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Sunday 28 June 2009

..can you keep it?

Thursday 25 June 2009

Song of the week

Loving this - 'Mama Do' by Pixie Lott! Enjoy..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNHRUOF0j-8

(Edited to delete video - was stretching out the page)

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Quick review: Handle With Care - Jodi Picoult


The name 'Jodi Picoult' always jumps out at me in bookstores. It genuinly excites me when she releases a new book. Although some of her books are, admittedly, a bit similar, and repetitive, every so often she'll bring out a novel that blows me away. 'My Sister's Keeper' was one. 'Nineteen Minutes' is another.

Her latest book, 'Handle With Care', in my opinion, follows the above in the list. And now I'm going to attempt to do a quick review of it.

Willow O'Keefe is the same as any other six year old girl. She loves her family, loves playing, and loves life. Unlike any other six year old girl however, she suffers from a severe case of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bone disease). She risks breaking bones from doing as little as sneezing, or rolling over in bed.
Her parents, Charlotte and Sean are paying money hand over fist for everything she needs to help her in everyday tasks, and it's putting a strain on their marriage. Willow's sister Amelia feels invisible, and is compelled to do things that make her be seen.

Financial relief is offered in the form of a lawsuit. (This is what Picoult does best after all.) All Charlotte has to do is file a wrongful birth case against the doctor she was seeing during her pregnancy. The doctor, however, also happens to be her best friend. She has to lie to her daughter, and tell the world that, given the option at the time, she would have had an abortion.

Picoult really is at her best here, asking the difficult questions...could you make someone that you love believe that you wish they'd never been born, if it made their life better in the long run? How far exactly would you be willing to go just for the payout? Could you betray a best friend? Lie to your children? Risk losing your spouse?

Completely absorbing, with a completely unexpected twist to the tale, I would without a doubt encourage you to read this book...if you're a fan of Picoult's already, then you're sure to love it, and if you haven't read anything by her before, then it's a great way to start! 4 stars!

Saturday 20 June 2009

Random Picture Day #1

Myself and Evil Vampire Penguin roaming around town and Dundrum armed with the camera results in this...













Wednesday 17 June 2009

Twinkle, twinkle...

You'll have heard about the girl with the stars tattooed on her face. It's all over the interweb by now. Twitter was buzzing with it today, it's being posted about on forums, blogs, it's on the radio. So, it's safe to say, unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about it, right?

In case you haven't though, in a nutshell, 18 year old Kimberley Vlaeminck from Belgium is pressing charges of assault and battery against tattoo artist Rouslan Tounamiantza. She claims to have asked him to tattoo 3 small stars by her left eye. Apparently though, she fell asleep while being tattooed, and when she woke up, he had done 56 stars down the side of her face instead. (The full story is here.)

Now, I generally dont have strong reactions to stories on the news, especially when they don't affect me, but this one makes my blood boil. As far as I'm concerned, this girl is nothing but a liar. And a bad one at that. Her claims are flimsy, and she hasn't thought them through at all.

This is obvious for a few reasons.

Firstly...I have tattoos. They hurt. If you have them yourself, you'll know. If you don't, I'm sure you know someone who does. Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. They're not overly painful, but they are too painful to sleep through. It'd be like trying to sleep while someone is sticking a pin into your face, repeatedly, in quick succession. Even if she was drunk, I highly doubt she'd have slept through it. I'm not even going to address the claim that she was drugged before the tattoo was done, it's just too laughable to even consider taking seriously.

Secondly...before a tattoo artist begins the actual tattoo, he or she will create a stencil of the design, and transfer it onto your skin. It's a required guideline. So, for Tounamiantza to have accurately drawn those stars, he would have had to make a transfer for them. Which Vlaeminck would have been able to see. In fact, she would have had to approve it before the actual tattoo was done. This again completely undermines her argument that she didn't know about them.


Thirdly...I don't know much about facial tattoos, nor do I particularly want to, but I do know that as a rule, tattoo artists are at least, extremely reluctant to do them. I know of many places and artists who refuse point blank to do them, for reasons such as this. It is possible that Tounamiantza had no such qualms, but still...I just don't believe he would have tattood freestyle over someone's face like that.

None of it makes sense. Why would someone tattoo all over someone's face like that without permission? The repercussions are almost immediate, you have almost no chance of getting away with it, and you're reputation would be in tatters. Which is why I honestly believe her claims are false.
I would imagine the tattoo didn't turn out as fantastic or original as she had pictured it. Or the reactions she got to it were far from what she had hoped. And so she decided to cry foul, and risk bringing someone else's career and reputation down at the same time.

Grow.The.Fuck.Up.

I have to say 'fair play' to the artist for agreeing to pay half of the laser surgery costs to get the stars removed. If it was me, I'd be leaving her to suffer with her mistake. She wouldn't get a penny.

Maybe the pain of the removal surgery, and the constant reminder when she looks in the mirror everyday will make her think twice before she makes such a childish, irresponsible, and downright hateful decision again. I hope she gets everything she deserves.

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Hush, Little Baby....

I'm not a fan of summer. It means overly warm weather, which in turn leads to far too much pasty flesh on show, sweaty people in sleeveless tops and flip flops, flies, midgies and, worst of all...children. Lots and lots of children.

Work is like a creche at the moment. There must have been some sort of aphrodisiac slipped into the local water supply last year, because people have been popping brats out left, right, and, aptly enough, centre! You can't hear yourself think over the noise of screaming babies, impatient parents and squeaky pram wheels.

I'm not comfortable around the children type things. It's well known that I have an intolerence for them. You would think I'd be used to them considering my mother used to co-run a playschool for the majority of my childhood, but no, I'm not. I just don't know what to do with them.
I've tried talking to them. I tried having a discussion with a two year old about the current economic climate the other day, but all I got in response was a blank look and a line of drool (imagine the result I got with the eighteen month old and the election discussions..)

I can just about deal with the younger ones. A wave and a smile keeps their simple little minds happy. It's the older ones that I can't stand. The precocious (CHECK SPELLING) little brats who prance around, demanding attention while mummy and daddy smile indulgently at each other (and everyone else around them) marvelling in what a little prodigy they've created. Eh, yeah...you're gifted little darling probably spends half it's time snacking on whatever if pulls from it's snout...real winner there!

Ummm..unintentional rant over!

So anyway...I suggest a petition to ban all children under the age of eleven from all public places. (When they reach twelve, they should be tested to see if they can be accepted into society with minimal distress for everyone else...)

Who's with me??

Sunday 7 June 2009

How careless we are..



Speaks for itself.