All I can I say is, if I loved Sherlock 100% before this show I love him 5 billions times after it. It was AMAZING!

Benedict Cumberbatch is Sherlock personified, he is so good, so amazing in this role. I was in, I was ALL in. Take me anywhere you want, text me anytime I would be there on my toe point. Love him!

This show made me envy John Watson even more than before, I want Sherlock as my best friend, I wanna run around with him solving cases and hearing how he comes up with his deductions. The fun I would have.

I envied Molly even more than John because she got to work with him and she knew him before all the hype. Plus, I would crush on him SO BAD! SOOOO BAD! It’s not even funny. After watching one episode I was hooked. Forget Robert Downey Jnr, forget everybody else, Benedict Cumberbatch is MY Sherlock. End of story.

The show itself was amazing, I loved the twists they took on the original, I love the characters, I love the way they interact, the witty conversations, the fact that John has a blog, the bromance…oh how I love the bromance, the way they tie in the lore, it’s just amazing! I especailly LOVE the way they show his deductions there cannot be a better way I guarantee you, and of course I love the fact that his texts come up on-screen.

The fact that there are only 3 episodes per season upsets me because there needs to SO much more but the fact that each episode is approximately 90 minutes helps.

The last episode! I won’t spoil it, I won’t spoil it I promise but I just gotta say the emotions that I felt in that episode, *sigh* my poor heart. And finally, I believe in Sherlock Holmes.

Watch it, love it, it is a MUST see, A – MUST – SEE!

And let me know what you think in the comments below.

I bet you’ll be as pissed as I was to find out the next season isn’t due until January 2013 but you’ll be so excited!

Watch it, do it and happy viewing!

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Time for another LONG awaited lol, My Happy Playlist.

So this week I’ve been really into:

1. We Are Young – Fun feat. Janelle Monae

I first heard this song on Glee and I was like I know this song, I should know this song…but I didn’t know the song. Then YouTube was promoting it and I watched the video but I thought the video was so weird and not what I thought the video would be about at all. Finally I heard it on the radio and started singing along, it got stuck in my head and the rest is history.

2. Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson

I first heard this song on a NOW That’s What I Call Music ad and I was singing along like I knew so, maybe that wasn’t the first time, or maybe it’s one of those one listen and you’re hooked songs. Either ways I loved it, I looked it up on YouTube and the video was so fun, I just had to have it. Makes me smile all the time.

3. Give Me Love – Ed Sheeran

I believe it played in the ball scene in Vampire Diaries, season 3 but I fell in love with it watching a fan video with the song. Then I fell in love with the lyrics. Oh, how I love hearing it, makes we want love indeed especially with all the Vampire Diaries hotties. Swooon!

4. Call Me, Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen

Apparently this song is a hit and has been sweeping the nation by storm with endorsement from the Biebs himself but the first time I heard it was when Guy Ross interviewed her on NPR’s All Things Considered Weekends podcast. They played it in the background, she explained her inspiration, i.e. her boyfriend and I immediately went and looked it up on YouTube, it’s been a fav ever since, such a catchy song. The video is hilarious and twist at the end, lol. It’s gone so viral a bunch of celebs did parody videos on it, I like the one Selena, Justin, Ashley Tisdale and a bunch of their friends did, hilarious.

5. A Thousand Years – Christina Perri

I don’t even know where I heard this, probably one of my friends made me listen to it, but at any rate I love it, so slow and heart wrenching, makes me think. The video is….there, like she’s just walking slowly and singing, there really is nothing special about it. I’ve been told its in the Twilight movies, that won’t make me watch ‘em but if that makes you want to listen to the song, all the better.

Well that’s what’s been helping me move my feet this week.

What about you, what are your favourite songs this week?

Let me know in the comments below.

Happy listening!

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Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Published: 1887

Description: “A Study in Scarlet” is the first published story of one of the most famous literary detectives of all time, Sherlock Holmes. Here Dr. Watson, who has just returned from a war in Afghanistan, meets Sherlock Holmes for the first time when they become flat-mates at the famous 221 B Baker Street. In “A Study in Scarlet” Sherlock Holmes investigates a murder at Lauriston Gardens as Dr. Watson tags along with Holmes while narratively detailing his amazing deductive abilities. (Taken from Goodreads)

I have been wanting and meaning to read a Sherlock Holmes novel since the beginning of time! I love the character, I love the lore, I love the movies, I was completely into Sherlock Holmes without ever reading Sherlock Holmes which is like being into Harry Potter without reading the books, which by the way is complete nonsense. So I was beyond elated when Soho Press chose A Study in Scarlet for our second read especially when I found out it was the very first one.

