David Attenborough

So, for the last couple of weeks I’ve been watching David Attenborough’s Africa which comes on every Wednesday at nine in the evening. Now, I never used to be a fan of David Attenborough. In my brain, I had him shipped off into a category with all the other boring scientific TV personalities. But then I got an email from an old school friend and we talked a bit and she told me how much she loved Frozen Planet which was an Attenborough series that aired last year (or the year before, I don’t remember.)

So one night I flicked to this legendary Frozen Planet to humour myself more than anything and as you can imagine, I ended up hooked. It was full of the most amazing shots of the arctic and icebergs and polar bears… it was breathtaking.

And this year we get Africa which is just as, if not more awesome than Frozen Planet. Over the last four weeks, I have watched giraffes fighting, lions fighting and elephants fighting, all in the most glorious HD you can imagine. There was this scene on the first week where animals from all over were coming to a little watering place and they were so at ease with one another. There were zebras and giraffes and birds and they were just there, drinking harmoniously in the wild. It was amazing! And then lions came and chased them all away. And there was this part where a herd of elephants were walking through the desert and the little baby elephant was too tired and thirsty and it lay down and wouldn’t get up and then it died. It was so sad but so fascinating to watch.

OK, I just read what I wrote back to myself and realised that it is literally IMPOSSIBLE for me to describe just how amazing this programme is. I could watch episodes back to back and never get tired.

The shots over the rainforests, savannahs and mountains are beautiful; they take you to a different place and you learn so much about different animals. David Attenborough narrates it all and he has such a great distinctive voice which just brings the whole show together. Seriously, until you watch it, you won’t know what you’re missing out on!

And a song which everyone MUST listen to (you probably already have but I’m still hooked) is “Don’t You Worry Child” by Swedish House Mafia. I was shocked when these guys split up but this song is one of their best. It was number one a while ago but I still love it –hasn’t quite got old yet! The bit about ‘I met a girl of a different kind’ and ‘Up on a hill across a blue lake’ are just… beautiful.

The End of 2012

So, that’s it. 2012 officially over and done with (as of midnight tonight). And I think it’s been a pretty awesome year! What with the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee, the new films and music that have come out… 2012 has been a roaring success if I may say so. Seriously though, the Olympics were AMAZING. I watched dressage. And rowing. And taekwondo. All these sports I’d never had the slightest bit of interest in, yet London 2012 drew me in and had me hooked. And Mo Farah… AARGH! I could watch him doing his final laps a million times over… you can’t buy moments like those!

As for writing, I think this year has gone OK for me. I don’t find myself really trying to impress anyone other than myself anymore when I write and that’s the whole point isn’t it? So I may be poor and never sell a single book but at least I’m going to be pleased when I write ‘THE END’ after a particular story.

But while Britain may have been having a sporting, multicultural, musical success of a year, there are other things that we maybe shouldn’t be ignoring. Like the people dying every day in Syria, the natural disasters, and the hostility between certain countries. But I don’t know if these things will ever even be resolved. Will we ever have an entirely peaceful world? Will countries EVER be fair and just to one another? Call me a cynic, but I don’t think that it is EVER going to happen. So, what’s my point? Well, I don’t really have one. All I know is that by watching the news every day and seeing unprovoked attacks and shootings isn’t making people very happy. I mean, I talk about how people should get on and be nice to each other but I’ve fallen out with a fair few people myself this year.

So, what will 2013 be? The year where the power of love overcomes the love of power? The year when the world will know peace? I don’t think so. I mean, I HOPE so but you can’t blame me for being dubious.

Anyway. On a happier note, HAPPY NEW YEAR. I have a new year’s resolution to lose 4 – 7 pounds. Wish me luck!

Music Crime of the Century

OK, so award for the most neglected blog of 2012 goes to… well, not me! Maybe I haven’t updated this thing in a couple of weeks… but I’ve seen worse!

