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The Book Theif

Today I'm basically going to blog about my all time favourite movie, and book ; The Book Theif.

Now if any of you have seen this movie you will know just how much of an absolute heart breaker it is. As I coincidently found out whilst on a plane to america. Yep there were tears. 

Its a story based on the second world war, from a German child's perspective. What's interesting about this book and movie is that 'Death' narrates it, and talks about his victims in almost a romantic way, which really keeps you interested. 

This girl was called Liesel Meminger and starts of very nervous with her new family, her mother was a communist and death had taken her little brother on the way there, so unfortunately, she really was alone. Liesel found a friend in Rudy, a little boy who lived down her street, Liesel couldn't read or write, so when she went to school she was picked on. Rudy stuck by her however and encouraged her to play with him outside of school- particularly football. Liesel and Rudy became best friends, that was until Max arrived. 

Max was a jew, and Liesel's foster family had agreed to take him under their wing. When Max arrived, everything was very hush hush, and Liesel was finally settling in, her foster dad had began to teach her to read and write so her confidence was growing, as was her love for her new family. Max and Liesel got very close, but as Max had to stay in all the time, he could get quite bored. Often he would ask Liesel to describe the day, talk about the clouds and the weather. One day Lisesel was dropping off laundry for a rich family, and entered into their library, where she took a book. She would steal books from this library and take them to Max, and read them to him. 

When Liesel's birthday came around, Max had made her a diary. As Max couldn't leave the house, all he really did was paint one of the stolen books white, so as she could write over the top. Non the less, Liesel loved it. As you can imagine, she had a lot going on in her mind, meaning she had a hell of a lot to write. She wrote about her mother, her brother, her new family, and Max, who had become an older brother to her. She took this book everywhere with her.  

One day, when looking through the window of the library to the manor house, she dropped her bag and slipped in through the window, to steal, or to 'borrow' another book. Rudy who was non the wiser of Max, was following Liesel. He saw the diary in Liesel's bag and took his chance. He read everything about Liesel, about her family, and about Max. 

When Liesel returned she was fuming that Rudy had read her private diary, she swore Rudy to secrecy, and of course, he did not tell. In the next few weeks Rudy would bend over backwards for Liesel, who he was madly in love with, and would take his chance to try to get a kiss of her.

After a scary incident of a Nazi investigation around Liesel's house, Max had made the decision to leave. He was too much of a big risk on their family and he rather himself than them. He took his chance at survival on the streets from then on. 

A year or so passed without Max, which left Liesel very distressed, not to mention lonely.

Then, one night, death speaks to the audience. He announced that a set of bombs from the English had been dropped on to the wrong street, and how the English had made a mistake. A permanent mistake non the less. The street was their street. Liesel's foster families street. That night Liesel had fallen asleep in the basement, where Max used to sleep. 

First of all, death talks about how he took Liesel's foster mother, and speaks about how he pulls her soul away from her snoring body. He says how much she had loved both her husband and Liesel. How it was so obvious for him to see through her hard nut 'tough love' exterior. He wondered if they knew.Then he speaks of Liesel's foster father. The most loving man anyone were to meet, kind, thoughtful, and caring. He wiggled his soul so willingly away from his tired body. He speaks of the mass Leisel's neighbours who's souls he took. None really that he had taken much notice of before.

Lastly, he speaks of Rudy. Rudy who's soul was so easy to take. Rudy who had worn his heart on his sleeve, and never known anything else. The most fun loving, trustworthy, brave little man you ever would meet.

One of the last scene features Liesel being found in the ruins, and being hauled up by some men. She ran over to the bodies that were laid out so neatly on the floor. Goose bumps rise all over your body as you see that she recognizes the faces of those dead. First her foster mother and then her beloved foster father, who she weeps on to and clutches. Then, in a world which seems like she's ultimately on her own... She sees Rudy. Lay so neatly on the floor. She sprints over to him and screams, she props up his head and places it on her lap as she realises that he too had been taken from her by death. and she kissed him. Kissed him like he had always wanted to be kissed by her.

Bit of a tough one to watch on a plane full of people ey? 

The most important part of this beautiful story is that it was real. This had happened to real people with innocent hearts. And it really brings home to you what is important about life. If not a book or movie, a life lesson. I recommend everyone to, if not read the book, watch the movie. The most inspiring heart breaking, realistic one of them all. 

