Trekking around Thailand

June 8, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

Latimer: Lately I’ve been doing some globetrotting. Every time I hitch up my trusty wheelie bag and head off into the far blue yonder, I come back with lots of stories and lots of ideas. I think the most recent trip to South East Asia has me all inspired for writing!

Ridley and I are really excited to be working our way through our Keeping Secrets series, plotting and outlining all the books to come. We are back firmly on track now – and we’ll be releasing Book 2 by the end of August! So stay with us for updates!

In my recent travels I visited Thailand. It was a quick run through the north of the country from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, to a fly-by visit at Chiang Rai and then Chiang Khong (to cross into Laos). I didn’t see that much of Thailand really, but what I saw was stunning, beautiful, strange, inspiring and… stranger still!

Bangkok is a pretty cool place. There are lots of things to see there – when I was there I took a trip around the canals in the city and went to Wat Pho to see the huge golden reclining Buddha, which was amazing. Buddhism (and monks) feature strongly in my Asian travels; I sometimes think I’m starting to understand it, then I always get stuck and realise actually I don’t know much about Buddhism, but it’s really interesting.

20140429_101204 — Reclining Buddha… massive!!

20140429_101342 — He looks like he’s pretty comfortable here!

20140429_104742 — Another Buddha inside another temple in Wat Pho – I ear-wigged as this guy was explaining Buddhism to these people!

20140429_105045 — Lot’s of monks – notice how young some of them are! All men in Thailand must serve a year (at least) as a monk before they get married, to be considered ‘a good man’ for marriage

20140429_115833 — Thai green Curry… because… it’s Thailand!

20140429_132533 — From the back of a tuc-tuc… the only way to travel in Thailand… I love tuc-tucs!

From Bangkok, I got an overnight train to Chiang Mai. Lots of people on the tour were worried about the overnight train, but having experienced the Chinese ones, I was no longer afraid. The ones in Thailand are actually brilliant; and compared to the Chinese ones, they are very spacious and comfortable – this coming from someone with extreme ‘creature comfort’ problems!

Chiang Mai was a fun place; we had a walk around in the blistering heat, went to see beautiful Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple ate some lovely Thai food and went for a cool bike-ride around the city. While on our bike ride we stopped at an orphanage for Hill tribe children, for dinner. I bought some lovely artwork by the children – it was Naruto inspired 🙂

During my time in Chiang Mai, I was coming to terms with the heat, I won’t say I ever ‘got used to it’, just learned to accept I would always be dripping sweat and needing to drink water and isotonic drinks.

20140429_174920 — Train station catching my ride to Chiang Mai

20140429_180222 — These trains are fantastic! So clean and comfortable. There’s a bunk that comes down from over these seats and the seats themselves are transformed into another bed – big and very comfy.

20140430_062918 — I had the top bunk, which was fine… but not as big. I had some pocky for the trip!

20140430_112741 — Some cool outside dining in Chiang Mai

20140430_113109 — Artwork on the streets

20140430_114716 — Beautiful, random temple

20140430_115145 — Buddha outside the temple

20140430_165954 — A very cool dragon vomiting snakes… well, maybe not but that’s what it looks like!! Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

20140430_170144 — Walking up to the temple, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

20140430_170352 — Wat Phra That Doi Suthep bells

20140430_170409 — Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

20140430_170448 — Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

20140430_172109 — Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

20140430_174033 — Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

20140430_174634 — Getting my fortune at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

20140430_174754 — Monks visting Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

20140430_175805 — I got this white blessing bracelet from a monk in Wat Phra That Doi Suthep; he said a prayer over it, for luck and safety in travel.

20140430_195507 — A delicious vegetable spicy soup…. it was feckin hot though!

20140501_081937 — Buddha overlooking the river on my bike ride around Chiang Mai

20140501_084753 — Handle bar views in Chiang Mai

20140501_100356 — More views from my bike in Chiang Mai

20140501_222639 — Cool artwork done by the Hill tribe orphans

20140501_120501 — More temples from my bike ride Chiang Mai

20140501_120605 — Buddha and candle wax – from bike ride Chiang Mai

From Chiang Mai, we stopped off briefly in Chiang Rai to see the White Temple, which is a bit like Sangrada Familia in Barcelona, in that it’s unfinished at the moment and being built by the artist that designed it. It’s full of demons and cultural references – though I never got to go inside, as we were late getting there and it was closed! It’s supposed to have like cartoony stuff inside and be really strange and interesting. This temple was badly damaged after we had seen in, in the earthquake that hit Thailand – so I feel lucky to have seen it before that happened!

