Moving....Today!

Okay, so I have literally ten seconds to write this. It's all a bit crazy at home now, just packed the last of my bags, God do I have a lot of stuff! I'm beginning to feel a good bit of it is unnecessary, but hey, I'll be fine.

I like woke up at half one today. It was mental, because we were supposed to leave at one! But I didn't get much sleep the night before and I was out last night and I was really tired from babysitting all day. Lots of reasons, see?

Oh yeah, last night was so much fun. I never knew the Music Factory could be so much fun. I'm glad everyone got in this time, I mean, I never have trouble, but Lami or Terry never get in.

Anyway, I gotta go, Mam is calling me. We're bringing up one of our spare beds in the pick up. I'll look like SUCH a hill-billy. Ah well.

Goodbyeeeeeeeee Wexford!! Well, till next weekend.

Review: The Old Kingdom Trilogy - Garth Nix

Well, as I stated a few posts back, I've been reading some of my favourite books from my early teen years and well, to be honest, it hasn't been going amazing, per se, what with sickness and getting ready for college, I only managed to work my way through three books.....for shame.

And these three books were Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen, the sequence of books known as the Old Kingdom Trilogy. And really, these were probably my favourite fantasy series when I was younger, so I guess it's apt that those were the books I re-read.

Basically, the story occurs in a world of two parts, separated by a Wall. On one side, Ancelstierre, is a realm of technology, much like our own, where magic does not exist and people who believe in it are generally deemed, well, nuts. The Governments on this side of the Wall refuse to accept the fact that there is a magical realm past the Wall and only the people who live close to said Wall have any idea of what lies across the Wall.

And across the Wall is the Old Kingdom and the place where most of the story takes place. It's a land of sorcery, necromancers and creatures of the Dead. Much more interesting altogether. Anyway, in Sabriel, the Old Kingdom has been in disarray for the past 200 years, with the creatures of the Dead and Free Magic (the bad 'Force') strengthening their grip on the world. All that holds them back is the Abhorsen, a kind of anti-necromancer who sends the Dead back to where they belong by using their bell bandoleer of seven bells and Charter Magic (the good 'Force) . And this series follows the exploits of the Abhorsen.



So, that's the basic premise and it's a really interesting concept. Part of what makes Nix's books so enjoyable is his ability to create such a rich world with it's own history and he writes so believably. Thumbs up to that then.

The Abhorsen is basically someone who must cross the border between Life and Death, which here is depicted as a river, split into Nine Precincts and in each, dangerous Dead spirits lie in wait for a chance to return to life. As I said, the Abhorsen uses his/her bells to fight these Dead beings, each Bell having a distinct name, personality and job. I don't want to give too much more away. It's interesting, trust me.

Sabriel is the shortest of the three and my least favourite to be honest. It's a good yarn, but it's brief enough and sets the scene for the following volumes well. It tells the tale of Sabriel, the daughter of the current Abhorsen who is finishing her final year in Wyverly College in Ancelstierre, when, due to unforeseen circumstances, she has to travel to the Old Kingdom to save her father's life and try to survive in a world which she knows very little about and where also, Dark forces conspire to kill her and take over the Old Kingdom for good. Hard luck Sab!

I won't say much more about it, suffice it to say, it's an enjoyable story that's a bit short. Sabriel has a cracking sidekick, Mogget, a servant of the Abhorsen who was forcibly bound to serve their line for reasons not learned till Book 3. Oh yeah, he is also a cat. A very funny cat. So yeah, Sabriel has adventure, humour and romance all wrapped up into one. It's a nice story, just a bit....well, meh really. I loath to use that expression but it really sums it up!

I'd give it 3/5.

BUT!

Lirael is where it all kicks off. It's a much deeper, cleverer book that is set 14 years after the events of Sabriel. It follows Lirael, a Daughter of the Clayr, who live in a glacier and can see into the future using the Sight. Except, Lirael doesn't have the Sight, aged 14, she struggles with being the eternal outsider. She is very old to have the Sight, most girls Awakening to it around 11. She also differs physically, pale, dark haired, brown-eyed, unlike the the tanned, blond, blue-eyed archetype of the typical Clayr.



