Ed Westwick: Sex On Legs and He Can Act Too!

Gossip Girl is one of my guilty pleasures.  Actually, who am I trying to kid?  I’m a shameless wench that will watch anything with good looking actors in it.  I’m about half way through season 2 and I’m racing to finish it by the time the new season starts again on 14 September.  Valerie over at TV News and Reviews has also fallen prey to this addictive little teen drama and as she said, the spoilers are going crazy for the new season so it really is prudent that I catch up soon! 

As I know Valerie and other readers are not yet on season 2 of Gossip Girl, I am not going to spoil he storyline for you.  Suffice to say though that Chuck Bass (played by Ed Westwick) becomes a central character in the story and he gets a lot more screen time than he did in season 1.

Nate, Blair, Chuck and Dan all getting along just fine

The biggest surprise of season 2 for me has been to see what an excellent actor Ed Westwick really is.  He has given strong performances the whole season and I have loved the storylines involving him.  It is in episode 13 “O Brother Where Bart Thou” that he really shines though and he gives a brilliant performance.

Watch out for Ed Westwick playing Heathcliff in 2010’s Wuthering Heights.  Damn, does this mean I’m going to have to read a real book by then?

As I near the end of season 2 I have to admit that Gossip Girl is indeed one of my favourite shows.  I love that I am able to recognise some of the locations after my trip to New York in June and I love that it is set in my favourite city on Earth.  I love trashy teen dramas and all the lies, back stabbing and love affairs that go with them.  Maybe I’ll never grow out of high school!

Book review: Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho is one of those books that has been on my “to-read” list for years; it was first recommended to me a good five years ago by my friend Vanessa over at sehnsucht.za.net.  That makes sense because it is one of those books that you just want to share with people and in the two weeks since I completed it, I have recommended it to at least two other people. 
I must say the timing of me reading this book was quite peculiar as this is an incredibly troubling and stressful time in my life.  (Yes, I know you would never notice but I throw myself into blogging and television to make myself feel better!) I had stumbled upon a little book sale in the Galleria at Guy’s Hospital and all of Paolo Coelho’s books were on sale for £1 each.  I had to buy it; I simply had no choice in the matter!
The book begins with Veronika’s decision to die by overdose.  She has no particular reason for dying but then she has no particular reason for living either.  She survives the attempt and lands up in the dreaded Villete mental hospital in Ljubljana, Slovenia and falls under the care of the head psychiatrist, Dr. Igor.  Dr. Igor has a grand master plan to cure madness but is he just a quack?
Coelho weaves a wonderful story with mental illness at its heart.  Telling the story through the experiences of the patients in Villete, this is as much a commentary of the nature of madness as it is a wonderful and uplifting story.  To say that this book actually changed my life would be a great understatement but suffice to say that it reminded me of the necessity to live an authentic existence, of the intrinsic value of integrity and truth in our life.
I’m deliberately not delving deeper into the story as I would like readers to experience every surprise that I encountered but I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any adult.  I might be wrong but I have a feeling that it might not have as much of an impact on people still of school-going age.
This is a poetic and philosophical book and I give it five out of five stars.

Veronika Decides to Die has been made into a film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Thewlis.  I can’t wait to see the film – Coelho said that Gellar "portraits with emotion the Veronika I always imagined".  I love David Thewlis (who played Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter Franchise) and I cannot wait to see the portrayal of Eduard (called Edward in the film).  Here’s the trailer for the film which I believe will be released in November:

I’d advise against reading the comments for the trailer as it contains massive spoilers for the book and the story.

Reason why I love US TV more than UK TV

Alrighty.  I know I’m always going on about the state of UK television but the reason is that fifteen years ago, UK television pwned US television.  I’m a little disenchanted, that’s all.

But today’s reason that I love US television more is down to a little word called “scheduling”.  I scour the Internet daily for news of when Merlin, The Fixer and Being Human might be returning but the BBC and ITV are so paranoid that they only release airing dates weeks before screening, days if you are unlucky!  I nearly missed the start of the last Doctor Who season and that would have been an outright tragedy.

So I am happy to say that I came upon this list in a forum and thought it looked mighty useful and informative.  These are US Fall screening dates (and I personally follow the US dates for my shows even though I live in the UK).  I’m still waiting to see if the forum would mind me linking back to them so they shall remain anonymous for now. 

