Wordless Wednesday: Dome

Book 50 of 2014: Old Christmas by Washington Irving

I know that we're heading into summer now, but the weather recently has been decidedly wintry, so I guess that writing about Christmas books is fairly fitting. Back in November last year I read Old Christmas by Washington Irving, it's a free Kindle ebook of Christmas essays.

Not my copy of this book

This book was a fairly interesting look at how Christmas was celebrated in the past, from the point of view of an American travelling through England. Considering the fact that this was written way back in the 1800s, it's a great little glimpse into the old Christmas traditions, many of which have died out now.

The Christmas period is divided into several essays, each one focusing on a different aspect of Christmas; beginning with the journey for the celebration, then Christmas Eve, the morning of Christmas Day and Christmas dinner. It's a nice way of breaking things up and while the essays follow on one from another, you could probably just dip in and read the bit that interests you, if you don't want to dedicate time to the whole book.

I found it interesting to see which traditions have continued at Christmas time, perhaps without people really knowing the reason why. There are also some little snippets which I think it would be cool to maybe bring some of them back.

I think the book was really well written. Irving managed to paint pictures with his words so I could easily imagine the scenes that he was describing. I'd love to see an illustrated version of this book because I could imagine it being filled with lavish Victorian pictures.

I'd recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the history of Christmas (or history full stop). It's not a long read, and you can get it for free on the Kindle, so you've really no excuse.

Please note, this review contains an Affiliate Link.

TV Series Review: Starsky and Hutch

When we finished watching The Dukes of Hazzard, Mr Click and I decided that our new bedtime viewing would have to be Starsky and Hutch. I’d seen odd episodes of the first series and thought that what with both series having fairly icon cars in them, it’d be a good follow up.

Starsky and Hutch ran from 1975 to 1979, featuring four series (which we’ve got in a complete box set). It features two Californian detectives, David Starsky and Kenneth Hutchinson (known to his friends as ‘Hutch’), played by Paul Michael Glasier and David Soul. Together they apprehended bad guys, worked undercover and saved lives, along with the help of Huggy Bear (who spent much of his time working in a bar) and their boss, Captain Dobey.

I was expecting a pretty serious sort of programme so I was surprised at the amount of comedy that was often injected into the episodes. I think every episode (apart from the multi-parters which ended on a cliffhanger) ended with some sort of funny little scene. Even in some of the very serious episodes we see Starsky and Hutch going undercover in a variety of disguises, something which is usually played for laughs at least once in the episode.

I was very impressed at the fact that as a series which so often veered towards comedy also handled some fairly sensitive topics. Some of my favourite episodes were those that dealt with race relations, homophobia and the attack of a young girl with learning difficulties. There was a good balance between the heavy and the light-hearted storylines; we would occasionally watch two episodes in bed at night so you knew that if you got a heavy-going one to start of with, the second one would be much gentler and funnier.

Reading online, I’ve learned that by the third series Glasier was keen to leave the series and while I enjoyed the third series, it felt like things were definitely going downhill by the fourth. Targets Without a Badge (a three-part episode which features at the tail-end of series four) was possibly the worst episode ever; the first part and the third part were okay, but the middle episode just seemed to have been cobbled together from a bunch of random scenes.

The fourth series did pick it up for the final episode (which saw Starsky at death’s door for most of it). It ended on the standard upbeat manner which was just what was needed for the series. I do have to say that concepts of science and medicine were a little bit sketchy throughout the series, to the point that whenever a mysterious poison or compound cropped up, Mr Click would roll his eyes and tell me ‘don’t say it’. It’s a product of its time.

It’s the sort of series that you can dip in and out of because, with the exception of the handful of two- or three-part episodes, each episode is a standalone story. There aren’t really any overarching storylines which bog things down, unless you count the ongoing problems with Hutch’s car. Occasionally characters crop up who have been in it before (sometimes playing the same character, sometimes playing someone different, sometimes played by someone different).

I did enjoy watching most of the series, though as I mentioned above, series four went rapidly downhill and only really picked back up in the final two episodes. I suspect that we’ll revisit it in the future at some point. For now though we’ve moved on to The A Team for our bedtime viewing, so expect a review of that in a few months’ time.

