August/September - My first monthly review!
Anyone who knows me knows I read a lot, watch a lot of TV and see a lot of films every month so I decided instead of doing individual reviews for every single thing, I decided I put them all together in one large post, rather like a monthly favourites video that YouTubers like Zoella do!
I am going to try and actually do this every month because I like talking about things and here seems like the perfect place so I no longer annoy my family and friends by rambling on about what books I've read!
*edit* okay when I said every month I forgot school would get in the way. So every two months seems more logical to me now. Sorry.
These reviews/rambles could be literally of anything even if it's just food or something so yeah....on we go! :)
Books
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
I think I joined the bandwagon a little late on this book to be honest and I really wished I'd picked it up sooner!
As a fan of the Hunger Games, I was told by a friend that I would really enjoy this book and when I saw it in a shop with £3 off, I figured I'd give it a whirl!
Set in a dystopian future, Uglies tells the story of a society that is split between the "pretties" and the "uglies". Everyone is deemed an "uglie" until the age of 16 where you get taken in for an operation to become a "pretty" and you finally get to be able to live your life on the pretty side of town. At the start of the novel, 15 year old Tally is desperate to become 16 and finally become pretty not only so she can see her best friend Peris again but because she will finally be pretty, something she's waited for her entire life.
However, when she befriends Shay, a girl who would turn pretty on the same day as Tally, who isn't all that keen on the idea of having to become someone else's idea of "pretty", Tally begins to learn about a world outside of the towns and cities, where no-one is pretty.
When Shay runs away, Tally is told to find and betray her friend or never turn pretty.
I found this book so thought-provoking and incredible to read, showing that on the path to external beauty, it isn't really all that beautiful at all. There is sinister work going on by those who deem ordinary, imperfect but still beautiful people to be Ugly.
At first the character of Tally annoyed me as she seemed rather weak and easily misled by others but by the end, she is so much stronger than I would ever have expected her to be and she shows that intelligence is a far greater weapon than anything. This book makes you think, makes you happy, makes you question your morals and I think that's everything you could want from a good book. If you enjoy the Hunger Games, this is a definite read for you!
Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher
A friend of mine told me she was reading this and while I was at LeakyCon earlier this month it was there so I figured I'd give it a try!
The general idea of the story is a teenage girl named "Zoe" (not her real name as you find out at the end oooh plot twist) who has a terrible, guilty secret - I won't tell you what it is - and she can't tell it to anyone because she'd be in big trouble. Until she hears of criminal on Death Row in America, one who knows all about secrets - the book is the series of letters she writes to him, telling him about her secret.
When I first read the synopsis, I was intrigued by the story - it sounded mysterious and I do love a good mystery book! By the end of the first chapter I was hooked.... however after that the book went a little down hill for me I'm afraid. I kept going with it as I wanted to see what this horrible dark secret was but I found the main character very whiny about her life if I'm honest. She was pretty much stringing along two boys and I ended up feeling sorry for them not her and her quest to find which one she liked better. In fact, I think my favourite character was "Zoe's" little sister Dot, who is deaf, but didn't let that stop her from being adorable and supportive!
All in all, not a bad read, easy to get through if you had a few hours to spare and a good ending but I'd only really give it a 6/10.
A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Onto the opposite end of the scale for this book! During this summer, I started to watch the TV series of Game of Thrones and I fell totally in love with it, it has become my new obsession.
Yes I'm a naughty fan because I watched the TV show before I read the books but sue me I don't care. I bought the first book after watching the first season so I already knew the main plot points anyway.
Game of Thrones is set in a dystopian, almost medieval universe where houses compete and fight and generally try to get one over one another! The plot of the first book centers on Lord Eddard (Ned) Stark, who is asked to become Hand of the King by King Robert Baratheon despite the previous Hand dying very suddenly. Ned is thrown into a suspicious world where either everyone or no-one can be trusted not to mention the exiled family Targaryen rising to power once more AND the people that keep disappearing and coming back with ice-blue eyes seemingly never being able to die - a threat thought to be have been destroyed years ago.
There is too much going on in Game of Thrones to sum it up easily so my only advice for you can be READ IT. I was surprised how much I love the series given that I'm not great with blood, guts and gore and by how much sex there is in it but the characters are my favourite, I get very attached to them all and the story lines are so fantastic! I recommend highly but definitely for ages 16 and up only! (There are some rather...ahem...racy/violent scenes)
Films
The Smurfs 2
I admit, I only went to see this film because my sister wanted to see it and I didn't have anything else to do for the day and my only reason for seeing it was my (large) obsession with Neil Patrick Harris.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by this film! I actually think I enjoyed it more than my sister and the numerous other young kids in the cinema to be honest!
