December catch-up

In case I still have any readers out there…..just to let you all know that I'm still around! I just haven’t managed to get typing of late. Oh well.

We've been doing the usual stuff, including watching loads of DVD's ranging from "The Simpson's Movie" (very disappointing) to "Zodiac" (excellent). I went to the 'Memorabilia Show' at Birmingham's NEC, which had its usual mix of guest stars signing autographs and stalls selling old film and TV tie-in merchandise. I was lucky enough to meet some very old friends there, having not seen them for a few years so that was a pleasant surprise.

I'm really looking forward to the new "Indiana Jones" trailer. It should appear on-line soon and be playing in the cinemas for Christmas. Let's hope Harrison Ford can pull off being an action hero in his mid-60's!

Oh, when I get all the photos from our little pre "Hallowe'en" weekend experience together, I'll post them. It was a great fun day, dressing up and watching horror DVD's and all that silliness.

I'm looking forward to Xmas break, although I have to admit I am enjoying my work at the moment so all is ok there. Only a few more cards to send now.

Recently (thanks to Carla's encouragement) I picked up my pens and paper and started drawing my cartoon characters again. The characters and stories are still in development, but it has been fun drawing them after all of these months!

I've also started to exercise regularly with Carla when she does some of her workouts. It's actually been very uplifting! The worst thing is starting each workout, but once you get into it, it seems ok. We do yoga as well, so hopefully if I stick to it I'll get fitter and more flexible over the next year. There has been some mild pain and some breathless moments, but I intend to carry on.

Oh, a mention to Mark's new "Star Wars" blog here!

A coastal visit and some other things

A visit home.

We went to visit my parent's over a few days in late September, which was great as we got to do some fun stuff in nice weather (for a change!) and of course it was lovely to see them. On the way over we stopped off in Norwich to have a mooch about the city centre and find some quirky shops. We also had lunch in the castle grounds (which is on top of the Castle Mall shopping centre.) Carla wanted to visit the Norwich Buddhist Centre, where she bought a mala (a string of beads for meditation) and find some other 'new age' shops. We found one of the shops, but the other had closed. We then went around some old charity/second hand/oddments shops and she found a box with the symbol for 'Om' on it (you will have gathered that my wife is into Buddhist things now.) We then caught the train to Yarmouth to stay with mum and dad.

The next day we had a few hours in Lowestoft, which as geography fans will know is Britain's most easterly town. We had a fun few hours walking from the extreme south the sea front parade, back along the (European award winning blue flag certified!) beach, past the pier area and across the harbour bridge, and all the way up through the town centre and into the older High Street area, and lastly had lunch in the memorial park. The area around the bridge and harbour is pretty grim, and there seems a sense of faded glory to the place (like so many coastal towns) but the rest of the town centre and sea front was fun to see. Carla was happy to see brightly decorated beach huts! Later that evening we had a nice little walk around Gorleston-On-Sea High Street and then the sea front. Not many people about, and the weather was still and clear. A fun three days!

Techno techno techno…..and meerkats!

I got Carla a little Sony MP3 player so she can use it for her Buddhist meditations. She is now constructing play lists via internet downloads from various Buddhist websites and CDs. The software that comes with it, Sonic Stage, takes a bit of getting used to, but everything seems to be working ok so far.

Our Philips widescreen TV died the other weekend. We came back from a short shopping trip in town and when I turned it on, the picture was a light blue with white lines across it! I guess the writing had been on the wall as its been displaying these odd lines across the screen for a while now. There was this distinct smell of 'burnt electrics' around the house that afternoon! Oh well, it lasted 7 years or so no matter. We got our spare tv from the bedroom and moved it into the living room, and we'll make do with that until it blows. Then it’s a new plasma or LCD!

Also, those pesky (but mostly cute) meerkats have come back for a third series of "Meerkat Manor", which recently ran on the Animal Planet channel and is still narrated by the wonderful Bill Nigh. I love this show: the best soap opera on tv! It was quite sad when Flower the dominant female of the Whiskers group died. Rocket Dog, her daughter, has taken over. Gripping stuff I tell ya!! Can't wait for series 4.

Julie's Wedding and Comic Con

Some updates for late August and early September. Finally got around to do some typing!

Julie and Patrick's Wedding and a weekend in London.

Carla and I went down to London on Friday August 17th for three days. We managed to get some fun things done that day, the first being a trip up to 'Yoga Matters' near Turnpike Lane in North London. This shop specialises in all things yoga, Buddhist and 'eastern'. Best find for me was the "Yoga for Chickens" book! Carla got two more Kundalini yoga dvds. We then headed off back into central London to meet up with our pal Bill and have a walk around Kensington. Lovely evening that was! The guidebook we had takes you off the beaten track a bit and gives factoids about the buildings and places. Apparently we walked right past Michael "calm down dear" Winner's house! Also, the Kensington roof gardens were gorgeous. To finish the day we went for a (disappointing) meal in a Japanese restaurant in Soho.

The next morning we had a look around Oxford Street so I could buy a new suit and Carla could get a new bag, which we did after a bit of faffing about. Good old British Home stores! Then we popped over to the Knight's Templar pub near Chancery Lane to attend the wedding. Patrick was already there welcoming guests, and Julie arrived shortly before the ceremony dressed in a traditional sari (she has a love of all things eastern, and changed into other saris later). Mike and Tracie and her family were with her. The wedding went fine. The simple civil service was held in the balcony which overlooks the main pub area. I did my bit as nominated "giver away" which was dead easy! Carla and I stayed for a little while afterwards, and then headed off to get a meal at a vegetarian restaurant called 'Mildred's' in Soho. We also wanted to have a look around central London and found a fab shop called 'Coffee Cake and Kink'! I love glamour stuff so this is right up my street! Ahem, anyway, we came back later to have a drink with the crowd that was left at the wedding. Julie was still dancing! We wish the happy couple all the best. Check out some photos here.

On the Sunday we met up with Mike and most of the Star Wars fan "groovy gang" to have a look at the 'Star Wars exhibit' at County Hall on the South Bank. This was ok, but I had reservations of what was shown and how it was displayed. It was good to see some of the props and artwork, for instance I loved the early design of Watto, and the model of the Star Destroyer turret, but to me the rooms seemed a little dark and there wasn't enough information displayed about the individual props. I guess I had to buy a guide book! At the end of the exhibit I saw an odd thing. You could by official merchandise from a van out on the street. Yes. A van! I wonder if they sold Bantha-burgers as well!? Haha!

