Top 5 Movies I saw in 2014

I do like to do lists at this time of year to talk about the best stories that have been told to me, through the media of film, television or print this year.

First up, its movies! I don't rank my movies because it was hard enough picking just 5 let alone putting them into some kind of logical order.

Imitation Game

 

Okay, I may have lied about being able to make a logical dissention between my favourite and least favourite movies. Let's just call this one no.1 and everyone else the runners up. Hands down this was the best movie that I saw in 2014. Possibly the best movie I've seen in a very long time. I went with friends and we spent the entire walk back to my flat in silence because we didn't really know what to say. Even after a cup of tea to restore us we found it difficult to talk. It's such a powerful movie. It portrays such a powerful picture of Autism for a start (Alan Turing would, by today's standards, have been put somewhere on the Autistic Spectrum based on accounts of his personality.) and also the ending is crushing as to the treatment of homosexual's. This man and his team effectively ended the war early, yet none of this mattered in the face of his 'perversion'. The last 10 minutes of the film is so heart-breaking. Without doubt the most powerful piece of film I've seen in a long time.

Guardians of the Galaxy

This movie was such fun. I laughed so much, and cried on one occasion. If you've seen it you'll know what occasion that was, or at least can guess. This movie has a lot of kick ass action and a female character that is not - thank god - just a romantic interest for the male lead. It's ridiculous at times and outrageous at others, but it's definitely one that I would go back and watch time and time again. I'm already looking forward to the sequel.

The Fault In Our Stars

And the prize for the movie that made me cry the most this year goes to, The Fault In Our Stars. Not even Les Miserables could match up to the amount of water that left my eyes in that cinema. I'm kind of glad I went on my own. 

The real strength of this movie I felt was the message that it left, about how Gus wanted to leave a lasting impression on the world, but what was more important was the way he touched the lives of his close friends and family. When compared to the book (baring in mind that it has been some time since reading TFIOS) I felt that the movie brought this message across much better, but a re-read may change my mind. 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

 

I have a lot of trouble saying that I 'enjoy' the Hunger Games series. The films are, yes, extremely good and getting better with each film. But the subject matter is horrifying, and getting more so. Jennifer Lawrence is an absolute gem in this, and her portrayal of PTSD and her slowly descending into worse and worse appearance of PTSD is very convincing. There are so many parts of the movie where I catch myself wincing at the screen because there's something there, with all the 'propaganda' that feels terribly familiar and not impossible in the future. Also, Josh Hutcherson deserves some recognition for his fabulous work. I won’t spoil it in case you haven’t seen it but he really comes into his own as an actor in this instalment. I can’t wait to see what he and Jen do in the final part.

How To Train Your Dragon 2

This is a truly beautifully animated film. I love these stories to death. They’re so touching. I also love all the characters. Toothless is a given as he reminds me of my cat. For being an ‘animated’ film, the portrayal of relationships is really pretty good. Hiccup and Astrid have a wonderful chemistry, and how they showed Hiccup’s parents brought a few tears to my eyes. The story was also very well told. I was concerned where they were going to go from the first film, but they still managed to have a very meaningful plot that was well executed. Again, looking forward to the next one. If the school where I worked wasn’t so strict about not letting them watch films on the last days of term then I would insist on them all watching this, just so that I could watch it more!

What I've been reading August - December

*Blows off the dust*

*Nervously approaches the keyboard*

Hi. 

It's been a while I know. And I even dabbled with another blog. I promise I won't do that again.

Turns out this actual adult thing takes up more of my time than I had originally thought. Quick update. I'm now an actual proper fully qualified teacher of science. I've moved 400 hundred miles from my home in Northern Ireland to take up a job in England. I've been teaching for almost a full term and I am exhausted.

Keeping up with reading and writing isn't easy when you're a full time teacher. "But don't teachers get to leave school at 3pm?"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No. And even if I do it just means bringing work to do it at home instead. 

But yes. Reading. I haven't read that much from August to December, and this is the first year that I don't thnk I'm going to complete my reading challenge. But never the less, let's get started!

1. Saga Vol. 1-3 by Brian K. Vaughan (Writer) and Fiona Staples (Artist)

This is actually my first graphic novel. And it's amazing. I bought the first volume on a trip into London and had it finished by the time the train pulled into my station and promptly ordered Vol 2 and 3. It's a wonderful Sci-Fi, Couple from opposite sides in a war, kick ass story. The humour is also something that tickles me. I really can't wait until Vol 4 is released, but it keeps being pushed back as Amazon keeps e-mailing me as much. 

2. Republic of Thieves (Gentlemen Bastards no. 3) by Scott Lynch

I love this world to death. The Gentlemen Bastards series is utterly amazing. I listen to it on audiobook as I find it easier to follow fantasy if I have someone reading out all the strange place names and character names to me as I tend to forget when I've read the names before and then lose track of who's who if I do it by myself. Mostly I was listening to it on the way to work and on more than one occassion I nearly crashed my car from laughing. Scott has an amazing whit that is passed on through Jean and Locke. This book also feathers the elusive Sabatha who's been a hot topic of book 1 and 2 and it was amazing to get to know her as well. The ending totally dropped a bomb on me and I'm dying for part 4. 

