Breaking the Office with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

It was another irritatingly stifling day at the office. Issues kept being thrown at me one after the other, until I felt like I was on the brink of exploding. My bitchy (not to mention wanna-be poshy but actually totally chav) room-mate (I refuse to use the work collegue, since she comes in late, leaves early, and hardly actually DOES anything) was her usual hypocritical self, and I didn’t even have anything to eat during lunch time.

So, I grabbed my copy of ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ and headed off to some alone-time in the sun during my 15-minute long office break. There was actually hardly any sun at all. It was one of those strange days when the air is chilly, the sky is in semi-darkness, and the sunshine keeps playing peek-a-boo with the romantically-fantastic clouds.

I had read ‘Miss Peregrine…’ before, however since I’ve just bought its sequel ‘Hollow City’, I’ve decided to re-read it before moving on to it.

I must say that the presentation of the novel itself must have attracted quite a number of readers. I know that it attracted me. I don’t usually go for books with pictures in them, but the black and white daguerreotypes really caught my attention. Perhaps that was the main reason why out of a myriad of other interesting-sounding books, I actually bought this one.

That being said, the plot is quite original and interesting, giving a take on WW2 from a supernatural angle. Not that it goes into much detail about the war itself (thank all the Gods), however it IS portrayed to the extent as to how it touches the lives of many of the characters involved.

The characters are believable, though not particularly deep, and the baddies are… well… baddies. They could have been more fully-fledged and the ‘monster’ part seemed a bit childish to be honest, however later on in the book we are given an explanation about that, and I hope that this will be more in detail in the second book.

I read this book months before it was announced that Tim Burton was to make a movie out of it – and you can imagine my euphoria. It’s just PERFECT for his style. Hope he makes it more ‘creepy’ and less ‘children’s movie’.

We have a long wait though, since production is to start in mid-2015, and MAYBE the film will be out by 2016.

The only sure thing is that they have cast Eva Green as Miss Peregrine, and while I had imagined her as being older, I really think she’s PERFECT for the part!!

On The Walking Dead S2, Sarah, and why it all matters

Hi, I simply must ask – how did you come to the conclusion that Sarah had a mental or cognitive disability? To tell the truth that never even entered my mind. And secondly, I think the fact that Sarah could not survive is a plus – in that it shows that they didn’t feel ‘sorry for her’ and let her live JUST BECAUSE she was somehow mentally challenged (if she was, that is). She was treated just as everyone else was treated, i.e they all/or almost all, died.

Realistically, in such a difficult and rough reality as that presented in ‘The Walking Dead’ it would be terribly difficult for highly intelligent, highly strong people to survive, so obviously the survival rate of someone with less physical and/or mental advantages would be much less. I, for one, find the continuing survival of Clementine herself to be deeply unrealistic. Sure she’s a smart kid and she knows how to shoot a gun, but really, the decisions given to her to make by the rest of the group are simply ludicruous. They never expected Duck, Kennet’s son, to face such decisions or crawl/slither/climb/run into such danger did they? So why burden a young girl like Clementine with going into almost death-like situations, when strong adults loiter about doing god knows what instead?

And that is why Sarah’s death (whether or not she has a disability) is a very realistic fatality and one which totally fits in with the rest of the story. It is a cruel world, a dangerous world, a nightmarish world. People die and become flesh eating zombies, even nice ones like Leah. If Sarah had remained alive, that would not only defy the forces of ‘reality’ such as it is, but would be preferential treatment, she would only be spared because she is ‘different’ and THAT would be unfair to people like Sarah! People with disability and others without disability should be treated in the same way, both when it comes to the good and the bad stuff.

A Trick of Light

I just sent this to feedback@telltalegames.com, regarding episode 4 of The Walking Dead: Season Two. Massive spoilers for that episode within.

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A Violent Kiss

I wrote this for the esternewtonblog as part of her weekly 70-word challenge.

Eyes blue with sky, hands clasped against the wind, pleated skirts already flying. Waiting for that special second.

Steps crunch hurriedly against the dark rooftop ‘Are you friggin kidding me? You don’t have the balls bitches’ comes the sniggering denial.

We smile, aware of our undisclosed power. Forever secret. Forever ours. Twin-like dribbles of spittle smudge harlot-red lipstick. A little lick and…

JUMP!

The pavement soars in a violent kiss.