I might as well face it I’m addicted to… June 4, 2008

Nope, not love (as Robert Palmer sang) but instead, The West Wing!

Having previously gone on record declaring Alias to be the best TV show ever to grace our screens, I fear I must retract that statement because the West Wing provides some serious competition. I know I am a late-comer to the West Wing party – joining long after the final episode of the 7 season success has aired. However this does have the benefit of allowing me to watch back-to-back episodes from the DVD boxsets, instead of being forced to wait each week to find out what happens next.  I blame my addiction on my sister, who caught me when I was ill and my defences were down. Stuck in bed with only my TV for company, somehow season one, disc one found it’s way into my DVD player. And the rest is history. I’ve just started watching season three, and though I’m getting through the episodes at quite a rate, I’m going to have to step it up in a big way if I’m to make it through to the final show before I move out in a little under two months time. Something tells me I may be smuggling President Bartlett and co. out with me…

 

West Wing watching aside, this week I have been mainly enjoying being at home for a few days in a row, having several culinary successes (including that sweet potato crumble I have been craving for so long) and paying far too much to get my car through it’s MOT.  Yesterday I had a needle stuck in my arm (under the guise of “vaccination”) and proceeded to very nearly faint in the waiting room at the doctor’s surgery. All good fun… I think.

Here, there and everywhere May 28, 2008

Hello there dear reader.

I apologise for the distinct lack of blogging over recent weeks. It’s mainly due to the fact I seem to have been unable to stay still for more than 48 hours at a time! I’ve been running about all over the country, visiting York, Birmingham, Reading, Witney and I’m currently in Cambridge. I’ll be in London next weekend, after spending two nights in Thetford and attending a wedding in Cromer at the end of this week! However I promise I will attempt to blog more frequently during this time, despite the craziness, as it would obviously be cruel to deny the digital world of my many opinions and adventures for so long

 

So in the meantime, allow me to comment on the phenomenon that is the Eurovision Song Contest. I will hold my hands up and admit to being a bit of a Eurovision fan. I can’t help it. I enjoy the chance to sit down once a year and allow my ears and eyes to be assailed with some terrible musical offerings, whilst being given free reign to laugh at my fellow Europeans. This year I voted for Denmark, with their song ‘All Night Long’, which owed more than a little to Jeff Beck’s ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’. Now Eurovision in the UK would not be the same without the commentary from the genius that is Terry Wogan. However I have never heard the poor man sound more dejected than at the end of the results on Saturday night. You see the songs entered by various countries appears to make very little difference to how many votes they get. It’s all about voting for your neighbours, and in recent years this has meant an Eastern European nation winning every time. This year it was Russia’s turn. And well done them. The UK came absolute last. We lost to Azerbaijan’s entry with the crazy man, the knitting brides and the washer woman with birds in her hair. We lost to about 7 different songs which would fall into the category of “life is miserable ballads”. We were even beaten by the Latvian pirates (although to be fair, that was a fun act!).

 

Now the past couple of years I could understand our poor results. We sent novelty acts: Scooch with their horrific ‘Flying the flag’ number, and don’t even get me started on Daz Sampson. But this time round we had our best entrant in years! Andy Abrahams (runner up on X-factor the year Shane Ward won) did us proud. The former bin man got up there and gave it his all. The song was catchy, bright, cheerful… and yet the only countries to give us any points at all were competition newbie San Marino (that mighty nation) and Ireland. Who had themselves sent a turkey. Literally. Conclusive evidence that whoever we send and whatever they sing is now utterly irrelevant. The UK is not popular within Europe, nor is anyone scared of us. We have no friends so we get no points. Germany are suffering a similar problem. What grates even more is that a large part of the funding for Eurovision come from the western countries in the EU – not the Eastern ones. We get a buy into the final because of how much money we put in. What would happen if we all pulled out? It’s certainly tempting after this year.

 

However I reckon that by the time 2009 rolls around, we’ll all have become optomistic once more and we’ll still participate. I just need to remember to not bother watching the voting next time. It’ll only make me angry.

 

And you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

Connect the dots March 7, 2008

The Challenge: Can I connect 8 of my favourite TV shows by using actors who have appeared together?

