Warm Bodies: The Movie

So after yet another break away from the blogging world I am back. I was recently away in Scotland visiting family for my Mum's 50th Birthday, while I was away some pretty exciting life decisions were made which I will write about in a personal post soon. So keep tuned in if you are interested!

So Warm Bodies the film! This was another film I went to see as a Birthday Celebration in Leicester Square and I saw in the Empire Cinema which is a lovely little cinema and I my absolute favourite cinema which shows current releases. It reminds me a lot of the cinema I grew up with which was a wonderful independent Cinema in Surrey, and it both cinemas carry the vibe that going to the cinema is a real event, a big day out. It has beautiful red velvet seats which are really comfortable, and the Cinema I feel is reasonable priced for a London cinema. 

So this film is a really fun film. It is pretty funny from the get go, bumbling zombies trying to carry out the pre zombie lives makes for amusing views, it is sort of like if toddlers were given adult bodies. We are introduced to R, the protagonist setting the scene which is pretty similar to the book. Few years past an out break happened turning people into Zombies, the humans have made a safe area and send out scouts to collect supplies from the surrounding city, where they can be attack by Zombies who hunt in feeding packs. Though they spend most of their time in the Airport. 

Nicholas Holt plays R, and I think he is a great actor who always nails the roles he is given, and I am surprised we don't see him more often. A lot of the film is narrated by R, and his internal monologue since he has trouble making is Zombie body say what he wants. Holt facial expressions and movements really help to bring humour to these moments and make R such a loveable lead that you really end up routing for. 

One of the main difference between Book R and Movie R is this sense of humour, there definitely are funny moments in the book, but I wouldn't call it a comedy book, R is very deep and conflicted about his situation, he doesn't feel like he can accept his fate, he is trapped and he can't express himself. Movie R is far more comical, and also a lot younger, in the book he is described as wearing a smart shirt as if he was going to work when he became a Zombie, while in the Movie he is more of a teenage/ young adult age wearing a hoodie which is how R's best friend M (Rod Corrdry) is described in the book, it is as if M and R have switched bodies for the Movie. 

Also not surprisingly the story is sped up quite a bit for the film. R has fairly good verbal skills when he first meets Julie (Teresa Palmer), and also Julie is far more comfortable around R then she is in the book, she is intrigued by him, but she is still scared and wants to escape him, until she can start to see the change in him. Also Julie is upset with R in the book about him killing and eating her boyfriend, which you know is perfectly understandable,  where as in the film she seems to get over that fairly quickly. 

The main difference for me though is the book is far more intense. Both Julie when she is in the airport with R and when R sneaks into the compound to find Julie they are in real danger. Also the ending is far more tense in the book, with Julies father Grigio ( John Malkovich), meeting a fairly grisly end, after exposing himself to be a very unkind and unjust leader.

For me this is not a true adaptation of the boo, but it certainly is a fun one. Would I wanted to have seen a deep soul searching Zombie film in the a climactic ending ? Probably not, it would have made for an odd viewing, but it works really well as a book, where you can seem attitudes and character slowly change and evolve with each chapter, and I don't think that sort of character development always translate to the screen very well. 

And I feel the comedy route for this film was far better fitting, and made for great viewing. My main criticism for the film would be how the role of Nora was down played in the film, she really helped Julie and R in the book, but in the film she became a quirky best friend, though she was played brilliantly by Analiegh Tipton, I also really liked how in the book R was always very unhappy with his Zombie life while M was far more content with what his life, and this conflict of interests in the film.

I would recommend this film, it is very unique and very funny, but it doesn't quite hit the nail on the head in terms of an adaptation but I do like what they have done with it none the less.

Rella Xx

The Book: Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, I didn't know this book existed until after the film came out in 2012. Which I went to see for my birthday. So as a result I was always thinking back to the film while reading it. The film

 ( which I will write about in a few days) was a comic zombie romance film. This book takes a different approach. 

Now this is a book I never would have picked up with out the film being made, for one simple reason...It's about Zombies. Zombies are one thing I find truly terrifying, I have only ever read one other book about Zombies, World War Z, and I found that difficult to get through as it freaked me out a bit. Even comedies about them such as Shaun Of The Dead are fairly frightening for me. But I liked how the film told this story and I felt I needed to make myself read it. 

So the book is set in America after an outbreak of a virus that has turned a large amount of the population into these Zombie like infected people who fed on the living to stop their bodies breaking down and decomposing. 

There are two main differences between a regular Zombie story and this, 

One: It is set in a world where it has been a few years since this Zombie break out and the humans and Zombies have established lives, so there is no waking up and realising half the world is dead, and trying to get to safety which is a story we have all read before. 

