Tuesday 27 December 2011

Recovered . . . I think

So xmas is over for another year. I have to thank my sister and her partner Steve for inviting me over and cooking an amazingly yummy meal. I went out xmas eve and drank wine. I don't drink much these days but it went right to my head and then I couldn't sleep at mum and dads. So that messed up my sleep pattern but now 2 nights later I think I am back to normal again. Great to be back in my own bed again.

So santa was nice as always this year. Also very practical. I have paint - for my kitchen if I ever get the crap thats currently on the walls off. Just spent 2 hours fighting some of it and am knackered. Theres like 6 layers of paint on top of the paper cause who was in before me couldn't be bothered to remove anything. They just painted over it instead.

My sister also got me some other bits for the kitchen. My brother got me a digital photoframe. He says theres some pics already loaded on it but I have not had chance to plug it in and look at them yet.

Mum got me a speaking roland rat mug. Prize for the most unique gift this year Mother lol. Got some funky slippers and tarot cards. I will have to have some meditation sessions and have a go at those. I actually got to speak to mum and dad in oz on xmas day. I must admit I am missing them. Gran came for dinner with me and my sister. She was in a incredibly grumpy mood.

Then in the afternoon we went up to see my brother and clan. I tryed to teach Sophie the first 3 lessions in the how to play keyboard book I got her. Shes promised to practice every day this week - I said I would show her lesson 4 but I suspect she won't have looked at it since. Who knows!

I have watched alot of good tv over the last couple of days - Dirty Dancing, Doc Hollywood, Miracle on 34th Street. Two miniseries - Earthsea and the Sword of Xanten which suprisingly featured a pre-twilight & HP fame robert pattinson. Based on norse myths. Apparently it was really huge in germany. I liked it though.

Got home and wrote some more gangster story. This is what I have so far. Im would love some comments but as no one ever seems to comment . . .. . *sulks*. Please comment!!!!!!!


America in the 20’s. What an era. We had it all, bootleg liqueur, speakeasies, gangs, drugs, weapons and the broads. America was taking off; more specifically Chicago was taking off. And it was in Chicago that I made one of the stupidest mistakes I could make. I tried to rob Fat Francis “Frank” Galdofini.

You see I made the mistake of thinking he was just a small fry. When I passed through Chicago the Irish ruled. More specifically Gabriel Fitzgerald had control of that town. I should have done my homework. Fat Frank had just come back from a stint in Sing Sing. He was pissed and he was rebuilding the Italians territory back after Fitzgerald stitched him up.

So there you have it and there I was having my guts punched out of me



Fat Frank was the epitome of calm when he walked into the room his goons were holding me. That put the fear of god through me. An angry Italian who was quiet was far far more dangerous than one shouting the odds.

He took a seat, hauling his broad frame into the chair behind the desk. The chair creaked. At first he said nothing, just taking sips from a drink and watching the other two men throw punch after punch at me. It was only when a large amount of my blood dropped on his wooden floors that he nodded his head and suddenly I was forced down on my knees.

Then Fat Frank leaned forward. “Perhaps,” he said finally, “I should have them rompere i coglioni a qualcuno.” (Break someone’s testicles – will need jacs mate to do correct translation)

Now I knew enough Italian slang to know that was . . . . not nice and definitely not something I wanted to experience. I also knew enough about mobsters to know that if they made a threat they normally followed through. So despite the excruciating pain I was already in, I mentally prepared for the worst.

Strangely though it didn’t happen. The big man instead sipped his drink one more time before adding,

“Or perhaps I should arrange for you two minchione (fools) to be broken instead for letting him get past you,”

Now this was a turn up for the books.

“But boss, we got him,”

Finally I saw some of that Italian fire. He stood up and threw the drink at goon number 1. “But he almost got away with,” the man picked up the pile of notes I had come close to scoring, shook the pile wildly and then threw everything off the desk. “Everything in my safe.”

A long silence passed, the men holding me clearly as worried about their private regions as I was at that point.

“Pick that up, all up and get the “scientist.” I want that safe repaired, the money back in it and I want it sorted yesterday. Kapesh.”

“Yes boss,” both men said in unison dropping to their knees in front of me as the big man settled into his seat once more.

“Oh and I want that blood off my office floor,” he demanded.

“I should kill you,” Fat Frank stated after another long silence in which both goons were frantically picking up money. He seemed now as calm as he was when he walked in at the beginning. This time however, he pulled a piece out of his suit jacket. As if I needed the point to be put across any further.

I said nothing. I was just as stubborn as I was stupid. And if this was where I was going out, I wasn’t begging for my life.

“However,” he placed the gun on the desk. “I could use a man with you’re . . . . “Talents”. So instead, I am going to give you the opportunity to “work” for me.”

Regardless to say, I didn’t need to think twice about what the answer to that one was.

Friday 23 December 2011

Alas no heroquest again

So last night was supposed to be a games night. It didn't quite pan out that way. My mate was upset so it got cancelled and we went out to dinner instead to cheer her up. Even bought cheesecake. I have a wad of blueberry cheesecake in my fridge now that needs eating. Which is not good for me as I will eat it. So I am considering giving it to Inny my neighbour. She took some parcels in for me the other day, so I need to go round for those anyway.

Yesterday my sister and I took gran shopping. Never ever do that with a 91 year old 3 days before xmas. It was mental. I thought I was going to pass out at one point. Never good. Then we went and got a turkey. I have been saving my nectar points all year for that turkey. £17 it was. I had £15 of nectar points. So all in all not bad. A turkey for £2.00. I hung out with my sis at hers for an hour and we went up to see my brother and co.

So I got more cuddles with Ellie. I was even braver and manourved her up to my shoulder and in thanks the little darling headbutted me LOL. She may be small but shes powerful hehe

I watched the made in chelsea xmas special last night and "SPAGGIE" finally. About bloody time. Just wish Hugo and Millie could make it up now. I liked those two together. I also, and I never thought I would say this, but I also didn't find Francis as irriating last night. I think he endeared himself to me the fact he can't sing!

Im really loving this van morrison song at the moment



Wednesday 21 December 2011

Returning back to writing

So yes I have been terrible lately. I think ongoing writers block and just down right being knackered all the time has combined in my poor blog just sitting here. Well I just broke up from work for xmas so I have no excuse now. Also Jacs at work has encouraged me to think about starting to write properly. I did look for a creative writing course but no joy. Kirklees used to do one but not anymore.

There are some online courses but your talking £150. So instead I have treated myself to a couple of half price books on amazon. The "home study" creative writing course lol and the plan is I am going to work through the exercises in there and Jac read them for me as shes done an english degree. We are also talking about writing a novel together. It may just be one of our, we can do this to get rich and finally go to NYC and see Michael Buble plans or it could be something.

The ideas we came up with so far have merit. I won't ruin ought by telling all on here as it could just be a blip. However you will surprised to see whats coming out so far is a gangster story not as most people would guess from me a science fiction one.

Piano has been bad too. Its like all I have had the energy for lately is work. And yes thats paid off. I have just had my PDR and everything was good and positive but I need to work on me now. Get some weight off - I have been bordom eating which I need to nix, I need to practice piano as I was getting somewhere then I stopped and you start to forget and I need to be creative. So there are my new years resolutions right there.

