It's that time of the month again! Here are the May reviews which I managed to write on my flying visit back home. I can't guarantee any June reviews, but I'll be back in business by July, hoping to do a lot of work on the webpage if I don't end up working so many hours again.
Ok, this is one for my Christian friends out there. I would recommend it to non-Christians too though, as it is good music, but you might be better off sticking with a group like Delirious as they are more accessible for non-Christians in my opinion. Anyway, this is a really great album. Since going to uni I've heard a lot of worship music, and some of it was rubbish (Christian rap is not my thing!) but this is excellent. There are a few well known songs for churchgoers, such as Over All the Earth, but they all quickly become enjoyable. I like the style of writing and the use of accompaniment here. The only one I don't like is the fourth track, I think, which has nothing to do with the song, I just don't like the voice of the singer. There are some upbeat pieces for you to dance around your room to (or is it just me that does that? :) but also some very moving, reflective tracks, such as the third one (I've left the CD in Oxford, hence I can't remember the names! It's possibly something like Take Me As I Am). This is the best of the three worship CDs I have, which admittedly proves that I can't give a well informed review, but I can say that any newcomers to worship music would be best starting with something like this. This one is a regular in my CD player, and as a result gets a firm 8 out of 10.
I was not bothered about going to see this at all, I don't particularly like Hugh Grant and I didn't know anything about the film except that he was in it. But, someone had a spare ticket and I had a free evening, so I went to see it. It was surprisingly good! I was expecting Grant's usual role of stammering, English fop. Instead he spoke normally and was actually playing a rather cool dude! An unusual choice for someone trendy I know, but he was very funny and suited the role well. The film itelf had many humorous moments, one of my friends was certainly rolling around laughing. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't go over the top on sentimentality. There were some serious, depressing things present in the film which could have made it a bit uncomfortable to watch, but it was dealt with in a fairly cheerful manner without being flippant and trivialising it. The plot, in case you don't know, involves Grant's character, a lazy womaniser who's loaded and does nothing, somehow getting drawn into the life of a 12 year old boy and being affected by him despite resisting it as much as possible. Given that description, it doesn't sound that good but the humour, provided mostly by Grant's voice-over, elevates it from passable to enjoyable. I wouldn't normally go and see this, but I will watch it when it's on TV and if you like Hugh Grant or want to see him act a bit differently, this is for you. I give it an entertaining 7 out of 10.
No book review because all I'm reading is anthologies of English, which is incredibly boring! I also can't remember half of the list of books I read in my gap year. I know I read a lot of Edgar Allan Poe short stories, so I will recommend you read one of them. The Pit and the Pendulum is particularly good, or the Murders in the Rue Morgue (not sure if I spelt that right!).
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