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The Vampire Diaries
by 12jane
The Vampire Diaries!!
For my 50th review I have decided to revisit my favourite series, but in the form of a TV show now, not the books. The Vampire Diaries is a TV show based on the books by L.J.Smith, and it was first broadcast in 2009. Now in its 4th series, the show has a large audience, all over the world. It is currently ... broadcast on ITV2 at 9pm on Tuesday in the UK.
The Vampire Diaries is a tv show based in an American town called Mystic Falls, with a young girl called Elena Gilbert as the main character. She is played by Nina Dobrev, a fantastic Bulgarian-Canadian actress previously known for her role in Degrassi. At first Nina was not a favourite with the books' fans, due to her being a brunette, and lacking the lovely blonde hair that book Elena has. But Nina is such an amazing actress, that Im sure everyone has forgiven the producers for choosing her for the role now.
Elena Gilbert is a normal human being, happily living asthe most popular girl in town, until the brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore appear in the town, and her life changes forever. Soon Elena's best friend turns out to be a powerful witch, and there are werewolves and vampires everywhere. For the brothers are vampires, and gorgeous ones at that! Ian somerhalder and Paul Wesley are the hotties that play the characters, and they soon end up in a love triangle, exactly as they were with a girl who looks familiar...Elena is a doppelganger of Katerina Petrova, the evil vampire who manipulated the young men before turning them into vampires a few hundred years ago.
And its not long before Katerina, now calling herself Katherine, is in Mystic Falls, to cause havoc once again. Katherine is on the run from her maker Klaus, an original vampire, who needs her blood. He then sets his sights on Elena. Will she survive?
The Vampire Diariesis the best programme on TV, with fantastic acting, it maynot be everyone's taste, but I recommend you try it! 100 stars!
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Breaking Bad
by micheal123
I was looking for a TV series which I could really get into,and it was here on dooyoo that I read a brilliant review about Breaking Bad and liking the sound of it I decided to give it a try and watched this series on Netflix.
This TV series revolves mostly around Walter White a ordinary everyday nice guy,he is a science ... teacher at the local high school,and in the beginning of this series it shows him to be your everyday American square who goes to work and comes straight home afterwards to his wife and teenage son.
Things seem to be going well for this all American family and even though they are getting a bit older both him and his wife are extremely happy about falling pregnant with there unborn daughter. Walter's wife's sister is very close to the family ,as well as her husband Hank who just happens to be a high standing DEA agent.
With the good news of the pregnancy the two families spend a lot of time together with Hank playfully getting at Walter for being such a bore and predictable,but then poor Walter gets some bad news that rips his world apart,he is diagnosed with lung cancer.
Walter now knows that he is on borrowed time and that some day soon he is going to die,with his daughter due and his wife and son needing to be taken care of Walter is now suffering from terrible stress and guilt about the future security of his family.
Walter decides to keep the bad news of his cancer to himself not sharing his terrible situation with his family,and sets about finding away to earn lots of money,but it seems to Walter that the only people making the kind of fast,huge sums of money he needs are drug dealers,so Walter decides to put his scientific skills to use and sets about making crystal meth.
This is when Walter teams up with a old school student of his,Jesse and together they buy a motor home and turn it into a lab where they can now cook there crystal meth. This change of lifestyle has a massive impact on Walters family life and the deeper he becomes the more lies he has to tell in order to cover up his activities,but will Walters family unit be able to take the strain?
Will the drug game change Walter? and where will it take him? or will the cancer simply cut his drug dealing career short?
Breaking Bad is one of the most exciting TV series I have had the pleasure of watching,to me it seems like a mix between Desperate Housewives and the Sopranos,gritty and action packed but also very funny this is a TV show which I really enjoyed,so far there has been four seasons and eight episodes made,I am
now waiting for the last eight episodes of season five which are due to be aired in August 2013.
With a great story line and some amazing acting by Bryan Cranston(Walter) this actor is really believable and does a fantastic job at showing a normal straight guy breaking bad because of circumstance,so if you are looking for a good TV series which you can get into then Breaking Bad comes highly recommended from me,it is certainly well worth watching.
This review can also be found on ciao under the name mike83381
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Something Special
by sandemp
First aired on CBeebies in 2005, Something Special has somewhat evolved over the last eight years and yet has managed to keep the ethos that makes it so special. At the very basic level Something Special is a pre-school programme featuring the adventures of Justin Fletcher along with Mr Tumble and his family. But it is far more than ... that, this programme is targeted towards a very specific group of preschoolers, those with special needs and it manages to relate to this target audience without alienating other young children or the adults that are roped into watching. When Something Special first hit the screens there was very little on screen to cater to those with special needs, especially on the free to view channels. There was the occasional screening of an episode of Playbus featuring Dave Benson Phillips, who would use Makaton signing, but really that was it, so for my then ten year old, learning disabled, Makaton using son, Something Special was simply a breathe of fresh air.
==Makaton, what's that then?==
Before I go any further, it's perhaps important to talk a little about Makaton as it's the use of this that makes Something Special so, well, special.