Oh right I forgot, finish the kitchen. I started stripping the walls and haven't done any more. So thats another goal, as my sister has bought me new paint for xmas and my dads got me 3 shelves. Which I can't put up until I paint it . . .  God I hate DIY but it will look better once its done.

My gorgeous niece is now 6 weeks old and I am getting braver at holding her. I changed my first nappy last week. Ellie is starting to fill out and get bigger now. Its so amazing to see it. I mean shes starting to see further and see colours. I am really looking forward to spending her first christmas with her. Although it will be strange without mum and dad. They are visiting my aunt in oz this year. We haven't heard anything, so I hope they got to HK safely.

Anyway I promise more posts now.

Peace out and holidays love

Debs x


Thursday 6 October 2011

"So, peoples is peoples, okay"

Ive been really bad and not posted in a while. I kind of lost my mojo on the writing front. Writers block but last night I managed to write some of a star ocean story I have had kicking about in draft for about 2 years. So I am hopefull that my dry spell is over now.

The above quote is from Jim Hensons the Muppets take Manhatten. Infact this is the scene. Ive carried this with me forever and ever.



I guess I am saying that as I have been watching a documentary called one giant leap today and it had a lot of different peoples in it. I have also been reflecting on my friends and family and the different things that influence us for example belief, money etc.

Its scary how much people can change when the factors and variables around them also change. Sometimes its good and sometimes its not but as Pete says peoples is peoples is peoples. Theres not much more you can do except roll with it.

In other news the new muppets movies is out really really soon. Very excited.

And I recently had the pleasure of going to the Distant Worlds concert in the Royal Albert Hall London which was just awesome. To hear some of the tunes from my all time favourite games in full orchestra and sit in a room of geeky people who appreciated it just as much, was brilliant. I think the hightlight for me had to be Kiss me goodbye, to Zanarkard and the opera.







Enjoy! And all pre-order the sequel to FF14!


Tuesday 20 September 2011

Made in chelsea season 2

So my favourite cheesy completely unreal show is back. Last night Ollie who came out as Bi and wanting to date men last season is suddenly all happy with a another women. Also he now has an interesting in fishing.

Gabby his ex from last season has a chip on her shoulder, and went and bought the dress his present girlfriend wore for a photoshoot to send a message. What message?

Hugo and Millie are having problems. Its not looking good for them. I don't think they will last the season. Theres a new lass victoria who Hugo seemed quite intrigued with.

Spencer was embracing the whole friends with benefits thing with his ex louise trying to pretend Caggie meant nothing to him.

Francis "I am a pompous prat" Boulle continued trying to look like a serious business man. He was holding court with what looked like some rounded up and stuck in bad suits work experience boys.

Fred featured for about 10 seconds as Francis explained his plan to start things up again with Louise. Come on dude - your going up against Spencer . . . . . . AGAIN. Seriously how is that going to end?????

Strangly enough though I know I will watch ep 2.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Veggie experiment

I am trying to eat less meat for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference to a) my IBS and b) my weight and c) my spiritual wellbeing. Two days in I am happy to say I am not craving meat but I am struggling what to cook. Normally its chicken with veg or fish with veg. Okay I can still have the fish but I need to be more creative, hence I got the old slimming world mags out last night and started digging through green recipes.

That aside I am trying to get back into my meditation again. I won't try for everyday but maybe 3 times a week. That was enough last time to make me more open to the universe and energies and my sleep was so much better, I worried less. So many benefits! I want to get back into the angel cards also. Last nights 40 min session I had a flash of someone running across a beach. No idea what that means like but it was interesting

.

Saturday 10 September 2011

such an idiot

Evidently there was no point wallowing earlier today at all as the person in question is a complete and utter spineless prick! And Im an idiot for always wanting to believe in the best in people, still trying to fix things with someone who doesn't respect me in any way, shape or form and is a pitiful excuse for a human being.

Whats in a song?



I have never been big into music. I say that as I have friends who just live for music, they go to loads of gigs, worship certain singers. I have a new friend that actually has a band. My dad was in several growing up but I've never been that type of person.

I have come to appreciate music more in the last few months. My quest to learn some piano. Its going slowly but its fun. And it dawns on me now music isn't just about melodies and songs, its a sound track of your life.

There are those songs that resonate inside you and you need to take note of the lyrics. Sometimes I think they are subcosciously inside you already. Theres a song by Mr Big that both intrigues and tortures me. And theres a history behind that.

Right now Im up at stupid o clock, worrying and over analysing things. I didn't set out to do this right now and despite a little blip a couple of weeks ago in which I was worried about a family member I was doing really well on the whole not doing all this kind of thing. Infact sleep has just been amazing the last few months.

I guess my subconscious mind is once again reflecting and processing what it needs to get out of its system.

Okay thats a lie. A big fat lie. Why do I do that? I always try hide something under some psychobabble.

I know what its stressing about but I already tryed to address that issue earlier and got hit by a big fat wall of silence. Thats the worst thing anyone can inflict on me. A new friend of mine would no doubt say I'm being overly dramatic, and its because I didn't get the reaction I wanted. Yeah thats true too but having silence inflicted on me - its my Kryptonite.

At least if you talk about something that communication means there is a chance to address it, sort it out. Silence just leaves it hanging there and your powerless to make any changes.

And as Im not superman and Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen isn't going to miraculously appear and throw it out of the way so I can get my strength back, Im going to wallow in Elton John for a bit instead.




