Review: The Other Woman

I'd heard from a few different people that this movie was definitely one to go and see - and they were all right. The basis of the movie focuses on the marriage between Kate (Leslie Mann) and Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) King and how their unity deteriorates as a result of Mark's unfaithful intentions. We see a love quadrilateral form you could say, as Kate soon realises that Mark is having an affair with two other women - Carly (Cameron Diaz) and Amber (Kate Upton). Although these are just the women she finds out about, there are plenty more where they came from. 

As Kate finds out about her husband's despicable ways she actually grows to form a strong friendship with the two other women who are being played by her husband; particularly Carly. The three women unite to seek revenge on Mark and teach him a well-deserved lesson. Quite understandably they want to see him suffer so they begin with small insignificant punishments such as sneaking laxatives into his drinks, putting his toothbrush down the toilet, feeding him bad smoothies, etc. However the retribution soon escalates and things get pretty fiesty.

The main element I liked about this movie was the ideology of friendship. Despite the movie's genre being rom-com the narrative steers away from the sickly sweet amorous predictions and magnifies the importance of friendship and unity among the three women. The ideology highlights what it's like to have true friends who stand by one another and help through the bad times - the theme of romance almost took the backseat in this one, which contrasts a lot of the regular rom-com's. Although, despite this, there is still a flicker of flirtation between Carly and Kate's brother Phil (Taylor Kinney). So for the hopeless romantics there is still something there for you too.

The humour was also really to my taste as well - very lighthearted and witty which I found quite refreshing. Nicki Minaj's performance as Lydia also added to the movie as she played the role of Carly's gossipy, over-dramatic secretary. I found a lot of her quotes to be laugh out loud hilarious and her contribution definitely added an entertaining touch to the narrative.

At the end of the day, I love it when a movie's ending equilibrium comes around and everything goes exactly how it should - and in this case, justice was served (and it's real good). 

I'd highly recommend this watch if you have a taste for laid-back and lively comedy movies with a hint of romance and a good theme.

Review: Bad Neighbours

Firstly, the movie encapsulates comedy at its best. Fratboy Teddy (Zac Efron), moves into a Fraternity house with his college friends next door to early-thirties couple Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne). The two have just recently become new parents and are coming to terms with the fact that they can no longer party like they used to in their youth and too are realising that they actually enjoy peace and quiet and the aspects of grown-up life. Therefore to have bunch wild guys move in next door who want to drink beer and party until the early hours is a difficulty they are faced with.

To begin with the relationship between the couple and the fratboys is peaceful and loyal. However a turn of events evokes conflict between the neighbours and war is officially declared. Realistically Mac and Kelly want the college kids to get suspended and move out of the neighbourhood - but they grow to understand that it won't be that simple. Throughout we see both parties tackle it out to catch out one another, pull pranks, make jokes and all in all make each others lives complete and utter hell. 

One particular aspect of the film's structure I can applaud is its element of humour. Despite the movie being an American production I found myself suitably satisfied with the banter and witty comments. I can find a lot of the time that American humour is very different to the British humour I am used to; however I didn't fail to laugh all the way through this film. 

I also didn't feel as though the narrative was rushed and that everything was covered in the 137 mins very well. Sometimes films of this length can be hurried and flaws can be identified in the storyline but everything fell into place well, for me.

Overall, the acting performances from the stars Seth Rogan, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron were all very applaudable. I also thought that Dave Franco's role of Pete was very well played and I found him really funny. Once you see the film you'll understand why, watch out for the bit where they're all having a Robert De Niro party; I was in stitches. 

On the whole I really have nothing to criticise about this movie, I thought it was all really well done and filled with humourous content that had me laughing out loud.

Definitely a must-see. 

Planning Your First Holiday Abroad

So it's official - I'm going to Majorca in July for 7 days. *Happy dance.* I've been wanting to go abroad on my own for ages but since finally turning eighteen I have plucked up the courage (and saved enough money) to finally go ahead with it all. 

