The Book with no Name by Anonymous - A review.

I was lent The Book with no Name during the summer by Robvin (that's Robyn & Calvin or should that be Calbyn? well the latter just sounds horrendous and we know who "wears the trousers in that relationship", yeah that's right both of them). Note to self, you did not cover that up well enough.

Published by an anonymous author under the pseudonym of The Bourbon Kid, The Book with no Name is in a completely different class. It has no genre, you get everything from horror, fantasy, murder, mystery and thriller.

As I said I was given the book last summer but ended up finishing it over two days, it is one of the best page turners I have read, the author has managed masterfully to keep the reader guessing to the very end.

My one major criticism is that the book reads too much like a bad movie plot. I don't really watch a lot of movies but I could definitely pick out the movie feel to it and the various movie references. Many have speculated that the book with no name was written with the specific intention of being a movie plot. My friend Calvin believes the author is none other than Quentin Tarantino on accounts of the book's bloodiness.

The Book with no Name is probably the best book I have read this year, definitely recommended. In fact I have already bought myself a copy and also it's sequel - The Eye of the Moon, which I admit I have already finished, they are that good. As Robyn puts it "its not the best piece of literature, but you cannot put it down".

Maxwell - Pretty Wings. A song for the ladies only?

I was in the middle of writing a book review post but I thought I'd get this out of the way first. It is a bit unusual for me to feature such a popular song, but there is a question behind this:

Is Maxwell's Pretty Wings a song only for the ladies?

I was listening to Choice FM the other day and this was one of the topics. A lot of ladies were in touch with the DJs professing loudly that they were surprised that their male boyfriend/partner/husband actually like this song and sing along to it etc. They were openly laughing at men who liked the song.

I for one love it. Great lyrics, beautiful tone and tune. Have another listen here and tell me why are the ladies surprised that us guys like this? Why should we not like it? Comments please.



Note embedding of the official video has been disabled by YouTube.

Halloween Pictures, finally…

Halloween is one of the highlights of my year and not just because my birthday is only a couple of days before. Halloween has become a sort of traditional celebration with my High school friends. We may miss birthdays, the odd new year celebration but at Halloween, we are always together to PARTY! This has been true for at least the last six years and I was even lucky to get a hand baked birthday cake even if Derek and Nicky (I mean Nick) had to spend all day getting it right. And yes we of course always have a guise.

This year I had my costume ready two weeks early which was one up from last year when I scrambled to get something together on Halloween morning. I had planned this out, I had a Rasta dreadlock wig, a big spliff, a cannabis leaf necklace and a psychedelic t-shirt, I was set. The weekend  before Halloween we has a bit of a night out together where I found out Derek and Calvin were dressing up as characters from Star Trek, namely Captain Picard and Commander Riker. Now I did not know anything about Star Trek until I was given some Star Trek DVDs about a month ago by Arun who is a big Trekie so I could understand who these characters were.

That Tuesday I had an inspiration. Costume change, enter Geordi La Forge. This was kept a secret apart from my accomplice Robyn who helped with sourcing the costume. Kudos to her as she managed to keep all this secret from Calvin and Derek (boyfriend and constant house guest respectively). All this only a few days before Halloween cost a bit, mostly in postage but it was definitely worth it. Entering Derek’s house for the pre party I was greeted with a roar and a massive bear hug. They weren’t expecting it at all. Then followed a pretty cool night at the student’s union, pictures below courtesy of Calvin and Robyn and DUSA (click for original sizes). Unfortunately I cannot manage to do a Vulcan salute at all.

 

A review but probably not the one you were expecting…

I guess I should really be reviewing the Chipmunk/Ironik concert I was planning to go to a couple of weeks ago or even the football match I  was going to see the next day up in Aberdeen.

The concert got postponed and the lineup completely changed apart from Chipmunk. Got an automated phone call two days before. Not impressed.

The car broke down on the way to Aberdeen. In the usual Scottish rain.

So not a good weekend, but onto my review:

Michael Jackson’s This is It

I went to see it last night at the cinemas.

Michael was undoubtedly a musical genius. If you are a fan, or maybe you just like some of his songs or just one, you will enjoy this. I started tapping my feet and nodding away from the very beginning. It’s a shame there’s not much space in the aisles or I would have been dancing ;).

The movie is simply a collection of footage from his rehearsals for the concerts which were to be held at The O2 arena in London.However they give you an entertaining insight into what an amazing show the concert would have been.

Appropriately starting with footage of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", the movie quickly moves on to greats such as “Bad” and “Billie Jean”. What did not come soon enough for me was “Thriller”. Shot with new 3-D footage which I wasn’t too keen upon, it was still one of the highlights.

Finishing off with some of Michael’s best work: "Black Or White", "Earth Song", "Billie Jean" and "Man In The Mirror", This is It was highly entertaining and well put together.

There was a definite final message at the end with regards to saving the planet and climate change, continuing the “Earth Song” theme.  In a way that was not an ending I was expecting. While it is a good message. What I liked most about the movie was that it was celebrating Michael’s genius with the most appropriate tool – his music. There were no sad moments, no references to his death, not even an RIP which was very appropriate. While this ending message was good, I think I was expecting a more uplifting, buoyant quote from Michael or even just a HeeeHee.

Many have called Michael Jackson’s This is it a documentary but for me it fits more as something which would be a bonus feature on say, what would have been the concert’s DVD. That is not to say that as such it would be relegated to a “never actually get round to watch it” position. This is It is definitely worth a watch.