The End Of Another Too-Short Summer

Exam results have come in. Some are pleased with their results, and many have realised that actually Call Of Duty probably could have waited, and that revision would have been a better idea. My results weren't too bad; however I think I was a bit of a victim of circumstance as I had to sit two back-to-back and stay in college till 5, when they finished. I would like to think that, had I sat them separately, I would have done a little better on the latter paper. But who knows? All the same I plan to take a resit as I think I can do better. So that will be a lot of brain squeezing in the following months!

So, summer has been pretty good so far, although too short as usual. I don't feel like I've done that much, although I have done quite a bit - strange. Probably because I haven't traveled as much as I did last year...

A few weeks ago I went to New York for some retail therapy and a hole in my pocket!

They were having a heat wave when I got there - so much so that the road had actually melted in parts and in between the two lanes, there was a bulge of tarmac. When we went there I made a request to go to Dylan's Candy Bar - and what a splendid request it was!

We went in and there were sweets under a perspex sheet under my feet, and the smell of deliciousness was in the air! They had Wonka candy bars and a whole host of other chocolate, including a bar that was about twice the size of my head! They had a bath full of gobstoppers and a whole range of nostalgia candy - the kind that you used to have when you were younger but they stopped selling. And not only was my sweet-tooth satisfied, but we managed to spot a 'marshmallow gun' which literally launches marshmallows at your victims! Great!

After our afternoon of ambling around, we found a pleasant park near the Library, can't remember what it was called, but they were due to hold a film festival there the next day. It was so pretty and the fairy lights just made the place look quite magical. There were quite a few people scattered around me with their heads in books, relaxed, and in their own world. Unfortunately we had to leave the next day, so I couldn't stay for the film festival - but I can definitely say I enjoyed myself.

I exhausted myself trampling through Macy's, Bloomie's and Times Square, and absolutely gorged myself with a massive burger in an Irish Pub.

It was surreal to see the set of so many films just living its normal life, unbothered by its fame and publicity, unlike my bewildered self. I can see why people say that New York is simply unforgettable.

I have suddenly discovered a website called stumbleupon (www.stumbleupon.com). It.is.amazing. I actually love it!

What it does is an effective 'shuffle' through the internet, like the shuffle on an ipod except with sites instead of songs. Once you sign up (FREE!) you can tick all of your interests and it randomly generates a page. So next time you're bored, you can just go on stumble and hey! You suddenly have something new to read/ look at :D and the best thing about it is that it gets better each time you use it and more honed to your tastes.

So to conclude, here's something random I've found on stumble recently - enjoy!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9F0wYM/www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/2011/02/28/the-system-472-road-sage

Literature

At the moment I'm sitting my AS exams- tomorrow morning (Monday) I have English Literature, so I thought I'd write a little post of my thoughts on the subject in an attempt to revise and get 'in the zone'...

The course includes prose (Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte) and poetry (a collection from Wilfred Owen). I'm quite pleased actually with the set texts this year, I usually find that set texts are incredibly dull and not even the teacher particularly likes the book. I think most people can probably remember that at GCSE - not a lot of people tend to like Dickens' Great Expectations mainly because it is incredibly dull in my personal opinion. The whole time I was reading it I was actually resenting the protagonist, Pip, and just thinking to myself 'man up!'.

As part of my coursework on it we had the option of re-writing the ending, which is often seen as very unsatisfactory! (I'll post that up at a later time).

But back to the present, momentarily. Wuthering Heights has been hyped to the extreme by modern culture, even if you haven't read it, you probably would have heard the title floating around and know that the most notable character is probably Heathcliff. Heathcliff is regarded as this strong, mysterious, attractive man by Hollywood, but on reading the book you have to think to yourself, sure it's each to their own... but have you even read the book?! Heathcliff comes across more as that arrogant, solitary guy at the all boys school down the hill, who is an absolute pig and horrible to everybody, but you still kindof fancy him even though you don't really know him very well and know him to be a tyrant - that is Heathcliff.

A brief outline of the book is as such:

Mr Earnshaw brings a gypsy boy home that he found on the streets of Liverpool. Everyone takes an instant disliking to him, claiming he came from the devil etc. Mr Earnshaw effectively adopts the boy and names him after a dead son, Heathcliff. Mr Earnshaw has two children, Catherine and Hindley. Catherine grows to like Heathcliff and she seems to have more power over Heathcliff than anybody else. The story of Wuthering Heights is a tale about passion and obsession - Catherine and Heathcliff become obsessed with one another, yet only Heathcliff is true to himself. Catherine is driven mad by it to walk the moors alone until the day that Heathcliff is 'dreaming the last sleep'.

It is safe to say that for it's time, WH was a pretty unusual novel - it was received horribly, and wasn't appreciated by readers until well after the author's death. Victorian readers thought it was ghastly and a depiction of the 'worst forms of humanity'. Whereas today, we take a more psychoanalytical perspective on things and find these mostly unpleasant characters completely fascinating! Could you imagine a person like Heathcliff walking around, it would be horribly unpleasant, but great for a psychologist! Is he mad? How did he become such a brute? Where did he come from? Where did he go? There is so much mystery surrounding his character, that it is really no wonder that his character is so well known!