Well, I was watching 4Music this weekend (as you do when you have no immediately imminent exams to worry about!) and I saw the biggest music crime of the century. It came in the form of One Direction and a song they sang called ‘Little Things’. Now this song, when you hear it, isn’t one of the average ‘pop’ songs out there. It has a very distinctive style which you immediately associate with Ed Sheeran. You know, Ed, he’s the down-to-earth ginger dude.  Look that’s him, down there;

BTW, did you know he’s from YORKSHIRE?! Seriously, I was born in the most talented county ever! Ahem.

Anyway, Ed Sheeran’s biggest hits are songs like ‘The A Team’, ‘Lego House’, ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’…etc. Now, I’m presuming you’ve heard these songs before, but if not, go check out YouTube! Like… now! I'll post the most popular one here;

 Thing is, you might think, ‘Oh, these are well crap!’ but they grow on you. It’s a simple kind of music that Ed Sheeran generally makes, with his guitar as the main instrument.

But for some absolutely RIDICULOUS reason, he wrote a song, or gave one of his songs (I don’t know exactly how this crime came about) to One Direction. I mean WHAT?! ONE BLOOMIN’ DIRECTION! Those BOYS who are like the epitome of crappy-poppy-teenage-girl-attracting… ok, I don’t know how to finish that line but whatever! I’m seething! Ugh, it just makes me cross! When someone is as original and as distinctive as Ed Sheeran, they shouldn’t just let their songs, their heartfelt lyrics, be sung by talent-show manufactured boy bands. It’s just plain wrong!

As a general rule, I don’t usually have a problem with people writing for other artists. I mean, The Script’s ‘Live Like We’re Dying’ was originally given to some American dude but that was OK because the song was quite mainstream and it was cool no matter who sang it. But this is like Adele giving away a song to… Little Mix! It’s not right! When a singer/songwriter is not conventional, when they push the boundaries out with lyrics that are unpredictable and can only be associated with them, no-one else should be given their songs.

Dear oh dear, I need a cuppa tea.

“IF” by Rudyard Kipling

So it’s the 19^th of November! At this point I should be having a full-scale panic attack seeing as though my first exam is in exactly two weeks and two days but I’m forcing myself to stay calm. I’ve never failed anything in my life so I’m not going to fail… I’m not going to fail! You see, I say that, hoping that in some way it will motivate me into working harder but I’m EXHAUSTED. I was so upset that it was Monday this morning… I just wanted to stay in bed and get up two hours later and relax and do some casual studying but NO. I have to come into work and write letters and do flippin’ VAT Returns. I also got my Exam Docket by email which kind of reinforced all my worries. BUT I WILL NOT FAIL. End of.

Anyway, I thought I would share my favourite poem in the world with all of you. :) I first came across this when I was about 12… it was one we did in an English lesson and I love it. It’s so simple and beautiful;

“IF” by Rudyard Kipling

P.S. Isn’t Rudyard Kipling the best guy ever?! ‘The Jungle Book’ is AMAZING! He also has the same name as the bakers Mr Kipling so that’s kinda cool too!

The Authors Whose Books I Grew Up With (Part One)

OK, I’ve got to write this as fast as possible because I only have like an hour (it’s lunch!) and I really want to start on this because I’ve been meaning to do so for quite a few weeks. Oh, and btw, I don’t know if Americans will ‘get’ this, it might just be a totally British bunch of authors but you should still buy these books for your kids, no matter what! They’ll love you forever!

*deep breath*. So, to make this post relevant to its title, I think it’s best if I start talking about awesome children’s authors.  :-) Now, I should probably point out that I’m talking about authors who wrote for say, 10 year olds – not like the really little kids ones because that’s just… picture books, right?!