It had a really sweet message running through out it and it had some pretty good comedic moments. The cast were all great as their respective parts and it's just a really nice feel-good movie! I did find parts of the storyline slightly unrealistic though - four people managed to get from New York to Paris in under (what seemed like) 12 hours? No.
I'd recommend if you want to watch something that isn't too hard to follow or you have younger children with you.
Click here for the trailer ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQbSGLaVJ5c
Grown Ups 2
When I heard a sequel to Grown Ups was coming out, I was so excited as I absolutely adore that movie, it never fails to make me smile!
I went with my cousin, who is a huge fan of the first movie like myself, so it's safe to say we were both pretty excited.
I wasn't disappointed! It was hilarious, made me feel happy and just generally good about life. And with a stellar cast of Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Salma Heyek, Maya Rudolph AND David Spade, it was obviously going to be amazing (also Alexander Ludwig and Taylor Lautner in minor roles which was lovely for the females watching ;) )
My only negative point about this film was it didn't really have a plot line. I don't know how to explain it but it introduced a few running jokes at the beginning and the 'party' where the film reached it's ending - and after that ...that was kind of it. It was still full of comedic moments but there was no real story to it. Which in a way is good because you didn't have to concentrate on the storyline, just enjoy the film!
I recommend for ages 12 and up :)
Click here for the trailer ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhOWtVElqfw
Music
I only really have one music for this time round which is Theo Katzman's album Romance without Finance.
I feel so bad for jumping on the bandwagon late with this one as the album has been out since 2011 (whoops my bad).
I found Theo's music from Darren Criss (star of glee and the potter musicals on youtube for those who are unaware). Theo supported Darren on his first national tour and being from England I could only watch YouTube videos of the concerts but I found that I loved Theo's songs!
I downloaded the album and have barely stopped listening to it. The songs make me happy, the lyrics are stunning and the music is gorgeous. Go give it a listen!!
Here is Theo's song 'Brooklyn' --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF_fVEAk728
In Conclusion
Thank you for reading, I will get back into this blogging thing properly I promise! If you want you can find me on twitter here @elderpr1ce
*disclaimer I don't own any of the youtube videos or pictures used and opinions are my own*
Until next time! Love Laura xx
(Sorry it’s a bit late…)
Wednesday 7th August
My time at LeakyCon London technically started when I travelled down
from my little town in Yorkshire on Wednesday 7th August and nothing
really happened that day other than that I was acting like an excited
puppy all day because Leaky. Our accomodation wasn’t the best but I was
determined not to let it spoil anything.
I did, however, see the musical “We Will Rock You” with my family on
the night and it was about a thousands times better than I thought it
was going to be. I love and admire Queen’s music so much but I thought
it was just going to be a rubbish storyline with Queen songs thrown in
and around it to make it better. I found the storyline (set in the
future where the “Killer Queen” has stopped anyone making their own
music and a band of rebels named the “Bohemians”, led by Galileo Figaro
have to find the last instrument) was so clever, hilarious and the cast
and musicians were an incredibly talented bunch of people.
Anyway I’m rambling,
Thursday 8th August
I walked down to the Grand Connaught Rooms with my dad for about 9am
to be confronted with a HUGE queue. (Like seriously it was massive).
Registration was meant to start at 9am but the computer systems were not
ready so I didn’t end up getting registered until about 11:10am!
Thankfully, the people I was stood with in the queue were all lovely so
it passed (relatively) quickly!
There was a slight panic with my registration as we couldn’t find the
booking rerference *cue me on the phone to my dad having a panic
attack* until a nice volunteer saw me in tears in a corner and pointed
me in the right direction to get it sorted! (I didn’t get your name
volunteer but THANK YOU SO MUCH)
Then I didn’t have anything to do until either Holly or Raisa got
there. Events were meant to start at 1:00pm and I was planning on going
to them but given there was a queue stretching round the block I wasn’t
even sure they would be on! Thankfully I saw Zoe in the queue, she was
one of my first proper internet friends and I’d already met her in Feb
this year, and there were hugs and things - yeah.
Holly, another one of my first internet friends, texted me to say she
was here so I ran around for a while looking for her until I saw her
and then we embraced and she is so cute and lovely and yay friends! (wow
good english there Laura).
Raisa also arrived shortly after that and again, there were more hugs and friendship type of things yay!
