From Alex Rider to Harry Potter - A Good Series is Worth the Wait

As detailed in my other blogs, I am somewhat of an avid reader. I really enjoy reading, and believe it is becoming a lost art more and more each day. People these days don't want to read, or claim they can't. These people are missing out. A book is better than any film or television series, your imagination can paint you a better picture than any director can. If you don't read often, then start, take it up as a new hobby. I guarantee it won't disappoint providing you choose your books well. Recently I have been off from uni work and lectures so have started catching up on my reading, having not had much time over the past few months. I may have gone a little mad, reading 5 books in 9 days. My most recent book has been Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz, and I have to say I enjoyed it, even though it is supposed to be aimed at teenagers. 

Scorpia Rising is the last in a line of nine books based around the life of Alex Rider, teenage super spy. Now you may think, why am I a young man of 20 reading a book that is clearly aimed at a younger audience? I'll tell you why, it's because I wanted to finish the series. The books have been so good, they have kept me captivated all the way through my teens ever since I read the first installment Stormbreaker when I was 11. They are so well written, that I have not been able to let them go unlike other series that have been left along the wayside as I've grown up. The ones that didn't make the cut include The Edge Chronicles, Roman Mysteries and Andy McNab's attempt at teenage action Boy Soldier. The latter two being very good books, that you should get your kids/younger siblings to read. The problem with them is that I grew out of the writing style, or just simply lost touch with and forgot about the series.

I first came across the Alex Rider series in my pitifully small primary school library. In typical Lakefield fashion, they'd bought a book that looked interesting but hadn't checked to see if it was the first in the series. So I was none the wise when i started reading Point Blanc which turned out to be the second installment of the series. Either way i was hooked and went out and bought the previous one as well as every other book since. Patiently waiting year on year for the next book. The books have matured with time, as if Horowitz knew his faithful fans would grow up with the books. This is similar to the Harry Potter series which I followed from age 8 to 18 and still enjoy today. J.K Rowling aimed her latter books at a more mature audience in order to ensure the best possible outcome for her story. My dad has read the entire Alex Rider series too, at the age of fifty he still sees them as light reading and enjoys them. This is testament to how well written they are and proves that I am not talking rubbish when I recommend these books. 

As book reviews go I haven't really mentioned anything to do with the book apart from heap praises onto Horowitz for the quality of his writing. I could go into detail but I do not wish to spoil the series for anybody. Go out and read them, no matter what age (that includes the Potter's too) you will enjoy them. If you can't find them I'll lend them to you. Just give them a chance. A good series is well worth the wait, and I'm glad I've followed these novels from a young age. I hope there's other people out there who know the benefit of these books, as well as having series themselves they have followed since childhood. Reading is fun, don't let it die out!

The Fighter.

Not such a cryptic title today. Its been nearly a week since I last wrote and that's been down to three things I feel. 1) No inspiration to write (even though as I sit her writing I'm actually slowing myself down from writing complete drivel) 2) Re-discovering my love of books. On "holiday" in Weymouth I read 4 books in 6 days. And I didn't even spend all day every day reading, I was just quick and couldn't put the interesting good books down (for those who care they were Friday Night Lights and the last three Harry Potters). 3) Being busy spending time with my girlfriend and her family, which was really fun and a nice change. So yeah my week in short? Sun,relaxing,walking,reading,food, quality time with Lucy.

The fighter is a great film. I have watched it twice now, having gone to the cinema to watch it originally. It is a brilliant true story of the boxer Micky Ward that beat adversity to finally showcase his talents, come out of his brother's shadow and become a world champion. The film tells the story of his rise from perennial bum and stepping stone to his first world championship fight that he wins as the fight ends. Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale put in brilliant performances. Bale was rewarded by his Oscar and it was thoroughly deserved, he shed a lot of weight to really look like the junkie ex-boxer he was playing. He was superb in the performance, capturing the hopelessness of a smack addict whilst still being funny and showing potential to recover. Wahlberg is solid as ever, and gets into brilliant shape for the boxing scenes. They are ably supported by the surprisingly hot Amy Adams as well as Jack McGee who puts a comical spin on the female dominated George Ward.

