My Son Is Born!

⭐Ladies and Gentlemen introducing the one & only⭐

Thomas "Tommy" Evan Jones. 🥰

It was a gruelling week spent in hospital for my love but we are all home safe, sound and recovering. Hard to believe a week has come and gone since our Tommy entered the world. 😎

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity with messages, gifts, cards, flowers, monies and your time. It means a lot to us with how much love and care he has already and he can't wait to meet you all❤️

Special thank you to the staff and crew of PCH.

Midwives: Lindsey, Menna, Becca, Bex, Ming, Jodi & Keira (the students), Beth, Helen Mccann

Labour and delivery: Holly and student midwives Lydia & Courtney

Being A Dad In Pregnancy Is Hard

No one ever told me how much I'd be asked daily so many questions about my unborn child. No one prepared me for the annoyance of so many voices and so many people trying to have their say on an unborn child that's not theirs or even related to them.

The easy part was all the appointments and running around and gathering items ready for the baby. The hard part was dealing with people.

That last one is so confusing, well let me tell you how annoying it is, to work retail and serve and see the same customers almost every day who pester you for news and information about your baby. I told you yesterday Charlotte, the baby is fine still cooking no news!!!

Stop sending me name suggestions when I don't ask. I appreciate you wanted to call your boy or girl this name or that name and ended up with another but I don't want your names. I want to give them one of me and my partner choosing.

I have told you a due date, please stop asking me when they are due.

I have also told you their gender because so many voices "needed" to know what he is going to be. Why do you "need" to know? We don't want you to go out and buy things for us, we appreciate the thought but please save your money, a card would be fine to say congratulations. That's not me being rude I just don't want people being silly about it, a gender neutral outfit is lovely we do really appreciate it but again we don't want people throwing money away on us haha. Again I'm not trying to be ungrateful or anything, it's the opposite. I suppose this is a response to being overwhelmed. Not feeling like deserve it.

Where's the baby/how's the baby? Well when I was bombarded with this question every day before I went on my paternity leave, the answer was that he's still growing and ok and oh look I've already answered this question again.

"Tell me soon as they are born I need to know everything and you need to show me" - NO! Demands will be met with a FUCK OFF. Don't you dare say such stupid shit and make your demands it's MY BABY and not your circus monkey. This isn't show and tell. I'll tell and show when I'm fucking ready.

There's so much I've been asked and repeated daily and my baby is almost here and then I'll be back to work so I'll probably take note and be annoyed again at the repeat in questions again that make my head crumble.

Ballerina - A Brutal Film Review!

Well, well, well, what do we have here? 

A strong female led assassin film set in the John Wick Universe. 🔫

How is it?

Well just like any stay at the continental, it's lovely and action packed. 💯

Ana was amazing and beautiful as always, may I say. Lance, we love you and miss you bro. Anjelica & McShane were great as always. Keanu was groovy as ever.

Explosive action that felt so much more brutal, and I'll say the only reason that is, because of a female character. Ana's character Eve is taught and told she has to bring the fight on her terms, or she'll always lose. Every punch, shot and explosion feels so much more impactful in this film. Eve adapts and overcomes power and height through the film and even big numbers of enemies. At one point the film felt like a snowy Resident Evil 4 as you had one outsider Vs a whole village of evil do'ers. 💥

The whole grenade scene was epic BUT unrealistic and yes I know, "how silly is it to nitpick a make believe film" granted but come on, there should have been more flak and damage done around the area😅

The John Wick aka Continental universe is still alive and thriving and let's hope before a John Wick 5 we get more stories set on different characters of the universe. Maybe one day then we can bring them all together and have an Avengers style John Wick film. 🤘😊

8/10

Karate Kid Legends - A Wax Off Review

Karate Kid Legends hosts a great cast but it's premise under delivers.

Ben has a bright future ahead, he was fantastic. Ralph felt like he came along for the quick paycheck during cobra Kai filming. Jackie Chan's, Han character felt so different from his last appearance in Smiths Karate Kid reboot. It would have been nice to have acknowledged Jayden Smiths character in some way.

This film is very much a homage to the first film yet sped up 5 times.

There's a part of the film our protagonist has a side quest and to train a former Boxer to get better and fight again and he does a good job and it was a different yet touching story, however once this arc is done we get back to speeding up the story of the next Karate Kid or rather Kung Fu kid since Mr Han teaches Kung Fu more than Karate ala Miyagi/Daniel-San.