8/31/09 (Mo.)
Greek
9/2/09 (We.)
So You Think You Can Dance
9/8/09 (Tu.)
90210 (yay!)
Melrose Place
Sons Of Anarchy
9/9/09 (We.)
America's Next Top Model
9/10/09 (Th.)
Supernatural (double yay!)
Vampire Diaries
9/14/09 (Mo.)
Gossip Girl (yay!)
One Tree Hill
9/17/09 (Th.)
Bones
Fringe
Survivor
9/18/09 (Fr.)
Crash
9/21/09 (Mo.)
Castle
CSI Miami
Heroes (yay!)
House
How I Met Your Mother
Two And A Half Men
9/22/09 (Tu.)
NCIS
NCIS: LA
9/23/09 (We.)
Criminal Minds
CSI New York
Gary Unmarried
Law and Order: SVU
New Adventures Of Old Christine
9/24/09 (Th.)
CSI
Grey's Anatomy
Mentalist (goodie!)
9/25/09 (Fr.)
Dollhouse
Ghost Whisperer
Law and Order
Numb3rs
Medium
Smallville
Southland
9/27/09 (Su.)
Amazing Race
American Dad
Brothers and Sisters
Californication
Cold Case
Desperate Housewives
Dexter (excellent!)
Family Guy
9/28/09 (Mo.)
Lie To Me (finally!)
10/1/09 (Th.)
Private Practice
10/9/09 (Fr.)
Sanctuary
Ugly Betty
10/15/09 (Th.)
30 Rock
1/17/10 (Su.)
24

TV: X Factor lacks the X Factor

I am a massive fan of The X Factor and have been looking forward to this new season since about 3 minutes after Alex won the last season.  I’ve been excessively sad and spent the entire afternoon watching The Xtra Factor: Rewind and the best of 2008 specials in preparation for tonight.  I know that I will happily give up my Saturday nights for the next four months now that my favourite programme is back… or will I?

Well, now that I think about it, maybe not.  Simon Cowell has completely changed the format of this phenomenally successful show, as you do when you have a winning formula.  Instead of a cappella auditions in front of the three judges, there is now a massive audience and both musical accompaniments and in Danyl’s case, a backing choir!!!  Seriously, it was horrible!  Danyl’s performance was lovely, really, but they’ve ruined the auditions stage, my favourite part of the show.  Except for boot camp, presenter’s homes, live shows, the semi-finals and the final, of course.

Oh well, in the absence of gushing reviews of the amazing performances (or lack thereof), I’ll leave you with a couple of links  found in the week.

• What happens at an X Factor audition? by Genevieve Hassan, entertainment reporter for BBC News.
• X Factor: psychologists will be on hand at all times to asses mental health of contestants at the telegraph.co.uk.  I think this is a great idea but there has been some backlash from mental health advocates who believe that they are singling out mentally ill persons for entertainment purposes.  Whatever the case, ordinary people can cave under pressure at any time and I think this move is a responsible one.

The best part about The X Factor being back is the awesome presenters.  It was great to see Dermot and Holly back although the new format significantly cut down on Dermot’s screen time.  Not cool.

Book review: The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury

I’ve just had a complete light bulb moment.  I have just finished Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and I didn’t really enjoy it and felt quite disappointed.  You see, I quite like classic science fiction and I have loved the Asimov and Philip K. Dick books that I have read so far.  The notion that I could read this 1950 classic and not ‘get it’ left me feeling quite unsettled.

So I went onto Wikipedia to try and figure it out and the first thing I read was: "The Martian Chronicles is a 1950 science fiction short story collection...".  I didn’t realise this was a short story collection and was completely confused about the lack of coherence in the plot!  It makes so much more sense now but I fear that I might have ruined the my experience of the book by not appreciating each snippet for the short story that it was. 

I don’t feel completely silly.  The story is presented in chronological order from Earth’s first three unsuccessful landings on Mars between February 1999 and April 2000 to the eventual colonisation of Mars and the subsequent destruction of the Martian population and the atomic war and destruction of Earth.  I imagine that had my brain been in “short story mode”, I might have appreciated this book more. 

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I recently joined the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club on Goodreads.  The idea is that you read one fantasy and one sci-fi book a month and then discuss them.  I certainly don’t read enough sci-fi so I was glad to find this great group!  By the way, if you’d like to friend me on Goodreads, this is me.

The Martian Chronicles was therefore the first book I read for the book club and I am glad to see that there are a couple of other people who didn’t really get it.

