Early spring town and cinema visits.

We had a nice break before Easter, in a week of wonderful sunny weather here in England - much different to recently as it has been cold, wet and breezy out (current the wettest 'drought' ever!) We did a couple of day trips, to the towns of Malvern and Rugby, to have a look around both places and a snoop around some of the small independent shops and the odd charity shop. In Malvern, we also spent some time walking in the picturesque wooded hills that border the town to the west - lovely views of the countryside from up there, even though the horizon was a little hazy.

A path on the Malvern Hills

Overlooking Malven

I've been lucky enough to go to the cinema a lot recently, as Hollyweird seems to be releasing their big 'event' films early this year (probably to avoid the London Olympics and European football championship.) For the weekend of our 8th wedding anniversary in early April, we saw "The Cabin in the Woods" and "Battleship", both great fun. Cabin was a bizarre film: enjoyable horror hokum that turns the teen 'stalk and slash' film on its head with a new twist. Action packed, gory, and featuring the usual Joss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Whedon playful script with loads of film references littered in there for good measure. As for Battleship (yes, based on the MB boardgame - spot the subtle references!) we both loved it! A great popcorn film that didn't take itself to seriously and had some cracking action set pieces. At last, no lizard aliens for a change. Thankfully we remembered to stay for the end scene post credits - those Scottish sheep will fend of any future alien attack!

Last Saturday, I went with my pal Sarah to my local Odeon to see "Marvel Avengers Assemble" - the 3D version. A very entertaining entry to Marvel's superhero film series from Joss Whedon (yes, him again.) All the superheroes had their moment of glory in front of the camera, and the complex 'New York battle against the aliens' finale was very well done with some top SPFX. I guess the only criticism with ensemble films such as this, is that the plot can't concentrate as there are too many main characters, so there is a danger of losing focus as the story moves from one A-lister to the next. Thankfully, Robert Downey Jnr. as 'Iron Man', together with the excellent Chris Evans as 'Captain America' seem to keep it all together. Good to see Mark Ruffalo as 'The Hulk/David Banner', who brought a lighter, slightly more comedic touch to the character. One reservation I had was that it was a little light on plot.

One of the many on-line reviews can be found here.


We've watched a few enjoyable films and tv shows recently; the highlight being a gem shown on the Horror Channel late the other week - a 1959 feature called "Horrors of the Black Museum", starring the brilliant Michael "Batman" Gough. A very good British horror film from a period where crime/horror cross-overs were in vogue, so similar in tone to the infamous "Peeping Tom" (1960). It will probably be a Halloween favourite of mine from now on! I'm also happy to see "Game of Thrones" back in its second series, the characters as scheming as ever!

As for interesting documentaries, a mention to "Bloody Tales from the Tower" - a three-part series about the death and tragedy at the Tower of London. Presented by the lovely Suzannah Lipscombe.

January and February trips

At the end of January we went over to Gorleston-on-Sea to do a few bits and pieces at the old house before the sale - bye bye childhood home! I oversaw the sale of my old Atari "Star Wars" arcade machine, for instance. We were also lucky enough to see some pals in the evening after going for an Indian meal. On the way over there we had a look around Bury St. Edmund's, and King's Lynn on the way back. Got some great charity shop bargains in both towns! After all these years it was nice visit King's Lynn and see the riverfront and shopping area, and finally go to the Majestic cinema!

In late January we visited Gloucester and Tewkesbury, which are very close to each other in the West of England. It was an easy drive there and back on the M5/M42/M6, so that was ok. Gloucester was good to visit, but not that nice really - we didn't like the atmosphere, although the area around the cathedral was quite pleasant, and the cathedral itself is a very impressive and imposing building. Shame it was a very cold day, but there was a lovely clear blue sky. The docks have been done up very well. We went onto Tewkesbury, which is a lovely town with a charming atmosphere, and the town centre and abbey and gardens are picturesque. As for shopping, I bought another little cuddly monkey (or 'Mung-keh'!) from a charity shop. :)

In early February we had a fun weekend away in West Yorkshire. On the way up there we stopped and had a look around the city of Derby. Although some of the centre looks a bit downbeat, we were pleasantly surprised by the large amount of shops in the centre, and the grand Victorian covered market was great to explore. The cathedral was interesting to visit as well, and there were some little shops in that area to nose around. The Pickwood's House Museum of Georgian life was impressive, and free to get in! After that, we drove North up the M1 and then onto the small town of Marsden. It was a bit of a hairy drive once we left the motorway as it was very windy up in those hills, and my little car felt every gust! We managed to find the cottage in the end, and it was very nice and cosy, with a lovely view of the canal, river and wooded valley with the hills in the background.

The next day we got the train to Leeds, which was easy to get to by train. Shame it rained hard first thing. We had fun walking around the massive shopping district (lost count of amount of Greggs the bakers outlets!) and then onto the interesting (and now largely re-developed) waterfront of the River Aire, where the ex-industrial buildings are now mainly swish apartments. On the way back we broke our journey and had a look around Huddersfield, which is another town that developed in the industrial revolution and still has some grand buildings amongst the shops.

The highlight of the visit was on the Saturday night - the Marsden Embolch fire festival. A *fantastic* event to attend, even in the very rainy weather. It was a 2-hour mix of drumming, fire acrobatics and fireworks, to tell the tale of Jack Frost (representing winter/darkness) lose in a battle to the Green Man (representing spring/light/rebirth etc.) I hope we can go again.

On Sunday morning, we drove up to Bradford to visit the National Media Museum. Not bad, but to be honest I was disappointed with what was on show, although the venue is impressive. The IMAX film was amazing to see - we saw Space Station. As for the museum itself, the highlights were the extensive Kodak exhibit, the history of TV technology (very informative - great to see the old video recorders and laser-disc players on show!) and the history of video games in the lobby...oh, and I got to see the original puppets of George and Zippy from Rainbow! We went home after that; it was good to relax in the lovely cottage afterwards. We watched some films and I started to read the novel of "Dracula".

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As for recent film watching, we've seen "The King's Speech" and "True Grit" at the cinema, both excellent.