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| ********************************************************************************************************* MOST RECENT ENTRIES -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Wednesday, February 28, 2007 Film reviews I've been watching quite a few films lately, so I thought I might start putting some reviews (or initially lists and quick comments) on here. When I get a chance I'm going to have a look at updating the template of this blog so that I can use the labels function to make it easy to find film reviews, but that'll have to wait for a little while. I need to get a copy of a new blogger template first, and see how I go about amending my template to work with it. I don't much fancy a redesign at the moment (as I'm pushed for time as it is, hence my updating my blog in my lunch breaks!). I think I'll start on the reviews tomorrow, but here's some of the films I've caught over the last few weeks:
I'm hoping to catch Gorky Park, Big Momma's House 2, Flightplan, Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow and Chronicles of Narnia over the next few days too. If I get time, I might even get round to watching the DVD of The Birds that I bought at the weekend, or maybe have a look through my old videos. posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Doctor Who Series 3 date announced... It would appear that Series 3 of Doctor Who is going to start on the 31st March. I'm a bit nervous about it this time, after the disappointment I felt at 'The Runaway Bride'... but I'm hopeful that was just a one off and the series won't disappoint. DT's been saying some very complimentary things about how good Freema is in the show, let's hope we all agree! Apparently the series was due to start 1 week earlier, but due to Football coverage it's been shifted back a week. All hail sport, eh? Once again my viewing plans are being dictated by bloody sport! It really grates on me. BBC Four have now buggered about with their 'Life on Mars' schedule because this week's episode on BBC One had to be postponed for Match of the Day... And it'll only get worse as the year goes on. Thank goodness there's no World cup or Euro this year... we might manage to get a straight through run on Doctor Who without any schedule changes (although I'm sure they'll shift it to an earlier slot for the Eurovision Song Contest!) So, that's one date added to the diary. I'm still waiting to hear on another date though... the next Duran Duran album. Still no news at all on when that's due out! More pics on the DD website from the studio, but that's about as far as the news goes at the moment. I can't help but wonder if there have been problems with Andy leaving that have led to a delay or re-recording, or if they're just being perfectionists! I had a bit of a shock the other day on their site though... the DD forum has been closed! Goodness knows how long it's been offline, but I can probably guess why. The last time I was online there were problems with certain members being really nasty and bullying to others. I'm guessing it got out of hand. posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hate cars! Time for a grumble, I'm afraid. Paul needed the car today, so he brought me over to work and headed back to town to do the things he needed to do. All well and good, but on the way home the sodding thing broke down. The cam belt snapped, so that's a hefty repair bill. Why is it that these things happen on payday? It's like the world knows that we've got money (not that there's any spare, in fact there's never enough for the bills as it is) because there's always something goes wrong and demands instant payment. We could probably buy another car for what it's going to cost to repair, but other than that the damn thing's pretty sound really. There are times that I hate cars... and hate being reliant on one to get me to work. And today is just one of those days! To say that I'm annoyed would be a major understatement. I guess we'll sort it out, somehow. But it's additional stress and financial strain that we really could do without. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Paul had a decent paid job, but he hasn't, and with his health of the last 12 months he's not really got a chance to get one. Grrrr.... posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, February 27, 2007 Supernova... Ok, so having mentioned yesterday that we're recording 'Supernova' on our Sky+ at the moment I'm reminded of a few quibbles about the show... and looking at imdb.com that I'm not the only one! While we're enjoying watching, we very quickly learned to suspend all disbelief while watching - for a number of reasons. Although I have to confess that I do tend to rather enjoy sitting there with a very quizzical look on my face saying 'huh?' and ripping it to pieces! I can't really say much on the science angle as although I have a BSc it's in IT and I'm a web developer, nothing more. But I do know (mainly from watching 'Space' again recently on UKtv Documentary - but that's another story) that there's no way that the things happening in 'Supernova' as fast as they are in the show... but as I pointed out to Paul, it makes better telly this way! The main gripes I have so far is that it's obviously set in Sydney, USA... not Sydney, Australia as they claim. The reason I say this? If it's Oz, then how come everyone in the Oz version of the CIA/FBI (if they've even got its name right, can't remember what they call it in the show) is an American? Even Lance Henrikson, who I happen to rate as an actor, has gone down in my estimations and slips in and out of a very dodgy Aussie