New Music Finds!

Like many people, I too enjoy music. So finding new music, from new bands and artists is always fun.

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 Here is a short list of the new material I have found recently and have been loving.

• Coast- Oceans 
• Jess Glynne- Ain't Got Far To Go
• MS MR- Criminals
• Seven Davis Jr- Good Vibes
• XYLO- Afterlife
• Tourist- Holding On
• Delta Goodrem- Wings
• Leona Lewis- Thunder
• Seinabo Sey- Pretend
• Metric- Too Bad, So Sad
• Disclosure ft Sam Smith- OMEN

My Netflix Binge List!

A Netflix binge list consists of all the TV shows that I watch. This means, anytime I'm on Netflix I'm most likely watching any of the following:

Marvel's Daredevil:

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The first in a planned series of shows detailing the Marvel universe, "Daredevil" follows Matt Murdock, attorney by day and vigilante by night. Blinded in an accident as a child, Murdock uses his heightened senses as Daredevil, fighting crime on the streets of New York after the sun goes down. His efforts are not welcomed by powerful businessman Wilson Fisk -- aka Kingpin -- and others whose interests collide with those of Daredevil. Though Murdock's day job portrays a man who believes in the criminal justice system, his alter ego suggests otherwise, as he takes the law into his own hands to protect his Hell's Kitchen neighborhood and the surrounding communities.

House of Cards:

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U.S. Rep. Francis Underwood of South Carolina starts out as a ruthless politician seeking revenge in this Netflix original production. Promised the post of Secretary of State in exchange for his support, his efforts help to ensure the election of Garrett Walker to the presidency. But Walker changes his mind before the inauguration, telling Underwood he's too valuable in Congress. Outwardly, Underwood accepts his marching orders, but secretly he and his wife, an environmental activist, make a pact to destroy Walker and his allies

Orange Is The New Black:

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Piper Chapman is a public relations executive with a career and a fiance when her past suddenly catches up to her. In her mid-30s she is sentenced to spend time in a minimum-security women's prison in Connecticut for her association with a drug runner 10 years earlier. This Netflix original series is based on the book of the same title. Forced to trade power suits for prison orange, Chapman makes her way through the corrections system and adjusts to life behind bars, making friends with the many eccentric, unusual and unexpected people she meets.

Photography Inspiration

I have been inspired lately to take more photos, after downloading the free trial of Lightroom. Honestly, the quality of my photos has increased so much. I am no longer as worried now to take photos perfectly, as I know if I have any exposure problems I can adjust them in Lightroom.

I have been watching tutorials on YouTube, as I knew the basics but not an in depth knowledge. While watching videos I came across a photographer called Jessica Kobeissi. If I am honest her channel is not perfectly shot and edited but the content she creates really educational and has taught me different techniques and skills to use.

One of my favourite videos is the 50mm Natural Light and Golden Hour Photoshoot . She really captured some great photos even when her original location was shut.  To check out more of he work, visit her Instagram.

My other inspirations have come from Pintrest. This site is perfect for inspiration with categories and all types of photography. It's great for getting new poses and new lighting techniques. I also found articles with tips and tricks from other photographers.

There is always something to take a photo of, everything is constantly changing from weather to wildlife. Why not try going into your garden or local park and think about what you could take a photo of or different compositions you could try.

This statue in my garden  sits perfectly among the bright flowers adding composition with its dark grey tones.

If you have any pets they are great to photograph, sometimes they can be a little more challenging as they don't sit still, here is one I took of my dog Bentley.

Cute right! Fancy a challenge? Why not take a picture every day for the next week and post it in the comments. Its a challenge but it helps you think more about photographs,

Good luck, have fun

Thanks

Tom

*Disclaimer*

-This is not a sponsored post

-The views expressed are all my own

-The photos used belong to me unless expressed otherwise.

5 Tips To Survive The Heat!

If you're from the UK then you know that we have been having some seriously good weather lately which, if you know anything about the UK you know doesn't really happen.

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So today I thought I would share with you a couple of ways you can survive in this heatwave.