As I already had my pass, I was allowed to go inside to the events
for 1:00pm so I had to leave Holly and Raisa in the queue (sorry guys
given that you’d never even spoken before). I found Zoe again, where we
went to the Leaky First-Timers meetup. There was nothing in the meetup
that I hadn’t already guessed or knew about LeakyCon but it was still
fun - especially when we got told the story of drunk!Darren Criss at
Leaky Chicago where he dropped his beer and continued to drink it off
the floor. (It’s stories like that and realise I've made good life
choices with the people who inspire me)
Later in the day, I went to the Whovian meetup with Raisa and Zoe
where there were discussions on favourite Doctors, companions, monsters,
episodes and of course - Steven Moffat. (Personally, I don’t mind his
writing, I just don’t really like him). I spoke up when everyone was
talking about monsters and the scarier episodes when no-one mentioned
Midnight because that episode scared the crap out of me. (Seriously. I
didn’t sleep for about a week)
Then it was time for the Welcome Ceremony - there was a massive queue
for it in which we got shut outside for a while which was confusing -
but we were eventually let in! I had to leave before Starkid sang to go
eat dinner but I managed to see Evanna Lynch, Lauren Fairweather,
Scarlett Byrne, Robbie Jarvis, Alife Enoch, the HPA video and I finally
can cross off being in a Vlogbrothers video off my bucket list because
the wonderful Hank Green let us shout “GOOD MORNING JOHN” and that was
honestly one of my favourite things to do ever. (He also did Accio
Deathly Hallows which was AMAZING)
That evening, it was the Rock Concert. The only two acts I had ever
really known the music for were Alex Carpenter and Hank Green, although I
had heard of the other bands.
I found I really enjoyed the music throughout the night despite being
very tired and had a good time getting to know Holly better in real
life!
I was also fortunate enough to meet Alex Carpenter. This man is one
of the sweetest and loveliest people ever. For some reason my camera
wouldn’t work the first two times Holly tried to take the picture of us
so I said on the third go, “if it doesn’t work this time, we’ll forget
the picture” and he said “no, no, honestly we will get you your picture,
don’t worry about it”. I replied jokingly “it’s only so I can come back
and keep hugging you” - his reply was an adorable smile and he simply
only hugged me tighter. (I LOVE HIM OKAY)
Brian Holden and Meredith Stepien were both in the bar, and I didn’t
really get a chance to say hi but Meredith smiled back at me when I
waved at her. I also took the creepiest picture of Clark Baxtresser as
shown below.
I left after Alex’s set because I was falling asleep on the spot practically.
Friday 9th August
I was awake by 6am because I was so nervous to get into the Starkid
signing that morning. I set off for the GCR to get there for half seven
and there was a massive queue already, which made my already low
confidence levels for getting in even lower.
As it would happen once we eventually got in, me and Raisa were not
fortunate enough to get into the signing whereas Holly was. And as happy
as I was for her, I was very upset inside. I tried to stay positive as I
went to the back of the queue but deep down, I was sure we wouldn’t get
in. And we didn’t. so that sucked big time. Starkid were my primary
reason for going and me and many other fans didn’t get the chance to
speak to them (so far anyway ;]) (I did manage to get into Hank Green’s
signing though!)
So anyway, me and Raisa went to the Nerdfighter Gathering while Holly
went to the signing, both of us were pretty sad about not being able to
meet Starkid.
I will forever be thankful to Hank Green for what happened next. He
came out and began talking and he made me laugh and smile and he made
what began as a shitty day a whole lot better. Hank is basically one of
my favourite people ever and he is every bit as intelligent, funny and
adorable in real life as what we see on the computer screen.
Afterwards it was the HP actor panel, which was funny, awesome and
they all came across as incredibly lovely people. (Raisa also discovered
her love for Rohan Gotobed) My favourite quote from this panel had to
be -“I like balls. Any kind of balls really” - Robbie Jarvis.
Then came the Starkid Panel, which was brilliant as I finally got to
see the people who have made my life better in general in the flesh and
that was just amazing. They made me smile as per usual and their
impressions of one another was a highlight. 
Next came the Hank Green signing! I decided I wanted to ask him one
of the most horrible and awkward questions ever - “Do you prefer John
Green’s books or JK Rowling’s books?”
to which his answer was “Oh.
Shit. Don’t make me answer that!” I then shook his hand and he is really
one of the loveliest people ever. Very thankful I got to meet him after
being an admirer of his for so long!
Pretty sure after that we went and creeped the hell out of the
Waterstones staff who were there but never ye mind. It was fun! Then I
went to eat dinner and fell asleep.