Two: This book is written from the Zombies point of view. 

Our protagonist R is a young man with thoughts feelings and dreams the only problem is that he's a zombie. He can't remember his old life before he became infected. He doesn't know how old he is or what he use to do he can only guess on his past based on this shirt a tie but he has no hard facts, all he know is his name began with R. He lives in an airport where many zombies have gathered and he follows a mundane life. He gets a zombie wife and some children, which are just children who are also infected and wander about the airport, and he hangs out with his best friend, who can often be found in the toilets attempting to have sex with other zombies. 

The infected remember aspect of life before such as marriage and sex and they try to mimic this, and R collects relic of life before small trinkets of everyday life, but he just can't accept that this is  it, that he will be cold dead and hunting the living. Then one day he meets Julie, who for reason unknown to him he saves her. After eating her boyfriends brain and he catches glimpses of his life with Julie he realises that that is what he wants. Warmth and kindness and love and life. 

Julie although scared for her life realises that this is something more to R then meets the eye, she can see there is something that sets him apart from the others. The more time they spend together the more R begins to change, his speech improves, his desire to hunt humans fades and life begins to return to him. Between them they may have found the cure to end the era of the zombies.

This is a great book with a balance of comedy romance and insight to life. I found it to be a really fun and interesting read, and even with my fear of Zombies I was able to read this one with out too much issue. these is a very clear Romeo and Juliet theme running through out the book, two lover that can't be together, the threat of death and even their names R and Julie echo that of the tragic Marion even managed to sneak in a balcony scene. 

I really enjoyed this book, it was an interesting read, and is has a good few twist and turns to keep the story from going stagnate. It's got a bit of everything romance zombies fear and hope it is a very unique story and I am surprised I hadn't heard about it before, if you haven't read this book I would definitely say to add it to your list of must reads. 

Rella Xx

Let's Get Physical

GUESS WHO'S BACK ! 

A replacement charger arrived yesterday and I am back on-line. Which is nice, but i must say being off line was not as back as you might expect. Of course when I first found my charger broken and my Laptop dead i was annoyed, more so about the fact that I would have to shell out money for a new one, then anything else. Also when you loose anything you suddenly remember the 50,000 things you needed to do on-line, like I had to email a company about stuff that didn't arrive, I needed to change my ticket for travelling to Scotland, I had to order a birthday present for my Mum and I also had a post that I wanted to put on here as I had a pretty good stride going ( that post will be up soon) 

But by that evening once I had got those things sorted I sat down with a cup of tea and my book (A Storm of Swords Part 1) and I had a pretty good night, I read a good chunk of my book and enjoyed the lack of distractions. I should also point out that I don't have a television I use my laptop for that as well. 

However one thing I did discover was, I hate doing things on screens. I have always preferred writing my notes down on paper, and I use a real life calendar to keep track of my events rather then my phone. I feel like an old woman in my generation sometimes. I will be writing a note to someone or making plans on paper and some one will always say Why not use your iPhone ? or something along the lines of  It's quicker to do that on-line. Well I don't like do that.

When I was at Uni I would use my computer just to write essays, my research my book my class notes would be around me, and I would physically turn to the page I needed or highlight the information I wanted to use. If I could avoid on-line research I would, because I feel trapped by the screen, like my brain doesn't have enough room to think within these little squares, no matter how many new tabs I open.

When creativity is limited to keys and a screen I feel claustrophobic. I like making things with my hands not just the tips of my fingers, I feel like I have something to show my hard work if I fill a note book with my work rather then a Word Document. I like it when someone hands me something they have made rather then send me a link. 

In my ideal world this wouldn't be a on-line blog, but rather a mini flyer I could send everyone. Now I know this probably sounds like I am trying to be of niche and different but truly I have tried, I once had a Kindle, because what could be better then a library in my pocket, plus carrying a few novels to Uni every day was really heavy. I used my Kindle for one month then I shut it away in a drawer. I missed being able to flick through my book and highlight passages and quickly re-read a page, I missed cover art, and that feeling when you are approaching those last few pages, I missed my book mark I missed books. I remember when I was 12 my neighbour brought over a Digital Camera, It was the first one I had ever seen, and I remember thinking, That will never work, people like hold their photos, how wrong I was, and although I love always having a camera on me, I still print out physical photos in my local Boots and put them in frames or scrap books. 

My scrap book.