3. Edge of Eternity (Century Trilogy, No. 3)

I love Ken Follets 'epic' writings. My favourite duology is the Kingsbridge series Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. He's so good at creating huge overarching stories with interlinking themes and characters. However, Edge of Eternity fell a bit flat for me. It wasn't nearly as good as the previous two books Fall of Giants and Winter of the World. The main problem is that I think it covered too many years. However, it was nice to see how the 3rd generation characters of the protagonists of the 1st book Fall of Giants ended up. The series as a whole also shows how much of an extrodinary century the 20th century was. 

4. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (Cousins War #1)

I do enjoy historica fiction and I've found online that Philippa Gregory is very much a marmite author of the book community. What made me buy this series was the BBC TV show that aired in 2013. I am a sucker for Historical dramas. The older the better. The costumes and the dashing men and fierce women draw me in. The series was so powerful I had to get my hands on the source material to compare. I've only read 1 out of the 6 books currently in the Cousins' War series. Although this was the first published, it's not the first chronologically. Though I'm under the impression that you can read them in any order. They do follow the same story but from such vastly differing points of view that it doesn't matter whose side of the story you hear first. I found myself getting very wrapped up in the first 2/3rds of the story quite nicely, but after Elizabeth and her children go into santuary and the infamous 'Princes in the tower' storyline takes over I found this book dragged it's heels a lot. Perhaps its an analogy for how long Elizabeth didn't know what was happening to her sons, but I felt that it lost pace quite dramatically at that point. Otherwise, a very good and interesting read. I will doubtless be making my way through the others in due course.

5. Sex Criminals Vol. 1 by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky


I don't really want to say too much about this book other than it's a dream to read. Not for younger readers. If you like graphic novels, humour, good twists, and are not too put off by sex (I'd say that it's tastefully done for the most part) then this is definatly worth picking up.

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

Let me know what you've been up to as well. I've been away so long, that I know some of you are bound to have news for me!

Sarah x

IWSG - A 'lil respect

Another month. Boy that went past pretty quickly!

I try as hard as possible to be original about these posts, but I guess most of us have a lot of the same insecurities. 

However, I have discovered an insecurity that is a little more niche in the last few weeks. I started on my teacher training course a few weeks ago and one of the major concerns I have about teaching is getting the young people to respect me. I am blessed/cursed with a young face. At 21 I could pass for 16. Yet I am intending to go and try to impart knowledge onto people that I don't look any older than.

This raises a similar concerns around my writing. If I was ever lucky enough to get a work published would this change my students perspective of me? Would I lose whatever authority I held over them because of what I'd written (perhaps swearing, YA level romance etc)? Would my writing style become changed by my being conscious that young people I work with every day might read it?

A solution would be, I guess, to post under a pseudonym but I don't know if I'd feel comfortable about that. 

This is probably a long way off from being something I seriously need to consider, but it's another niggling thing in the back of my mind.

Do you ever worry about loss of respect when writing? It may not be from a teacher point of view but maybe you worry what friends, family or colleges might think.

Sarah x

IWSG - Everything happens for a reason

(Written on ipad so i'll link up to IWSG when i get back on my laptop!)

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I've recently had some experience of this myself.

You'll only have to scroll down a post to read that I had gotten myself a new job looking after my cousin. This was after I had been rejected from my teacher training degree. 

I told a little bit of a lie there. I hadn't been 100% rejected, but rather I'd been put on the waiting list in case someone decided they didn't want their place. But me, being my melodramatic, self figured that this was as good as rejection seeing as I'd never get in on the waiting list. The course is so difficult to get into that no-one was going to turn it down, right?

Apparently not. This day last week I got a phone call, offering me the place someone had given up only that morning. I burst into tears on the phone I was so happy. The poor secretary! My aunt and uncle have recruited family members to look after the kid while they get someone permanent. 

So yay! I actually have a viable career pathway! 

But what has this got to do about feeling insecure? Well, just like the title says, everything happens for a reason, and I'm terrified that the obstacles that keep getting thrown in the way of my writing is God (or fate if you prefer) trying to tell me that this isn't what I'm meant to do! Perhaps it's not right now, or perhaps it's never. I can't tell. Will inspiration strike me on my train journeys while I'm commuting to class? Will my summer holidays turn into my writing window? Or maybe my over active imagination is going to be put to use on teaching instead of fiction? Perhaps my future teaching jobs (with teenagers!) will help me to be a better YA writer because I'll be spending most off my days around the age group with my target audience! I'll have to wit and see!

But for now I'm just so glad I got onto the course. I've got a very busy year ahead of me. 

Wish me luck!

Sarah x

Day 2 of Nanny life and I SO UNDERESTIMATED THIS. (Plus WIP update)

So I'm a nanny now, for my 2 year old cousin. I only started on Tuesday and Tuesday was hell.