For the second part of my exam, we're studying a collection of poems written by Wilfred Owen during the Great War. I don't know much about how popular Owen s amongst people today, but I personally find his poetry absolutely heart-wrenching and I can't get enough of it. The way he uses sound in his poems is really quite astounding!

"If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,---"

Dulce et Decorum Est is probably my favourite poem, simply because of the violent imagery he portrays. It is harrowing to read about a man drowning 'under a green sea' of gas, and he illustrates exactly that to all those oblivious citizens sat in their quilted armchairs raving all about the war and how great it is to die for one's country when in fact it is not glory, that war brings - war only brings pain and pity. And that is what Owen shows to the reader, "my subject is war, and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity."

VINTAGE FESTIVAL

Ok, so here we go, the other day I went to a vintage festival at The Maltings - as a vintage enthusiast, I couldn't resist. Here's a review of it that I did for my college magazine:

Vintage - at the Maltings

Sunday 8^th May was extraordinary for Farnham’s Maltings, where they were holding a brand new vintage festival. Posters had been put up all around Farnham and the surrounding towns, aswell as being posted through letter boxes – not to mention the massive banner on the Shephards Bush roundabout! As a vintage enthusiast, I was expecting so find the usual load of rubbish; tattered, of a bad quality and way overpriced! Vintage has become popular, so many people are taking this as an opportunity to flog their old junk for double the price it’s worth, and squeeze every last penny out of us. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case at all!

The festival offered a massive range of things: clothes dating from the 40’s- 80’s, sleek, ‘modern’ furniture from the 60s, gramophones, vinyl players, leather suitcases and so much more that I could fill an entire page. A great personal find was that of a lovely lady from Elstead – she had a FANTASTIC collection of garments and little trinkets dating back to the 20s. My eye was particularly drawn to a selection of outfits donated by a former showgirl – seamed fishnet tights, lacey corsets, ruffled feathers and silky dressing gowns. These are the kind of clothes that feel like they should belong to a film set, holding them in your hands you can almost see the story of those who wore them.

But these were not the only bargains I managed to find. On another stand, there was a man selling a couple of fully-functioning typewriters, one of which was being sold for £5! Naturally, I couldn’t deny the temptation for something totally unpractical but also incredibly fascinating. I remember when I was about 6 playing on my Grandad’s old typewriter from the 60s and being utterly absorbed in the magnificent sound erupting when I pressed the keys – I have no idea if I

ever wrote anything that even made sense... but then again that is one of the great things about being 6!

At the moment, I have a perfectly good sewing machine sat in my room, still in the box, collecting dust; so I decided to look out for some patterns as well. Now I don’t know if you’ve looked through any charity shops recently, but patterns are pretty easy to get hold of, it’s merely getting the right size which is the problem, and finding a pattern that isn’t just a cassock with arms. To save more rambling, I shall just say that I came away with 3 patterns (a cute little 60s mini, a cropped blouse and a low backed dress) for the beautiful price of about £4 – bargain! As you can probably tell, I was in absolute awe of everything on offer, and I think I would have tried to buy everything had I brought the sufficient funds required – in short, I had to be dragged out by a friend to stop me whining about how beautiful everything was.

'There is no time like the present, to be inspired by the past.’

It's that time of year again!

Hey there,

So while lounging on my bed one charming Sunday I decided to revamp my blog so that it is vaguely interesting!

Today is Easter Sunday - so that means lots of chocolate all round! I wasn't expecting to receive any this year; after I had told my parents that it would be a bad idea as I wanted to keep slim, and avoid the hereditary family portliness as best as I could (after all I have only just managed to get rid of my lingering 'puppy fat'). But this year I have been rather lucky on the chocolate front, receiving a Thorntons egg AND a Lindt egg! I am yet to indulge in either yet, as I have been sneakily working my way through the box of posh chocolates lying in the kitchen..... but I have no doubt that I will get through them very quickly!

Now it's also that time of year again, where our teachers and parents start digging into us about 'revision'. Having recently passed my driving test (2nd attempt) I have at least one less thing to worry about, but in about 4-5 weeks I have my AS exams. I am taking German, English Literature, Philosophy and Drama. Thankfully, there isn't an exam for Drama - mind you the GCSE exam really wasn't that bad. But I think the exams that I'm most worried about are German and Philosophy. Philosophy, mainly because it is just SO confusing that I confuse myself every time I try to write an essay, and end up spending about 4 hours on it when we're not really meant to spend more than 45 mins on it! But with the help of my coloured fineliners and A3 pads of paper - I should be able to fight off my limited attention span!

German on the other hand, is a completely different ball game! I didn't really want to take German this year (and I will DEFINITELY be dropping it after my exam), it was more of a safe choice, I did it mainly because if I had taken history that would have been 4 essay subjects! And that is one heck of a workload for someone with tiny hands!

But the other night, my mum, on a desperate attempt to boost my morale and work ethic, made the mistake of saying that if I got four As she would 'personally go out and get a dog'. Ofcourse I then went and got some paper and formed a contract and made her sign it! So now there is no backing out - only LOTS of revision! Wish me luck!