The lion king remake

My first reaction to this news was: NO NO NO!!
I can not describe to you all how much I love the lion king. I watched it every single day without fail until the age of 5 (roughly when I started school). I'm serious every day. Anytime there was an important family event or something big happened I was watching the lion king. Every. Single. Day.
The lion king is an absolutely amazing movie- the animation, the songs, the plot. Why would anyone in their right mind want to remake it?
The amount of Disney films that are being remade to real life or with better CGI is remarkable. Beauty and the beast is the next one which I am actually quite looking forward to since I loved the animated version too (not as much as the lion king) but I feel beauty and the beast can be remade. It makes average sense. The lion king? No it really doesn't. How are they going to make it? With CGI? Or with like real lions? It's just not going to work it would be like remaking aladdin without Robin Williams as the genie. Who would want to do that?
To say I am annoyed by this is an understatement. What do you all think about this? What do you think they will do with the lion king- a new plot, new songs or just better animation?
P.S. I will still go and watch it.

Books glorious books

  I have read some amazing books since I could read but recently I keep finding ones that I've never heard of before and I can't believe I haven't read them yet! The most recent one is everything, everything by Nicola Yoon and it is about a girl that is allergic to the world. You could say to some extent this is a romance book but it is so much more than that. It's about family, entrapment, and betrayal. A must read to all!
  Another book I found not too long ago is called our endless numbered days by Claire Fuller and that is so many things that it's hard to describe! It's a brilliant read and keeps you guessing the whole way through. It is a little confusing at times as the narrator is a child but it is brilliantly written.
  This next one is a kindle book which is called love to hate you by Anna Premoli. I don't usually like romance novels but this one I couldn't help but love. It was a great read for a holiday and had me laughing along with it!
  There are so many books out there that I never really looked at because I stayed with the same authors and they can't be faulted but sometimes it's good to chose books you wouldn't normally pick which is why at the moment my bookcase is bursting with unread books.
  Some of my favourite books are quite hard to come by so I thought I'd list some of them here so that you all can enjoy them as much as I did:
Love and decay by Rachel Higginson
Star crossed series by Rachel Higginson
Promises to keep by Shayne Parkinson
And then of course the hunger games series by Suzanne Collins, the Morganville vampires series by Rachel Caine, and the gone series by Michael Grant.
  Comment down below your favourite books!

Dreams

The night was cold- freezing even and I was hanging on for dear life. The fingers wrapped tightly around the barrier dangling of the ship. I could hear the slow click of heels walking towards me. "Help," I yelled towards the approaching figure. She stood in a white elegant dress, long blond hair flowing behind her. Bright red nails tapped the barrier indecisively while I begged for help as I started to lose my grip. A wicked smile spread across her face as I lost my grip and plummeted towards the freezing cold ocean.

I woke up and looked at the time 2.20- it was the 15th of April 2012- a hundred years since the titanic sunk and I had had a dream of me hanging of the side of it with a scary woman deciding my fate. It was the most vivid dream I have had to date and still remember it clearly. I remember what she looked like, the shape of the ship, the time I woke up and the date.

I think dreams are the strangest thing that happen to any living thing and the fact that you can find out what they mean from a dream dictionary. Sometimes I get similar dreams so I do look up what they could mean. One common one for me is being pregnant which is all about the creation and development of life, so dreaming of being pregnant may be a metaphor for the birth of something in your life, such as a new idea, project or goal. It may also symbolize an aspect of yourself that is developing or growing. I have realised that I get these dreams when I've come up with a new writing idea.

One question I always wonder is why do we forget dreams? Well I did some research and found out why...
There are many reasons why we forget many of our dreams and one link summed up all the reasons- Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-memories-of-vivid-dreams/ - states that we forget dreams because there is an absence of the hormone norepinephrine in the cerebral cortex, a brain region that plays a key role in memory, thought, language and consciousness. (Norepinephrine definition underlies the fight-or-flight response, along with epinephrine, directly increasing heart rate, triggering the release of glucose from energy stores, and increasing blood flow to skeletal muscle.) Due to this we forget the dreams we have if they did not capture our attention. There are many for reasons which is explained in Scientific American which you can see in the link above.

Even though I think dreams are bizarre I also think if you have a dream the day starts off better. What is your most vivid dream? Comment below

Harry Potter and the cursed child review (SPOILERS)

Even though I received the cursed child play script on the day of its release I couldn't read it for two weeks (went on holiday) as soon as I got back it was in my hand and ready to be read. I'm going to split this review in two as I have two very different opinions on each act. (WARNING spoilers!)

