Re: Yesterday's episode of Doctor Who: WTF?

Looking forward to spending the next three days blowing up people in Crysis and kicking their heads in in Neverwinter Nights 2. I think I may need a break from the customers after this crazy shift.

Friday's "date" with Cato was very nice; we found an Indian restaurant with no guests and too many waiters, but the food was good and not too expensive. Then we went to this pub I go past every single day to and fro work, but which I have never entered before. They had both Bacardi Breezers and Kopparbergs Cider, so we were safe. Then suddenly my watch showed 21:50, in the middle of our discussion on politics, and since I had to go to work the next day, I had to go home. Darn. Oh well.

Labels: gaming, personal, TV

Tune into BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday July 2 at 11:30 (that's AM; what a silly time slot) to hear Cabin Pressure starring Roger Allam, Benedict Cumberbatch and Stephanie Cole.

Just do it; don't argue!

Labels: comedy, radio, roger allam

The brain works in mysterious ways. As I was going to look for any updates on Greg Proops's line-up for the summer, I suddenly got this song on my mind, a song I recognised as a previous favourite but which I hadn't heard in years. I started humming it out loud and after a few minutes it dawned on me that it was Veronica by Elvis Costello.


Greg Proops.


Elvis Costello.

Connect the dots yourself.

Labels: greg proops, music, time wasting

Hairspray wasn't as great this time around as last time. I came to the conclusion I had to blame the excessively loud music (when Michael Ball can't be heard on top of the orchestra, something is clearly wrong) and the rest of the audience, who just weren't as interested as the last one. Surprisingly, lots more people waited by the stage door this time. Must have been about 60-70 people there, half of whom were teenaged girls, who, strangely enough, weren't waiting for "heart-throb" Ben James-Ellis, but for Michael Ball! Ben seemed genuinely miffed and left in a hurry. Michael was his usual cheerful self; signed a few programmes (way too many to cover this time, though, so most of us left with an unsigned one) and dashed off into the distance (well, a couple of yards away, into his car).

The rest of the working week has been amazingly hectic and I was so tired yesterday, after having slept a record-breaking eleven hours, that I spent the whole day slumped on my sofa-bed watching films. Got through The Holiday, Little Miss Sunshine, Separate Lies, Serving in Silence, Aeon Flux and some TV programmes I had taped earlier in the week. I am bumping Little Miss Sunshine up from 4.5 to 5 out of 5 stars. I want more of these nice, independent films which have interesting storylines and a fantastic cast (meaning people who were actually cast because they know how to act properly). Luckily, we are seeing more and more of them these days.

Added a few films to my database yesterday and discovered to my great surprise and dismay that I only have nine films each with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart! How on earth did that happen? I thought I had at least 15 of each, if not 20! I am ashamed. I do have 30 films with William Hurt in them, though. And I still haven't seen Alice, which I got about 15 years ago. Hey, it's Woody Allen, and...uhmm...how to put this delicately...I have never understood the praise he gets from just about everyone. Apparently he is this genius film-maker just because every film he makes is a copy of the last one and he portrays himself in every single one of them. I must be missing something vital, or people just don't have the guts to tell him "no thanks, I think you're crap and I can't be arsed to be in your film even if you pay me a million pounds". I have seen quite a few of his films and only ever liked one: The Purple Rose of Cairo.

By the way, Happy Birthday to Bruce Campbell and Meryl Streep!

Labels: film, musicals, theatre, william hurt

I have wasted three hours today on the new Creature Creator from the upcoming game Spore, available for free from their official website. You need this. Seriously.

And then you'll pay for the upgrade, haha!

Last Wednesday I went to see Judy Collins at the Southbank Centre. So there was me, a couple of others in their thirties, and lots of people in their fifties and sixties. It was fun, though; she had a lot of stories filled with name-dropping (Leonard Cohen, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, to name a few), and her voice was still amazing. All in all a nice concert.

Then I went to see Superhero Movie and the fourth Indiana Jones film. Both mediocre, I guess. I liked Indy better than Superhero, though. For those of you don't know what Superhero Movie is about, it is basically a parody on lots of those Marvel and DC Comics live-action films that have been cropping our screens since the turn of the millennium. So I didn't quite know if I should laugh or cry or bitch-slap her when the teenager next to me kept saying to her friends: "That is well like that Spider-Man film!"

I have also managed to watch the whole of American Gothic (the series) this past week. Not quite sure why I bothered, really, as it actually doesn't have an ending! LOL! I still haven't forgotten the great cliffhanger in VR.5 which turned into an annoying ending when they cancelled the show. Idiots. Wasting our lives like that. That's something I'll never get about the American TV companies. At least over here they tend to write a proper ending when they are told the series will not be picked up for a new season, or they make a Christmas special or something which will tie things neatly together. Yes, I am frustrated.