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Iphone 5s

Christmas day is vastly approaching, and I'm pretty set on what I want.

or what everyone wants, the new iphone 5s. 

Not only could you say that the UGT (uses and gratification theory) has got me right where he wants me, but it is the newest most popular phone around, that everyone (argue with me here) feels the need to have. 

The iphone 5s has a brand new  A7 processor which basically improves your phone graphically, so if you play a lot of games or watch programmes on your iplayer via your phone, this is a great improvement from your current phone. Also, if your planning on keeping your phone for a long time, the next upgrade is guaranteed to have the same processor, just so your not missing out.

Now everyone wanting a new phone, be it from an upgrade or if they fancy a change, is interested in the camera. It is one of the most used accessory on a phone, and now that the cameras are so advanced, people aren't having to take a great big camera out with them everywhere they go. 

The new iphones camera has new updated settings. The rear camera is slightly larger than the iphone 5's. It outperforms the iphone 5 in lowlight situation. (As its F-number has droppped down to f/2.2 ) but lets not get into that. The new camera also allows you to take multiple photos at once, and combines the sharpest parts of each, making a clearer photograph (- see! they even do all the hard work for you.) There is also a burst mode setting, which can snap up to 10 frames per second, this is great if your trying to get an action shot picture, better yet; use the SloMo camera option that lets you shoot a video with up to 120 frames per second!

The aesthetics. Choose from 3 different colours this time around, you've got space grey, rose gold, or silver. The weight is quite light and is the same size as the iphone 5. You also can unlock your phone using a fingerprint button! Yay, no more pesky unwanted text messages being sent from your phone when your friends manage to steal it, lets save that embarrassment. 

So, just in case spending £500 on the new iphone,or spending around £50 a month for your phone is too far out of reach, I'm here to soften the blow. If your current phone is in good condition, take it down to your nearest CEX shop. This is a store that buy and exchange electrical goods,mainly phones, games and consoles. They can offer you a deal, which varies on your phones condition, and knock you a price off the phone you want, I brought my phone for £334 instead of £500 because I gave them my C grade iphone 4.

I hope I've helped a few out with knowing what to wish for, so best of luck, happy shopping and merry Christmas. 

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Amsterdam. Photo by Aaron Rayburn

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Flordia! Where else?

Orlando, america.

What little kid big kid, teen, adult wouldn't scream and jump up and down when their parents tell them they're going to florida?!

Your going to meet Mickey Mouse, Cinderella,Lady and the tramp, basically all the tv characters you ever watched on the telly when you was little. If any thing, person or place would have the power to turn the clock back a decade or two, its Disney Land. 

A world of character, love, friendship and happiness. Everyone surrounding you is happy to be there, and you all share the same love for these Disney Characters.

At the end of the week, you can all stand to one side and watch the Disney parade, where all your favourite characters come out on their flumes and wave to their audience. The flume is a massive work of art and is really spectacular. If you wait until evening before you leave, there is a firework show, all around Cinderellas castle, it lasts up to 40 minutes. And if that's not enough, you can actually dine with the princesses in Cinderella's castle!

With all the roller coasters, characters, meets and greets restaurants and shops to enjoy, It really is a brilliant place to visit for any family, promising a holiday you won't forget. 

what you waiting for? 

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Skiing in Schladmin- Austria.

Ultimately, the best thing about any holiday is the people your going with. This year, I spent a week in the beautiful country that is Austria, with my father, brothers, auntie and cousin. We drove there from England, with a coach company called Johnsons. 

I have to say I did feel sorry for my auntie. I think those expectations of being at the top of a mountain, with such beautiful sights and the whitest untouched snow surrounding you, swiftly swooping around the curling corners and reaching speeds of 40mph, were all soon to exceed her untrained capabilities.

For of course, all us skiers have been there and done that. All of us must have fallen of a ski lift before right? You know.. The rope ones.

So after a few minutes of waiting in a queue; its you. Your time is up, your turn. You pass the pretty hot looking ski attendant and grab the rope seat and put it between your legs, you sit down and wait for it to softly pull you along and take you to your stop. 

Softly that was.