We also got chance to show Mike the famous Covent Garden market, and a football shop where he picked up some Arsenal merchandise for Brian.

The London Film and Comic Con (Sunday, September 2nd)

I went down to London's Earl's Court to have a few hours at the 'London Film and Comic Con', which is now in its third year. The day started off well: I got to the railway station in time for the first train to London, and it was early in, and not that busy so I got a seat. Nice sunny day as well. Then of course, it all went down hill. An announcement told us that we would be delayed because of a de-railment of some Railtrack maintenance equipment near Rugby! After an hour, we finally got under way. Then nearer Northampton a strange thing happened. The train was held up by sheep on the line! Idiot stupid farmer who can't repair fences! He should be fined. Anyway, in some ways this was funny as it turned out the train driver and the conductor had to moonlight as sheep herders!! They spent a good 30 odd minutes deciding what to do, then the next 30 running around the track and embankments trying to get the sheep back into the field!! Finally got into London an hour late, but never mind. Off to Earl's Court I rushed. Thankfully, no hold ups on the tube.

The fair there was the usual "collectors show": lots of stalls selling film and TV merchandise, various actors and actresses selling autographs. There was even an area for talks. When I investigated that part of the hall there was a "Star Wars" talk going on with Gary Kurtz (the producer) and actors answering questions posed by fans.

I got to see my friends Sarah, Paul, and Jamie there. Being able to see pals from far away is always the highlight of these events. Part of the hall was in chaos. This was because some of the cast of Heroes were there signing autographs, including the lovely Hayden Panettiere. The queues went on for hours. I suppose that confirms the show is a mega hit! Sarah managed to queue a long time for Patrick Stewart's autograph, who is apparently much shorter in real life. That's what camera angles do! In her words:

"Sunday 2nd Sept at LFCC. Experienced quite an odd day at my first convention, as I spent most of the time wandering about the dingy bowels of Earls Court 1, surrounded by fanatical people in strange costumes, in order to get my 10 seconds with Patrick Stewart. Like most people off the telly, in the flesh he was actually rather tiny, but a very polite man all the same. Somehow though, I don't think I'll be doing LFCC again..."

For me, the main problem with the event was the venue. Earls Court is sooooooo dark and gloomy! The place really is showing its age. I do hope Jason moves the show back to Earls Court 2 next year, which is a far more pleasant experience as its newer, the lighting is better and design of the hall is less oppressive. Organisers take note!

I got back ok.....no sheep on the line!

Park Meet 2007

On Saturday 4th August I popped down to London for 'Park Meet': the annual get-together of my "Star Wars" fan friends, or "the groovy gang" as Jane has named us! We've done this since the summer of 2002, with all of these meet-ups being very well attended, and thankfully held on days of great weather! This year's was no exception. The only downer being that Carla couldn't come with me this time as she was working that Saturday. Oh well. It was Paul that came up with the idea, so before anything else, a big thank you to him for some fun days!

I got down to Euston just after 11am, and headed over to 'Planet Organic' for my vegan 'bunny munch' sandwiches etc, and then headed on over to kill some time in the book shops on Charring Cross road. What type of book shops, eh?! Ahem. I'll leave you to guess. On the way down Tottenham Court Road, I was surprised to have a flyer for a computer fare thrust into my hands by some young American lass who then said, "Wow, I luuuoooooooove your t-shirt!!" in a her croaky yankee accent. I was trying to eat crisps at the time so didn't really engage in much conversation, apart from a "Thanks, it is a great film, isn't it!" I suppose I could have stopped and chatted as she seemed friendly enough, but the crisp eating took over. Plus I had to meet my pal Sarah. In fact, I got several looks and smiles with regard to my t-shirt choice of the day: a 'Vote for Pedro' shirt, as featured in the cult film "Napoleon Dynamite". It certainly has a following! With lines like "I caught you a delicious bass." and "Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes, all day. Besides, we both know I'm training to become a cage fighter." I'm not surprised!

I got to rendezvous with Sarah about mid-day at Leicester Square, and we then checked out Forbidden Planet, The Cinema Store and Vintage Magazine collector shops for what must be the premier piece of film merchandise in the world: A Daniel Craig fridge magnet. Yes. Daniel Craig. On your fridge. We couldn't find one, but Clinton's Cards have them so Sarah can hopefully get it there! (She did, BTW - thought you should know.)

We walked over in hot sun (glad I brought the sun cream) to Green Park tube station, got some water from a local Pret-a-Manger, and then found Tess, Lindy and her boyfriend sitting in the park making friends with a VERY TAME squirrel! He was so tame; he literally came up to eat nuts from their hands! What a cute little critter. After chatting for a bit I managed to find the rest of the gang via the glory of mobile phone technology, and we moved over to our usual tree. The afternoon was a rather nice and relaxing few hours, spent lazing about talking, eating and drinking. We had a great turn out, some 25 of us I believe. People were arriving and leaving and different times.

Several of us chatted about the recently released "Transformers" film (I think about a 50/50 split there between 'like' and 'dislike'), and there was the usual chit-chat about movies and DVDs, Lego collecting, classic children's TV, and other such geeky fare combined with a more grown up stuff like impending flat purchase (Paul), weddings (Kerry-Anne, Craig and Karen), shopping and vegan diets (Tess), college stuff (Lindy). The usual silly games of cricket and frisbee went on in the background (you had to be careful - those balls flew everywhere!) as the rest of us chilled out. Some of us took photos. I went over to Piccadilly with Lindy, Tess and her bf to look at the artwork, just before they left to check out the Japan centre.

I left about 6:20pm to get my 7pm train back home. I think the rest of them went to the pub! All in all, an easy going fun day! I guess we'll have another one next year. Let's just hope for good weather.

Oh, thanks to Kerry-Anne for the wine and showing us her picture of meeting Mark Hamill at Star Wars Celebration Europe!

