Stuff O' The Month?

I didn't really have an idea for a blog this time round, so it's been rather a while since the last one - sorry! So do let me know what you all think and what kinds of things you'd like to see me write about and I'll get on with some more posts a bit more often. You can do this either in the comments below or if you're on Facebook, my page is HERE. Thanks to everyone getting involved after my last posts, it was great to get to know everyone's animal babies.

As I didn't really have a topic as such this time round, I thought I'd let you know a few things I've been up to in the last couple of weeks that I've enjoyed. Bear in mind that the whole time, I've been listening to Justin Timberlake's new song. On repeat. I'll continue to play it until I hate it. Sigh.

The Jungle Book. The new one. The very much CGI one. Pretty much everything in it was not really there apart from the boy who played Mowgli. I was incredibly impressed with the difference between this and the old animated version. It took on a fairly dark tone, which I appreciated as it was a bit more believable (well, as much as a boy being raised as a wolf cub in the jungle, making friends with a singing bear and not being killed immediately is, anyway). The song "I Wanna Be Like You" whilst not as much fun as it is in the animated film, is so much more perfectly used in this one. It's sung by Christopher Walken; who I can't mention without referencing this video. The lyrics are used to their true meaning - he's saying he wants to be like man so that he can be more powerful to rule. It's not really that jazzy when you think of it like that, but rather a more terrifying prospect.
Having never read the book, I can't compare it to that but it does make me think that maybe I should.


A Midsummer Night's Dream. Oh. My. Goodness. I had to watch it twice. Now; I know that there's a few of you reading this that are sat there going "I don't like Shakespeare" but, really...that's like saying "I don't like stories". You haven't found the right one for you. Yes, granted, I don't like all of his work - I find lot of it boring and hard to keep up with. My English lessons at school made me hate it in the same way they made me hate any book we had to study. If you make me pull something apart so much so that it's not just a story any more but a whole load of metaphors, it's probably not going to do me any favours. I thought that I couldn't understand anything, the wording was weird; but again, I was being taught to read into it too much. His plays were never meant to be read. They were meant to be performed with actors being directed, like they still are...why is it treated differently because it's old? Which brings me to this magnificent piece I watched on the BBC. I'm a fan of Russell T. Davies, anyway; you've probably heard of Queer As Folk along with the obvious choices of Doctor Who and Torchwood but if you have never seen Bob & Rose starring Alan Davies and Lesley Sharp - do. This is one of my favourite stories as it's all fairies and magic which is very much my kind of thing. Whoever cast it, I applaud you (because obviously, I know you'll be reading my blog!) Maxine Peake as Titania, who'd've thunk it? Her accent made it so much more. Matt Lucas as Bottom. And Bernard Cribbins and Richard Wilson? YAY! There was a decent amount of sparkles and fairy dust on top of the already magical scenery that just made it look utterly stunning.
No one had watched this when I was running around telling everyone how great it was, so please tell me if you did!

Alice Through The Looking Glass. Although I still loved it, as much as I expected to, I'd have liked it to be a little more barmy, as it were. Thinking that it could only get more so, as the Mad Hatter has seemingly gone "mad", thinking his family are still alive, it was a tiny bit disappointing when it was less bonkers than Alice In Wonderland - only a continuation of the bonkers that we already knew and loved. The addition of Sacha Baron Cohen as Father Time was a bonus though. He added that extra humour I needed and having time used as a tool also managed to answer a lot of questions about the first film; "why is the Queen of Hearts' head so big?", "why is it always tea time?". Being a Doctor Who fan, I obviously enjoy the concept of time being played with; so using it to go back through Mad Hatter's life before Alice knew him (and before tea time) to find out what has become of his family is a fun thing - whilst the whole way through we're constantly learning about things in the previous film. If I were to watch Alice In Wonderland again now, I'd see it in a whole new light!

