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P.S. I Love You is a book that has drawn a variety of comments. This debut novel by Cecelia Ahern has won over many sentimental readers, drawing rave reviews; it has also drawn flak from critics who think that her work is amateurish.

The story revolves around a couple Holly and Gerry living in Ireland. They lead a happily married life and were madly in love with each other, treasuring each other’s companionship. They always joked that Holly would not be able to cope if Gerry departed first, Holly being so dependent on Gerry. The solution was to come up with a ‘List’ of instructions to teach Holly what exactly to do in the event of that. However, neither of them expected to part so prematurely, when Gerry was diagnosed with brain cancer and shortly passed on.

In the months that followed Gerry’s demise, Holly became self-absorbed, brooding at home. She became a depressed wreck, unable to cope with the massive loss of her beloved spouse. Despite her family’s and friends’ best attempts to console and cheer her up, she remained despondent. It is at this juncture that Holly’s mother mentions to her about a parcel addressed to Holly with the word ‘List’ on it. Reluctantly, Holly agrees to take a look at the parcel and finds a letter from Gerry together with 10 sets of envelopes. It dawned onto her that Gerry, acutely aware of his impending demise, forced himself to pen a whole series of written instructions for her, to help her cope with his departure.

Each of the 10 envelopes is to be opened on the first day of every month, and each letter tasks Holly to do something to help her regain her confidence and step out of the shadow of the tragedy. The types of tasks range from amusing to quirky to touching - Gerry instructs Holly to go on a much-needed vacation with her buddies, to buy a new dress for herself and start dolling up and so on. Holly follows the instructions to the letter, as a form of tribute to her late husband. Where her eccentric family members and best friends failed, Gerry manages to gradually help Holly out of her plight even when death claimed him. Amidst worries that the letters might cause Holly to cling on to the past and exacerbate the situation, Holly actually starts to find her life moving forward and slowly accepts her new lease of life.

This is a romantic tale of loss, hurt and learning to cope with it; it is a very heartwarming story. On one side, we can see how deeply Gerry cared for and understand Holly that he could predict what would happen to her in the event of his death. He forced himself through the draining task of writing the whole set of letters just to make sure that Holly would be alright. Holly is a largely naïve and slightly immature woman, who has a strong bond and dependency on her husband. Reading her struggle to put behind the love they shared and then the love that she lost certainly does pain me at times. Cecelia Ahern does manage to communicate the grief felt by Holly and the reluctance to let go of something so dear.

Critics found Cecelia Ahern’s style of writing amateurish, that she does not have sufficient experience to write about something as drastic and somber as death and rehabilitation of grief. I felt that this novel was conflicting as Cecelia Ahern seemed to be using light-hearted language and style which was not appropriate at times, especially during Gerry’s death. However, this does not fault the creativity in coming up with such a remarkable plot and storyline. It is a very captivating read; Cecelia Ahern makes you want to continue reading to find out what happens next in Holly’s rehabilitation process. At times, the story is absolutely heart-wrenching and embarrassed as I am to say this, but it is difficult to remain dry-eyed after this read.

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American Idol has already spawned so many Idols and created so many seasons. Yet the only Idol that we can fairly call a ’success’ is the first American Idol Kelly Clarkson. Winners of the following seasons have faded into oblivion after one or two singles, including the likes of Ruben Studdard. It seems that the trend is showing us that Idol participants who do not go on to win are able to perform to greater success in their careers. Clay Aiken was one, and now Chris Daughtry is proving to be another post-Idol success story.

Being ousted from the semi-finals in the fifth season of American Idol did not stop Chris Daughtry from being hastily signed by RCA Records and 19 Entertainment. He eventually teamed up with his former band, humbly named ‘Daughtry’, to record a debut rock band album. This debut self-titled album ‘Daughtry’ recorded phenomenal success within weeks of release in November 2006. In the space of 5 weeks, the album sold 1 million copies and made it to #1 on the Billboard charts on its ninth week. This was the fastest selling album by an American Idol contestant since Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Thankful’.

Daughtry’s distinctively gruff vocals are a perfect front for his band’s pop-rock tunes. His throaty, mellow voice however has a surprisingly large vocal range. In songs like ‘Over You’ we can hear him belting out and maintaining high pitches without much problem. Daughtry’s very first single, titled ‘It’s Not Over’, is a remarkable rock track that is catchy yet not preppy. The tune is catchy and it does resemble a decent authentic rock song, unlike most of Simple Plan’s songs despite their claims. Although reminiscent of Nickelback, many of Daughtry’s songs are mainstream-oriented and are inclined more towards pop-rock than Nickelback’s brand of emo-rock. Rock ballads such as ‘It Feels Like Tonight’ and ‘Breakdown’ show off Chris Daughtry’s crooning side, starting soft and building up to a all-rock yelling climax, and he does a commendable job for a singer on his debut album, with his popular trademark growl.