Saturday 10th August
Another early start on the Saturday! As I didn’t get into the Starkid
signing, I was determined to get into the HP actor signing that
morning! Unluckily, I felt incredibly ill when I woke up and still did
by the time I got to the GCR which didn’t help my confidence levels.
However I made some new friends in the queue and Raisa and Holly also
both cheered me up! (I also think the painkiller I had helped…)
The lottery began and there (thankfully) wasn’t a huge queue that
morning as most people had gotten into the signings they wanted the day
before! On the second time round, Holly and Raisa both got into the HP
actor signing - and I didn’t. Again the nerves crept in but third time
lucky - Raisa got a white ticket and gave it to me so yaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Before the signing, we went to the second HP actor panel. Before that
started there was a chance for our tweets to get onto the big screen
and (as a joke) Raisa tweeted “guys who is JK Rowling?? Everyone keeps
talking about her? Who did she play?” which of course ended up on the
screen and everyone cheered. Raisa was miffed that no-one answered her
question. ;)
The HP actor panel turned into a trivia quiz for the actors which was
pretty funny although I was slightly disappointed by how little a
couple of them seemed to know about Harry Potter. :( Best moment however
was when someone asked “what house was Edward Cullen in?” and Chris
Rankin just yelled “GET OUT” <— A reason I love this man.
Afterwards, we headed to the signing! Rohan Gotobed (young Sirius
Black) was the first person on the signing and Raisa proposed to him.
(It was pretty much one of the best things ever okay) He went a shade of
red and Robbie Jarvis (Young James Potter) questioned their age. (Raisa
justified it by saying that they were the same age so it was okay) I
apologised for her behaviour and then Robbie said I could dance with him
at the ball. (Which I didn’t in the end :( ) Ryan Turner (Hugo Weasley)
was next and I didn’t really have much to say to him but he was nice
enough. Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley) was next and I told him we’ve
talked on twitter before but he didn’t remember me but never mind. He’s a
really lovely guy (and he asked me a question after I’d moved away a
bit but I didn’t hear him and Holly told me afterwards and then I felt
really bad whoops) Ellie Darcy-Alden (Young Lily Potter) told me I could
be her friend and I got a high five from her.
Then it came to Scarlett Byrne who is so sweet! She asked me how I
was and if I was enjoying LeakyCon and I proceeded to tell her how
beautiful her hair is. (To be fair to myself, I have always wanted to
tell her that since Pansy Parkinson first appeared in the films) so then
we had a conversation about her hair?! Next was Evanna Lynch (I
shouldn’t have to tell you who she plays) and I was fangirling so much.
She asked me if I was okay and I basically replied with I love you. I
told her she’s an inspiration to me and that Luna is my favourite
character and I’m so thankful to her for portraying Luna perfectly and
she told me I was very sweet. Lastly it was Benedict Clarke (Young
Snape) who gave me a high-five and told me I could dance with him at the
ball (which I kinda did!)
Afterwards, Raisa wanted to go get a Starkid hoodie and that was the
greatest decision she has ever made because we got to the vendor room
and Jaime Lyn Beatty was sat there signing things. Given that me and
Raisa hadn’t met any of the Starkids the previous day, we both got
rather excited. Jaime was super sweet and she was like “I want to live
in London!” and I replied with “yeah me too”. We were about to leave the
vendor room when a wild Dylan Saunders appeared and Raisa followed him,
apologised foe stalking him and then he was like it’s cool and hugged
her? I waited to get a picture with him and he was so nice and we hugged
and it was beautiful. 
We went to a cafe nearby for lunch and I think I scared the woman who
served me because I was still in a state of shock that I just hugged
Dylan Saunders. Then on the way back, we almost got ran over by the taxi
which had Brian Holden, Joe Walker and Meredith Stepien in it….
I forgot to mention earlier that we also got into the Hank Green
signing again and I figured why not? This might be my only chance to
ever meet him so why not do it twice? In the queue, there were
spontanenous singalongs which was one of the greatest things ever. At
some point in your life, you need to be a singalong of Bohemian Rhapsody
because it was fricking amazing. I can’t really remember my second
conversation with Hank other than that I told him he was the only person
worthy of signing my lanyard and he thanked me for that.
After that it was the Starkid Concert. BEST. THING. EVER. Ever since I
discovered Starkid, I have wanted to see them live and finally that
became a reality. I cried, I laughed and I generally just spent the
entire time in awe of these beautiful, amazing, talented people. I cried
during To Have A Home and Not Alone because emotions. (I did take
pictures but tbh they’re really blurry because I was shaking. The videos
I took will be linked below)
After the concert, I randomly saw Liam Dryden of YouTube and despite
him looking really quite tired, I asked if I could get a picture, a
chat and a hug. I asked him how VidCon was and his reply was tiring but a
lot of fun. Again, a very lovely person! 