I implore you to watch this film, boxing fans will love it but it is so well done anyone can enjoy it. Make your women watch this film! If your any kind of boxing fan you will have seen wards 3 fights with Arturo Gatti that are mentioned in the end of the film. These fights were wars, and some of the best I have ever seen. Something else to add to what the film did, if like me you were captivated by the story surrounding Micky Ward, watch the three fights with Gatti and whether it's the first time in a long time or first time ever you will not be disappointed.

The last part of my blog is dedicated to a little recipe I've been using for years. It is the best flapjack recipe I have ever seen, I came across it 5 years ago in comprehensive school cooking lessons. After having lost it 3 years ago, I always searched for it, and finally found it when in Weymouth when absentmindedly reading one of Lucy's sisters Cadbury recipe books.

Makes 24. 15 minutes Prep (yeah right) 25-30 minutes cooking.

Ingredients:
255g/7.5 oz unsalted butter.
255g/7.5 oz light muscovado sugar.
175g/6 oz golden syrup.
300g/10 oz Cadburys Chocolate
400g/13 oz porridge oats.

1. Grease a 28x20 cm/ 11x8 inch shallow baking tin. Melt the butter with sugar, golden syrup and 75g chocolate and leave to cool completely.

2. Mix together the rest of the chocolate and the porridge oats in a mixing bowl. Add the syrup mixture and stir until evenly combined. Place the mixture into the tin and level out.

3. Bake in a preheated oven 180 C/ Gas Mark 4 for 20-25 minutes until just beginning to colour around the edges. Leave in the tin until almost cold, transfer to chopping board and cut.

Best flapjacks ever and my tip is: If your going to fuck up the timings or your oven is dodgy, undercooking is better than overcooking!

Pay Da Man!!! (Or not in my case)

It's all about the money, everybody knows it, whether your too proud to admit it or not. Being a student it is doubly important for me to care about money, and this last weekend money has made my decisions an awful lot harder. Several factors have caused distress, such as my sister's birthday being at the end of one semester when my funds are lowest, to her choice of establishments she celebrates that birthday in. Couple this with travelling from Aberystwyth to Cardiff to Weymouth using the most stupidly priced commodity that is petrol and you have a painful time for my bank balance!

Things I learnt from my weekend in Cardiff:

• A £20 steak tastes exactly the same as a £10 steak so you don't have to worry about going to overly posh restaurants. 

• Retro's is a 90's dive bar, that is £5 to get in and all it is is a little square of Llanelli smack in the middle of Cardiff. (Not a happy bunny when my sister made me go in here). I won't go into to detail as one sentence will do it justice. Within five minutes of being there, I went to the toilet to be asked if I was about to do some "sniff" because I had chosen to use the cubicle instead of queuing for the urinals that were fully in use.

• £8.10 is an acceptable price for a two drink round in an "upscale" bar, even if you've had a better pint in your local rugby club. Happy Birthday Sister, I nearly cried and died of shock when the barman quoted his price. 

• It doesn't matter who you are, if you snore, you immediately become the most annoying person in the world. 

• Taxi drivers in Cardiff don't actually know where they are going, and it doesn't help when people who live there don't either.

On a side note, the US Masters is my favourite golf tournament and is up there in my top 5 favourite sporting events (Superbowl, Six Nations, Cricket World Cup, NCAA Bowl Season). It is played at the beautiful course at Augusta, Georgia that is without a doubt the best, most challenging and breathtaking course in the world. Every year I place bets on the potential winner and sit and watch four days of superbly entertaining golf. This year was no different, and I was in to make a killing until Rory McIlroy blew a 4 shot lead by dropping 6 shots in three holes. Add this to my safety net bets not coming in, it made for another loss of capital.  

All in all a fun weekend that was rather costly. My bets didn't cover my weekend losses so my meagre stake of £6 was lost too. The golf was exciting and having money on it made it doubly so, whether I won or not. I suppose that's half the benefit of betting, it adds to the thrill, win or lose. As for the night out it made my sister happy and that is what counts. It's all about the money but the outcomes from spending that money are what truly matter.


