Necropolis - a deathly, gripping page-turner

The first week back after the break has been good, despite being extremely tiring! A while ago I finished Necropolis, an excellent book by Anthony Horowitz. Necropolis is Horowitz's latest book, released the day before Hallowe'en last year. It is the fourth book in the Power of Five series (or The Gatekeepers in the USA) - based on an unfinished series by Horowitz called Pentagram. The series follows five teenagers - Matt, Pedro, Scott, Jamie and Scarlett - who are the eternal Five, and they must protect the world from the Old Ones; the previous inhabitants of Earth, who are attempting to reclaim their territory. In the previous books the Old Ones have tried to enter the Earth through different gates; so far in Lima (Peru) and Yorkshire.

In this book we get to know the last one of the Five; Scarlett Adams, from Dulwich, a sleepy London village-like suburb. Her world is turned upside-down when strange things start to happen - she dreams of the Dreamworld, a supernatural world in which the Five meet, and on a class trip to St Meredith's church, she finds a door which leads to a monastery in Ukraine, where she is locked up and is prepared to be taken to the Old Ones. She finds out that she is one of the Five, and horrible events begin when she is summoned to Hong Kong by her father, who works for Nightrise - a company which works for the Old Ones. Hong Kong is a city which is plagued by a mysterious pollution, and the whole city is dying. There is no colour, no enjoyment - practically no life; hence the title of the novel. The city is controlled by the Old Ones, and she literally walks straight into their trap. She finds out that there is an organisation that has been protecting her since her birth, but she is eventually captured by the Old Ones. Three other members of the Five are frantically looking for her, and they are also trapped in Hong Kong. In the Dreamworld, Scarlett has seen a dragon storming towards Hong Kong, and the dragon's breath* becomes a reality - she can control the weather... The dramatic ending and escape of the Five is a real cliffhanger, and really, really leaves the reader wanting more.

Necropolis (the Greek for City of Death) is one of those books that you pick up and can't stop reading - it is filled with continuous adventure and is absolutely fantastic. Horowitz is one of my favourite authors, and I was really chuffed when I found a signed copy of the book in Waterstones! But it's a real disappointment to hear that Horowitz is planning on releasing the next (final) book in a few years! If you do decide to read the series, I hope you enjoy it!

*Dragon's breath is a Chinese metaphor meaning storm.

Merlin

For the last few weeks I've been following a 2008 BBC TV series; that the Swedish TV company SVT bought recently. It's called Merlin, and it's a fascinatingly magical series, based on the character of Merlin featured in the ancient Arthurian legend. So far I've watched three episodes, and they have all been very good. I suppose at times the graphics can be a bit Powerpoint Bollywood, but with such great storylines, this is no problem at all.

The first episode introduces the mythical wizard Merlin, and his arrival in Camelot. He is a remarkably talented sorcerer who keeps his magic secret after learning the laws of magic in Camelot. Magic was banned in the kingdom by Uther, the king, twenty years ago, due to its harmful effects. He meets the intelligent physician Gaius, who helps him sort out his 'new life' in Camelot. At the beginning of the episode, a man is killed as part of a death sentence for using magic in Camelot. His mother intends to take revenge, by morphing into a performer who was meant to sing in the big 20-year celebration feast. At the last moment, she tries to kill Arthur using magic, but Merlin prevents her by pushing Arthur out of the way. As his 'reward', he gets to become Arthur's servant. He finds out from the last dragon in the kingdom that his destiny is to protect Arthur. He becomes Arthur's friend from this point on.


The second episode is about a sword-fighting tournament, in which one of the knights, Knight Valiant has a magic serpent-shield to kill his opponents. As Valiant is about to kill Arthur (who is considered the best in the kingdom), Merlin cautiously manages to reveal the serpents, and Arthur claims victory.

In the latest (third) episode, Merlin and Gaius defeat an afanc, a clay monster imposed by the evil witch Nimueh, who infests Camelot's water system. Those who drink the water die. Gwen, someone who he supposedly fancies, plays a big role in this episode and Morgana gains knowledge of his secret.

