Maroon 5 review

Hiiiiii. Sorry for being M.I.A, lots been happening. So, I owe a post about alpacas, but because it's late and I'm a sleepy bear, I'm going to post a quick review on Maroon 5's new album, Overexposed.

Released on the 26^th June, I managed to procure my copy on the 30^th. By the 1^st, I had listened to it a fair few times. I always find with a Maroon 5 album that I have to listen to it at least four times before deciding how much I like it (because of my loyalty to my fantasy boyfriend Adam Levine, I’m never going to NOT like it).  Maroon 5’s albums seem to document A.L’s relationships, and given his split from Ann Vzyhdfhfgjhferwe or whatever her name is, most of the songs revolve around the reluctant ending of a relationship.

9 out of 13 of the tracks are good, although most are very samey. This album is definitely their most dance-orientated work, which isn’t what I associate Maroon 5 with, so I hope they go back to their more quirky sound on their next one… Anyway, in no particular order, my top tracks are:

1.       One More Night

2.       Payphone

3.       Daylight

4.       Beautiful Goodbye

5.       Tickets

6.       The Man Who Never Lied – a close contender for best track.

On Songs About Jane, it was ‘She Will Be Loved’. On It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, it was ‘Won’t Go Home Without You’. On Hands All Over, it was ‘Just A Feeling’. So, it would make sense that on Overexposed, it would be ‘Sad’. Of course, I’m talking about the one song on their albums that are melancholy and beautiful and emotional, all at once. Bittersweet, in better terms. Alas, I find ‘Sad’ – sorry Adam – a bit boring. So, I think the love song in question on their fourth album is ‘Beautiful Goodbye’; not quite as raw as the aforementioned songs, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I read in an interview with A.L that the new album experiments with new techniques and different sounds,  and is thus slightly different from their previous albums, so it would make sense that listening to ‘Beautiful Goodbye’ is bittersweet-upbeat.

Best track: ‘Payphone’ ft. Wiz Khalifa, which is also the first track released officially off the album. The less rude version sans rap is also good, if you prefer a cleaner Maroon 5.

Overall rating: 3.5/5. Not my favourite album, but still worth buying even if you aren’t Maroon 5’s biggest fan.

Mary Shelley

I went to see Mary Shelley at the Winchester Theatre Royal last Thursday.

90% of the plays I've seen have been through academia (I studied Drama for GCSE and Performance Studies for A Level), so it was quite a strange feeling going to see a play; I felt like a "proper grown-up"!

However, I was told about the play by my lecturer; one of his core texts for the module 'The Romantic Novel', which I took in my second semester, was Frankenstein, which I love and want to write about in my dissertation. He also did a talk about Mary Shelley on Wednesday 6th, the official opening night, which I went along to listen to.

Written by Helen Edmundson, the play is set between 1814 - 1816, and chronicles the turbulent period in Shelley's life, including her return from travelling in Scotland, her affair with Percy Bysshe Shelley, the tempestuous relationship with her father - William Godwin - and the death of her first child.

The acting was, for lack of a better term, amazing. The company, Shared Experience, are known for 'pioneering a distinctive performance style that celebrates the union of physical and text-based theatre' (taken from their site, http://www.sharedexperience.org.uk/). This is evident from the first couple of minutes, as the character of Mary Shelley reads her father's recollections of her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, whilst another actress re-enacts Wollstonecraft's attempts to drown herself. It was alarmingly realistic, and very physical.

The plot was engaging and, I felt, a very ominous prelude to the writing of Frankenstein. It explained the origins in a way which I hadn't previously thought about, particularly that Godwin was the inspiration behind Victor, and effectively showed how Shelley lived under the shadows of her famous parents until she became famous in her right as an author.

Described by my friend as "An hour and a half of shouting", the play is very intense. But, it's absorbing rather than off-putting, and there were some very amusing moments, primarily caused by the quirky character Jane, Mary's step-sister.

Currently on at The Tricycle Theatre, London, I would definately recommend, especially if you love the book Frankenstein.

5/5

Next post is about my trip to Bird Farm in Gloucestershire. I might even experiment with putting pictures up!!!!

Until then, read David Thorne's website, especially 'Missing Missy' and '10 Formal Complaints'. Guaranteed laughs.

And watch the video for Maroon 5's new single, 'Payphone'. <3 Adam Levine, and the song is top marks. Can't wait for the new album to come out on 26th June!

My Dear, I wanted to tell you & Don't You Want Me?

Hello again! A few updates since last Friday:

The Diamond Jubilee! I thought the Queen looked lovely. I watched the coverage on Sunday, and enjoyed seeing all the different boats going down the river. Kate Middleton looked regal as always. It's also been really nice seeing Union Jack flags hanging up everywhere, from London to Twyford to Basingstoke; a large amount of celebratory, non-violent patriotism never hurt anyone.

Urban Decay may lose their cruelty-free certificate. The company's decision to expand into China, which reserves the right to test products on animals before selling to humans, means they have lost the Leaping Bunny symbol. I will update accordingly. The link for Urban Decay's statement on the why's and wherefore's is here: http://www.urbandecay.com/Urban-Decay-China/Urban-Decay-in-China,default,pg.html.