Last year I visited the island of Majorca with my family, we stayed in the location Calas De Mallorca, and I truly just fell in love with the place. The weather was great, the area was so scenic and beautiful, the water was crystal blue, the facilities were top-notch and all in all I knew it would be a great place to have my first independent holiday. I also know that it's guaranteed that I'm going to be safe when I'm there as I know the nature of the location and my way around.

For students planning their first holiday without their parents and would like to know about my experience sorting out everything, here are the steps I took towards organising my trip -

Deciding how to pay for your break 

Now, I'm a student who is currently unemployed due to the fact I'm committing myself 100% to my degree. Therefore, I am a little skint (like every other student). Although, the little bits of money I do have coming my way I have chose to save and contribute towards my holiday. In all honesty I never thought I'd be able to make up the amount I needed but everything came together eventually and I was able to go ahead.

My advice if you're a current student wanting to get yourself away somewhere for the summer is to save everything and anything you possibly can. Maybe cut down on those wild nights out? Live off cheap food? If you're that desperate to go that is! Even save any birthday money or Christmas money you get - it all counts. And you're last option is to find a job (good luck with that!) if you really aren't in the right financial position to do any of the previous mentioned.

Concluding where to go on holiday

Whether it's somewhere you've been in the past, like me, I'm sure everybody has somewhere in the world they'd love to visit. As an undergraduate it's maybe not the best option to book a 3 week holiday to Miami because that would be well out of our budgets - guaranteed. However the Balearic islands, Greek islands and parts of Spain are usually pretty reasonably priced depending which travel firm you book with. And on top of that they're ideal places to visit if you are a young person who'd like to experience holiday nightlife at its best. 

Looking for the best deal

This could mean either visiting a travel agents such as Thomas Cook, Hays, Thomson, etc, and asking about potential hotels, flights and all the rest. Although, I emphasise that it's important not to go with the first deal you come across. It can't hurt to get a few different price quotes from several places and see which best suits you.  Or, you could go down the route I did and look online for holiday packages. I looked on websites such as lowcostholidays, Easyjetholidays, and Sunshine for all-inclusive package deals. Although, when booking online I strongly suggest that you look around for reviews of other people's experience with bookings to ensure that the website is legitimate, reputable and most importantly secure (when paying). In the end I went with Sunshine as their holiday deals were extremely reasonably priced and almost every review I read was incredibly positive.

Booking with a parent by your side to confirm the details

When you've finally decided how you're going to fund your holiday, where you're wanting to go and which holiday deal you'll be going with - it's time to book it and finalise everything. For first-timers it's probably advisable to have somebody who's had experience booking holidays before by your side to tell you that you're doing everything how you should be. Despite the fact that you might find it extremely straight-forward it's not worth the risk of perhaps misreading or misunderstanding something and you're holiday not going how you'd like it to. 

Sorting travel insurance

Never ever think that you'll just skip the insurance because it's going to cost you another £20 or so. The truth is that you can never be too careful and don't just think "Oh it won't happen to me" because that risk isn't worth it. Imagine if you have a fatal accident on holiday and need to pay hundreds of pounds of medical expenses and you can't enjoy your holiday. With travel insurance you are secured and compensated if anything like that were to happen - also if your passport is lost or stolen, if you miss your flight, lose your luggage etc. Again, looking around for a good deal that is trustworthy and well-known is advised. I decided to sort my travel insurance through Lloyds.

Buying the necessities

Right, so you may be completely without cash after you've just forked out £400+. But, particularly if you're a girl, you know that you need to get some new holiday clothes and essentials. I recommend having a look in vintage/charity shops and seeing what options they have because quite often I find designer pieces that are nicer than what you can buy on the high-street; so it's definitely worthwhile having a browse. You also can't go wrong with Primark, it has everything you could ever need at ridiculously low prices. It would be worthwhile to construct a holiday checklist of what you already have and what you still need to buy. For example the typical stuff you wouldn't buy all year round like sun cream, flip flops, a beach towel, tinted moisturiser etc.