I'm hoping that this also gives you a bit more of an idea about me and the kinds of things I enjoy. Fantasy and sci-fi do it for me, generally, but not only so. A world I can escape to in whatever form, being film, tv, books and games has worked as a sort of weapon for me at times. I hate things like Eastenders, when everythings so awful all the time but in a real world too. It's just a bit too much, for me and sometimes a bit too close to home. I watch, read and play for enjoyment, entertainment and escapism, not for a reminder of the world.

Again, I hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know if you did (or didn't...tell me what you want from me, for goodness' sake!) and what you've been up to recently that you would recommend.

Falv
-x-

PS. My fridge has frozen my milk so now I can't have cereal for dinner. Oh, the struggles.

Animals > People

After I mentioned that I have cats in my last post, I thought I'd talk about their story a little bit. The internet likes cats, so I'm happy to conform just this once. I thought I'd feature just them this time around as they are so important in my life, taking the good with the bad with no judgement and being by my side through it all. Pictures are at the bottom, if you need to see who I'm talking about first!

If you haven't seen it on my Facebook page already, click HERE to see a video of one of my gorgeous cats, Patsy doing a few tricks. It's only 38 seconds long...I know a long attention span is not something we have on the internet. My other cat, Saffy can do some too; she just wasn't particularly interested in treats at this moment in time. This is understandable though, she's got a problem with digesting and absorbing the right stuff out of food so she's on a certain kind of sensitive food meaning that she can't have anything else, she'll just chuck it up. When she has "treats", it's just her own dry food, so it's not all that interesting!

Patsy's just got herself comfy on my lap. After a huge amount of attention seeking first though, she gets so overwhelmed when she is getting any sort of fuss that she starts trying to chew my hand. She wasn't much of a lap cat until fairly recently, she'd only sit next to me or on my lap when I had a duvet over me, I think it comes from being a rescue cat. They were 12 weeks old when I went to collect them from Cats Protection (I will never ever ever buy any animal, always rescue. So should you). They were in a pen in the fosterer's garden, having been born there. Their mum was there too but in a different pen as I was told it was getting a bit much for her having 3 kittens in a small space. I think being in that pen on their own made them a little more independent, not being used to constant human contact.

When I was looking around for cats, I wasn't looking for kittens. I was working full time and was in a house with a main road right outside the door and no garden so I was asking for "one adult indoor cat please". Cats Protection suggested I got 2 kittens. How clever of them. They said as they didn't have any indoor cats available for me, I could get 2 kittens so they'd keep each other amused while I'm at work and not be climbing up the curtains and make them indoor cats as they'd have not been outside anyway and wouldn't know the difference. So that's what I did.

I actually didn't take Saffy home at first. There were 3 black kittens, of which I took home (and named spectacularly...) Edina/Eddy and Patsy. I had them all of 10 glorious days until I came home after work one night about 10pm and Eddy was hiding behind my washing machine crying, she could barely move and was clearly in a lot of pain. After several panicked phone calls trying to find where to take her, I called a taxi to take us to the vets I'd not been to and didn't know where it was. Neither did the taxi driver. It was awful, what should have taken about 10 minutes took about 30, Eddy crying the whole way. I was so angry with him. By the time I'd got there and opened her carrier, her heart had stopped. The vet rushed her out of the room immediately and a few minutes later (although it felt like hours) she called me through to where Eddy was on a table with tubes down her throat. She was awake but not in a good way. She had a twisted gut which was just a ticking time bomb, she'd never have got through life with it. Her brain had been starved of oxygen that this was preventing getting through her system. There was an operation option but she was so tiny it would have been so awful for her to be put through, especially if it didn't work. I had to say goodbye. Only 10 days I'd had her, but I loved her so much and still think of her. I know that there are so many people that would never understand this but there are those who do; they're my kind of people.

This is where Saffy came in. She was still there at the fosterer's house, even though they had said she'd be rehomed quickly now she's on her own. People don't want black cats for some pathetic reason. I can honestly say they have the best personalities. Saffy's two fangs stick out, which I've read is a common thing in black cats and Patsy seems to have developed a sense of humour; she loves to be chased, waiting to be nearly caught before she bounds off again, finally splaying herself across the floor so I can get her and tickle her tummy whilst she beats up and chews whatever toy is nearest. I have to have a doorstop either side of my bedroom door because Patsy likes to push it closed then make a load of noise trying to get out or push it open against the wall many times.