Thursday 8 September 2011

17 ways humanity's first contact with aliens could go down

I came across an article on 17 different ways alien contact could go down. Thought I would share it:
  1. ETs ignore us Just like in Star Trek, it’s possible that ETI has some kind of Prime Directive or other non-interference policy with other species for whatever reason, so that even if we did know for sure that they were out there, they might not respond to us. They also might not communicate simply because as a species, humans don’t interest them, whether it’s because of our primitive nature or violent tendencies or terrible taste in music or otherwise. Or, they could show up in the form of a giant alien probe, have a pleasant conversation with the whales, and then leave, without sparing us so much as a glance. 
  2. ETs maybe contact us, but maybe not When ETI does contact Earth, it may be as unambiguous as a UFO landing in Times Square. Or, it may be a signal that we only receive once and can’t understand or decode. In fact, it’s possible that this has already happened, as with the still unexplained “Wow signal” . . .
  3. ETs change our philosophy No matter when or how we detect ETI, if it happens it’s going to cause massive changes to everything from science to religion, even if we find out nothing else besides the fact that ETI do exist. All of a sudden, we’re not alone in the universe, and Earth and everyone on it goes from being a super special place to just another planet covered with self-replicating and tolerably aware biological lifeforms. While most people would probably argue that this is a good thing to know, we’d have to seriously re-evaluate our existence, which has been unavoidably human-centric.
  4. ETs help us solve our problems It’s likely that ETI will be much, much more advanced than we are. And it’s also likely that ETI will be generally cooperative, since it would be hard for a fundamentally uncooperative society to expand into space. This combination (which is the fantasy of everyone interested in alien life) might provide insights that could enable us to learn how to avoid a technological catastrophe like global nuclear war or climate change. 
  5. ETs threaten us, we kick their ass As unlikely as it seems, it’s within the realm of possibility that humans could successfully repel an invasion of earf by more advanced ETI, whether it’s because we have some technology that the ETI doesn’t, or because some environmental factor defeats the ETI for us. In addition to forcing Earth to unite as a planet, after it’s all over, we’d be able to steal a bunch of cool new tech from all the crashed flying saucers. It’s also conceivable that a second ETI could come to our rescue, which would be pretty sweet.
  6. ETs are boring and/or annoying While we generally think of ETI as something profound, there’s no certainty of that. Perhaps we’d start receiving unintentional signals from an ETI similar to our own civilization 50 years ago, with no hope for two-way communication, just cryptic military signals and reruns of bad TV shows. Or, a bunch aliens might show up to our planet as needy refugees, requiring a significant amount of resources without offering much in return.
  7.  ETs eat us Everything has to eat something else, and aliens are no exception. Unfortunately, being high up on the food chain and intelligent enough to take care of ourselves means that we might be an ideal source of nutrition for carnivorous ETIs. Plus, there are lots of us to choose from and we seem to reproduce very rapidly, so the only question is, do we taste good? If the Kanamits from that Twilight Zone episode are to be believed, we sure do.
  8. ETs enslave us Advanced ETI may already have solved problems related to food production and manual labor, but on the other hand, animals slaves are cheap, reliable, and versatile. Enslavement can also take many other forms, such as forcing us to adopt their belief system, using us for entertainment purposes (like trained seals), or simply keeping us as pets
  9. ETs steal our resources It would be hard to develop a galactic civilization without maintaining a society that operates on generally sustainable principles, but that doesn’t mean that Earth might hold some physical value for ETI. Maybe they sprinkle rare-earth metals on their cupcakes or something. It may also be that a rapidly expanding ETI needs to consume the resources of other planets just to sustain their greed for shiny things (think Avatar, but reversed), and while this level of expansion may not be feasible in the long term, that’s not gonna do Earth much good if an expansionist ETI finds us before they burn themselves out.
  10. ETs destroy Earth because it’s in the way Even if ETI doesn’t necessarily wish Earth any harm, they may destroy our civilization and planet anyway if they think it would serve a greater good. For example, if Earth happens to be in the way of a Vogon hyperspatial bypass construction project that would lower the commute times of a countless aliens, could our paltry six or seven billion people really object to annihilation in the name of progress? 
  11. ETs kill us all for being a bad species In greater scheme of things, humans kinda suck. We have a penchant for ruining our environment, we’re currently wiping out other species left and right, and we’re making more of ourselves at a rate that is clearly unsustainable. All of this makes it hard to argue that we’d make for responsible and respectful citizens of the galaxy, and ETI may just decide that everyone (including residents of our own planet) would be far better off if homo sapiens just weren’t around.
  12. ETs kill us all by accident ETI may be different enough from humans that we don’t have to worry about catching a disease from them. In fact, this is very likely. But it also may be the case that an ETI is just barely not different enough that we catch something that loves humans but that our immune systems are totally unprepared for and it wipes us out. ETI could also destroy us by accident if they unwittingly introduce a tenacious invasive species to Earth that eats all of our quadrotriticale, or if they otherwise negatively modify our ecosystem without intending too. 
  13. ETs kill us all because they can Consider what happens when we humans encounter an intelligent species, like dolphins or chimpanzees: we hunt them for meat, we hunt them for sport, we lock them up and use them for research, we give them diseases, we dissect them, and we put them in zoos and teach them to do tricks, all because they’re not quite as smart as we are. It’s entirely possible, even likely, that a more advanced ETI might treat humans the exact same way. And if we have a problem with that, well, maybe we should consider how we treat other species.
  14. ETs get us to kill ourselves If all ETI wants to do is destroy Earth, the cheapest and easiest way to get us to do it is to simply send a message that provides detailed instructions on how we can go about killing ourselves. This could be in the form of a technology that we are unready for, more deliberate directions telling us how to (say) construct a particle accelerator that will actually create a black hole that will destroy our entire planet, or even simply an alien presence that makes us all go nuts and kill each other
  15. ETs are intentionally hiding from us Instead of ignoring us because of some type of Prime Directive noninterference doctrine, it’s possible that ETI are taking it to the next level and actively trying to keep us unaware of their presence. They might be hiding out in the asteroid belt spying on Earth, they might have cloaking devices that allow them to get closer still, or they could be lizard people living among us in disguise. One other intriguing possibility is that ETI have surrounded our entire solar system with a giant “virtual planetarium” that shows the universe as empty, when really it’s full of life.
  16. ETs are unintentionally hiding from us It’s big galaxy out there, and an even bigger universe. We’re listening in for ETI signals all the time, but only in a few isolated parts of the spectrum that we think might be useful for communication, so it’s entirely possible that ETI is blaring away on a different spectral band that we’re not paying any attention to. Or maybe ETI is just too far away to detect us or be detected themselves. Or, our assumption that ETI is anything like us is inherently flawed, and it exists as some manifestation of vast hyperintelligent pan-dimensionality (like the little white mice from Hitchhiker’s Guide) and we can’t interact with it. 
  17. ETs are not there The final scenario to consider is that ETI is simply not out there, and that humanity is completely alone in the ‘verse. At this point, the only thing we have do disprove this is some math that says that the Universe is a frikkin’ huge place and no matter how infinitesimally small a probability life has to exist somewhere besides Earth, the sheer volume of space ensures that it probably does. But that’s just a supposition, and until we actually make contact for the first time, all we can do is watch the skies, and hope. 
Full article with cool trek/HHGTTG/Serenity etc pics here:
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/08/what-nasa-think.php#17

I think an 18th needs to be added in. I love that hitchhikers is taken into account but they have missed out one obvious one . . . . . Aliens think we are a joke. I.e. its a bit of fun to buzz us with UFO's and perhaps Douglas Adams is right. Everyone will get a chance for one to land infront of us and then insult us just for fun lol!

Sunday 4 September 2011

Are we in a computer game?

Just reflecting on a conversation I had this weekend, the sociological part of my brain thats if Im honest has laid dormant for a while, felt the need to investigate further.

What is reality? Mike, my lecturer at Leeds Met had us do a fascinating module in our degree on cybertheory. Well I think if this article had existed back in my uni days it would have been really interesting to do a thesis on.

Apparently a philospher chap in Oxford, Dr Bostrom believes that mathematically its a certaincy that we are living in someone elses computer simulation.

Can you imagine that? I mean for one thing it sounds like the plot of one of my favourite games - Starocean till the end of time.

Secondly I play the sims, and I love the sims. I play RPG games and I love them. Whos to say that there isn't another consciousness out there and Im in their game? We could all be Sims.  Mindf£$king stuff.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/science/14tier.html

An interesting week

So I am aware I have been incredibly lax on the posting lately so this was my week:
  • Went out Sunday into town. I braved town. How rare I do that. Normally on account of money and self confidence. But all in all it turned out to be a really enjoyable night and I even felt comfortable enough to talk to new people.
  • Cross referenced 2782 records from an excel matrix against a database. Eyes went muchos gammy.
  • Worried about a family member
  • Played a very enjoable game of heroquest 
  • Had some strange semi lucid dreams
  • Listened to some very funky music 
  • Debated some cybertheory ala sociology with a stranger who's either a total genius or fairly insane
  • Practiced the mexican hat slapping song for a couple of hours on piano
  • Watched some classic x-files
  • Ate chinese food with my sister and mum
  • Got a funny fortune in my fortune cookie!