Makaton is a communication system that incorporates signing and symbols and is used in many special schools and by speech therapists to help children with speech and language difficulties communicate more effectively. Although loosely based on British Sign Language, it has been greatly simplified and children are encouraged to say the word at the same time as signing. By using the signs to augment the child's speech, rather than replace it, the child's confidence in speaking is increased as even unclear speech can be understood by those who understand the signs. In fact, as the majority of the signs are self-evident, there's a good chance that even those who do not technically know the signs may be able to work out what the child is saying/signing. As well as simply helping children communicate, Makaton can also help improve their behaviour, a lot of a younger child's temper tantrums stem from their inability to communicate their needs and wants. Imagine being hungry or thirsty and unable to tell someone, you would get frustrated and possibly angry, just as a child would. This is easily solved by helping the child with unclear speech to learn the signs for eat and drink.
My own experiences with Makaton span over ten years, my older son uses Makaton and has done from the age of six (before that he used a slightly different system). More recently I've been using Makaton with my now three year old son, Freddy, who has a learning disability and has a very large speech delay. It's taken a lot of time, but Freddy is now able to communicate his immediate needs with a mix of signs and words and can even hold a very basic conversation. Something that has become very apparent is that the use of Makaton has actually encouraged his vocalisations, rather than hinder them, which is something that has confused a few people who wonder why we still use signs now he's starting to talk.
==Something Special==
With each episode lasting approximately 20 minutes, Something Special has followed the same basic format, with slight changes in each series. The original series was very much studio based, but later series have involved everyday situations that children may experience, such as visiting a supermarket or going on holiday. As they are the two formats most commonly shown at the moment, the rest of this review will now focus on "Out and About" and "Fun With Friends".
The undoubted Star of Something Special is of course Justin Fletcher, who not only plays himself but also stars as Mr Tumble, Granddad Tumble, Lord Tumble, Aunt Polly, Aunt Suki, Cool Tumble, well you get the idea. Each episode opens on Mr Tumble, who is instantly recognisable in his clown outfit and has three special things he wants Justin to find as he explores a different scenario with his friends. In the earlier series these special things were shown as framed photos, but in the latest (Fun With Friends) the photos have been replaced with a tablet called the Tumble Tap. Either way, Mr Tumble puts the three special things in his spotty bag, which we then send the bag off to Justin using the magic. It's at this point we are introduced to the other stars of the show, the children, and I love that the children encompass a wide range of disabilities, especially as I believe that disabled people are grossly under-represented on television as a whole.
In each episode, Justin meets up with his friends and they then explore a place or concept. All kinds of different concepts have been explored, including a visit to an animal sanctuary, a supermarket, leisure centre and even a camp with Beaver Scouts. This vast range of activities over the different series has allowed a large number of different items and signs to be introduced, in a way that is relevant to young children. As the episode progresses children are encouraged to look for the three special things, waving or cheering when they find them. As each special thing is found, both it's sign and symbol is introduced, with Justin signing first followed by some children signing. I love the sense of inclusion in this aspect, the way that both vocal and non-vocal children are encouraged to look for the special things and signify that they've found them. I also love the way that the children signing all have different levels of skill and speech, meaning that Freddy doesn't feel that his signs have to be perfect to be understood. Another aspect I like is the way that Justin speaks to the children, he is in no way patronising and really does seem to get down to their level.
At some point while looking at/for the special things the action will cut to Mr Tumble and his family as they play out a skit focussing on the concept being explored. This is by far my own favourite part of the programme, and is the perfect mix of slapstick comedy to keep Freddy entertained. I love all the different characters in Mr Tumble's family, even though they are all played by Justin himself, they are all so different. The one that really brings a smile to my face has to be Cliff Tumble, a very obvious parody of Cliff Richard (Cool Tumble is a very similar character). Freddy's Daddy's favourite character is Granddad Tumble, but we both appreciate the humour that is very firmly aimed at grown ups and helps stop our brains going to mush as we watch the same episode for the tenth time. After the Tumble Tale has finished and we've found all three special things, it's time for the good bye song, which may or may not be signed (depending on the series).
==Freddy and Mr Tumble==
There is absolutely no doubt that three year old Freddy absolutely adores Something Special, it is the first programme he will ask for each morning and one that he would watch repeatedly if I let him. The way this programme catches his attention and has helped him learn to sign and communicate is shown by the way he asks for it to be put on. He'll sign Tumble, while saying "bumble" and then once it's on he'll sit in front of the TV, copying the signs and trying to say the words. It's really wonderful to watch him interacting with the programme, rather than rampaging as he usually does. He also uses the signs he's learnt in everyday life, it was so sweet watching him sign to Santa that he was his friend just before Christmas.
==Final Words==
Both Freddy and I love Something Special and can't recommend it enough if you have a child under five. It is a fun, educational and interactive programme that is loved by all young children (special needs or not) and one that we watch several times a day. Both Freddy and I are giving Something Special five stars out of five, although I'd imagine that Freddy would give it twenty or more if he could.
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