The 7 Things meme
And here are my (rambly) answers for troublenstrife
Cheeseburgers
I have no idea why this is still lingering around on my profile, it's lame, but hell.. I DO love the humble cheeseburger. In its many forms.
The hangover McDonalds, the regular McDonalds, the drunken kebab shop burger, the American-y restaurant one with loads of bacon on it too, the ones you get from a fairground or greasy spoon cafe with loads of onions on!
Mmm cheeseburgers!
hhgttg
Better known as The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
I love these books, the TV series was also randomly wonderful, as was the film, but only because I thought Martin Freeman as Arthur was inspired casting, and Alan Rickman as Marvin was beyond genius!
If you haven't read these books, go, go now and get them. They're so weird and wonderous, bizarre and hilarious.
It even gives you the answer to Life The Universe And Everything :P
I lent my copies to a lad at work before Christmas, and he left before giving them back to me :(
John Irving
Is the author of some of my favourite books. Like Hitchikers, I urge you to go out and read them!
The Cider House Rules was a great film, but the book is so much more. I first read it in Germany when I was lent it by my Gastmutter. I fell in love with his style and read a load more while I was there.
A few others have been made into film, such as The World According To Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire (with Rob Lowe, hehehe) but they really don't do the books justice.
He writes Sagas mainly, stories that span years of a family through the eyes of one person. Or more solitary stories like A Widow For One Year, Or TCHR.
Beautiful books.
The Neverending Story
Is not only a classic 80s kids movie, though that's how I first came across it. It's pretty much always been one of my favorite films.
For those who don't know, it's the story of a young boy called Bastian who comes across a strange book called The Neverending Story in an odd little bookshop while hiding from bullies.
He takes the book and reads it in the school's attic, and gets completely drawn in by the story of another young boy called Atreyu who must search for a cure for the mysterious illness of the Childlike Empress of Fantasia, the magical world in which the book in a book is set.
The second film is roughly taken from the second half of the book, but it's not great, and don't even get me started on the third!
The book was written by a German author called Michael Ende and is a great read. It was also a great topic for my University dissertation. (yup, I did German, and managed to get my favourite kids book/movie as part of it)
One of my favourite boooks, as in actual physical pretty to look at books, is my copy of Die Unendliche Geschichte Which is in 2 colours throughout, red for Bastian and Green for Fantasia, plus these wonderful chapter plates at the head of each chapter. 26 letters, 26 chapters (which led to some awful twisting of the language for the translation!)
Starbucks
I adore coffee.
Caramel Macchiattos own my soul!
Before I had friends in Warrington, I used to head into town on a Saturday, with a book and curl up in the corner of a Starbucks listening to Radio 2 on my phone.
I recently gave up coffee because a certain crush of doom told me I should, but I told him I couldn't give up Starbucks!
Me and my sister make up every excuse possible to go meet up every now and again in there, and now we have a Borders with one in town, I actually am in heaven in there.
The Wheel Of Time
Is a series of fantasy books written by Robert Jordan.
Kirsten's ex was always going on about how I should read them, and when I was in Germany I finally did. I loved them so much that the day after I finished one in the series, I would ride my bike to the train station and go to Hanover to the English bookstore that sold them. It was a pricy round trip just for one book, especially as the import prices weren't that bargainous! But it was worth it.
I finished book 10 on one of the holidays that year, because I bought the hardback in England, took it back to Germany to read, and they all came home in my suitcase, along with all the John Irvings I'd bought! I was 21 when that trip ended, I'm 25 now and book 11 came out last year, I still haven't read it because I need to refresh my memory a little.
It's a freakishly involved plot with loads of characters, and the guy is seriously long winded! But it's worth it if you like that genre.
I just found out tonight that the author died this month, I had a panic attack because I knew book 11 wasn't the end, but a quick wikipedia rush tells me that he had all the story somewhere one way or another, and 12 was always going to be the last!
Meep!
Sean Astin
Ahh Sean... my first love!!
First saw him at the age of about 7 in the Goonies, loved the film, didn't really do crushes then though! Then when I was about 13 or so, my next door neighbour made me watch Toy Soldiers, and I was forever smitten!
I watched everything he was in, my favourites being Toy Soldiers, Rudy and Memphis Belle, and I always loved the fact that my celebrity crush wasn't one of the members of Take That or whatever the other girls in my school liked at the time!
Then, in my first year of Uni I found out that he was going to play my favourite character in my favourite book (the Lord Of The Rings) and I may have died a little!
It was mainly this obsession that led me online alot of the time!
I met him a year or so ago at a collectormania event, and I died a little more!
I have his framed autograph and the book he signed for me that day in pride of place on my bookshelves! I also have a dedicated Sean Astin section of my movie collection *blush*
And that's it, yep, I got very rambly!