Weekly Rundown: The 50mm Lens

Last Saturday I ordered a shiny new lens for my Canon DSLR camera the expected delivery date wasn’t until Friday so I didn’t imagine that I’d have much to say about it in this week’s weekly rundown post.

Then it showed up on Wednesday, completely unexpectedly, giving me lots and lots of time to play with it and figure out how to use the damn thing. It’s a 50mm f1.8 lens which basically means that it has a fixed focal length and can’t be zoomed; the f-number refers to the size of the aperture which affects your depth of field. This lens is great for portrait photography because you can get a nice sharp image, with the background all blurred.

I’d class myself as an enthusiastic amateur, when it comes to photography. I’ve played around with different settings on my camera, I know how to change them, and most of the time I can work out what settings I need to change to get the effect I want. But this knowledge has largely been acquired through trial and error (and the occasional tutorial online). And ever since I got my camera, I knew I needed to get one of these lenses.

I did briefly put my camera into the Full Auto setting when the lens arrived, took two photos, realised how little control I had over what I was doing and switched out of it. I’m still learning, but I’m in love with this camera lens already.

The above photos are amongst the first one hundred that I took, but I’m very pleased with them (they’re not even my favourite ones, I’m saving some for my upcoming Wordless Wednesday posts). Tara has always been a willing victim, half the time you point a camera or phone at her she’ll pose for you (my labrador is a diva) and I love how that photo of her came out. The focus fell on her nose instead of her eyes (which I’ve got the hang of fixing now) but I think it’s a cute photo nonetheless.

You can probably expect to see a bit more of my husband’s ugly mug on here while I practice my portrait photography (one of my reasons for getting a 50mm lens). It’s so easy to use (since you don’t have to worry about the zoom) that I’m hoping to train him up so he can take photos of me. This means I might make an appearance on my blog occasionally!

I’ve also found it great for photographing my ratbags. Wicket is scared of most noises and Yoda is very fast-moving so I don’t normally get many pictures of them, something I’m hoping to remedy now I’ve got this lens. Wicket’s still not a fan of the noise the camera makes, but he’s tolerated a few photos. Yoda on the other hand is quite the little ham. It’s such a fast lens that most of the time he’s in the frame and I’ve even managed to get him in focus a handful of times. ;-)

I know that I’ve still got an awful lot to learn about using this lens to its full potential. I’ve taken it to the beach already and I’ll be going away to a local festival soon so that’ll be another chance to practice with it. I’m also hoping to find some more victims volunteers to help me practice my portrait photography. For now I’ll carry on making do with Mr Click and Tara:

This is officially my new favourite photo. I know it's not perfect by a long way, but I still can't help feeling a bit proud of myself every time I see it.

I hope you haven't minded this week's slightly photographic interlude. Let me know which pictures are your favourites and if you've got a 50mm lens, share your tips and tricks in the comments.

Film Review: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Part 1

I originally planned to watch A Series of Unfortunate Events back when I read the first three A Series of Unfortunate Events books because I knew that those were the books it was based on. Then I decided that I wanted to write a blog review of it and so held off and held off, and completely forgot about it when I finally did finish the book series. At least it’s not been that long since we finished the books, so what better time to do a three-part review of the film.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is based on the first three books (The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room and The Wide Window) more or less. The action chops around between the books with the beginning and end of The Bad Beginning forming the beginning and end of the film, with the most pertinent moments from the other two books slotted in between.

Of course, it’s still telling the same story. The Baudelaire children become the Baudelaire orphans when their parents are killed in a terrible fire. Mr Poe, the executor of the Baudelaires’ will, takes the children off to live with Count Olaf, who promptly tries to murder them in order to get his hands on their fortune. From this point onwards things only get worse.

1. I love how in keeping with this series the menu selection of the film is. Each option has dire warnings against selecting it.

2. And we’re straight into the action with chirping birds and happy music. There are stop motion birds and other forest dwelling creatures. We’re watching a film called The Littlest Elf.