So if you find yourself looking to get a cat or several...please please please consider black cats. People judge them because they think they want a "prettier colour", as the lady at Cats Protection told me. Cats would never judge people like this.

I have a general love for animals, not just cats. I don't care if they're furry or not. Annoyingly, I don't get along with spiders so much, but I appreciate them. From afar. Wasps bother me because they hurt and they don't leave you alone. I like snakes though, which most people don't, I think they're awesome.

If you want to see more of this kind of thing, let me know - or anything else for that matter, just tell me on here or on my Facebook page HERE. Also, I'd love to know your stories and see some pics of your own pets, so get posting! Here's mine...

Saffy loves anything cuddly. You can see her teeth sticking out too...

Patsy sits in here and pokes her sister as she walks past.

This is what I wake up to. Such a lack of bed space.

Patsy (left) and Saffy (right) looking at the birds in the garden.  Well, they were. Obviously they're looking at me here. 

Life.

I'm not the type of person to spout "woe is me" type statuses on Facebook. I might tell you that in person, sure, but I don't need the "oh poor you" attention on mass. I wouldn't normally write something like this for anyone and everyone to see, whoever happens to come across it but I feel that maybe I need to vent a few things in writing just to at least attempt to get a bit of it off my chest.

I miss my sister. Immensely.
I have no words for the feeling I get in my stomach when I casually think "Oh I'll have to tell Sarah that" and just as quickly realise I can't. That I will never see her again.
I hate that I can't pick up the phone for a usually overdue chat. "Chat" sometimes translates as "rant", just so you know; and it went both ways for whoever needed it. There is no one else that "gets me" in the same sort of way. She was never too positive either which was great because I have those people too...the ones that are too positive, starting sentences with "Well at least..." or "It's a good job..." when  I just want someone to agree with me that everything's pretty damn awful for a change.

I do have people "in my life", yes. But apparently not very many of them that are any more than just that and don't speak unless I speak first through text, emails, social media. The only person that ever phones me is my Mum. So I've come to the conclusion that I won't bother with any of these people any more. Clearly they don't care about me otherwise it wouldn't be this way, so I'd rather they weren't there under false pretences and just go away all together. That may sound harsh to you but the truth usually is.
I'm an introvert. I'm not a going out drinking sort of person, I don't like it, it makes me feel uncomfortable. I don't enjoy staying in other people's houses, it makes me feel anxious. I prefer my own safe space with my cats, some TV, books, video games and YouTube. That's how I feel the most like myself. I'm not saying I don't go out ever; I enjoy the theatre and gigs and if someone said "let's go ice skating" I'd be incredibly happy to spend time with someone doing something fun and a bit silly. But then again, if someone were to say "I'll come round yours and we can watch Doctor Who all day and eat" I'd realise I'd probably found my soulmate. So if you consider that's all I'm really asking for and I don't really care who from...it's really not much, so why is it so hard?
You might say "well, why don't you just phone them if you want to talk to them?". I could. But people have families...children and routines. I don't...I am free most of the time, I only work 18 hours a week so it's rather a lot easier for it to work the other way round. I don't want to keep bothering people who have no concern for me unless I remind them to do so.
When I came home after my sister passed away, I was alone. While everyone else went back to their homes with partners and children, I was alone. No one spoke to me. I could have fallen off the face of the earth and they wouldn't have noticed.

People have some weird glossy view of a person after they die, don't they? They forget all the not-so-nice things about them which I suppose is quite lovely in a way; just remembering everything as if it was covered in stars and rainbows whilst we all gallop off into the sunset on our unicorns.
Sarah was quite a stressy sort of person and as much I look up to her and love her, she also quite often scared the living daylights out of me with her shouting/screeching when I was younger. Even as an adult I did my best to avoid eye contact first thing in the morning. Not that I'd done anything wrong. She also said some very nasty things about people for things that weren't their fault. She didn't like people doing things in ways that she personally wouldn't do them, it's like she took personal offence even though it didn't usually affect her life in the slightest and it was never anything that actually mattered.