I've started reading the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker. Having had a very interesting conversation about the fascination with World War One and Two, I will discuss this in further detail once I have read the books.

I went to 'Vodka Revs' in Reading on Monday; good club. Popular music, but not the overplayed tunes that are repeated on popular radio stations, not too expensive (£5 to get in), drinks were average price for a night out, and the club wasn't toooo big. Although I did end up losing everyone I was with. And having a nap in the toilets - which weren't disgustingly dirty. Very important for female clubbers.

So. The reviews I promised:

My Dear, I wanted to tell you

Louisa Young

3.5/5

I was recommended to read this because of my fascination with WWI. The title seems a bit unoriginal, but on second thoughts seems to sum up the general ideas of the book, and the 'turning point' of the story.

The plot was very fluent and the main characters linked together well; a feature I find in Ken Follett's books. The homosexual incident at the beginning of the book was a bit random, although it seemed to explain Riley's reason for joining up, however it neither added nor took away from the storyline. Nadine, Riley's love interest, also seemed a bit lacking in the characterisation department.

What irritated me was the constant attempts at the stream of consciousness-style thoughts in italics. It was disruptive and the actions of the characters indicated more what they were thinking and feeling more than these inclusions.

However, it's strength was the characterisation of Rose. Initially I viewed here as a 'filler character' (technical term, but I'm writing this early in the morning), but as the story progresses she becomes as much as a central character as Riley is. The novel gives a very brutal account of soldiers' wounds and the processes undertaken to mend them; the medical research is clearly thorough and expansive. My Dear exposed to me two sides to the Great War that I hadn't previously considered in as great a detail: the medical side, and the position of women like Julia.

The description of reconstructive facial surgery in the early twentieth century is detailed and, as I said, well-researched. For a queasy person like myself, I did cringe; but this is a sign of success on Young's part for portraying the surgery so successfully. I genuinely had not considered how a soldier's blown up face would have been rebuilt, and as is shown in the book, that is what the surgeons had to do for thousands of injured soldiers.

The sad portrayal of Julia exposes what the war was like for women who had simply been bred to be beautiful. She is a figure of disdain and pity, and her sub-plot is as equally engaging as Riley's. I also did not know that plastic surgery was as popular in certain circles around this time.

Overall, I would recommend reading My Dear. It is an amalgamation of sadness, despair, and hope; the plot is engaging overall, bar a couple of irritations, and I think Young successfully exposes the complete loss of innocence the War caused.

Don't You Want Me?

India Knight

4/5

I should start off by saying that I don't read chick lit novels very often, but my housemate insisted I read this because she said it was really funny. And it is. Laugh out loud funny.

Everything about this works; the protagonist is witty, original, her situation is not typical, she doesn't command sympathy, and she certainly isn't the typical single-mother character. Perhaps this is because she's French, an explanation used for her inability to fit in.

I did cringe at the name of her daughter - Honey - but that is the only bad aspect of the book. The plot has a good, simple twist, which I genuinely didn't figure out, and the stereotypical characters are still amusing. They are surrounded by moderate characters, which seems to normalise the stereotypes so you could actually imagine meeting people like this.

It ends almost like a cliffhanger, with the love situation not resolved, but this actually makes it more believable.

Definitely read. It's the funniest book I've read for a long time (probably because I read a lot on WWI....).

I'm off to bed. Up early to get the exhaust fixed on my car, which I'm hoping won't fall off on the drive to the garage!

Introducing......me!

Hello

My name is Pip, and I'm very new to blogging.

Like many - if not all - bloggers, I'm writing a blog because it's a good platform for sharing interests, opinions, and ideas with the big wide world. Creatively, it also seems quite a 'happening' way to express yourself.

Let me bore you with the details:

I'm 21, 22 in August. I want to be a copy editor and an English tutor. I'm vegetarian :)

I live, work and study in Hampshire. I'm going into my third year of University in September, studying English. I desperately, desperately want a first. I also work at the University, in the English Language Teaching and Support Unit, as an administrator. My colleagues really are so much fun, and it's really interesting working with international students. Japanese girls never look scruffy. Ever.

I have a pony whom I've owned for 10 years on my birthday this year; he fractured his leg in January so we're getting back into things. We hack and used to compete in dressage and showjumping, which I can't wait to get into again soon. I also run, and am doing the Basingstoke Half Marathon in October for Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare. Aaaaand I go to the gym, currently doing pyramid training.

This blog is about my life really, but written in a much more interesting way to disguise how secretly boring I really am! 

So if you're interested in books, fashion (in a I-saw-something-cool-on-ASOS-and-put-it-on-my-wishlist kind of way), horse riding, the gym, running, travelling (I'm going to Canada in September on my owny), politics, health, history, women's rights, animal rights, vegetarianism, music, and plastic surgery (had it), then I think you'll like my blog!

So. That's it! My next post will be reviewing Louisa Young's My Dear, I wanted to tell you and India Knight's Don't you want me?.

Night!