Freedom

It's a strange word freedom, but one which has taken on a whole new meaning for me in the past few days; with my exams over with, school officially done forever, summer has more or less begun.

The past couple of months have been exhausting for me, both mentally and physically, but at last I can now allow myself to relax and take a break; something I haven't had much chance to do recently.

So I know I posted around a month ago on what would be coming to the blog, but I have changed my mind ever so slightly on that front. I said in the aforementioned post that I would be following the 1001 series' Albums To Listen To Before You Die, but I have changed my mind. I only really listen to one genre of music nowadays, and that is hip hop, so I have instead decided that my music posts will follow this. I may deviate once in a while, but most of my album reviews will be from there or new releases.

As for the bookish side of things, I am certainly eager to offer my recommendations and reviews on both classic and contemporary novels. The first review that will be coming after this weekend, perhaps tomorrow, is that of Gabriel García Márquez's fantastic novel Love In The Time Of Cholera. The first of many to come, I am sure.

Aside from this I have a whole host of different posts lined up; reviews of film, music, television and sport. Now I have this sense of freedom I do hope to bring something to the blog, and of course if anyone does read it and has any requests, please feel free to email me or leave me a comment anywhere on the blog.

Ben.

Hiatus.

Okay, so the fact that I haven't posted in over a month now, explains in a self-explanatory fashion how frantically busy I have been. I will make a promise to you now that I do have plans for this blog, but unfortunately they have been put on hold for the time being, until we near the end of next month.

When I return to posting frequently, I want nothing more than to start taking this blog to new heights, and I have numerous ways in which I am planning on doing that. Firstly, over the past few weeks I have noticed that my film knowledge is, to my shame, completely lacking. As a result I am making the promise right here that once I regain some freedom, I will be producing many film reviews; both classic and contemporary. In doing this, I will be taking advice from film lists and friends, in order to make the films I do watch, worthwhile.

Following in the same vein, I will be also undertaking another challenge, but this time with a list to guide me. I have decided that from now on, I am going to follow the '1001 albums you should listen to before you die' series. I will post a few comments on each album as I go: not strictly a review, as I don't claim to be an expert on music, and I'm quite sure there are enough music critics to go around on the web, but a few of my humble thoughts. I'm quite exited for this as it will hopefully allow me to develop a wider, more diverse taste in music.

Last but not certainly not least, I also intend to read a fair few books over this summer. As I will hopefully be partaking in an English Literature and Creative Writing course come September, I feel it is my duty to become more widely-read; this will be mostly in terms of classics, books I 'should read', but I will also follow new, contemporary releases as well.

As you can see, I have a busy summer ahead, but they are just the plans for the blog. I also intend to write a lot this summer, which will mean there may be extra posts with poems and novel extracts appearing also; please forgive the self-indulgence. I hope that I can provide this blog with a real push of quality posts in approaching times, and build a following of readers that will enjoy what I write. Bare with me for now; the posts are coming.

Ben.