g'bye 2011, and hello to 2012.

Just thought I would post a few lines to bring this blog into 2012.

As for films, I enjoyed my cinema trips and DVD watching in '11 - my favourite blockbusters being either "Thor" or "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" .....can't decide! I think my most unusual cinema visit last year was to see the excellent "We Need to Talk About Kevin", which Carla and I went to see on a Sunday morning back in the autumn, at one of our local cinemas - the Coventry Showcase. The screen we were in is also used as a live venue, often for evening comedy shows, so only the back of the screen had the typical cinema seasting. The rest of the auditorium had tables and chairs, and there was a bar to the right. Apart from the odd layout, we were in there ON OUR OWN, so it was basically a private screening of what proved to be a very gripping picture. Tilda Swinton gives an amazing performance as a mother 'on the edge'!

We had a nice simple Hallowe'en weekend, but I always enjoy that time of year. We put up a few decorations and carved a couple of pumpkins as usual. Our pal Teresa came round and we watched "Trick R Treat" and "Halloween H20". I have to say, "Trick R Treat" is a gem of a horror film, very exciting and funny in places -a solid anthology flick.

Our Christmas break was ok as well - we had a nice time off work relaxing. I got Carla the "Battlestar Galactica" DVD box set - the 're-imagined' version of the series that was broadcast between 2003-2009. This afternoon we completed watching series 2 (we were both off work today for Carla's birthday) which is arguably the best series of the show. It has been wonderful to watch these episodes again; the characters are well realised, and for the most part the plots/scripts are very good, and for television the visual effects are excellent. My favourite cast member is James Callis who plays Dr. Giaus Baltar, and his pairing with the tall blonde Cylon woman, Caprica 6 (played by Tricia Helfer) makes for some great scenes. Carla got me "The Benny Hill Show: 1980-1989" DVD boxset, which I've watched a lot of so far and have thoroughly enjoyed! I don't care if the comedy is dated, Benny and his team of regulars, including his main Hill's Angels girls, Louise English and Sue Upton, make me laugh my head off. The best sketch so far has been 'A Tribute to the Lower Tidmarsh Volunteer Fire Brigade'! Great retro tv. :)

Some new TV highlights for us recently have been the first part of series 2 of "The Walking Dead" (what a cracking end to the first half of the season!) and the rather oddball "American Horror Story", which has improved by leaps and bounds over its run. What I like in that show is spotting the horror film/TV cliches in every episode - you can almost tick them off a list! Another TV highlight of recent weeks has been "The World's Strongest Man", this time won by an American, Brian Shaw, on his home turf. Well done to Brian for pipping Savikas to the title in the last event, the Atlas Stones.

Oh, also well done to my pal Trudi for appearing in a National Geographic TV special, called "Roman Murder Mystery" - a very interesting show.

It was sad to hear about the recent passing of Bob Holness, most famous for presenting "Blockbusters". That was in my thoughts recently, as Challenge TV have started to screen episodes from the early 90's, which have been enjoyable to watch.

Anyway, as the weather improves and as we head into spring, hopefully we can start doing some day-trips to castles, historical sites, and do some more country walking again. Looking forward to it! Not to bothered about the Olympics this year, but the Euro 2012 finals should be good.

Christmas hols, snow and "Tron: Legacy".

Firstly, a belated happy 2011 to all! We had a nice Christmas and New Year's holiday. It was great to be off work for a while and relax a bit, watch some TV/DVD's and eat lots of choc! For an xmas pressie from Carla, I was lucky enough to receive the book "The Making of the Empire Strikes Back". I'm just over halfway through it at the moment, and its proving to be an excellent read, covering the 'making of' process in great detail. Wonderful photos as well! My friend's mini review is on her blog here.

A highlight of late December (for me at least) was seeing "Tron: Legacy" at our local Odeon cinema (in digital 3D.) I thought it was a very entertaining and exciting film, which looked *amazing* on the big screen - a worthy (if rather delayed...by 28 years!) sequel to the original. I'm hoping to catch it again before it ends its run, but maybe in 2D this time. A review I liked is here from Harry at good old 'ainitcool'.

Latest DVDs we've got include "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (2008), "Bad Day at Black Rock", "The NeverEnding Story", and "Black Books" (the complete series), and "Edge of Darkness". We also enjoyed watching a couple of westerns on DVD, "The Searchers" and "Tombstone". Even though we have it on disc, we ended up watching "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" on BBC1 on New Year's Day (the British network premiere) - love it!

We seemed to miss the worst of the very cold weather/snow that hit N.W. Europe from late November, and which lasted about a month. There were lots of cold clear days and nights, which required the car to be scaped free of ice a few times! The Midlands did have some snow, but its effect varied from area to area. Thankfully it didn't affect my day-to-day drive too much, although on the 22nd December it did take me about 1 1/4 hours to drive what would have usually taken about 10 mins! It was a bit weird to see the huge snowflakes come down as the traffic crawled along. Still, at least I didn't have to dig the car out of any major snowdrifts after all that. It was bizarre seeing a bus stopped and parked *across* a road I passed, blocking the traffic down that road. I guess it had skidded into that position - scary! All the snow went a while ago now, and its back to usually winter cloud and rain.



<-- The Moon and planet Venus, as seen looking S.E. from the car park behind our flat in the dawn sky, early December 2010 - taken during the cold snap.

Rambo DVD

Carla kindly bought me the "Ultimate Rambo Collection" DVD box set, as it was cheap in HMV. I've been meaning to pick this set up for some time, as I've been a fan of the films for many years and look forward to seeing Stallone in action again in the new one. We just watched "First Blood", the first film originally relased in October 1982. This feature is still a powerful and exciting action film that doesn't let up for it's 90 minute run time. Good performances from Stallone as John Rambo, the crazed Vietnam war veteran, Richard Crenna (a late replacment for Kirk Douglas) in the role of Col. Trautman, and Brian Dennehey as the small town sherrif. There is a little documentary on the DVD covering the making and release of the film, and quite a few of the people involved with the production are interviewed, such as director Ted Kotcheff and the producers Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna. The documentary also includes photos of the cut John Rambo 'death' scene.

We'll watch the rest of the box set this week. Nice set....wierd packaging though!

An interesting article about the films is located here.

Easter and a singing dog!

Wow, Easter 2008 is over already. It's been a nice four day break, and we have two more days of annual leave to go as well! We had our pal Gary up for a couple of days visit, which was nice even though we spent most of the time in the house watching DVDs (such as "Mash", "Jaws", "This is Spinal Tap" and so on.) We did go to Warwick on Saturday morning, but it was *so* cold and windy (and it snowed!) that we came home sooner than expected. The snow had all gone by Sunday lunchtime though.

Oh, talking about Warwick, well, I have a new job there starting sometime in mid April! This means getting a car and learning to get used to the commute!

There is a great advert on British TV at the moment! It's for the new VW Polo and features a cute singing dog! Have a look at you tube here. I wonder if you buy new Polo you get a dog like this!?