3. There seems to be some sort of mistake here and Jude Law, playing Lemony Snicket, tells us that this is not the film we will be watching today. This is not a film filled with happy music and birdsong.

4. Ooh, there’s a bit of eye imagery on the fence there. That’s got to be intentional, right?

5. As we know from the books. Violet ties up her hair with a ribbon when she’s about to invent something. We get a brief montage of her demonstrating this.

6. Klaus meanwhile is a reader and researcher. I want the Baudelaire library.

7. And then there’s Sunny. I love the shot of her hanging off the table by her teeth.

8. Mr Poe is bringing news of an unfortunate event. He does not sugar coat this news.

9. And then he lets the children go to the still smoking ruins of their mansion home. Which has some curious mysteries in it; like a burning hot spyglass Mr Baudelaire had hidden in the study.

10. There’s a bit of obvious CGI in this film.

11. Hehe, ‘this is an excellent opportunity to walk out of the theatre, house or aeroplane where this film is being shown.’ Wouldn’t like to try that!

12. I love Sunny in the film as much as in the book, telling Mr Poe that it ‘sounds like someone’s head’s been removed’.

13. Look at Justice Strauss and her beautiful house. That’s not where you will be living.

14. Olaf’s house is not beautiful. It looks like something out of a horror movie. Sunny’s got the right idea about sleeping outside!

15. And here we’ve got some eyes. Gonna see a lot of those in this film.

16. Jim Carrey is the perfect person to play Count Olaf. He’s such a big ham and it just works so well.

17. Hehe, Violet, Klaus and Whatever!

18. ‘I will raise these orphans as though they were actually wanted.’ And Mr Poe doesn’t find this behaviour in any way strange?! Mr Poe’s an idiot.

20. We get a brief tour of the Olaf residence. It’s a bit of a dive.

21. He gets all Beauty and the Beast on the children when they ask what’s up the tower. They are never to go up there!

22. I’d love to see what else is on Olaf’s list of chores.

23. Aww, rat! I don’t think it’s really hygienic to keep rats in your kitchen cupboards though.

24. Eww. And I definitely don’t want to eat anything from a kitchen where there are bugs in the cupboard.

25. I love how they show off the make up so Carrey looks just like the illustrations in the books.

26. Who needs a tin opener when you’ve got a baby with razor sharp teeth?

27. Mmm, spittoon pasta.

28. Violet’s hair is really cool with all those random plaits. If I was fourteen right now, I would totally wear my hair like that!

29. Eww, look at Olaf’s nails! Dude needs a manicure.

30. Physical violence against children. Nice move, Olaf.

31. I’ve just realised that Klaus isn’t wearing glasses. Isn’t that one of his main defining character traits in the books?

33. Time for a moan about their parents’ lack of forethought in their choice of guardian. Unfortunately being dead is not like being in Europe and they’re never going to see their parents again.

34. Luckily Violet’s going to invent something to make them feel safe. Instant sanctuary. If only the Olaf issue could be fixed that easily.

35. And just like that Olaf is the children’s guardian. In this universe there is clearly no such thing as social workers.

36. I like that Olaf stops at the ‘Last Chance’ store, like the children visit in the book.

37. And also as in the book, the children find a book called Inheritance Law and You. Except this time there’s a list of train times in it.

38. Oh, and the car is parked on the train tracks, and there’s a train heading for them.

39. At least The Littlest Elf looks happy about it.

40. Film! Poe is just as useless as Book!Poe.

41. I love the way that the books Klaus needs to remember just pop out of the bookcase. It’s a neat way of showing how he remembers things.

42. It’s very convenient that Olaf parked them on a road so close to the track switch.

43. Mr Poe doesn’t complain about the children being allowed to live in Olaf’s filthy house, but letting Sunny sit in the driver’s seat is unforgiveable!

And that’s where we’ll stop this for now. Next week we’ll pick up the story as the children go to stay with Uncle Monty, Olaf follows them there and somebody doesn’t make it out alive.


I’ll give you a clue. It’s not Olaf!

Chapter-by-Chapter: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I've been quite looking forward to this moment, in a weird sort of way. I've actually been preparing for it for a year now. I'm about to start reading Stephenie Meyer's Twilight.

