Friday 31 January 2014

The Fault in Our Stars and Being Productive

Hola looney's!


Firstly, I've put the lovely Simkins on pause for now as I've been desperate to read The Fault in Our Stars since Christmas. Secondly, I can't get my head around the fact that February is here! And thirdly, I have started watching Game of Thrones. Yes my friends, I've entered that whirlpool of lust and horror. And Harry Lloyd. *giggles*





Sorry. I really shouldn't fangirl. Dear God, that'd just.. no. 

ANYWAY BACK TO THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. Oh my goodness, I'm only on 134 and I've already sobbed about a billion times from adorableness and ..augh... I can't describe how beautifully written it is. Older people reading this may think 

'OH BUT YOU HAVEN'T READ DICKENS'
'OH BUT YOU HAVEN'T READ SHAKESPEARE'
'OH BUT YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BIBLE'

OHHH BUT YOU, yes YOU, CAN HOLD THE  FREAKING PHONE. 

Welll pfft EACH TO THEIR OWN. More young people will be reading modern literature. We can't always enjoy reading things that are xyz years in our past. My parents' nag at me from time to time, insisting that I read some of these dead writers, which I will. Probably... Inevitably I will reach the end of my current reading list and return to some writers who I started reading but never finished purely from being of an age where I just wasn't taken by that particular story/ies for one reason or another. 

That probably made no sense, I can no longer justify my writing with intelligent literary terms and vocabulary which make me sound sane. Conclusion: I'm insane. And odd. And mad.

"I'm not mad; my reality is just different to yours." - Cheshire Cat. 

The good thing I think about The Fault in Our Stars, coming from someone who's only just starting to read more, is that it's an easy book to get into. You know with some books it'll describe the scenery for 10 pages and then the narrator will put in a snippet of dialogue, before returning to the description of a very green landscape. Why don't they just do that? Spare us this over-detailed observation of countryside and just put it out there clear as day "IT'S VERY GREEN". Maybe that's just my irreverent humour, but I quite like it when narrator's are slightly blunt and matter-of-fact; mild satire - yes, I likey. Anyway, I know I haven't actually read the WHOLE BOOK, but I am getting there and I felt I had to write something about it because I can't handle the amount of emotions here. Green focuses more on the people and what they feel. the emotions created and exchanged and the relationships. It's very human for a book. You feel so attatched to the characters that you get emotionally involved. 

I believe that hearts are for books and guts are for everything else. Books round you as a person;  creating such drastic changes in you in such short spaces of time, that it appears entirely improbable for any living human to do so. Books, fiction or non fiction, have such a beautiful impact on us. Sometimes you can love a book more than anything else - the pumping feeling you get in your chest, the banging of your heart against your true ribs that only you can hear in your head, that, that is a feeling well spent if spent on a book. (However if you feel that for someone, that's good too. You've probably got some terribly repressed passionate urges there if you feel that for a human - good for you if so!) 

End of philosophical booky rant. I probably really, really over romanticised that but oh well, we sometimes do that, us humans, to cleanse our minds of romantic waffle.



***

Apart from over thinking and failing to make fires from scratch, I have begun to spend my days being as productive as possible. This commonly consists of writing to various radio stations who aren't insisting that I "need" to be studying a media related course, occasionally volunteering and offering my services as a chatty and smiley human being, and reading. Additional activities include yoga, wrestling with self pity and jotting down ideas every other minute for vlogs/short films. 

Breaking NEWS: Running like a madman willingly through the rain while listening to Just One Yesterday by Fall Out Boy, may deceive you slightly into thinking that you're an invincible protagonist of a cinematic thriller, valiantly and wildly sprinting away from imaginary zombies/pirates/world domination seeking aliens - all the while wearing bearly there Sainsbury's leggings and sporting the panda eyed look. 

Experiment carried out at 9.50pm the evening of the 31st January 2014. I'm not at all freezing my tits off ...(waaaaaaaaaa) 

Products of the Month


(Left to right)
Suddenly by Madame Glamour // £3.50 LIDL
The Righteous Butter // £10.50 Soap and Glory, Boots
Mr Punch Soap // varies, Lush


Oh yeah and Happy Chinese New Year. My family and I celebrated this by eating vast amounts of Chinese produce and exchanging fortunes in light of who we thought would benefit, well to be frank inspire, that person. What they'd do with it would be up to them. Hezzah. 

I would write more but I don't think any of you are still reading. Thank you if you are though. Much appreciated.

Ta ta lunatics. <3 (SEE YOU ALL IN FEBRUARY)







Sunday 26 January 2014

Life Update

Well I think we've established that I'm a pretty crap blogger.