George Layton

OK, so this was the author of The Fib. The title of the book was The Fib but it was actually a collection of short stories, the most popular of which was, yep, you guessed it – The Fib. He also had another collection of short stories called The Swap which was equally amazing. Now, George Layton was an absolutely fantastic author. He wrote like such a typical child. You could really see where the main character was coming from. His stories were always in the first person (at least I think they were) and oh my, now that I think about it, they were all so brilliant! They were written so well and best of all; they’re the kind of stories that won’t go out of fashion if you get what I mean. Like, soon enough people are going to forget about stuff like ‘Twilight’ but I seriously hope that George Layton’s books are never forgotten: It would be an unforgivable crime. Stories he wrote included (these synopses are VERY short!);

The Fib – Kid’s rubbish at football, gets bullied, tells everyone his uncle is a famous footballer. Then meets footballer who covers up for him – awesome!

The Swap – Kid wants fireworks for Bonfire Night but his mum won’t buy him any. Swaps his bike -yes, his bike! - for a bag of fireworks because he’s told his friends that he has some. Sets them all off by accident INSIDE his house.

Gosh, I’m in a rush here but maybe one day I’ll do a post all about Mr. George Layton because he seriously deserves it!

 Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton was arguably the best female children’s author of the 20^th century. Why? Because her books were timeless, easy to read but still insanely exciting. She did the whole lot; mysteries, fantasies, school-based ones… OK, so not the ‘whole’ lot but it did seem like she covered quite a few! The thing that I loved about Enid Blyton was that she seemed to know what made children ‘tick’. She wrote about magical lands at the top of a tree for heavens sake! Now that may sound ridiculous, but to a child it’s utter heaven! Climbing up a huge tree where different fairies and people live on each branch, with little houses built into the trunk, and through a cloud at the top you find yourself in amazing magical lands. And if that isn’t enough, the lands change all the time. And so it’s not always perfect, Enid Blyton included some not-so-nice lands where you’d be rooting for the children to escape from! Oh gosh, it takes me back! There were three books in that series, I think. And away from that excitement you had her other books about girls at boarding school (which sounds boring but were full of stuff like midnight feasts and pranks) and her mystery ones, most noticeably The Famous Five, and, for slightly younger readers; The Secret Seven and then of course, Five Find-Outers and Dog. Gosh, what a cute title! When I was a kid reading the mystery ones it was like watching a Columbo episode; you knew who the bad guy was and you were SO wanting him to get caught. Enid Blyton was brilliant and she had tonnes more books too so maybe next time I’ll write a post dedicated to her too!

    Roald Dahl

What can I say that hasn’t already been said by thousands of people? Roald Dahl just had that gift, you know? And the thing that I loved the most about him was that his books weren’t just strokes of genius; he actually worked hard on each and every one – writing and rewriting and making them perfect though he was never fully satisfied with the majority of them. His books were full of beautiful, innocent children with magical views of the world. And he wasn’t one of those authors that made adults into the good guys; there were some absolutely horrible grown-ups and some beautiful ones. Take Miss Honey vs Miss Trunchbull for example. The boy’s grandma in The Witches versus The Grand High Witch. And Roald Dahl made up wonderful words and wonderful places where good things happened to good children. And even if things went slightly wrong, no-one was ad at the end.  And aside from the children’s books he had a collection of short stories too, for slightly older kids, which included my mum’s all-time favourite book The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Roald Dahl was one of the very best in the business. :-) Your children will adore you if you buy them his books… I swear upon it. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, James & The Giant Peach, Boy, The Giraffe and the Pelly & Me, The Witches, The Twits, Matilda… so many wonderful titles.

        CS Lewis

So, I lied. CS Lewis’ books are not for the bookshelf of a ten year old because he/she will never understand them. His writing style takes a little while to get your head around and I think I mostly appreciated (and understood) the Narnia series when I was about twelve. If a kid picked up his book at the library and flicked through it they’d be like, ‘Huh?’ and would probably put it back down. In fact, I very nearly missed out on the wonderful mind of CS Lewis because I thought it all sounded rather boring. But when I’d read all MY books and my brother seemed absorbed by his stack of The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe etc., I did the natural thing and picked one up and read it. And from then on, I too was hooked. Seriously, people; a land you disappear into for years and years and when you come back, only like one minute has passed on Earth!? Just… words cannot describe how brilliantly CS Lewis put across that concept. Those books are not to be missed!