This isn't to paint a picture of her in a bad light by any stretch of the imagination. It's just that bit more...real. She was a real person. Everyone has these things about them and it's part of them so we shouldn't only remember the good because that's not who they were.
Aside from this, Sarah was one of the funniest people I've ever known. And not for any particular reason...just silly, childish things. We spent hours in Disneyland Paris on a girls' trip walking behind my Mum through the park pulling faces and laughing whilst my Mum occasionally informed us "I can hear you, you know!". I think Sarah was about 31 then and I was around 14. We went on Rock 'N Rollercoaster (goes all over the place very fast whilst blasting Aerosmith songs in your ears) and didn't realise it went upside down. I'd bought a hat and she spent the whole ride screaming "Where's your hat? WHERE'S YOUR HAT?". I still had my hat, in case you're wondering.
It would take too long to share every one of these sorts of memories with you. Although, I'm always happy to talk about them. I'm glad we did so many things together, just the two of us. There's no beating one on one time with loved ones. We mainly enjoyed musicals or concerts. Our last venture was to see Jesus Christ Superstar in the O2 Arena (the lead was cast on TV judged by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Melanie C, Dawn French and Jason Donovan). In the interval Sarah said "I wonder if Jason's here" and as she said it whilst facing me, I noticed that behind her head a few metres away he was stood chatting to someone and said "he's just there". I then listened to her "Oh my God"s for the rest of the interval.

I miss her so very much and unfortunately I don't feel I have anyone else that cares very much for my general existence other than my Mum (Sarah once told me off because I'd not made a point of letting her know I had a chest infection...A bit farfetched but at least it meant she was bothered about it!). Another person may say something along the lines of "sorry this was so negative" etc but I'm not that person. I'm not having a great time in my life right now and I won't pretend otherwise. I'm fed up of worrying about what everyone else thinks of me...that's just who I am, I shouldn't have to be someone I'm not. My cats are the only beings who love me without judgement. And humans think they're better than animals. Go figure.
Quite frankly, I deserve better.

So considering I should have a fair few people around me; I can honestly say I've never felt so lonely.

Falv

The Future Is Now?

There was a few options of what I could write about today. None of which really took my fancy that much. That was until I saw that there was the official announcement that the PlayStation Virtual Reality headset will be released in October priced at ("only" they say) £349.99.

Virtual Reality!! Come on! It's something that's "existed" for decades but not something we could ever hope to buy for ourselves for our personal entertainment. That's just another level of ridiculous! A lot of people would say something along the lines of "It's like something out of Star Trek" when clearly they've never seen Star Trek as the majority of that technology is not something any of us can hope to see in our lifetime, if ever. Well, maybe. Who knows? And that's the point...who knows what we'll have to use to our advantage some day.

I consider myself fairly lucky to not have had a load of screens for entertainment as a child. I have never said "I wish I had an iPad when I was little" because I'm really quite glad I didn't. Imagination was a big part of my childhood and therefore I've grown up with the spectacular ability of getting completely lost in a make believe world either from a book, a film, a game or of my own making. Although I had 2 brothers and a sister, they were a lot older than me so I spent most of my time just playing on my own unless Christopher (9 years older than me) decided he wanted me to stand in goal (the window) and blast one of those small sponge footballs at me - gardening gloves as my protection along with my fairly impressive reflexes. Believe me; that skill was a lifesaver.
I'm not really what society would class as a "girl" or "feminine", it'd probably label me as "tomboy". You probably saw from my previous post that I don't agree with this kind of thing - people look how they want to look, enjoy doing what they enjoy doing and be with whoever they happen to fall in love with. Nothing more to it. I had Barbies that I would play as anything from a teacher to a racing driver. I loved toys that involved construction like Lego or K'nex; I even had a robot that you had to learn how to get it to do what the remote control  You know the sort - all those boys toys I shouldn't have had! Oh and while I'm on that subject - well done to Toys R Us for getting rid of the "boys' toys" and "girls' toys" sections...top marks.