This book deals with many themes, the effects of being an outsider, not fitting in and it conveys Lirael's hurt feelings and broken dreams really well. Not to give much away, but Lirael is bound for much more than being an outsider of the Clayr and it all begins when she creates, or rather summons the mysterious spirit of the Disreputable Dog, her best friend and only companion. The book is just as good as when I first read it and I'd recommend it to any and everyone.

The third book in the Trilogy is actually a direct continuation of Lirael's story, with the Prince Sameth also thrown into the mix. Really, it's the second half of Lirael and you can't read one without the other. It's suitably epic in scope and eye-widening in it's revelations. Nix has a knack for creating great characters and you really care about each and everyone of them. This holds true for Sabriel too.

So, Lirael and Abhorsen, I'd give them 4/5 each.

Over all, the Old Kingdom Trilogy are a fascinating read and even though they may be aimed at a slightly younger audience, there's plenty of the enjoyment for everyone, particularly Lirael, my highlight of the series! So, a big recommendation from me!

Preparations & Other Trivialities

Hello!

Sorry, I know it's been a few days since I last checked in, but I've been really busy, was up in Dublin and I couldn't get online in my brand spanking new laptop. Anyway, what's new?

Well, not much to be honest! I stayed in the apartment for two nights and I've got to say, my bed is kinda crap. I mean, it's like a camp bed with two mattresses on top. Which is somewhat annoying. But, I'll probably just bring up one of the beds from home.

Anyway, we walked from the flat to Trinity and wow, it only takes ten minutes. Which is fantastic. I could get a bike if I wanted or you know, just walk and it means I can stay in bed for longer in the morning. :) There's plenty of bars, cafes and nightclubs along the way and it's a nice enough walk, well, one of the ways. The second route we took had a decidingly 'rough' air to it, but that could just be my Mam's paranoia!

All in all, I was really happy with the stay. I mean, there's a really nice, well stocked Spar just outside my door, there's the DART, the bus stop, bars, restaurants, a take away and other things that are equally as exciting, though not as fortcoming in my memory!

So, now all thats left is to get my things in order, though that's easier said than done. I need to pack my clothes, buy food, buy all that essential stuff that everyone forgets till it's too late, such as clothes hangers and I'm sure there's lots I'm forgetting. Besides that, I'm pretty much ready. Owen is getting NTL and broadband into the apartment this weekend so I'll be all Sky Movies-d out. Deadly.

That's all I really have to report, I'm really excited about starting, I can't believe it's so soon! I'm glad of the few days I have now to plan out my Freshers' Week, (which I didn't realise would be so hectic till I came home to all the letters from the different socities) and tojust prepare myself.

Oh yeah and Gossip Girl is STILL amazing.

Writings

So right, or rather write, writing is something that I love to do, but at the same time, frustrates me immeasurably. Honestly, I don't know why this is, but I've always thought that writing is something I'd like to do as a career, like a novelist or something.

But seriously, that is such a difficult field to break into and I can't see myself making anything out of it, but you never know and for the time being, I'll continue on as best I can.

The thing that frustrates me the most is that I'm such a harsh critic on myself and hate blandness and unoriginality. I could write a 1000 words and then delete it all because of a moment of self-doubt. I don't know if I have the resilience to actually see something through fully, with the faults and all.

At the moment, I'm bursting with ideas and have been putting pen to paper a bit, I'm writing a short(ish) story called 'Are you Alive?' now and it's okay, not amazing. It needs a lot of work and I have no idea where the plot is going or how to end it. But, I'll pull it off and I'll let you know when I'm done! Besides that, I've a few things that I want to write about, hopefully I'll get around to it!

Show me some encouragement please! :D

http://www.bebo.com/jameskellyy

That's a link to my Bebo author's page that hasn't been updated in months, but that's neither here nor there. Check it out if you have time!

Till next time! Byeeee!

Deadly stuff #1

So right, I was looking at my blog and there's a lot of negativity there, which in fairness, isn't really who I am. So now, I've decided to dedicate a piece of my blog to stuff that's really cool right now for me so that I can like, take stock of all the good things.