Also bought Okami for the Wii. My Gog, there was a huge difference between the controls on the Wii and on the PS2! The whole point of Okami is that you have this "celestial brush" you use to alter the world around you (it's basically a magic wand with ink), so imagine how much easier it is to just wave the remote control on the Wii instead of moving the tiny joystick on the PS2 controller. So I have actually finished quite a bit of the game already! And I have had the game for the PS2 since early 2007. Tsk, tsk.

Yesterday I celebrated my 14th day in a row of getting up early in the morning to work out with Wii Fit! I am amazed it has lasted this long, really. Let's face it; if I can sleep another five minutes in the morning, I do so. But on days when I have to go to work, I actually get up at six to work out for an hour. Wow. All hail my new-found self discipline. It will probably vanish as quickly as it appeared, so better celebrate it now, while we have the opportunity.

OK, back to the Creature Creator. Tomorrow is another visit to Hairspray! Giddy with glee!

Labels: concert, film, gaming, music, musicals, personal, sport, theatre, TV

Drool. The gaming year of 2008 just turned even better.

Labels: gaming

Alan Rickman has one of the most pleasant voices in the world. (Personally, I think they didn't take into account certain other voices, but We Who Know Better know...uhmm...better.)

I can hardly contain myself: Last week was the last episode in the spring series of The Gadget Show, and tonight will be the first episode of the summer series! Squee!

Labels: Alan Rickman, philip quast, technology, TV

How come Warner always have to stand out? I mean, it started out well, with putting sound into films and all that, but then it went downhill from there. I even have my own Warner Bros. section of old DVDs as they insisted on making these ridiculously large covers back in the day. They're wankers, basically. There you have it.

Labels: film, music, online shopping, technology

Reading RadioTimes my gaze rests upon this peculiar one-sentence description of the film Escape to Victory: "Second World War soccer drama starring Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine". Wow. I bet there aren't many of those around.

Also, danger in Bow, East London. My favourite sentence in this article: "Earlier this week the bomb began ticking as they approached it." That can't be good.

I went to see Afterlife yesterday. Remember how I said I don't tell people beforehand any more, of ANY of my plans, because then something weird and unforeseen is bound to happen? Well, I left home with a 30-minute margin and arrived at the theatre, sweating and panting, two minutes after the announced start. Luckily I was in time for the play (after all, they probably knew that the West End's Best Reviewer still hadn't turned up, and waited until I had sat down--I almost got a fanfare as I entered, actually). The play itself was...difficult to describe. I think the two ladies behind me were spot on, during the interval:

"Sarah said we should have bought the programme, as there is an in-depth prologue there."
"So you're saying Sarah is actually enjoying the play?"

The weirdest thing is that even though I didn't quite understand what the hell was going on most of the time, I actually liked it! I do believe Frayn may have taken Bill Murray's Tootsie character's biggest wish in life a little bit too serious, though; he wants to write a play where someone, days later, would come up to him and say "Hey, I saw your play. What was it about?"

On a more distinct note, the Lyttelton was bigger than I thought it would be. The Olivier always turns out to be larger than I remembered, so not quite sure why that surprised me. And one day I will go see a play at the Cottesloe (or Cottleshoe, as I keep calling it for no apparent reason), just so that I have taken in all three stages at the National Theatre.

Labels: current affairs, roger allam, theatre, time wasting

Apparently, one of the net's most persistent rumours isn't true after all. Damn.

Labels: computers, technology

Regarding my last post; I did not mean I am a clinically insane stalker fan who should already have had a minimum of three restraining orders against her. I do not, for instance, buy Alan Rickman's suit from "Galaxy Quest". Just needed to get that off my chest.

Besides, I haven't quite entered complete fandom of Allam yet. I'll let you know once I come to the conclusion it's about time we send out wedding invitations. For now, it's The Three and a Half Musketeers for me (Quast, Storhøi, Proops, with Rickers on back-up).

I just bought the Eurovision Song Contest album. Guess it didn't feel right I'd only skipped through the songs. After all; who'd've thought I would end up loving Ukraine's entry from last year, after repeated brainwashing play? To even things out, I threw in a pre-order of Weezer's new album (that's the third album they've named "Weezer") and Barenaked Ladies's newest. I still love the fact that BNL made the intro music for The Big Bang Theory.

Looking forward to tomorrow's Afterlife (even though it means I have to actually leave the house). Always excited about a new Michael Frayn play. Would recommend his Alarms and Excursions. Ooh, and Potter's Blue Remembered Hills is showing on BBC4 tomorrow evening. Don't miss it!

Labels: dennis storhøi, greg proops, music, philip quast, roger allam, theatre, TV

...seeing as it's the 800th post I make on this blog. Not too busy, in other words, since it's been going since November 2003.