Monday 29 August 2011

Did a quiz to see what D&D character I would be and . . . .

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Sorcerer (3rd Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-9

Dexterity-10

Constitution-13

Intelligence-13

Wisdom-15

Charisma-11


Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Wednesday 24 August 2011

And I can can can . . . . . . very slowly

I really don't know why but the can can is so far the hardest piece I have attempted so far, which is really annoying as everyone else working through the book says its cafe vienna and blow the man down. Hell I did not struggle as much with them as I am doing with this.

Anyway . . . . . . getting there slowly! At least its sounds somewhat like the can can should. Thats good.

More Alfreds piano course - Got those Blues



I have to say I am really enjoying the blues stuff. All the beginners forums I have been visiting seem to be of the opposite thinking but there not bothering me - well yet!

This piece is coming on, I just need to work on the timing between moving my hands up to play the E flat. You can so tell in this video that my brain seems to skip a beat when ever I have to move my hands higher up for the black notes. I definitely have to work on that.

Harcourt and Haigh

The legend beginneth . . . . .

Okay well I am majorally biased in the fact that I fancy Verne who plays one half of this duo something rotten but it has finally started to land and knowing and having experienced Vernes humour - its going to be GOOD!!!!! 

Anyway moving on to the important stuff. . . . . Harcourt and Haigh is the brain child of Verne and his friend Chris (who I have never met but have seen on tv once as an extra in coronation street I think. I also did a pencil drawing of the photo that spawned the creation of this when I was going through my drawing phase not so long back).



So what is Harcout and Haigh?

Just in case you cannot be bothered to click the newly added link under the my favourite websites list! Here you go:

Well, it’s an upcoming web-based comedy show about two drunk out-of-work actors who are trying to find that breakout job, or to just survive on a day to day basis and to keep themselves topped up with booze by any means necessary.
Trust me, you wouldn’t like them when they’re sober. 

The BBC passed on this series - Idiots! So it is up to us bloggers, youtubers and the allround tinterweb community to get the word out. We need to get a following behind it like other such good web shorts/videos i.e the Guild or the V-Log Brothers.

 This is not Vernes first venture into filming. I draw your attention to his earlier major work- The room


 




To this day I have not managed to get Verne to verify if my conclusion of what did happen in this film is correct, its one of those things you watch that make you wonder several different things. However I think that was his desired effect.

I know on good authority that there is an even earlier filmed commercial revolving round Oranges that he also filmed in his media studies days but as Sahra (also staring in it would kill me. I mean serious chop me up and hang me out to dry!) and due to the fact I actually cannot find the link on youtube - Sorry folks!

Anyway click the link, visit the newly created blog and experience Harcourt and Haigh!

P.s. just found a humorous out takes vid from the room. Heres the linkage:

Saturday 20 August 2011

Even more amazing things

Yesterday my boss told me I was being made a grade 4 for all my hard work!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

I strongly believe that good luck comes in threes. So thats a comment from the fabulous Martin Spitznagel - 1, a promotion - 2 and . . . . something else - 3. Theres going to be another dose of good luck hit me. I'll let you know once I know hehe.

I took some time this morning to catch up with some of my youtube subscriptions. Three vlogbrothers ones - joint ones which were extremely funny. Its nice to see Hank and John together at the same time for a change. I want a t-shit that says "don't mention my t-shirt or I will stick a fork in you!" how cool is that hehe.

Toyko Sam put up a vid talking in Japanese completely. He's going on a diet and thinking of starting a new blog up. I will deffo be dipping into that. We are in the same place dude. Trying to get rid of mine too! He recommends watching a documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly dead. Heres the trailer and it looks pretty good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9SGWcZwk7c - Won't let me embed!

I think I will be needing this on DVD as soon as its out. I recon it will be a useful tool to watch to make myself feel disgusted like with Supersize me. I'm not sure but I may be able to watch it on megavideo. I'll check that one out later. On granddaughter duty and baking a guinness cake today. That sounds so good doesn't it Im make a big fat cake yet talking about watching an australian diet documentary in the same paragraph.

Ortopilot put up a lovely cover of The A Team by Ed Sheernan. Never heard of it but some gorgeous piano.


In other news in a mates round up, one friend has had a bloke write 2 songs about her. Another is getting a horse. One may be getting a £120 corset. Ones on holiday in grand canaria. Ones having a third date (hope it went well, want the goss tommorow or no Guinness cake for you!) and ones hopefully going to be doing a teaching course - yes! For years I have told him how brilliant a teacher he would be!!!!

 Right breakfast and then get my fat arse up to the G'Ma's! Peace out folks.

Friday 19 August 2011

Wozer encouragement and BB

I got up this morning and one of the most amazing things happened. Martin Spitnagel commented on my blog encouraging me to keep learning piano. How brilliant is that? I mean even my own family don't encourage me. I tryed to get Dad to look at my videos last weekend and he couldn't be bothered. That was so totally unexpected. I considered the fact he might read my comment on his blog but to actually take the time to look at my blog in return and make a really encouraging comment back. Brilliant. Thank you Martin. I will continue to learn! And I think I can feel a CD purchase coming on once pay day hits hehe.

All I need now is for Wil Wheaton and the Vlog brothers to comment on here too. I will be an exceptionally happy women then!

So last night hearlded a new era of Big brother. And boy what a mismatch of celebrities went in the house. Kerry Ketonia, Tara Reid -seriously. She seemed totally out of it. The bloke from my big fat gypsy wedding, some paparazzi guy, the levi's model (kudos for that one actually, we needed some eye candy!), the hoffs ex-wife, some polititans wife made famous by posing in a sheet, so lass from something about Essex, some bit star from Corrie and Jedward! Recon theres some major car crash tv ahead!

Saturday 13 August 2011

Friendship

I seem to be really on a roll with the blog posts today. I think meeting up with my highly creative friend earlier has sparked a fire in me to attempt to let out more of my thoughts and creativity! That can only be a good thing!

And in putting up all my piano vids, I was compelled to find out more about Mr Spitznagel (cantina rag - a few posts back) and I discovered he had a blog. Naturally when I come across anyone particually interesting I have a read up. And when I come across someone else who also keeps a blog - well thats even better. I had a noisy . . . .

Not only does this man play piano spectaculously exhibit B (A is the starwars cantina vid already posted)



Yes its the muppets and I love them. Naturally such a cool version of a muppets classic had to be shared . . . . but he also writes some pretty interesting stuff. I really felt the need to share the below views on friendship as it was really interesting to me and I think Mr Spitznagel has hit the nail on the head.