Despite the pleasant-sounding tracks, you cannot help but observe that majority of Daughtry’s tracks sound similar. There was one instance, after listening to the CD on repeat for an hour or so, that I subconsciously mistook ‘Over You’ for another track. I felt that Daughtry has built his own style of singing and created a distinctive sound for their music, but each song was not unique on its own. The album felt more or less like the songs were produced with reference to a model, before making subtle changes to each of them.

All in all, this record is still something I would recommend to rock fans. Be sure to listen to ‘Over You’ and ‘Home’, two of my favourite tracks. ‘Chris Daughtry is a man. Daughtry - like Van Halen and Bon Jovi - is a band.’ A band that has proven that it is capable of making some pretty damn good music.

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Fan fiction (fanfic for short) is a term for fiction about characters and/or settings written by fans of original, published works and such works are usually uncommissioned and not published professionally. Fan fiction can be based on anything, from books to movies and even fictional accounts of real-life celebrities. These stories are most often found on websites nowadays, and FanFiction.net is arguably the largest and most popular site where fan fiction is published and archived.

The site is easy enough to navigate as the stories are clearly categorised. Upon reaching the main page, a list of eight main categories are presented to you. Clicking on any of the main categories’ link will take you to a page that lists all the sub-categories under it. This page usually specifies the exact series you are looking for, and you can now filter the page by the first letter of the series you are looking for. Want to find a Harry Potter fanfic? Check under Books and filter to the letter ‘H’ to find the appropriate link.

To make it easier to search for a fanfic to read, FanFiction.net has several functions to help the user. You can sort stories by the date it was updated or published, genre, rating, language, length of story and even status of the story - whether the story is complete or not. For the larger categories, you can even search for stories based on characters. You will also be shown the title of the story, the author and a short summary which is written by the author. Additionally, one can also access the Communities link, located on the top right of the page. Communities are created by authors of the site and they archive select stories. The basis for such archives can be genre, specific characters or even pairings (romantic or otherwise). If you have an account on the site, you can even subscribe to the community and receive email notifications when new fanfics are added to the community.

However, quantity does not always mean quality. It is quite common to hear laments that it is becoming increasingly difficult to search for a good read on FanFiction.net, and as a user of the site for close to 4 years, it is a sentiment which I share. The reason for this is likely to be due to the fact that FanFiction.net allows anyone to create an account to start writing and publishing their works. There is no minimum age for creation of an account, so you may come across the works of pre-teens as you are browsing and see a lot of Internet speak. Also, the only form of quality control - if it can even be called such - is through the review system where readers are able to leave comments and reviews after reading the story. Thankfully, it is often easy to tell which stories are likely to be more worth your time by looking at the story’s title and the accompanying summary, although the summary might not always show whether the characters will be in-character.

Other than being a site for publishing and archiving fan fiction, FanFiction.net has, over the years, expanded its services and improved existing ones. The newest service to hit the shelves is the “Beta Reader” service, where authors of the site can advertise their services to other authors on the site. A beta reader, in short, proof reads a story and makes amendments or gives suggestions for improvements before it is published. This can be seen as another way to improve the standards of fan fiction on the site, although it depends on the author if he/she wants to use the service. Relatively new to the website is also the forum, which allows for anything pertaining to a particular original work to be discussed. Other services include private messaging between authors, a dictionary, a search function and a profile page for each author which is often used by authors for updating readers on their current on-going works.

All in all, FanFiction.Net is a good place to start your journey in the world of fan fiction, as well as for interacting with fellow authors. So if you’re new to reading fan fiction and planning to start, why not try out FanFiction.net?

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A set of good speakers will go a long way in enhancing your experience with a computer system, be it for gaming, watching movies, simple Web-surfing or listening to music. Brands like Sennheiser, Harman Kardon and Altec Lansing have established themselves as producers of premium audio entertainment systems. These high-end systems guarantee a pleasurable audio experience, but the accompanying price tags deter most but the fanatic audiophiles. Fortunately for people like me, brands like Creative, Sony and JBL have flooded the market with similar high-quality products which can be purchased with much less heartache and damage to your wallet. One of these is the JBL’s Invader 4.1 Surround Satellite Speaker System.

The US$100-199 price range is home to many quality, functional speaker products, including the JBL Invader. The JBL Invader is a set consisting of four satellite speakers and a subwoofer and is a surround sound system. The design of the set itself is supremely attractive, with sleek curves on the satellite speakers and subwoofers, matched with a futuristic metallic silver and black colour theme. It gives the Invader a very extraterrestrial feel and a very sophisticated look.

The setup consists of two satellite speakers being placed in front, with the other two in the rear, accompanied by the rumbling bass of the subwoofer. Each satellite offers 12W, while the subwoofer offers 32W of power - this is considerable, and this directly results in much sharper and clearer sound. The subwoofer’s bass is solid and pulsating, but it would not use ‘reverberating’ to describe it. However, in my opinion, it is more than enough for a home entertainment system. The sound quality showed very little deterioration even what the volume is maxed.