Ok, really, whoever said that money can't buy happiness, obviously didn't have any money because I just bought a laptop, which is so deadly. I mean, I'm pretty happy right now. :) My laptop is really cool, I'm still in the 'setting up' phase and can't do, well anything with it, but it looks really cool, it's an Advent and I really like it. It's pretty high spec and I'll be able to store all my writing and essays and stuff on it. Handy!

The next deadly thing right now is GOSSIP GIRL. I'm definitly going to write more about this awesome show again so I'll just say that I bought the Season One DVD and it's so amazing. Blair is my hero and probably going to be my offical Blog Hero #2. Like Mean Girls? LOVE Gossip Girl. So, that's really made me happy lately.

Third on my list is New York and the dream that someday soon, I'm going to be there again. It's my favourite city in the entire world, just everything about it captivates me, so that's something deadly.

Fourthly is the twin sister duo Tegan and Sara. Their albums have been constantly on play on my iPod and their music is really catchy. Check 'em out
.

Lastly on my Deadly Stuff list is the fact that within two weeks, I'll be going to Trinity College Dublin and be living in the city! Sure, it's scary, but it's like the next phase of my life. How can that not be deadly?!

So, wow, I have loads to be happy about. Fuck computer viruses and colds!

Laters! :D

Things that Suck #2: Viruses & Trojans

Oh my God, I actually hate computer viruses. They're worse than SARS. Okay, so here's what happened, I went to Waterford and bought a laptop (which is awesome, but more about that another time) and when I came home and turned on the PC, there was not one, not two, but THREE Trojan Horses. What the FUCK was my brother doing on the PC today?! :(

So like, I turned it on and then all these alerts came up and told me my computer was fucked with viruses and I was like, 'what the hell?' because these weren't my anti-virus apps. It was all part of the virus' plan. Creepy.

And then, I, you know, put on the AVG scan and the anti-virus one and they're STILL NOT DONE. Like, three hours later. How much shit is on my computer?! So, anyway, every fifteen seconds, I'm interrupted by the virus itself telling me 'You have a security problem'.

Yeah...you.

It's so annoying like, what kind of sick pleasure can anyone take from the fact that a computer is infected with a virus. Weirdo's. I can't wait to get these Trojans off my computer so I can start transferring music to my laptop, which is deadly, if I haven't mentioned that.

I sincerely hope you don't get a computer virus, unless I don't like, because then it's okay, I won't care.

Ugh, ANYWAY, I'm gonna stop writing about things that suck...for now.

But at least my cold is better. :)

Review: Supernatural Season One

Wandering around Tesco last week, I came across DVD boxsets of some pretty well regarded shows for only eighteen euro. Awesome, nay? Anyway, as luck would have it, I had never really watched any of the shows continuously. My options were Supernatural, a show I'd heard very little about, Smallville, the Superman show that I've never really got into, The OC and One Tree Hill.

I had money enough for one, so on a whim I bought Supernatural Season One over Smallville Season One. And well, twenty two episodes later, here we are. I came into this series with fairly low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised, it's a really enjoyable show and not the X-Files/Buffy the Vampire Slayer knock-off I instinctively labelled it.

Okay, so I came to this show a little late. It's now headed into it fourth season, with 60 episodes under it's belt and a following that is growing quickly. It piloted in 2005 and despite some concern over the future of the show after season three and the WGA- strike, but never fear, because it will air on ITV2 and TV3 in the near-ish future.


So, basically, the plot follows two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester who go on a crusade to find their missing father and also, the demon that murdered their mother when they were children. Along the way, they slay all the supernatural nasties, such as ghosts and even vampires. Okay, so yes, the writers steal shamelessly from other shows and various mythologies. But hey, it's fun.

But, it's not just the things that go bump in the night that the boys fight, as year-old tensions arise between the brothers. I'll leave it at that, but suffice to say, the interplay between the two leads, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) is engaging and enjoyable.


Each episode is pretty much self-contained, so it's an easy show to dip in and out of. The search for their father is the main plot device of the show and at times, it wears a bit thin as the show progresses, but luckily, the writers freshen things up in the last few episodes. There are no bad episodes per se, but on the flip side, there are few truely stand out episodes, one comes to mind, 'The Benders', where the twist is that the 'monsters' are, ironically, human.

