Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)- Chris Tomlin

Life, Poetry and Ramblings of Victoria Brown

You may be interested in my new blog: bear with me for the time being have only just put it up. The title says it all really: full of poetry and ramblings about anything and everything.

http://serendipity-victoria.blogspot.com/2010/12/ghost.html

38. Go on a Demonstration

OK so on the 10th November, I know this is a bit late to be updating this but I went on the NUS Demolition Protest, my first ever. It was very exciting stuff, because all the students are coming together towards one cause. The atmosphere was amazing, everyone with billboards, and clever sayings such as: "Nick Clegg shame on you shame on you for turning blue" and other such chants which I cannot remember for the time being.

A lot of students feel as if they have been betrayed by Nick Clegg, it is unsurprising that a lot of the protest chants focused on him, as he did pledge he was not going to support the rise in the fees.

It was lucky that we missed the more violent demonstration which occurred after we left London, it doesnt make us as students look very good thats for sure. It made us feel like the peaceful demonstrations were ruined by the negative effects of the violent protests.

It is sad that the university fees are going up because future generations of children will not be able to afford education and we should be given that opportunity. It is even sadder that we will be in even more debt. As if us students have money to begin with anyway!

There were so many people at the protest, it felt good to be showing how we as students disagreed with what Parliament were doing, without violence. Just by actively being there and chanting and marching together.

19. Watch these Films

The Graduate

I watched this film last week I think, it was not what I expected at all, was such a brilliant film though. The acting from Dustin Hoffman was particularly superb. I found the story to be so sad for him, he is such a naive kid I feel and a sensitive soul. After he graduates he feels like he has no purpose, he is so unsure of what to do next, and there are all these expectations from his parents. It seems as if he is trying to please everybody when he would rather just sit back in the shadows; but it seems in the end that love conquers all and I suppose in the end that that is really all that matters..

The music of course is classic: Simon and Garfunkel whats not to love?

Greatest Books Ever Written

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I absolutely loved this book, it was so well written, the characters have so much depth to them. You see how much Scout and Jem grow and become more adult by the end of the book, their story if you like. I am not a very critical book reviewer but I know I could easily read this book again, perhaps even to analyse the characters further. Set in the town of Maycomb Atticus Finch and his two children Scout and Jem, their lives are turned around when his father takes a case where a black man Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell.
The key line in this book really is:
"Kill all the blue jays you want if you can hit em' but remember it is a sin to kill a mockingbird".
This is said by Atticus to his kids, and the explanation is this: A mockingbird has done no harm,to anybody it sings its little heart out and is innocent therefore it is a sin, which is closely linked to the characters in the book.

19 Watch these films

19. Watch these Films

When Harry Met Sally
Just watched When Harry Met Sally let me tell you it was well worth the wait I cannot believe how young Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan look, thats probably because they were considering the film was made in 1989. So epic, and some scenes were absolutely classic, I wouldnt want to ruin anything so I'll just say two things: tissues and orgasms = hilarious. You wont be disappointed I promise. If only all of us could have those sorts of relationships: fulfilling, loves all of us including our flaws, can talk to the middle of the night know what we are thinking type person. Gah a girl can dream right?

Memorable quote:

Marriages don't break up on account of infidelity. It's just a symptom that something else is wrong.

Places I've been and Places I want to go

Places I've been and Places I want to go

19 Watch these Films

Breakfast at Tiffanys

A glamorous Miss Audrey Hepburn plays Miss Holly Golightly who co-stars along George Peppard who plays Fred Varjak. I love it when she calls the cat 'slob darling'.

I also love the rain scene at the end, then again who doesnt? =]

Memorable quote:

Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?

Paul Varjak: Sure.

Holly Golightly: Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that'd make me feel like Tiffany's, then - then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name!

Donnie Darko
This film will always remind me of Mad World by Gary Jules, very cleverly written with good acting from Jake Gyllenhaall who plays Donnie Darko. I wouldnt fancy a rabbit telling me to do bad things, however.. Frank is actually I think rather good looking.

Memorable quote:


Donnie Darko ( to Cherita Chen): I promise, that one day everything will be better for you

49. See These Animals in the Wild

49.See These Animals in the Wild...
c) Hippo
e) Elephant
k)Lion
h)Koala
l) Monkey
p)Crocodile


OK so unfortunately I cant show you all of my experiences with these animals as some I saw when I was younger and others well I forgot to take pictures silly cow... but it still counts right? =P These pictures are taken from the Lower Zambezi National Park and Chongwe River Camp Zambia. May I just say that it is an absolutely amazing experience...