Then I read the book and fell in love all over again. The story is amazing, Sherlock stole my heart. I mean I could sit for days just listening to how he deciphers what he does. I would kill to be Dr.Watson, kill.

And then we moved on into the second section of the story and I thought my audiobook must have a glitch or something because it obviously skipped the ending and went on to another story. I was confused, I backtracked, I double checked, it was just so out-of-place and it wasn’t until THE END of the section that I realized THIS was the explanation to the motivation behind the crime.

Mr.Doyle, sir, no, NO,NO! That was horrible. If you were alive, I’d tell you to rewrite that section or something. It was so….different than the writing I’d seen before, it wasn’t fun, I didn’t connect, it was TEDIOUS to get through and I spent the entire time wondering when we’d get back to Sherlock. Now I can only imagine this was because it was your first Sherlock novel and the others just got better and better without this weird section because the beginning was MAGNIFICENT!

All in all I loved the book as you can tell and I’m overlooking the iffy middle section because we do return to Sherlock and the present day after this weird section but it wasn’t as good when we got back. The ending was…eh alright, I guess but I was looking for a wilder more fun explanation than I got. Oh well it was still an awesome book and I recommend it to everyone, it gets a 4 out of 5.

Have you ever read a Sherlock Holmes novel?

What was first, was it good, did you fall in love?

If not, what are you waiting for?

Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading!

PS. Sherlock references Dupin and I was like OMG! Hands down, game over! This is the best challenge ever! Thank you Soho Press!

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Author: Edgar Allen Poe

Published: 1841

Description: In just five stories, Edgar Allan Poe laid down most of the ground rules of detective fiction. In the three tales featuring Auguste Dupin (‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, ‘The Mystery of Marie Roget‘ and ‘The Purloined Letter‘) he created the Great Detective, not to mention the locked-room mystery, the notion of armchair detection and the secret-service story; ‘The Gold Bug‘ revolved around the use of cyphers; and ‘Thou Art the Man‘ made use of false clues and the least likely suspect. (Taken from Goodreads)

Edgar Allen Poe has always been a rather familiar name to me, I think of Mr.Poe and I think of classics, however which specific classic I had no idea. His works were unknown to me and remained so for many years. That is until I read The Eyre Affair and they mentioned his supposedly very dark story, The Raven. After that encounter I decided maybe Mr.Poe had nothing to offer me as horror wasn’t my genre of choice.

However due to Soho Press’s amazing classic crime read along challenge I was officially introduced to my first Edgar Allen Poe novel.

I found the story to be interesting and fun. I was listening to it between classes on my iPod and I was always dying to dive back in to see how the case would be resolved and to hear how he made his deductions.

After reading The Murders in the Rue Morgue I realized the reason we needed to track a course through the evolution of the crime fiction because before reading this story I was not aware that Sherlock Holmes had a predecessor. I had no idea there was another person who was even remotely close to the Sherlock Holmes character and I found this rather fascinating to read.

Auguste Dupin was a rather interesting character as was his accomplice and the parallel’s between them and the Holmes gang is astounding and fun to draw. The answer to the riddle that is the mystery was odd to say the least and a bit out there but I suppose plausible in some way.

All in all I enjoyed the story and the insight this book gave me on the crime genre and I suggest everyone give it a try, especially if you’re into crime and mystery stories.

Have you ever read Edgar Allen Poe before?

What was your first one and did you like it?

Have you ever read a Dupin story, who do you prefer Dupin or Holmes?

Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading!

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Okay I know I said I wasn’t going to undertake any reading challenges this year but when Books on the Nightstand announced that Soho Press was hosting a Classic Crime Read-Along I just couldn’t resist.

Mystery was what brought me into the reading fold. The first book I can remember reading and wanting more of was Nancy Drew #6 – The Secret of Red Gate Farm. I read that book and was just like, can I get another one? Lol!

Now Nancy Drew might be childish but since that tender age I’ve always had a soft spot for mystery and crime novels.