As I am really crap with technology and have no clue how to link this post to sed gentlemans blog - I tryed to click follow the blog and something about RSS feeds????? popped up. No clue . . . .the jargon scared me!  So an ole copy and paste did the job instead. I hope thats okay and I haven't broken some sort of sharing bloggers link rule Im not aware of. Anyway Im babbling. This is the part of the post that interested me:

Friendship comes out of nowhere, grows inexplicably, and has the potential to delight and devastate you like nothing else on the planet. If friendship was a plant, it'd be illegal and we'd have to buy it from the guy who stands outside the fence by the tennis courts.
I've been thinking a lot about friendship recently. It's kind of a weird thing, if you ask me. The ideal friendship involves two people who share an equal amount of respect and affection for each other, but if you think about this, it's crazy talk. How can you possibly expect someone with an entirely separate set of life experiences, hopes, goals, moods, and dreams to be able to reliably love you in the way that you need them to? It's like relying on an electric motor with two magnets that may or may not attract or repel one another on a given day. When it runs, great. But what about when it stops running?
Friendship is celestial
Friendship is celestial
Some friendships grow slowly over time, a planet accreting into a sphere under the gravity of shared experiences, while other friendships, Big Bang Friendships, explode into a galaxy in the first few minutes and feel you feel like you've found a shard of yourself. No matter how they're formed, both take work to sustain and, if left to wither untended, sustained only by inertia and the memory of hotter days, you wake up one day and realize they died. The magnetism is gone.
It's not really one thing that kills a friendship, is it? It's the myriad miniature hurts and minor slights, the diaspora of disappointments and the steady rhythm of resignations. It's the you-never-call-me's and the you-weren't-there-when-I-needed-you's, the where-were-you's and the I-can't-talk-about this's. They're like cavities that turn the inside of the tooth to powder.

Martin Spitznagel  
http://spitzfire.com/?p=187 - Ive just had a thought perhaps all I needed to do to link it was put that address in???? Oh well . . 


Anyway as I said, just something interesting to think about . . . . .

Piano video - Blues for Wynton Marsalis



I absolutely adore playing this. First of all it says Lazy. So if I stuff up I have time to improvise or get it back on track. Two its actually once you get your head round it really simple and sounds pretty nifty. My brother really liked it when I played it him the other day. Again dabbling with my first couple of flats.

Piano video - On top of old smokey



Ahhh the old favourite from guide camp, except we sang different lyrics. Our lyrics were, "On top of Spaghetti, all covered in cheese, I lost my old meatball when somebody sneezed. It rolled off the table and onto the floor and now my old meatball is nothing but mush!"

Piano video - Rock it away



My first dabble with a flat note. Wasn't sure about playing blues at first but its growing on me now. Again youtube chopped off the first note or so. 

Piano video - Joy to the world

So I have had a couple of people suggest posting my progress up on here. Its taken me roughly 3 hours to get my pinnacle software to cooperate and then blogger just decided to be a total arse and not recognise anything so I had to post everything to youtube which took absolutely forever to upload 4 items . . . . but anyway heres a few bits of Alfred I have been working on. NB - They are not perfect and for some reason youtube has cut off the first couple of notes on some of them. Madness! Anyway enjoy!

Because you can can can . . . .

Actually I can't can't can't right now. I naively moved on to attempt the can can piece in my Alfred book. It should look like this:



My version right now is a total mess! It feels like Im right back to the beginning. I clicked somewhat with Blow the man down and Cafe vienna and now bam Im right back to waiting for my hands to coordinate and speed up again. Very frustrating!!! Oh well back to practice practice practice!

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Piano

I am really really getting into this. I mean its difficult as hell remembering everything and getting my hands to coordinate but wow when they do you belt out something that doesn't sound half bad. Like at the moment Im working on this blues piece. I didn't really like the idea of blues intially but once my brain started to click somewhat its pretty nifty. Infact my brother and the clan are gracing me with their presence tommorow so I may debut it.

I can now play on top of old smokey and joy to the world. I moved on and had a look at the cancan piece but at the moment I am still struggling with the bass line notes. I think I need to purchase one of those charts and try memorise them. Infact do they have charts with chords on as well . . . . perhaps I should investigate.

I have been checking out some bods on youtube who can play amazingly. I thought I would share a few favourites with you. Theres this chap called PianoNoobAlexMan whos fantastic for watching vids to see if Im getting the Alfred stuff anywhere near right. He also plays beautifully.



Martin Spitznagel - What a name. I love him just for his name. But his starwars cantina. Respect!



And of course the main reason I wanted to learn - the final fantasy music. This chaps pretty good!



In fact I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish I could afford Piano lessons. Theres a chap does them just down the road from me but I can't afford £20 a week. Sobs. One day!

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Creative writing and photobombing

I am considering at some point looking out for a creative writing course. I write, well I start stuff and never seem to see it through. I think I need some help with the story development part. I started writing a book back at college  - okay it turned out to be rather starwars like lol but I have re-written and rewritten certain parts of it for years and still no completion in sight.

Im really bad as I haven't got the whole thing typed on here. The last incarntation is in an old notepad somewhere. I started writing the story of guildwars, following my character but that died too. I have two starocean fan fictions that started out great but so far the stories drizzled. I really need to plan stories out better and Im not sure how I go about doing that. So yes I think I will look out for a creative writing course. Or a book on creative writing. I mean no way can I afford to do an online one - and I did look. I found one for £150 but Im saving for so many other things first.

Okay I just googled books on amazon. Only  42,576 suggestions. How do you know if ones a good book? Creative writing for dummies. Yeah that sounds like me. Awwww the stress at just trying to find a book to help . . . . . . . .

In other news I was doing incredibly well healthy eating today and have now just devoured a bag of haribo. Damm it! Fingers crossed that doesn't cancel out all my hard work for the rest of the week.

Also Im wondering what the deal is with all the photo jacking at the moment. Yoda at work keeps sending me amusing photos of Wil Wheaton (I know one of my idols!) and nathan fillion photo bombing folk. Is this a new celebrity craze? Its rather amusing anyway. May warrent further investigation.


Monday 1 August 2011

Grumpy

I have just felt grumpy today. Honestly Im sat here starving but I have had appropiate food portions. Im drinking water trying to fill me up but so far all I feel is annoyed. I don't know if its the sea kelp. Had coffee with Rach at the weekend and she suggested it for energy and helping lose weight. I definitely feel more alert than normal but its not curbing my appetite. Meh! Maybe Im just that way out . . . . . .

Anyway offically put the event up for this years halloween doo. Need to find a costume now. But what to go as:

Spooky/ Witch
Cowgirl
Cavegirl
Wonderwomen - I do love the costume . .
Betty Rubble - I also love that costume . .
Nessa from Gavin and Stacey? Found the stick on Wales tatoo  . . . .

Endless possibilities hehe

Thursday 28 July 2011

The thin ideal . . .

Wow I now have 4 followers. Excellent. Waves at David!

The healthy eating plan is going well at the moment. I had my first session with Ang and I am happy to report  I have lost half a stone.  Its not masses and the inpatient part of my brain really wants it to be but things are different this time. Its not a diet. Its a lifestyle change. As long as the weight comes off steadily and my body stabilises at a weight it deems right for itself I'm going to be happy. Because its natural, healthy and right. And above all you don't argue with nature do you? Its powerful forces that you just don't mess with.

I think in the past I get caught up in it too much. The diet stuff. Im sure loads of people out there can emphasis with me. You start off so great, then limit limit limit yourself and get miserable and grouchy. And then bam you seesaw the other way, lose control and are right back where you started. And apparently thats why diets don't work. Its a vicious cycle.

When I was at uni and a darn sight thinner - size 12 - 14, I chose to look at body image for my dissertation. Its shocking the diet industry, how much money they make from people who are insecure and unhappy with their bodies. Its shocking the images of the "thin ideals" that the media bombards us with putting these thoughts into the heads of people who don't measure up to the images they put out.

And even though I studied it, tested it and wrote a 10k thesis about it, I still fall for it. Tonight even, I fell into that trap. But its programmed into me. It has been for years. So its really difficult to stand back and say, "so what you are you. And love yourself."