HOWEVER don't stop reading yet I've lots to tell you, EXCITING stuff! Can you believe it!? I know! It's genuinely exciting this time!



But first, salutations.
Hola gorgeous people. In the last week or so, I've been pretty busy attending masterclasses, interviews and memorial services and just generally being productive! *stadiums around the world cheer*

RECAP OF WEEK COMMENCING THE 20th January
(READ THE DAYS OF THE WEEK IN THE X FACTOR MAN'S VOICE)

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY

 I've been working with my pa and family friend on a new project! Strictly confidential so I won't go into too much detail but it is very exciting and the potential outcome of this project entails exciting times ahead! We've been working in a venue in Hastings called St Mary's in the Castle, a lovely place, quite echoey. But grand and full of splendour. We've been working in a particular room where an amazing young woman once graced the floor with her presence. This young woman was Murial Matters. Yes, her surname really was MATTERS. I'll dedicate a WHOLE blogpost to this lady in the future, but just know that it's been wonderful finding out more about her just by being in the space that she once inhabited. 

 THURSDAY

The masterclass took place at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London where a friend and I were freaking out over the fact that I'd left our tickets at home (whoopsy daisy) and were hugging our feeble bodies due to empty bellies. However we arrived (not needing our tickets after all; only our ability to remember our names) and took our seats, soon to be awarded with the presence of renown artistic director Emma Rice from Kneehigh (smashing theatre company) (might I add that we were still really hungry, but laughing was our only form of sustenance at that point). 

I learnt so much on Thursday like seriously, I wish Masterclass did like a week where you just do an intensive practical study with creative, talented theatrical greats and have shit loads of fun because that was what Emma did with us, only it lasted 2 hours and not a week (OH WHYYY). May I just say, she's bloody fabulous. Very bubbly and chirpy, and talked a lot about ignoring fear and that at Kneehigh, idiocy is encouraged; that no one idea is useless in the creative process of putting on a show, and that the woodcutter in Little Red Riding Hood has some, ahem, unfulfilled sexual urges. That however, is another story entirely (post-worthy though WATCH THIS SPACE). 

I'm a firm believer in ridiculousness and madness (You: NAW REALLY I'D NEVER HAVE GUESSED THAT) and Emma was just the definition of those two things (in a positive way of course, I'm not in any way trying to offend). She's just brilliant and really, really truly inspired me. If you're reading this Emma, I'd love to work with you but I know that you rarely pick up new members, but if ever the opportunity arose then ARGH. 
I'm there, I'm so there.
But for now, I'm content with admiring your work from afar. Very, very content. 

My friend and I were at the point of death when we entered Wagamama's. Luckily the service was pretty damn speedy. Thank you Wagamama's, thank you.

FRIDAY

Friday, friday gotta get a tube on frid--- oh shit, not a TUUBE.
Yes, dear readers. I'm not the best when it comes to navigating tube routes or getting from A to B. On this particular day, I literally went in a circle and proved that I'm a hopeless tube traveller and was only about 15 minutes late to an interview that could potentially change my life.
So yeah, GREAT START. The interview went well though, I was equally relieved and surprise at the overall result. However this was short lived as 2 minutes after leaving, I realised I'd left my phone at the place. So you can imagine, it wasn't at all embarrassing knocking on the door and explaining how silly I was and picking it up and saying thank you multiple times (again) before eventually, finally leaving... And yes, I felt a total sham. An abomination to society.

The Man is smirking at me right now from his cloud. 'Ahah, oh Grace what are you like!' he's saying.
Screw you The Man. It was just a tiny glitch in my consciousness which happens more often than I'd like to admit.

Anyway so yeah. Also that day I realised that I was really smiley that day (so weird) but I was literally smiling at everyone. However nothing could have prepared me for the good feels and ultimate smileyness  that I experienced once I said 'bless you' to a young man. He was ASTONISHED at my kindness and even I was astonished, because not many people say bless you on the tube, or indeed ever, now. It's presently considered a rare phenomenon when one blesses another in public. Ah those were the days when more than the echoes of the dead blessed you. Now I presume people just bless another in their head because we tend to think more than speak nowadays. Perhaps that's a good thing though, sometimes, just sometimes, something's are better left unsaid.

This has now turned into a ma-hoo-sive report on society's attitude to politeness and civility so I'll stop now.

SATURDAY

Lastly, Saturday was VOLUNTEER DAY as I helped out at St Mary's for a Holocaust Memorial Service. I won't go too deeply into this, but it was a very fascinating day. I saw an old friend from school who was participating in the event by doing a reading for the service. In her reading she spoke about Auschwitz and how she felt going past the chambers where so many people had once stood, suffering and in pain. It's sad isn't it. How humanity managed to do that to itself. And what's even sadder is that it's still happening. 
Anyway, it was insightful and touching. After the service, I chatted to members of the public and one lady in particular who was super duper snazzy. Such an amazing sense of humour. It's funny, I hardly ever talk to older people nowadays. I mean people like 40+ years older than me. 

