Dolly In ... Milos | Part Two

So, the reason I had to make a second post about Milos is because we took a boat trip. Not just any boat trip, but a 10 hour, round-the-island, catered boat trip. It was incredible. We all agreed it was probably the best day of our lives. 

The trip started at 10am and left from the main port of Milos. Throughout the day we were given delicious snacks including homemade bruschetta, local peaches, sandwiches, Greek salad and a spaghetti lunch. We were also treated to unlimited drinks; coke, lemonade, beer, wine and of course water.  

The trip revealed things about Milos that we'd have had no idea about if we hadn't taken it, from fishing towns that are uninhabited in the winter months, to geological wonders. We saw things that you wouldn't have believed (if I hadn't taken photos). At various points during the day the boat stopped and allowed us to explore beaches and coves (inaccessible by road) from the water. It was sooooo much fun, especially because they provided snorkelling equipment and flippers! 

This is a famous rock in Milos because from one angle it looks like a rabbit, and from another it looks like a bear. Cool eh?

These rock formations were incredible. It's something to do with the volcanic activity around and beneath the island. I have no idea who this man is, but he will now be forever immortalised on this blog. 

One of the factors that sold this particular trip to us was the fact that an underwater camera was involved, and that we'd be able to keep the pictures! No surprise then that we took over 100 photos!

Mmm how sexy do I look in a snorkel? I only put this picture in because the reflection makes it look like I have antennae.

I thought I'd finish with this picture because the water was literally that blue! We took a lot of photos of our legs, and they were all pretty rubbish, but at least in this one most of us look human.

Read Part One here.

Lazy Morning Playlist

I was torn between calling this 'Chilled Out Playlist' or 'Lazy Sunday Playlist', so, to avoid making a decision, I went with neither. These tracks are perfect for a morning like this one; cool but not cold, bright but not sunny, and full but not packed. I don't know what it is about these particular songs, but they all scream 'morning' to me. OK, maybe not scream, whisper. 

Youth | Daughter 

Misguided Ghosts | Paramore

Free Fallin' (Live) | John Mayer

She | Laura Mvula

Ex-Factor | Lauryn Hill

Old Pine | Ben Howard

Shiver | Lucy Rose

No Surprises | Radiohead

Playing God | Paramore

Lights Out, Words Gone | Bombay Bicycle Club

Dolly In ... Milos | Part One

OMG, photos of people!? On Dolly's blog? Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, that's me up there with my friends. I realised that these Dolly In ... posts were getting a bit samey, so I decided it was about time I introduced some photos of people. We loved Milos! At first we thought that 5 days there might be too much, but in fact we wouldn't have been able to fit in all the fantastic stuff we did if we hadn't stayed there for that long (hence part one and two). 

I love this picture (slash the 20+ photos I took of this scene) because I think it looks like a band portrait. The great lighting mixed with the gorgeous location and lack of people, to me, made a great photo. I took this in a place called Plaka which is the main town on Milos. Like most places we visited, Plaka was deserted during the day and came (slightly more) alive after dark. As you can see, we enjoyed a fantastic sunset, probably the best of the entire trip, up in Plaka. 

Ok yes, that is what you think it is, it's a chocolate fondue with ICE CREAM! We dipped ice cream into melted chocolate! Just take a second to get your head around that. OK? Cool, let's continue. We'd had a bit of an off day (as you do), and so, to treat ourselves, we went to this really cool looking ice cream shop that had an inconceivable number of available flavours. As we went to grab a table, we noticed that everyone seemed to have ordered the same thing, a chocolate fondue. It was only on further inspection of the menu though that we realised how ice cream was involved. €5 each seemed a bit steep, but after we'd devoured it, we all agreed that it had been the best €5 we ever spent. 

As the guy in our hostel kept reminding us, Milos has thirty two beaches, and all of them are completely different. This one you can see above was my favourite beach of the whole trip, Sarakiniko.

Sarakiniko was the weirdest place I think I've ever been, it looked like a set from Star Trek. The walk down to the beach was between startlingly bright white hills that eventually open up onto a narrow area of sand. The water is very shallow in this inlet, but once you swim out of it, it's deep enough to be able to jump off rocks. Which I did! The rocks at the entrance of the inlet also caused a natural wave pool to form at the side. Obviously I spent a long time in there. 

We also managed to get to the hot springs on the island, even though there was no bus and they were incredibly poorly signposted. It was the first time I've been in anything like that and it was awesome. You just swim out into the sea, and it gets hotter! It's a bit like a jacuzzi, as the heat is caused by bubbles of sulphur. Ok yes, it did smell a bit, and it dyed my friends' beautiful white swimming costume a bit orangey, but I think it was worth it. 

That's all for this post, but look out for Part Two where I'll be talking all about the boat trip we took around the island.