Indiana Jones 4

Just before I chat about our 'Park Meet' held last Saturday, I want to put this image up of what should be 2008's biggest film - "Indiana Jones 4" - which opens in May. I must say I'm buzzed about this flick! The cast look great and I know Spielberg and Lucas will put everything into this to make it action packed and fun. Expect a huge "Indiana Jones" merchandise wave to hit the shops next summer, including Indy Lego!

What with that and another "Batman", next summer should be fab for blockbuster geeks like me!!

Family vist and a cinema trip

I always seem to be catching up with this silly blog! You may have noticed that I have severe apathy when it comes to updating it. Sorry!

Still, here goes with what's been happening of late…

Carla's family visit (Saturday 21 - Monday 30 July.)

Carl and Ethan, Carla's father and son, came over for a visit. We met them at Birmingham airport a full day later than planned as they ran into some trouble with connecting flights in the USA. Oh well, it was raining and grey all that Friday so they didn't miss much! The first weekend was spent at home doing stuff locally, as was the second. I was at work for two days into their holiday but one of those days Carla took them into Birmingham city centre to look around the shops. I think they got as far as doing the Bull Ring centre and china town. Ethan decided he didn't want to see the new "Harry Potter" flick, even though it was showing in 3D at the Imax cinema. On the Wednesday, we all went down to London to do touristy stuff there: The Tower of London, a trip on the DLR out to Greenwich, then a boat trip up the Thames to Embankment (near Westminster.) We didn’t have much time at the Tower, after getting to London at lunchtime and having a bite to eat, checking into our hotel etc. Still, it was a nice if brief visit. The place was full of scouts! Onto the river trip, which was wonderful! You get some fantastic views of the city from the river - even when it is grey and windswept. I really want to do that again! To finish off the day we had a meal in Wagamama (yummy noodles and vegan nosh!) and then went to Namco Station arcade in County Hall, so Ethan could play video games until his credits ran out!

Thursday was spent out at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey. What an impressive place this is! We had time to explore a great deal of the palace and its grounds. The staterooms are opulent and a little overwhelming. The whole place is very interesting. I particularly liked the display about King Henry VIII and the Tudor kitchens with plastic re-creations of 500-year-old food! haha. Great stuff. The gardens are beautiful as well. Very scenic, especially as the Thames flows right by there.

In the evening we went back into Central London and went bowling in Bayswater (as it was close to Paddington station) and then we got the train to Bath, so we had a few hours doing more touristy stuff there on the Friday. This included the Roman Baths museum (the commentary playing machines now include added comments from author Bill Bryson!), a tour on one of those hop-on hop-off buses, a nice lunch by the river, and a quick trip to the fashion museum. Bath is a grand city of primarily Georgian architecture, set in a picturesque valley of the river Avon. As the weather was nice that day, it was a great visit.

Over the holidays, I dug out my old Nintendo Gamecube system, which kept Ethan happy! He played my various "Star Wars" video games on it for quite some time. Its amazing to think that five years ago, this system was state-of-the-art, and now everyone treats it like its from the Noah's ark!

Oh, and on the last full day of their visit we went to see….

Transformers at the Nuneaton Odeon. Yep, Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg's big screen version of the 1980's toy and cartoon finally got released that weekend. I'd been buzzed about this film since it was announced, being a big fan of the robots in disguise. Well, I have to say I loved it! I came out of the screening with a big smile. Excellent sfx, remarkably funny script, good lead actors, particularly Shia LaBeouf. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially ILM's special effects guys. The only downside is my standard criticism of any Michael Bay film…his editing style takes some getting used to as everything moves at a cracking pace. Anyway, I think this is his best film, and we all enjoyed it so let's give it 9/10! I hope to see this again before it ends its run.

Oh, I have completed (yes! actually completed!!!) my Merlin "Transformers" sticker album. This was achieved by getting a few packs last week, some doubles from friends at work, and then buying a complete box on Sunday! Now I need to try and complete my "Star Wars Episode 3" album (oh where are you no 154?!)

Anyway, it was fun to see Carla's family, being hosts and do touristy stuff with them. Thankfully, all seemed to go well!

I will cover Park Meet, our annual fun day out at Green Park, in a few days time!

UK citizenship, Star Wars Celebration Europe and general catch-up

Wow, I hadn't realised how long it had been since I updated this bloggy! You know, it gets left a day, then another, and the next thing you know it's been nearly a month!!

A few things have happened so let's report shall we…

Carla's UK citizenship ceremony went a-ok on Friday 22nd June at the local register office. My sister Josie and our pal Mark turned up for it. It was quite good actually, if short: a concise ceremony consisting of a speech by the registrar, an oath for Carla to take, us standing for the national anthem, and then the registrar handing over of a certificate and well, that was that….done! Photo time. Oh, the register gave her a "welcome" present…..a pen! Wow!

Afterwards we went over to her workplace and she showed her excitable work colleagues her certificate. We were supposed to hang around for somebody's leaving do, but we made our excuses and went home to schlub around, eat and watch DVDs!

Here is a picture of us two (with our cuddly monkey - he gets everywhere!)

Oh, following on from this, she got her UK passport yesterday, so that's all done with now, thank goodness.

Carla's family fly in from America tomorrow for a week's holiday over here with us. It will be fun to see them but I feel a bit unhappy for them that the weather has been so awful, and it seems unlikely to change for the better. I guess Britain's summer will be a complete was out this year. Apart from our cultural visits next week, I can't wait to see the new "Transformers" film, and perhaps the new "Harry Potter" one in 3D with them!

I attended "Star Wars
Celebration Europe" last Sunday. This was the first official convention for "Star Wars" fans over this side of the Atlantic, following on from the successful "Celebration" conventions in the USA held over the last few years. It was at the huge ExCel Centre in London's Docklands. I had quite a fun time for those few hours on Sunday afternoon: getting a few autographs, looking around the stands, chatting to friends etc. There were lots of things I failed to do or missed but on the whole and from what I saw, I thought it was an impressive show. I loved the huge Death Star at the entrance for instance! That looked amazing. The "History of Palitoy" room was fabulous - definitely one of the best things there. It was great to see some old "Star Wars" video game arcade machines blinking away. The art alley was interesting. Most people seemed to be having a fun time so that was good. My pal Kerry-Anne went to the show on Friday and had the pleasure of getting Mark Hamill's autograph. She also managed to get on GMTV with a question for him. He even gave her a kiss! I think it made her decade! I believe other highlights included the LSO concert, Ian "The Emperor" McDiarmid's talk at the opening ceremony, some of the talks by the "Star Wars" cast and crew, and the general buzz of the place. There were lots of fans in costumes everywhere. Shame it was a bit expensive as of course, the emphasis on these events are to *make money*. Lots of money. It seems the event was a success, so I suppose there will be another show in a year or two, even if the current licence holder has now, well, lost that Lucasfilm licence!

