R.I.P. Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy's first novel. Picture coutesy of www.qbd.com.au.

Hi everyone! 

Sorry for the length of time it has been since my last post. I'll try to post more regularly.

A few weeks ago, I thought I'd visit the website of Maeve Binchy, an author who's books I've enjoyed for the last 10 years.  I was shocked to find on the home page of that site that Maeve had passed away back in July 2012. I instantly felt sad as I've read quite a few of Maeve's books and have really enjoyed them! It also brought back the memories of when I first heard of Maeve Binchy and her great stories.

I first became interested in Maeve Binchy's novels back in 2002 while I was in my final year of high school. I somehow heard of a Brisbane radio station called 4RPH, which is a radio station for the print handicapped. When I tried the station for the first time one night, I discovered that at 9 o'clock every weeknight, they had a book reading segment for half an hour called Late Night Story, where they do unabridged serialised bookreading. That night, the story was Maeve Binchy's Light A Penny Candle, read by Kate Binchy, Maeve's cousin. Sadly, I missed the beginning of the story, which must have been many nights before. When I heard the story, I was hooked, and kept listening every night! A couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd tune into 4RPH again and I heard they were reading Maeve's book "Silver Wedding"! Sadly, I keep missing it each night, now they're no longer reading that one.

Since that first night listening to 4RPH, I've read many of Maeve Binchy's books: Firefly Summer, Circle Of Friends, The Copper Beech, Evening Class, Tara Road and Minding Frankie, just to name a few. I would recommend all the books I have read. Maeve's final book, A Week In Winter, will be released in November 2012 for some countries or sometime in 2013 for others. I am looking forward to reading it and telling you what I think, though I won't spoil the story for you!

If you'd like to find out more about Maeve Binchy and all her books and other works, I recommend you explore her official website (link above and in the side under Sites I Like to Visit). You may also want to read more about her on Wikipedia's Maeve Binchy page. You can also read a nice obituary about Maeve.  I thought I'd also share with you 2 videos I just found on YouTube, part 1 (above) and part 2 (below) of Maeve Binchy's life story.

R.I.P. Maeve. You will be sorely missed by your family, friends and fans, but your stories will live on forever!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

At last!  Christmas time is here and I thought I'd wish you all a Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone has a great day no matter where you are, whether you're just starting Christmas Day, or Christmas Night like we Aussies are!

I've had a great Christmas Day with my family, watching a Harry Potter movie and The Santa Clause movies - one of my favourite Christmas movies!

Stay tuned!  Sorry I haven't posted my Elton concert review yet (which was great, by the way), but I will hopefully get it posted this week before the New Year!

I hope all the kids have been spoilt by Santa this year, getting what they've wanted!  May everyone find peace and happiness on this glorious day!

John Farnham - The Acoustic Chapel Sessions Review

CD cover of The Acoustic Chapel Sessions
Courtesy of JB Hi-Fi

Yes! I bought it on Friday and have been listening to it repeatedly ever since!  The CD is by Australian artist, John Farnham, and I've loved his music ever since 1996 (the year after I discovered Elton John's music), and each successive album is just as good as the last.  The new CD is called "The Acoustic Chapel Sessions" and it is great!  This CD features 11 great hits from John's music career from 1984 to 1996, and is redone with acoustic, not electric, instruments!  This CD has been released in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of "Whispering Jack", John's comeback album of 1986.

I was worried that the acoustic songs would not be up to par but I was wrong. John Farnham and his great band really did pull it off!  Not only that, the CD was released as a combo CD/DVD set with the DVD featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with John and the band, along with 8 video recordings of songs on the CD!  Great stuff!

The first highlight off the CD for me is "Pressure Down", which I think is even better than the original version!  "Playing To Win", which John originally recorded with Little River Band in 1984, sounds strange without its synth and electric guitar sound but it really does sound great as an acoustic song too!  I also love "Two Strong Hearts"...the backing vocals go so well with John's voice!  The acoustic version of "A Simple Life" also sounds terrific!  "Hearts On Fire" was my least favourite song on the CD but then it grew on me the more I listened to it.  "You're The Voice" was also great but I do feel the original version had more power!

Over all, I think the CD/DVD set is fantastic and well worth buying. It gets a 5 out of 5 star rating from me.  For anyone who wants to know more about this great Aussie singer, I've included some links to sites I'd recommend!  Back in his heyday, John Farnham decided against going to the US to seek his fame and fortune and opted to stay in Australia and tour here instead.  That said, he has had Number One hits and Top 10 hits in other countries.  When I listen to John Farnham sing, it makes me proud to be Australian!  His great sense of humour gives his fans many, many laughs during concerts and he is so well loved by us all!

If you've never heard of John Farnham and you have iTunes, I'd recommend you check him out.  If you don't have iTunes, try checking out the John Farnham links in the sidebar!  Hopefully, next time he tours I just might get the chance to see my 2nd favourite singer LIVE in concert!

Steve Jobs - May Your Legacy Live On

Steve Jobs holding a model of the video playing iPod.

Picture courtesy of Lusakatimes.com.

I felt so sad to hear the news that Steve Jobs had died on October 5th.  It's hard to believe we've now lost one of the greatest minds in the Technology industry.  If it wasn't for Steve Jobs, a lot of things that are easy to use today may have ended up more complex, or not have existed at all.

Steve Jobs was the founder of Apple Inc, the company behind many well-known products such as the Macintosh (Mac), the iMac, MacBook, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV and most recently the iPad!  I, for one, love my iPod Classic and use it daily!  I don't really know much about Steve Jobs, apart from what I've mentioned above, but I've read on the Internet that he invented a lot of things and pretty much gets looked on today as the modern day Thomas Edison....a great honour!

Fans of Apple may be concerned about the future of the company, but only time will tell.  A lot of people looked on Steve Jobs as a genius, and from what I've read, he certainly was.

Steve, you will be sorely missed, not only by your family, but also by those who knew you as a friend or business partner, and the many fans you have accumulated over the years.  You changed the world with what you did and the world is a better place for it.

May your legacy live on through Apple and may Apple keep doing great things even though you're no longer here.

RIP, Steve.