20140501_174915 — Batman and Pinhead… heads.. .weird!!

20140501_174904 — Freddie, Pinhead and Hellboy… retro weirdness!

Then from Thailand, I took a bus into Laos! But that’s a post for another day!

For other posts about South-East Asia check out: Lovely Laos and Laotian Living

Make me Laugh

June 2, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

Latimer love's Smodcast — Latimer love’s Smodcast

Latimer: I love me some funny podcasts and Smodcast by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier is one of my favourites. I just love listening to these two old friends talking about random stuff and joking around.

Smodcast is full of bizarre stories and funny nerdy references, and life lessons.

I just love these two, they make me laugh but they also have all this funny random advice about taking risks on doing the things that you love, and being creative and surrounding yourself with ‘why not?’ people. All this inter-spaced with Kevin’s obsession with Batman and Canada, and fascination with Jaws (or just sharks and being eaten by one).

“But… what would Batman do Scott?” and “Can you give me that in Jaws measurement*? How many Jaws’ would that be Scott?” (*Jaws measurement being one of Kevin’s ways of measuring things in the standard unit of a Jaw’s shark!)

I’m so happy to say that Ridley and I will be heading off to see Kevin Smith doing a live podcast in Dublin in June! I can’t wait 🙂

If you don’t mind swearing and you like to laugh you should check out Smodcast!

Our Writing Process Blog Hop

March 10, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

So we were asked by our good twitter and writer friend, James T Kelly, to take part in the Writing Process Blog Hop. Last week, James posted his response to the same questions we have below, so make sure you check them out here. Also while you’re at it, why not pop on over to Smashwords and check out his great short stories, The Homeless Hero and You Are Just A Guest.

So on to the questions…..

What are we working on?

Well let’s see, we’ve the sequel to Legend Unleashed off with our editor at the moment, hopefully it’s being hacked and pruned and whipped into some sort of book shape by him. We look forward to the work that comes with it when we get it back, that’s always fun!! Though it’ll be very tiring, we generally look like we’re carrying massive suitcases under our eyes, not just little bags, by the end of it all. We are also currently in the middle of writing our third book in the Keeping Secrets series, and we’re near-ish the end of the that one, and once that’s finished it’s on to start the fourth book, so we’ve been keeping ourselves busy! Sure what else would we be doing in our spare time? 😛

How does work differ from others of its genre?

We like to think, like any writer I suppose, that we inject a little of ourselves into our books, whether it’s a quirky habit of ours that we give to a character, or our weird sense of humour, or generally just a slightly askew way of looking at the world, it all goes in. For any book, I think the part of the author that is infused throughout the pages of their novel, that piece of them that people are almost only unconsciously aware is present, is what makes each book unique and different from others in its genre.

Why do we write what we do?

We write what we love to read. We like fantasy, we like the young adult genre. At the back of everything we’ve written, there are two fangirls giggling and nodding, urging each other on and basically putting in everything we’ve always wanted to see in other books. Usually our plots begin with the words, ‘wouldn’t it be great if…’ When we were both younger, long before we ever knew each other or became friends, we both used to play the game of ‘what will happen now’, where after you were forced to put your book down and stop reading (usually to get some sleep before school), you were left to imagine what would happen next in the story, what the main character would say, or do, so writing the stories that we do, is probably just a natural progression of all of that for us.

How does our writing process work?

Well, this is a question that we get asked quite a lot, mainly as there are two of us and people wonder how two people can write a book together. We think up the book plot together over numerous pots of tea and not a small bit of mad cackling laughter. Generally this is the most free and creative part in the whole process, as we put in everything and anything we each want to see happen in the book. After this, the the plot is broken down into chapter summaries, then we divide them out evenly between us, we each get two chapters at a time and the book hops back and forth between us after each of our chapter stints are over. It also generally works out that where one of us starts the book, the other person ends it. There’s a nice symmetry to it all really!

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So there’s some tiny insight into how we work! Needless to say, whether we were published or not, I’ve no doubt we’d still be writing stories together, it’s just too much fun to stop.

Now we pass the blog hop torch to another writer and blogger friend, Frankie Whelan:

“Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. Lifelong consumer of words. Writing is mostly fantasy fiction with occasional leanings towards journalism. Avid gamer and musician, when time allows.
Firmly believes that a mug of tea and a chocolate digestive can solve most of the world’s woes.”