Saying that though, we are really lucky to live in an era of such huge advances in technology. Yes, we might immediately just think "ooh that looks like fun" but these things are actually coming in pretty handy for some people's wellbeing. There is a hospital that is using virtual reality for their patients to help combat some of the stress and probably even the pain that comes with being stuck in a hospital bed. It's shown signs of relieving symptoms of depression; letting people whose dream is just to escape the world do just that - even for that brief period. And again...who knows? It could go on like this. Other ways of using it can come from anyone and anywhere. It's just giving us a chance to see what more we can achieve, enriching people's lives for just a bit of fun or their health.

The fact that if you happened to have a time machine and brought someone from only 10 years ago into the present they would not know what an iPad is...let alone someone from 20, 30, 40 and further years ago - their minds would truly be blown.
Hopefully we'll continue to learn from all this and find many more ways to use it for good...

Bit of a weird post, this one but it just got me thinking about how far we've come and it's a bit scary to think how quickly too. What's next?!

Falv
-x-

International Women's Day - My favourite women

Yesterday was International Women's Day. I didn't realise this until it was already upon us, otherwise I'd have actually written this ahead of time and posted it then. Go me.

I thought I'd share with you some of the well known and not so well known women who have had some form of impact on my life in various ways. These aren't personal and they are not in any particular order of greatness - just the order of people coming to mind.

Jennifer Saunders

Ok, I'll admit that the "no particular order" thing wasn't entirely true. This lady is at the top of my list for very good reason and will undoubtedly remain there for the rest of my life. I spent most of my teenage years watching and rewatching everything she's written and/or starred in. Like most of us, I found my teenage years to be a struggle and found myself feeling incredibly lonely at times and it was then I realised how much something that makes you laugh really does matter. Jam and Jerusalem is my favourite, being one of the best casts I've ever seen on tv and the most subtle and funny-but-lovely-at-the-same-time scripts. The fact that Jennifer, herself has quite a small part is another reason she is so inspirational - she can write so beautifully for the other incredible acting talent on the series but still give herself just a few lines which incidentally turn out to be some of the best.

Dawn French
It's rather obvious that her's is the next name here. Seemingly a master of the art of what I will call "facial athletics", she has continued to make me laugh for as long as I can remember. One of my favourite childhood tv memories is the Vicar of Dibley Christmas special in which Geraldine agrees to 3 Christmas dinners. Anyone that can make just eating brussell sprouts that funny just by their face is a hero in my book.

Her autobiography is the best I've read - mainly because we seem to have a lot in common, she says things in there that I've always felt guilty for thinking but I know that it's not just me.
Her solo show had the audience in stitches one minute and quite literally in tears the next. It was so well written and performed.
Also - I'm just gonna leave this here...-->

Melanie C
My childhood hero. It probably started because she could do a backflip. I have seen her on 5 separate occasions - her solo concert (this was the first concert I'd ever been to!), Spice Girls concert (the reunion when I was 18) Blood Brothers, a studio recording of "Superstar" where she was on the judging panel (also with Dawn French!) to find the new Jesus Christ Superstar lead and then of course on to the O2 where she played Mary Magdalene in that very musical. I used to record my own radio show in my bedroom when I was younger and made my brother guest star in it - not as himself, obviously, but as Melanie C whilst I interviewed. Annoyingly, he met her a few years ago and sent me a photo saying he asked her for a photo because it would annoy his sister. I'm sure she was charmed. Other than that. She's. Just. Cool.

Victoria Wood

The lady responsible for my other favourite series of all time. From her sketch shows such as As Seen on TV to Dinnerladies to the absolute masterpiece and a complete change in direction that is Housewife 49. I always say that the best comedians make the best actors and she just went and proved my point in this one. I mean, I don't always say it...that would make for some very repetitive conversations. Probably playing quite a big part in my next entry's rise to fame, although I have no doubt she'd have got there anyway, Victoria's sketches were a showcase of ridiculous and beautifully crafted characters. The best comedy shows are the ones you can watch years later and still find it as fantastically funny as you did the first time and will again years after that. It is in a way, timeless.