They needed to make this film a 2 hour bout to build up more of the characters and story. Have the tournament play out in full not let's just cut to the end of the tournament where the bully fights our guy and that's it.

After credits scene was fantastic and fun. Hopefully this leads to more in future. 

As it stands now with this film coming off the back of the massive success of Cobra Kai, KKL is poor in quality and is one of the weakest in the long running series.

3 wax ons out of 5 Daniel-san!

The Wild Robot - Review

After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island’s animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

THE WILD ROBOT represents the pinnacle of DreamWorks Animation. A wondrous tale of parenthood, survival, kindness & coexistence in our natural living world. With big-hearted storytelling, plenty of laughs, phenomenal voice acting, and a beautifully epic score that captures the grandeur of Chris Sanders’ vision, it’s a crowd-pleasing & emotionally stirring story that not only deserves to win Best Animated Feature but also to be nominated for Best Picture.

I loved it, the animation was great. I cried at the end. Furthermore, I want another one, please DreamWorks.

10/10

Transformers One - Review

The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.

At first glance the faces and animation looked weird, and the trailer looked to be some mediocre kids, fun house BUT then when you sit down and take the movie in, you feel and see how good this really is. 

You know straight away how bad the marketing team did and that they should be ashamed of themselves for showing the wrong things in the trailers and the general audience should feel ashamed for letting this underperform at the box office. 

I watched this twice in 24 hours in two different cinemas and I loved it. I could have done with less Bumblebee's quipping and "Badassatron" but other than that. Megatron and Optimus rise and downfall was so captivating. The music which accompanied this scene was also beautiful, poetic and moving. 

I agreed and rooted for Megatron and then I cheered when Optimus was born and put metal to metal as he took on all the bad bots. We really need another one, there's so much we need to find out of what happens next. The Quintessans have been set up so we could have them face off along with the decepticons and also Unicron.

Transformers fans of all ages and non transformers fans, please give it a chance! 

This is one of my fave movies of the year!

9/10

Deadpool & Wolverine - Fox Swan Song (FILM REVIEW)

Alright so after an agonising long wait, we finally got Deadpool & Wolverine on the big screen and our fave honey badger Australian in his iconic yellow suit. Joygasm!!!!🥵 Anyway time to explain the film's story and then touch upon my thoughts, LETS FUCKING GO!❤️💛❤️

Deadpool & Wolverine picks up few years after Deadpool 2 and Wade is retired and trying to live a normal life. However, Wades abuse of the time jumping and fixing has caught the attention of the TVA (some time line police agency for marvel) and so TVA tell Wade his universe is dying so Deadpool is forced to put on his big boy pants and has to save his world BUT we all know Deadpool only stops mini events at world domination and nothing as big as a world saver so Wade goes on a journey to recruit a Wolverine with attitude. Is it a good wolverine or a bad one he finds?🤔 

On his time jumping journey we bump into familiar faces aswell as new and unexpected ones which is sure to get fans of all ages of all backgrounds excited and minds blown and their pants full so to speak😂 While trying to save his world our buddy's Wolverine and Deadpool scrap a few times and also run into Cassandra Nova and her band of mutant villains from all across the fox Xmen universe! Ooooh scary. Cassandra Nova is a pretty scary villain, she's an omega level mutant and she is the twin sister of a famous X-man. (I won't say more incase people don't know).🧐 

 So it's up to Deadpool and Wolverine to work together to save our "sacred timeline" but they are going to need a whole army to take down the likes of Cassandra Nova and her villainous mutants but who are they going to recruit? Find out by watching😊

So, the film I thought was great and basically fox's last stand or swan song essentially as we say hello and goodbye to their universes as Disney/Marvel owns the majority of them now. We have fabulous music choices and exciting over the top and hectic action sequences in between all the jokes and 4th wall breaks. The opening sequence was beautiful.

The action I felt was way too fast and I couldn't keep up at the best of times so another viewing is worth it to keep my eyes on someone else moving and killing in these action packed scenes. Cameos are good and in abundance, they should have not spoiled any of them in the trailers and some they did keep under wraps, thankfully. The action Choreography was incredible even if it was hard to keep up with watching. Shawn Levy did an incredible job with this film.

Wade and Logan are great and funny as always and as we could have ever imagined. The mouthy quippy whippy Deadpool meets our no nonsense stoic Wolverine and the characters are exactly as you expect. I wish we had some more time with our DEADPOOL friends from past two movies.

