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The Passage, Justin Cronin
The Passage by Justin Cronin is a gripping post apocalyptic novel that you have to read this summer. The military believe they can engineer and train a new breed of soldiers whom are indestructible. By testing the virus on twelve inmates on death row, the military try to achieve their dream.
However, the dream turns into a nightmare with the twelve subjects, virals, escaping, killing and destroying the world.
The world before the virus.
Blood sucking vampires (virals), Amy, an FBI agent, a nun, the army, survivors. The array of characters keeps you interested and the characters lives soon cross over as the plot unravels. One of the main character Amy, a young girl of six years old, is the enigma of the novel: she
has telepathic abilities, can communicate with the virals and is actually over one hundred years. You are constantly questioning her being: what is she? What are her powers?
The novel explores a range of emotions: courage, loss, faith and a human’s fight for survival. Cronin beautifully describes the fear felt by the characters when facing the hungry and crazed virals. The scenes are well written with gruesome and gritty details guaranteed to make you squirm!
The novel’s ending does not offer a resolution, however this is deliberate as Cronin is creating a trilogy: The Passage, The Twelve and The City of Mirrors. Visit Amazon to get your hands on this epic novel! The second in the series is out in October 2012, so the wait is nearly over…
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Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011
As ever Goodwood has lived up to its name: glorious. Year after year the Festival of Speed promises car fanatics and enthusiasts an unbelievable and unforgettable day out. In the words of Petrol Head Nirvana ‘No other event combines such a diverse and authentic collection of cars and motorbikes with a star-studded line-up of drivers in one place.’
The Festival of Speed runs from 30th June- 3rd July 2011 and offers a wide variety for all: the Moving Motor Show display, the Exhibitors area, the Forest Rally Stage, FoS-TECH, the off-road Activities Field, the Supercar Paddock, the Cricket Pitch and a great deal more.
This year’s theme is “Racing Revolutions – Quantum leaps that shaped motor sport, celebrating the ceaseless quest for increased power; greater efficiency; more speed.”
From start to finish the day (Thursday 30th June 2011) proved to be a great success. The cars were beautifully displayed and exhibited with various companies promoting their models in unique ways (to name a few): the Mini stand had the scalectricks running, BMW offered an amazing fifteen mniutes with Jake Humphreys and Audi offered some fantastic giveaway goodie bags.
The most memorable interview of the day was between BBC F1 commentator Jake Humphreys and Dirk Muller. The interview was inspiring to fans of the sport and with only a small crowd surrounding the two stars the interview proved to be very intimate and exclusive.
The jaw dropping event of the day had to be the Goodwood Action Sports (GAS). The stunts left people trembling at the knees. “Chicks dig scars.”
FMX (Freestyle Motocross, a spin-off of motocross racing), BMX, and MTB (Mountain Bike Trials) wowed the crowds. “I can’t watch anymore, feel how sweaty my palms are. It is making me so nervous,” remarked one mother whilst her son watched in awe.
The stunts were definitely geared to the younger viewers but parents alike were amazed and struck by the sheer fearlessness of the riders, especially the FMX.
The BMX riders on the Animal Bike Tour were so concise and disciplined with their bike tricks. Riders Martyn Aston, Danny MacAskill and Blake Samson certainly caused a frenzy of excitement. By the end of their performance I was feeling numb. The sheer skill and precision that went into every move was undeniable and the crowd could sense the tension as each rider demonstrated their talent.
See my Flickr and YouTube for more videos and photographs of the event.
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What a tweet Twitter is!
He is dead. No wait, reports have just said…. Click this link to find out more. Social media websites have become invaluable to us. Fact. Our fast paced lives mean we need to retrieve information quickly and efficiently. In my opinion, Twitter is by far one of the best examples of a versatile website used for social interactions, business opportunities and promotion, and fast delivery of information, most often media related. The last few weeks Twitter has been in the news continuously with many articles arguing, debating and discussing about the ‘privacy’ of Twitter. However, it is not solely Twitter that lets the ‘cat out of the bag’ for celebrities… (miaow)…
None the less Twitter is a fantastic website and as a user of the website (follow me @bexybex74) I have a few useful tips:
- Twitter blog posted last week how Twitter has radically improved ‘searching’. The results will now be more relevant to you as a user, and when you search or click on a trending topic you will be able to view related photographs or videos. This has improved the overall use of media on the website: text, image and video.
- To increase your readership use Timely which publishes your tweets at the ‘best time’.
- Tweetmeme or Twitscoop are handy websites to find out what topics are being discussed most on Twitter.
- If you love geography, then you will love Twittervision which shows where the latest tweets are being posted.
By using the websites as mentioned, Twitter can help you build an online community (networking). Enjoy the adaptability and vastness of Twitter and you may even find you can use the website to generate ideas or thoughts with like-minded individuals.
As a creative writer I plan to use Twitter to create short narratives that readers have to follow weekly. It creates a postmodern approach to literacy and the use of photographs and videos can bring a story alive. So, how will you use 140 characters?
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