1. Stay out of the heat- Unless you are trying to catch a sun tan, stay out of direct sun, especially near mid day when it is the hottest.

April Favourites!

This month I only have a few favourites but stills one that you should really try.

Blog of the Month: 

My blog of the month this month is Steve Booker. 

Granted he hasn't posted much this month but I still love his old posts. His blog as a whole is really well designed (kind of jealous). His posts are well thought of and executed so well. His photography is also amazing, check out his Instagram. 

How I Style Bold Patterned Shirts!

In the UK the weather is getting warmer as we approach the summer time. With this I have seen a flood of bold pattered, busy shirts. Today I will show you how I style my busy floral printed shirt with 2 looks.

LOOK 1 | NIGHT LOOK: 

When going for a patterned shirt it is important to not over pattern yourself. If you do you seem too mix and match. Personally I simply keep everything else plain and basic which enables your shirt to be the focal point. 

The Avengers: Age of Ultron | Review

Like many people I have been waiting for this film for so long. I am happy to say it was well worth the wait.

March Favorites

The month of March has seem some minor changes to my favourites with new products and essentials added to the list.

Blog of  the Month:

This is a new thing I'm going to start, where every month I will crown a blog that I have been loving that month as the blog of the month, so if you have a blog make sure to comment your blog link down in the comments and ill check it out. 

The March Blog of the Month goes to Buckets and Spades. 

This blog has everything you want from it, men's fashion, travel, food, photography. As you can see from the screenshot of the site above, Matthews blog is well designed, a lot better than mine haha. His posts always interest me and inspire me to make mine better.

Story Time:

Top 5 FREE IOS Apps!

Now having an iPhone I have the pleasure of plowing through the App Store and hunt for the best games/apps out there.

To make this easier I have made 2 lists. The first will be my most used and the second will be the best games I have currently. In no particular order:

Top 5 Most Used Apps:

Instagram

You all probably like me, use this app on a daily basis but just encase you don't, you can share your photography talent or the perfect selfie with the world. With Instagram I love the photo feed layout of the app, it's a seamless flow which are great especially on devices like my iPhone 6 plus.

Snapchat

I feel Snapchat was first designed to showcase what I'm calling the 'Anti-Selfie'. Basically everyone could take an ugly selfie and send it to there friends without judgement. With all your friends doing this you cannot help but download and join in.

New Puppy

WE GOT A NEW PUPPY!

This is our new dog called Bentley. Bentley is a chihuahua, aged only 9 weeks old.

You will probably will see more posts on this cutie in the future.

Let me know what you think of him or if you have any other pets in the comments below.

Thanks,

Tom

Healthy Slushie Smoothie Recipe

For Christmas my parents brought me a smoothie maker, well a Nutribullet to be precise. This machine is great at breaking up fruit and other healthy substances to make great smoothies.

My favourite smoothie I have made is the one I am sharing with you today, my very own Slushie Smoothie Recipe.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• Blender
• Frozen Watermelon 
• Frozen Pineapple or Strawberries 
• Ice
• Grapes
• Water

First take your smoothie machine cup and add around 6-8 pieces of frozen watermelon.

Taken 3 Review

Like many people I have mixed views on the Taken franchise. Taken 1 was amazing, action and narrative was perfectly balanced and it was something new that we hadn't seen before.

Then Taken 2 came along. Within the franchise I would definitely say that this is the weakest of the three. The twists were very predictable and you knew what was happening next.

Before writing this review I had a look what others thought and majority of them were actually negative. Some of the comments I agreed with but some were a little harsh. All in all I thought Taken 3 was a pretty good film. If you are an action junkie then this is absolutely the film for you. 

The synopsis of the film is as follows:

Liam Neeson returns as ex-covert operative Bryan Mills, whose reconciliation with his ex-wife is tragically cut short when she is brutally murdered. Consumed with rage, and framed for the crime, he goes on the run to evade the relentless pursuit of the CIA, FBI and the police. For one last time, Mills must use his "particular set of skills," to track down the real killers, exact his unique brand of justice, and protect the only thing that matters to him now - his daughter

Like Taken 2 there was definitely moments in which the narrative was predictable such as, if he would survive or not. However, I do think that the coverage of action and overall story line was done pretty well and brought me an enjoyable experience. 

