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Big films to watch out for
So this week we were finally treated to the first trailer from Bond’s latest outing – SkyFall. That combined with the current admiration for the Avengers box office success, the continued hype around the Dark Knight Rises and Men in Black 3 being released this Friday I thought…let me help you all out with a … Continue reading
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“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead” – Gene Fowler (1890 – 1960) Somebody pass the band aids.
From Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. So many wonderful songs and pieces of dialogue, but this one always make me chuckle. [Gaston] LeFou, I’m afraid I’ve been thinking… [Lefou] A dangerous pastime… [Gaston] I know You can read my review of the 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast here.
So a couple of weeks ago I volunteered to help Book Aid international with their World Book Night activities at Canada Water library in East London. Book Aid is a great charity that increases access to books and supports literacy, education and development in sub-Saharan Africa. From time to time I volunteer on their book-packing nights … Continue reading
“A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother’s basements and ranting.” – BBC presenter, Andrew Marr speaking at the 2010 Cheltenham Literary Festival
Have you noticed how the term ‘BREAKING NEWS’ is being abused by news channels now? Over the last few months I’ve increasingly noticed this moniker screaming out at me when I turn over to Sky News, BBC News or whatever channel it happens to be…only to see that it’s not a ‘stop the presses’ September … Continue reading
From one of my all time favourite sitcoms…The Nanny starring Fran Drescher. “Trust me sweetheart there’s only one man who can satisfy a woman in two minutes…Colonel Sanders” – Sylvia Fine, Nanny Fine’s mother
This week’s quote comes from Mayor of London candidate, Siobhan Benita. This in no way suggests that I back her (or anyone else for that matter) for the position, but this quote from one of her speeches struck a nerve. As someone who loves reading and writing I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment, but … Continue reading
So last year Grazia magazine ran a creative writing competition – write the first 500 words of a novel. Obviously I didn’t win otherwise I would have been swooped off to the offices of a leading publisher to sign a multi-million pound deal that would put JK Rowling to shame. In any case, I found … Continue reading
The author of the Jack Reacher series of books spoke to readers of film magazine, Empire in an interesting web chat. He talks about Tom Cruise’s controversial casting as the retired military police officer in an upcoming film adaptation, but what really got my attention was Child’s view on playing music while writing. Poodle: Do … Continue reading
Tonight millions of wrestling fans across the world will be watching the WWE’s 28th annual pay-per-view wrestling match – Wrestlemania 28. Now I will say here and now that I am no expert on the matter, but this could be possibly the most ‘hyped’ Wrestlemania of all time. Why? The headline match is between WWE … Continue reading
One of my favourite authors (and the sixth bestselling novelist of all time with 600 million books sold – JK Rowling eat your heart out) rewrote his books dozens of times. In an interview with People magazine in 1981 novelist Sidney Sheldon said of the writing process: “I start out dictating my first draft to a secretary. … Continue reading
It was while watching Gurinder Chadha’s funny take on Pride and Prejudice (called Bride and Prejudice) that I started to wonder. Is the first sentence in Jane Austen’s witty social commentary on wealth and social standing the most famous opening line in a novel ever published? In case you don’t know it, here it is in full: … Continue reading