Then it was the Ball! It was a lot of fun to just spend time with
friends I made from the internet who I never thought I’d get to meet, at
least not for a long while! We danced and sang and Benedict Clarke was
kinda dancing amongst everyone so I’m classing that as he is dancing
with me.
Here’s me and Holly with a photo-bombing Kristina in the background.
I left the ball early because I was shattered and my feet were on the verge of falling off.
Sunday 11th August
As it was the last day we didn’t have to be there so early on the
Sunday! I got there for 9am (pretty much a lie-in!) As it was a leaving
breakfast, I hadn’t eaten anything yet that morning so I was very
hungry. We all were. We made friends with the girls behind us in the
queue in which we all began to halluncinate about food and how food is a
beautiful thing. So thanks Ria, Paige and Kath (And Holly and Raisa)
for making that one of the funniest queues/breakfast experiences of my
life.
After breakfast we kinda just wandered around aimlessly because
nobody wanted to say goodbye. I saw people we’d met during the weekend
and felt sad because it would be the last time I’d see them probably.
There was some people walking around with a Free Hugs sign so we
hugged them and then Melissa Anelli (as in the creator of LeakyCon) came by so we all stood there with
open arms until she came and joined in our group hug. She also spilt
coffee on Raisa and she signed my book! I told her she was a legend and
she replied with no that’s you - she is also very lovely!!
When the time came to say goodbye to Holly it was not fun. I hugged
her and genuinely didn’t want to let go - Holly was my first ever
internet friend and to finally meet her was awesome. Raisa and Holly
hadn’t even spoken before LeakyCon I think and I’m glad we all became
good friends in the short weekend we spent together :)
Me and Raisa again wandered around aimlessly saying goodbye to people
in which Raisa began to cry. We saw Alex Carpenter and asked for
goodbye hugs which he gave willingly -again he is the nicest hugger ever
and it made me feel so comforted. I told him it had been so nice to
meet him and he was like you too, but I promise we will all meet again
one day! He saw Raisa was crying and told her that it would all be
okay. And that is how I fell in love with Alex Carpenter at LeakyCon.
Anyway. Then I had to say goodbye to Raisa as our parents were
hanging around outside. She started crying again and I tried not to. (I
haven’t told her or Holly this but I cried on the train home shush) I
think we hugged about three times and then I had to leave :((
To sum it all up, LeakyCon was the greatest few days of my life. The
people, the experience was all just brilliant and I can’t get over it.
Mischief Managed!
My top ten LeakyCon favourite memories/quotes (in no particular order) -
1. Hank Green swearing at my question.
2. Raisa proposing to Rohan Gotobed.
3. The singalong in the Hank Green signing queue
4. Waterstones Oxford Street Twitter guy being generally hilarious.
5. “Dobby is a strong independent elf who don’t need no sock”
6. The starkid panel/concert
7. Meeting friends!!!!
8. Singing the Doctor Who theme tune at the Whovian Meetup
9. “Look it’s my new friend Ellie!” - Raisa.
10. the leaving breakfast.
The people I met/spent the weekend with - Raisa Holly
Zoe Kath Ria Hannah Kristina Annika
All the videos I took at LeakyCon in one video :)
If you read all of this well done!!
Love Laura xxx
Now you've read the blog title, I'm hoping I've got the song "Hello!" from the Book of Mormon stuck in your head!
Anyway, this is my first post on this blog! To give you some infomation about myself, I am Laura Caley, a 16 year old girl from the North of England (namely Yorkshire).
I decided I wanted to give this blogging thing a try as kind of creative outlet for me - because I can't draw, sew, watch myself back on camera or do anything else creative but what I can do is talk. (Often about nothing to be honest!)
I've had Tumblr for a long while which is, first and foremost, a blogging website but I generally use my Tumblr to fangirl over Darren Criss and random TV shows. I decided I wanted somewhere where I can write down my thoughts and feelings on anything and everything whether it be a book review, a film review, if there is a particularly good or bad episode of a TV show I'm watching or even just something that happened in my day and a proper blog would be much better for me to do this rather than just some thoughts on tumblr where it is so easy to be attacked for having a different opinion to someone else!
It doesn't matter to me whether or not people read this blog (although it would be nice!), it's just something for me to do in my spare time as a hobby.
This post isn't going to be very long or particularly exciting but there will be more to come shortly! For example, my LeakyCon London post will be up shortly!
Thanks for reading :)
Love Laura x