PART 1
I did like the first few scenes as we begin to learn about the characters but its not long before the play speeds up and we're shooting through the years quickly. By the end of the 7th scene I'm really not liking Albus or Harry that much due to a ridiculous fight between them that escalates from them arguing about Harry's blanket to shouting that they wish they weren't father and son. Maybe if you see it performed there would be more tension to it but from reading it there really isn't.
One thing that surprised me throughout the whole play is Scorpius; he is constantly referred to as Voldemort's son which is most likely very hurtful to him as it causes him to be an outcast -obviously- but he is the funniest thing in the play. Throughout the play I was constantly laughing out loud due to him.
The first act consist of Albus, Scorpius, and Delphi trying to find a way to save "the spare" Cedric Diggory which seems to be a foolish idea right from the start but still they do a good job of finding the time turner and that is the end of the first act from part one.
Act two from part 1 starts with a dream of Harry's which includes Voldemort. This leads to the parents trying to find Albus and Scorpius before they go back in time. They fail and scene 7 starts from this point onwards I start to get annoyed with act 2. They start to notice the changes that have been made but does this stop Albus wanting to go back? Of course not. Scorpius does try to stop him and they have a fight but that ends as soon as its started. The next few scenes are easily summed up by the huge mistake made by Albus and Scorpius leading to there being no Albus. Part one ends with what appears to be hell on earth.

Opinions so far: I didn't really like part one- I felt it was quite rushed in some bits that were quite important. This may have affected my feelings for it but I don't think affected the story as a whole. The last scene in part one was quite good which make sense as it makes the person come back for part two.

PART 2
Part two I liked a whole lot more than part one and I think that's because the pace of the play was easier to read and made more sense. One quote stood out for me "we simply are as we are" which seems to be the response of many "purebloods" in this new world. They seemed to get Snape exactly right which is a first, however he is quite funny especially when you have Alan Rickman voice in your head. We are then ushered into a underground rebellion group where Snape, Hermione, and Ron learn of their real lives. Their task then becomes protecting Cedric Diggory so that he doesn't become a death eater. They succeed and everything seems to go back to how it should be.
This is not the end as Delphi has other ideas who, we learn at the end of act 3, is in fact Voldemort's daughter. It was a twist I wasn't expecting. In act 4 we learn that Albus and Scorpius have been sent to 1981 the day before Harry's parents have been killed. From this point onwards the play becomes an amazing piece of literature. I won't ruin much more but we finally get to see the Harry we know and love. Fighting to save his family and the world. The play ends with father and son happy and united together. It's a good ending.

Opinions overall: I definitely preferred part 2 to part 1 partly because I felt like there was more going on and it was easier to imagine the scene unfolding. Part 1 was good but I just felt like it didn't match with all of the Harry Potter books we've grown with. Part 2 was a lot better than part 1- it seemed to be better written and had more action with it more like the original Harry Potter books. To conclude Harry Potter and the cursed child was a good read and will most likely be a brilliant play to go and see but the expectations I had for the play didn't match what was written. I'd give this 7/10 and would recommend it.

What were your views on the cursed child? Have you seen it performed? Comment below

The sacrifice

“Do you atone for your sins?” I asked in a simple manner.
“No! I didn’t do it,” the girl struggled in front of me trying to fight the bonds that trapped her. The physical bonds were not all that trapped her but the mental ones that she shared with our master.
“Please let me go,” she begged but she did not have a choice. She was given to me. Her sins were severe and she must pay the ultimate price. The knife rose high in the air- the blade shined in the light- and made the final cut; her blood spilled. The sacrifice complete.

The summer evil...

Sneezing, runny nose, and itchy eyes are all signs of seasonal allergic rhinitis aka hay fever. The summer cold basically. I, like many other people, suffer from this annoyance and to say it gets in the way is an understatement. I suffer from it quite badly I not only get the first three signs but because I sneeze so much my throat is raw and dry and since my nose is blocked I have a problem breathing- this is what probably causes my headaches. Not good either way!

Can you believe that 1 in 5 people in the UK is affected by hay fever with the most common cause being grass pollen. While a quarter of suffers are affected by trees and only a few are triggered by weed pollen. (inserted below is a picture of the pollen calendar so if you suffer you can see what pollen is causing it). I am the unlucky one being affected by all!

From this as you can see when the chances are of being affected by pollen the most. For me I'm affected from March to October (the whole hay fever cycle) and then winter comes along with its own illnesses. If I am lucky though the weather can help.

