brought to you by yours Tru-ly
The portfolio back end is still in the works, I have another review to write for here and some photographs to go through. It’s all happening! I am however, without internet during the week and wanting a break on the weekend since I’m back working full time as a web designer for 3wise Internet Solutions so don’t expect much activity for a few weeks!
I just wanted to share with you some of my pictures from Whipsnade Zoo…
4/5
Death Du Jour is the second in the “Bones” series by Kathy Reichs, this book picks up some while after the first book, Deja Dead. Phorensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is again facing a killer who may be targeting someone close to her. Touching on the issue of “cults”, mass hysteria and ritualistic killing, Death Du Jour is another compelling read.
We begin to learn more about Brennan and her family, her relationship to the people she works with (including the agent who I assume is the series’ “Booth”), and we’re taken on many twists and turns to solve the mystery.
Being able to identify with the characters more and knowing the back story from the first book perhaps made it more enjoyable than the first. While with the first book I was unsure as to if I liked the story being told from Brennan’s perspective, by the time I’d finished this one I understood why it worked so well. It would be quite hard to relate to Brennan and the cases, I feel, if it weren’t given from her perspective. The fear, the calculation, all of it would be less “real” if it were being described by some obscure third person.
The only thing I was unsure of was how plausible the locations of the cult would be in relation to Brennan, but I suppose its fiction, anything can happen 
I definitely enjoyed this one more than the first and am looking forward to reading the next book.
Well it’s no secret I love Bones. I thought I’d try the books. Picked this one up as a treat. Found the next one in a charity shop for cheaps. It’s not bad. The titles leave a lot to be desired, but the content is good. I was unsure about the first person stance but it works out alright. The only trouble I have is reading books like this and getting scared that every noise is someone come to kill me like in the book. I have no trouble with spooky films, books are a whole other kettle of fish.
It was a compelling read, kept me involved. It’s not the same as the show, although I guess some of the later ones might be. This is fair enough I guess, since the show is just based on the character in the books, not the books themselves. Worth a read if you like crime fiction 
Thus begins my book binge!
Amazon Summary
The meticulously dismembered body of a woman is discovered in the grounds of an abandoned monastery. ‘Too decomposed for standard autopsy. Request antrhopologic expertise.’ Enter Dr Temperance Brennan, Director of Forensic Antrhopology for the province of Quebec, who has been researching recent disappearances in the city. Despite the deep cynicism of Detective Claudel who head the investigation, Brennan is convinced that a serial killer is at work. Her forensic expertise finally convinces Claudel, but only after the body count has risen…Tempe takes matters into her own hands, but her determined probing places those closest to her in mortal danger. Can Tempe make her crucial breakthrough before the killer strikes again?
4/5
I forgot to review this, I read it a week or two ago. It’s been on my bookshelf for about a year. Finally starting to get through them all. There’s a lot I’m really excited about reading, particularly some my uncle got me.
I picked this up in HMV pretty cheap, I think along with The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy: And Other Stories
That said I think this is obviously a book for people who like his work, who want to know a bit more, why he does this that and the other. Some of it’s pretty funny. The intro by Johnny Depp is good. It was interesting to see why their relationship works so well. There was also a lot of things I didn’t know, that he animated some of the Fox and the Hound for example. I guess I never realised how hard it is to get a film made.
Amazon Summary
Tim Burton is one of the great modern-day visionaries of cinema, a director who has fabricated his own deliciously nightmarish universe in movies as extraordinary as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Mars Attacks! - not to mention his twisted take on the tales of Batman, Sleepy Hollow, and Planet of the Apes. Coinciding with the release of his re-imagining of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with long-time comrade Johnny Depp, this updated and fully illustrated new edition of the definitive Burton interview book casts light on Burton’s Burbank childhood, his early work at Disney, the recurrent themes and stunning designs of his movies, and the creative obsessions that fuel them. One of the best - selling books in the series, this brings his career right up to date Includes interviews on all of his most recent films, including the long awaited Charlie and the Chocolate Factory He never gives interviews, so this is the one opportunity film fans will have of hearing Tim Burton’s opinions on his work.
I was doing the “photo a day” thing until the whole finishing uni thing took over, when today I found something someone had posted about in our 365 flickr group. That something was Jamie Livingston.
The post the group had found can be read here and has lots of links and information. This guy took a polaroid every day for 18 years until the day he died. You can see them all here. This is definitely the inspiration I need to get back on with this project. Sure he was just an ordinary guy, but what he did was amazing.
For anyone interested (and in the area) Friday is the beginning of mine and the Mister’s degree show at the University of Portsmouth. We will be exhibiting work we’ve done on our course and will be available to chat to. The rest of the school is exhibiting too and from what I’ve seen going up, there’s going to be some really interesting work to experience!
For more information please visit this link.
The Mister is also looking for a web or Flash designer/developer job in the Woking, Surrey area. You can view his portfolio here.
I’m still PHPing mine up with my custom built cms and whatnot
There’s a lot I want to do in my break between finishing uni and starting work (and finding a flat) however I’ve got a cold and am confined to my bed, unable to do much except stare blankly at the TV. I’m bored. This is my break. Sod’s law right? I really need to remember that in England, drying your hair properly is a must X(
Plus I’m running out of lemsip.