I always love it when my Mum gets out her photo albums from her younger years, and she has a huge chest in her room with a lock on it and that it where she keeps all her memories, things she has collected over the years letters and trinkets and when she lets me peek inside and pull a few bits out it is so exciting, we have spent hours travelling back into her memories like that, but I share my moments on a social media page, so she always knows what I've been up to. I just really like the idea of in my old age being surrounded by things that I have created or mementos that I have collected, rather then have to log into a Facebook account aged 75. 

I love technology I really do, I just wish we didn't all have to hide behind a screen to be creative.

Rella Xx

Welcome to the 90's

I was going to write a new post today, but sadly my laptop charge broke, and without its loyal companion my laptop couldn't carry on. 

So unfortunately I won't be able to post, I could write on my phone ( as I am  now ) but I hate editing post using my phone. I feel the little screen is too cramped to get things done properly. 

There is a silver lining though, my normal laptop time will now become book time. I am currently reading The Song of Ice and Fire seris by George R R Martin, and I've been making really slow progress on it so I will use this time to crack on with that. For those if you interested I am on book three currently. 

Anyway I look forward to post again soon, but for now I am offline 

Rella Xx

So how did that one end ?

Reading is great, but some times you just aren't really in the mood for it. You pick up a book and you start reading it but your heart just isn't in it. You try to get through it, but you find yourself picking it up less and less, you realise you've forgotten half of what going on and before you know it you have abandoned ship, you've run off with another book and the previous one get guiltily slipped back onto the book shelf half read, but you tell yourself you will get back to, and yet you never do.

Here are some of my half read books that sit on my shelf and I try not too look at them for too long as I feel way to guilty !

Escape From Camp 14 By Blaine Harden

This is a really moving story about a young man, Shin Donghyuk, who is the only person to have ever escape from North Korea's harshest labour camp. Families are sent there with no trial and no chance to escape, they work doing hard labour until they die, also any children who are born in the camp are also seen as prisoners and they do will never get a chance to leave the camp.

Shin was born in the camp, he knew nothing of life beyond the fence, he was always hungry he felt no love for his family as they could all easily turn each other in for being rule breakers and it wasn't until he was in his twenties and a new prisoners came to camp and told him about barbecued pork that he decided to try and escape, and some how it worked. 

Now doesn't this book found just fantastically intersting ? And for the most part it really was, I really enjoyed it. However there were two things that stopped me getting to the end. One was the nature of the book, unsurprisingly, is rather depressing and it is sometimes hard to keep reading when you know the next page isn't going to bring any more joy then the last, even when Shin escapes it just brings on a new wave of hardship.

Two, the book will sometimes stop the narrative of Shins life to explain North Korea politics and history to help you understand why something is happening. This is helpful and informative but I have never been one to take too much interest in politics, and if they had just been a paragraph or two I may have made it but it would some times go on for a few pages and I just found it hard to keep going. 

The worse part is I abandoned this book on the last chapter, I made it through all of it, but I couldn't give it that final push. Netflix also have a documentary about Shin's story, and you guessed it I didn't make it to the end of that either

The Remains of a Day by Kazuo Ihsiguro

I bought this book because during university we had to read two of Ishiguro's other books Never Let Me Go and A Pale View Of Hills, both of which I loved so I wanted to read some of his other works. I picked The Remains of a Day because it was his debut novel and it had such fantastic reviews that I felt I had to read it. 

However once I got it the subject matter just did not interest me in the slightest. It is about a long serving butler who decide to take his first holiday in many years and goes on a motoring trip ( I just had to look that up as I thought he had retired!) I really can't tell you more then that as I never made it much further then him getting in the car. 

I so wanted to like this book but it just wasn't one for me, its not a bad book I really liked the way it was written and I was interested in the idea of a book from a butlers point of view, but in practise I found it dull. This book sat on my Goodreads Currently Reading list for two years before I admitted defeat and marked it as unread. 

Animal Farm by George Orwell 

I FEEL SO MUCH GUILT ABOUT THIS! 

I bought this book because it is such a classic, and I had read 1984 and really loved it, and  so many people recommended this to me so I went out and I bought and started reading it and really enjoyed it. I thought it was really interesting a moving and well written, I honestly wanted to cry over Boxers story line and thinking about the scene of him in the back of the cart waving to all his friend... Oh I just can't its too upsetting. This book is great it would say it is one of those must read books for everyone.

So why didn't I finish it ? I DON'T KNOW! I literally had about 4 pages and I just never read them, for some reason I took it out of my bag put it back on my shelf and just never read those pages.

When this post goes live I am going to walk over to my shelf pick it up and read those 4 pages!

The guilt is made worse every time someone asks me if I had read, because I always say yes, but I know deep down I haven't.