What I'm Reading # 3

The Silkworm | Robert Galbraith

I really liked The Silkworm, but I don't think it was quite as good as The Cuckoo's Calling. I'm sure sequels are incredibly hard to write (like second albums), as you don't want to just write the same book again, but equally you want people to know it's a sequel, but still, I will always have incredibly high expectations of J.K Rowling. 

The plot of this book is focussed around the literary world, where the first was more fame-centric, both things J.K. can relate to. However, I think The Cuckoo's Calling was better plotted and more intriguing; I didn't like or feel for any of the case-specific characters in The Silkworm really.  I am enjoying the developing relationship between Strike and Robin, and am looking forward to seeing more of that, but to be totally honest, the reveal of the killer at the end of this book was pretty anticlimactic. 

This is definitely well worth a read if you enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling, but as someone quite new to the murder mystery novel, I'm not sure I can say much more than that. 

Gone Girl | Gillian Flynn

It's been impossible to miss Gone Girl this past year, if it's not news about the film, it's a recommendation from a friend, or spotting someone reading it on the tube. Gone Girl really has taken over. It was because of this that I decided to read it, and it was on finding a copy at a car boot sale for 50p that I decided to buy it. 

Gone Girl begins with the disappearance of Amy Dunne from her home, as told from the point of view of her husband Nick. The book alternates between both Nick and Amy telling you about their lives, and ultimately explaining what happened on the day of the disappearance. Up until about three quarters of the way through, I couldn't put this book down. It was full of twists and turns and moments that made me gasp out loud 'No way!'. However, towards the end, the book starts to feel like Return of the King, there's too many endings. If the book had finished about 60 pages before it did I would have been happy, as it is, it allowed itself to peter out instead of going out with a bang, and that was a shame. 

Overall I did really like this book, and would (and have) recommend it to friends. I like the way it's structured, hearing things from two different, often contradictory, points of view leaves the reader to come to their own conclusions.

I Am Pilgrim | Terry Hayes

Wow. This book was incredible. I literally just finished it and am on a high. It is more than just a book, it's a work of art. Too much? I just want you to understand that this book was fantastic. I also feel like the author put his all into it, in no way was he just writing for writings sake. Every detail was meticulously planned out, every facet of Pilgrim's life is explored, seemingly gratuitously until everything comes together at the end, stories jump back and forth through time and space. You can tell that the author enjoyed writing this book as he fleshes out every single moment.

This book is long, at 700 pages, its almost double the length of Gone Girl, and although this might put you off, not a single one of these pages is superfluous. Granted, when I was about half way through I was wondering what was going on; we'd heard stories about a CIA operative's past, about 9/11, about a brutal murder involving acid, and about a young boy seemingly turned on to the path of Islamic extremism, with seemingly nothing to link them. However, it all starts to come together from about 3/4 of the way through, when some of the bigger questions start to get answered, and some of the puzzle pieces start to slip into place.

When I started this book I was expecting something completely different from what I got. It opens at at the scene of a murder, and I thought it was going to be along the lines of the Robert Galbraith books I've just read, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The fact I expected a murder mystery, along with the easy-to-read writing style made me continue reading. Everything that happened in the book seemed like it was written for me (not that I'm a CIA agent or a terrorist), whether it was the locations or the secret agent know-how, or the Saracen's ingenious disguises and methods of acting out his plan, nothing in this book wasn't interesting. 

This book has reminded me how much I love reading. I love that, unlike with television and film, it's a lot more personal, and unique to you. All the scenes described are how I see them and no one else. All the countries described bring up different feelings and memories in each reader; many of the places mentioned in this book I've been to with my friends, most recently the Greek islands. I will be buying this book for all my friends, and my dad this christmas (spoiler alert!).

Volume One | Volume Two

Dolly In ... Ios

Look at that sunset. Look at it! THAT was the view from our hostel room. We stayed at a place called Francesco's, and it was fantastic! They had a pool that looked out over the town and port, a bar where we met some really fun people, great rooms and housekeeping (!), and all the staff were awesome, especially the guy who drove us to the port at 7am even though he didn't start work till 9.

We only got to one beach on the island, called Mylopotas, and it was gorgeous (as you can see from the photo below). Even better than that, it was deserted when we got there! It was like having our own private beach, except for the hot American guy, who obviously shaved his chest, who came over to talk to us. We walked to the beach down the steepest hill I've ever seen (yep, in your face Constitution Hill!). Thankfully we made the last bus back.