Julie Walters
Hands down, my favourite actor*. There's a lot of actors I love but she just outdoes everyone, really. The fact she doesn't have an Oscar is ridiculous. When you're all making a fuss about the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio "finally" getting one; go and compare his performances (where, in my opinion, he pretty much just plays the same person in different situations in each of his films) to hers - look at how incredibly she plays so many very different characters, from Mrs Overall - bent over and shuffling; to encompassing the hatred and anger Mary Whitehouse showed towards the BBC; to Molly Weasley, who I probably don't need to describe to you. Everything changes, her look, her accent, her attitude and demeanour - I think Leo needs a real acting masterclass from this lady.

Sarah Millican
Very funny and stands up for her right to do what she is happy doing. I'm talking about that dress. The one she wore to the BAFTAs and the media hated it. Well, not only hated it; we all have things we don't like - if it's not affecting anyone else, the thought should stay in our heads... but they wrote articles and spoke on national television about how much they hated it. She wrote this article http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-05-15/sarah-millican-twitter-was-a-pin-to-my-excitable-bafta-balloon which I encourage you to read but if not this is the gist - "I'm sorry. I thought I had been invited to such an illustrious event because I am good at my job. Putting clothes on is such a small part of my day. They may as well have been criticising me for brushing my teeth differently to them".

Ruby Wax

As well as an incredibly funny lady, writing some of the funniest lines tv history - she's darn clever too. She's an advocate for mental health, with her shows and books revealing so much to us that no one else going through it could ever feel alone. Mental health is something that even though it seems to be "talked about" everywhere now, it's always spoken about as a subject in itself. It should be part of everyday conversation - not treated like it's something so different. According to mind.org.uk as many as 1 in 4 people experience some form of mental health problem each year. So why the stigma when a quarter of us deal with it on a daily basis? But this is what Ruby is helping to achieve; I can't imagine coming out of one of her shows or reading one of her books and not talking about it.

Caroline Lucas

Yes, I know...I didn't think I'd ever have a politician in this list either. As the first Green Party MP, her work just shows that things can change, as long as we, the public make them change. We don't just have to put up with what we're given. I think the main difference for me about her is that she actually cares. She's human. I don't know what has happened to most of the MPs we have that seems to have turned them in to a crowd of football hooligans jeering at someone trying to speak, rather than listen and respond like normal people but luckily she's not one of them. Our environment is something that I really care about, as should we all and it is inspiring to see her passion about the matter - to the extent that she gets arrested for it, which is terrible when people are peacefully protesting about something so important. If we don't fight for our planet's future as priority - there won't be anything left worth fighting for.

Lilly Singh aka Superwoman
As someone that probably watches as much Youtube content as television, there's a few names I could put here and I wanted to make sure I included the platform that could possibly have more influence than traditional media. Thinking there's too many names, I can't choose, so I won't mention any - I then remembered this video.
https://youtu.be/ZQu3E0gU0ww
I love it when people use their platform for good. Lilly recognised that she had a huge audience to speak to, so spoke about something important. She is very funny too, she films sketches and rants quite regularly so check out her other videos while you're there.

Let's not forget the huge numbers of women that have fought for us in the past and the present; those who aren't named in headlines, for gender equality which, ridiculously, is still a huge issue from the poverty of the third world right up to the glitz and glam of Hollywood. In 2016, nothing should matter anymore, whoever you are, whatever you do, however you choose to live  - we are all one and the same.

Thanks again for reading, be sure to let me know what you think and comment below on who has influenced or inspired you!

Catch ya later.
Falv
-x-

*I do mean "actor". I don't understand the segregation between male and female and why we need separate "best actress" and "best actor"categories at the awards shows. I was recently corrected when for whatever reason I said something along the lines of "that's because I'm such a good actor" and the response was "Actress." Pathetic, huh?