Another negative of the show is that, this really is a show where you can leave your brain at the door. It's pure escapism and the episodes are highly predictable, so don't expect to be too intellectually stimulated by it.

But, in saying that, it's a very enjoyable show, it's well presented, well acted, highly inoffensive, flows nicely enough and I found myself really caring about the characters by the end of it. Also, props to the writers on ending. I won't ruin it, but prepare to be suitably shocked. I certainly recommend Supernatural and if you can pick it up for around the 20e mark, do.

3.5/5

Things that Suck #1: Colds & Flu's

I actually hate being sick. For the past day and a half, I've had a pounding headache, a stuffed nose, no energy and whenever I drink or eat anything, it feels like knives are running down my throat. It's so painful.

This bad cold has thrown my day completely off, I'm not well enough to read or anything like that and it's also the reason I haven't written in my blog. I can only sit and watch daytime TV. The joy.

It's funny though, yesterday, it felt like I should be doing something else instead of being sick, as if I was missing school by pulling a sicky. It really hit me that I'll never go back to school, which is deadly. Eventually, that guilty feeling went away.

But anyway, the worst is night-time, when I'm trying to sleep, I keep coughing and twisting and turning and it's awfully annoying. Oh well....

My throat is sore again. Guess I'll gargle some salt and water. It actually works.

My pack of tissues and blanket are waiting for me. I'll write again when I'm better.

I'll leave you with this, colds SUCK.

EDIT: Also, ear infections are the WORST. :'(

Re-Reading Childhood Favourites

At this stage, it's actually gone beyond a joke.

My bookcase that I've owned for about ten years is now overflowing with books. There's no longer enough room to even stuff books into it and serendipitously averting looking at it. For the past year, my reading has been on a bit of a hiatus, with only a choice few novels being read, among them 1984 and Catch-22, because most of my time was spent reading school books, (I've read enough Biology to last me a lifetime and don't even get my started on Irish!).

Yesterday, I gathered my courage and sat down at my bookcase, in the vain hope I'd create space out of thin air. Unfortunatly, that didn't work and right now, there's about eight books lying on my bedroom floor. As I was sitting there, awash in paperbacks, I realised that I'll probably never read any of the books that were such an important part of my early teen years again. I'm sure I'll read through a few of them again at some stage, The Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time spring to mind. I doubt I'll ever grow old of Harry Potter either.

But, then I thought, I have two weeks till I leave and in this interval, I'll do my best to re-read some of these books. The next question posed was, which books?

Well, the Old Kingdom Trilogy by Gareth Nix was one of my favourite series, so I'll start with that. There are three books in the series: Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen. Hopefully, I'll zip through those pretty fast.

After that, it gets trickier. I've read Harry Potter so much, I don't see the point in doing it again right now and I finished the Narnia series for the first time ever recently. Likewise, with Artemis Fowl, I've read the books several times. His Dark Materials, while excellent, have been perused by me too often to warrent a re-reading.

Cornelia Funke's books, The Thief Lord and her Inkworld trilogy, Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath, (released later this month I believe), are possible inclusions. So too are the two trilogies of Cliff MacNish, The Silver Sequence and The Doomspell Series. Beyond that, I can't really decide. If I have time, I may well re-visit the Lian Hearn books and others.

One things for sure though, I will never torture myself with the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini again. They were terrible!

I'll blog about how it goes later!

Hero #1: Solange Knowles

Ok, so every couple of days, I have a new 'hero' and I'll write a little blog about that and today, it's Solange Knowles, sister of Beyonce. You know, from Destiny's Child. Seriously, Solange is excellent and she just released a cracking tune, 'I Decided', taken from her second studio album, 'Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams'. The video is excellent, going through the 60's, 70's and 80's, showing the pop culture of the times, before skipping to the future. Fantastic.

Solange is only 22 years old, but she's been married and divorced and has a young son. She married to a football player called Daniel Smith in 2004, the same year as the birth of her son and they split up in late 2007.

People may scoff and say she is only famous because of her sister, but she deserves to be judged on her own merits. She has been writing songs for Destiny's Child for years and later, for the albums of her sister, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. She recorded her first album, Solo Star in 2003, though it didn't perform too well. In her own music career, she goes by the name Solange, without the 'Knowles' record-selling name.

