Database of Death - Synopsis and Prologue - 1

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I thought I'd start writing a story, and an idea sprung into my head, about someone who gets access to a database which contains all past, present and future history. Here's a synopsis:

Imagine that you had the power to change history. To change what's happened, what's happening now, and what's going to happen. The greatest power mankind has experienced. Shakti Jones, a run-of-the-mill schoolchild suddenly finds herself with access to the database. She starts modifying history, convinced that her actions are benifiting the world. James Turner is the only one who notices. He must take action before the world's fate ends up in the wrong hands, and time runs out. He must destroy the Database of Death. Wikipedia. Gone bad.
The Wikipedia-gone-bad concept is quite terrifying. I haven't planned the story much yet, but I've got the basic outline above. But things are bound to change, and Database of Death is a working title. I've got the first draft of the prologue below. I probably won't update it often, maybe every once in a while. Enjoy, and please leave comments and suggestions!
James thanked the librarian and left the room. He placed the three 400-page science-fiction books in his bag, and headed to the staircase. He received a text from Alex, his best friend, asking him where he was. James replied; saying he would be down as quick as possible. He had promised Alex that they'd watch a film, and it was starting in fifteen minutes. He hastily began to descend from the third floor. But suddenly, before anyone could notice, the ceiling came hurtling down at an unimaginable pace. James gasped for breath. He had become immobilised, and an unbearable sensation of numbness and pain snaked from his heart outward, through every vain, to each and every millimetre of his body, like a terminal virus. The sound of the crash was deafening, and it felt as if his mind had been blindfolded. Not soon later, as he lost consciousness, the whole world darkened and eventually vanished. The following series of mysterious events would leave him as the only one who knew the secret. From this moment on, James's life had changed forever.

Welcome back and Happy New Year!

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Hi! I'd like to welcome you back to my revamped blog. I hope you had a great new year! I thought that the previous logo was becoming old and monotonous, so I decided to liven it up with some more colour and a much nicer font! I've also put up lanterns for the Lunar New Year!

First of all, I was playing with a few new Blogger templates; Notepad Chaos among others, but after weeks of playing with them, deciding, checking things like flexibility, structure and design, I decided to stay with my current design - which I think looks great. But I didn't want to have the same old logo.

So, after browsing on Dafont.com, I chose this new 'mean handwriting' font. I also found some Lunar New Year decorations on HongKiat. Now it's all done, and I'm looking forward to a great year of fun blogging! So don't forget to come here often and maybe even add me to your RSS reader (for new readers, I'd just like to say that the title is completely random!).

Over my wonderful Wallace and Gromity, Eastendersy and Doctor Who-ey Christmas and New Year, I have got many books and watched lots of TV programmes and films, and have travelled quite a bit, so expect some reviews soon (Doctor Who, A Wrinkle in Time, Day of the Triffids and Necropolis among others)!

Oh, and I shan't forget the Lunar New Year! I'd like to wish all of you who celebrate the festival a wonderful new year of the ox! Have fun! On the subject of the Lunar New Year, remember, if you prefer to read in Chinese/中文 (simplified/简体 and traditional/繁體), Korean/한국어 or Vietnamese/Tiếng Việt, this blog is available in (hopefully not too dodgy) translations! One more thing - this is the start of my series of posts on Chinese culture. They will continue throughout the Spring. Enjoy my blog, please leave comments, and come back soon!

Oslo! The capital of Norway!

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So, here I am, writing in a hotel in Oslo, the capital of Norway, one of the only non-EU european countries. I came on a 6 hour train journey yesterday, which was rather tiring to say the least. But it's great so far! We visited a much-reknowned place yesterday: Aker Brygge, which is like a harbourside-cum-shopping centre-cum-very expensive restaurant centre-cum-Christmas market. The Christmas market was lovely; drowned in beautiful lights, and selling lovely things. I will post some photos later. It was a pity that everything was so overpriced, I mean, is 50 Norwegian Kroner (£5/$10/€7.50) the right price to pay for a 400 g stollen cake? I doubt it. But it was fun to visit. We also took a tram ride up to Grünerløkka, the Greenwich/Camden-y area, and the tram since it was late (OK, 8pm isn't that late, but it gets pitch black at about 4pm in Oslo), it was nice, because we saw lots of Christmas lights on the way. Now I'm about to eat breakfast, and I'll update this very post later. Come back soon!

