Reviews Archives - Page 45 of 45 - Antony Simpson is an Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

Honesty

Sunday 4 September 2011 / Antony Simpson / 2 Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Recently I read a very honest post on Mike’s blog titled Glass half… It got me thinking about how difficult it can be to be completely honest my with myself. I’m sure you’ve all had the same difficulty at times.

Then this weekend my good friend Sye came round to visit. Sye and I have a rather unique relationship – we can tell each other anything (and I mean anything). We had a long chat about different things going on in our lives going in to the early hours of the morning. I won’t go into the detail of the conversation as it’s private and unimportant, but what is important is what I’ve realised: I’m not always being completely honest with myself. I do a fantastic job of avoiding the issues that I have and distracting myself with other things.

This avoidance of these issues has led to them seeping in to my everyday life with out me even realising. Look at my blog for example, when’s the last time I wrote a personal post? In the last few months it’s been review after review, books, TV anything to avoid writing from the heart. Well that’s going to be the first change. I’m still going to write reviews (as I quite enjoy it), but the most recent personal post will be a sticky. This means the most recent personal post will appear as the first blog post on the home page. If you like reading the reviews remember to check further down the page for the most recent review. Oh and I know I’m a few Torchwood episodes behind, but I do intend to catch up.

So first completely honest point – I am struggling to decide what are my own feelings and those of others. In paganism and indeed most spiritualities there is a belief that everyone and everything are interconnected. The theory goes that we are all connected and that if enough people feel negative it spreads making more people feel negative. Have you ever been to see a friend feeling really happy but they are down in the dumps and you leave them feeling down yourself? It’s kind of like that but on a much larger scale. We are constantly being bombarded with negativity, more so than ever before, just think: bankers, corrupt politicians, the economic climate (and all that it brings – lack of job security, etc.), the list could go on.

So that’s my first challenge to decide how I feel about everything in my life. To sort through things in my head and listen to what my heart says. From there I can decide what and how I am going to change the things in my life that need changing.

Write soon,

Antony

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TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 6

Monday 22 August 2011 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Episode 6 starts with Rex seeing Vera incinerated. Rex vows to avenge Vera’s death. Over in Wales with Gwen following her father’s second heart attack he is deemed Category 1 by a doctor. Gwen who approaches the doctor and explains about the secret module and what goes on there. But the doctor already knows and claims she’s just doing her job. Gwen says “Shame on you. Don’t ever call yourself a doctor again.” One of my favourite lines of dialogue. Gwen eventually gets her father out of the over flow camp with the help of Rhys. She drives on a motor bike with the secret module in the background and then puts in her Torchwood contact lenses. Gwen blows up the secret module before escaping. Although a good scene, I found myself thinking: where did she suddenly get that rather nice flashy bike from?

Meanwhile in America Rex and Esther are still in the over flow camp. The director of the camp puts the camp on lockdown following incinerating Vera. Rex needs to get out of the camp and fools one of the soldiers to get his uniform, but Rex gets caught. Rex meets the camp director and Rex tells him all about Vera – unaware that it was the camp director who murdered Vera. Esther can’t get hold of Vera on her mobile and she’s worried about Rex. Esther had gone into the camp under the guise of an Administration Assistant. Esther finds out where the director has gone and follows. But the director realises that Rex and Esther know each other and Esther is forced to kill him in self defence. She finds Rex and releases him, upset that she’s killed someone. Rex reminds her that she didn’t kill him as it’s Miracle Day.

While all this is going on Captain Jack is following his own lead on the investigation. He targets the Chief Operating Officer of Phi Cop using his PA who he’s having an affair with. The Chief Operating Officer tells Jack that he’s sent agents to investigate Miracle Day himself and that he doesn’t know whose behind it. He tells Jack that he’s the middle man as everyone else seems to be and that he’s never seen the system manipulated to such a level politically and economically. He says that whoever is behind it must have been planning Miracle Day for a long time. Finally he says that one of his agents in Italy once described that they had found The Blessing, but that he has no further information on it.

Gwen finally arrives back in America to rejoin the team. Walking through the airport she gets a tannoy call to use the curtsy phone. Gwen picks up the phone and hears one word “lenses” (referring to her Torchwood contact lenses). Gwen puts them in and sees written messages. “We have your mother. We have your husband. We have your child.” Gwen asks what they want and they answer with one word “Jack.” Gwen is faced with a dilemma. Her loyalty for Jack versus saving her family. That ends Episode 6 leaving us wondering what will happen next in what’s turning out to be a fantastic series.

You can read previous Episode’s I’ve wrote here:

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 1

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 2

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 3

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 4

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 5

Blog soon,

Antony

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TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 5

Wednesday 17 August 2011 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Episode 5 marks the half way point in the Torchwood Miracle Day series. It’s at this point that I’ve finally got to grips with the characters. We already know Captain Jack Harness – Usually immortal, but Miracle Day has switched things around – making Jack mortal and the rest of the world immortal. Played by the gorgeous John Barrowman; we also know Gwen Cooper – Jack’s right hand woman, married to Rhys and has a beautiful baby girl. Gwen’s father in Episode 4 was moved to a “over flow” camp. But what about the newbies?