What I've been playing - Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (PS4)

I'd decided this was my favourite of the Assassin's Creed games after only a couple of hours playing it. Mainly because it's about pirates and you can sail a big pirate ship. I judged too quickly, I feel. Expectation was too high and caused unnecessary disappointment. That's probably way too harsh; I did really enjoy this game but when you come in to it with all the excitement of pirates sailing the Caribbean sea, it's hard to handle it when, like all AC games I've played, it gets boring and repetitive.

You see, I'm now someone that likes to complete everything to do with the games I play. I'd never gotten too involved in "achievements" on the Xbox, I didn't understand, nor did I care what they were. The problem now is the promise of a "trophy" on the PS4 when I do something it wants me to do - sometimes it's part of the game anyway when you play through the story, but usually there's a load of other stuff you have to do that the game itself does not require of you to get through it, such as travelling a certain amount of miles or assassinating your target via a swinging rope.

(Just a quick interruption to let you know that my cat, Patsy, stood on my keyboard whilst trying to sit on my lap and has managed to play a song that I can't find where it's coming from. I don't know what song it is. It's not on my iTunes or Spotify...I've had to close every page and application to get it to stop playing and then open this all up again to continue writing. So there you go, a small glimpse into my "crazy cat lady" life. I mean, I live on my own with two cats and write blogs... My other cat, Saffy, is curled up amongst her cuddly toys she's gathered around her on the floor)

Anyway; there's a lot of "side activities" in this game but there's too many of each sort and it's just dull. I didn't complete them because I found myself dragging around all the spots I'd already been to so many times throughout the game, trying to collect all the treasure chests and maps and capture other ships so I could upgrade my own and it was time consuming. Playing video games is important to me by means of escapism. When things in life haven't been so great, I've used gaming to get me out of my own life for a while and adventure in someone else's, be it saving the world, beating up a few baddies or simply making a soup factory (Nom Nom Galaxy - I will get to this in another post!). So when it gets to a point where I'm checking the time every half hour and seeing how much time I've spent doing these tasks, or chores as they end up feeling like, and see how slowly that time has passed I know it's probably time I stopped. And so I did, I traded it in and immediately went on the Playstation when I got home and checked the trophies I now wouldn't get and do you know what? I was quite pleased with myself. Because I'd got rid of the game itself, I couldn't now go back on it and continue trawling around, wasting time for a trophy that doesn't really get me anywhere anyway. When I was well on my way to becoming an obsessive trophy hunter, I had to remind myself to just play games that I'm having fun playing; not ruin the ones you like because you have to spend hours longer playing than you want to just to collect bits that aren't even part of the story.

However, after all this, the storyline is my favourite so far. It felt like I was watching a film at times, as the dramatic sequences unfolded. One part in particular towards the end was really quite powerful; where Edward Kenway (our main man) is carrying a dying woman from the prison she has been held in and clearly more awful things have happened to her - they don't tell us, but we get the hint. The player is given the control back after we've found her and even though it's the easiest thing to do - just walking, with her in his arms, pushing the stick forward on the controller and nothing else - you find yourself in this world, willing her to survive while she tells Edward to leave her. I realised I was pressing my controller way too hard and leaning towards the television as if it was going to change what I knew was going to happen.
The very end, the last sequence to watch when the story was finished was a nice little throwback to a previous game, which I didn't quite get at first until I gave it a bit of thought and was more open minded about the games having some sort of link. This is quite a nice thing to do to reward loyalty to the games, I'd love them and other franchises to do this on a bigger scale (maybe some sort of secrets to unlock if you know what happened previously etc).

What I'd like to see in the future is more of the fantastic storylines and voice acting talent that I've been so impressed with during this game. More beautiful locations on this sort of scale, because seriously, I found myself whispering the word "woah" several times as the camera panned around each new Caribbean island.
Something new does need to happen in these Assassin's Creed games though, to make this open world collecting thing a bit more enjoyable, especially after you've finished the main quest storyline. Maybe some sort of business running where you have your own guild of assassins and can hire others to be a part of your team to eventually run your location from the underground, overruling the government so no one ever really knows who's in charge. Sounds like something I could get obsessed with, anyway!