accent throughout the episodes. In fact, just about everyone we've met in the show has been an American! It's not like there aren't plenty of brilliant Aussie and New Zealand actors and actresses around that they could have used. Or do the producers still think that the American public can't understand Antipodean accents? Then there's the captioning on the location change shots... Sydney, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; Paris, France; Washington, D.C. And Americans wonder why anyone outside their country thinks that they're thick, and non-Americans tend to think that Americans are oblivious to there being any countries outside the US! That and the signposted 10 minutes ahead of events writing really does re-inforce the idea that Americans have no imagination, and the American viewers are so dense that they need everything explaining in minute detail! The things that made me really scratch my head with episode two were the licence plates on the Aussie vehicles (which didn't look right, based on my years of watching Aussie Mel Gibson movies and Neighbours), and I really wasn't convinced that they have the death penalty in Oz. Turns out that I'm right, they don't. Really, when you add it all up the writers and producers have been incredibly lazy! Despite all that, if you can either ignore it's failings or enjoy pointing them out the it's quite a fun show. I have to confess though that I did manage to get myself completely confused about what had happened in the first episode, and somehow all I could remember was the plot of 'The Day After Tomorrow'! Personally I'd recommend the latter over 'Supernova' if you want an ecological disaster movie, and that had moments where you had to suspend disbelief as people who should have been instantly frozen managed to miraculously survive. posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, February 26, 2007 Square eyes! I feel like I should have square eyes today, having caught up on a lot of telly at the weekend. I've still not watched the first episode of 'Lewis' from just over a week ago, but other than that I've caught up completely on my recordings (although the Sky+ box is still stuttering from time to time - one way of fixing it is to rewind a bit and carry on watching, but that's not really the answer if I'm transferring something!). Thankfully I've managed to get a few episodes of The Avengers transferred, as there's suddenly masses of good programmes on telly! My regular recording list has gone from 24 and BSG to the following:
posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, February 23, 2007 Lucky Bamboo I popped into Netto the other day and spotted a couple of lovely bamboo plants reduced to £2.39. I immediately bought one, and I'm pleased to report that it's growing nicely. I decided to have a look for care information online, and found this great page about Lucky Bamboo care. I was a bit daunted about it living in water only, but it seems that it's a hydroponic lily! I think ours has 6 stems, so it's supposed relate to health - which is an ironically good choice really. I'll have to try and take a photo of it tonight and post it. It really is lovely! I think I might get some little pebbles to complement the container and pop those in, to give it support. Don't know if I mentioned, but Life on Mars is back on - week 2 and I've just watched episode 3 (BBC Four are a week in advance). It's as intriguing as ever, and just as enjoyable as the first series. There was a bit of a surprise in the 3rd episode which I won't mention until it's aired on BBC One next week. I can't help wondering if the phone calls from Hyde are going to be this season's Girl in Red... time will tell! 24 is well underway now... can't remember what I last mentioned about that, but there was an interesting reveal about the mystery character from the end of Season 5, which has really opened up a major can of worms! posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, February 08, 2007 More news from last year... We got them to help keep the lawn down, as we had so much rain over last summer that we couldn't use the lawnmower for fear of damaging the grass. They eat everything! The gits have eaten my lovely clematis and adore my fuchsias! Anyway, they were growing up nicely and fattening up on all their treats, food and most of my garden. The day after Gem had her first fit they were making a terrible racket in the hutch, and I realised that it was later than normal for putting them in the run. I went to the hutch, and put Johnny out. I returned for Sid and found him sitting with a load of fur all around his feet - looking rather guilty. The fur was moving, and after nearly giving Paul a heart attack with my panicked shouting, the truth dawned... Sid was a girl, not a boy, and had given birth to a litter of four black baby rabbits! 4 weeks later, and before any re-homing had taken place, she gave birth to a further litter. This time 3 pale ones. Johnny had his knackers lopped off very soon after and we separated mum & dad prior to the birth (having learned the first time how true the 'breeding like rabbits' saying is!). These were harder to home though. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we had an incident (one of the dogs killed two of the pale babies) and the two boys of the bunch are turning a bit nippy now. So we've ended up with 5 rabbits, and that seems to be the way it's going to stay! To say that we're overcrowded with animals would be an understatement, bearing in mind we only live in a terraced town house with a small garden! But everyone seems happy, so we must be doing something right. We did a really good job with the first litter, and with the exception of the accident I'm proud of the results of the second litter as he's a lovely little bunny. For more pics have a look at these photo albums: Baby rabbits Assorted pics posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Snow? What snow? Yep, the country seems (if you believe the media) to be in the grips of snow-panic again. The truth is though that whilst some areas have had large amounts of snow it seems to be a diagonal band that's effected less than half the country. Still, as Londoners woke to a snow-covered city this morning what else should we expect but the media to be portraying this as a major thing. It makes me chuckle. If London and the south-east get the snow, the country is covered and everything is disrupted (according to the media). But if they don't get any snow and other places in the country do there's usually an attitude of 'so what?' if it's even mentioned. We've had a few tiny attempts from the snow here, but nothing lasting. I have to admit to scratching my head in wonder this morning as there were reports that all schools in Birmingham are closed due to snow... it's a city! When I went to school in a Kent town it was hardly ever closed due to snow. The best we could hope for was that the buses to the outlying villages (like mine) would be cancelled and those of us living in those areas would be sent home early. It sometimes makes me wonder what the country is coming to. I suppose if the majority of the staff live in more remote areas that's fair enough, but really... are we so disorganised and unprepared? posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hot pants and secrets Sometimes I wish I still lived in the South-east. Not only do I miss being near my family, but I miss London's museums. I've missed a few exhibitions I would've liked to see, and two more are starting soon. One, running from today until the 10th June is at the V&A... Kylie - The Exhibition. Celebrating the changing fashions of the princess of pop and following in the tradition of the V&A to focus on all elements of art and design, the show features many of the famous outfits from Kylie's career to date. And the focus isn't just on the costumes... there's a section on imagery and there are costume designs. From the early days of the dungarees through to the gold hot pants of 'Spinning around' and on to the stage costumes from the 'Showgirl' tour just about every aspect seems to have been covered. They're expecting large numbers of visitors, as the exhibit is free (which is par for the course with the V&A). But as I don't think I'll be down that way during it's run I'll just have to add it to the list of misses! The other is at the Science Museum - The science of spying. This one runs for longer, from the 10th Feb to the 2nd Sept. As usual with the Science museum, it looks like a lot of fun for kids and adults alike, with lots to do and the usual array of hands-on exhibits. Wonder if we can make it down for that one? posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, February 07, 2007 Anniversary & hols After a week away from work I feel like I've come back for a rest - and it's busier now than it was when I left! The week off was wonderful. Tiring, but fun. We must've walked for miles! In the end we didn't go anywhere special, but just having time together was nice. Paul got me the DVD of the live show from last year of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of The Worlds (as we both love the book and that version of it). It was quite strange in some ways - as they have managed to incorporate Richard Burton into it. We ended up watching it in the wee small hours of the morning. Once we got started we had to watch it all. Justin Hayward still sounds fantastic. I had to chuckle at Paul though. Until he watched the DVD he didn't know that it was Justin who sang on The Eve of the War. I was a bit shocked that he didn't know that, but there you have it. Turns out that they've doing the tour again in December this year... we'd both love to go, but the tickets are already selling fast and they've not been available for long! I gave Paul a set of posh kitchen knives (including a meat cleaver) as he's always wanted some. It was a bit hard trying not to give the game away a few days before, as he was looking at some! Can't remember what else we did now, but I did enjoy being off. posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, February 06, 2007 Paul's an Uncle! Well, I know he has been for years to my two nephews, but we've now got a niece on his side of the family. It's funny, but I think it's probably different when they're part of your own bloodline (if you know what I mean). Anyway, Paul's sister had her first baby on Sunday. All the family are over the moon. Grandma and Grandad are smitten and mother and child are both doing well. I don't think I've ever seen Paul so nervous, or so happy as he was throughout Sunday! While we were waiting to hear the final news he was like a cat on a hot tin roof. He couldn't concentrate and was all over the place. But since the news that they're both fine he's been grinning like a cheshire cat. She was 26 days early, but is doing well. I know he wants to go and visit as soon as we can, but goodness knows when that will be. I think we need to give them a chance to settle into routines and what have you as Paul's dad will be wanting to visit asap, and I can imagine that they won't be short of visitors in these first few days/weeks. posted by Unknown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // *END OF NEW ENTRIES* \\ |
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