My generation is truly becoming so consumed by the internet and our mattresses, that we're forgetting the simple pleasures of actually going OUTSIDE and talking to people about their lives. GOD society is gradually turning people into hysterical, self-obsessed, selfish, judgemental beings that have no interest in others. (I should really stop ranting now..)

ANYWAY, we had a lovely chat about people who we love, chatty people. Talented people. I said that I admire people who fluent in there language, who have no difficulty in articulating themselves who know the English language inside out. So I said Kenneth Williams. YES, I DID. He's funny. If you don't know who this marvellous being is, use a trusted search engine and educate yourself. Quite astonishingly, she replied with a modest 'oof' before saying that Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are her present favourites in the current 'fammunity'. 

New word: FAMMUNITY - fame and community murged together. Usually used to describe the family of celebrities who all inhabit the 'A Lister' world. 

SATU-SUNDAY

Nearly wrote Saturday again, oh dear. Haha.... 

Well, yeah that's a mini update. I did say that this post would be a beauty one but..umm.. well, you can see that that went well. 

Maybe next time. 
I'll do my Yule Monty Haul or something. 

New Years Resolutions Update:

  • Reading - Still reading Michael Simkins but he's a complex writer, I can only take in small doses of his satirical tone.
  •  Exercise - AHahaha. Well...
  • Contacts - Slow but steady. Looking good nonetheless 
  • Get out more - proving to be a 'GREAT SUCCESS'
  • VLOG - Ahahah. 

Well actually, I have been practising on the camera (because I've seen some 'first vlog' 'omg vlog 1' and I'm just a bit meh, I can do better than that so I'm not doing anything until I absolutely 100% know what I'm doing - this may sound like I'm very fussy and particular but I want the content to be good. Unlike my blog..*nervous laugh*.) and getting there. I'm devoting a whole day next week to vlogging and editing (future bane of my life?) so hopefully I'll get something out there in the next couple of years! 

This is definitely longer than I'd planned it to be, so if you're still reading. Thank you..I didn't realise I was that interesting *blushes and shies away behind a grand oriental fan*

Ta ta lunatics. <3



Monday 13 January 2014

HAPPY AS OF NOW

I'm currently listening to two of my favourite vloggers, Dan and Phil, on BBC Radio 1, who're are giving listeners their ULTIMATE GUIDE TO HAPPINESS!
So what is it? What makes us happy?
It's a question we all ask ourselves at least one time in our lives.

Do you know for MONTHS I've said to myself 'WHAT the heck, I used to be so happy/ why don't I feel optimistic/did I really just think negatively for a second' OMG.

Yeah. BUT TODAY.

I feel an emotional and physical change. An excited, positive energy...

I would just like to say one thing: SMILE.
Do it now. 
Whatever you're doing, stop and smile. 
Now go to your phone/computer/writing desk (have a Biro, fountain pen or ancient quill to hand) and send a message to someone who makes you smile. A happy message. 
Honestly because whoever you're writing to, they will appreciate it and they will appreciate you. 
So go on, I dare you, spread some 'happy' to those who make you smile. 

I'm going to start doing quotes too (You're thinking "Oh Gooodd, what the hell is going on..)
Bear with..

HAPPY QUOTE
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." - Aesop

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE

"Believe you can and you're halfway there." - Theodore Roosevelt 

Short and sweet, yes jolly good. I felt liberated to spread some love and positivity and happiness!
I'm also feeling that the next post may be about BEAUTY!
Hell yeah!
Oh gawd, I need to lie down. 





Ta ta lunatics. <3


Saturday 11 January 2014

Spotify Update

So just to update you on the olde 'New Year's Resolutantics', I've done zero exercise today APART FROM rolling paint onto our hallway which I have to admit uses so much arm muscle it's...it's just, wow, tiring. Very tiring. I'll be Sylvester Stallone by the end of next week. 
Yes, we're finally decorating and painting and sanding for the first time in FOREVER. But I shan't bore you to death with those details. 

Instead, I thought I'd do this post on music as I've been Spotify-ing/Youtubing an awful lot recently and I thought I'd share with you just a few of my current favourites in a kind of TOP 5 Chart Style!!

(I guarantee that this won't be as "exciting" as my last post)

No#5
















PASSION PIT - Take a Walk 
I really feel good, let's-skip-and-forget kind of song. This one definitely gets me up in the morning's and prepares me for a long and hard day's work i.e Tumblr-ing and tweeting. 