Take it easy, I know I am, sunning myself in a very warm Weymouth.

Chronicles Of A Hangover - Maybe I Was Wrong Before?

Clint Eastwood in The Line Of Fire, Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard, Nick Frost in Hot Fuzz, Apu in The Simpsons.... what do they all have in common you ask? Well if your any kind of a film fan, it does not need explaining. For the less fortunate of you, they've all taken bullets for somebody. Whether the person wanted them to or not, they've jumped in the way and taken a bullet for them. Nothing more heroic in a film, sacrificing your life for someone else to live. Pretty damn cool. Why are they significant to my hangover blog this week? Well I have an apology to make first, last weeks Chronicles of a Hangover was a bit sour and not really in the same attitude as the rest of my posts, so I officially retract my statements. After seeing last night unfold like a prophecy of things to come, and looking back on it this morning feeling rough, I can safely say I've had a bullet taken for me. Every cloud right? Ha ha

No recipes this week, but I am about to eat something chocolatey to dispel my hangover before lectures. I will say one thing for food though, if your ever in Aberystwyth, go to Harry's and have the teryiaki rump steak. Awesome.

Life Doesn't Always Give You What You Want, but I Can Give You a Good Book

Readers,

Sorry for the long absence since my last blog, I've had yet another busy weekend. This weekend was not only Tarannau Old Boys weekend, but the 20th anniversary of the club. It was a weekend of drinking, hard hitting, drinking, pretending to be classy and eventually a hung over mothers day. Friday was a good night, introduction drinks, meeting lots of new faces and getting bought free beer (always a plus). Saturday followed with the old boys game, we got beat hard, but we battled and fought tooth and nail on the physical side. Saturday evening was the meal, which was a nice occasion. Deserved Hall of Fame inductions and a fun celebration of the club. The lectures from certain old boys about my footballing choices dragged on (apparently knocking out an o lineman is bad form if your current team??), but I got stuck up for more than berated. All in all a great weekend topped off with a hungover drive home for chicken dinner.Winner!

After that "quick" summary, the main theme of this article is actually a film and book review. The film is something new that I watched on Tuesday, the book is an old favourite I finished reading for the 8th time on Sunday. The reason for the reviews are completely opposite, one is getting panned, while the other one is getting a good review so more people notice it. 

Okay, so I'll start with the good. The book is the autobiography of Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. It is entitled Scar Tissue, and ever since I read it as a fairly innocent 14 year old it has been one of my favourite books. It is the story of a famous lead singer, that lead a pretty fucked up life, but is now on the road to recovery and normality. It won't be every body's cup of tea, but I guarantee when you read it, it will open your eyes. It will also endear you to him or at the very least make you research the story, or the chili's further. By doing that, you'll listen to their music, and that will make you a better person. Reading this book is a double win. Not only do you read a very enlightening story, that is well written and documents his topsy turvy life surprisingly well, but you also get into one of the best and most influential bands ever to walk this earth. You will embrace their music, whether you are that keen on the book or not. To give you an insight into Scar Tissue without spoiling it is best summed up in a one sentence. He's an ex drug addict, lead singer of a great band, that lead a split childhood and lost his virginity at the age of 13. 

Now for the bad, and oh boy was it bad. We had another installment of Tarannau Film Club, but luckily this time it was free of charge. We rented a classroom and decided to watch Due Date with Robert Downey Jr and a guy whose name nobody could pronounce. This film had got decent reviews so I was hopeful, but after half hour of the film I realised those reviewers (some who were friends) were complete retards. It was an awful re-hash of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It was clearly made with the thought that most of the target audience would never have heard of the previous film. Downey Jr is his usual good self, but he does little to save the film from oblivion. Either way, it was awful, and the general consensus in the room was of a wasted 2 hours. We'll never get that time back fellas! Don't watch it, unless you wish to fall asleep or enjoy laughing at awful films and bad acting.

So there it was, a blog with lots of reviews: a good weekend, a great book and a shit film. Moral of the story - don't watch Due Date and keep your head on a swivel when playing football.