Starting point: TOP GEAR

The amazing “not-really-about-cars-anymore” show! Clarkson, May, Hammond and The Stig… And a whole host of special guest celebrities, who have taken turns at being the “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car”. Including one David Tennant…

And David Tennant is of course the star of DOCTOR WHO. This role was previously occupied by Christopher Eccleston. If you want to get picky and say this doesn’t count as starring together, then the two also shared a scene in the film Jude. 

Christopher Eccleston popped up as Claude in HEROES, where instead of being a time-traveller he had the power of invisibility .

Also appearing in Heroes are Greg Grunberg (as Matt Parkman) and David Anders (as Takezo Kensei) who both starred in ALIAS.

David Anders also had a role in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, alongside Paul Adelstein who played Agent Paul Kellerman in PRISON BREAK.

Prison Break also featured William Fichtner as Agent Mahone. Fichtner had a role in Equilibrium, as did Sean Bean who plays SHARPE.

  

Sharpe’s Company saw our illustrious hero joined on screen by Marc Warren, better known for starring as Danny Blue in HUSTLE.

He also appeared in Band of Brothers alongside Damien Lewis, who in turn had played opposite Matthew McFayden in Warriors. Mcfayden first shot to fame as Tom in SPOOKS.

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

Copycat March 6, 2008

In an unashamedly unoriginal move, (check giraffe-a-licious’ blog) I’d like to present another example of the genius that is Flight of the Conchords. Mainly because I just went and spent a bunch of time on Youtube giggling at them. Enjoy!

from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Where does it go? Where does it stop? February 24, 2008

Watch for the sign of the lollipop…. #Do do do do doo do do do do do do doo, do do do do doo do do do do do dooo!#

There’s a memory for all you Playdays watching late 80s & early 90s kids Oh and a quick question: which was the best stop? I think the Tent Stop was probably my favourite, although the Dot Stop was the more memorable. I never used to like the Playground Stop… I think watching all those other kids having fun just made me jealous! They were running round and going down slides while I was stuck indoors - where’s the justice in that?!

It’s another one of those times when I’m starting to write a blog entry with no idea where it’s headed. They’re a bit hit and miss I know, so apologies if it turns out to be lame! I had more weird dreams last night… I guess my mind is very active right now. Maybe it has to do with my watching episodes of Alias before I go to sleep. My dreams almost always feature people that I know too - it’s really rare for strangers to crop up. I wonder if that’s the same for everyone. My friends do seem to pop up in the most unlikely places and scenarios though. It can be a bit disconcerting!

I played on a Wii today! It was a lot of fun, but it made me want to go and play actual real-life tennis. It’s not quite the time of year for it though. Anyone up for a game in the summer, let me know! I think it must’ve been quite amusing for anyone walking down our road, since our tv is right by the window, so I was leaping about in full view of any passing strangers.

I’m flying out to the States in just 3 days now. Nearly 2. I can’t wait to see all my friends out there again! There will be many fun times   My box of stuff which I couldn’t fit in my suitcase when I returned home at the start of November finally arrived here on Saturday! It was amazing – there was stuff in there I’d actually forgotten I possess! Including my Ohio State baseball cap. Go Buckeyes!

I mentioned Alias earlier… in case you’re one of maybe 5 people on the planet to whom I haven’t already told this: Alias is the best tv show ever. It was created by J.J. Abrams before he made Lost. However don’t hold that against it as it is in many ways a polar opposite to Lost, in that LOADS of stuff happens in every single episode.  It ran for 5 seasons, though the last one was cut short due to the travesty that was it being cancelled. If you’ve never watched it go and rent/buy the box sets NOW!

WOW! January 17, 2008

Youtube is amazing. Check out this retro primary school moment. This surely will bring a smile to the face of all people born in the mid 80s, who went to school in the UK…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Gq17O-HRc

 That’s why the next generation can’t spell as well as us!

 Oh and this is just amazing!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcDnBIekm6g&feature=related

The tune will be stuck in your head for hours though.

And I think this… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5keP9_zYCjU&feature=related explains a lot!! It’s a lot creepier than I remember it ever being!!

Enjoy all you fellow eighties children!