The Whispering Road by Livi Michael 

I don't know where this book came from, I have had it for a long time, always telling myself I will read it. I think I got this book when I was around 15 so that's nearly 10 years of telling myself I will read this book. I have started it three times and have never made it much further then the first chapter. 

The book is about a brother and sister in 1800's England in a Workhouse and one night they decide to escape and try and find new life for themselves. they want to get to Manchester and find their mother and basically escape the cruel conditions their short lives have experienced so far. It sounds like the type of book I would love. Industrial England is an area of history I love, the reviews have called it a Dickens like book, but with more modern language, and yet I just haven't made it through

I don't know why I can't make any progress on this book, I tried to read it again two years ago, I had the mind set that I was an adult and this was a children's book and therefore I could probably read it in about a day or two. Well once again I was defeated by it. I cant get rid of it, I have to read it one day it just sounds too interesting. Plus look at that cover it is so beautiful !

So there are a couple of my bookshelf inhabitants that I shamefully haven't finished, or in some cases barely started. It is better then the handful of books that I have barely started! Does anyone else have books like this that they just can't finish the enthusiasm to make it to the end?

Rella Xx

I open at the close

Yesterday I had the utter joy of meeting up with two of my house mates from university, I hadn't hung out with both of them together in three years, and for two years I barely saw either of them so it was very exciting to meet up with them in Greenwich where we went to uni and spend a few hours pretending we were students again. 

My two house mates and their boyfriends

University was such a huge massive thing in my life, I started thinking about it at 15 as I was sitting exams in secondary school, and my three years in college was basically working towards the goal of getting into uni. I remember the night before I was due to get my A Level results which would either mean I got in or not, so clearly. I was volunteering at a Summer Camp in Somerset I was with my best friend who was also getting her results tomorrow, and I was laying in my tent unable to sleep as I jumped between feeling very very excited about going to uni and the utter dread if I didn't get is as I had absolutely no back up plan in place. In the end I told myself  "I can't change anything now,  and what ever happens I will just have to get on with it" and went to sleep ! 

At the time I didn't realise just how exciting university is while I was there, but looking back and talking with my friends about everything we got up to, you realise just how great it is and how many firsts we shared together. Moving out for the first time, cooking for the first time, going on a bus in London for the first time one of the girls had never ordered a Chinese before she moved to uni. 

That's the thing about uni house mates, yeah I had other friends who went to uni and I did make many friends at uni as well but your house mates experience everything with you, these girls saw me drunkenly stumble home, they saw me  the next day in a less then graceful state, they saw me cry over break ups, get exited about exam results, stress over essays and we have all cried with laughter together. We spent birthdays and Christmases together introduced each other to our family and friends from back home. So many experiences that you could only have because we all shared a flat.

Also it helped us all find our passion. When I first thought about going to uni I wanted to do History, for about 4 year it had it in my mind as that is what I wanted to do, I was very good at it, I really enjoyed the subject and I already knew what areas I wanted to focus on. But as college wore on there was a little flame growing that was getting brighter and brighter and by the time it came to filling out my University application there was no way I was going to pick any other subject apart from English. ( Though I must say I do still love History !)

And with my house mates I got to really dive into it. Me and one house mate, Alice, would spend hour talking in her room about Books and philosophers and essays and God, until the moon slipped away and the sun was peaking over roof tops. It was fantastic these new conversation I had never had before, all because we had be brought together by a desire to get a higher education and we all had our own specialised interests to bring to discussions. 

Going to university is like being an adult, with disposable income and freedom but no real big responsibilities expect to pass your degree, which isn't by any means easy, but when you have literally having nothing else to worry about does help. 

Meeting up with them was like re reading a much loved book, it took me right back there to that adventure we shared, forging our way together into adulthood. I could re read that book everyday and I would never get bored of it. 

Thank you girls for being such great character in the best chapters of my story so far !

Three of us at our University grounds

Rella Xx

Proud to be Scottish

Well half Scottish. My mother and her whole family are Scottish and proud. My Grandfather was in the Scots Guard, and my Mum travelled round the world with her parents living in military bases in Germany, Ireland, Malaysia and Hong Kong to name a few, until they were station in Surrey in England where my Mum met my Dad and they got married. 

Despite the fact my mothers family lived all over the world they kept their Scottish tradition close to their hearts. My Grandfather wore a Kilt with kilt hose (traditional socks),a fur Sporren (pouch worn on the front) and dirk (a knife tucked into the sock) to church every Sunday and worked in a Whiskey distillery after the army. He would take us up the hills on sunny days and from the top we could look down on fields of heather surround by wild flowers and thistles and if you were lucky you might even come across a Muckle Coo, and when we got home my Gran would make mice and tatties and you might even get a Tunnocks Tea Cake. 