That being said I couldn’t wait to dive into this challenge. Now you might be thinking, I’ve read so many crime novels in my lifetime I do not need a challenge to read anymore but that is not really what this challenge is about. Soho’s Classic Read Along is aiming to plot a timeline through history using crime fiction to show how the genre was born and has subsequently evolved over the years, which I think is just brilliant.

Now sadly my blog posting has been lackluster at best and so this announcement is a bit on the late side as it started in March. However I am sure that anyone that wants to join in can easily catch up and be on par before we discuss this month’s book of choice. So far we’ve read The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe, A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey which are all relatively short reads.

All the details can be found on their blog as well as the schedule.

I urge everyone to give this challenge a try to expand your crime fiction knowledge.

Happy Reading!

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Author: Suzanne Collins

Published: 2008

Description: Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love. (Taken from Goodreads)

I had been meaning to read this book for ages, and just never really got around to it. However when my friends and I made a movie date to go see it I knew I had to read it before I stepped foot into that theater.

And after reading it, I’m like, WHAT TOOK ME SO LONG? It was amazing and I loved every minute of it. I started it and had to drag myself out of the world to go to class. Every spare minute I had I would just delve back into Panem, it was that captivating.

I loved the fact that the book was written in first person so that we could hear the crazy things going on in her head. Sometimes I wanted to just smack her, especially when she was doubting Peeta and his intentions.

Speaking of Peeta I’m sure everyone has picked sides, but after reading JUST the first book who else could you possibly be rooting for except Peeta? You hardly know a thing about Gale.

She needs some help in the love department though, some SERIOUS help. When she broke Peeta’s heart, it made me so sad. Poor thing and then he still helped her, that is what you call LOVE.

Now on to the movie, when we left the theater everyone was raving about how wonderful it was but for me there was something missing. Not sure what it was but it didn’t pull me in like the book did.

For one the camera was too shaky, I mean I get you’re trying to show me the world from her perspective but every time that would happen I would get pulled out of the story.

Another big gripe I had was the fact that there was no inner monologue, her voice that was so prominent in the book was completely absent in the movie. It was so quiet without her constant babbling. Because of the lack of her voice I doubt the people who haven’t read the books even know why she did certain things and that was half the fun.

The omissions irked me somewhat because I like when the movie or show is faithful to the book but I understand these things have to happen so I won’t really hold it against them. Although, I’m pretty sure some of those omissions will cause problems later on.

All in all I enjoyed the book immensely and enjoyed the movie. I give the book a 5 out of 5. If you haven’t read it yet, you should pick it up immediately, it’s a must read especially if you’re into post-apocalyptic fiction.

Have you read The Hunger Games yet?

Are you Team Peeta or Team Gale?

Book or movie, which one tops your list?

Let me know in the comments below.

Happy Reading!

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And as I walked on campus I had the feeling that this might be the last time this ever happens.

I suppose it’s just sentimentality kicking in but it made me sad that my time there had come to an end. Things that I did day in day out would no longer be a part of my life. The people, the places, the routine, but it is indeed time to move on.

Even with this sadness in my heart about leaving I still found myself singing Jason Mraz‘s Wordplay half way through the exam thinking after this is over I’m a free woman!

Too bad completing your degree doesn’t guarantee you a job anymore.

Are you a final year student?

Are you feeling a bit sentimental or are you more than happy to leave?

Let me know in the comments below.

Happy job hunting!

Reblogged from Holley Maher | Official Website:

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Yes. I did it. I finally read the first Hunger Games book, in exactly one day. I had an 8 am flight from Pittsburgh to Memphis to Nashville, so around 6:30 or so after making my way through security in Pittsburgh, I wandered into one of the airport bookstores. About 20 hours later, I'd finished reading it. Actually, I don't think what I did was "read" that book, it was something more akin to ravenously devouring it, only stopping occasionally to eat, drink, and pee.

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Time to show my week’s photography haul.

This week apart from snapping the beautiful clouds I branched out to plants. Flowers are so pretty!!!

These as usual were all taken with my iPod‘s camera and edited with Camera+.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Happy photo snapping!

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Reblogged from Cartoons & Creative Writing:

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If you are at all acquainted with the English language, you may have noticed some common sayings and words in there that are really silly, once you come to think of it. For example, why is it called a boxing ring when it is actually a square? Why is the load of the ship referred to as cargo, but when a truck carries a load on land, that is referred to as shipping?

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