Lots of swearing and blood and gore. Here's hoping Deadpool is marvel jesus and ressurects the MCU otherwise I think MCU needs to do some more trimming and kill characters and films and things off to do a reset and hopefully focus on better stories and characters and overarching story telling.

Deadpool & Wolverine is the Spider-Man no way home of Deadpool and Wolverine's big screen outtings. A final send off to Fox's era of superheroes and an overall great movie.

9/10

Go enjoy it BUB!

The 1000 Word Series: Confidence (EBOOK)

 

The 1000 Word Series: Fear (EBOOK)

 

The 1000 Word Series: Anxiety (EBOOK)

 

The 1000 Word Series: Depression (EBOOK)

 

The 1000 Word Series: STRESS (Ebook)

 

Men's Mental Health Month

June marks Men's Mental health month. So here's a post to raise awareness on mens mental health and how important it is.

A recent study shows, 50% of men suffered poor mental health. 26% have experienced suicidal thoughts and a whopping 78% of men don't want to talk about mental health due to embarrassment or stigma surrounding mental health. How shocking is this?

Often men like to escape what's bothering them. So they get absorbed taking on more work or watching more TV and sports or doing something else entirely to an unhealthy coping level which leads men to ignore their problems.

It's important to talk it out with people we as men, really trust. Make a journal on phone or written paper and to always ask for help. It's not silly and if someone laughs you off, say screw you and go to someone else.

Take your time, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Remember this too shall pass and always reach out to others.

OrangeDox EBooks

Orangedox the website which I have used to publish and share my EBOOKS is now taking accounts down and wanting people to pay to use the website and share content. Unfortunately I am unable to commit payments to keep my account going.

So my ebooks on that website will be inaccessible for the moment. I will be trying to make them viewable and downloadable on another service.

I will update and reshare the books when I have sorted this issue. Thank you for reading.

Attached are the stats of the files from views to downloads.

IMAGINARY (2024 Film Review) - Imagine A Better Film

MEET CHAUNCEY. HE’S NOT IMAGINARY. AND HE’S NOT YOUR FRIEND.

When Jessica moves back into her childhood home with her family, her youngest stepdaughter Alice develops an eerie attachment to a stuffed bear named Chauncey she finds in the basement. Alice starts playing games with Chauncey that begin playful and become increasingly sinister. As Alice’s behaviour becomes more and more concerning, Jessica intervenes, only to realize Chauncey is much more than the stuffed toy bear she believed him to be.

Chauncey monster form was awesome in its design and looked scary. This film however was trying to be a mix match of different films, it felt like. Jump scares are lame. Nothing terrifying here besides Chauncey monster form and big bear form.

Interesting ideas, but it couldn't make it mind up on what it wanted to do. Blumhouse needs more time and effort to their projects, they are a missing way too much by taking on and making so many horrors.

This film mentioned Pixar and Disney's inside out, More than it needed to.

The cast was good, and the story was alright. First half totally different to the second half. Didn't see the twist coming near the end, so that was a surprise. The people with the weird bulging black eyes were freaky, sure. Once they entered Chauncey world it felt like Pennywise and his domain, maybe that's where they were inspired from.

Hey maybe I am being really picky but if they are in an imaginary world then couldn't they just fight back imaging good stuff. Kinda like fighting back against Freddy Kruger. It ends like another Blumhouse film where some fire scares the monster off and everyone's happy and free again and of course we have the typical really fast response from firefighters which is just ridiculous, come on like the house fire literally just started😂 Another twisty end if they feel like doing a sequel.

Overall, a meh film.

3/10

Rest In Peace Akira Toriyama❤️🕊️🐲

My friends and family, it is with the utmost sorrow to say this but legendary manga artist Akira Toriyama has passed away. 

The tributes have been far and wide and from every country on the planet. I've got my own video tribute you can watch here  - https://youtu.be/J7k6xJWilAY?si=uybjK7xGpLBQZvLR

I am absolutely gutted to learn of the passing of the legendary Akira Toriyama😭 He's an inspirational and highly creative figure whose work has inspired generations and his impact on the world is seen often and always felt. Thank you for your work and for inspiring me❤️ 

Dragonball has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, from watching it after school with my nan and brother to playing all the games with friends, it's been there and I've cosplayed Goku and I even have a Dragonball tattoo.

Arigato, Rest In Peace. See you in the other world Toriyama Sensei.