Understandably so though. She'd had a rough few weeks what with losing her old nanny (who she hated) and the disruption of being shunted back and forth between her Grandmother and Aunt (on the other side of the family) while her parents were on honeymoon. Then only to have them run back to work the day after they get home and being left with what I assume she thinks as the Wicked Witch of the West (me).

She naps two hours before lunch, and the parents are home at 6pm giving me the evenings off. But there literally is not enough hours in the day. I thought I was going to be able to write, do my self study course AND still have time to keep up to date on all my TV shows. EH. WRONG.

Plus I thought I'd feel comfortable writing while she watched TV or played outside. I just feel like I'm neglecting her. Maybe once we've settled in with each other I'll be able to jot little things down without feeling like I'm the worst responsible adult in the world.

All you writers who are stay at home moms. I SALUTE YOU. I have no idea how you do it.

But after having food thrown at me, people at the shop look at me disapprovingly (they must think she's mine and I look about 16 even though I'm 21) and seemingly endless supply of poop filled nappies, this face can just about make up for all of the metaphorical and literal shit.

Maybe I just need to plan better. Make lists and stick to them. No more dilly dallying. Easier said than done but hey-ho. C'est la vie.

And WHEN did this blog turn into an endless complaint list on how much I want to write but don't?

How about a WIP update?

I'm slowly making my way through character backgrounds and plot outlines. Everywhere I turn I'm told that the reason that I'm running out of steam so early into my WIP is that I don't have enough planning done. So I'm PLANNING. Had a sit down with an architecturally savvy friend and his fantasy world obsessed brother and set about planning a map for my city. I don't know how important the map will be but immersing myself in this world eventually my head will saturate and some will have to leak out onto a page.

Welcome to Kathros. Hopefully you'll get to meet the city in person one day.

Any tips for managing your free time effectively? Or if you're in the planning stages of a WIP, how's it going?

Sarah x

IWSG - Just keep reading...what do we do? We read.

They say that to be  a good writer, first you have to read, read, read. Read the genre your prefer, read genres you don't. Read children's, young adult, and adult. Read short stories, read long stories. Read poems and prose. Read bestsellers, and read self published. 

This isn't a chore for me. I love reading and have a growing library of my own whilst making frequent use of the public library available to me. 

This is all well and good, but the endless streams of reading tends to stack up against my own insecurities. I cant help thinking while I'm reading that there is no way that my writing will ever be to the same standard as those books.  

I will catch myself thinking, "Wow! That was such a wonderful plot, no wonder everyone loves this story" and "gosh, I love the imagery this author uses", whilst knowing that my stories would probably bore anyone but me, and that I'll never be able to write something profound enough that people will stick the quote on hipster posts on Tumblr. 

But I'd be a fool if I thought this was just my insecurity. I'm sure every best selling author has been where I am right now. And probably even after they've made it think: "Why the heck is my book up there next to book X and Y when they're so much better than mine!"

If this is one of your insecurities, how do you cope with it? Or is it just something you have to learn to ignore?

Sarah x

Curve Ball

You never know what life's going to throw at you. That's basically the opening few chapters for most books written, in the history of ever. Establish the current lifestyle followed by a curve ball and then how they adjust to their new life.

If you follow my blog you'll know that I have ambitions of being a High School Science teacher, but the one University where I can do teaching here in Northern Ireland turned me down for this year. So I was stuck. A newly graduated student with little to no job prospects because I'd put my effort into teaching rather than lab/industry based experience. It's fair to say that I wasn't in a very good place. I was sure that teaching was what I was supposed to do. All the signs seemed to be pointing in that direction and then, curve ball, I didn't get it. Since June, I've been frantically applying for jobs but with no success anywhere.

But in the last few days I've been hit with another plot twist! My Uncle and his Fiance (Wife in T minus 2 days) commute long distances to their work, leaving early in the morning and returning late. No childminding service is open early or late enough for them to leave their 2 year old daughter with so they have an Au Pair living with them. Recently their Au Pair of a year went back to her home country and they got in a new one. But there has been a myriad of problems with the new Au Pair and they're being sent home in a few days time. What with the Wedding days away and the honeymoon after, they've no time to arrange for another Au Pair.

So whose getting the job? Me.

I'm no stranger to looking after kids for a living. Between the ages of 14 and 17 I had a job of looking after two children, friends of the family, three times a week. Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday for most of the day. Believe it or not, this was probably when I was at my most prolific in terms writing. Fanfictions mostly, but I had several notebooks that I would fill while they were watching TV, sleeping, or while I was sitting on the grass watching them play around the garden.

So I'm going to live with my Aunt and Uncle for a the foreseeable future looking after their adorable two year old.

I'm looking forward to it. I'll be out of my normal environment with patches of free time during the day for reading and writing as well as evenings and weekends to myself. Hopefully the change of circumstances will shake me out of the funk that I've been in since University ended.

I've also signed up for a distance learning course in Education Psychology to do in my own time to better my teaching application for next year!

Just like any good novel, my life has gotten a little more interesting.

Here's to curve balls and plot twists, in real life, and in fiction.

Sarah x