Check out his website, he’ll be posting next week for the next stage in the Writing Process Blog Hop! 🙂

Never-ending Reading List

March 4, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

Latimer: I remember a while back I did a post about how I was struggling through a long read list – well, not struggling, because I like having a lot of books to read, but sometimes when you find yourself buying more than you’re reading you do feel like giving yourself a kick in the brain!

Back then, I had been reading (on and off) Bill Bryson’s At Home; I am so happy to say I finished reading it before 2013 ran out! Yes, the never-ending reading list is getting just a little bit shorter!

It really sickens me how long it took me to read such a great book. Bill Bryson has to be one of the best authors; I’ve only read two of his books, but they have both been so amazing (and they both took me forever to read). There’s just so much information in his books and so many funny, strange and sad stories, that you find yourself stopping to digest what you just read and staring into space shaking your head!

This is a small example; in At Home, I read about roof rats. Yup. Now every time I hear something skittering across the attic floor, I no longer think ‘birds’, I think… ‘roof rats’. No one else is buying what I’m selling, but in Bryson I trust, so yup… roof rats.

Apparently the modern home is a great environment for the roof rat. And the behaviour of the modern rat – wooh, it’s scary. They show no fear, ‘and will even deliberately approach and make contact with motionless persons. They are particularly emboldened in the presence of infants and the elderly’ (neither of which I am, so I’m fist punching the air, shouting “do you hear that roof rats! Fear me!”)

‘Rats have very sharp teeth and can become aggressive if cornered’ (won’t be doing that so!) ‘biting savagely and blindly, in the manner of mad dogs’ (holy moly!) ‘A motivated rat can leap as high as three feet’. Then they are also very, very smart; there was an incident where rats were stealing eggs from a farmer without breaking them (which even now as I type sounds like a cartoon); the rats worked together, where one rat would embrace an egg on all fours and roll over onto its back, and a second rat would then drag it by its tail to their burrow.

This image has stayed with me since I read the book. And there’s so much more in the book, that I kind of feel like I will have to re-read it a lot to remember most of it. But it’s such a good book.

I don’t have much of a feel for ‘special interest’ books. I just read what I’d like to know about; there are a few people though who seem to have a gift for reading really interesting sounding books.

I’m addicted to Smodcast, and Kevin Smith’s friend, Scott Mosier, reads some really interesting books! He’s always reading something and he mentions books so often that someone put together a list.

If you are looking for something out of the ordinary (maybe!); check out the list of books he’s mentioned! There’s some really interesting ones! http://smodbooks.wordpress.com/page/3/

I think my reading list is always going to be never-ending… 🙂

Dare to Fear

January 23, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

Ridley: I love a good horror! Well, I love and hate a good horror. I enjoy being frightened after the fact, but I hate it at the time….does that even make sense? I do wonder how my brain works sometimes. For the last week, I’ve been craving a good horror. I was discussing my options with a friend, and I was all revved up to watch something, before I wimped out and decided I couldn’t do it completely alone, I’m mad but not that mad. I’d end up chucking things at random shapeless shadows and hugging my pillow until it started to beg for mercy. Even as I write this, I remember this has already happened with a movie that I would have said was at a low level in terms of scariness. I watched Paranormal Activity 2 in the living room, with all the lights off at 1am (and there were other people in the house, they were just all asleep) and I still managed to freak myself out as I crept up to bed. I managed to see things standing in the dark corner in the hall, crouching in the shadows by the sink in the bathroom and eventually hiding by my desk in my room. The main lights were all switched on to their fullest that time.

There’s only one type of horror I like to watch, it’s the creepy kind. Some of it is often quite Hammer Horror-esque. There has to be a slow build to the fear inducing moments. Moments where someone suddenly appears in the mirror, moves in a photo, flashes behind the main character in a doorway or is reflected in the blank TV screen. It’s the type of horror where you do most of the work as your imagination runs riot, making everything a hundred times worse.

One of the scariest films I’ve ever seen was the Japanese Grudge, ‘Juon’. It just sent shiver upon shiver down my spine watching it. There’s just something so creepy about the little boy in that.

I’ve also seen the American version of ‘The Grudge’ in the cinema, which was fantastic as the atmosphere was so tense, people were screaming. It just added to the whole experience, and then on the Dublin bus home, where it was dark and rainy and windy out, I managed to scare myself when my own reflection popped up in the window. *sigh* True story.

So recommendations for a fantastically eerie scary creepy movie marathon? Well here’s a few doozies….(goes without saying, but I’ll say it, watch the Grudge too!!)