Anyway, today I posted a huge pack of paperwork gathered at this event to my long time "Star Wars" fan pal in America. Hope she gets that lot soon!

Oh, speaking of sci-fi shows, I went to "Memorabilia" at Birmingham NEC the weekend before "Celebration", and it was, well, rubbish. The curse of the summer show! There were no guests that interested me, and only a handful of stalls to look around. So no real 'buzz'. The only thing I picked up were some film poster coasters, which are really nice. I think I will collect my favourite films on these. In fact, I asked the dealer if he could create some 1950's sci-fi ones, including "Forbidden Planet" and "Earth vs the Flying Saucers". Hopefully these will be ready by the November show.

Just to finish, work sent me on some ArcGIS training in Nottingham last week, which was very good and extremely useful! Everything went well with that. I look forward to using the software again on my next project.

That's it for now. I will write soon and tell you all about out little break with the family!

Theatre show review

Something our friend went to see. Sounds fab!

"One Man Star Wars Trilogy" - a review by Sarah

If you love "Star Wars" and possess just one (preferably more) funny bone in your body then give yourself a massive treat and buy a ticket to see Charles Ross perform his "One Man Star Wars Trilogy" show! Ross is a Canadian actor who is currently touring the UK and who claims to have seen "Star Wars" 400 times. Boy, does it show. In his hour long performance he re-creates the entire original "Star Wars" trilogy on stage on his own through sheer energy, physical flexibility, speed, and originality, performing the dialogue, action (including the battles), sound effects and even John Williams' wonderful score. All the character's personalities are there, such as Luke's whining, Han's swagger, R2's cuteness etc. In particular I thought his impression of the Emperor was scarily accurate. Like most people I have seen the original "Star Wars" films dozens of times and seeing Ross compress the stories in such a concentrated yet hilarious manner brought about a comforting feeling - these are films you can cut down to a fraction of their running time and they are still amazing to watch! Overall Ross is magnificent and I can honestly say this is the only show I have come away from with a big smile on my face!

Verdict 10/10

http://www.onemanstarwars.com/star_wars.html

My movie reviews at flixster

I've now got an account at "Flixster", which is basically one of those "friend" sites (like "Facebook", "Myspace" etc) but with a heavy "cinema" fan emphasis. You can list your favourite movies, actors, directors, and read your friend's film reviews. It has been great fun compiling my lists and doing my own mini reviews - definitely a work in progress! This is site I'm sure I'll use a lot.

Rocky

We've been making out way through the "Rocky" 1-6 DVD box-set (called "The Heavyweight Collection"), which I bought on Sunday. So far, we have watched the first three Sylvester Stallone boxing epics. Of course, the standout film is the 1976 original, which is a wonderful feel-good movie about a small time boxer who as the under-dog captures the imagination of the public as he fights the World Champion. A truly brilliant film, excellent script and great characters, which won three Oscars and was a huge box office success.

We've also enjoyed watching the other films in the series, and seeing the style of the films change (because of political climate and culture) as we go through the late 1970s and into the 1980's.

Takeshi's Castle

Not much to report over the last week, except that my wife's application for UK citizenship has been approved, and we have a date for her citizenship ceremony in late June. Thank goodness that's all organised! I'll have to take some piccies on the day.

We bought some bargain DVD's yesterday at HMV in town. "Interview with the Vampire" and "Frankenstein" & "Bride of Frankenstein" (1930's versions) set. "Interview" wasn't bad, a bit slow and talky, but the production looked beautiful. The real standout performance for me is from a very young Kirsten Dunst, playing the young vampire, Claudia. We will watch the Frankenstein films this evening. Classic B/W Boris Karloff.

It is the weekend so I have managed to have my Saturday and Sunday dose of "Takeshi's Castle" on Challenge TV. What a wonderful no-brainer this is! I love it and laugh all the way through every episode! :)

"Takeshi's Castle" is a 1980s Japanese game show, edited into half hour shows and humorously voiced over by Craig Charles (Lister from BBC's "Red Dwarf"). 100 contestants have to make their way through highly physical (and very silly) games. If they fail a challenge, they are out. If they pass the challenge, they get to go onto the next game, and eventually if their agility and skill hold out, a crack at the showdown where they try to storm the castle and win a prize (although I've never seen anyone win!) Some of the games along the way are quite evil, like "Skipping Stones" or "High Rollers" - contestants have a good chance of coming home battered and bruised! It's all a bit silly. Great stuff though. :)

..sort of like the Japanese version of Jeux Sans Frontières ("Games Without Borders") or "It’s a Knockout" for British viewers.

Update @ 4pm - got "Rocky" 1-6 box set in ASDA!

Bank Holiday Monday, DVDs and so on

Well, it’s a typical Bank Holiday Monday, so it's raining, cold and grey. No matter, as we had no plans to go anywhere today, just into town to mooch about the shops, and buy a cast-iron skillet and muffin tin. Oh the height of frivolity.

Last week, we got to see the following DVDs:

"The Last King of Scotland"

"Rocky Balboa"

"Stormbreaker"

All three were very entertaining. I can see why Forest Whitaker won the Oscar for playing Idi Amin in "Last..". A gripping performance, about an extreme individual. The production was nicely done on what looked like a big tv budget.

The last "Rocky" film was great to watch as well. I thought Stallone completed the story well and sent the character off on a high. I will search out the Rocky 1-6 DVD box set now!

Oh, the trailer for "John Rambo" is up and running on-t'internet. Looks action packed, and features some way over the top violence. Stallone once again is our hero in the jungle, destroying the enemy with his explosive arrows. 1980s all over again!