Anita Rodericks always had the right idea, so heres a little reminder not to beat myself up or worry so much!

Sunday 24 July 2011

Waiting for Wings

I have just finished reading my friend Gavins book Waiting for Wings. The story chronicals a young boy called Jamie and his friend Dan sadly getting a brain tumour and dying from it. It deals with the themes of Angels, life after death, emotions and families. You experience the whole journey with Jamie, from being told Dan is sick, experiencing his journey to questioning  why life would put someone through that and what lies beyond.

Angels are a theme that runs throughout the whole book, intially through Jamies young sister Jade. The author uses clever metaphors around butterflies to explain the concept of another stage in life. That death is just that, moving forward to another stage, one we cannot fully see or comprehend yet. The story is bittersweet and emotional. More so to myself as I knew the person its dedicated too and what happened to him. Also I have always firmly believed in an afterlife and in Angels.

Although Jamie loses a friend, the message that its not the end and our loved ones are always with us is beautiful and comforting. Well done Gavin and thank you for writing such a lovely tribute to our friend Danny Cox.

Monday 18 July 2011

Forgot to mention . . . . . Waiting for Wings

Silly me. Gav's book Waiting for Wings is now on Amazon. I downloaded it this morning. Took me a while to figure out getting the kindle software on my pc. Don't have a kindle yet but one day . . . . drools. Anyway yeah going off topic . . . .  Congrats to Gav for writing this. Your an author dude!!! I will be reading and posting some thoughts soon. If anyone reading is interested the synopsis is:

It's a week before Christmas and at thirteen years old, the last thing Jamie expected was his best friend, Dan, to be diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. Based on true events, follow Jamie as he is forced to ask life's biggest question - 'What happens when we die?' Be there with him as he is comforted by his little sister, Jade, who says mysterious things in her sleep, and his strange neighbour, Mr Legna, who seems to know everything.

Join Jamie as life's biggest secret is revealed to him.

"You're in good hands. Everything's going to be OK."

Waiting for Wings is a story about friendship, love and loss - but more importantly, it is a story of hope.

Due to its crossover theme it has been compared to Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, and Antoine De Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince.

"Amazing. A real little gem. Moving, funny, true to life and quirky and original all at the same time!"

"A story straight from the heart. Imaginative and sensitive; reflecting on life as it is and what the future could hold. It's brilliant." 


 

Apprentice finale

Well having managed to actually watch a whole series all the way through for a change, I recon the right person won. I know theres been a whole load of contraversy and people saying otherwise but at the end of the day Mr Hindside is an ideas man. And the Sir Sugar wants someone to come up with ideas of new stuff he can sell. Plus Tom had cracked Walmart. How many people can make that claim?

I'm not saying that Helen didn't do a good job, she did and had this years show been the same format as last year I think she would have got the job. But in terms of business proposals her's really was weak. And then her desperate attempt to sway the "dark lord" at the last moment saying she had another one around food, what the interviewers had suggested was terrible.

Susie I thought had potential but she was a little young and naive. She will be back though I think. We will see her again. Jim - wth? Mental business plan. Nice charming guy but definitely should be in sales. Now all we need is for Lord Sugar to hire Helen to work with Tom as the two of them together was a very good combination. She has the organisation skills and Tom the ideas. Together they would be unbeatable.

So Im just back from a walk. Im being a case study for a manager at work on healthy eating. Apparently if you want to lose weight diets is not the way. They are unsubstainable. I can vouch for that, how many times have I gone up and down several sizes? So I had my first meeting today, weighed myself, sobbed lol and we worked out some goals for this week:

1-drink more water - check doing okay today. Had a litre and a half. Am just sipping through another 50cl whole updating this blog.
2-Eat more fibre - check just been to Lidl on my walk and got wholewheat pasta, new potatoes and tortilla's. Because apparently also I am supposed to eat more carbs. When I diet I tend to go high on protien but Im doing it wrong.
3-Eat more fruit and veg - this is going to require some conscious effort on my part. However I now have plums, pears, kiwi fruit and tomato's. Going to take some to work and hopefully do better. I have had 3 servings of veg today and 2 plums, so good start.
4-Go for a walk every day. Even if its just a small one I need to get out for 10 mins min. Check just spent an hour walking to Lidl and lugging fruit and veg around. Which unsurpisingly is heavy lol!

The piano is slowly coming on. I am struggling with coordination on two pieces - Blow the man down and cafe vienna. I can play them slowly with a lot of concentration, now I need to practice practice practice until it clicks. My lavendars blues is so much better now and I like playing that piece. I will have to post another video up!

Sunday 17 July 2011

Harry Potter craziness . . . . some minor spoilers

I am probably one of the biggest Potterheads around. I have read the books hundreds of times and its been a huge part of my life for the last 10 years. I have dragged friends to buy books at midnight, read more fanfiction than I should admit too, liked Hank Greens songs far too much, have every DVD to date and watched them far too many times. You need to know that background as I now have to make a confession and an apology.

As the world knows, Deathly Hallows part 2 came out this week. And I stupidly thought I could hold out to the 20th in which me and my mates have agreed to go. I have to admit to the world now . . . .  I AM AN IDIOT!!!!! Im sorry guys, I got more twitchy as the week went on. Radio two had interviews, Potter was everywhere. Each time I went on google - pictures, clips, people talking about how great the ending was . . . . . . I apologise to Bex who suffered a women potter possessed on friday.

I ended up going by myself on opening day. Right after work, I had too. I was compelled. I had waited so long. I needed to see Voldy banquished. I had to see Ron and Hermione finally kiss. The dragon break out of gringots, Mrs Weasley say her immortal line , "not my daughter you bitch." It was just too much.

So thats my confession - Binny - I think you probably expected it having witnessed my obsessive personality for 20 plus years. Lou, this is your first glimspe of that side of me. It only airs for certain things - namely Potter and Stargate. I'm still coming Weds (Of course I have to view it another billion times!!!!) and I'm telling you nothing about the film. Ames - Well she knew Friday but knows me so well probably antiscipated it. Ian if your reading this blog, the above mentioned stuff was in the books and came out a few years ago so you can't yell at me for spoilers!!!! and I did put minor spoilers in the blog title!

Perhaps I am really really sad or perhaps I have a deep passion for something thats been a huge part of my life. I'm sure I can't be the only freak who had to watch it as soon as it came out . . . . . who knows! All I do know is the film is awesome and like the true Potter addict that I am I felt better afterwards.

Thursday 14 July 2011

Bad guys

So I have been meaning to put these thoughts up since Newcastle when in a post beer festival haze it dawned on me that most baddies are pretty ugly looking if they are blokes yet tend to be pretty darn sexy if they are women. I am going to try prove my point. Okay so we have:

Batman male baddies

The penguin - not a hottie!
 Mr Freeze - also not a hottie
The Riddler - green, red and question marks. Not sexy!
The Joker, well they say a smile says a thousands words . . .
Female baddies

Poison Ivy - red, green and sexy
Cat women. Even in a cobbled together leather number - still sexy.

Now with some exceptions naturally - Lex in smallville is pretty hot even with the baldness. But then in potter we have Ole Voldy - well hes well ugly. In the green lantern - some evil floating soul eating head thing . . . Thor - we get weird ugly frost kings, Doctor who - darleks, cybermen, spiderman - sandman, octopus man, he-man - skeltor, beastman, vulture man, whereas the women are all short skirts, makeup yadda yadda.