Sinister…it looks utterly brilliant, there’s creepy photo moving, evil demon guys peering at you from the bushes, a cursed house and a helpless naive family stuck in the middle of it all. I can’t wait to watch this!

Insidious…harsh voices on the baby monitor, rocking horses rocking (this is such a classic, but it works every time!!), people popping up behind them, freaked out mediums drawing fecked up pictures.

The Conjuring...laughing children (eep!!), pianos playing by themselves, the fact that it’s based on a true story, the freaky woman from The Haunting (Lili Taylor), whispering voices on their recording systems, flashes of horrific events, clocks stopping just after 3am… Personally think this one looks like the scariest of all of them, mainly as you don’t see the big bad as such, and it’s based on a true story….though Sinister is certainly vying for the top spot too!!

Clown…all you have to say to me is clown and horror in the same sentence and my eyes will widen in panic and fear. There’s just something about clowns…the evil smile perhaps? Or the fact you never quite know whose behind all the face paint, until it’s too late!! My favourite creepy line of this trailer happens as the poor boy is climbing down the stairs into the basement and whispers, “Daddy, this isn’t funny…” No kid, it’s not, it really isn’t and you need to run.

The Woman In Black….remake of an old Hammer Horror, it has a very creepy house, weird villagers, some freaky faces in the window action and the rocking horse again. While probably not the creepiest film on the list, it’s still worth the watch, Daniel Radcliff is quite good in it too. Just gotta keep the mantra ‘not Harry Potter’ in your head for the first twenty minutes, then we’re good (as you’ll start to wonder why he doesn’t just banish the ghost with his wand otherwise! haha…)

So, which one are you going to watch first? Make sure you have your cushions at the ready!!

Latimer watches… Spirited Away

January 20, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

I want my own Kohaku dragon... just like I wanted a Luck dragon... when will I get a dragon?! — I want my own Kohaku dragon… just like I wanted a Luck dragon… when will I get a dragon?!

Latimer: On Christmas Day, Spirited Away popped up on my television screen like the ghost of Christmas past. I paused in my chocolate-coma induced mindless channel hopping and smiled. It had been a long time since I saw Chihiro and Kohaku. Then I frowned remembering my fan-girl grudge against this movie.

It was the start of the movie and despite my grudge (which will become apparent), I decided this would be a nice movie to sit down and watch. On the first break, I went out to the kitchen to make some tea and about 30 minutes passed by – the Christmas Day time vortex appeared. It’s the weirdest day of the year where time speeds up; when even getting some tea manages to turn into twelve other things that zap all the time away.

I never got back to Spirited Away that day. But it popped up again recently, urging me to confront my grudge.

Jumping briefly into the ‘way-back machine’ of nostalgia, I remember when this movie came out (13 years ago this year). Spirited Away was the first anime I’d seen that had a proper Japanese feel to it; from the moment Chihiro and her family step into the spirit world town, you get immersed in the Japanese-ness of it all, the food, the mythology (radish spirit?! Really?! That’s cool…!)

Spirited Away was also the first anime I saw subbed (it was an extra on the DVD). I was a fool and turned up my nose and stuck with the English dubbed version at that point though (damn fool Latimer!).

I love the feel of Spirited Away, the view into Japanese culture and mythology.

Not sure what sort of spirit they are but they are kawaii ne?

The animation is wonderful too. There’s the wonderful, beauiful moment where Chihiro is crying, falling through the air with Kohaku, and her tears are breaking off the little mouse and bird.

The story between Kohaku and Chihiro is so sweet and lovely… and well, that’s where my ‘grudge’ comes in….I always have this moment of sighing sadly at the end, when Chihiro leaves Kohaku…. I am a fan-girl, so of course I would be frowning at this!

The ending is a bit ambiguous; you can read what you like into it. Hayao Miyazaki (the creator of Spirited Away) said that Chihiro has lost her memories after leaving the spirit world.

This time, I watched it I came to my own conclusion (after, what 10 years or so? ha). When Chihiro leaves Kohaku, she asks, ‘will we meet again?’ and he promises that they will. And then she’s gone. I block out having read once that there’s one way of looking at this; Kohaku is a spirit and so, Chihiro will meet him again when she dies and becomes a spirit…

Okay, that’s too sad, so this is the way I choose to look at it! Kohaku also says in the subbed version that, ‘I’ll go back to my world’ – which means that the spirit world might not be his world after all. He saved Chihiro when she fell into the river when she was a child, so to me, it means he’s going back to being a river god – and where are the rivers – in Chihiro’s world (if he saved her before in her own world, then that’s the world he belongs in).