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*** Spoiler alert: do not read if you don’t want to read spoilers ***

What did I like about the book then?  I loved the 1950’s Jetsons feel. (Wait a minute, how can the Jetsons have only had 75 episodes and yet had such a profound effect on my life???).  I loved the idea of space travel being a simple fact of life and of humans zooming off to Mars.  The notion of Earthlings destroying the Earth and atomic war taking place while we watch from the next planet was really creepy and intriguing.  My favourite story was “The Third Expedition” and its depiction of finding a mirror of pre-Depression rural Iowa on Mars.

A lot of the snippets in the book were really charming but I found it quite a struggle to wade through the book which does make sense as I am not a great fan of short stories.  I’ve been left really desperate for an epic and fantastic book but as I gaze over my bookshelves, I am not sure if I have such a book here at home.  Maybe it is time to reread some of my Horowitz or Nix favourites?

I’m not going to rate this book.  Which doesn’t mean it gets a zero rating, it just means I read it in the wrong frame of mind.  I’ve been a lifelong fan of Bradbury; I used to love The Ray Bradbury Theatre and “The Playground” was perhaps the most powerful piece of television I ever watched.  I’ll just say that if you’re new to sci-fi and looking for somewhere to start, then perhaps The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov or Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick is a better place to start.

Film: Freefall (2009)

Freefall is a feature-length made-for-television film that was aired on BBC 2 last month.  It was written and directed by Dominic Savage and it was meant to be a gritty and explosive drama set around the financial crisis but does it work?

Aidan Gillen, Rosamund Pike, Joseph Mawles, Anna Maxwell-Martin and Dominic Cooper [Image source]

I was quite excited about this show as I had just discovered the gorgeous Aidan Gillen and the cast looked really good. 

Aidan Gillen plays ruthless banker Gus whose entire life centres around his job.  He is ably supported by Rosamund Pike and Riz Ahmed.

Dominic Cooper and Sarah Harding

Dominic Cooper plays morally bankrupt mortgage advisor Dave Matthews who will tell his clients anything to make a sale, except what they really need to know.  He sells a discounted mortgage to his old school friend Jim Potter (played by Joseph Mawles) and a year later things begin to fall apart.

Joseph Mawles

Each of the actors gave great performances and there is certainly a lot of eye candy in the film.

The problem is that it is never really explained how the antics of the bankers filtered down into the real world and precisely how shady and incompetent were the deals that they made.  By not going into any detail about what exactly they did but by throwing in a load of financial jargon, it kind of leads to the question as to why the traders were in the film at all?  Especially as Savage portrayed them in quite a sensitive manner and did not resort to portraying them as the coked up, greedy megalomaniacs that stereotypes have come to suggest.

Apart from kind of wondering where the story with Gus was going and what the significance was to the story of the mortgage advisor and his victims, the rest of the story was written quite well.  The problem though was that this was an almost insufferably bleak film and everyone is a loser in the end.  I was left wondering why I had just spent 90 minutes of my life being made to feel miserable.

As much as I want to rate this film highly because of the fine performances, I can’t.  In the absence of a script that at least answers some of the questions we have regarding the current financial crisis, you might as well read the newspapers.  They may well be less bleak and depressing.

I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

TV: The Street

Jimmy McGovern’s brilliant television series The Street is back on our television screens this month with explosive and cutting edge drama.  This is without a doubt one of the best pieces of television I have ever seen in my life and I am quite sad to see the short six-episode season draw to a close.

The Street is a drama series that follows the lives of individuals living on a street in Manchester and it has a brilliant cast that represents the cream of British actors.  You’re bound to recognise at least some of the names: Bob Hoskins, Jonas Armstrong, David Thewlis, Anna Friel, Timothy Spall and one of my all time favourites, Stephen Graham.

Everything about this series is top class including the scripts, storylines and acting.  It really is that good and I’d recommend the show to anyone.

Bob Hoskins and Frances Barber as Paddy and Lizzie Gargan [source]

Season 3, Episode 1 was about a local pub landlord who takes on a local bully and businessman when he bars his son from the pub.  This was real nail biting stuff but the ending was masterfully written and completely unexpected.

Anna Friel as Dee Purnell [source]

Episode 2 featured Anna Friel and Daniel Mays.  This was my favourite episode so far and it was a real bittersweet love story about a mother who would do everything for her kids. 

Jonas Armstrong as Nick Calshaw [source]

Jonas Armstrong was so good in episode 3 that I almost forgave him for Robin Hood.  Seriously, this episode screened mere weeks after his last performance in Robin Hood and he was literally unrecognisable in this role.  His intensity and talent reminded me of his role as Pete in The Ghost Squad.  This is the kind of drama that television awards were made for.

