A Review of The Taker by Alma Katsu.

The Taker by Alma Katsu.

The Taker is a minty fresh breath of air in a world so dominated at the moment by a tween culture hooked on Twilight.

When I first picked up the book in ASDA, I admit I judged it, I read the back saw the words immortals and thought, oh no another product of the vampire craze that's going on. A craze I'm not a fan off, I like my vampires like Mitchell on Being Human except maybe less Human. Now however I'm misleading you because this is a book far from vampires, this is about humanity.
This is Lanny's story, after she arrives in the E.R one cold night, Lanny begins to tell Luke a tale of love reminiscent of that from Wuthering Heights.
The book begins by leading straight into action that tickles every part of your curious being, I fail to see how anyone can not read at least the first few pages and not want to know more, not want to know who Lanny is, where she has come from, what led to her to being in that ER.

Diagnosis Murder: a tale of Love and Obsession =): Part 2

Part two of my session of posts on Diagnosis Murder.

In this post I intend to tell you about my personal favourites, the episodes I feel are the five best episodes over all 8 series, it was difficult because there are so many brilliant episodes of the show.

Diagnosis Murder: a tale of Love and Obsession =)

It will come as no suprise to people who have peered onto my facebook that I love Diagnosis Murder, but I recently realised that while i have been doing this blog for a while I don't think i have written one post about this amazing show. I've tried to restrain myself from writing about Harry Potter or indeed Diagnosis Murder.

I first watched this show when I was in primary school, I've got no idea how old I was, I don't even remember the first time I actually watched it, my mum tells me it was after having my teeth out at the dentist once. All I know is that from that day forward any sick day would be accompanied by an afternoon spent in the company of the wonderfully bright Dr Sloan and his family, who in case I haven't mentioned are quite adept at solving murders in L.A.

So won't you indulge me a little as I waffle on for a while about, my favourite characters, episodes and scenes of this amazing and brilliant show.

Paul

This is my film review of the new Pegg and Frost collaberation Paul.

If your a bit of a geek like me, then you will love this film, even if your not a geek you'll still love it.
Paul tells the story of two sci-fi nerds, whose ufo dreams become a reality in the form of Paul; a small, green, rude and straight talking alien who crash landed in American in the 50's. Paul pays homage to a lot of science fiction films, programmes.
The film opens with Paul crash landing his spaceship on a dog; this we come to learn is how he got his nickname, we then follow Clive (Frost) and Graeme (Pegg) as they begin their road trip around the American UFO hotspots, there are countless references to other sci-fi films whether they are intentional or not, Jayne Lynch is the beehived lady behind the cafe counter; a possible reference to mars attacks, and Clive and Graeme soon find themselves in hot water with two rednecks. As they flee a car crashes in front of them, this my friends is where we meet Paul.
Paul looks like a stereotypical alien and it soon becomes apparent that the story is his image has been fed down over the years into poular culture;this is why we would recognize him as an alien, there is even a flashback to him helping out Speilberg with close encounters, but Paul is no ordinary alien, he's rude and crude, one of his first lines being.....

Graeme Willy: Are you gonna probe us?
Paul: *Why* does everyone always assume that? What am I doing? Am I harvesting farts? How much can I learn from an ass?

it's revealed Paul has been hanging around Area 51 for over 60 years, but now the government know everything about him they want to harvest him and find out how he uses his special powers; which include; healing, a sort of mind melding thing and turning invisible when he holds his breath.
All Paul now wants to do is get home but they are being pursued by FBI agents, meaning the group become fugatives.
On their journey to get him home they come across various characters who provide more of the comedy that we are used to from the Pegg and Frost duo. The characters include; Ruth a bible bashing, darwin hating redneck who is freed from the constraints of her goody two shoed life and now starts to rebel. Tara the young girl who looked after Paul when he crashed his spaceship and now 60 years later is a pot smoking recluse. Jake and Gus the two redneck guys who believed that CLive and Graeme were gay and want revenge for the damage done to their truck and agents Haggard and O'riley two bumbling FBI agents who slack off play hide and seek and one of them is a big comic book geek. Than of course there is the mysterious intelligent FBI agent who is chasing the team across America and the voice of his superior the big guy; a voie that sounds to familiar.... later revealed to be Sigourney Weaver. All of course charactures often seen throughout the sci-fi genre.

I won't ruin the ending for those who want to see it, but this is definatley a top form film, a thrilling chase and a loveable ending just like we saw in Shaun, in fact even better (for me at least because I hate zombies :) ). The characters are believable and loveable and when the lights come up at the end of the film your left feeling a little dissappointed that you have to return to real life. Paul will surely be in the hearts of many a sci-fi fan for the rest of our days, with little references to various shows and my particular favourite being the bar scene where the band are playing the exact same tune thats played in star wars, when we first meet Han Solo.