As to memory loss… hmm, well she still has her magical hair tie in the end (which holds ‘everyone’s feelings’) – so I’m not worried about that 🙂 Thinking of this as the ending makes this ending nicer to me after all these years; I think I’m letting go of my grudge at last!

Ah, ambiguous endings – are they a pain or a pleasure?

Latimer watches… Shingeki no Kyojin

January 13, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

Latimer: I’m so behind the times! Like Ridley, I recently started watching Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan).Being a newbie to the show, I thought it’d be fun to document my initial thoughts as I watched the first 2 episodes!

Okay let’s go-go….!!

I just imagine the massive Titan looking over the wall and saying – “Hello dere!” All the Titans have faces that suggest they are about to say; “Hello dere!” instead of eating you. But in all seriousness, hell no would I still be alive in that world – as with zombie apocalypse I’m in the ‘first wave of non-survivors’!

I want one of the weapon rigs! Ah they’d be great – but I know I couldn’t use it properly!

3D gear flight — Well, I know it would all end badly for me!!

They have such a cool opening song!

This world looks very German, style-wise – I think it would be really cool to see this anime dubbed in German!

It really is suicide being a soldier in ‘Attack on Titan’!

Eren (the main character) said living behind the wall is like; “living like livestock for the Titans” – hmm, yup, that about sums it up all right!

Okay so there’s different soldier ‘corps’, with different crests – like Hogwarts houses… err… not really… well sort of; survey corps = Gryffindor (bravery); military police = Slytherin (smart, stay inside, let the Gryffindors do the hard graft :))… and garrison = Hufflepuff (who knows what you really do – who knows?!).

So the survey corps came back after their ‘trip’ (ha, their mini-break!) beyond the wall. There’s a guy with bandages around his mouth, ekk! Lots of soldiers were eaten; oh… one of the commanding officers is handing a bundle back to a crying mother…

Jaysus… it’s…. an arm?! What…!

God Eren, I’ve been here in your world 5 minutes and I don’t want to leave the walls (the outside world be damned I tell you, it’s not worth it! Sand and the sea, it’s not that impressive!). Why do you want to go outside Eren, you’re crazy!

Whooh, a big Titan just appeared (looking over the wall… ‘hello dere’)

Oh noo, he destroyed the wall, other Titans are coming in and eating people….. oh it’s on! IT’S ON!

My immediate thought to describe Titans – “leering grins and naked arses!” I know all you people looked, they are giant naked people (where do your eyes go first?)!

I love how in animes (this used to happen in Bleach too) there’s always cool-looking baddies (the big Colossal and Armoured Titans in this case; they are the important ones), and then there are the weirdest, oddest, bubble-headed, comical-looking strange ones, that you know the artist was like; “Bored now! Bring on the weird!”

In all seriousness, you'd initially have to laugh if you saw this guy THEN scream and cry and run.... — In all seriousness, you’d initially have to laugh if you saw this guy THEN scream and cry and run….

Ah, Eren’s house was crushed by stone from the wall – his mam is stuck under the house!

She told them to run away and save themselves (a Titan is coming!). I’d have asked them to kill me before they ran away – “I’m doing you guys a solid by letting you go; the least you could do is kill me before you run away!” (I don’t want to be eaten by a giant).

I wonder will Eren eventually befriend a Titan and that’ll be the turning point… – Oh holy hell… no he won’t!

Hannes the soldier – running away from the Titan instead of engaging – I feel you Hannes, you’re a soldier, but you’re afraid. Of course I never would have become a soldier because I’m afraid. Just sayin’

“Hurry if you don’t want to be eaten…” I never want to hear someone screaming those words at me. Ever.

All those people living in that city are traumatized. The gate’s closed, leaving them behind to die by Titan, that’s horrible. But, well, maybe it’s for the best; like everyone in Game of Thrones… maybe it’s better to go out now, happy one day, eaten the next! I mean the soldiers are happy, then traumatized, then eaten!

Hannes, the soldier, is screaming at Eren that his mother died because he’s weak. In fairness the mother’s not gone because anyone’s weak, she’s gone because a massive man-eating monster ate her!

Eren’s having all these flashbacks of his Dad injecting him with something (he’s been acting the maggot!). I wonder… that dark-haired titan I’ve seen around on pictures and tumblr… is he a genetically engineered titan – from Eren’s DNA?

And… end 🙂

Update: I finished the series, I won’t ruin anything – only to say it’s as good as everyone says it is!