Well we’ve previously met Rhys Williams – Married to Gwen and occasionally helps out on Torchwood missions, albeit reluctantly. As for the new American cast, we have:

Rex Matheson – A CIA agent who should have died in a car accident but Miracle Day is keeping him alive. He joined Captain Jack and Gwen after those behind Miracle Day instructed agents in the CIA to take out Jack.

Esther Drummond – A CIA intelligence analyst and friend of Rex. She joins the Torchwood team after being set up by those behind Miracle Day to look like she’s been taking bribes to disclose information. She has a sister who can’t cope well with the outside world and is reliant on Esther to look after her.

Vera Juarez – A doctor who has been involved in dealing with Miracle Day. She’s treated Rex after his accident on Miracle Day and been his pain killer dealer of sorts. She has been intimate with him since.

Oswald Danes – Is the openly admitted and found guilty paedophile and murder. Backed by Phi Cop a pharmaceutical company who Torchwood suspect caused Miracle Day.

Jilly Kitzinger – The PR Agent whose managing Oswald and has a connection with Phi Cop, but it hasn’t been revealed what exactly the connection is yet.

So what happened in this episode then? Firstly Gwen goes back to Wales (using a fake identity) to rescue her dad from an over flow camp. Meanwhile Esther discovers that the plans stolen from Phi Cop’s server have a module that’s not on the official plans or maps online. A secret module, Torchwood need to find out what’s going on in these secret modules. So Rex uses his accident to get put into a camp, with Esther going in as a Administration Assistant and Dr. Vera going in as an inspector. Phi Cop get the world to agree to categories of life. Category 1 is most serious and is how you end up in the secret modules, whereas Category 2 is for those injured but still concious and aware. Category 3 is for those healthy and uninjured.

Meanwhile Gwen and Rhys manage to infiltrate a camp in Wales and rescue her dad, only for him to suffer another heart attack and end up being recategorised from Category 2 to Category 1.

Rex get’s Esther to recategorise him as Category 1 so that he can find out and film what happens in the secret module. Dr. Vera comes in under the guise of an inspector and is shown around. Whilst being shown around she finds standards are less than satisfactory (to say the least) and says she’s going to report the man running the camp. He goes mad and shoots her.

Rather than getting her treatment he takes her to the secret module and that’s when you realise something’s not right. The secret modules are tiny imcomparison to the rest of the camp, yet there are probably as many (if not more) people in Category 1 as in Category 2. It’s revealed that the secret module contains incinerators and that they are incinerating Category 1 people.

Meanwhile Captain Jack finds Oswald whose about to make a big speech to the entire American nation and tries to encourage him to tell the truth about what’s going on, giving him a speech. Jilly (the PR Agent) tells Oswald that he needs to go on stage and read a speech ending in “reveal” to show a big Phi Cop logo on a screen behind him. Oswald stutters and stumbles on stage dropping both speeches. Both Jack and Jilly watch nervously as Oswald beings talking, reading neither of their speeches. Oswald says that we were once animals, then evolved to human beings and now we’ve evolved again to Angels. He finishes his speech by saying “reveal.”

Rex finds Dr. Vera as the man guy running the camp is about to incinerate her and that is where the episode ends for this week.

You can read previous Episode Reviews here:

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 1

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 2

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 3

TV – Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 4

Already looking forward to Episode 6,

Antony

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Book Review: The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett

Saturday 5 June 2010 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett is a story of Sabine who we meet when she looses her gay husband Parsifal suddenly. She knew he had HIV but expected it to be a few more years before his death.

Parsifal was a great magician and Sabine his loyal assistant. Parsifal had been in love with Phan who died from AIDS recently. Parsifal knowing that he was HIV positive and had no family decided to marry his life long friend Sabine. This was so that she would be entitled to his inheritance and because on a deep level he truly loved her.

After Parsifal’s death the lawyer explains to Sabine that Parsifal has family in Alliance, Nebraska. This is a great shock for Sabine who thought Parsifal had no family. Why didn´t she know about them? Why did he never talk about them and deny all knowledge of having a family?

You join Sabine on an emotional journey as she meets this family and discovers more about Parsifal´s childhood. During the days Sabine learns more about Parsifal and in the nights she dreams meeting first Phan and eventually Parsifal. Along the way Sabine learns more about herself and realises that Parsifal has given her a most precious gift, more precious than money and security she thought he´d left her.

This book becomes an absolute page-turner as the reader connects with Sabine and needs to know what will happen next. The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett is available to purchase on Amazon.

Upcoming book reviews: The Self-Preservation Society by Kate Harrison & The Rapture by Liz Jensen. I´m also currently reading: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebond & Astral Travel for Beginners by Richard Webster. So expect more book reviews soon.

Take care,

Antony x

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