"Stormbreaker" was just a bit of fluff: 'James Bond - Junior' really. Still, the film was quite good fun to watch. I enjoyed laughing at Mickey Rourke's 'chewing- the-furniture' role as the baddie, and Bill Nighy (who seems to be in everything these days, including shows about meerkats) as the head of secret service operations. Ewan McGregor turned up for a day's shooting and car racing (he is only in the opening sequence) as well.

Oh, our pal Mandy came down over the weekend, and we were lucky enough to visit Warwick Castle on Saturday. What a brilliant day out this is, especially if the weather is nice like it was for most of the day. Glad we caught the jousting as well. Heck, it’s a bit "Hollywood" but there ya go.

Bizarre happenings at the sci-fair!

On the morning of Saturday 12th May (prior to our "Eurovision" revelry that evening - see my last post) I went down to a sci-fi collector's fair at the Leofric Hotel in Coventry. I had never been to this particular event, and as it was local I thought I would check it out. I wish I hadn't bothered, as it was, well, rubbish! Still, it was free entry and I got a couple of laughs out of it, and I managed to chat to a pal who was there as well as some other fan types. Anyway, disorganised chaos and small (about 8 dealers) was the order of the day here, at least for the first couple of hours. Most of the celebrity guests I didn’t recognise as they either appeared in sci-fi tv or small grade-B films, so no real need to bother with autographs this time. Have a look here at the guest list.

There were fans milling around not knowing where to go, bored and confused looking staff, and a general sense of disorganisation about the place. I think the real chaos came from the fact that there was a Smallville/Supernatural convention ("Asylum") going on in the same hotel at the same time, hence hundreds of fan girls clogging up the crowded corridors getting excited when they glimpsed Jensen Ackles. I really think the two events should have been kept separate. One table sold me a photo of actress Alison Mack, which they said I could get signed. Ok, groovy. However, they failed to tell me that this actress was part of the convention ONLY and not the sci-fi fair. So in the other part of the hotel I wasn't allowed to see her as I wasn't a convention guest! Oh well, at least they gave me my money back for the photo (I then found the photo on the net later….for free!)

The most bizarre thing happened early on as the crew/bouncer types were escorting actor Jensen Ackles from one room to another: a mad fan girl leapt on him and kissed him on the lips! Of course, she was wrestled to the ground while Jensen was hurried into a nearby lift. She then tried the "lemur leap" attack again and was restrained and removed from the hotel! In 17 odd years of going to shows, I've never seen anything that bad! I guess they had a crowd control problem. When I left to pop over to Forbidden Planet, she was crying outside and her mother was giving her a talking to. Haha!

(Mentions it all here.)

Still, before meeting up with Sarah I managed to have a mooch around Coventry shops including Waterstones, where I picked up the fantastic "The Making Of Star Wars" by J.W.Rizler. This was as birthday pressie to myself. Great book, worth buying even just for the photos. It covers the original 1977 film from its early conception, script development, casting, filming, the visual effects and release. The hardback version has additional stills and drawings in the back, so go for that one, collectors.

Catch ya'll soon…

Eurovision madness and my birthday!

So the walking holiday went fine, our internet works, and we are now addicted to watching crappy American infomercials on the satellite shopping channels. Life is good!

Our friend Sarah came up to stay with us over the weekend, the main reason to listen to Terry 'BBC God' Wogan yammer on through the "Eurovision Song Contest" and of course, as a bit of a social as we hadn’t seen her since "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" came out! (a big 'Hello Sarah!' when she reads this). Yep, sad I know, but we are all fans of this TV institution. The show is great to watch with a few glasses of wine! Some of the performances are quite, how shall we say, 'out there' on planet crap. :)

Anyhoo, we loved our entry: "Flying the Flag" by Scooch. Top campy pop… great fun, and featuring wonderful flight attendant costumes!! Shame no one else in Europe thought so as the voting put us second from last (just above Ireland). It seems the political voting has been getting worse over the last few yeas as it has now become the "Eastern European Song Contest love-in". Still, there ya go….the show was fun all the same. Why that les-bo Serb won with that dirge I have no idea. Our non-UK favourites were Ukraine (a Christopher Biggins look-a-like with a star on his head), a cross-dresser from Denmark, and the Belgian entry sung by what looked like the love child of Jay Kay (the lead singer from Jamiroquai) and Lenny Kravitz. Unfortunately, Belgian disco boy got kicked out in the semis. Shame, that track was proper bo! Carla also liked the French song - I admit, that was a fun performance. Especially when they ran around the stage. Sarah loved the Belarus song that had a heavy 007 influence. Have a look at these bizarre acts here!

Oh, I became 35 years old on Sunday, so we had choccy cake and (at least I had) the remains of the previous night's plonk!

More silliness tomorrow.

Our recent holiday

Ye gads, I must add to this blog! So here goes with some recent stuff….

We were on holiday from late April up to bank holiday Monday….which was pretty good. After I made a quick trip over to Great Yarmouth to see mum and dad and sort out more junk in the attic, we did a day walking around the beautiful town of Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire. We had a great day of country walking in gentle green hills and sunny weather. Nice picnic as well. On our way home, we stopped off in Birmingham and got loads of Chinese food in Chinatown. Carla made several yummy meals with this!

A couple of days later we moved on to Shropshire. What a beautiful county, and so close to us! The first day we stayed in Ludlow. The town is ok in a sort of old-y-world-y middle-class kind-a way. The castle ruins are certainly worth a visit and the woodland near to the river is lovely to walk in on a sunny afternoon. Lots of very tame ducks there! Shame the stupid fair was in town to clog up the market place, and we had the usual trouble with getting decent vegan options when it came to eating out. Great B+B though! Anyway, afterwards we moved on to Church Stretton for a few days to go walking in the picturesque hills. This was with a group of fellow walkers from all over the country, and lead by a local expert. Not bad, but I think that we prefer to do our own thing, as we felt a little restricted by going on a set path and having to walk with others. Also, the food in the hotel was rubbish as once again, these idiots don't know the concept of a vegan diet….or even soya milk. Still, the actually walking was fabulous, as the countryside is stunning there. No wonder they call it 'Little Switzerland'. Thankfully we had nice weather up to bank holiday Monday, when the rain and mist descended on us when were up walking the Stiperstones. Thank goodness for waterproofs! Two days before, on the summit of Caer Caradoc it was hot and sunny!