We haven't had much of a summer which is bad as a whole but for people like me its had its perks. As the weather as been cooler the pollen levels haven't been as high, and as the hotter weather took longer to get here than usual for hay fever suffers we've had a bit of a longer break of being able to breathe (and wear eyeliner). Of course, as we're now in July the hay fever is at its highest and since some days are cooler and raining it clears the air of pollen but the next day it's back with a fresh assault. What doesn't help is people (ie. the council) choosing the hottest day to cut a field releasing all that 'lovely' pollen to those already suffering from the days assault but that deserves a whole rant to itself. I always find that when I am around people cutting their grass I feel worse what about you- comment below.

Mornings are always worse because pollen is released early in the morning. I've read so many different articles on how to reduce the affects of pollen and found these to be the best ones:
•Keep windows closed at night so pollen doesn't enter the house. (This is good because it stops the early morning pollen getting in your house and getting attached to you and your bed which later will be a problem when you go back to bed.)
•Buy a pair of wraparound sunglasses to stop pollen entering your eyes. (This is great because when you do have to be outside and walking by a field it protects your eyes a bit more as well as stopping you from rubbing your eyes in case you have pollen on your hands too.)
•Keep car windows shut when driving. (This works averagely well but I find since I live in quite a high pollen level area anyway that when I am leaving the area I can breathe better so having the windows closed don't make a lot of difference.)
•Don't mow the grass or do other work in the garden. (This I avoid anyway but if you do have to do work in your garden do it on a cloudy cooler day as pollen levels will be lower.)
•Avoid fields and large areas of grassland. (This sometimes can't be avoided and it is a nightmare when you have to walk through them but if you wear sunglasses then it averagely reduces the amount of pollen affecting you.)

There are other things to better protect yourself like tablets, eye drops, and nose sprays. The first two are brilliant at protecting you from the onslaught of pollen and nose sprays as well as Vaseline can work at reducing pollen in your nose but I found it didn't work for me because I sneezed so much but do try anything and everything!

Comment below any other ways to help get through the way for all hay fever suffers and do speak about your problems with it! I know people that don't understand it and think of it as just a cold: "oh it can't be that bad" but we as a group can say it is!
NHS hay fever page with all information needed: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/hayfever/Pages/Allabouthayfever.aspx


Update:

Just to show some of the highest places for hay fever- I live in Luton- the bright red bit.

Monkey

Monkey, monkey swinging from the vines (it was a very tall tree).
Monkey, monkey eating a banana (which he had stolen from his friend).
Monkey, monkey talking to a female monkey (he liked her).

Cows

"Did you hear about Barbra?"
"Nooo," she turned interested.
"They led her to the door" the other nodded
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"Didn't produce enough milk, she let herself go after the fourth husband. Its not surprising," the other moved, reaching down to grab a snack.
"Who will be next do you think?" she asked, worried, looking around at the other cows in the room.
"Neither of us, we have our heads screwed on. No male will ruin our milk."

Lemonade

Ugh, look at them. Sitting there. Tearing my very soul apart with every sip. I was told it was my destiny to become apart of the ade group but I didn't want to. I wanted to be free to roll and slide anywhere I wanted to, but I couldn't. It would bring dishonour to my family, to the very roots I came from. I was part of a long respected line of ade makers. To be cut, squeezed and drank. Every lemon is cut but to be squeezed...

distraught

She was distraught; they had ruined her day. How would she manage now? The ink flowed off the page; the words mixed together. The months it took her to complete this work, wasted. They laughed; it was fun for them to watch someone's hard work drain away. For they had never tried in their life's; they never had to. Everything was handed to them. That was it. They had to pay.

Free thinking writing...

The scrumptious gravel runs beautiful sadness as life drained away staining the road with colours of red. The once scrumptious gravel turned to turned to horrific tarmac. The cause of life unknown the cause of death known, completion of life terminated as life poured to the grown. Sadness plagued the bones of all life knew for it to had life, family, feelings though it caused no pain to begin but caused too much pain to end but that's how it works, life, death, to live, emotion causes life to be beautifully sad.

If you enjoy writing but find it difficult to get started then try free writing. All you do is sit with a pen and paper and write anything and everything that comes into your head even if it doesn't make sense. Leave your mind to wonder but not think, sometimes something great comes from it and you have the start of your writing.

End of the world...

My bouncing baby boy, cradled in my arms. For I knew we only had moments.