Yep, I should probably 'kiddieproof' this blog, but I'm rebelling against those US-enforced parental lock thingies. Anarchy in your face!

Quick update on the dream front: The other night I dreamt that Jared Padalecki and Chad Michael Murray had joined forces and were fighting electricity for the benefit of humankind. Please bear in mind I don't watch Supernatural or One Tree Hill and actually had to look up their names to figure out who they were; I guess the power of the TV trail is tremendous!

The following night I dreamt about a new, revolutionary product called iLean. Probably manufactured by Apple. It was a gizmo you wore and which would beam info to the headquarters of iLean (again, presumably to the Apple HQ) every time you leaned on something or someone. You could actually earn up to £7,500 a year on this thing. I woke up feeling rather angry my new-found extra source of income turned out to be imaginary.

In between these dreams we went to the embassy in order to vote in the general election, which takes place in September back in Norway. I tried out a new party this time. Well, a new one for me, but as far as I know, the oldest one in the kingdom. I am worried about the right-wing parties, though, which seem to be getting a stronger grip on the population. There's a lot of hatred there. It's scary to see how they condemn right-wing election results in Austria and Denmark when the exact same thing is happening in their own country.

After having voted we went down to Canary Wharf to take in the view, eat at Jamie Oliver's brand new restaurant and then pay Waitrose a visit. We got home very happy and with lots of chocolate. I then realised I had managed to be in the sun long enough to sport a permanent clown mouth (well, hopefully it'll disappear within a week), and so spent the next two hours on the balcony trying to perfect the silly look by showing only my right profile to the sun. We had fun, anyway, doing our best to remember which British comedy shows we've seen (both before and after we moved here). A rather surprisingly large number of shows, I must say! Anyone remember Chalk? Written by the clever Steven Moffat (Press Gang, Coupling, Jekyll, some Murder Most Horrid and Doctor Who). I watched it because of David Bamber (naturally). He also inadvertently (and not literally) kicked my butt so that I finally noticed (and quickly became a huge fan of) The League of Gentlemen.

Speaking of britcom, I also started watching Peep Show the other day (hence the "cockmunchers" in the title). Fun and embarrassing at the same time. I don't often feel I have to look away because the situation depicted is increasingly excruciating to watch, but with this series it happens frequently. Probably also because it is filmed the way it is, so that it immediately feels more personal. With other shows I can just tell myself 'it isn't happening to me', but these guys are staring right at me, damnit!

Enhance your calm.

Labels: comedy, current affairs, david bamber, dreams, league of gentlemen, personal, TV

On my first day off (Friday) we tidied and cleaned the flat because our letting agency were coming for a visit. Checking up on us to see if we were still to be trusted.

Apparently, we were, and it took them two minutes to figure this out. All the hours of hard work paid off. Well, hopefully. Celebrated by playing Shadow Hearts: Covenant, which I had been looking forward to all week.

Saturday started with watching Schindler's List--not a good choice if you want to leave the house afterwards--and followed by The Lake House. Or possibly the other way around, I forget.

We then went down to the Apollo Theatre in order to see The Glass Menagerie starring Jessica Lange, Ed Stoppard, Mark Umbers and a delightful Amanda Hale. We had cheap seats, which we swapped with a couple for slightly better seats, but still we were too far away from the stage for me to see adequately. Wearing glasses, I had to squint a lot in order to see anything. I almost fell asleep a lot during the first act because of this. I bought a packet of Polo during the interval, though, and since the couple in front of us had given up and left, there was suddenly no need to squint as much and with the constant supply of Polo and an enjoyable second act I eventually left the theatre elated.

The rest of the evening was left to telly. I am not going to comment the Josephs this week.

Sunday was spent playing Shadow Hearts: Covenant until I reached a stage where I actually died for the first time in 14 hours, and I was in such shock I had to turn it off. Felt a bit peckish and thought I should probably watch something while having my late lunch, so naturally I popped a whole mini-series into the DVD player. Couldn't turn it off. Tipping the Velvet - absolutely LOVE that story. Had totally forgotten that Hugh Bonneville was in it, so that was an added bonus. And then I had to borrow Daniel Deronda from my flatmate (yes, there are in fact three links between the two series), which I started watching late last night. I had completely forgotten David Bamber was in that one. I seriously need to check my memory.

Labels: david bamber, film, gaming, jodhi may, personal, theatre, TV

Yesterday we went to the V&A to finally see the exhibition of Queen Maud's wardrobe. It was exquisite. I would truly recommend it, even for people like me who can't stand looking at clothes on mannequins for more than three minutes or so.