So those are four of the children’s authors whose books surrounded me as a child. This is why libraries should never be closed; even kids who can’t afford to buy copies of good books, still get to read and enjoy them. When you’re a child you can totally just escape into a fictional world. I have such good memories of curling up in my bottom bunk on a rainy afternoon with a bag of books from the library and reading each one from cover to cover. Ah, the Good Ol’ Days!

NEXT TIME: Well, OK, maybe not my next post, but definitely one in the near future will talk about Jacqueline Wilson, JK Rowling, Michael Brown and AA Milne. *So excited*

#NowPlaying ~ Six Degrees of Separation by The Script

*My little sister says I’m obsessed with The Script but hey, at least I’m not obsessed with some crappy boy-band like One Direction (who totally ruined Ed Sheeran’s song) :’-(

#SoonToBePlaying ~ The Scientist by Coldplay

*I must add here that Coldplay, The Script, Lawson, Train, Maroon 5 etc. are not boy-bands! They are just ‘bands’ (or maybe ‘man-bands’.)

Smile & Be Happy!

The thing that annoys me the most is people who complain. I cannot stand complainers! Now, many of you may be reading this and thinking, ‘Whoa, what a hypocrite! She complains all the time!’ and yeah, I know a lot of my blog posts have been general rants aimed at random people and things. But you see, I don’t complain in ‘real’ life. There was a time (ahem… a couple of weeks ago!) when I would use SITTING… and thinking as some sort of tool to vent my frustration at various occurrences but all that is over! I swear to never complain on here again. *famous last words* Anyway, as I was saying, people who know me wouldn’t really refer to me as someone who grumbles/whines/nitpicks/nags… I either say nice things or don’t say anything at all. (This is why I’m so quiet when around my older sister. Ahem.) Anyway, let’s not stray from the point! Complainers annoy me. I know that I am now complaining about complainers but please just bear with me because I think that complaining about people who complain is a valid complaint. (If you think I’m going mad, I’m not. I’m just trying to sound funny.) OK, this is kind of confusing. Let me start another paragraph.

People who complain will never be satisfied. They will ALWAYS find something new to complain about. I know that loads of ordinary citizens are unemployed etc but that is not a valid reason to just whinge all day! Look at what you DO have, a house maybe, a car, family, people who care for you. And if you have none of those things then look at what YOU have. You’re not disabled, you’re not stuck in a warzone (at least I hope not), you can read, you can talk… everyone has some skill or talent that they can use for their own benefit and for the benefit of society. You should be grateful for what you HAVE got and should not endlessly complain about what you HAVEN’T got. People who complain also tend to be scowling all the time and do you really want to end up with frown lines?! (If you already have frown lines, do you want to get even more severe frown lines?) You should be positive because the situation is going to stay the time no matter what you say. It’s what you DO that can change it. So don’t complain… get up and make an effort to sort the problem out. Changing your attitude will make you see the whole world in a different light. And also, if you’re REALLY annoyed about something and you literally feel like punching someone, drink a nice glass of cold water and think about what wonderful self-control you have. Smiling doesn’t take much effort really. It makes you more attractive, it cheers you up and it makes people around you feel happy too. I mean, c’mon, suppose you walked into work one morning and the receptionist glared at you… wouldn’t make you feel very good would it? Think about other people in the world, those who are starving, dying from polluted water… and then think about what you’re complaining about. Doesn’t feel so good does it? So, smile more and complain less and I promise you, that you’ll feel better.

PS. Sweet_as_candy AKA Emma, the most amazing online friend of mine has introduced me to a world of Roald Dahl quotes, so read these and maybe you’ll start your day (or finish your day) feeling much better!