I think there is an uneven distribution in sexiness among the sexes of baddies. Now wasn't that a mouthful?????

At some point I may have to create a seriously sexy male baddy and of course come up with my own superhero to pitch him against.

In other news, my foot is starting to feel better. Still twinging but a lot less painful than its been the rest of the week. I can ALMOST play Cafe viena . . . very slowly. Whoop whoop oh and Torchwood is back tonight so I will be viewing it or suffering the wrath of Yoda aka Mr Bushby tommorow. Enjoy and peace out folks!


Monday 11 July 2011

Race for Life

So all in all a my first 5k a good experience. Didn't jog all of it but definitely jogged a nice amount. We came in at a time of 53 mins which for me isn't bad.

So a huge thank you to everyone who sponsored me and to Ames for partnering up with me around those wet, hot and soggy playing fields. Ames did brilliantly and raised £400 plus. So big congrats to her.

I definitely need to get back into running but at the moment I have managed to sprain my ankle. Heres hoping it heals up soon.

 Peace out!

Friday 8 July 2011

Race for life

So its the big day tommorow. I messed up my training over the last few weeks - I was doing really well at the running but then lost my confidence but Im gonna give my best shot to jog/run at least some of it. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has sponsored me for Cancer Research.

I will be running tommorow for a couple of family members and guy I grew up with sadly passed far too soon. So a big big thank you. I have over £100 in sponsorship money and that can help make a difference in the future. I'll try post a picture tommorow of me looking all red tomato like hehe!

Wednesday 6 July 2011

Lonestar state of mind


As I got told off by Chele yesterday for being a little lax on the posting front, I felt I better post something up pretty quick. I'll kick off with the obvious - theres a video above this text - or I sure hope there is when I post this as I tryed my best.

I have acquired a little baby keyboard and have been attempting to teach myself how to play. Now I am not the most coordinated of people, so getting the left hand to do something completely different to the right one at the same time is no easy feat!

Anyway this is me attempting one of the pieces in my Alfreds beginners piano course. Its not perfect, the timings terrible but I am getting better. It sounds fairly in tune so thats pretty good! I have no idea how to make the video less fuzzy - you know its me!

Enjoy, the first airing of Rooni's piano playing!

Saturday 25 June 2011

Green lantern review

So in geordieland we viewed Ryan Renyolds latest offering. As previously mentioned in other blogs my knowledge of superhero's hasn't really progressed from Batman and Superman that much and most of that was only researched to try impress someone a while ago. I have a vague understanding of some of the Xmen and think I may have watched the cartoon when younger but the superhero's that are coming out this year ready for the big movie in 2012 are all new too me.

So I liked Thor. Really liked Thor. Probably more so for his yummy muscular offerings but I did enjoy the story. It was pretty much the same with the Green Lantern. I liked Ryan Reynolds or should I say Hal Jordan. Very much so. Probably a lot of that was Mr Reynolds delicious body. And to whoever it was who clicked No to my poll on is Ryan Reynolds a sexy beast - WHAT??????????

Anyhoo onwards with the review - and so Ian won't yell at me

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..............................................................................................

SPOILERS!!!!!!

Hal Jordan starts off a cocky womanising pilot. He is part of a test exercise against some missiles in which he pulls a pretty dumb stunt going to far up in the atmosphere it knocks out the instruments of his plane (he still beats the missiles like) but nearly kills himself reuniting everything falling back down as he has a tramatic flashback to when his dad died. He gets fired. Even the girl he grew up with, flys with and truelly loves cannot help him out and he in true man style can't open up and talk to her.

Meanwhile out in deep space there are tons of alien races and there exists something called the green lantern corps who have harnessed the energy of will (which is green - yeah hence the name lol). They are the peacekeepers of the galaxy. A group of immortals put them together and keep an eye on things. The Green lantern charged with looking after Earth and everyone else in that sector engages a newly freed big bad called Parallax who seems to me as a big grumpy evil floating head who eats peoples souls and grows bigger powered by the power of fear! Which incidently is yellow. Anyway this green lantern gets mortally wounded and has to jetison and escape to Earth where he crash lands and the ring chooses Hal Jordan to be its successor.


Hal is magically transported via the ring through space to the Lanterns main base in which he encounters alien species, is pretty much insulted for being a weak human and endures some rather funny training and then gets narked and quits. The Alien had been infected by a parasite and the authorities find the body do tests and this scientist who also knew Hal and the lass growing up gets infected. He also wants to bang Hals love.

Meanwhile on the Lantern planet they decide that the only way to fight parallax is to use fear itself which is pretty stupid as it was one person not being able to control that power that created the bad guy in the first place.

Hal returns and has to use his superpowers at a fancy event. The scientist starts channeling Parallax and it becomes clear the super bad is going to destroy earth and uses him for that making him mighty ugly on top. Hal encouraged by his gal and his mate who knows his now secret or not so secret identity goes back to the lanterns asking for their help. He tells them that the fear ring will not defeat him.

Hal goes off on his own and promptly kicks Parallax's arse, the other lanterns turning up right at the end to ensure he doesn't float into the sun. Typical alien timing, arrive after the big battle. And then all the other lanterns respect him despite being a human. Oh and he gets the girl!

Pros - Ryan Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds half naked in places. Okayish storyline. Could have been better. Good that it goes into the history of the Lanterns planet and Parallax.

Cons - Not enough time Hal being trained. I really enjoyed the brief time with the aliens tormenting him and trying to train him. He quit way to easily. Also he found his courage way to easily as well being kissed by his love . . . . . . Blagh!

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Camelot Ep 2 review

As I was in Newcastle saturday I missed this. All I can say is virgin TV on demand is brilliant. I fired it up last night once I got in from the glamourous chore of food shopping. After the major kick off in the 2 hour premiere this weeks didn't feel like it moved very fast.

Just in case Ian is reading ...................................................

SPOILERS .......................................................................

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So it kicks off with Gwenivere 3 days from her wedding to the Lancerlot equivalent. Her fathers estate gets attacked and she is rushed to Camelot and given quarters there much to Merlins distain as he's sussed out Arthur is nuts about her and she was the one in his dream. So Merlin suggests the wedding be held there as it will be a lovely beacon of hope for all the people. Arthur naturally isn't that keen.

Morgan meanwhile at castle Uther, assumes a new servant with freaky markings on her face and instructs her to vett the staff and employ more women. She discovers Uthers prior torture room and makes it into her own freaky deaky witchcraft room. She invited Arthur to come visit and puts on a feast under the pretence that she wants to get to know her brother properly. She actually needs to get some blood off him and ties up Merlin.

Theres a bit of a psuedo love thing going on, clearly she admires and has some feelings for Merlin telling a story of when she was a kid she wanted to marry him. Probably now so she admires him for the witchcraft. Anyhoo Merlin keeps telling her the price for the magic is too high and she continues to ignore him.

Arthur meanwhile has another sex dream about him and Gwen, gets up sees Morgan drugging Merlin but thinks they are getting it on, and he leaves. He returns to Camelot and asks Gwen to meet him. She does, he pleas that she not marry her fiance. She refuses, they have sex anyway and then she makes it clear its a one time thing, they can't do that to Lancerlot. So she sneakily fills up a wine thing with rabbit blood.