To be so close to these animals sitting in the vehicle watching them lie there, the lions I must say were quite pro-active as you can see by their rolling in the sun. Just like domestic cats, however I think it would be pushing it to jump out and stroke them, I think they would look at you thinking you were more like dinner.







There were also quite a few elephants at camp, they like the acacia trees =] I suppose less dangerous (slightly) to Buffalos who will just charge at you which means RUNN!! Elephants on the other hand can also mock charge best of 2? If you see one just try and hide.. They're very protective of their young though, the baby ellies can be quite unpredictable, but aww theyre so sweet I remember seeing one looking very enthusiastic jumping on the sand.



You know Hippos are quite difficult to take pictures of because as soon as you dig your camera out on the water in your boat, they can feel the ripples and go down under. So I am afraid to say that my pictures of them are just heads and ears mainly oh well. They have quite a distinctive sound as well, which is great and everything just not at 2 in the morning when all you want to do is shut them up so you can get some sleep XD although you do get used to it and come to love it. Will try and post sound of them, its quite hard to describe but yeah.



Saw some Vervet monkeys hence I have crossed it off my list ^_^ too theyre very sweet and cute but quite cheeky!

Greatest Films

Greatest Films according to Richard Horne plus some I've added which are in red

• 12 Angry Men
• 2001: Space Odyssey
• A Bout de Souffle
• Alien
• Aliens
• Amadeus
• Amelie
• American Beauty
• An American Werewolf in London
• Annie Hall
• Apocalypse Now
• Arsenic and Old Lace
• Audition
• Back to the Future I
• Barbarella
• The Big Lebowski
• Big Wednesday
• Blade Runner
• Blue Velvet
• Das Boot
• Brazil
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• The Breakfast Club
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Caddyshack
• Casablanca
• Casino
• A Christmas Carol (1970)
• Citizen Kane
• City of God
• Chariots of Fire
• Clash of the Titans
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• The Deer Hunter
• Deliverance
• Les Diaboliques
• Donnie Darko
• Do the Right Thing
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• Dr Zhivago
• Ed Wood
• The Elephant Man
• The Empire Strikes Back
• Enter the Dragon
• Eraserhead
• Evil Dead 2
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
• Festen
• Fight Club
• Flash Gordon
• Ghostbusters
• The Godfather, Part I
• The Godfather, Part 2
• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• Goodfellas
• The Graduate
• The Great Escape
• Grosse Point
• Blank
• Groundhog Day
• Harold and Maude
• Harvey
• Heathers
• The Italian Job (1969)
• It’s a Wonderful Life
• Jaws
• Jules et Jim
• The Jungle Book
• Kind Hearts and Coronets
• Kingpin
• L.A. Confidential
• The Ladykillers (1955)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• Lost in Translation
• The Matrix
• Memento
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Monty Python’s Life of Brian
• National Lampoon’s Animal House
• The Night of the Hunter
• North by NorthwestO Brother, Where Art Thou?
• The Omen (1976)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• A Passage to India
• Peeping Tom
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
• Platoon
• The Producers (1967)
• Psycho
• Pulp Fiction
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Rear Window
• The Right Stuff
• The Ring
• Risky Business
• The Royal Tenenbaums
• Scanners
• Secretary
• Sexy Beast
• Seven
• Seven Samurai
• The Shawshank Redemption
• The Shining
• Shrek
• The Sixth Sense
• Sleepless in Seattle
• Spirited Away
• Star Wars IV: A New Hope
• The Sting
• The Straight Story
• The Sure Thing
• Swingers
• Taxi Driver
• Terminator 2: Judgement Day
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
• The Thing
• This is Spinal Tap
• To Kill a Mockingbird

Top Secret

Touch of Evil

Toy Story

Toy Story 2

Trading Places

True Romance

Two-Lane Blacktop

The Untouchables

The Usual Suspects

The Vanishing

Videodrome

When Harry Met Sally

When We Were Kings

The Wicker Man (1973)

Withnail & I

Young Frankenstein

Greatest Books Ever Written List

Greatest Books Ever Written according to Richard Horne
1984 by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Asterix and the Golden Sickle by R. Goscinny and A. Uderzo
Atomised by Michel Houellebecq
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Carries War Nina Bawden
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
The Complete Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm
Crash by J.G. Ballard
The Crow Road by Iain Banks
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark HaddonDanny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Dubliners by James Joyce
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Explaining Death to the Dog by Susan Perabo
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
Girlfriend in a Coma by Doug Copeland
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Kes (Kestrel for a Knave) by Barry Hines
Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain Fournier
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Magic Porridge Pot by Anon
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Mr. Tickle by Roger Hargreaves
The Great Gatsby F.Scott Fitzgerald
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
No Logo by Naomi Klein
Not Fade Away by Jim Dodge
The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest Ken Kesey
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Perfume by Peter Suskind
Possession by A.S. Byatt
A Prayer by Owen Meany by John Irving
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
Sarah by J.T. Leroy
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ulysses by James Joyce
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The Van by Roddy Doyle
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks
Waterland by Graham Swift
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahamme
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