Over all, I think this TV series is very exciting and it's definitely something to watch - the BBC has really succeeded with making a magical series, based on an collection of old, fictional tales. I intend to watch every single 45-minute episode in this 13-episode series. Due to its popularity, the BBC has decided to make a second series to be shown this year! That I am really looking forward to, and I would recommend this series to anyone!

Happy Birthday Doctor Who!

After 45 glorious years, BBC's Doctor Who is still going strong! The wonderful science-fiction show, originally designed as an educational history programme, has developed into so much more, complemented with a handful of spin-offs, still on our TVs today! This series, noted in the Guinness World Records for the longest running sci-fi show, tells the story of a Time Lord, an alien from a planet named Gallifrey. Throughout the years, the fictional now 945 year old has regenerated into a new body nine times, and has had a countless number of (mostly human) companions, joining him on his adventures in the TARDIS, in time and space.

This programme is now ingrained in British culture, and it's doubtful that you'll find a family in Britain who haven't heard of the terrifying pepper-pot 'Dalek' monsters, the Doctor's arch enemy. Doctor Who ran regularly from 1963 until 1989, and after one TV movie in 1996, the show was revived, in 2005 (with the ninth Doctor, player by Christopher Eccleston). Contrary to many producers' and critics' belief, it was immensely successful, and has been broadcast ever since.

The main character is the Doctor, and currently in his tenth regeneration (played by David Tennant), he is still discovering adventures and aliens - such as the Daleks, Cybermen, Ood and Sontarans among (MANY) others, both here and there around the universe, and on his favourite planet, Earth. He has had three companions in the new series; Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate). Without doubt, this must be my favourite TV series - I simply cannot miss an episode.

A new character was introduced in the first new series - Captain Jack. His character proved to be a popular character, and an spin-off was made starring him as the main character of a secret organisation called Torchwood, dealing with alien activity on Earth (OK... Cardiff, where the studio, I mean time rift is). This is a great show. Another spin-off was created in 2007, starring 1970's companion Sarah Jane Smith as the main characters, with her teenage companions dealing with Alien mysteries. I watched a few episodes, and it was really excellent too.


To be sure that you don't miss any of the episodes of those series, here are the dates of the next shows: Doctor Who - Christmas Day BBC1, Sarah Jane Adventures - Monday 24th November BBC1 4:35 pm and Torchwood - Spring 2009 on BBC.

All of these series are exceedingly brilliant - I would completely recommend you to watch them. One of the episodes attracted 13 million viewers - imagine almost 7 Stockholms watching simultaneously! You can watch some clips on YouTube or Google Video or if you're in the UK, why not catch up on some of the latest episodes on BBC's iPlayer?

Today is the exact 45th anniversary of Doctor Who. Long live the Doctor! Here are some great resources for finding out more. Enjoy! Oh, and if you liked my post, please leave a comment!

• Doctor Who official website
• Article on Wikipedia
• Dr Who Online

A Beautiful Mind - murderous maths indeed

You may say I've gone into a scary film review mood. But I just had to write about this film. The Orphanage, yes I know I'm contradicting myself, was not half as frightening as I described it to be. I realised this when I watched Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind yesterday.

Imagine being superbly intelligent. Being able to work out complicated maths problems within seconds, being able to detect patterns in thousands of numbers or words. Imagine going to university, despite being asocial. Meeting new friends there. Soon after, you join the US military's secret services, breaking codes being used by Soviet spies. But then, you suddenly find out that your job at the US military and one of your university friends is unreal. You are being followed all the time, by your own imagination. Then you cannot tell the difference between real and unreal - your brain is in a conflict. You struggle in a mental hospital - against fake guns, used by fake people.

That's what this film was about. It's really very spooky - telling the story of John Nash, a Nobel prize-winning schizophrenic genius. It's even more spooky when you find out it was based on a true story...

The Orphanage - aarrgghh!