Anyway, scrap that. I am going to make another typical post.

Lately I have been watching quite a lot of recorded telly and films, plus spent some time on my Nintendo Wii. Wii Fit arrived yesterday (as I was hanging around, chatting with our new neighbour), so after two days of training I have reluctantly come to realise my stamina is nothing to shout about (unless you want to holler rude remarks). I also really have to remember to stretch afterwards. Sheesh! Apart from the Wii Fit, I have been flexing my brain muscles in Big Brain Academy, pretended to be a surgeon in Trauma Center: Second Opinion and jumped on a whole lot of creatures' heads in Super Mario Galaxy. All brilliant games.

I have also managed to watch two thirds of a series of Boston Legal in just three days (let's just say work wasn't too busy), started watching American Gothic, skipped through a vast number of TV recordings we'd made last year (some were more than a year old) and seen a few films, only now I can't remember which ones, apart from St. Trinian's, which was surprisingly funny! I may have been biased, though. I mean; Colin Firth, Anna Chancellor, Stephen Fry and then Rupert Everett in horrible drag; what's not to like?

Right. I'm going to do something I really don't do any more. I am going to tell you beforehand that I am going to see Afterlife at the NT tomorrow. This is my Roger Allam-stalking week, apparently. Thankfully I realised, by chance, that my ticket wasn't for Friday, which I had led myself to believe now for weeks, but for Thursday. Sort of a difference there. However, now that I've made it official, something will probably come up and either I won't be able to make it to the theatre on time (damn and blast! Must be the Jubilee Line's fault), or Roger Allam won't be there. Or they've cancelled the preview (it happens).

I watched State of Play again yesterday, and it is freaky how many fabulous actors they have cast in that excellent series: John Simm, Kelly Macdonald, Marc Warren, James McAvoy, Tom Burke; even Bill Nighy, and of course the ever-so-brilliant Philip Glenister. Must admit I had forgotten David Morrissey was in it, though, but then I only really started noticing him when he portrayed The Colonel in Sense and Sensibility on telly earlier this year.

Well, I'll go back to watching Shackleton for the fourth time. How I wish they could have waited three years making this; then I am absolutely positive they would have used Dennis Storhøi instead of Sven Nordin. Picturing the scenes between Branagh and Storhøi; well, you can't have it all.

...or I may just continue sitting here, listening through all my Prodigy songs.

Oh yeah, and congrats to Barack Obama for securing the Democratic vote. Let's hope for the best.

Labels: bill nighy, colin firth, dennis storhøi, film, gaming, kenneth branagh, music, roger allam, theatre, TV

Had a wonderful evening yesterday, as we went to see/hear the recording of two episodes of the new radio sitcom Cabin Pressure at the BBC. Now, the main reason for my going, was Roger Allam, who seemed to be in a great mood (despite what must be a stressful period, what with the first preview of Afterlife tomorrow and all), but I had a jolly time watching Stephanie Cole (I've been a Waiting for God fan for many years), Benedict Cumberbatch and Matilda Ziegler as well. The whole thing was actually very funny (even the second time around, when they had to do some retakes), and I will definitely listen to it on the radio whenever it premieres.

Now, anyone who knows me really well knows that I am a bit of an anglophile, and that this could all be traced back to poor ol' Michael Palin. In my early teens, when I was at the height of my Monty Python obsession, I used to say that I would do anything to have a job at the BBC. Since then I have always had this awe for the channel (which is rather ridiculous, but there you go), and my road to a job there is very long, it appears. I once bought some 3.5" diskettes because they were made by the BBC (yes, an odd thing for a TV corporation to make, I know). I also saved last week's envelope in which the tickets for the show came. Yet, it didn't quite hit me until I had been there for about 15 minutes yesterday, that I was actually finally inside a BBC building, after having stared longingly at Broadcasting House in Shepherd's Bush on my way to and fro work these past few years. And then I forgot about it just as quickly, to be honest, so obviously not so remarkable after all, haha!

Anyway, look out for Cabin Pressure on Radio 4. Some time.

He-hey, seems I already have a tag for Roger Allam. The seriousness of my fandom is creeping up on me.

Labels: comedy, michael palin, Monty Python, radio, roger allam

Pringles tube inventor buried in...Pringles tube!

Thank Gog (yes, Gog) we chose Jodie as "our" Nancy yesterday. I loved Jessie's voice, but she was still too awkward when moving around and her facial expression(s) looked very wax doll-like. I am sure we will see her somewhere else very soon, though, and with some training she'll be a star, but for now (and since the beginning of the auditions, to be honest), Jodie is Nancy.

Labels: Lloyd-Webber, musicals, theatre, time wasting, TV