I need to get the photos sorted out, as we had a film to finish in our 35mm camera. Hopefully I will remember to take them into ASDA and get them on-line soon.

...more of my catch up blogging tomorrow…

I'm back!

Hello world!

At long last, we are back on-line here at Tate central. Yaaay! We got Sky satellite TV got installed a couple of weeks ago (oh, "Takeshi's Castle" on Challenge TV is fantastic!) and we are also now on Sky broadband. For some reason, my old account with Freeserve/Wanadoo/Orange/Whatever_they_are_calling_themselves_this_month died in early April. So now we have a fab new Sky livebox flashing away in the corner, which provides us with a link to the outside world and the fun that is internet geekdom.

….now of course, I have to type something worth reading!

Well, I'll try and catch up somehow over the next few days. Loads to cover apart from our usual DVD and film watching, as we have just come back from holiday in Shropshire, where we did lots of hill walking in the beautiful countryside.

:)

internet down!

Yep, our internet at home is buggered. BT engineers and Treadwell the "Star Wars" robot have been informed. So apart from this post (done in a hurry from work) there will be nothing until further notice. Pity, as I have loads to write about.

Hope you are all well out there! :)

Some films.....

...that we've watched recently!

"Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan": As offensive as the censors would allow, yet rather interesting to watch. Sacha Baron "Ali-G" Cohen takes on the role of the bizarre Eastern block journalist touring the USA, and thanks to his rather rudimentary grip of the English language, this results in some amazing reactions. You will *cringe*! Maybe 'the joke' wears old over the course of the running time, but overall "Borat" is a very funny film. It features some hilarious moments, whilst providing a disturbingly sharp look at ordinary people's attitudes and opinions. Racism, sexism, narrow-mindedness are all exposed.

Oh, one of the cut scenes on the DVD that features a poor supermarket worker is comedy gold!

"The Queen": A marvellous film which focuses on the British Royal family during a time of national crisis: it is August 1997 and Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed are killed in that infamous Paris car crash. Helen Mirren is wonderful in this role, as are the supporting cast. Apart from dealing with a delicate time for the Royal Family, it explores the early relationship between her "old" values and traditions, and the new vision of the country from the recently elected Labour party. Tony Blair (ingeniously played by Michael Sheen) has the difficult task of re-connecting the public with the Royals. Worthy of its Oscar and box office success.

"Talk Radio": A late 80's Oliver Stone film about a Dallas radio 'shock jock', Barry Champlain. Stars Eric Bogosian, who also wrote it with Stone, and is based on the original stage play and book. Excellent and tense character study of an arrogant person who thinks he can help the common man though satirical attacks on his listeners. A complex film that I will definitely enjoy watching again.

I also bought "Doom" and "Clockwise" DVDs the other weekend as they were cheap, but we haven't watched them yet. I remember hiring "Doom" about a year ago and enjoying it for its sheer grade Z naffness! Soon we want to see "The Prestige", "The Notorious Betty Page", and give "Casino Royale" another viewing.

Meerkats and Lemurs

Just got to tell you all about two wonderful shows on TV at the moment. "Meerkat Manor" on BBC2 and "Lemur Island" on Channel 5. I don't usually watch nature programmes but I'm hooked on these two! Both shows follow the lives of these little creatures - and they are both fascinating and cute in the own little ways. I particularly like the Lemurs when they sit "Buddha" style-ee in the morning sun! Haha! :)

A Ring-tailed Lemur...sunbathing!...and some Meerkats chillin' out!! :)

Saturday cleaning and citizenship paperwork

It's been an easy going Saturday - didn't do anything special today. Carla was at work so I managed to do a few bits in the flat before going over to meet her, and do some food shopping on the way home. Cleaned the computer's internal fan out as the whole machine was *rattling* due to being clogged with black dust bunnies! Ugh. Then I cleaned the shower out and did a whole load of laundry, while watching "The Pink Panther" on DVD. I also managed to fit in a Tom Holland workout (I have two of his DVDs.) I like doing these but admit I don't work out enough for it to count (over the last three weeks, only 1 workout per week.) I seem to have lost my way with fitting them in! :(

As I type here, I'm looking at the DVD and bookshelves to my left, and they are a bit of a mess! Hmmm....need to have a re-think and a sort out. Also, Partners (the Stationary shop) in town have a really nice glass computer desk for sale, which if it fits nicely in this alcove, I may well go for it. Trouble is, I'll have to upgrade to flat screen monitor as well. I don't have one yet as this iiyama one has worked perfectly for years and provides a lovely crisp image.

Yesterday, I took half a day's annual leave to come home early and go with Carla to a local solicitor to get her citizenship documents all in order, so we could send them off for her UK citizenship application. I guess we have to wait now for a few months while the Home Office do their stuff. Let's hope for a speedy and positive decision. (see Carla's blog here.)

Good luck to our pal Tess who may well soon start a spot of world travelling and work experience. Her blog is in my list of friends. I have also added Mary Jo's blog in that list. Go there for loads of fun Star Wars chit chat!

Life on Kazakhstan

Here is the latest. Not much since the last entry but, hey, typing keeps me off the streets.

~ Carla passed her "Life in the UK test" today in Birmingham. Woohoo! This means she can hand in the forms and apply for citizenship. Well done the Mrs!

~ I'm reading a fantastic book called "The Prestige". It's about the rivalry between two stage magicians in the late 19th Century. Spooky and odd, but riveting. Christopher "Batman Begins" Nolan made the film version of this, which is out on DVD next week. Looking forward to seeing it, but I will finish the novel first. Looks like a great cast and I like Nolan's style.

~ We watched the latest episodes of "Life on Mars" and "Heroes" this week. Both shows are very entertaining, if a little bizarre...but that's what makes 'em fun.

~ We have the "Borat" DVD waiting to be watched. Probably will fit that in tomorrow evening. Looks like a great laff! :)

~ Still drawing Scottish woodland maps at work. This project will go on for a looooooooong time!

~ I still have to sort out that huge pile of papers/junk in the spare room. A weekend job, me thinks. Hello paper recycler.

a visit to the theatre and a birthday social!