Review: The Kite Runner

I suppose I should begin this book review by saying that prior to reading this novel I have also read another of Khaled Hosseini's works titled 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' which is an absolutely fantastic story - so I had high hopes for this one too.

Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-born American novelist who was born in Kabul in Afghanistan, which is where the majority of this novel is set. Hosseini lived in Kabul for most of his childhood and then moved to France and shortly after seeked asylum in the United States, where he soon became a citizen. Therefore imaginably the setting, culture and lifestyle of this novel will have probably resembled the way of life he experienced living in Afghanistan, which means that the reader can grasp a vivid understanding and image of what it was like to live in Kabul during the late 1900's. 

The Kite Runner focuses on a young boy in the 1970's named Amir who is born into a fairly well-off family when considering Kabul's situation at the time. His mother died during his birth, therefore it is only him and his father - along with their servants Ali (his father, Baba's good friend) and Hassan (a Hazari who is looked down upon in society but despite this, is Amir's best friend). The novel looks at life in Kabul, how society dominates Afghanistan, good and bad relationships between the characters, the Taliban invasion and how drastically the country changes over the years. 

Amir wants nothing more than for his father to feel proud of him as a son and to love him how he loved his wife (Amir believes his father hates him for killing his wife during the birth but this is not the case). Baba is a good man who loves his son more than anything but is concerned that he is not like other young boys - Amir likes to read and write whereas most others enjoy more masculine activities. 

A large amount of the narrative spotlights the 'friendship' between Amir and Hassan and we watch their friendship deteriorate throughout the novel as a villainous boy Assef and his gang pick fights with Hassan over his Hazari background; but the plot thickens between these two characters. Despite Amir being his friend he struggles to defend Hassan and we see cowardice in every situation he is faced with, which leaves his father more concerned about his personality. As the old way of life in Kabul is destroyed as the Taliban roll up, Baba and Amir emigrate to the United States to build a better life for themselves away from the terrorism. Hosseini reflects back constantly to the friends both Amir and Baba make along the way and how each of them either develops or declines - Hassan, Rahim Khan (Baba's best friend), Soraya (Amir's wife) etc. 

One aspect of this book that I noticed instantly within the first few pages was Hosseini's incredible ability to set the scene and to describe both times and places. The author's in-depth descriptions allowed me to feel as though I was actually there in Kabul experiencing every event for myself - although thankfully not literally. I know myself that some books that try to set the scene and depict an atmospheric location can often focus too much on certain aspects and leave the reader quite bored and frustratingly waiting for some dialogue to get the narrative going. However Hosseini knew exactly how much description was just enough to create imagery and get the story off to a good start.

I love how this book is so emotive too, it had me feeling so many ways - happy, sad, relieved, content, panicked. The best way I can describe the story is one massive bumpy rollercoaster; one minute the story picks up and life is good and the next a turn of events causes a crumble in the narrative. I think it's always a good sign when a story can evoke so many different emotions. If I were to sit and read a book and feel absolutely nothing throughout I would find it to be an utter disappointment. I also found it admirable how Hosseini's character descriptions and portrayals successfully made me feel how I did towards each of them. For example, I despised Assef and his evil ways, I pitied Hassan to an unimaginable extent, I admired Baba for his generosity and genuine self etc. However the only character I didn't know how to consistently feel towards was Amir (once you read the book you'll understand why); sometimes I empathised with him and other times I didn't - but I think that was Hosseini's intention largely.

This truly was such a moving and equally devastating story that I couldn't have possibly enjoyed more than I did. If you like reading more non-fiction, real-life books I strongly recommend this.

The 1975 Album Review

If you're anything like me then you love the majority of chart music. Yes I said it. I may have sinned in doing so but nevertheless it is true. Usually every 2-3 weeks I scan the UK Top 40 to see if there are any newcomers as I really like to keep up-to-date with music. I refresh my 'To Listen To' playlist probably more often than is healthy but I like to stay in the loop. 