The Christmas Series - Part 3 - Christmas Media in the UK

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What would Christmas be without the media? TV, radio, the internet, magazines, books, shops, online stores, newspapers, theatres, cinemas... the list is endless. Every year the UK media blows up with Christmas cheer... and this year is no different! So I thought I'd give a little preview of what we can expect to see this Christmas.


This year, UK TV viewers can expect to watch a whole array of Christmas specials. Starting with 'The Snowman' and 'A Christmas Carol'; Christmas Eve classics, we can also expect to see Jacqueline Wilson's 'Dustbin Baby' bought to life and a special Eastenders in which Dot's son Nick returns to (wreck?) Christmas. The Doctor Who Christmas special 'The Next Doctor' is something not to be missed. A dramatised version of the spooky 'Crooked House' will air, as well as another episode of the ever-loved programme Wallace and Gromit; A Matter of Loaf and Death. Michael Palin retraces his steps to Mumbai and Dubai, which he last visited twenty years ago, as well as the Keeping up Appearances and the Blackadder Christmas specials airing! Top of the Pops returns too, along with the final of Strictly Come Dancing and a whole list of films and repeats!

Bookstores and clothes stores go mad at Christmas, with all the shops trying to lure their customers with pre-Christmas 'sales', which are likely to be slashed in half on Boxing Day. Online stores are also extremely popular this Christmas; sales of up to one thousand per minute were recorded on Play.com!

Theatre productions such as the Dickensian 'A Christmas Carol' and pantomimes return, and hundreds of streets will be lit up, as well as loads of markets being set up. London is probably one of the best places to be around Christmas - so much festive spirit!!

I'll return with another Christmassy post soon! I hope you enjoyed reading; please leave comments!

The Christmas Series - Part 2 - A little pre-Christmas poem

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You may have noticed that I've gone absolutely overboard with the decorations on the blog - and that's because I love Christmas! Everything about it! Dressing the tree, opening the presents, walking down lit up streets - everything! I'm mad about Christmas! I hope you like the blog decorations - please leave comments! And, since there's only three weeks left until Christmas day, I thought I'd kick off with a little pre-Christmas poem! Enjoy!

The stockings are up,
We've dressed the tree,
In three weeks exactly
It's Christmas to be.

We've baked the mince pies,
The pudding's in the pot,
Now I come to mention it -
I see, we've made a lot!

The fireplace mantle is
Covered with cards,
And outside the window
It's snowing quite hard!

We've done lots of shopping,
We've seen all the sales,
Our house is so packed,
So much to unveil!

Now we're getting ready,
Watching TV and more,
Singing all the carols,
Like no Christmas before!

Now I'm in Hyde Park,
In the Winter Wonderland,
The lovely Christmas market,
It's going just as planned.

We've been to the theatre,
The pantomimes we've seen!
A Christmas Carol - charming!
What a great time it's been!

But now we will all wait here,
Till the joyful Christmas morn',
To open all our presents,
We're waiting for the dawn...

Happy Birthday Doctor Who!

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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!

Death Note - an unusual story

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Initially I didn't really like the look of anime (Japanese animated stories), but I actually found one that is pretty good. It's called Death Note (デスノート), and it's based on the manga (Japanese comic book) of the same name. The story is a supernatural action mystery by Tsugumi Ohba and it is about a Death God who drops a notebook entitled Death Note, because he was bored. Any person's name that is written in this book will die within 40 seconds.

Light Yagami, a Japanese teenager, happened to pick up this book, and therefore became the owner of it. Now he can see the death god Ryuk, who believes that human control of the book is 'fun'. Light starts writing down the names of all the criminals he can think of, and they start dropping like flies. He wishes to become a 'God' and bring justice to the world - and make it a better place. But this doesn't go unnoticed, and now everyone from the Japanese police to a secret detective called 'L' and the FBI are after him, and Light is doing is best to protect his identity. He is now known all across Japan as the Japanese pronunciation of 'Killer' - 'Kira'.

I'm on episode three - and I'm really enjoying it. I don't know if everyone would like it, but you could always try watching the first episode below!