I think that's probably way more than enough from me. As I said before, I won't do reviews...I'll tell you a bit about my experience playing it and it probably won't be that in-depth about one certain game as I find some things relate to gaming in general.
I could do with a better title but "What I've been playing" is what I mean because it's very unlikely I'll talk about very new games. I don't tend to buy games when they first come out as they're just too darn expensive. There's also no way I could talk about them with any real thoughts for quite a while after I buy them too - I need to have gotten at least half way through the storyline to have had enough time playing.

Again, if you've got suggestions and thoughts - lemme know. I know you do, so please share them!
Like my Facebook page at Facebook.com/falvslittleworld , if you haven't already.

Cheers!
Falv

Degustabox. I like you...

Apart from the fact my Mum keeps calling you "Disgustabox" and thinks she's really funny.

Yes, it's one of those subscription boxes; the world of which is seemingly overwhelming. There's all sorts of food ones being proper meals to cook, expensive cheese and wine or snacks. There's boxes for beauty, crafts, gaming, household items - you name it, there's probably a subscription box for it.

I had a graze box each week for a bit which was good at the time, I cancelled only because I was getting bored of the snacks after a while. Saying that though, the snacks are really good. I always loved the flapjacks most, especially the honeycomb one. You can check it out here, using my code which will get you your first box free. If it's not for you, you can cancel after the first one and pay nothing. Otherwise, if you do like it and decide to keep it on, it's £3.99 a box (however often you set it up for) but you'll also get your 5th and 10th boxes free:
http://www.graze.com/uk/p/ALICIA3MU

Then I found Degustabox advertised somewhere and thought I'd give it a go. The first one was half price so it didn't really matter if I didn't like some of the things in it. I happened to be quite impressed with the amount of really good food and drink products in there and kept it on at £12.99 a month which sounds quite a lot but of course, it is food and drink that you may well be buying anyway. It's generally around £23 worth of products so less than you'd pay at the supermarket and tends to be new things you might not have seen or tried otherwise. I received this month's box a couple of days ago and it's the best yet. It's got drinks like J20 Spritz, crisps made by the London Crisp Company (the best prawn cocktail crisps I've had!), Mr Kipling cranberry and oat slices and Divine caramel chocolate among other lovely things...and a random bottle of vinegar...

I like that it's not little samplers, it full packages of everything like 500ml bottles of drinks, 150g big bags of crisps and 5/6 pack cereal bars. They send you a A4 sheet showing you what've they've sent you and what it is/what they like about it. It's a really nice surprise each month and I find it exciting to look through what I've been sent to try.

You can have a look at this one too using the link below and if you join you'll get a £6 discount and again, you can cancel whenever you like. If you have a look at the "our boxes" tab at the top of the page, it'll show you what has been in previous boxes so you get an idea of what to expect.
https://www.degustabox.com/en/register/ref/ALICIAF-3067

This sounded like a bit of an advert but it's part of what I enjoy and what I get up to which is what a blog is, I suppose, so I thought I'd let you know about it and give you the opportunity to have a look for yourselves. And while we're here; if you do all your online shopping through Top Cashback you'll earn money back for nearly everything you buy. Seriously, pretty much every shop or company is on there offering some cashback from buying some clothes to upgrading your phone contract to signing up for Sky. It's basically really silly to buy anything online before looking on there first. All you have to do once registered is search the site you're wanting to buy from and click the link and then just use the site as you normally would and your purchase is tracked and you'll get some money back. Sign up at http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/FalvN4

Thanks for reading, there won't be many of these where I send you to sign up to loads of things so don't panic! Let me know your thoughts - what you think of these and even if there's any other subscription boxes that you receive each week or month that you enjoy!
At the moment I'm thinking that I'll alternate posts; maybe 2 a week - one of which will be gaming and the other will be something else entirely and who knows what about...?

Chow for now,

Falv

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