterpillar - butterfly metamorphisis thing going; we are all in such a state of readiness to improve and to learn, we're just all so eager to be sponges and soak up everything they give us that there is no doubt in my mind that we will each improve in leaps and bounds.

I know it's going to be a hard slog. The early mornings, the travelling each day, the sore muscles and the confronting situations we will be putting ourselves in, but this is what I call living! I say I like a day in which I have accomplished something, and I'm going to accomplish something new everyday, whether it'll be overcoming nerves to do with a song I'm self-conscious about or mastering a dance step. Maybe even something so small as learning a new fact about this craft that I want to be a part of.

Basically, I am feeling incredibly lucky.

Thank god for Musical Theatre.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Seize the Day

I felt the time was right for another blog, seeing as my head's about to explode. That's how I usually judge when it's blog time.

So hello to my blog readers out there. How's things for you? We're one month into the new year (eeek) and time is moving rapidly. People are going back to school, some of us are starting new courses. Uni people generally still have another couple weeks of holidays... *shakes fist at uni people*
But to sum it all up, things are happening.
It is actually really freaking me out how quickly the year is going already. I don't quite know why, because there is nothing about this year that I am dreading. In fact I only really have things to look forward to. But still, the thought that time is going so quickly is sitting badly with me. If I was psychoanalyzing myself I'd say this must mean that I am afraid of things changing, but actually I think it may be the opposite. I think I'm more afraid of finishing the year and things NOT changing.
Is that strange?
I really like my life, don't get me wrong, but like I have said in other blog posts I am MORE then ready for some new things to happen, and I guess I'm quite terrified by the thought that I may spend a whole year and not have moved forward or changed in any way. I want to be able to look back at the end of the year and say, "Yep. I did what I wanted. This year is definitely not wasted."

I think I have a problem with the idea of wasting time. It really unsettles me. I was always the person that would stress myself out in school holidays when I realised I had hardly done anything social and I only had a week left. I always had to do as much as physically possible otherwise the holidays were wasted completely. I'm still the same. For instance I'll have a few rest days because I am physically exhausted, but when I get to the end of the day my mind is so annoyingly switched on that I can't sleep, no matter how tired I am. I feel anxious because I feel like I haven't accomplished anything, and a day in which I accomplish nothing is a day wasted.
Seize the day really should be my life motto, but that makes me think of being brave and doing things you normally wouldn't. If I had that as my motto I would talk the talk but not walk the walk. Sure I try new things, I put myself out there, but not where it counts. If it feels easy then that's not really seizing the day and getting out of your comfort zone is it? Actually, come to think of itI do get out of my comfort zone in some ways - auditioning, performing, taking risks and trying to overcome challanges - but in other ways I fail horribly. I can't make it clear to someone that I'm interested in them, I can't put myself out there in that way. Sheesh what a coward! I should listen to my own fake motto and just bite the bullet. Make a day worthwhile.

Anyways, rant ended. My pizza just arrived.
Nighty night!