Thursday, March 26, 2009

Secondhand Serenade | Fully Booked Book Geek

An exciting Saturday ahead! :) First I'm off to Bonifacio High Street for the Fully Booked Book Geek competition [oh my.. hopefully I answer some questions correctly] and off to Greenbelt in the evening for the Secondhand Serenade concert. wheee!

Finally... I got to update the blog. I've been extremely busy lately, it's crazy! I haven't also been able to watch all my telly shows. Hopefully this Sunday.

Whee :)

Monday, March 16, 2009

A Study In Scarlet

Book #3 for 2009 is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet"
I got this from bookmooch.com and am now offering it up for grabs in bookmooch for anyone who wants to read it :)



This was the debut novel of Arthur Conan Doyle, and the tale is told in the point of view of John Watson, a doctor, who also is Sherlock Holmes' roommate. It revolves around a mysterious death of Enoch Drebber, an American, who was found in an empty house in London.

What follows was a tale of revenge that started from the wastelands of Utah, Mormonism, travels from Continental US and through Europe, and eventually ending in London.

That's all I could pretty much say about the plot without revealing too much information.



Thoughts?

What made me pick up this book in the first place? Well, as I was walking out of Baker Street Underground station whilst I was in London, I saw a statue of Sherlock Holmes and immediately wanted to read one of his books. I was very, very curious on what he exactly did and why the cult following around him? I eventually made myself promise that I would read at least a few of his works when I get home so that if and when I do get back to London, I would appreciate the museum dedicated to him as well and eventually I did. An opportunity arose when the book was offered in bookmooch and I jumped at it, and the rest, as they say is history.

On to the book.

Well, the book was presented in such a manner that was unconventional for me -- it was presented in two parts: part one was told in John Watson's point of view, wherein he meets Sherlock Holmes for the first time and eventually finds out what he does, and eventually they both get involved in the investigation of the murder. Part One also concludes in the arrest of the suspect for killing Drebber, whilst Part Two starts with a back story of how the motive for killing Drebber was formed, and eventually concludes in how Sherlock Holmes caught the killer.

The language is a bit hard for me to understand, it is old English, but you'll get to pick it up and eventually understand it as you go along in the book. The book overall is very fascinating except for the part when I was nearly screaming at the end of Part One when I was like, "How did Sherlock Holmes do it? Why did the killer do it? What was his purpose?" -- blame my impatient self for that. Whenever I read mystery books, I tend to be very, very impatient as I also conclude and try to deduce who was the culprit. Another downside was the font in the book that I was reading -- it is a bit small so it gets pretty hard to read whenever I'm commuting.

Overall, the book did amuse me and I learned quite a bit from it. I'd give it a 3/5 stars.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Off to the mountains tomorrow!

And off to a friend's house tonight. Yay DSL! Hello long-delayed posts of videos on YouTube, reviews about events and photos.

Have a happy weekend everyone! :)

Latest hauls:
-- Taking 5 DVD [OMG been waiting SOOOOO long for this! Hello the Click Five!]
-- The Duchess and Carnivale [season 1 and 2 DVDs] --> is it just me or am I being biased to buying only period films?
-- Ronan Keating Live DVD [hurrah hurrah]
-- another copy of Boyzone: Back Again No Matter What Live 2008[because I'm scared the other one would be scratched the way I keep on playing it]

**Just wanted to post this --- OMG I shaked the hand of Joey Westwood. He's such a babe:**

Friday, March 6, 2009

March 6, 2009 roundup.

Gawd.

My internet at home is such a hassle. I totally hate it. Dialup sucks, PLDT sucks because they don't have the necessary lines in my area. Ugh. I can't believe I'm stuck in the dinosaur age of dialup internet!

Anyway, moving on -- Last Friday, I got awesome VIP passes to the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus event in Market Market. Not only that, I got a chance to meet the band after the concert, the VIP pass comes with free meet & greets. Yaay!

The concert was good although in the first song, there was obviously some trouble with the microphone -- the intro and first two lines of the song "You Better Pray" were not heard by the people at the back. Tsk Tsk. I thought there was supposed to be a soundcheck to correct those kinds of issues.

As I write this, I am currently moving my files from the digicam to the computer for backup -- which reminds me, I need to get myself a DVD-Writer to backup what's in my external HDs... I am a very OC girl who believes in backing up the backups :D

Just a while ago, I managed to catch U2 perform in Good Morning America. They have a new album out so they're promoting it.
Gawd. I never really realized how GOOD this band was until a few months ago.

I'm currently watching the MTV of "Elevation" -- one of my favourite U2 songs :P Even though some of the lyrics don't make sense -- "A mole, digging up a hole...." I still love it. =)

Gotta go get ready to meet my friends in Glorietta in a few mins. tah! :D

**apologies for the lack of photos -- my slow internet won't allow it! gah!

Monday, March 2, 2009

The Tudors

The Tudors is a telly series that is currently airing in HBO [in Asia, anyway, Showtime for other countries] that has been airing for 2 seasons.



It premiered last night on HBO much to my delight. See, I've been watching this telly series for the past month now, and have gone through the two season and I just can't get enough! :)

It's a historical-based telly series, starring Henry VIII, yes, the notorious English king who had 6 wives. He is played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers [gorgeous guy] and his portrayal is definitely something to watch. He is GOOD!

I have blogged about season 1 before but having recently finished season 2, I was totally blown away. I cannot wait for season 3, which should be showing abroad starting this year.

Do watch it on HBO every Mondays at 11 :)

*sigh*

On another note, yesterday, as I was browsing through National Bookstore, I found myself another historical novel to add to my collection of English history novels:



It's titled "The Sixth Wife" by Suzannah Dunn. It tells the story of Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VII and her life after Henry's death -- her love affair with Thomas Seymour, and how she looked after Elizabeth after her father's death.

I'll post reviews once I finish the book -- this recent haul is currently in the TBR pile.

Can't English history be more interesting???