This is a 4.1 speaker system, thus a recommended prerequisite would be a sound card that supports surround sound, as well as both front and rear inputs. In the case where the sound card is unable to support surround sound, the Invader includes a Y-adapter cable to allow both the front and rear speakers to product stereo sounds, which is similar to the sound of a surround sound system.

Setting up the system turned out to be rather straightforward, compared to other experiences I had with other speaker systems. The satellites are connected to the subwoofer via colour-coded cables, while the subwoofer is connected to the power source via a normal 2-pin cable and connected to the computer by two audio jacks. What irked me a little regarding operation was that the treble and bass controls had no indicator markings so when I was using it for the first time, I had to experiment with trial and error with the two knobs.

One common complaint about this system is that it restricts the way users are allowed to position the rear speakers, as all four satellites have to be placed upright, so it does not come with compatible mounting brackets. The rear speakers do come with a great length of cable, more than the front two, thus giving allowance for the user to place speakers. For the more particular audiophiles, they would be pleased to note that very crisp high’s and low’s but it falls short when playing mid-range sounds. The deep bass is adequately resounding for gaming and music purposes, but do not expect the kind of bass that will feel as well as hear.

All in all, the JBL Invader 4.1 Multimedia Speaker System offers an ideal balance between price and quality - priced being just affordable and offering above average sound quality. When compared to speakers of the same price range, the Invader stands out, giving the best quality and thus best value for money. Sound aside, the Invader’s sleek and curvaceous design also win hands down. This is truly an outstanding speaker system and a good buy in the competitive market of audio products.

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Wizards, witches and magic all seem like childish ideas, yet those are the exact things that Neil Gaiman revolved his novel, entitled Stardust, around when it was released back in 1988. Now, almost 20 years on, Hollywood director Matthew Vaughn brings this book to the silver screen as a movie of the same name. Personally, I’ve never read the novel, but if it’s as good as this movie is, I’m beginning to regret not doing so.

For those who don’t know, Stardust is set mainly in the village of Wall. It has such a queer name because one of the walls which border the town separates the village from the magical land of Faerie. It starts off with Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox), who is the son of Dustarn Thorn and Una (a princess), as a young man after the first 10 minutes of the movie show how his parents met and fell in love despite only meeting each other once. Tristan is smitten by the prettiest girl in the village of Wall, Victoria, and wants to win her hand in marriage by promising to bring back a fallen star to her. Unfortunately, he doesn’t realise that the star is in the magical land of Stormhold only until he teleports there through a magical candle Una left him and that the star is in fact a young woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes). Even so, he decides to bring her back to Wall to present her to Victoria so as to win her hand in marriage. Along the way back to England, he has many encounters, a lot of which involve him trying to save Yvaine’s life as he’s not the only one after her. Both a prince and a witch are hunting for her as well for their own self interests. Hence the movie turns into a pretty exciting and hilarious one as Tristan and Yvaine get into and out of so many situations.

The plot of the film is pretty good in my opinion, and that’s thanks in large part to Neil Gaiman’s brilliant piece of work. I won’t cover much about the plot since it’s adapted from a novel. Vaughn managed to do a pretty commendable job of bringing the story to life. Many of the scenes in the movie look brilliant and really make you feel like you’re in some sort of a magical land, yet it doesn’t overdo it so thankfully you don’t feel like you’re watching a Disney movie most of the time. Even though most of the movie is set in a magical world, there still seems to be a certain sense of reality grounding it, so that the movie doesn’t get too outrageous. Yet there’s always a certain sense of magic being just around the corner. In my opinion, Vaughn has found the perfect way to portray a magical world without it being overly exaggerated. Not to mention the film has its funny bits as well, with some parts that actually made me laugh out loud. Most of the actors and actresses managed to pull of these few parts scattered throughout the film with killer timing in my opinion.

Speaking of the actors and actresses, their performances throughout this film were all top notch. All of them help make you feel you’re really in the magical world most of the time. Danes plays her part perfectly of being a rebellious “star” most of the time since she’s initially unwilling to follow Tristan back; Michelle Pfeiffer plays the role of the evil witch after her with such brilliance that she’s immediately a character you’d love to hate; Robert De Niro does a great job as well of playing a “tough on the outside but soft on the inside” pirate, definitely drawing plenty of laughs from the audience with his comedic performance. I could go on and on about the others, since every single character in this movie played a big part in making it such a joy to watch and enjoy.

Yet, Stardust (2007) doesn’t exactly revolve around the magical world, rather in the end it’s still about finding true love. I have to admit the ending of the film (ie. the way they defeated the evil old witch) was pretty darn corny and the only part that really made me cringe. Still, it’s a minor problem and on the whole the rest of the film more than makes up for it. I would definitely highly recommend this to almost anyone, even as a family film since even children will tend to get lost in that magical world.

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