Carla and I had Friday off work, so we got tickets to see the musical "Chicago" at the Cambridge Theatre, central London. Musical theatre is a growing interest of ours, and as we had both enjoyed the 2002 film version of this long running show, we thought it would be great to see it on the stage. It certainly did not disappoint! The show was really fun to see. The vocal performances were excellent and the dancing top notch from all the cast. Tony Hadley plays the role of Billy Flynn, Chicago's top sleazy lawyer. He was brilliant, but I've always liked his voice from his Spandau Ballet days. The two leading ladies were excellent as well. The songs are the stars of course and they are simply great. Highlights included "All That Jazz", " Razzle Dazzle", "Cell Block Tango" and "We both Reached for the Gun".

I think the show is definitely better than 'Wicked!', which we saw last November: the lyrics of the songs are superior and are more 'show classic' and less 'pop' in tone. It also has a dark feel to it, which really interests me, not surprising as it came from the same team behind "Cabaret" (Bob Fosse etc).

After the show finished we headed on up to Milton Keynes to stay with Mark. It was his birthday that weekend so people were congregating there to celebrate. Another friend of ours, Jane, was already there. They were kind enough to meet us at the railway station (in the rain) and after the hugs and hellos; we caught the bus up into the city centre to do some food shopping at Sainsbury's. Alas...no PG tips monkeys in stock! (see earlier post). When we got back to his house in the suburbs, we had a nice little meal and watched some of the newer "Battlestar Galactica" series on DVD. I also gave him his Darth Vader birthday card (which went nicely with his Anakin Skywalker one somebody had got him!)

The next morning we had a slow lazy start. We had short walk around Furzton Lake, which is in the park at the end of Mark's road. The large open green area and lake is pretty in a 'new man-made' kind of way. Mark informed us that the homes around the lake are quite expensive, so I suppose they are all owned by "city" types and the successful dot.com lot. It was lovely to see the a large variety of waterfowl, and seeing some geese having a bit of an argument was sooo funny! Nice walk as the sun was shining but it was soooo windy!

When we got back to Mark's place, some other pals turned up (Tim and Sharon) and after the obligatory cup of tea, we all walked to Bletchley Park museum. There we met up with some other pals (Jamie, Theresa and Joe) and we spent the afternoon there looking around. The museum is excellent and fascinating. It mainly covers the part played by the code breakers of the 2nd World War: the 'Enigma' machine and all that. There are also other mini museums/exhibits that cover such things as cinema projection technology, old toy trains and toy collections, and life in the early part of the 20th century. I particularly loved seeing the old toys and packaging materials! The mansion itself is an interesting example of varied architecture, having been built from different design influences. Shame we couldn't see more of the interior. (Pic is of us with the giant goose statue at the museum!)

We had had a little while back at Mark's place, then said our good-byes and made our way home by rail. We got home and had a lovely dinner while watching the latest monsters of the week (killer Do-dos this time!) in Episode 4 of "Primeval".

Today (Sunday) was rainy all day. Ugh. We did venture out for a few essential groceries and buy the film version of "Chicago" at HMV, which we watched over lunch. Fantastic!

poor Wall-E misses the latest episode of Lost!

I see that the CGI wizards at Pixar are developing a flick called "WALL-E", about a cute looking maintenance robot who tries to clean up a polluted future Earth. It looks like it could be wonderful. The robot looks sweet. Let's hope its not to maudlin and schmaltzy though. If its half as good as "Happy Feet", I'll be chuffed.

In the news today was the great BSkyB TV v Virgin Media fist-y-cuffs. Oh dear, I do hope this is sorted soon. At least one of my pals (hello Mandy) has suffered here because of two billionaires having an right ding-dong over cash. So at the moment, as far as I understand it, if you subscribe to Virgin Media cable tv you no longer get Sky One and Two, Sky Sports or Sky News etc…and you wont until they come to some arrangement (i.e. BSkyB TV get the dosh they want from Virgin - which looks unlikely to happen). Bugger. What a way to miss seeing "Lost" or "24"!

At the moment we only have the five basic network channels. I always new it was a good idea to invest the money into our DVD collection instead!! Still, I'm looking into getting Freeview soon, as its included in the awesome Panasonic DVD recorder I want to buy when it comes down a bit in price...its not in the top price range of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, but those players costs the equivalent of the GDP of an small African nation, so a bit beyond my shopping basket yet!

a busy weekend

Hello all,

A few things to mention as way of an update....

We had a packed and generally fun weekend, for once doing something "social" three days running! On Friday evening, Julie and her fiancé Pat visited our place for dinner, as they were in the Midlands to attend a sci-fi convention in (of all places in the known galaxy) Hinckley! It was really nice to see them again and introduce Carla to Pat. The Mrs cooked a wonderful meal as usual, and they left on a mission to get their own "Munkeh" toy from ASDA! (having seen ours on top of the telly!)

Then on Saturday, we went into Leicester to meet up with my sister, Josie, to sample the delights of the city's vegetarian restaurants. We ended up in a place called 'East' and stuffed ourselves from the 'all you can eat' buffet - dangerous when I'm around. Then it was a mooch around the shops, Dominoes toy shop being the highlight for me. The 'throw the pigs around' game (can't remember what it is called) was awesome! Before Jo went to get her bus home, I remembered to hand over some old military toys (plastic tanks etc) to her to give to her husband -he is a collector. What was fun was also giving Jo her old diary from 1970, which I found in the attic the weekend before.

On Sunday we went down to the Coventry Odeon cinema to see the newly released film "Hot Fuzz" with our pal Mark, a fellow blogspot man. The film stars Simon Pegg etc from "Spaced" and "Shaun of the Dead". There are loads of reviews of this excellent flick all over the net, so no need to waste space here. Sort of "Midsomer Murders" meets "Die Hard", with West Country accents! Suffice to say that I found it very funny, and I thoroughly enjoyed the cracking action sequences at the end. Highly entertaining, if a little over-long. I loved the swan, BTW! Also recognised the main location (Wells, Somerset) as we had been there about 18months ago. We had some transport issues getting back though as we had to wait for AGES for our bus. :( oh well....

We've started to watch "Heroes", the new US TV show about some remarkable people who have a special super powers. I suppose you could say this is "X-men" without the bright costumes. Really good so far (three episodes in)….. We are both getting hooked as the show is developing nicely. Thanks to Mark G for recording the episodes for us from his cable!