When I did the Chapter-by-Chapter thing for A Series of Unfortunate Events it was a series of books that I'd read before, though as I worked through it I realised that there was a lot I'd forgotten. When it comes to Stephenie Meyer's books, they're all brand new.

That's right. I have no idea what I'm getting myself in to.

That's not to say I'm going in blind. People I know seem to fall into one of several groups:

• They've read it and love it. 
• They've read it and hate it. 
• They've not read the books, but they've seen the films and love them. 
• They've not read the books, but they've seen the films and hate them. 
• They've not read the books and haven't seen the films and couldn't care less.

I'd class myself as one of the latter group. Until now.

So let's run through what I know about this book series:

• It has sparkly vampires in it. 
• One of them is called Edward Cullen. 
• He's played by the guy who plays Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter films. 
• The main character is called Bella. 
• She and Edward have a relationship which lots of people criticise for being a bad example of what a relationship should be like. 
• There's someone called Jacob.
• Some people prefer him to Edward.
• Bella and Edward wind up having a daughter with the god awful name, Renesme. 
• Uh... that's about it. 
• Yup, I've got nothing else. 
• Oh! Wait! I thought of something! Fifty Shades of Grey started out as a Twilight fanfic, until it was pulled, rewritten and published as the book everyone loves (or loves to hate, or hasn't actually bothered to read). 
• Okay, yeah, now that's everything.

I realise that most of these points probably don't actually relate to Twilight. I did get some thoughts from looking at the cover:

• The 'l' in Twilight on the cover looks vaguely phallic. Perhaps that's just me... 
• The apple and the white hands makes me think of the story of Snow White. If I knew nothing about this book I'd be expecting clever fairy tale allusions. Knowing what I know about this book, I'm expecting nothing.

The back cover has the following quote:

About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Which is all kinds of cheesy.

Other notable points from the back cover include:

• Edward Cullen is described as 'mysterious' and 'alluring'. No mention is made of his sparkly skin (it's like 'porcelain') but he does have golden eyes. That's just weird. 
• Edward is also 'impenetrable' which I guess makes sense if he's made of sparkly porcelain. 
• Bella sounds like a troublemaker who is obsessed with uncovering his 'dark secret'. 
• This book is an 'extraordinary love story' which doesn't exactly gel which what some people have told me. 
• And it'll stay with me after I turn the final page, though apparently not so much for the book's previous owner, considering I picked this up in a charity shop.

Right then. It's time to get this show on the road. At the moment I'm aiming to do a chapter a week. I might bump that up to two a week once I get started and work out how long it'll take me a to read a chapter.

Wreck This Journal: Colour This Entire Page

My Wreck This Journal is a Keri Smith book which I picked up last year. I'm slowly working my way through it, doing the odd page here and there. Every page has an instruction for you to creatively destroy it; some you can do in a single sitting, others take a long more time. And the beauty of it is, it's entirely up to you how to interpret the instructions.

The COLOUR THIS ENTIRE PAGE was one that I turned to one night when I was sitting in bed, doing some casual wrecking. I'd already poked holes in a page a few before it and so I had my pens beside me.

I'd come across this page a couple of times before but hadn't yet decided what to do with it. My original idea (a sort of doodle pattern across the page with the bits in between the doodles coloured in) was dismissed as being too similar to my plans for another of the pages in this book. So this page lay waiting.

But I had my felt pens beside me. (Yes, I'm nearly thirty and I still have felt pens, I've had these ones long enough for them to say Woolworths on the packet and this page just about killed them).

I decided to colour in this page:

Knowing that my poor old felt pens wouldn't last the entire page, this became a bit of a labour of love, over the space of about ten days. I'd work my way through the packet, scribbling with one colour until it started to wear out and then I'd move onto the next one.

I love the camouflage effect it created. I avoided the darker colours (beyond dark blue and green) so it's pretty bright and it's all happy-feeling. It's become one of my favourite pages.

I suspect I might repeat this somewhere else in the book at some point. Maybe with geometric shapes or something instead of scribbles.

How would you tackle this page?