I noticed that… well, a lot of the Titans run… a little like I do…? (the fat, or short ones, not the cool ones) it’s sad, disturbing, but true… I run like a Titan… wow, wow… ah geez…

And then, Just to say, my favourite character is Jean Kirstein… and I leave you with this epic gif of him fighting a Titan…

Giant Human-Gobbling Babies

January 6, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

Ridley: I’ve been in the middle of an anime marathon, or maybe it’s an anime coma? I’m never certain which is more accurate to describe what I do. Basically when I find an anime series that is really good, I devour each episode over hours or days without pausing (it depends on how long I have free), watching until my eyes hate me and my body begs for sleep. This time the series was called Attack on Titan. It’s being hailed as the must see anime for 2013, obviously as it’s now January 2014, I didn’t get that early memo, but better late than never, eh?

Basically it’s about a world where humans have lived inside huge high walls, sealed off from the titans, which are giant creatures that devour humans, just for the fun of it.

It starts off with all the settlements within the walls having lived in relative safety and peace for 100 years, then a colossal titan smashes through the main gate of the outer most wall and all hell breaks loose.

The outer settlement retreats behind an inner war, there’s turmoil, famine and now the threat of the titans is far more real than ever before. For us, the story centres around three friends, Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert.

After they each endure horrific personal tragedy, they decide to train to become elite soldiers that will fight the Titans, using special Manoeuvre Equipment, which enables them to swing (though its more like they fly) through the air on metal harnesses that harpoon out and attach to builds. I think I’d love the ability to travel like that and to use the double swords like they do, but if given half a chance, I know I’d probably accidentally slice something off or smash into a wall at high speed within three minutes of putting the equipment on.

I must say the series is creepy, it’s weird, it’s quite gory, and it’s brilliant. It doesn’t pull any punches, you really get a feeling no character, no matter how important, is safe. Titans can snatch up anyone and eat them, and you will see them being eaten.

To me, the titans resembled large human-gobbling babies, and actually when they start running can be quite terrifying, (though this one running is kinda funny) but then you have to imagine this 15 meter giant barrelling down towards you is about to crush or eat you:

There’s so much in this series to keep you watching, with various ongoing mysteries, which keep you pressing play over and over, you are left questioning where the titans suddenly appeared from and why they eat humans when they don’t need food. There’s also pure raw human emotions and individual reactions to the devastation wrought by the titans. The author has said that one of the main influences on the series was the inner feelings of people. This is a strong element throughout, we see characters dealing with their total terror and grief, of seeing things they never should have to witness. Some of the characters overcome their fear, and others don’t. At one point, I did stop and think about what a world like that would really be like, how I would react, and I decided I can’t say I’d have ever had the courage to become a soldier and fight off the giants. I think I’d still like to have the uniform though…

The anime doesn’t finish as such, it’s left open ended, it’s like a long teaser to get you hooked on the world and the story, so that you’ll then start reading the manga, where hopefully all our burning questions will be answered. So…

To the manga!

Latimer watches… Indiana Jones

January 3, 2014March 9, 2022 | mlatimerridley

Latimer: I don’t think a Christmas holiday is complete without watching at least one of the Indiana Jones movies! They are all shown on television over the holidays.

This year I noticed that the fourth Indiana Jones movie (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) has been added to the marathon. To me, there are only really three Indiana Jones movies.

I’ve been watching Indiana Jones since as far back as I can remember. It started my obsession about wanting to be an archaeologist. I thought being an archaeologist was being Indiana Jones. For most of my childhood that’s what I was going to be, an archaeologist/Indiana Jones.

I was definitely going to go on adventures and find artefacts stuck in booby-trapped tombs. Yet, in spite of all the ways I would definitely die adventuring through Indiana Jones style tombs, I was convinced that was the life for me! I would have needed a lifetime of parkour, self-defence and weapons training for that career path.

I’m now convinced I would have died trekking to my first tomb!

Thankfully, I’ve grown out of considering that life (for my own health and safety!), but still love Indiana Jones! Out of the three movies (yup three!), my favourite has always been Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I watch it once every Christmas. I’m always happy to see it; I know it’s Christmas and it never fails to make me smile.

I love that movie because it’s just so much fun and not serious, and so 80’s – it’s pure nostalgia!

It has the never-ageing Sean Connery, the zeppelin, the quick detour to Berlin, tombs, the leap of faith I never would have taken, the old knight of the crusade, the face melting scene (that always scared the crap out of me)… and you learn that Indy’s named after the dog 🙂