But once I’m better, I’ve finished the back end for my portfolio and just need to rejigger the front end (I made it entirely in Flash for my uni project, but want it half HTML/PHP for the one I put online). I also want to sort out a photo gallery on here and there’s another little project I have in mind
Fingers crossed I’ll be able to look at a screen for more than 10 minutes soon!
I am indeed super swamped at the minute. Deadlines are next Friday and then we have a big presentation the following week. Once all this is delt with there will be some posts about GTA IV, photos, all the work I’ve done, the mister’s birthday and this place will be getting the wordpress update and a makeover. Hopefully I’ll be launching my own photo gallery on here and a few other things too
I can safely say yum! When we went to Avebury last week the pub had a “butternut squash and goats cheese lasagne” on the menu. I couldn’t afford it, but it did sound delicious. I googled and googled until I could google no more, but no recipes were found! A Sainsbury’s product was found which was a bit more descriptive and so on the basis of that I came up with a recipe. It’s a bit labour intensive and took about 2 hours to make and cook. But it was delicious! There will be a picture to follow!
Since it’s a made up recipe and all new, there are some kinks to work out. This is exactly what I made, however you might wish to double the tomato sauce to add more tomato layers, or change the order of the layers. Any suggestions for improvements are welcome.
Vital Stats
Serves four with a side salad or green veggies. I ate two servings and felt like I’d over eaten so it is quite filling.
Suitable for vegetarians
450 calories per serving. 25.4g fat - 15.2g saturates (this is high, but it’s a cheesy dish…). These are rough estimates gained by putting the recipe into a calorie countingmagig. I have more stats if need be.
The Ingredients
For the tomato sauce:
1 tbsp oil
227 g canned tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
For the veggies:
1/2 a butternut squash (chopped into 2cm cubes)
1 leek (chopped in half lengthways, and smaller if desired)
1 red onion (quartered, will spread out once roasted)
For the cheese sauce:
1 mug milk
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp flour
240g goats cheese (not all of this goes in the sauce, about 1/4 will be saved for crumbling on the veggies)
Extras:
3 lasagne sheets
Some grated cheese (I used Derby for it’s mild flavour)
Instructables
1. Preheat the oven to 220*C
2. Chop up the squash, onion and leek ready for roasting
3. Throw the veggies into a pan, coating with oil (jumble it up with your hands if you will) and roast for 45 minutes - checking every 10/15 minutes
4. In the meantime, heat some oil in a frying pan and add the canned tomatoes, garlic, tomato puree, sugar, salt and pepper, bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for 10 minutes. If you double the sauce, up the time to 20 minutes
5. While this is doing, chop up 3/4ths of the goats cheese as best you can (tricky stuff, unless you use the hard variety and can grate it) and put in a saucepan
6. Add the flour, milk, butter and any salt/pepper/paprika to taste. Heat on the hob and keep stiring until it’s thickened. Don’t allow to boil.
7. With all this preparation and sauce making the roast veggies should be done, put half in the bottom of the dish, crumble some of the remaining goats cheese on and cover with the tomato sauce. Put the lasagne sheets on top.
8. Put the rest of the veggies in, crumble the remaining goats cheese and cover with most of the cheese sauce, put lasagne sheets on.
9. Put the rest of the cheese sauce on top and add a bit of grated cheese.
10. Bake for about half an hour at 220*C
11. Enyoy the deliciousness!
2/5
I don’t know where to start with this book. I’ve not read ‘The Rainbow’, nor have I ever read any other D. H. Lawrence books, so I had no expectations or frame of reference. I picked it up for £1.50 about three years ago and read about three pages while I was waiting at a train station. I picked it up a week or so ago to give it a proper try (trying to read up all the unread books on my shelf).
I don’t think I enjoyed it, however I was compelled to read the whole thing. A lot of the time I felt it was trying to tell me important things, but in such a roundabout and confusing way that I never quite grasped it. I felt like it would be a book I’d really enjoy if I had to analyse it for class or something and get other people’s opinions on it.
I understand it’s quite acclaimed and I’m sure there’s good reason why, but for a sleepy bedtime read it mostly went over my head. The biggest example I can think of is the sex scenes - if that’s what they were, we’re still not sure (the mister and I are immature and had a bit of a giggle trying to work out if that was in fact what was going on, although we’re fairly certain it probably was - “invisible fluid lightning”!)
If you’re a literature buff, read it, if you like romance stories, you’ll probably like it, but if you just want something to drift off to, there’s probably a better choice.
Amazon Summary
“Women in Love” is widely regarded as D. H. Lawrence’s greatest novel. The novel continues where: “The Rainbow” left off with the third generation of Brangwens: Ursula Brangwen, now a teacher at Beldover, a mining town in the Midlands, and her sister Gudrun, who has returned from art school in London. The focus of the novel is primarily on their relationships, Ursula’s with Rupert Birkin, a school inspector, though he gives that up, and Gudrun’s with Gerald Crich, an industrialist, and later with a sculptor, Loerke.
