Kapow Comic Convention

We had such an awesome weekend in London. Since we've been looking forward to the convention for so long I was a little worried it might not live up to expectations. I started to worry about queuing and occupying ourselves etc but I really needn't have. We arrived as it was opening, received our timetable for the weekend and started planning which panels we most wanted to see.

We decided on the DC All Access panel, the Momentum showcase and an audience with Warren Ellis. Warren Ellis was definitely my favourite of the day but I enjoyed the others immensely as well. We spent the rest of the day wandering the floor and swooning over all of the beautiful things and drawings. Oh, and watching some wrestling which was a funny experience. When 5.30 rolled around we decided to head over to the local Vue cinema to watch The Raid. The showing had an introduction by director Gareth Evans and since we'd seen some footage and his talk at the Momentum showcase we were eager to see the whole film. It was an awesome film. Really, really good. It blew our mind actually. Although it had a lot of violence they really knew when to show the gore and when to merely suggest it for maximum impact. By the time the film finished we were pretty tired so we decided to head back in the direction of our hotel and grab some dinner.

Our hotel room was the tiniest thing I've ever seen but it was clean and we were only staying one night. To be honest we were so tired we would have fallen asleep anywhere. Although the room was small they'd managed to fit a shower in the cupboard! It didn't have a light inside and seemed capable of only spewing out cold water but Matt still thought he'd give it a go in the morning.

The second day was just as good as the first. We decided to go to the Peter Serafinowicz panel then the DC New 52 one before heading in to Movie X which turned out to be Iron Sky. We bought ourselves a little print to go on our living room wall and once the convention was over we went and grabbed some lunch to kill some time before our train home. Like I said it was a really, really good weekend. Now I'm ready for the next adventure!

Wednesday Challenge Update 16th May

Just a quick update this week because, guess what? I caught up. I'm actually posting on time so don't have a long list of books like usual. This past week I've finished two more...

Image from Goodreads

The Hellfire Conspiracy - Will Thomas

So after finishing number three of the Barker and Llewelyn series I started on number four straight away. This one had a few more glimpses into the backgrounds of the two main characters which I really enjoyed. Little more to say about it except that I'm still enjoying the series. So much in fact that my second book of the week was....

Image from Goodreads

 The Black Hand - Will Thomas

Yeah, that's right, I read two of the same series in one week. I have to admit that it wasn't my favourite book of the five but I still managed to finish it in 4 hours. This one focuses on the Italian and Sicilian community in London and includes the mafia which was pretty cool. Unfortunately I've now read all of the series so far and it looks like a long wait until the next one. Guess I'll have to start reading something different now.






So now I'm on 22/50 books and I'm four ahead which is a great position to be in. I've finished all of my little series of books now so I'm going to have to look farther afield for a new read... 

Saturday Adventure 12th May

In celebration of our 0.5 anniversary we decided to head to the seaside for the day. So we got up early, headed out for breakfast before hopping on a train to Weston Super Mare. I've lived in Bath for nearly six years now but I've never been to Weston and seeing as being by the sea always puts me in a good mood (it comes from growing up on the coast) Weston Super Mare seemed like a good destination for our Saturday adventure.

The weather decided to behave for the day and although it wasn't hot it was sunny so we could sit on the beach, wander along the coast and eat chips on the pier. We played in the arcades for a while and then ate greasy doughnuts before heading home. It was a perfect day!

Matt snapping photos on the beach

Matt dreaming of getting to the abandoned pier...

Chips on the pier....we had to fight off the seagulls though!

Matt's 10p winnings....he only started off with 5!

 

6 Months Ago

 We were getting married! I can't believe that it's already been 6 months, before I know it we'll be celebrating our first anniversary. Today marks our 0.5 wedding anniversary. I made Matt this little card to mark the occasion and we're off adventuring for the weekend to celebrate as long as it doesn't rain (please don't rain). I'm sure we won't celebrate every 6 months of marriage but it's exciting to be entering the second half of our first year as husband and wife. I could go on and on about how much I love him and how lucky I am to have him but no one wants to hear that but him. Let's just say I do and I am.

A card I made Matt inspired by something I saw on Pinterest

Wednesday Challenge Update 09.05.12

I am really, really terrible at keeping up to date with this. I keep telling myself to do it regularly so that I won't have as many to write about in one go but unfortunately I don't often listen. So then I find myself with 3 books to write about and I put it off until suddenly it's been weeks and I have to write about 5 in one go. So here goes this weeks update...

The Books

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The Burning Wire - Jeffery Deaver

Jeffery Deaver is one of my favourite authors, Lincoln Rhyme my favourite of his characters and so I was really looking forward to this book. I was not disappointed, I loved it although I did wander around afterwards scared of every metal object because the weapon the murderer uses in this book is electricity.






 

Image from Goodreads

Dark Prophecy - Anthony E. Zuiker

This is the second book in a series created by the guy behind CSI and, although I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first, it's still a really good read. It's pretty twisted and for some reason I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more than the second. I'm still looking forward to reading the third one though.

Image from Goodreads

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

When I first started reading this trilogy I was pretty sceptical, I knew a lot of people loved it and that always makes me suspicious. I have to say though that I really, really enjoyed it. Mockingjay follows on really well from the others and I was pleased that they didn't chicken out in this book and make it too happy (even if it resulted in me crying). Again it wasn't the best piece of writing ever and it wasn't my favourite of the trilogy but it was fun to read and I don't regret it.

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Lord Tyger - Philip Jose Farmer

I think that I only read my first Jose Farmer book in November last year and I've read four this year alone. This was definitely one of the stranger ones though. It read as a 1970s style Tarzan book which was really interesting but it had some pretty heavy erotic parts which were unusual to say the least. It took me a while to read but I actually really enjoyed reading it even if I was slightly embarrassed doing so in public!



 

Image from Goodreads

The Limehouse Text - Will Thomas

This is the third book in the Barker and Llewelyn series and sees them investigating the murder of Barker's first assistant after new evidence comes to light. This book is based heavily in the Chinese district of London, Limehouse and I think it may be my favourite so far (I've said that every time). I've already started the fourth one so we shall see if it stays my favourite.







I'm now on 20/50 books and currently 3 books ahead which I'm pretty happy about. On a side note, I know it looks like I really enjoy every book that I've read so far but most of them have been ones that I've wanted to read for a while or have come off of Matt's bookshelves so it was always likely I'd like them. I do want to branch out and try some completely different styles but I don't have money to buy books that I might not like. I think I need a trip to the library.

A Miniature Bank Holiday Adventure

Although Matt was busy studying for an exam yesterday we couldn't waste a day together so we managed to sneak off for a little wander around the park in the afternoon. It was nice to spend some time together and our walk gave Matt a break from studying. Here's a couple of photos from our little adventure....