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.

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. :)