No#4




GREEN DAY - Holiday/ Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Now this is terrible (not the song, the anecdote). Basically, for most of my life I haven't been a big fan of Green Day. I mean American Idiot and When September Ends were pretty good, but I found some of their other songs (please don't hate me but) absolutely hideous. However, I've always liked this song and never knew up until now who sung it. Yes I know I'm rather stupid. Dear god help me.

No#3


PHARRELL WILLIAMS - Happy
Being a massive optimist (haha) I had to pick it. 

No#2


ARCTIC MONKEYS - R U Mine?
I've loved this song ever since it came out. I was introduced to the monkeys two years ago and have loved them ever since with 'Suck it and See' being one of my favourite albums of all time. 


NO#1


FALL OUT BOY - Just One Yesterday
Oh my goodness gracious moiiii's, SAVE ROCK AND ROLL. Stop reading this now and listen to the 'Save Rock and Roll' album now. No words can describe the love I have for this band, and this album. The songs are all brilliantly written and the music video to 'Just One Yesterday' is epic. If you're still reading - NO. Spotify. NOW. 

Right. So, now you've returned from listening to the albums I've declared either 'amazing', 'epic' or every positive adjective under the sun, I'll now leave you to think over what you've just listened to. Mainly because I'm just going to sit, half covered in paint, half covered in my tears and just surrender my soul to 'Beyonce' and 'Art Pop' for a few hours. 

If I don't blog again within the next week, you'll know that my brain imploded and that the cause of "death" was down to the incredible vocals of two of the most profound performers to ever walk the Earth. 
...
And breathe. 

The next post will be better promise. I've had too many white walls in front of me today and so haven't been able to think straight. I do apologise.  


Ta ta lunatics. <3

Thursday 9 January 2014

New Year Resolunatics

Hola mis amigos bonitos!



This is a very exciting day for I, yes this slightly bonkers female on the bequeathing end of this post, have created a blog. Prepare you're frontal lobes for my uncontrollably exciting stories and everyday antics. I've promised myself to be slightly more daring in 2014 and I'm feeling so damn badass right now, writing a seemingly pathetic entry into my 'uncontrollably exciting' life.

Don't worry, I am 10% more optimistic when I haven't indulged my liver in 2 glasses of M&S best Shiraz. Hardcore I know. ANYWAY, I thought I'd take the opportunity to make this a little more amusing and worthwhile a post by declaring to the Internet my list of adrenalin-junky-living-life-like-jack-osborne-yolo NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS yaaaay! (Little bit late, but better late than never.)

I've decided on 5 seemingly easy ones, however I'm occasionally (persistently) lazy and get too easily distracted. Still, the simple fact that these are resolutions makes me want to conquer them SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO I present:

5) Read more - I'm a very poor reader and I won't be surprised if any responses to this video highlight my ghastly PSG and question me if English is REALLY my mother tongue. So yes, BOOKS. Currently reading critically acclaimed Rules of Acting by Michael Simkins. It's my new Bible and has already had me questioning other careers' within the first 30 pages. My 'rents are thrilled.

4) EXERCISE - already stated point of "LAZINESS" means that I prefer to daydream about my name in lights or dining at an incredible banquet with A-listers. Basically, I prefer my arse to my legs. And not in a positive way.

3) CONTACTS - So for aaaaaages my day's have run consecutively like water down a dark, deep drain. Water being my time and the drain being the void which time cannot be reclaimed. Sad I know. But it's all due to this quarter-life crisis thing which is all good fun, well, "good fun" I may be being overly optimistic about that but the fact is I need to be productive and get in touch with people for work and such. Hopefully, I shall pick up from where I left off and continue to build a strong CV for 'thespy' antics and adventures!

2) GET OUT MORE - so, my social life has apparently taken a trip with time down the drain too *sigh* so... I need to somehow make another one of those again...

1) VLOG - HAHAHA NOT ANOTHER WANNAB--

'Scuse me? I wish to vlog for the purpose of spreading positivity and happiness-- No, no, I jest. Nobody'd watch me after stating that.
It's a funny process and indefinitely spurs budding performer's, like myself, to stream their 'talent' through a simple site which could potentially, with the right content and attitude, change ones life.
Seems tempting...sooo tempting...

*cough* I'm just giving it a go. Y'know. For the lo- don't say for the lols.

So there we have it. If you're still reading, I'm really rather impressed. Seriously, it's not everyday someone tunes into another person's waffling genius.

UPDATING ON A-KIND-OF-REGULAR BASIS BUT I'M MAKING NO PROMISES.


Ta ta lunatics. <3
 (retreats to hole in ground to cringe over poorly written blog) (ah gad.)