After a long 2 seconds it yanks you off your patch and hauls you up that mountain. That's if you've succeeded to gain balance, if not.. I guess you'll meet your friends at the bottom of the mountain sooner than expected. Annd you probably wont be dating that hot ski attendant after you've wom bombed him in the face with one of your skis. 

Any skiers familiar with the old snow plow technique?

How hard can it be? You point the tops of your skis inwards, towards each other, not over each other, making a kind of triangle. Which slows you down to stopping point. 

Simple.

No. It is more than likely that new skiers, one of them being poor auntie Steph, will get them crossed, panic, lean back to undo your mess, and end up in an even bigger mess at the bottom of the mountain once your skis have gotten all tangled. Leaving you to re-attach your skis and head on over to your favourite rope lift. Mean whilst laughing and instant that your enjoying yourself. 

Those snow boots.

Never, have you ever, realised how much you miss your comfy converse. These snow boots make you walk like a robot, they are hardly cosy to slip your foot into and they take about half an hour to do up.

But, Alas!

It is not all doom and gloom. Your fellow skiers will assist you and help you on your way, until you have at least 10% confidence. Which is enough. Or will do. For now. 

You slowly do get the hang of it, and you kind of realise after falling over 40 times, that it doesn't hurt at all, the snow is your friend. You've been eyeing up those Glass lifts, they are not so difficult to get on. You simply walk in, sit down and enjoy the view for what can be up to 10 minutes. Yes, they are nice, you will go onto one of those. What's the worst that can happen? You've experienced the worst, C'mon, get your monies worth. 

Mobles.

Mobles are the worst that can happen. They are for the advanced skier. Basically, they are lumps of snow at the top of the mountain, and are there to sort of zig zag around. Oh and also the mountain is almost vertical at this point, and if you don't throw yourself at the ground, your going to die. Or, reach the speeds of 80mph. So you end up kind of rolling down the first half of the moutain, which is time consuming to say the least.

Then, once home at your warm lovely lodge, you may look forward to the next day-

where you can do it allllll over again. 

PS. It really does get better. 

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The Good Life. Or not so.

I have been working in retail for a few months now, and can happily admit it is a WHOLE new world out there.

When it comes to us guys that work in retail, we all have that bond that's unbreakable. After all, as far as we can hope, we will never have more of a demanding, stressful, physically draining, boring as hell occupation.

What I'm saying ,is that working in a shop has got to be similar to working in a war zone. At night times it can be quiet; mainly... because they are closed. (Contrary to the belief of some customers, who are rattling your stores doors at about 8pm). But it in the day time, especially around sales, when its on. ITS ON.

Your colleagues are your team and you stick together until the end.

Of your shift.

Excluding your manager. She's evil.

Everyone has that one regular customer, who just comes in to talk to you, about their day, their family, what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, interesting. Fine. Whatever, we can deal with you. But when your the only person available behind the till, and you have a queue the size of the river Nile curling around the whole store, I can't say I'm over pleased to hear about why your buying these specific items. OR whether you own a cotton 'Save the planet' bag that you've accidentally left at home. OR if you've lost your loyalty card. Neither do I really cherish your opinion that someone should invent a new type of purse which only holds cards. (Which is already out there and available BTW).

Don't get us wrong. Sometimes the job is kinda cool. You get to speak to loads of different kind of people a day, find out their needs and direct them to products you think may benefit them, and genuinely help them out.

At times, you get so used to it, you even turn into a robot. You begin to notice your telephone voice, slightly higher pitched, happier and faker than your real one. You'll put through transactions on the till without remembering what the customer just brought. Then you'll forget which customer you just served. Then you will almost definitely accidentally give them the wrong change. Hey! What the heck, they might buy stamps (which are kept in the till) your automatic robot self will hand your customer their change and close the till, without handing over the stamps. Your customer will more than likely huff and puff whilst your waiting for your manager to open up your till again. When your manager comes over, she will jokingly take the piss out of how dumb you are for forgetting, then your customer will laugh at you. You are then forced to apologise, and then they walk off. Leaving every other customer behind them in the queue very aware of the change your giving them and ensuring your packing everything they have brought into their bag. Your so dumb after all.

So, In a world where the latest bag or beauty product is the be all or end all for a lot of customers, there are people like us. Normal human, really pissed off sale assistant robot machines. Who are more than likely to end the day with a face like such;