We then headed for the Criterion, where we picked up our tickets for Otherwise Engaged later that evening, before trying to find an empty table in any of the restaurants near Leicester Square (which is a nightmare at around six on a weekday of half-term, let me tell you). We eventually ended up at one of our usuals, Garfunkel's.

I had completely missed the fact that Peter Wight was going to be in Otherwise Engaged, so that was a very nice surprise. Especially when it turned out that he was the best actor there that evening. Now, don't get me wrong. Or do, and see if I care. I think Richard E. Grant is dead cool and I've had a thing for David Bamber since 1992, but they're both definitely stage actors. Or so I thought. David is brilliant on stage, but Richard...well, it is hereby confirmed that he's not a good actor. He is perfect in both Gosford Park and Spice Girls the Movie (*grins*), but he was a let-down in Otherwise Engaged. And the play was pretty boring during the second act. I wouldn't recommend it, and it hurts me badly to say so. It didn't even help that I could have tripped Richard after the show if I wanted to. Anyway, Anthony Head was pretty good as the drunken friend. And then suddenly there was nudity on stage; not quite used to that, but it seemed to go down well with the audience after the initial titter (slight pun intended).

After stopping by McDonald's to buy milkshake at ten thirty (I can't stand McDonald's but they do have the best milkshake), we went home to watch Medium before playing UNO for two hours.

This afternoon we decided to take a chance on going to see Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Wererabbit despite the enormous possibility of an invasion of children. I think it's safe to say that most of the paying customers there today were underage, but it was ok. We were going to see Nanny McPhee too, but neither of us could take another two hours of being surrounded by children, so we postponed our plans. This is why I need to see the fourth Harry Potter film (which I thought Jonathan Ross called The Goblin of Fire last week) late on a school night. Besides that, the film was funny, but my expectations were a bit higher than what I ended up thinking about the film.

And in case I've forgotten, I'd love to recommend Madagascar. Absolutely brilliant! And please start giving the dubbing actors their due recognition! They should be mentioned at the very beginning of the credits so that most people would actually know about them. Many films don't even include their names, which annoys me greatly.

Current track: Inspiral Carpets - Come Back Tomorrow

Labels: art, comedy, david bamber, film, personal, theatre, TV

That would be me, actually, after seeing tonight's episode of Waking the Dead. Bloody nuisance, those cliffhangers. Now, if they don't return for a sixth series I may have to stare at someone quite sternly. Grr.

We're going to the theatre tomorrow evening. I had a nightmare the other night where we were the only people in the audience and that the actors kept focusing on us and the whole thing was very embarrassing, especially when we fell asleep. Ahem. It's a comedy and one of the actors has been a true favourite of mine for 13 1/2 years (I could probably find the exact time down to the nearest hour, too), so I seriously doubt I'd fall asleep - but it has happened before (albeit due to jet lag, but highly embarrassing nevertheless), so you never know.

We cleared the dining table for the first time in many months today, in order to play Scotland Yard, a game I already have somewhere in my parents' house but which I've wanted to play again for years - so what else is there than ordering it online? This game is perfect for a Londoner or anyone wanting to visit London as it teaches you a lot about the layout of Central London. Three thumbs up!

Current track: Georg Friedrich Händel - Wassermusik (Luft)

Labels: david bamber, dreams, online shopping, personal, theatre, trevor eve, TV

Sometimes it feels as if I'm the only one out there who's a fan of certain people. Like Simon Shepherd. Hands up those who like him. No, hands up those who've heard of him, apparently. And what about David Bamber? No? Ever seen Privates on Parade? Chalk? Buddha of Suburbia? No bells ringing? How about Pride and Prejudice, then? Or Daniel Deronda? Is there anyone out there who's a fan of Terence Stamp, then? Any non-French who's heard of Daniel Auteuil? Have I been watching too much telly??? :-)

I've spent many hours making my comedy favourite lists today. It's quite amazing that, although I must have seen about 50/50 of American and British shows, I've got three times as many British favourites as American ones. AND that includes one Canadian show. ;-) (How could I possibly ignore The Kids in the Hall?) Note that my list, which is situated as a permanent list at the bottom of the right hand menu, features only shows that I consider to be my definite favourites - even though I apparently have been watching way too much telly through the years, these are the shows that I come back to, that I think of at opportune and inopportune times, that I quote constantly. So...if you love any of those shows, even a few of them, we may have more in common than you think.

Current track: The Beatles - I'm Down

Labels: comedy, daniel auteuil, david bamber, film, simon shepherd, TV