Top of Dumyat Hill, which my Granddad would often take us up

Tunnock Tea Cakes at the Commonwealth Opening ceremony, a very proud moment for all Scots I am sure.

Although I was raised in England many of my fondest memoires as a child are from my summer Holidays up in Scotland getting to experience that side of my heritage, and Scotland as come to feel more like a home to me then London or England especially since my mother moved up their permanently in 2009.

Now since the Commonwealth games had their opening ceremony this week, and since they are being held in Glasgow, it  showcased all the wonderful things Scotland has to offer it got me thinking about what remind me of Scotland and in particular which books remind me of Scotland, as if find one of the best ways to combat missing somewhere is to travel there via the pages of a book. Since we use to drive up to Scotland from our home in Surrey I had a good seven hour car trip in which to get some reading done. So here's my list of top 5 book that remind me of Scotland. 

1. Trashy Magazines. 

Ok this strictly isn't a book, but whenever I am travelling up to Scotland to see my family I always buy at least two trashy 60p magazines, the sort that have sensational stories on the front such as "My Daughter had Half Her Head Eaten By Wolves But Now She's a World Glass Gymnast" or " My Husband Left Me On My Wedding Day To Run Off With My Maid of Honour Who Was My Identical Twin!" The reason I by them is not to broaden my mind or to stimulate thoughtful conversation with the people around me, but because to coach from London to Stirling is ten hours long and they are easy reading ! Plus at 60p they are a bargain. 

2. Give Yourself Goosebumps by R.L Stien

My brother was an avid Goosebumps reader as a kid, and being his little sister I always wanted to do everything he did as I thought he was really cool ( though I would never admit that to him!). One problem though ... I was a total wimp ! I remember my brother saying the Goosebumps book It Came From Beneath The Sink! scared him so much he found it hard to keep reading. So I didn't stand a chance! But the give yourself Goosebumps books gave me some control, they are the sort of book that give you options to turn to certain pages and you decide how the story will go, so if I wasn't feeling brave I always took the safest route! My favourite one was Escape from Carnival of Horrors 

( does anyone remember the board game they brought out based on the book? ) 

3. The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith 

I found this book in my classroom Library when I was in Year 5 a school, I liked the cover and decided to give it a read not realising it was set in Scotland (despite the massive Loch Ness Monster on the cover!) and I think it was the first time I remember having a longing to go to Scotland and this was one way to feel like I was there. The thing about Scotland is that is has this magic about it, it is so beautiful and breath taking that the idea of magic and monster existing there doesn't seem too crazy ! It is about a girl who discovers an egg on a beach near her home in Scotland, and it hatches into a Loch Ness Monster. Which I just thought was the most magical and exciting thing in the whole wide world, and from that day forward I may have kept my eyes peeling for monster eggs on our trips up the hills, just in case.

4. The Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling. 

A bit of an obvious choice! Rowling is Scottish, she wrote the books while living in Edinburgh and Hogwarts is in Scotland. But the reason it reminds me of Scotland has a story behind it. When I was about 10 I went up to Scotland by myself, I went on a plane all alone and spent two weeks with my Grandparents and had their undivided attention. On my first night there my Aunt brought over the books 1-4 ( basically all the book that were currently out) as a gift, I had never read them, never really showed an interest in them, but as I had so much time to spare while I was there I started to read them and by the time I flew home two weeks later I was half way through the third book, which was pretty good going for a 10 year old. The Potter series really spark my love for reading, and what set my on the path that lead to my doing an English Degree and making this blog !

5. Greyfriars Bobby 

If you have so much as a single drop of Scottish Blood in you you probably know this story well. It is a story about the most loyal dog every to grace Scotland. Bobby was a Terrier that belonged to John Grey a police night watchmen in Edinburgh and Bobby was his faithful dog, one day John Gray dies and is buried in  a graveyard in Greyfriars Kirk and the Loyal Terrier sat and guarded his friends grave for 14 years capturing the hearts of many until he died. The year after Bobby's death a statue was erected to commemorate the little dog, I think this represents Scotland well its not just the big things that the Scottish celebrate, they love ALL things Scottish whether that be their rich culture and history or the small things such as a teacake or Irn Bru. Scottish people are very passionate and love their country fiercely, whereas in England people would sooner put the country down and mock it. Being in a country that is so proud and full of passion is just amazing and I feel this story embodies that mentality. It is such a touching little story and I think the first book I ever read which didn't have a traditional happy ending which as a child was quite jarring. But an important lesson to learn that although you might not get the happy ending you expected following you heart is the most important thing. 

Rella Xx