Monday Musings

You might have noticed that I haven't been around much over the past few days, and that's because I decided to take a few days off from staring at my PC screen, partially for the sake of my sanity, and partially because I need new glasses, and until I can get my eyes tested, I've been getting eye strain, which can't be good for my little old eyes. So, I had a lovely three days with my mum and the other half, chilling out, eating Chinese food, reading and going to the cinema (twice), but I'll fill you in on that soon ;) So, this is basically a quick round up of what I've been doing over the past 7 or so days, which would ordinarily feature in my Saturday Summary, which for one week only, will be renamed "Monday Musings" ;)

Reading...

I have been in real reading over-drive. 

I attempted to read I am Number Four by "Pittacus Lore", but I'm not going to lie, I hated this book more than words can describe, and I only made it to the 7th Chapter. That might sound like a lot, but since the average chapter is roughly only 4 pages long, I really did not get far. The idea is an interesting one, but events felt rushed, as if the author was trying to hurriedly get somewhere, because they couldn't be bothered to spend time on the opening. My suspicions were even more felt at the fact, that the author seemed completely incapable of "showing" rather than "telling" and it really began to grate. In the end, I very nearly threw the book across the room in sheer annoyance, at how something so poorly written, and evidently jumping on a certain band wagon could get published for anything other than jumping on a band wagon!!

So, instead, I paid a visit to Waterstones in Lincoln and picked up the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. This book didn't quite hit me as strongly as the first one, but I loved it none the less, and spent most of Sunday reading it. I'd like to say I feel guilty about that, but I don't ;) 

And so I kicked off this week by starting the final book, in The Hunger Games trilogy. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do once I've finished these books....

Watching...

I finally managed to see the last ever Harry Potter film, and if anyone says that they didn't cry when say this film, I don't think I believe them. Even though I've read all of the books, meaning that I knew all of the major twists, I still found it incredibly emotionally. It's amazing how far all of the actors and characters have come since the very first film, which I have to say, I wasn't really that big a fan of. 

The idea of wimpy little Neville from the first films growing into this incredible leader-type figure is brilliant.

I do think that I might have liked something a bit more from the ending, just before the "19 Years Later..." bit, but it wasn't my story to tell, so I'm content with the path J.K. Rowling chose, because I can only dream of creating everything that she created from these books.

I don't think that any film, watched only a day after the immense-ness of Harry Potter, was ever going to be more than average, but Captain America was enjoyable in its own right. For timing reasons, we opted not to watch it in 3D, and I don't think I'm really that bothered to be perfectly honest. I enjoy 3D, but sometimes I like to go back to traditional 2D!

I'm looking forward to the Avengers film though, having seen the teaser trailer after the End Credits ;)

Listening to...

I don't know if it's because I'm a bit of a film buff, but I absolutely love film scores and have a huge appreciation for film composers such as Hans Zimmer, Steve Jablonsky etc. However, the Harry Potter score has never struck a chord with me in the same way that the one for Deathly Hallow Part 2 did.

From the minute the title came up at the beginning, with a sadder version of the main Harry Potter theme, I knew this was going to be something special, and that was the exact moment that I felt emotional in that Cinema.

But, for me, the best piece of score is titled "Statues", and anyone who has watched the film might know which part of the film this piece is used. For me, this single piece of music summed up the unity amongst all of these kids and their teachers against this awful threat.

What have you been up to over the past 7 days?