Yesterday I watched The Orphanage. Yes. That sentence in itself is a statement of horror. I have a feeling that Juan Antonio Bayona will make many more films, after such a great debut. Yes. The awful, terribly frightening Spanish film 'El Orfanato', overflowing with suspense and a feeling of anything jumping out of anywhere at any time. If you can't speak Spanish you can't resist laughing at the fact that they speak so quickly, and it's quite difficult to keep up with the racing English subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Before watching it, I checked out the ratings on the IMDb, and they vary from PG in Singapore to 13-15 in most of Europe and 18PL in Malaysia - for over-eighteens only! This variation was rather odd, and soon I found out why. There was hardly any violence or blood, but it was all down to fear. If you understand the story, you can actually feel the horror - you understand the daunting situations, hence the post title.

The film starts with a flashback of one of the main characters Laura in her childhood, playing games. A calm start. Then we meet Simón, her adopted son, who has to take medicine every day because he is HIV positive. He has 'imaginary' friends. Laura and her husband Carlos never believe in these invisible friends. They all live in Laura's old orphanage, and they want to make it into an orphanage again, with about 5-6 children. One day at a party Simón wants to show her something, but she refuses. That was the last time she sees him alive. The story escalates from here. It really becomes a thriller. We see how she tries to find him... doing whatever it takes.

If you can stomach it, I'd really advise you to watch this film!

(Popular) British Cuisine

There are lots of people who just think that Britain has no cuisine whatsoever. And the majority of the few people who do believe can only imagine tea and scones with jam and cream. Cream tea is British cuisine, but it's not the staple everyday diet of most Brits. When I say British cuisine, I don't mean Masterchef-style fancy-hardly-anything-on-the-plate-food, but I mean regular things that people eat and by from Tesco's (a supermarket chain) - stuff that is popular in the UK. It's not always traditional, it's not always completely British - it's often a mix of many cuisines, and it's not always especially healthy either. But it's food that people in the UK like - and visitors in the UK should try.

And before you ask - fish and chips is not the only British supper. Scrambled/poached/fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausages, toast, baked beans and mushrooms are all part of an English breakfast - normally too rich and too much for a breakfast! Let's continue with a snack - the scotch egg. Not actually Scottish, the scotch egg is an egg coated with a layer of sausagemeat. Delicious hot or cold, there are variations, such as savoury eggs (mashed egg with mayonnaise in mini sausagemeat coated balls) - which I like best! Savoury eggs are really good for snacks and picnics. Then there's the roast dinner, which many people in the UK like to tuck into on a Sunday or at Christmas, with beef, chicken or turkey - which consists of vegetables, roast potatoes and roast meat... yum. Curry is a very popular dish in Britain originating from India, and now there's at least one South Asian take-away in most towns. Contrary to popular belief, Chicken Tikka Masala is not an South Asian dish. Yes, it's based on South Asian food, but according to the BBC, it was invented in a Glasgow curry house, when one day a man thought his tandoori chicken was too dry, and asked for some gravy. The chef then added a tin of tomato soup and a pinch of spices, and Britain's true national dish was born (according to the former former secretary Robin Cook).

Some other delicious British dishes/snacks consist of: Scottish Shortbread, fudge, Weetabix (wheat cereal biscuits eaten with milk for breakfast which go with just about anything - from honey to raspberries to chocolate ice cream!), Hoola Hoops (some sort of crisps), Mini Cheedar Cheese Biscuits (miles from the American 'Goldfish' biscuits), Chocolate-coated oaty biscuits (Hob-Nobs), the delectable Cadbury's British chocolate (read Roald Dahl's 'Boy - Tales of Childhood' - tremendously delicious - a wonderful unique taste), sausage rolls (rolls of pastry bulging with tasty sausagemeat), pork pies and last but not least, at Christmas time, mince pies - scrumptious little pies filled with mincemeat; not actually meat, but a mixture of different jams, berries and fruits.



Finally, although bit off-topic, I would like to wish all those who celebrate the festival of Durga Puja all the best! PS: Coincidentally, the day after I finished this post, I found out that the British Food Fortnight is currently ongoing - celebrating British food. Have a look for more ideas here and here too!

Goodness Gracious Me - the world's best comedy!