The thing I like most about Solange is the fact that she starred in .'Bring it On: All or Nothing', the third in the cheer-leading saga. She starred as 'Camille', the stereotypical hard knock cheerleading captain from the bad side of time and she shows the new rich girl, Hayden Panettiere, you know the cheerleader from 'Heroes' who the resident bitch is. I LOVED 'Bring it On 3' and the fact that Rihanna was in it makes the movie even better.


So, there you go, Solange Knowles is my first HERO blog.

Trading one Scarf for another

Well, you may have heard, but in case you've been living in a cave for the past week, I got accepted to Trinity! I was offered History and Political Science, thus cancelling my course in UCD, majoring in English and minoring in Art History and Film Studies.

It was like, wow, so amazing, because I had pretty much started in UCD. I mean, I had gone through my orientation there, had the big President's welcome, the introductory 'You'll love UCD' speech - heck, they even gave me a scarf. Then, as I was preparing to pack for my first proper week in college, I checked my CAO application and there it was, just sitting on the page. Unbelievable. This was everything I wanted and more. But, as I sat in shock, that feeling of joy I thought I'd feel, well, it wasn't there. Not entirely, at least. Trinity was literally the only college I wanted to go to my entire life, the only place I could ever see myself studying in. Through the whole Leaving Cert, my light at the end of the tunnel was going to Trinity. When I got my results on August 13th, I couldn't have been more devastated. It was all for nothing and I was offered a course I put down 'just in case', never expecting to have to take it.

And then, three weeks later, I'm offered Trinity and I'm not over the moon. I guess it's because UCD grew on me the week I was there. Sure, it wasn't my first, second or even third choice, but I was there, so were 4000 other Freshers and we were going to you know, embark on this college journey together. Even up there, I prayed to be accepted to Trinity, but had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get my place. I put my best effort into enjoying UCD, making friends, getting to know the campus and had joined the whole UCD community. I think maybe that's why I wasn't as happy as I maybe should have been when I got my Trinity course.


But, another reason is that, well, is History and PoliSci really what I want to do. Would English not suit me better? Honestly, I still don't know the answer, I mean, I love English and for years, I've dreamed of being a writer of some sort, but can I still attain this now? How differently would the path of my life have gone if I hadn't of accepted Trinity? This will sound melodramatic, but the decision has affected my entire life. Probably different career paths, different colleges and different people. What might have been in UCD, may well not be in Trinity and vice versa. So, for a few days, I weighed the two up in my mind and I made the decision to the best of my ability and I've chosen, for better or for worse.

This was possibly the most important decision I've ever made and I'll have to live with the consequences of my choice. But, what's meant to be, is meant to be and I'm determined to do my best in Trinity and make the most of this opportunity. I'm happy with my choice, I have no regrets and I won't second-guess myself about it from now on.

I don't know if anyone will read this, but if so, firstly thanks and secondly, I hope you won't second-guess any decision you make.

So, I'm hanging up my UCD scarf and donning the Trinity one. I'll make the most of it.

Aw, so cheesy! ;D

An Introducion

First off, Hello!

My name is James Kelly, you may know, or maybe not! I'm 17, from a little town called Wexford, in 'Sunny South-East' of Ireland. I finished secondary school in June, after surviving of the torture that is the Leaving Cert and am now on my way to study History and Political Science in Trinity at the end of September!

I'm the youngest of five and I've a niece and four nephews, one of which is my Godson. I'm sure there's much more to me, though nothing springs to mind as of yet. It's strange joining the thousands already using Blogger, likely I'll probably just be lost in the crowd, but I'll do my best to stand out. ;)

I'm not sure what I'll write about, most likely what ever is on my mind, be it family, friends, college, a book I'm reading, an album I heard and so on. I'm not sure exactly what I'd like to do when I finish college, at 17, I don't really feel qualified to make that decision. But, I love writing and that is something I'd like to spend the rest of my life doing, though I doubt I'm a good enough writer. I guess I'll post whatever short stories or essays of mine I have up here and other stuff too.

I promise, it'll be fun. ;D

Also, important note, my favourite colour is yellow. It could save your life someday.

Till later!