Julia Krynke as Olenka [source]

Actually, I may have been mistaken. Episode 4 may have been my favourite so far and I absolutely loved Joseph Mawle as the jaded and cantankerous chef Kieran who falls in love with a Polish immigrant.

I have not yet seen episodes 5 and 6 but wanted to recommend the show while you can still see it on BBC iPlayer.  This link will only work for those people resident in the UK though.

Stephen Graham as Shay Ryan [source]

Episode 5 features Stephen Graham as an alcoholic suffering from trauma related to an armed robbery.  I cannot wait to see this episode as I love Stephen Graham.

The final episode of the series airs on Monday night and features Timothy Spall (who most of you will recognise as Peter Pettigrew of Harry Potter fame). 

The terrible news is that this is the last we’ll see of Jimmy McGovern’s brilliant series The Street.  The Guardian confirmed in July that the series would be ending because of ITV cuts in its drama department.  This is such a loss for British television but I hope that we will see more from the BAFTA-award winning scriptwriter who bought us Cracker, The Lakes and The Street.

Book review: The Black Book of Secrets – F E Higgins

The Black Book of Secrets is a fantastic little book that I picked up at the library the other day.  It is aimed at the 9 to 12 year old age group but I think children up to age 15 would enjoy it and I certainly did. 

The book has a definite Dickensian flair to it and begins in the gritty slums of the City before the story moves to a little village in the mountains.  Higgins describes the poverty, filth and grime of the urban Victorian era so well that you can almost smell, taste and feel it.  The book reminds me of some of my favourite tales including Oliver Twist, Sherlock Holmes and even the factual Jack the Ripper legend.

In The Black Book of Secrets, Ludlow Fitch suffers a great betrayal at the hands of his parents and flees the stinking city in the back of a land owner’s carriage.  He arrives in the village and becomes an apprentice for Joe Zabbidou, a Secret Pawnbroker.  I’m not giving any more of the story away as I wouldn’t want to spoil the twists and surprises but suffice to say, one of my favourite parts of the book is all the smaller storylines that run through it and all the deep, dark secrets of the past that come to haunt the characters.  There is clearly magic at work in this book but the storyline does not depend on it, which I found appealing.  I also liked the fact that this was a stand alone book as so many authors seem to be writing series these days and it makes a nice change.

The ending of the book was a little too neat and while the story was expertly woven, the characters were slightly flat. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading this book and give it four out of five stars.

Film review: Inkheart (2008)

Inkheart is one of several films that prompted me to eventually go out and get a Cineworld Unlimited card.  I had wanted to see this film from the minute I first saw the poster and I was weary of constantly missing out on seeing films in the cinema.  I know it sounds dramatic but with both of us being film lovers, it simply made sense to make the effort to get out of the house and go to the cinema more often.

Inkheart was already off circuit by the time we started going to cinema more regularly again but I eventually got to see it on the plane on the way back from New York.  So what of the film then?

This is a colourful, magical and exciting story with lively and energetic characters.  I believe that it is not at all faithful to the original book so fans of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart might be disappointed.  It is in the league of Spiderwick Chronicles and Stardust and it is the type of film that will make children believe in fantasy, magic and the power of books and reading. 

Mortimer Folchart has the gift of bringing characters to life whilst reading aloud from books.  The problem is that he can’t control them once they emerge to wreak havoc in our realm and sometimes someone from the real world is taken to replace those characters in the fictional worlds.  Like his wife. And now these shady characters have caught up with him and want to use him to bring about their less than honourable plans.

It was an entertaining 106 minutes with some charming performances from Paul Bettany, Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren.

My favourite character was Andy Serkis’s Capricorn but then I always like the misguided villains, don’t I? I have also been a fan of Mr Serkis for quite a while.  You can click on the image below for a Inkheart screensaver of Andy as Capricorn.

 
[image source]

This is an enjoyable film but not as full of sheer wonder and brilliance as, for example, Stardust was.  I think I have to agree that they overdid the special effects and comedy without letting the story speak for itself.  This is a story about the power of words and ideas, after all.

For helping me pass the time on my transatlantic flight in an enjoyable and exciting manner, I give the film four out of five stars.