Goodness Gracious Me has to be the best comedy ever! Based on British Asian culture, four famous actors: Sanjeev Bhaskar, Nina Wadia, Kulvinder Ghir and Meera Syal act as British Asians in three whole series of nineteen-nineties comedy! You probably have to have some sort of South Asian connection or knowledge to understand the comedy, but if you do, you can watch it for hours on end. Filled with parodies and exaggerated situations, ranging from the man who calls everything overly English Indians to the Guru Maharishi Yogi - who knows nothing whatsoever about Hinduism.

There are many wonderful sketches which are extremely funny - and lots of great plots. Recently, a sketch named "Going out for an English" - in which four friends go out to an English restaurant in India, much like many British people go out for an Indian, and end up ordering extraordinarily bland food and twenty-four plates of chips was voted the 6th greatest comedy sketch by Britain's Channel 4. It's actually dreadfully hilarious for anyone, so I highly recommend you to watch the following clips, and then have a look at the episodes (almost all of them) on YouTube! It's fantastic!

Ridiculous "Nōkabe" - Hole in the Wall

A ridiculous Japanese gameshow component ((脳カベ Nōkabe from とんねるずのみなさんのおかげでした 'Tunnels' 'Thanks to everyone') has invaded the whole world - everywhere from Argentina to Indonesia! Named 'Hole in the Wall', it involves a wall with a shaped hole coming towards a player. The player has to get through the hole to get "CLEAR", but if they are unable to make it through the wall, they get "NOT CLEAR", and then fall into a big pool of water. It's also known as 'human tetris'.

It certainly is a very silly game, but the popularity in Japan (and on YouTube) was so high, it spread everywhere. I mean, you'd never expect the BBC to create a copy of a weird Japanese gameshow - but they have! Now, time for some wacky clips:

Original Japanese version:



And the wacky BBC version - Bring on the Wall!:



Oh ... whatever next? Anyway, it's kind of funny!

Monopoly; my favourite board game

Earlier on today I was playing Monopoly with some of my friends. It's such a fun game!! Although you go round and round the board - a single game lasting hours and hours - you never quite get bored! I've got one of the ancient London version, but it's still as fun as ever! I'm not exactly an expert at the game - I usually lose, but now I've kind of got the hang of it - I made quite a lot of money when I brought all three roads in a set (the Angel/Islington, Pentonville Road and Euston Road set) and bought houses on all roads. But my joy vanished once I almost fell bankrupt, when I landed on a hotel; having to pay £750.

Monopoly is basically a game where you go round the board trying to buy as many properties/roads/companies as you can and make a monopoly. When anybody lands on your purchased thing, they have to pay you, and you make a profit! There are lots of different features like the community chest, chance cards, the jail etc. It is really very fun - it's a business game, but it's great when you make a lot of money!



There are lots of different versions, but the original London version is very good. Apparently, on the brand new London version, you use credit cards instead of play-cash and the prices have skyrocketed!! Mayfair (the original most expensive property: £400) has been replaced by 'The City', which costs £4,000,000!!! I am looking forward to the World Edition Monopoly, in which the roads have been replaced with world cities (voted by the public online), and the cash has been replaced with credit cards!! I'm really looking forward to this edition. They will most likely use dollars or euros as the currency. I can't wait to get this edition!

Well anyway, I would really recommend Monopoly to anyone who is looking for an exciting, fun board game. The winner is the last player that has not gone bankrupt - but I've never played a game that has reached that stage!

His Dark Materials - one of the best series?

I've just finished The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman - and I must say that it was probably one of the best series of books I've ever read. It started when I went to see the film The Golden Compass, based on the Northern Lights, and I liked it, so I decided to read the books. I had then truly entered the world of Lyra on the adventurous journey to the North. The first book was really good, at least ten times better than the film, which included about half of the actual content of the book. The Subtle Knife was even better, when Will and Mary Malone came into the story, and all new kinds of worlds were discovered, including the spectre-invaded city of Cittàgazze, and the world of the elephant-like Mulefa - with help of the powerful knife. The Amber Spyglass pulls together all the loose ends as the story is brought to a heart-wrenching end, in which the two main characters: Will and Lyra, must part forever, extremely similar to the ending of the first series of the new Doctor Who.

I would really recommend this series to everyone! I'm reading The Ruby in the Smoke now, and will soon read the rest of the His Dark Material books!