Merlin escapes Morgan sans magic and leaves. Upon returning they host the wedding. Arthurs not overly happy, but Gwen goes ahead. Theres a haunting song and then a post coital bit in which Gwen puts some pigs blood on the bed to make it look like she was a virgin.

Monday 20 June 2011

Newcastle trip

If any song can sum up this amazing weekend it has to be . . . .


First up right off the bat, it has to be noted to the whole world that one Miss Barratt is looking incredibly foxy. Mr Chaney you are one lucky guy! Nic - I now hold you in role model status in hopes that I get my fat ass back in gear on the getting in shape front.

As always I would like to thank my favourite 3 geordies for a really fantastic time and for sticking with me despite the fact I was a sniffy mess for most of the weekend. 

Any geordie weekend involves an ample amount of drinking, and this one kicked off with a large beer festival. I have to say I am rather impressed that I have now made two of these in a year. The main differences with this one was there was a seriously bigger amount of choice in the beer/cider front - excellent, live bands - oh yeah the halifax one was really lacking on that front! and there were no grumpy bearded yorkshire men telling me off for not adhereing to the correct beer ordering protocol. In fact there was nice geordie men, helpful geordie men as far as the eye could see. And there was Laura who is a LEGEND!!!!!
I now have my beer festival glass and programme souvinier happily displayed in Casa Rooni!
Some shopping was got in and then in full comeradeship with Jo, a viewing of the rather deletiable Ryan Reynolds as the Green Lantern was had. Naturally a through analysis and drooling session of Mr Reynolds had to follow. And some sexy pics featured on here - what kind of a blogger would I be if I didn't satifsify that aspect??????

Now I did try to find the one discussed with Jo in the proposal movie but failed miserably so this is for you girl. The next best thing!
Might I add HUBBA HUBBA HUBBA HUBBA HUBBA . . .. . . . . and I will post a review of the film.

Now you may recall my epic fail on the friend front a few blogs back in which I managed to be late wishing Nic a happy 30th. I naturally had to make amends to that this weekend so Nic and I became proper ladies. We went to the Hilton hotel and had an afternoon tea with Champayne. Because lets face it - we are ladies! and Nic deserved to be throughly spoilt.

Now as I know Becks will kill me without a proper low down on any kind of Cakeage here goes:
What we have here is Egg, Ham & Mustard crustless finger sarnies, Mini custard slices, mini Bannofee tarts and mini summer fruit tarts, fresh baked scones, strawberry preserves and clotted cream. I give the Hilton a 10/10 for presentation, 8/10 on taste (Sorry Im not really a mustard fan and I had to deduct 1 point for the summerfruits lol berries are not me) and 10/10 for service. I felt we were very well looked after.

The vanilla slices were yummy and the custard not too gloopy as you tend to get it from certain bakers around the hospital. The Banoffee tarts were scrumchous and the topping tasted almost marshmallowly which worked really well with the dulce de leche. And the scones were perfectly fluffy. All in all I would recommend afternoon tea here. Oh and one more thing . . . .
Cheers Darling!!!

The weekend culminated with a trip to Wickham. No geordie trip is complete without a trip to Wickham and this years was extra special as in all the time I have been visiting I have never once managed to view the infamous Corpse. This year I did. I still don't get the attraction but each to their own! I did however get to meet Mr Chaney, Nic's fella. Who was utterly charming, passed level 1 of the debs friends bloke test and managed his role as Hugh Hefner escorting 3 geordies and 1 yorkshire lass around Wickam with considerable ease.

Now what I didn't learn until yesterday is Michael is actually a musician, in fact quite a good one. Any of you who read regually know I don't tend to follow/talk about a lot of people and even less so on the musician front but you do all need to check him out especially the song Brainy girl which is very good

http://www.myspace.com/michaelchaneyuk



Oh and I have saved the best for last. My geordies gifted me with one of the greatest things known to mankind. I now own a "don't hassle the Hoff" t-shirt!"Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muchous love and hugs and see you real soon for Halloween!
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Tuesday 14 June 2011

My new secret guilty pleasure - Made in Chelsea

I am now six episodes in to this and although I know its scripted and scripted pretty badly I still love it. Bex at work thinks its quite weird that it would be my thing. I'm actually surprised that its my thing. I mean I never watched "The only way is Essex."

Anyway so far my favourite character has to be Ollie. Not cause I fancy him, but because he is kind of a sweetheart. These are the boys, Ollie is in the union jack clothing.
The chap in the middle is Fredrik, apparently a supermodel. He doesn't float my boat apart from his piano playing skills abilities. I suppose theres only room in my heart for one Icelandic hunk and thats True Bloods Eric.

Next to him on the left is Spencer who reminds me so much of Mr Morrisons in his ability to completely f£$^ up communication and come out of a situation worse pretty much every week then when he goes in it. In eps 1-6 we have been treated to this god awful love triangle between him, his girlfriend or ex now Funda and Caggie. And I am bored of that now!

To Freds right is Francis who I can't stand. He's really pompous. I know they are all supposed to be pompous being it a show about upper class in Chelsea daaaaaarling but he really gets on my tits. Firstly he seems to think he's gods gift to women and can manipulate them via subconscious suggestions or at least thats what I took away from one of the eps. Perhaps I misunderstood it wrong getting confused with the suggestions????? Watching him try to impress women in this show is just laughable. Secondly he's a prat. I mean who skateboards into a restuarent holding a rose in their mouth for a date and then falls off it. And if that wasn't his idea, who allows themselves to be filmed on tv skateboarding and falling off it in a restuarent??????? And last night both him and Frek both deciding to date his assistant. LOL I wonder how thats going to end? Hopefully she will have the sense to run off with the other bloke who invited her to Cann.

Hugo on the far right I am warming more and more too. He seems to be the one with the most common sense, bar the whole rosie/millie blip last week. Although I love the idea of him and millie and Im glad that came off last night as Im sorry but we all knew Caggie wasn't going to let Spencer sweep her off her feet last night.

So the girls:
At the back, Cheska and Binky (I kid you not. Someone nicknamed their daughter Binky) who are slightly annoying but you love to hate them as they are kinda of Ollies "and this is his own words" Witches. It works brillaintly and them taking photo's of him posing with carrots this week was pure genius!

Amber is in the pink skirted dress, not quite made my mind up about her yet. Rosie is next to her, and sorry lass but that whole hugo thing, what was the point???????? You fussed and huffed and got narked that Millie had him, Hugo came running to you and confessed he loved you and you threw him away like a dogs dinner. Mental!

In the middle - Caggie. Who is stunningly pretty, you get why Spencers mad for her but again what are you playing at? She does sing nice though and hopefully doing this may be a platform for her there.

Gabs is next. Ollies ex as he dumped her cause hes Bi-sexual. NO ONE saw that coming hehe. But I think shes lovely. She sings too. You can tell she geniuenly cares for Ollie. Probably the most truest on the show. I hope theres a nice happy ending for her. No Gabs last night so next weeks might be Gabs heavy. Who knows. I get the feeling she and Ollie aren't through though despite his detour in to man love.

And Millie at the front. I am liking her more and more I think. She had the guts to admit to Rosie something happened with Hugo and is going for it now. Good lass.

So yeah my new guilty pleasure - Made in Chelsea!