Saw X - Gruesome Feature (REVIEW)

I want to play a game.....the rules are simple, sit there and read my review on Saw X and live, scroll past or don't read it and well let's say you won't have a pleasant day ahead.

Saw X is essentially Saw 1.5 in the timeline of the beloved torture porn franchise. 

Tobin Bell returns as John Kramer as we go back in time and see the untold story of events of him undergoing this new experimental procedure to clear cancer. Unfortunately, Mr. Kramer gets conned and so the games begin! We will see some familiar faces and new unique and brutal traps as well as get more character development and new characters to follow.

It took 20 years to get a film where the protagonist is John Kramer and guess what? Second-best Saw film in the franchise! I really enjoyed this and the traps were so brutal, I was so tensed and just squirming watching as these people died in horrific yet creative ways. Bravo! Tobin Bell with the best performance in his career, perhaps. So what's next? This was a return to form for the series but where do we go from here is the biggest question in the series.

8/10

No One Will Save You - Film Review!

Home invasion, plus Alien invasion, plus being alienated by a whole town = this film.

No One Will Save You is alien invasion horror film directed by Brian Duffield and it's lead star Katlin Denver.

Jesus Christ this was terrifying. I was legit scared watching this. My gut was all in a knot from how tense this film is. It's awesome! I loved seeing a scary alien film, the last alien film that scared me was The Fourth Kind.

I thought everything in this film was excellent from directing, music, acting, story. I was gripped and on edge for the entire film. The ending was super weird I didn't get it.

I wish this was released in cinemas and for it to have made big bucks and hopefully been seen by more people. There was 8 lines spoken and yet I still had subtitles on😂

8/10

So what did you think of this film or are you yet to see it? 

Let me know, comment below. Stay shiny and I'll see you again soon!

Barbie Movie - Kenning Review!

So here is the second film review of the biggest cinematic event of the year, BARBENHEIMER! 

Now Greta Gerwig directs this bright, otherworldly flick which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling among many other stars such as Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, John Cena & Dua Lipa.

I'm literally him! He's literally me!

Barbie tells the tale of Barbie the doll and how they have their own land, and it's connected to our world. One day a Barbie (who is stereotypical Barbie aka Margot Robbie) goes through one of her never ending happy days until she has a deep dark thought which crashes the party and the mood of all the other Barbies and Ken's, and she ventures off to try and fix herself. Ken (Ryan Gosling) tags along, and we get a silly, fun and entertaining look at the lives of a Barbie and Ken, and we get a mirror shown at society, history and the real world we live in.

As the film say's at one point, there's no way Margot could ever be ugly.

Greta and all the cast involved did a fantastic job they really sold this film well. I had a good laugh with this and it entertained me. There's a scene that was apparently going to be taken out, but I think them keeping it in was for the best and without it some context and heart in the story would have been lost. Great to see original creator of Barbie in here too. The last time a lot of us seen or knew anything about the real Barbie was in that old Simpson episode if I'm not mistaken. The soundtrack has hits and misses, my faves are Ryan Gosling's "I'm just Ken" and Dua Lipa's "Dance The Night".

I really enjoyed this weird, fun, quirky, self-aware and meta entertaining branded film. If you are on the fence about seeing this quirky and pink film, please be rest assured and know that the rating is 12A.

4.5 🌟's

Yes it's just shy of 5🌟's I apologize in advance. I think the ending didn't need to be that is all, it was the weirdest part, which I know is quite daft to say because it's a film about plastic pink female dolls come to life, but that's how I felt. Oppenheimer was better.

BARBENHEIMER FOREVER BITCHES!

OPPENHEIMER - An Atomic Film Review!

Christopher Nolan is back and so is cinema. Nolan's Oppenheimer is truly a masterclass biopic cinematic tale following the true story of J. Robert Oppenheimer as he races against the Nazi's to make the first atomic bomb. Follow Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) through the spectacle of making the bomb to the heavy reality of its fallout and the consequences it has on mankind.

Cinematic masterpiece. Pure art. This is peak. This is cinema!

Heavy, intellectual, thrilling and enthralling. The first half is the making of the bomb. Second half is dropping the bomb and then seeing its effects. This film contains a great score and star-studded cast. The last half is a political thriller culminating in the harrowing reality of it all. Nolan and all the cast and crew and I mean ALL of them who worked or attributed something to this film need to have a standing ovation and a massive pat on the back for this film. "Now I have become death, destroyer of worlds".

5🌟's