As a result of this regular routine I came across The 1975's single 'Chocolate' last year and fell in love with the track. I'm not really one of those people who has a specific favourite genre of music; I like a wide variety. I do like a bit of pop, soft rock, indie, electronic and some hip-hop too. 'Chocolate', for me, was just one of those songs you listen to as little as twice and completely just have a feel for. 

It took me several months of listening to the single (I listen to it even now and it has the same effect on me: I am still not sick of it) before I even thought to find out if The 1975 had other singles or even an album. Their debut album was released September 2nd 2013 but I only purchased it January of this year. 

Now let me tell you, I have been listening to this album for nearly 4 months and I cannot get enough. I must have replayed each song an infinite amount of times and am still in love with all of them.

As I said I love all of the songs from the album but the ones I particularly listen to a lot are The City, Girls, Sex, Talk!, M.O.N.E.Y and Pressure. The 1975 are described as an alternative rock band and the album does completely encapsulate the genre to a T. 

Besides the tracks on the album, another thing I cannot get enough of is the leader singer, Matt Healy's voice. He has such a raw and stripped-down vocal and it coheres so effectively with the instrumentals of each song. Admirably the band write their own songs too which is unsurprisingly not a common thing for artists/bands/groups to do in the music industry anymore. 

The 1975 are actually in the middle of their worldwide tour and to my dismay I have been unfortunate not to know anything about it until a few weeks ago. But there's always next year - hopefully!

I would give the album overall a 4.5 star rating. It's great so definitely give it a listen.

Here are my two favourite songs to get you started!

An Introduction

The truth is, I've wanted to blog for ages. For the longest time I've been inspired by the likes of Zoella and Patricia Bright - both phenomenal and influential bloggers. But my dilemma was always "What would I blog about?" That's what kept me back. 

I'm a student currently studying at the University of Sunderland, doing a degree of English and Journalism. I absolutely love writing and have done as far back as I can remember. I remember even in Primary School, English was always my favourite subject as we'd read such interesting stories and even get the chance to write our own. My head was always jam-packed with the most crazy and surreal storylines and quite often I found myself obtaining 'Star Writer.' From a young age my love for writing blossomed and is now something I'm really passionate about and subsequently would love to pursue a career in; whether it be a magazine or newspaper journalist, an author, or even a role in marketing and promotion. For now though, I still have a few more years to decide which of these I'd ideally want to do.

In deciding that I finally wanted to start a blog I thought back to my original problem: what it was I was going to blog about. Then it occurred to me that a blog doesn't need to have a genre or a main focus - a blog is your own and to write whatever you feel like writing. I like to think of this new writing space as somewhere I can practice my writing skills and further myself. I feel a good place to start is to write about your interests, as well as anything else you feel strongly about. I have a strong interest for beauty, fashion, musicals, books and films - so you may expect to see future posts on any of these. Another role I want this blog to play is my own little portfolio towards my degree. Therefore there may be some both serious and investigative pieces of journalism to come, or some news stories of local incidents and issues.

I'd like to mention that at the moment I am working to further my writing experience not only by blogging but I am also involved with contributing to two student-run websites - SR news and Spark magazine. I have been a weekly writer for the beauty category of Spark magazine since October last year, but have just recently started writing articles for SR news.

www.sr-news.com

www.sparksunderland.com/magazine

As part of my degree I will be writing for these two websites still but I just wanted a space where I could write anything I was feeling. Some days I just feel like writing something less serious, maybe a bit more witty and light-hearted and not always an article about an overturned car injuring an elderly woman. You know? Although I do know that I'd like to sink my teeth into writing a big investigative piece of journalism some time in the history of this blog. But we'll just see what happens...

I have widgets to the left where you can feel free to follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Bloglovin' to keep up with what I'm doing, thinking and enjoying.