I am currently shedding dry skin off of my nose. Dandruff, anyone?

So, and this has nothing to do with dandruff (I think) - I got the next two series of Waiting for God for Christmas, plus a few books, a couple of CDs, some soup (this may sound odd, but it was actually one of the most appreciated gifts I had all Christmas), a new brolly (a small one), another calendar (but this one I'm actually going to use, as opposed to the several calendars we've got from various local fast food restaurants for our patronage (oops) - even though one of them does show both English and Chinese bank holidays), some gift certificates and some other bits and bobs. Since I was alone I decided to spread the gift unwrapping a little bit across the day and opened the last one just before I started preparing for lunch.

Lunch lasted for just about all of The Snowman and the plates and bowls had been removed by the time the Queen popped up on the screen. So much for overeating. Didn't even finish one portion. And the desserts were so rich I felt like a millionaire after eating a few mouthfuls.

And I almost made my way through Christmas without watching Love Actually, but then I suddenly got this urge to see Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman and Colin Firth, and what better way than to watch the one film that puts them all together, eh? By the way, to those who have been wondering what Rickers is saying to Emma after the school play, you're not alone. Listen to the commentaries on the DVD.

Speaking of commentaries, I would really recommend the commentaries to This is Spinal Tap. It brings a new dimension to this already fantastic film, as the three actors Guest, McKean and Shearer stay in character as their alter egos/stage personas throughout the whole thing. It's quite brilliant.

And if I haven't said this already...you must see Best in Show. Seriously. In fact, anything with these guys (Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind and the brand new For Your Consideration). Or else you will simply have to be spanked. And not in a good way, either.

Woke up this morning to the most wonderful trail on BBC...apparently the long-awaited umpteenth series of Waking the Dead will be back "soon". Yum. And speaking of trails...they have started showing the trail for Perfume on telly. Slightly desperate for another film with Rickers by now.

I think I am going to vote for the inauguration of Midsomer Murders: Ghosts of Christmas Past as the traditional murder mystery for Christmas. I think ITV may be ahead of me, though, as they have been showing it three years in a row now. It's just that you can never have enough Quastiness, and this is the best showcase for that quality. Well, if not the best at least certainly good enough! Awaiting the arrival of Javert - Misunderstood Copper, a drama series of 52 episodes where Quast is contractually obliged to appear in every single scene.

OK, maybe that would be a tad too much even for me.

Every other scene, then. But then we'd need 60+ episodes. And lots of plot.

Good luck to the writers.

Labels: Alan Rickman, bill nighy, Christmas, colin firth, comedy, daniel hill, film, illness, Javert, philip quast, trevor eve, TV

What a nice way to start Christmas. First my debit card is being declined everywhere despite having "lots" of money in the account, leaving me with very little money for the holidays, and then I wake up on my first day off to a very sore throat which eventually leads me to believe I have a cold. So, after three feverish days with coughing and sneezing and general unwell-being, I am back at work and my head feels like a complete vacuum. At least the sore throat is gone. Well, the throat is still there, but it doesn't hurt anymore. Yesterday was fun, in an irate way. The lift, once again out of order (having been so for five days already had prepared me for an interesting day), did not help me the least as I went to go grocery shopping for Christmas. Wearing my rucksack filled with goods from the local supermarket, I began the ascension to the 10th floor, my throat threatening me with a lawsuit if I went past third floor and my sweat glands not sure what to do about my fever. But I made it in the end and almost collapsed on the floor before getting a grip and put the food into the fridge.

Forgot buying onions, of course, so will have to stop by a shop today as well. And I thought I'd planned every minute detail.

Also forgot to tell you that I went to see The Holiday, which was surprisingly good (it starring Jude Law and all - his appearance quite often ruins the whole film for me, but not this time), and the other day we watched the whole first series of Waiting for God in one go. I've missed that series, it seems. Also, Daniel Hill never appears in anything (but silly commercials).