Ios is known as the party island, and boy oh boy was it. About a five minute walk from our hostel took us to the town that during the day was deserted. On our first day we though we'd just chosen to stay on a really unpopular island, but then, we went out at night. At night the streets are throbbing with people drinking at bars waiting for the clubs to open (which they don't do till 3am!). We went to one particular bar where you buy a €5 drink, and then get hit over the head with an object of your choice. Of course you wear a helmet, but still, being hit with a bar stool, a skateboard, a hammer, or even the bar tenders' foot, is pretty wild. We of course paid for our friend to do it ;)

Overall, Ios was fantastic, and we've all agreed that we need to go back there ASAP. There were only three of us on the trip at that point, and although we still had a butt load of fun, as the saying goes, the more the merrier. I would definitely recommend Ios to everyone, young or old, up for a party, or wanting to lounge on the beach all day. It was a really pretty island that was not rammed with tourists. 

P.S. it's pronounced eee-os.

Pilot Watch | Drama

It's no secret that I watch a lot of television, so recently I've been trying to think of ways to make this passive hobby of mine a bit more active. Not active like I'll run a mile whilst watching Supernatural or whatever, but active as in I have to do something with/about/for the episode or show. I've made my Mindy Project Drinking Game, and that was a lot of fun (and gained me lots of followers - hey!), so I thought I'd try and come up with a few more active things to do with my love of TV. I really enjoy reviewing things, as I tend to have a lot of (strong) opinions, so without further ado, here are my reviews of some of 2014's new shows. 

How To Get Away With Murder

Damn this was a good pilot! It had everything; murder, suspense, Viola Davis, a picturesque American college, gay sex, that really hot guy from the first few episodes of The Following, basically it was awesome. The pilot introduces Viola Davis as a cut-throat criminal law professor looking to add four of the best students to her firm. 

The principal storyline follows a bunch of these students working (and sometime breaking the rules) to prove themselves as worthy of Viola's team. This introduced some great characters with lots of potential. I'm looking forward to seeing more from all of them, but especially Bennett from OITNB. Throughout the episode we flash forward to a supposed 'post-murder scene', with some students discussing what they're going to do with 'the body'. I ran through so many possibilities in my head as to what this was about, was it an assignment or a prank, or had someone really been murdered? If so, who? A good pilot (or episode in general) should have you asking questions, and this one certainly did. 

Overall I think this could be my favourite new show of the season; even without the fantastic premise, suspense, and characters, it looks like almost 50% of the core cast are PoC's, and that's enough to make it worth a watch for me. The pilot has set it up to be a great show, and I hope the season delivers. Bring on episode two!

Gotham

My overall take on Gotham? Meh. To be completely honest with you I found the whole thing a bit boring, and only carried on watching past a certain point due to my (OC-based) faith in Ben McKenzie. I guess I did have high hopes for the show, because, a crime drama based in the Batman universe? What's not to love right? Wrong. The whole show was incredibly formulaic, with no shocks or surprises, just a straightforward, predictable storyline.

All the characters seemed to have been taken from 'Writing 101', the blonde bombshell fiance that'll tear Jim away from work (or vice versa), the old hand cop who's lost faith in the system, the newbie police officer who just so happens to be the best thing that's ever happened to the department, etc. The stock nature of these characters makes the show seem completely unrealistic. The acting was also pretty terrible (mostly from Jada Pinkett-Smith et al.), which also took away from the believability of the whole thing.

The episode left me with nothing to look forward to, the absolute opposite of what any pilot should do right? If it's going to be case after case with Gordon not being able to do the right thing because the criminals and police department are in cahoots, that's going to get very boring very quickly. I will watch the next one, just to see if the show finds it's voice and gets more into the swing of things. But from the pilot, I'm not expecting much.

Madam Secretary

So far we've had one good show and one bad(ish) show, so it makes sense that this one is kind of in the middle. I wouldn't say it was good good, but it's also not terrible. It actually reminds me a bit of Criminal Minds, not in subject matter, but in the way that it's quite safe and easy to watch. I didn't find my brain doing too much (or any) work, which sometimes is all you really want from a show. Hence why I've watched so much Criminal Minds in the past.

As I've said, this show is pretty vanilla (casting, acting, story etc.), and from the pilot it doesn't seem like it's going to have any major Scandal-like twists or tear-inducing love stories, but that's not so say I don't think it will do well.  From this first episode I think maybe Madam Secretary is going to try and fill the space of a 'network Homeland', i.e. a safe, sex and violence free, version. For this reason I think it will be successful.

I don't think this will be the last episode I watch of Madam Secretary, but it probably will be the last I watch for some time. I'm not hooked; there's nothing pulling me back to watch the next episode as soon as it comes out (like HTGAWM). I'm sure though, that sometime in the future I'll be bored or ill in bed, with nothing to watch, and will binge watch the entire season. But until then, goodbye Madam Secretary.

I'll be posting another 'Pilot Watch' next week where I'll be discussing Selfie and A to Z. Stay tuned!