Book review: Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead

It is official: I have read enough Richelle Mead books now to both classify myself as a fan and to warrant an “Author: Richelle Mead” label on this blog. I really do enjoy her Georgina Kincaid / Succubus series and I have recently finished Vampire Academy.
Vampire Academy is the first book in the Vampire Academy series and if you click on that link or the picture it will take you to the official Penguin website. In keeping with my generally good impression of Richelle Mead, her relative accessibility to her fans and her generally healthy and positive attitude, I am impressed to note that the official site has a section displaying fan videos. I really like that she sees fan-fic and fan interpretations as flattering as opposed to seeing them as theft or taking offence to them. It seems that she is a confident author who is able to withstand the pressures of fame and fan-worship and doesn’t constantly feel that her fans are taking a piece of her every time they move into her world.
Richelle Mead also has her own website and you can find the Vampire Academy page here.

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It took me a long time to get into Vampire Academy and that was exacerbated by being so busy over the past couple of months, what with my visit to New York and trying to get back into the swing of life afterwards. Last week I decided to give it another proper try and so I started the book from the beginning again.
I noticed that the characters slowly began to grow on me and I found myself sitting at work wishing I could take some time to curl up and read some more. I became emerged in the world of Vampire Academy and wanted to spend more time in it. This might be yet another teenage vampire novel but it is light years away from the Twilight series on so many levels.
I remember thinking at some point in the beginning of Twilight that Bella seemed to be quite self-aware and confident; unfortunately, the relationship with Edward seemed to make her unravel into a neurotic, insecure and self-effacing shadow of a girl, sending the women’s liberation cause back fifty years or so.
The protagonist of Vampire Academy, Rose Hathaway, is not perfect but she is a strong and confident young woman, perhaps impossibly so for a sixteen-year-old teenager. If I were recommending a book for a teenager to read, I would sooner recommend Vampire Academy over Twilight. Rose is not perfect and she doesn’t always make the best decisions but she does deal with the consequences of her actions and she is able to walk away from a relationship with a boy without destroying herself or defining herself in terms of his affection towards her.
I feel that Richelle Mead has woven an interesting story and for once, I actually like her take on the whole vampire myth. (I’m not the biggest fan of vampire stories as it is because I find blood makes me faint and doesn’t really seem all that attractive or sexy to me). I will definitely read the other books in this series and I believe that the books will get better as she gets into the series, much in the way that the Succubus series improved book after book. I believe that there is a massive shake-up at the end of the third book though so I am going to wait until the fourth book becomes available later this month before reading any further.
Like Mead’s other books, this one isn’t a high end literary achievement but it is an entertaining read with some very likeable characters. I’ll give it 3.5 stars but I do expect the rest of the series to be an improvement.

Music Video: Fire – Kasabian

There appears to be the slightest problem with my iTunes tonight. No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop listening to this song over and over and over again.

Now, if only I could figure out the bloody lyrics (not the main ones, those ones that no one else can figure out either).

While we’re on the subject, can I just say that Kasabian’s new album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is the best album I have heard this year? Seriously, it is in the same league as Klaxons’ Myths Of The Near Future (2007) and Elbow’s Seldom Seen Kid (2008).

I have long been a fan of Kasabian’s and was over the moon when I got to see them at Live Earth in 2007. I was jumping so much during their songs that I could barely take any photos or shoot any video. I just about had a triple heart failure when they played L.S.F.

Film review: Milk (2008)

I had the opportunity to watch Milk recently.  What an absolutely phenomenal film!  Sean Penn absolutely deserved his Best Actor Oscar for his role in this film.  He was just great.  In fact, Sean Penn just gets better and better each time I see him.

Milk is the true story of Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official.  This was a man who believed in gay rights and fought vehemently against repressive legislation and initiatives such as Proposition 6 which sought to bar gays, lesbians and even their supporters from working in California’s public schools. 

The film features news footage from the period and features the hatred and vitriol that Anita Bryant spewed during her campaign against gay rights.  At the end of the film they also show footage of Harvey and all of his friends and you can see how well done the costumes and styling in the film were because the cast all looked like dead ringers for the people they portrayed.

This is a beautiful, moving and important film and I would recommend this film to absolutely everyone.

Apart from Sean Penn’s Oscar-winning role, there are fantastic performances from James Franco and an almost recognisable Emile Hirsch.  I’m actually keen on watching this film again now – it was that good.

An unreserved five stars.

August Reading Challenge: books

This is just a short post where I'll list the books I read in August for the August Reading Challenge. I’m aiming for four!

1. The Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins
2. Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
3. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury