The World of Zoe

08/09/10

2010-09-09T19:37:00.005+01:00

Alton Towers

Previously, I was asked, by a friend, if I would like 2 FREE Alton Towers tickets that she had received from The Sun newspaper, thinking that she might be able to use them. Of course, as any 18 year old would do, I jumped at this chance and took them. As I have only been to Alton Towers once, in 2007, with my friends on a school trip (yes, I do have a photograph of us on my bedroom wall, wet and cold on Congo River Rapids time No7/8), I knew that I had to be prepared for the day.

So, on Tuesday I printed a map to get from home to Alton Towers and another one of the Resort itself. I then circled every ride I wanted to go on including; the 'new' Sonic Spinball (which isn't really new, as I went on it last time, it's just become more Sonic), Enterprice, Oblivion, Hex, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which Mum- note I would have gone with my friends but they'd buggered off to Wales for the week and we're busy climbing Snowdonia- really wanted to go on), Rita, the new Th13teen (this one was new), Air, Nemesis, Duel, Runaway Mine Train, Congo River Rapids and The Flume. After circling these rides I then, like every organised person would do, drew a little route that we could take so that we wouldn't miss anything out, and it also saved time when we got there!

Wednesday morning we woke up nice and early to set off (checking we had tickets, money, etc) from home at 9:00am to reach Alton Towers for 10:00am (yes, I had looked up when the park opened, 10:00am, and the amount of time it would take, 47 minutes, and given enough time for getting lost a little). So off we went, heading down to Leek, then it turned out it was sign posted from there and we didn't really need a map (although we used it a little on the way back).

On arrival what I didn't know was you had to pay either £15 or £5 to park in the car park -I'd love to know how much money Alton Towers gets in one day!- thus we chose to pay £5 and walk to the monorail (which was great fun). If you'd like to note we got there 2 minutes late, 10:02pm (I didn't have a watch, I just looked at the time for the £5 ticket for the car). I had also previously decided that due to having to leave your bag at the owners risk at the start of most rides that I'd leave mine at home, leaving my phone at it's own risk in the car! Mum took her bag with us, of course, and we took water proof coats with us (also leaving a change of clothing in the car just in case, Mum decided she was too scared she'd wee her pants).

At the entrance, we were given a bracelet that had some sort of sensor in it that... I don't know what it did, all I know is we got a DVD with us on all the rides that we'd been on and even walking around the resort itself (a bit perverted if you ask me).

Please note for most, if not all, of these rides I had to remove my glasses. They might not be that stronge lense wise but things still seem blurred at a distance. This did not help one bit!!

First stop, Sonic Spinball. This was the firs ever Alton Towers ride that I'd been on, back in 2007, Jon, my so-called 'friend', told me 'it was the best first ride that I could go on' or of something to that affect. That day we cued for about an hour, and went on one of the 'balls' with the lovely Pippa. This time we cued for about 10-15 minutes and sat with a woman and her son, and once again, as I did the previous time, I hated EVERY MINUTE OF IT! I think it's more the fact that it spins you round as you move then the ride itself. After, I felt really dizzy because it span round that much. The ride isn't scary as such, it's just really annoying disorientating due to the spinning.

My last experience of Oblivion was a bad one. I am scared of heights, and was 'forced'- in ''s because my friends will say otherwise- to go on it and even hit Jon when it tipped. If you have never been on this ride, it is one of the worse things to go on if, like me, you are scared of heights. I am not sure of the exact detailes of the height but it's VERY high. The whole ride consists of a shear drop, you are crancked up to the height, then go across on a falt part (where you are able to see the lovely view of trees and other rides), until it tips you so you have no other chose but to look down, into the black pit of hell (yes, those are my own words). About 2 of the longest seconds later you fall from the height, get blasted with some water and then go back to the start. I closed my eyes when we were tipped and opened them again when we were at the bottom. I have done worse things, including last years reverse bungee jump, but this is the only thing that I would probably do twice. As for the water at the end- which Mum complained about- I have been told, via Jon last time we were there, that they have to spray you with water, because you're going that fast the water in your eyes dry's out (I know it's not true, but Mum doesn't).

With Hex being on one of my favorite shows, Most Haunted on Living (ironic I know), due to it being haunted I had to go and check it out! At first I wasn't very impressed due to the fact you have to walk around rooms with about 30+ other people and stand watching the TV screen, where we were told of a story about a guy who lived in the mansion before it became the Alton Towers we know and love today. He was stopped by an old woman asking for money and as he didn't give her a dime she cast a curise on him and his family, whenever a branch fell from the old oak tree a member of his family would die. Thus a branch fell and someone died. We were then taken to a room where we had to sit on either side of the room, with the branch in question strapped to the middle of the room. Then it seems as though you are being spun upside down (which we weren't). I still don't know how it worked, as the doors to entry and exit didn't seem to move, although they could have been moving too. This physiological part made this 'ride' better and I still don't understand how they did it, I should have checked the floor and doors as I left.

Mum kept moaning about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory so that had to be the next ride to stop her. She expected far too much from this ride, it's a children's ride, I'd been told it was rubbish (for adults). You're told the story of Charlie and the Chololate Factory in sort whilst you go round on a boat, in water, and at the end of this you go into the glass elevator. This then went to different rooms, the floor moved and the walls were TVs with images on them, as though you were actually moving. That was it... Then Mum was moaning that she didn't get any chocolate at the end, and that it wasn't a real chocolate river.

Alton Towers newest ride Th13teen was amazing! Well that's what I thought of it as soon as I got off (I can't remember much of what happened on it due to short term memory). I do however remember the entrance. We'd cued for about 30-40 minutes for this ride, and it was worth it. The entrance was very scary, with the words from the advert 'If you go down to the woods today, you'd better not go alone' in child like writing in chalk on the walls (a bit like the writing from the 2009 film Hide and Seek). It takes you around the wooded area at high speeds and then just as soon as you think it's all over and want to get up, the floor cracks and you drop.

On the approach of Air I was already rather worried, due to the fact you are placed in a 'Super man' pose. Just as we'd got to next in line, the people going on before us had just got on the ride and been 'tipped up' into their 'Super man' poses. About 2 minutes later they were still there, there had been a technical fault on the ride. People were already on the ride and stranded out there somewhere, they could have even been upside down! A few minutes later it was sorted and they were off. I can assure you it was fine to get on, because the one of the people checking the safety of the riders had to assure Mum it was safe to get on. This ride has to be one of my favorite's of all time, I love pretending to fly, even though again I don't remember anything from it.

Nemesis, the one with the blood river, is also one of my favorite's. Again I can't remember what happens on it, only that you go upside down lots and that it's very fast!

Duel, a ride Mum liked, isn't really a ride as such. You shoot with laser guns light targets around rooms that you are transported into. Of course I won, with 38,400 points and Mum with 28,500. I even beat other people!

I have to applaud the people who work on the Runaway Mine Train due to their enthusiasm, having to sit there all day and say the same thing 'All aboard...', 'One more time...', 'Choo Choo, oh yeah!'. You sit on a train and go round at fast speeds, speeding up when in the dark and even meeting people on the Congo River Rapids. It's a great ride for children about the height of 1.1 meters.

Next we went on the water rides. The Congo River Rapids was my 8th/9th time on them, and they seem a lot less fun without friends. I didn't get wet that much, although everyone else, Mum and the two other people we went on with, did get wet a fair bit, the woman sat across from me looked as though she'd wet herself. The thing that made my day from this ride was, a few people in front of us a woman had won a HUGH Meerkat. As most Alton Towers fans should know, there is nowhere to place your bags or anything on the water rides. She had to take the Meerkat on with her. Although this is a good why not to get wet, do you really want a Meerkat with you on a ride?

The next and last ride of the day was The Flume. Here you sit in a bath tub go up and down, getting splash along the way. For part of the ride you go inside a hut where you can't see anything and get very wet along the way. At the end you go down a steep bit getting the most soaked I've been since we had a water fight down the road!

Before we left to head back home, we bought one of the DVD's which they're recorded of us,, got some things from the shop, including two pens and a thimble. At the entrance/exit we went to the toilets. This moment made my day. Each of the toilet doors had something different on them, including a Post Box, the front door of the Prime Minister's house and last but not least a TARDIS. For those of you who do not know me that well, I am a HUGE Doctor Who fan. I had to pee in the TARDIS! It was disappointing that it wasn't bigger on the inside but all the same, I peed in the TARDIS. I might even ask if I can paint the bathroom door one day, or for that matter my door, so that it too looks like a TARDIS, I could even paint the walls too, having a control center in the middle of the room, with circular windows... I'm going off on one a bit now, aren't I?

So anyway, we headed back towards Leek and then followed the signs for home. I didn't have time to get changed in the car. It was 17:07pm and we needed to be back for 18:30pm and then we needed to eat food between the time we got in and the time we departed once more. We got back, I had a quick change of clothes whilst Mum put some potatoes in the microwave and heated up the Chill I'd made on Tuesday (with real chilli's in it, that I burnt myself with!).

Circus
Then we were off again at 18:30pm but this time to the Circus that was in the park. Again these were FREE tickets, but we had 4 so we invited Charlotte, from down the road, and her friend Millie (who we found out my Mum used to look after at Nursery).

The show was good, with acrobats, a motor bike, trampolines with the Blues Brothers, two clowns etc. the normal things you might find at the circus. Charlotte and Millie couldn't resist the Candy Floss and Popcorn and Mum couldn't once again resist buying a raffle ticket, it was for Charity though (The East Cheshire Hospice).

The prize was a Teddy Bear, wearing a hoody with T embroderied on it. She bought 2 rows of tickets, Charlotte's was something like 101-110 and Millie's was 111-120. And guess what? Yes, we won the Teddy, otherwise this whole story would be pointless. 115 was called out over the speaker. I hope Millie's parent's aren't going to black mail us into taking it back, because I don't want it due to it being the same size, if not a tiny bit smaller than me.

Doesn't it make your day when you win a giant Teddy Bear in a Hoody? And then make it even more by giving it someone else?

That's about it from this amazing day that I HAD to blog about! Apart from one thing, Derren Brown was also on the TV that night. I had recorded it, due to not knowing when the circus would end and the fact that I can now watch it again and again! It was an amazing show!
29 days 00 hours 50 minutes
(If you didn't see it you wont get that)

Cheerio!!

Media Studies A2

2010-06-14T15:52:00.001+01:00

This is what I've got so far, I will be adding more as the day goes on!

To help me to revise for my Media Studies exam, I thought about how I could write a blog explaining the exam and what I should be wrote on it (in other words I’m going to tell you what I’m going to write in the exam).

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of production, question a. could be on one or more of the following topics; Digital technology, Research and Planning, Post-Production, Using conventions form real media texts and Creativity. In this we have to discus both our AS and A2 coursework’s, for AS we created a music magazine cover, contents, and a double page article, and for A2 we made a teaser trailer for a film, the film poster and a cover of a film magazine advertising the film. For this question we have been told to use 30 minutes, of our overall 120 minutes, to answer it.

Digital Technologies
In reference to digital technologies, there is a vast amount that can be spoken about in both AS and A2. For both AS and A2 I used the internet before I started to plan anything, to gain inspiration from real media texts, which helped me see what were the positive and negatives for each of the texts. Also in both AS and A2 we used several Microsoft applications, including Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. This helped to analyse real media texts and helped us research and plan what we were going to create.
As we were asked to create a music magazine cover, content and double page article at AS we (I was working in a group with another student) used digital stills camera’s to take photographs for the main image on the cover and smaller images used on both the cover and inside of the magazine. For this we also had to edit the images in Adobe Photoshop. As I was already used to Photoshop it was very easy to edit, crop, colour etc the images, also while doing so I used my Uncles Tablet to help me cut the background from the wanted image, more accurately. To blog our progress, research and planning and evaluation we used eportfolio, uniservity blog. This was an interesting experience, as I’d never used any other source of blogs (other than blogger.com) and it was proved to be more difficult to use, due to the way it was set out (having to create folder after folder, for separate blogs, whereas on blogger.com you just post a new blog).

At A2 we used a lot more digital technologies, as you would presume to the fact we created both visual and advertising media. To film the footage for my (I worked alone for this coursework) trailer I used a HDV camera (which I think stands for High Definition Video). I had never used a video camera before, so I found it very exciting and interesting to work with one. As I am quite good with technological equipment it didn’t take long for me to get used to all the buttons which I needed to use. The only issue that I had with the camera was its size and weight, in proportion to my height I found it very hard to manoeuvre around locations. To edit the footage we used Adobe Premiere Pro, which again I had never used before. This also came natural to me, as it is set out in a similar style to Photoshop, and I was able to cut the footage, stopping it when I wanted, and then add fades and special effects to it. Another program I used in editing the footage was Adobe After Effects, where I was able to create animated titles for the teaser trailer and drag them back over to Premiere Pro, where I could place and edit them further with fades etc. For the film poster and film magazine cover, again I used Adobe Photoshop to edit the photographs and images, this time though I changed the gradient of some of the images to make it more ‘spooky’ (thus I made a horror trailer, so it would fit with the style). In reference to blogs at A2, we started by using eportfolio, uniservity blog, but then found that we were unable to place video’s on here. So we then used blogger.com, as any form of media can be placed on to the site. During this I found out even blogger.com had some issues I was unaware of. Firstly you are unable to copy and paste text from a Microsoft Word document without being in the HTML part of the blog. Also, as was the case with my blog, the text size seemed to change all the time, even though it said it was the same (although this was due to the fact I was pasting documents from both a Windows computer and an Apple Mac).

Overall, I believe I have gained much knowledge in using different types of digital technologies in the past two years, ranging from simple, everyday programs such as Microsoft Word and the internet, to editing software, such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. Thus enabling me to complete my coursework’s to the best possible standards.

Research and Planning

Post-Production

Using conventions from real media texts

In both AS and A2 my media coursework has been highly influenced by conventions of ‘real media texts’. By looking and researching into these I have been able to create more effective and realistic pieces of coursework.

At AS we (I worked in a group with another student) were asked to create a music magazine cover, content and double page article. For this we were mainly influenced by teenage music magazines, such as ‘NEM’ and ‘Q’ magazine’s because we felt these had a good target audience which would also fit well with my written style and young adults commonly engage with music magazines, thus having a larger target audience. From this research we found several key conventions which helped to create the cover for our magazine. The masthead, ‘Download’ in the case of our magazine, is largely located at the top right side of the page, following the ‘Z’ pattern. This ‘Z’ pattern and placing of the masthead was portrayed in our magazine, due to the way the audience pragmatically knows where the masthead is, from other magazines, and when a magazine is placed on a shelf it can then be seen over other magazines. The hierarchy of texts was found to be very important, as it helps make main points come across, such as the main cover line, other cover lines and more importantly the masthead. Also along with the main cover line, ‘Music Music Music Exclusive interview with John Barrowman’, there is a main image, usually a medium close up of a person which anchors the text, a medium close up with ‘John Barrowman’. We also named it ‘Download’ due to the gap in the market, as we found there was a lack of music magazines that offered the chance to download music on the computer, thus keeping to the time of technology.

At A2 I (I worked as an individual) made a promotional package for a teaser trailer, were I created a teaser trailer, film poster and a film magazine cover. Before I started to create each of these media’s I researched into ‘real’ media texts, to see the key conventions of film trailers etc. Whilst doing so I realised that there was a given type face shown in both the trailer and the film poster, I therefore took note of this and used it when creating my promotional package. This shows a house style and brand identity between the two media’s. Also while I was looking at the type face, I realised the colours of the fonts have some meaning for each genre. As my chosen genre was horror, I decided to stick to the conventional red colour, as it is an iconographical colour portraying blood, pain, anger, love etc. I also used antiquated text to create a sense of mystery and because my film also included some historical factures, thus showing the generic conventions. In the storyline I used the influence of ‘real’ media texts such has Hannibal and Orphan, as both films show a single threat to society, coursing a dilemma and then the problem is solved by an ‘outsider’. This is shown in the synopsis of my film, a plague Doctor is forced into the modern day, in the confusion he spreads the plague and a scientist has to stop this.

In conclusion, I feel that I have greatly used conventions of ‘real’ media texts to inspire me whilst creating my own. Such conventions have helped to understand how ‘real’ media texts work and why they are so successful in what they do, thus allowing me to do this with my own.

Creativity

Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of production, question b. could be on one or more of the following topics; Genre, Narrative, Representation, Audience and Media Language. In this we have to discus either our AS and A2 coursework’s, for the sake of the argument our A2 coursework has more in relation to these issues to talk about, thus I will be discussing my teaser trailer. For this question we have been told to use 30 minutes, of our overall 120 minutes (which is now 90 minutes, due to the first question), to answer it.

Genere

Narrative

Representation

In my teaser trailer
Audience

Media Language

Section B: Contemporary Media Issues, contains a choose of two questions (although there are six topic areas; Contemporary Media Regulation, Global Media, Media and Collective Identity and Media in the Online Age, we were only taught to answer Media and Collective Identity). We do not know what these questions are on, but we have been told to use 60 minutes, of our overall 120 minutes (which is now only 60 minutes, due to the last two questions), to answer it.

Media and Collective Identity

The ways in which the media represent teenagers and young people are interesting to analyse. This group of people’s representation through the media is highly complex, and the way this is viewed by the audience varies. I intend to explore how film and television construct the representation of youth.

There is a stereotypical representation portrayed by articles in the newspapers. This forces a negative light upon young people. In tabloid newspaper 1/3 of their articles on young people were negative, suggesting that 98% are antisocial. This has been challenged through charities such as ‘www.youthnet.org.uk’ (1995), created by Martyn Lewis. In 2005 this organisation launched a ‘Respect?’ campaign in response to research by BYC which showed an increasing concern about the negative portrayal of young people in the media.

This negative portrayal is shown in the film ‘Kidulthood’ (2006) by Noel Clarke. Although this is aimed to show a realistic representation of teenage life, as Clarke based the story on new events, it does shed a negative light on the subject. This realism is shown through mese-en-scene, showing the typical house of teenagers, and the use of language, some of which was added at the time of filming by the actors. As this film challenges behaviour with the dominant views in society, there were mixed reactions to it. Looking at responses on an ‘imdb’ forum some say it represents the West of London well, with the amount of violence, whilst others are shocked at the film, hoping that it is not a true representation. The moral compass of the film suggest that meaning is made their social positioning, leading to Stuart Halls’ theory of encoding and decoding texts.

However, this portrayal is conflicting with the recent ‘An Education’ (2009) based in 1960, on the memoir of journalist Lynn Barber. This shows a very realistic historical perspective of the 60’s, revealing society and showing how morals, values and norms have shifted throughout time. Jenny has aspirations for something more than education, whereas her father wants her to continue. The stereotypical representation of Graham, a ‘teddy boy’, and David, a 20+ year old who wishes to marry Jenny (even though he is already married), allows a shear contrast between the characters. This establishes the audience identification leading to Tessa Perkins point of ‘rethinking stereotypes’/ Although this shows the rebellious side to young people, due to Jenny leaving school to be with David, I feel it portrays a realistic representation on life in 1960, thus showing the shift of the views of youth.

In TV, channels such as BBC3 and E4 use young people as their target audience, therefore showing programmes such as ‘Skins’. ‘Skins’ shows the outrage and moral panic caused by the young people creating an explicit context to the shows. As this is written by young people it is easy to relate to the characters and issues, so that the audience can identify with the show. In the party scene (Season one, episode one?), Tony, the outgoing teenager, countertypes with Syd, who is more held back. There is also an exaggeration used in the character of Cassie, the anorexic, used for entertainment purposes. There is also the stereotypical upper class of the other people at the party and also the girl who owns the house where it is being held. Along with this, there is a contrast between the upper class people and the others when they are dancing, the upper class dancing alone and the others dancing together, in a somewhat ‘sexual’ manner.

It seems to me that young people are mainly portrayed in a negative light, although in some cases this is untrue. They are seen negatively in tabloids, ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Skins’ whereas in local newspapers and, to some extent, in ‘An Education’ they are deemed as positive. I think their representation depends on the issues at hand and the media text which it is found in.

Derren Brown Enigma Buxton Opera House

2010-03-03T19:29:00.006Z

On Monday 1st March, my mother, Jon, Lucy, Sheryl, Garry and myself attended Derren Brown's 2009-2010 tour, Enigma. Some of you might know this would be the second time that I was to see him live in the flesh. As I incepted it was an egg-traordinary show which pushed Derren's powers to the maximum. The needle point was that Jon and myself had earlier (on the way to the show) wrote a Birthday message for Derren, in a card which I had made the previous day. When we got the Buxton I was rather upset and annoyed that the ice cream van was not sat outside the Opera House which is always normally there every time I've ever been. Once we got into the Opera House there was no time to buy one of Derren's amazing programs but there was time to hand over the card to the woman on the door. We were in row J, Jon on 28, myself on 27, mother on 26, Goose-y on 25, Garry 24 and Sheryl 23. For obvious reasons I am not allowed to reveal any of the show itself, as I feel Derren just might take my mind and feed it to a moose. When mother and myself returned we had some apple juice and then went straight to bed, as it was a late night, and disused it more in the morning. I can however say it was McFudgeing Brilliant and if you ever get the chance to go see him live grasp the opportunity with two hands... and some foil!

The image to the right was taken by Derren Brown himself, of the S&M Supplies store in Macclesfield, my hometown, "Excited by the yellow sign in the middle of the pic. Sadly no time to stop." Oh don't be so naughty, it's just a DIY store! Macclesfield isn't that exciting.

New Doctor Who logo

2009-10-06T20:13:00.003+01:00

Photograph curtsy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho

To be honest I don't really understand what was wrong with the old logo and I don't really like the new one. It nice that they've done the DW in the shape of the TARDIS but I feel that the Doctor Who by the side of it is a little too much!

Crikey

2009-08-07T12:06:00.004+01:00

In this book mother of two, Terri Irwin, tells a few of the stories of what can only be described as the best years of her life, so far. Until reading this book I didn't truly believe that 'the hero of crocs' I had treasured so much as a child had really died. Terri Irwin shares the joys of life with Steve, how she met him by chance and destiny, and how this then changed her life. She shares some stories of Steve and the crocodiles, but also the loses along the way including Lyn, Steve's mother, both Steve and Terri's two dogs, Harriet, the oldest turtle in the world and Steve himself. My favorite story though had to be at Bindis, their daughter, birth were Steve was that proud of his new baby daughter he ran off with her showing her to everyone in the hospital and the midwife asking Terri if he's going to come back. After Robert's, their son, birth came the Baby Bob incident were the media had interpreted Steve showing baby Robert the crocodiles that same way as they did with Michael Jackson, but in fact it was a father bringing his son up the same way as his father did to him. During the last two chapters, I have to say I cried. Reading about all the fun Steve, Terri, Bindi and Robert had together and then reading about how he died is heartbreaking, to say the least. After all the near misses he had with crocodiles and how many other ways he could have gone it was the least expected way as most people thought it would be by croc. It must have been so hard for Terri to know that the rest of her life wouldn't be the same again and she couldn't do anything about it. I applauder her on her bravery and how terrible she must feel that she wasn't there with him as they were stronger together.

My heart goes out to the Irwin family.
And Steve, where ever you are, Crocs Rule!

'I'm going to be in the TARDIS!'

2008-11-28T18:23:00.006Z

I'm not going to be in the TARDIS personally, but John Barrowman was going to be. No I'm not just taking random quotes from the air. I've read another book and well 'Anything Goes'. Yes, I'm on a roll! John Barrowman is one of my most favourite actors/ singers, aswell as being my most favourite gay celebrate and staring in my most favourite TV shows of all time, Doctor Who. All this in mind I decided to buy his autobiography, "Anything Goes'.

His book talks about his life from when he moved to America to his only girlfriend to Live and Kicking to his staring roll in Doctor Who as Captain Jack. He also talks about most of his rolls in West End Shows both in America and the UK. It's got to be the most influencing books that I have ever read, reminding you here that I haven't read that many of them.

I can't sum up his book as it's one of those books that make you laugh and cry at the same time, which is sometimes a good thing if your crying from laughter! I read it most nights and then the day after I would tell my mum all the good bits about what I'd read and all the bits that made me laugh a little.

I don't know what else to say only when the set of Torchwood are down 'the boys and girls come out to play'! So the moral of this story is read it!

Until next time,
Zoe

You've been 'wacked!

2008-10-01T18:13:00.008+01:00

If your going to read this book there are some spoilers in this text.

I have just finished reading 'Dave Gorman's Googlewack adventure'. I had previously seen the DVD version of the book at my uncles but it was too long ago for me to remember what happened. I bought the book from ebay for about £2 with postage and packing which I thought was a bargain. This would be the first book that I've read all the way through since primary school (6 years ago (this excludes Charlie and the Chocolate factory as thats a children's book)). I started reading it on the 15th of August and finished it on the 30th of September, which I consider to be quite good as its about 243 pages long and I'm a slow reader (I read it most nights when I wasn't too tired to do so).

It is a very interesting about Dave Gorman's obsession with a googlewacking game/beat that David Gorman devised for him in which he had to get ten 'wacks in a row before his 32nd birthday and each googlewack had to find him tow more. He got to about 5 dead ends but even when it looked stone dead he didn't give up and started from his first googlewack (whom had only gave him one googlewack in the first place). At the end, when he got to number ten in Australia (who had a straight and gay life) the day before his birthday, he didn't even know if this person could even see him but this was his only chance. Then he got an email saying that he cant see Dave, at this point I felt his pain and actually started to cry as I had nearly finished reading the book and to find out that he didn't get to ten really upset me (reminding you that I couldn't remember what happened). I kept reading though through my teary eyes, and found out that 'Danny' turns up to Dave's hotel wishing him Happy Birthday, at this point I was a bit like 'oh thats nice he turns up on his birthday just to remind him that he lost his beat with David'. Bu then just as Dave finished having a go at 'Danny' (in which I think he deserved it for what he'd done), 'Danny' reminded Dave of the 11 hour time difference so in fact it wasn't Dave's birthday it was the day before his birthday HE HAD WON THE BET. Told you there was some spoilers in this text.

In my excitement in finishing the book, I woke my mum up by banging on the wall and jumping on her bed, what? it was my first finished book in years.

The 5th of November is on its way!

2007-10-21T19:11:00.000+01:00

You might be thinking of bonfire night the time when we all gather around a big fire at night time to get warm whilst watching fireworks to celebrate Gay Forks. On the other hand for me and my friends its the start of the beginning... GCSE Mocks!

Yes our dreaded mocks are only two weeks away and no revision on my behalf has been done so far but I will do some in our week off, next week. Me, myself and I start of on the Monday morning with 'English Paper 1', which mostly all of us have to take part in, then in the afternoon there's our Design and Technology exams, mine being textiles of course. For the next two days I have 'Science dual', Respect, then the morning off, followed by 'English Literature' (I think). Thursday till the following Monday I have off which means 5 day weekend for me.... full of revision of course. Tuesday is full of maths and geography, Wednesday I have 'English Paper 2' in the afternoon and then Child Development on the Thursday morning. This means I then have another 3 day weekend but this one I can chill out on.

Yes that means we have two weeks full of exams but no this doesn't mean we get a lay in and a good nights sleep before hand. We have to be seated for morning exams at 8:45am. That's like an average school day to me and it will be treated like it. For the afternoon exams we have to be seated at 1:20pm this means that we have about 2 hours 20 minutes at minimum of free time in between. To be quite honest I don't find this very far as some of us live quite a while away from school itself and it would be pointless waiting for a bus going home and then straight away having to get back on it. What do the teachers expect us to do between out mocks.... sit in the library revising all day.... I think not. Go to our friends houses and use them... I also think not. So I'm going to be stranded twiddling my thumbs for a while trying to remember the things I've revised (it goes in one ear and out the other).

Oh and we have to sit in the Gym or Training hall, at the smallest tables ever with about a maximum of half the year with us. I think its rather ironic as its like we're chickens in a factory farm and they want to get as much out of us as they can with as little space as they can give us, just so they get a good reputation for school.

Anyway I would just like to wish all my fellow friends the best of luck in their mocks, as we are expected to do better then last years year 11's and to be quite honest I don't think most of us care what we get as its not like its the real thing... unless we get sent down ill and they have to go off our mocks then you have a problem.

A Tribute To Bansky!

2007-09-29T21:59:00.000+01:00

For almost two years now I have been a regularly visitor of bansky.org. This was a site which was an unofficial habbo fan site. I got into it when 'Piper' told me he was part of the team, until he got sacked or something. Over these years I made many friends including 'Bansky' himself aka Steve and 'cjames' aka Conner. We had many laughs, including 'Piff, Paff and Poof', and many others. Two days ago I did my daily visit to Bansky... and got Steve's message which he put instead of the site saying how he can't be bothered running a site anymore. He couldn't settle on a layout or content that people would like, even though over the years I loved all the versions of Bansky. Now Steve has been promoted on Conner's site Habio to make his site even better, two brains are better then one! He ended his message saying thanks for the memories, which reminds me of the song 'thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great'. I'd like to say thanks to Steve for making such a good web site, which it was because I went on it like everyday, and for being such a great friend to me through out the years. Also I'd like to say good luck to Conner's site which I will be visiting more. You can't get rid of me there guys.

Now everyone go visit Conner's site Habio and see how good it is! Anyway thanks for the merories... even though they weren't so great... no, I'm only joking you know I loved it.

Who Lives In a Pineapple Under The Sea?

2007-02-03T17:10:00.000Z

Today I got my very own Sponge Bob Square Pants from Partners :)
Sponge Bob Square Pants, is a sponge who lives in a pineapple, while his squid neighbor Squidward Tentacles lives in an Easter Island head. SpongeBob's other neighbor and best friend (on the other side of Squidward), is a pink starfish named Patrick Star, who lives under a rock.

SpongeBob's house-pet is a snail named Gary, whose "meow" is similar to a housecat. Although Gary only speaks in a few episodes, the characters have shown an ability to understand him. SpongeBob works at the Krusty Krab, a fast-food restaurant, as a fry cook with Squidward Tentacles who is a cashier. The Krusty Krab is owned by Mr. Eugene H. Krabs, commonly referred to as "Mr. Krabs". At the Krusty Krab, Spongebob makes Krabby Patties. Sandy Cheeks is another friend of SpongeBob. She is a squirrel that lives in an underwater crack-dome in Bikini Bottom. Sandy has a Texas accent and is from the state itself. When not inside her tree-dome, she wears a diving suit with a globe helmet to protect her oxygen environment.

One United!

2006-12-30T20:11:00.000Z

Today Manchester United was playing against Reading at Old Trafford at 15:00. It was the last game of the year for Man United and my first match I had seen at Old Trafford. Me and my Dad set off from home at about 12, went to Sanisburys for some food and then reached Old Trafford at about 13:30. It was busy when we got there and we had to queue to get into the shop. When we finally got into the shop I was amazed by all the Manchester United things you could buy ranging from hats, gloves and scarfs to desks, lockers and wallpaper.

When we came out of the shop we got a programme for Lucy as she had asked for one. People were asking if anybody had any spare tickets they wanted to sell. I started to laugh as I told my dad 'yeah, for £5000'. We walked around the the stadium a bit and went to see if my dads mate, Sean Bones, was there. Unfortunately he wasn't. It then started to rain a bit so we decided it was time to go to our seats as it was about 14:00.

We went to the toilets and then to our seats on row 8 at the north stand, right next to the goal posts. There wasn't many people seated. After a while the Reading's manager came out and all the Reading fans were cheering. As you would know Reading supporters wear blue and white stripes. I laughed as I said to my dad they all look fat with their stripes. Some guy then came with his son and sat next to me and a young couple sat in front of them.

It was getting pretty full by now at 14:30. Another guy with his son sat in front of me. The guy was wearing a hat which said 'The Red Devils' and loads of years on it. It was a pretty big hat as it stuck up...alot and made it so I could not see the penalty area on the pitch. Then he swopped with his son as he could not see.

By now it was nearly 15:00 and the footballers of both teams had warmed up on the pitch, doing the warm ups we do at school. Then Man United came out and there was a massive cheer from all their fans even me. They lined up and shook the Readings players hands. Then they got into position on the pitch and then they kicked off.

We didn't have a good start. But then we scored our first goal! It was amazing the crowd went wild with all the songs which they had. As I can't remember in what order the goals came in I'll just tell you the score we scored two more goals and Reading scored two, one of which was at the last minute of the 3 added minutes through the legs of one of our players I think. Solskjaer and Ronaldo both scored the goals for us and Sonko and Lita for them. Before Reading's last goal Sir Alex Ferguson took off Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

Our win meant that we had won three points on the premiership table. All we wanted to hear now was the results from Chelsea's match from that day to see how far behind us they are. Fortunately most of our stand knew the score as me and dad were listening the radio as the game progressed and had told them all. Then they announced it 'The scores for other premiership matches are... Chelsea 2 Fulham 2!'. The crowd went mad because then we are 6 points clear of them and they would only get in front of us if we lost all our matches and they won two. This was the perfect birthday present for Sir Alex Ferguson from the team.

Dad got me a Man United hat from a stand out side and then we went back to the car. We came out of the grounds and two hours and two phone calls from mum latter we arraived home. It was a great day and an amazing match.

"WHAT?! NO CHICKEN"

2006-10-27T10:06:00.000+01:00

As you might not know I am in Llandudno for my autumn holidays. Now let me tell you a little story about last nights tea.

Dad wanted to go out for tea at a proper restaurant and then go to the cinema to see 'World Trade Center'. We went to a restaurant near Llandudno Junction were the petrol station called 'Brewers Fayre' (I think, will have to check). Me and mum had been twice before, once with Lucy and once with dad, so we thought it would be ok as we had enjoyed the food before. So we sat down at the table were this guy placed us. I wanted a kids curry as I had fancied having a curry of some kind that morning but knew I couldn't eat a full adults meal. I forget what mum and dad wanted I wasn't really paying attention to them and what they wanted because I was that hungary. We ordered our food at about 7:30 at the order point and another guy typed in the food order.

The movie that dad wanted to see was at 8:40, so we thought we would have plenty of time. There wasn't mean people there too which seemed promising. As we waited I was putting my glasses and eye sight to the test by trying to read writing on a menu from a distance. We were getting pretty much starving now, I had nearly finished my glass of diet coke and it was edging to 8:10. Dad decided to check what time he had orded the food on the reseat, as I thought we had been waiting for our meal for about 40 minutes and the movie was going to start in 30.

Mum decide to go up to the order point once more to ask how long it would be. She asked the guy who had typed in the food order and he went into the kitchen to check up on it. By this time I had almost finished my drink but it still had ice in it so I was ok. The food order guy came back, I couldn't tell what he was saying but when mum came back it was bad news. Some how, who knows how when it was done on a computer, someone had lost the 'tab' (a posh word that means the food order). But its funny mum told the guy that we were meant to be seeing a movie in like 30 minutes and he said that they could rush it. I then found out that dad had orded some sort of meat, steak I think, and that can't be rushed in that sort space of time.

So we ended up leaving there as dad was getting very mad saying that it always happens to us, which it does but I just think dad's just got bad luck written all over him. Anyway, so we knew we weren't going to see the film, so we went back to the hotel where we were stopping and decide to go to this restaurant up town, which was only down the road from the hotel. Mum had heard of this restaurant from my grandma and grandpa, as they had been there once and recommended it to us.

We went in side and it looked to me like some sort of strip, as there was dim lighting and loads of drunk people down some steps. But then I looked to my left and right and saw to little open rooms. At the top it said 'Family eating room' or something like that but under that it read 'Food orders until 8 pm' it was ending onto 9 so that idea was stuffed.

There was also a Italian, mum didn't want spaghetti, and a Idian, again mum complied because she couldn't see any people eating in there when me and dad could. In the end we ended up getting back in the car and driving down the KFC for a bargin bucket take-out to eat in the room. Again dad parked the car up out side KFC at the other end of town. Mum then went in with dads £20 note in her hand.

About 3 minutes later she came out, with no bucket. KFC had no chicken, it would take them 20 minutes to cook the chicken. I thought KFC was 'fast food' and I dont think 20 minutes is fast, our breakfast at the hotel is faster then that. I wasn't that hungary anymore, I'd gone past it, I was as they say 'over-hungary'.

There was only one other KFC we knew about in Llandudno that was right next to the cinema. Me and dad were making jokes up now about KFC and how disapointed the guy with the beared would be if he knew. So we went to the cinema and got our KFC bucket then went back to the hotel room to have our KFC. Instead we decied to watch 'Ladet to Lady' which was quite good.

This morning as we were traveling back home we saw a chicken van. Of course we knew where it was going back to KFC in town where they needed some last night.

Happy Birthday iPod

2006-10-24T21:03:00.000+01:00

As you have probable guessed by now iPod's have now been around for five years from yesterday (Monday 23rd October 2006). Over the past five years, Apple has succeeded in getting about 60 million iPods into the marketplace. Just short of 40 million of them were sold in the past year. Yet at the very beginning back in late 2001, no-one was interested in iPod, I would of thought this was because of there already being MP3 players out at a cheaper cost. Then in early 2003 Apple launched the iTunes music store for the Mac and later in the year made it available for the PC.

Back in October 23 2001 when the first iPods were realest Steve Jobs said: "With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again." Indeed he was right iPod has changed listening to music. It all seems so long ago when iPod's could only hold 1000 songs and was massive in size. Also back then Uncle Steve Jobs didn't know how big it would be now and how small the iPod's could get.

You can view the first ever iPod advertisement by putting this link into your address box at the top of the page:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQUOcfLkaJk

Through out the years iPods have become more smaller and slimmer from the old iPod back in 2001, firstly we had the newer and slimier version of the iPod, then the iPod mini, the iPod shuffle, off which I have, then the iPod video and photo, then came the iPod Nano, and now we have the brand new iPod Nano, off which my Uncle just got, and the new smaller shuffle.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

2006-10-24T14:06:00.000+01:00

Recently I have been reading a book called 'The Bell Jar' by Sylvia Plath. I haven't read much of it yet but from what I have read I have found out a student from Boston has won a guest editorship on a national magazine and goes to New York. Her New York life is crowded with possibilities, so the choice of future is overwhelming. She is faced with the perennial problems of morality, behavior and identity. It is a very interesting book. I found out about via my English teacher.

We were reading Sylvia Plath's 'Superman and Paula Browns New Snowsuit', a short story about a girl dewing the 2nd world war. She is a very imaginative girl who dreams of flying with Superman and sees her step dad 'Uncle Frank' as a role-model. She went to the cinema once to see 'Snow White' but before the movie started she ended up watching a horrifying clip from the war. From this clip it turns her world upside down, she loses her will to see the world through a child's eyes and her childhood is gone forever and cannot be brought back, no matter how much she tires. Paula Brown (from the title) is a very harsh character who is more of a bully then a nice sweet little girl. She seems to bully Sylvia Plath in the story by blaming her for things she never did like when Paula, Sylvia, Jimmy and Sheldon were playing tag and Jimmy Lane pushed Paula into an 'oil-slick', Paula had her brand new snowsuit on and it was 'smeared wet and black with oil along the side'. Her mother then found out later that day from David Sterling. Her mother has no trust in Sylvia and did not believe her when she says 'Why didn't you tell me you pushed Paula in the mud and spoiled her new snowsuit?'. Sylvia tells her mum that she didn't do it but she still doesn't believe her. 'Uncle Frank' then comes to see Sylvia in her bed room and asks if she pushed Paula but she replies that she didn't do it. She loses belief in 'Uncle Frank' and the world and the last line has a powerful point 'That was the year the war began and the real world, and the difference'. The last line is a powerful list of three saying that the war began, that she started to see the world for what it really is and the last bit means the family has changed or could also mean that Sylvia is going into adulthood.

Anyway that just went off the point a bit. Our English teacher was telling us about this book ('The Bell Jar') and was saying that its the only ever semi-autobiographical novel that Sylvia Plath wrote. He also exclaimed that he had read it and it made him cry so I thought I would read it and see how much of a woosy sir really is. I did start to read it for another reason, I liked the short story we read in class as it uses a great variety of language techniques and also that it paints a picture in your head of what really is happening.

Also sir was telling us about Sylvia Plath herself as she had unfortunately committed suicide at the young age of 30. She was clinical depressed with life and her detailing of her struggle was noted down in The Bell Jar. Sylvia suffered a miscarriage but then went on to have two children Frieda and Nicholas but their dad separated with Sylvia partly due to her mental illness. She was then a single parent. On February 11, 1963, she gassed herself in her kitchen whilst the children were in the other room of the flat but she had taken the precautions of opening the windows in the other rooms and sealing the kitchen door crack with dish towels. Sylvia had suffered from many years of depression and was a very good mother to her children.

I will inform you what I think of the book after I have read it at a later date.

Wee Mee

2006-10-24T12:51:00.000+01:00

The picture to the left was done on the Wee site and is what I did of myself.

Bored

2006-06-04T11:58:00.000+01:00

Ok I never typed back but I feel sorry for the pig still. We didn't go to the Trafford Center after all that because Ash went to her dads and Dan went on holiday so it wouldn't be much good if just me and Nat went on our own. So guess what we're going on my birthday I cant wait I've got my count down on my webby (www.zoeriley.com) just 35- days to go now. Its the end of the holidays now tho. Oh my god it was so funny last night when Dan was on Sarah's web cam at the zoo in the world down under lol. Boasting about his £50 note. Oh ye DAN YOUR THE SAME COLOUR AS MY DESK (BROWN)!!!!! Sherly was on TV on Friday night on 'The Price Is Right' with Joe. She won a vase which hasn't come yet and she going to give it her mother-in-law for Christmas. I'm so bored after 1 week of holidays I now have about £3 credit left on my phone and last week I had £10 I'm getting my dads phone because he's getting a new one and it smells of chocolate too yum We're going to have a BBQ tonight and No Dan your not coming you brown freak (joking) ;). Oh dear lord I text you too much STOP TEXTING ME!!! Everyone just think how much money I could save I'd be millionaire by the time I'm 15 hehe Ashleee hope your having a good time at your Dads in Sale you no you all go place with out me even Nat has. She went Bowling and had a BBQ last night with out me I'm starting to think you all don't love me no more :'( and on that note I'm stopping before mum try's to kill me. But what the hey you 3 wouldn't care :'(

Hey Everyone

2006-05-28T17:19:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd put a post on here as I've not done much on this blog space and I really should I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays so far I no I am its a break from school :). Might be going to the Trafford Center with Ash, Dan and Nat at the weekend that's if mum lets dad take us. She's always moaning about something and at the moment it is us lot going to the Trafford Center. It would be different if it was her and her mates but oh no. Anyway I think I might write more stuff on here because its easier and I might learn to type fast and spell things right :), anyway I'm going now teas ready I think, well I can smell it hehe yummy Pork.... Wait I thought I was going veggie MUM!!!!! oh well.... but its pig isn't it :'( o the poor piglet well I spose I can make a exception *gulps* I'll just have a little bit and leave the rest. I hope we do go to the Trafford Center it would be so funny I might even go HYPER!!! that would be a first in a while so.... I said I was going didn't I o well its not done yet so I'll keep typing. I'm getting faster at it woo I don't no what to put now I've ran out of ideas anyway Tea's done now so bibi xxx type back after tea maybe if I remember BI

1 DAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!

2005-12-24T13:41:00.000Z

Its 1 day till Christmas and now I'm in the sprite of things I'm not going to sleep tonight. Its funny there's already presents under the tree and Santas not been yet.
love Zoe xxx

I'm so excited

Merry Christmas

2005-12-19T17:26:00.000Z

Its Christmas in 6 days yippe I'm so excited not we only just put the tree up on Sunday (thanks Carl). I'm still not in the Christmas mood lol

bye

Ellen Feiss

2005-10-21T20:56:00.000+01:00

Ellen Feiss was on a video that promotes Apple computers, to view the video cope and paste the link below into your address box at the top of the page and then click see the video. It will then bring up another window so it is best if you but your pop-up blocker off at this time. Yes it might take a while to load up.

http://www.cootey.com/ellen.feiss.soundbytes.html