Oh, I got us tickets to see "Chicago" (the musical) on Friday in London at the Cambridge Theatre. Can't wait, as I loved the film.

…..I really must update this more often!!

at home in Gorleston - sorting out toys!

As the title suggests, I did indeed go home to see my mum and dad at the weekend. Long journey over to the east coast but it was ok as I snoozed a lot of the way on the train. This was my usual "hello....your son is here to help!" type visit (so I did the shopping, cleaning etc) but I also did some 'attic' work, which meant going up into the dusty darkness at the top of the house and attempting to sort out another box of old toys/comics/junk. Some of it went to the charity shop, some to the paper recycler, and some will be up for sale soon, such as the Action Man and film related toys I decided I don't want anymore. (Superman plane for instance.) Quite fun when you get into it, this 'muckin out' lark. You find things from the past that bring back simple but nice memories. :) And of course, it was nice to see the parental units as well. I hope to go back soon with the Mrs...so she can help me sort out more junk. haha!

I got mum and dad a PG tips monkey, which are being sold as part of special packs of PG tips t-bags! They love him, and he now lives in the living room!

Watched episode 2 of "Primeval" on Saturday night and as it played, I compared notes about the episode with Carla via txting on our mobiles. I had to tell her what happened at the end as he mother phoned just as the giant time travelling millipede attacked our heroes. This is good, I like the sillyness of it all, For once ITV have produced something worth watching! I guess they are going for the Saturday evening "Doctor Who" market with this.

Carla and I are hoping to get tickets to see the musical "Chicago" in March. It would be fun to see Tony Hadley strutting his ex-Spandau Ballet self on stage, in the role of Billy Flynn.

Oh, I must type a big "good luck" wish to my pal Trudi, regarding her nearly completed Phd! :)

Survivors, Doctor Who etc

We've been watching some old BBC sci-fi tv recently. This all started with me borrowing every episode of "Survivors" (on videotape...yes TAPE!) from a work colleague just after Xmas. So back in January over a couple of weekends and a few nights we ploughed through all 38 shows. Brilliant stuff, we both absolutely loved it. We found series 1 and 2 really interesting and generally well written, and we were hooked. Series 3 goes a bit odd: I think the producers lost their way and its such a shame not to see more of Greg Preston, but at least they made Charles 'character more interesting to watch. Especially when he starts his ranting about the re-birth of society and then attacking bad guys by swinging out of trees with a swift ninja kick.

After completing those, I decided to buy some classic "Doctor Who" on DVD. The beeb have released some impressive sets of various episodes with new and rare extras. I picked up "Genesis of the Darleks" and "EarthShock", both top banana adventures ("Genesis" = Tom Baker as the Doctor, 1975, and "EarthShock" = Peter Davison as the Doctor, 1982.) Really great fun to watch! Love those wobbly sets.
"Genesis" is quite dark and violent actually, and marks the first appearance of Davros the Darlek creator. Great character, love his psychotic character. I have the say the production design was impressive considering the budget and time restrictions. "EarthShock" is great, as I love the Cybermen and Peter Davison is my favourite Doctor. Not sure what Beryl Reid is doing in this, though. I think I'll pick up some more episodes, such as "The Sontaran Experiment" when time and money allows. And then perhaps some "Blake's 7"!! haha!!

I read that the BBC is planning a 6-part remake of "Survivors". Let's hope its done properly and isn't naff or cheesey. In the meantime, I got series 1 on DVD to watch again later in the year.

The top TV news is that series 2 of the excellent "Life on Mars" starts on the beeb tomorrow evening! Fantastic. Hopefully we'll find out what's going on with this 1973 time travelling...and of course, lots of '70s cop show car chases and gritty "The Sweeney" style punch ups! Wonderful. :)

The 2007 Bafta awards....

.....are on BBC-1 at the moment. Lots of awards going to people who couldn't be asked to fly in from La-La land. I'm a bit tired so bedtime now, and I'll have to catch up with the rest of the winners tomorrow via the 'net. Glad "Happy Feet" got best animated film though, as I *loved* that. Mumble was wonderful! He actually looked like Elijah Wood. Clever CGI animators.

(Bafta site)

European animations......

I love "Pingu". Those little shows are so much fun! Well, it seems he is now the star of a music video!

Also, I finally found a link to some cute little animations that I saw on Dutch tv in the early '80's. Presenting "Loekie de Leeuw", star of Nederland 1 and 2 channels!

:)

First (past the?) post...

Hi to all out there in bloggy-land,

Just a couple of lines to get this thing going. I think I'll use it mainly for DVD and film reviews, but I'm sure I'll write about some other things....err...when I can remember or be bothered to update it! ;)

We watched "Earthquake" this afternoon...part of last weekend's mega DVD purchase at Nuneaton HMV. Not bad...quite entertaining actually. It has a similar structure to "The Towering Inferno", released in the same year - 1974. (Introduce the characters, then waste a third of the film showing their relationships and situations, then start the disaster!) Charlton Heston was his usual hero self, swaggering through the script with several major stars of the time (George Kennedy, Lorne Greene etc.) The film features some good action sequences and matte work, and yet another great score by good old Johnny Williams. However, there was one effect that was so * B A D * it was funny - the blood splattering in the lift as it crashed down the shaft. Its an *animation cell*! Red paint blobs!! Oh. Dear.
Talking about shaft....Richard Roundtree was in it as well, sporting a groovy stunt biker costume. Can yu dig it?

We watched the new ITV series called "Primeval" this evening. Dinosaurs and other such CGI creatures find their way to suburban England. Cue team of experts to investigate and sort it out. Again, quite fun to watch, although very derivative of many sci-fi and fantasy series...we had some "Jurassic Park" mixed with some "Stargate" and "X-files. Hope it develops well. Next week the preview showed them fighting giant bugs in the sewers! More b-movie rip offs then....
It was nice to see Ben Miller as the cynical Government man. He does the voice of the "PG tips monkey" (or "mung-keh" as he is known.) We both liked Rex, the cute little flying dino. I'm sure if the show is a hit, a toy Rex will be in the shops for Xmas!

Thankfully the annoying snowfall of Thursday and Friday seems to have gone now. All that remains on the square at the back of our flat is a very disheveled looking snow man...his carrot nose fell out as he melted!!

see ya'll soon! :)