The film did feel like a little add on to the last 2 and bringing nothing really new to the franchise apart from a main character death and a new life. On the plus side I do think that the character Kim was acted a little better than the scared silly girl in the first film.

I do feel that the creators of the film have rinsed this series dry and Taken 3 did feel like the ending to the franchise. There actually was a nice twist at the end but then the film went back to predictable.

If you have watched Taken 3 let me know what you thought of the film in 2 words in the comments below.

Thanks,

Tom

Taken 3 Trailer

IMBD 

Insurgent Book Review - Twisted Moan of Madness

Insurgent is the second book in the Divergent series. Divergent ended with Tris and Four leaving on a train after all the sacrifice and defeating Erudite (kinda).

Insurgent to me seemed a little all over the place in terms of story with Tris visiting all the factions throughout the book as if she was having a tour of her world. This feel did sometimes confuse me at points of who she was talking to  but sometimes the style of the story did fit well with what was going on with many people unsure of what was actually happening in their world.

Insurgent welcomes some appealing new characters to the Divergent series throughout this book however, sometimes there was too many characters to handle leaving me simply with a name and nothing to fit with it.

The book as a whole can be a little sad at times with the killing and action but one scene lifts the mood of the book a lot and that was the paintball scene. For those who haven't read the book, Tris, Four and the others go back to Dauntless headquarters and find that there is lots of camera around the place. They then make a plan to cover all the camera with paint to stop Erudite watching them. This turns into more of a paintball fight than a camera cover mission but its a great way to connect with the characters that we haven't seen before and gives us greater understanding of the ones we do know from Divergent. This is a great scene, I really hope this scene is in the film as visually I think it would be good to see.

TBR Challenge 2015

New Year, New start... right?

Making new years resolutions can be hard and sticking by them for a whole year can be even harder. So this year other than the obvious ones like losing weight and becoming more healthier I have decided to read more. I decided to do this a few years ago also but it got to around April and I noticed I was no longer reading. So this year I thought instead of just deciding to read more I would make it more of a challenge,The TBR Challenge.

I originally saw the challenge on jessethereader on YouTube. For those who don't know what the TBR challenge is where readers pick up a long neglected book from your (To Be Read) TBR pile and read it and then comment on it somewhere being your blog, social media or just to a friends or family member.

When researching this challenge I found out that people are given a list of books to read for each month however, I want to read my own TBR books so instead I am creating my own list.

How it is going to work?

Each month I am going to select a book and read that book in that month. At the end of the month I will create a blog post on that book telling you what I think of it. That way I can read more and so can you guys.

The book for January is Paper Towns by John Green. I keep banging on about this book and I have started getting into it. Compared to TFIOS it is a little different but I will save that for this months review. 

I have a few books that I want to read from my book collection but not a whole years worth so if you have read a book recently that you just have to tell someone about let me know in the comments below and ill be sure to pick it up for one of the months this year.

Thanks,

Tom.

Links relevant to post:

jessethereader
Paper Towns by John Green
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
House of Secrets by Chris Columbus & Ned Vizzini 

My Links:

Twitter
Instagram
YouTube

Lily Pebbles Chocolate Brookies

Welcome to my first post of 2015, I hope you all had a great New Year. Recently I made Brookies. I found the recipe after watching Lily Pebbles vlogmas videos on her YouTube channel. She also made a blog post last year on the 9th of December here.

So I decided that this is the first thing I would do in 2015 (As I made them on the 1st of Janaury).

Ingredients:

The ingredients needed to make Brookies are as follows:

• 85g good quality cocoa powder
• 400g caster sugar
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 250g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 60g icing sugar

Step 1:

To start with in one big bowl mix together the Cocoa powder, caster sugar and vegetable oil. Then beat in each egg one at a time, then add the vanilla extract. Now combine the plain flour, baking powder and salt to the cocoa mixture. Once mixed well cover and place in the fridge for atleast 4 hours.