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Showing posts from 2019

Am I Disabled?

This article has been going through my head quite a lot recently and I’m feeling a little self indulgent so bear with me. As a kid I was on the special needs list throughout school and given a classroom assistant to help with my tracheostomy care. I was considered disabled enough to warrant disability benefits right up until I turned 18 when they decided that I wasn’t mentally incapacitated enough and too independent. A panel of bureaucrats sat across the table and said “we can see you are but there’s nothing we can do.” I didn’t tick the right boxes. I’ve worked since I was old enough and supported myself as much as I could and excluding a few short absences from work I have been successful in that. Until now. Now I can’t support myself. I struggle with self care. I’ve had to give up my home and I’ve lost my independence. I’m back to getting surgery’s every 6-8 weeks. They were usually just day cases but the last few have been fairly severe with extended stays (I get to have ano

Lush Slap Stick

I’m going through a bit of a rut. Of course “a bit of a rut” doesn’t really cover what I’m going through but let’s leave the tough stuff to my doctors and new therapists and stick with “rut” here. Anyways… it’s taken it’s toll on me, both emotionally and physically. On the rare days when I have the mindset or strength to wear makeup I hate it. My self care routine has gone the way of the poop emoji and although I wasn’t actively looking for a solution I knew that I needed something that would help hide the neglect I was doing to my skin and lessen the damage. This was when I discovered the new Lush Slap Stick foundation. Their selling point is that their unique packaging free range of makeup helps reduce waste and is completely eco friendly. My buying point was that I could slap it on my face any which way and give it a quick blend out without looking like a toddler who discovered their mums pan stick and, with its coconut oil base and a whole blend of other oils, it would at lea

Shazam! Movie Review

I’m living in a world where I’m still excited after coming out of a DC movie and, honestly, it’s about damn time! Having been frustrated with the recent Aquaman and Wonder Woman movies who were supposed to be game changers for DC but ended up delivering nothing but clichéd tropes, lazy joke writing, laughable CGI; albeit with a slightly lighter tone than their usual dark and dreary aesthetic. I was nervous about Shazam but ready to accept my usual “It’s a good mindless watch but needs more fun” opinion. For the most part my normal quibbles have been ironed out and the fun is plentiful! Shazam is packed full of genuinely funny jokes, there are true surprises in the story which, unless you’ve read the comics, you would have no clue from any of the promotional materials. Zachary Levi, who has long been one of my favourite cult/nerdy actors, brings his usual charisma and charm to the role and you have no issue believing that this is a 15 year old kid who is stoked to have these life chan

Faeriwood Eats: Six By Nico Belfast Review

Nico, surveying his diners Six By Nico . A new concept restaurant for Belfast, and a welcome addition to the cathedral quarter, brought to us from Edinburgh and Glasgow.  6 courses rotating every 6 weeks for only 28.00 and you’re going to want to keep up with them because once they’re gone, they’re gone. With themes such as Vietnamese street food and Parisien cuisine, even a Disney theme being featured in their past menus I am looking forward to seeing what Nico and his team will come up with for Belfast. From talking to them though I found out that their first 3 menus will be inspired by Northern Ireland itself and with some of the best produce in the world and one of the most interesting cultures and histories that will be something to see!  First up is their debut menu, inspired by the humble chip shop, The Chippie menu takes the old standards and modernises them to levels you may be more used to seeing in Michelin level restaurants but with a very un-Michelin price poi

Alita: Battle Angel

For all the hype about it's animated lead character, and the clashing of titans that is Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron, Alita: Battle Angel is the teen fantasy movie (potential) franchise you didn't know you were getting and I'm not sure you wanted.  Alita starts with Christoph Waltz finding her discarded shell in the trash dump of a mysterious floating city that lords over the world on the ground. He then take her back and, with the help of his *mayaswellbemute* assistant, rebuilds her with a teen shaped mech body he just happens to have lying around and gives her the name of his dead daughter. None of this is supposed to be creepy at all. When Alita, Rosa Salazar, starts to realise that she is not just your typical abandoned teendroid but actually a super slick alien android with secret ninja fighting skills she does what any girl would do... she throws herself at, literally, the first boy she meets and takes up roller derby. Oh but she's also a sassy vi

Faeriwood Eats: Wolf & Devour, gluten free dining done right

I get asked a lot about how people can go about promoting their businesses and whilst it is a huge question one of the things I will always recommend is social media and Instagram. I love it. I've discovered so many good restaurants while browsing hashtags and local accounts. Recently I was scrolling through  #Glutenfreebelfast  and spotted five glorious words.  Gluten. Free. Mac'n'Cheese. Balls.  Cue heavy breathing.  It wasn't until we were sitting down in the small but gorgeously laid out premises - think modern cantina with industrial and urban garden accents - that I realised I've actually seen the  Wolf &  Devour  food truck around festivals and fairs but I had always assumed, being full of all things bready, that they were just a no go for little old Coeliac me. Knowing that they had at least this one gf item on the menu gave me the confidence to go and visit their Ballyhackamore restaurant as soon as I physically could. Still, when

My December in film

Ohh it's been a while since I've done a monthly recap hasn't it? Have you missed them? I ended up with a crazy amount of time off work during December, having stockpiled my holidays throughout the year, and so that left me with a lot of time to throw myself in to a few TV shows and new films. I'll not bore you with the various 90's Cult shows I re watched for the thousandth time and instead talk about some some very meme-worthy new offerings! Birdbox Ok, I’m getting this out of the way because it seems like the whole world watched Birdbox over Christmas. Well... 6 million out of 6+ billion. Netflix’s best opening week for one of their original movies and it’s been causing so much buzz and meme material - even as we enter our second week of January it's still going strong - that it’s difficult to find people saying whether it’s actually any good or not. And I’ll be honest I’m still a bit confused about that myself. I enjoyed it, the acting is decent, and I