Louise Douglas

(I've got no) Shelf Control…

  • I know you want to stay in bed…

    …but it’s light outside.

    That’s right folks, Wakey!Wakey! are coming to the UK for two dates, and guess who’s going to see them in Nottingham? Very, very excited! Frank is coming with me, and it is his first gig, so it is going to be really fun. I ordered some new Wakey Wakey music a couple of nights ago (narrowly missing out on the last copy of ‘Silent as a Movie’), and I am really loving it. If you want to know more about Wakey!Wakey!, you can see their twitter page @WakeyWakey, or their website. Here’s the video for one of their songs: Light Outside

    I have also been listening to a lot of Chris Young lately. Completely different to Wakey!Wakey!, as he is a very Country singer, but he has such a silky voice. He has a few songs (like Flowers or The Dashboard) which give me chills, the words are so lovely. He also has songs like Burn or That Makes Me, that I just can’t help singing along to. I have had a combination of his songs stuck in my head for the last two days, and I can’t wait for his new album to come out. You can find out more about Chris Young on his twitter page @ChrisYoungMusic, or on his website. Here is Chris’ latest video, for a very catchy song called Tomorrow.

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  • Now Reading: Philip K. Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

    This is part of my set of ‘books that have been made into successful films’, and was filmed as Blade Runner. Not my usual kind of book but we’ll see how it goes…

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  • Now Reading: Jean Webster – Daddy Long-Legs

    Firstly, I wanted to say how interesting I found The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman. I always find it hard to read books about the war, but we must never forget the terrible things that happened. This book was the true story of the author who managed to escape death against all odds, with help at the end from a German soldier, who was killed after the end of the war. Apparently the film of the book won a lot of awards, so I will be watching that soon.

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    Daddy Long-Legs was my favourite book when I was younger, and when I saw it on amazon for £1.50, I had to buy it to read it again! It’s quite a short book, so will make a nice break after the last one.

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  • Chester Zoo

    Yesterday I went on a day trip to Chester Zoo with my dad and brother. It’s a lot of walking so we booked an electric scooter for my dad, which he had a lot of fun using – especially when he turned the speed up to max to get away from us. The weather stayed really nice all day (I think I sunburnt my nose), and we all had lots of fun. I thought it might have been quieter with half term being over, but it was really busy – lots and lots of kids.

    My favourite animals were definitely the Giraffes. So graceful and very pretty faces, and you could get really close to them compared to some of the other animals. A lot of the animals were just laying around enjoying the sun, in particular the lions and cheetahs, which I would have expected to move around a lot more.

    My least favourite were the bats. You can walk right through the bat house at Chester Zoo, and they fly really close to you, which really creeped me out, especially as it’s so dark that you can’t really see them. One landed on my dad’s scooter, but he didn’t mind. In fact, him and Frank stayed in the bat house long after I had escaped!

     

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  • Lillibrilliant?!

    I gave up on posting game recaps when the White Sox gave up on winning, but I had to write a post about Brent Lillibridge in last night’s game against the Yankees.

    Last night’s game didn’t start until midnight UK time, so I only made it until the 5th inning before I fell asleep, but I saw the highlights (and the tweets) this morning. Brent Lillibridge made two amazing catches last night in the bottom of the ninth, to save the game and get Gavin Floyd the win.

    The first one was fantastic, but the second one was unbelievable. Three things I have to mention:

    1. Hawk Harrelson gets really excited. People don’t like him but he’s one of the best play-by-play guys I’ve heard.
    2. Lillibridge’s face as he made the first catch was awesome. I don’t think he expected to catch it.
    3. Derek Jeter came past home plate (obviously expecting he would score and win the game) and just mouthed ‘Wow’ to the home plate umpire. High praise indeed.

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    If you want to watch, check out the video on the MLB site:

    http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14199297&topic_id=8878818&c_id=cws

    His postgame tweet was brilliantly understated – I would have been celebrating way more.

    http://twitter.com/#!/BSLillibridge/status/63083850313646080

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  • Happy Easter

    Happy Easter to everyone!

    It’s hard to pick one quote to sum up the sacrifice that was made for us, but this is what I was reading this morning:

    John 21:29
    Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’

    I also wanted to share a picture of the present my Uncle Alan brought me back from his holiday, hand carved in Costa Rica.

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  • Now Reading: Wladyslaw Szpilman – The Pianist

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  • Good luck to Frank!

    My brother passed his aptitude test for entry into the RAF last week, with flying colours apparently – who knew he was so brainy?! He had an interview today, and if he gets through that stage, he then has to go through a medical and a physical test. We’ve all got all our fingers crossed for him that he gets through – we can all remember back to when he was younger and all he wanted to do was to be in the armed forces.

    Here’s a couple of pictures of him in his suit – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so smart!

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  • Now Reading: Marian Keyes – Rachel’s Holiday

    I was given this book by a neighbour as part of World Book Night 2011. It looks quite good – and who can say no to free books?!

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  • New Camera

    I caved and bought a new camera today, deciding on the Canon EOS 500D. I had read lots of reviews online and this one sounded good, and after going down to PC World to look at them, I decided on this one. I’ve not taken many pictures yet, I’m going out tomorrow to give it a test run. I did get a picture of the flowers that Vicky bought my Mum for Mother’s Day which I quite like.

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