My Walk to Remember- The List

1. Send a message in a bottle
2.Run up an escalator the wrong way
3. Make an origami crane

4.Host a party
5. Keep a Dream Diary
6. Write Lyrics for a Song
7. Stay up all night
8. Learn to play an instrument
9. Act in a play
10. Have an Embarrasing Moment and Get Over It
11. Sleep all day
12.Start a collection
13.Grow something from a seed
14. Help save the planet
15.Climb to the top of a mountain
16. Start your own blog
17.Do something charitable
18. Read These Books

19. Watch these films
20. Take part in a TV show
21.See your music idol perform live
22.Sing in front of an audience
23.Build your own website
24. Be vegetarian for a week
25.Learn to live without something you love for a week
a) TV
b)Mobile Phone
c) Computer Games
d) Junk Food
e) Internet
f) Other (facebook)
26. Write a story and get it published
27.Be vegetarian for a week
28. Swim with dolphins
29.Run a Marathon
30.Travel the world
31.See the Aurora Borealis
32. Learn to say phrases in various languages
33. Go parachuting
34. Donate blood
35. Live in the place you love
36.Go Sky diving
37. Be an extra in a film
38. Go on a demonstration
39. Lobby your local MP
40.Run in the Race for Life
41.Join a club
42. Go Hot Air Ballooning
43. Learn to drive a car
44. Visit:
a) a safari park
b) a carnival
c) a castle
d) a theme park
e) a farm
f) an aquarium
g) the countryside
h) another country
i) your capital city
45. Succed at something your bad at
46. Learn to stick up for yourself
47.Learn to skim stones
48. Realise your childhood dream
49.See These Animals in the Wild...
a) Panda
b) Rhino
c) Hippo
d) Grizzly Bear
e) Elephant
f) Hummingbird
g) Giraffe
h) Koala
i)Manatee
j) Gorilla
k) Lion
l) Monkey
m) Penguin
n) Kangaroo
o) Tiger
p) Crocodile
q) Orangutan
r) Eagle
s) Polar Bear
t) Coelacanth
u) Leopard
50.Attend a film premiere
51. Do a runner from a fancy restaurant
52.Visit...
a) Colosseum, Rome, Italy
b) Uluru, Australia
c) Machu Picchu, Peru
d) The Pyramids at Giza, Egypt
e) Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
f) Sydney Harbour, Australia
g) Taj Mahal, Delhi, India
h) Great Barrier Reef, Australia
i) Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
j) Grand Canyon, Arizona
k) Angor Wat, Cambodia
l) The Great Wall of China
53. Learn Astronomy and read the night sky
54. Conquer your fear
55.Visit the World's Tallest Buildings
a) Burj Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirate
b) Russia Tower, Moscow, Russia
c) Freedom Tower, New York
d) Taipei 101, Taiwan
e) Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, China
f) International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong
g) Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
h) Sears Tower, Chicago
i) Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China
j) Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong
k) Citic Plaza, Guangzhou, China
l) Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China
m) Empire State Building, New York
n) Central Plaza, Hong Kong
o) Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong
56. Plant a tree and climb it when your older
57. Invent a new trend
58. See:
a) solar eclipse
b) lunar eclipse
59. See a comet
60. Say yes to everything for a day
61. Help Save the Planet
62. Make a one minute movie
63. Build an igloo
64. Make at least one huge purchase you cant afford
65. Milk a cow
66. Learn to take great photos
67. Win an award
68. Catch a fish with your bare hands
69. Research your family tree
70. Learn to bake a cake
71. Make a unique milkshake
72. Learn how to ask someone out
73. Go to a restaurant and just have dessert
74. Visit the Lord of the Rings Set
75. Skinny dip at midnight

76. Fly first class on an aeroplane

77. See Michael McIntyre Live
78. Visit Jane Austens House
79. Go on a Band of Brothers Tour
80. Go to the cinema alone
81. Visit Cadbury World
82. Complete my degree at university
83. Start a blog
84. Try a Meatball Marinara from Subway
85. Experience the London Bus Tour 
86. Sing in front of an audience
87. Take part in a TV show
88. Visit New Zealand
89. Go visit Zambia again