And I built myself a brand new computer the other day. Shh, don't tell anyone. It even works...ish. It would have worked so much better if I'd actually had the newest version of Windows. So now I am eagerly awaiting the announced 30 January release of Windows Vista. Hopefully I will be able to afford it. Since I received a very surprising Christmas bonus at work (surprising in that I didn't expect one), I think that should be possible. Until then I will have to play a very nice-looking Oblivion with no sound; all the other new games I have won't work as I have no drivers for my Windows version. Haha, must remember to read the fine print.

Actually, I am just amazed I managed to build the darn thing. It took me a lot longer than first expected (and a few extra trips up and down the ten flights of stairs with my sore throat in order to buy tools from Maplin), but at 21:20 I plugged it in and hoped for the best. And the bloody thing actually worked. The graphics are quite stunning and this is definitely a computer which will last at least a couple of years, considering the fact that it is compatible with the not-yet-released DirectX 10, and also I managed to buy a motherboard which can take at least one major upgrade before I have to buy a new one.

So apparently Playstation 3 will not enter my house in a long while. Wii will, however, at least I believe it will.

I no longer have a computer on which to play my old games, though. Will have to look into that. I kept the old parts, of course, and should be able to build a Windows 98 machine from those, when I have the space (which will only happen by magic in the flat where I live at present - good thing Harry Potter is still around).

Looking forward to Christmas lunch. Have stocked up on all sorts of goodies and am expecting a one-woman-feast, apparently. The sad part is, I'll probably finish everything within 30 minutes after having spent a good five hours preparing it. Oh, well. A vely melly Chlistmas to you all, though, no matter how and whether you actually celebrate it or not.

Labels: Christmas, computers, daniel hill, film, food, gaming, illness, TV

Norway are the European champions of handball. Well, the women's team is. The rest of us are just very happy we beat the Russians and kept the championship within Scandinavia, at least. ;-)

Labels: Norway, sport

So another party at the neighbours'...well, "another" is pushing it, as we've only been there once before, which was just about a year ago. Very nice, though, although I wasn't nearly drunk enough to get to know a lot of people. Yes, it's sad, I know, that I feel I have to drink to talk to people. Luckily I usually opt for the "let's not get to know a bunch of new people, then", so I'm not heading towards total alcoholism yet.

We did have some very interesting discussions. About the age of consent, about the Nintendo Wii, about who really managed to fight the Germans during the War (sorry to bring that up once again, to my German friends, but after all we haven't quite forgotten), about the Queen's speech and about what vaginas taste like. Which reminded me why I stay away from gay bars--some of the stereotypical lesbians are driving me insane, seriously, and I feel like I don't have anything in common with them apart from the obvious (and the fact that I look like one, oops--I was watching this programme the other day where they interviewed a gay girl who looked just like me and properly butch, haha). Fun to talk to at parties, but I'm usually looking for a bit more interesting conversation than that.

Well, my three weeks of holiday are nearly over and I have to go back to work in a few days' time. I haven't written as much as I'd hoped to (unfortunately my love for computer games and sleeping got in the way of that), but at least I am now officially about a fifth of a novelist. ;-)

Labels: holiday, party, personal, writing

Apart from the fact that seeing a raw turkey up close could possibly turn me into a vegetarian, it appears that I mastered this roast turkey thing on the first try, which is a huge relief. I shall have to perfect my timing, though. My flatmate was the guinea pig today as I served turkey with overcooked potatoes (oops), carrots that were cold in the middle (uhmm), rather nice sprouts (although I can't stand more than four or five in one sitting) and gravy which tasted quite brilliant, so all in all a half decent dress rehearsal. Luckily we both agreed the turkey itself was very nice, because I spent the whole day in the kitchen in order to make sure it was done correctly. Also, I have enough turkey for about 20 dinners. :-)

My fingers smell of onion, though.

And to top it all, today, after having seen four episodes without a bloody clue, the plot of The State Within finally stood before me, crystal clear. We've been watching the series since it started, agreeing about the fact that it's brilliant even though we've been having great difficulties in following the story, but we had to wait until the fifth week to tie it all together. Of course, it helped enormously that Jason Isaacs is the lead. *smirks*

Labels: Christmas, food, jason isaacs, TV