How Much Chatter?

I thought I’d better have an update as I haven’t posted for ages (hadn’t realised it had been quite so long to be honest). So apologies if this goes on a bit but I’ve got a lot to say. (Oi, who said just for a change?) *LOL*

Since I last posted my scrapping mojo has left again for the time being, mainly due to lack of time rather than lack of creativity. As soon as I can find some time to relax a bit I’ll be back to scrapping some more of my sister’s fab wedding photos. And I might have a go at some birthday cards too as I’ve missed everyone’s up to this point again (sorry folks!)

I spent a lovely weekend at Shazzer’s a couple of weeks ago where we relaxed and chatted and ate and drank all sorts of good stuff including some scrummy pasta and doughnuts (nope the eating plan is not going all that well at the moment). It was fantastic to see her again and enjoy a good chin wag. Hopefully it won't be too long till the next time and maybe a meet with the other Sinners too – it’s definitely far too long overdue! If not then I’m sure we’ll be meeting up at Jen and Michael’s wedding which is on the 21st June at a currently undisclosed location in Essex (think I better get back on that eating plan!).

Film

I have sadly only been to see ‘Sweeney Todd’ once more since my birthday, mainly due to being let down by people who were going to go then couldn’t. Of course now I know all the words, especially as most of them are contained on the deluxe soundtrack CD which I’ve played probably once a day since I got it. So now I’m counting the days till the DVD is released which according to a press release yesterday from Paramount will be 1st April (I hope that’s not just in the US) – and yes I am waiting for Play.com to notify me when it’s available.

Last night Mrs H3 and I went to see Jack Black and Mos Def in ‘Be Kind, Rewind’ on preview. I thought it would make a change to see something new for once especially as I don't think she could face seeing ST again and I wouldn't be mean enough to ask her. Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as I was hoping (although the Ghostbusters sequence is really laugh out loud funny), turning out to be much like Jonathan Ross’ review of the film said it would be (we had already booked tickets before I saw his review of it). It seemed to me to be 2 different films trying to merge into one and it didn’t quite work on either level although the ‘sweded’ film segments were definitely very funny, so it wasn’t the worst film I’ve seen recently, ‘Atonement’ still wins hands down on that.

The next films we’ll be most likely going to see are ‘Rambo 4’ which is out this week – a must see in my book anyway as I’ve loved all the others and after seeing his marvellous performance on Jonathan Ross last Friday just confirmed that need and a preview of the Spiderwick Chronicles on 16th March (yep it’s another kids series that I love). Hmmm, I wonder if I could sneak in just one more trip to see Sweeney Todd too? *LOL*

Music

This evening we’re off to the legendary Half Moon in Putney to see Johnny Bramwell who apparently played a really blinding set in Manchester last week (I now wish I had gone to see him there after all). Here’s hoping he’ll be as on form tonight. Of course I am really excited about it as usual. Better still I Am Kloot have just announced a major tour once they return from Europe to promote their fantastic new album ‘Moolah Rouge’ and they’ll be doing a couple of dates in the South, at the Komedia in Brighton on 15th April and Koko in London on 22nd April. I’ll be going to at least one I’m sure.

Below is a new acoustic version of Ferris Wheels (from said album) that he recorded to promote the Valentine’s Day gig. Enjoy.

As exciting (or actually even more exciting being serious about it) is the fact that we’ve managed to get tickets (and standing tickets at that – something I rarely do these days now that I’m old) for Gary Numan’s 30th anniversary Replica’s tour. As much as I love Gary’s new work my heart has always belonged to his older material and having missed the Telekon tour last year because I was away I couldn't resist the chance to see this wonderful classic album performed in its entirety live. Be assured that I will be getting more and more excited until 12th March when I’ll probably have exploded! If he ever decides to redo the Warriors or Berserker tours I’ll probably die of happiness!

Gary was a guest on Jonathon Ross’ radio show last Saturday which was a real pleasure to listen to (he had Jason Isaacs as a guest the week before) and even played ‘Are Friends Electric?’ and ‘Down in the Park’ - probably the first time Gary’s had a record played on the radio for years!

My Chemical Romance are doing a final ‘The Black Parade is Dead!’ tour across America, including a date in New Orleans that I’d love to go to but obviously can’t unless I suddenly win the lottery. Then they’re heading back into the studio to record a new album … and then hopefully a lovely brand spanking new UK tour (yes I’m impatient, I know!) Blue October are still showing no sign of coming to the UK even though they said they were hoping to be over in the Spring (c’mon guys it’s nearly Spring come and see me, please). They too are set to go back into the studio for a new album to be released in 2009 so I’m really hoping they get over here before then. I’d also like to see Stephen Fretwell the next time he’s touring as I’ve really got into his stuff recently, David Mead (oh if only he’d do a tour or even a new album) and Passenger who are doing a concert in Southampton on 5th March but you can only get a ticket by winning one from the local radio station. We are considering going to see James Marsters (yep, that’s Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) at the Union Chapel on 2nd May and of course I’m completely gutted to have not got a ticket to see Pete Doherty at the Royal Albert Hall on 26th April – perhaps he’ll be back at the Tap n’ Tin soon instead.

Television

My friend Andrew at work has lent me the first series of ‘Life on Mars’ to watch as I seem to have missed it every time it was on the telly. Haven’t had a chance to watch it yet though as I’m currently loving watching the first season of ‘Brotherhood’, the devastatingly attractive Jason Isaacs completely fantastic US TV series that I recently got on DVD (and I’ve just finished downloading season 2 - and now the writer's strike is over hopefully soon season 3). This was after having recently finished watching another of his works ‘The State Within’, a political thriller that I also thoroughly enjoyed.

Having about 10Gb of space left on my 80Gb I-Pod I had the brainwave of converting a few movies (Snow Cake, The Search for John Gissing, Dogma etc.) and adding them so I could watch a film when I fancied. Unfortunately it didn’t go as smoothly as I was hoping and for some reason it completely deleted the 65Gb of music that I had on there when it added the films even though it was set to manually change things. As you can imagine I was initially quite upset* but on reflection I decided that it would give me a chance to have a clear out of some of the stuff that I didn’t really listen to anyway. I am reloading slowly so at the current time my I-Pod contains the following perfect shuffle list of artists: I Am Kloot, Gary Numan, Blue October, My Chemical Romance, Passenger, Muse, Stephen Fretwell and David Mead oh and of course the Sweeney Todd soundtrack.

*incredibly pissed off wouldn’t even begin to cover it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Finally I just need to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY for today to Andrew (who’s busy working in Manchester at the moment – although not too hard I hope) and also to Alan Rickman who is 62 and still completely and utterly gorgeous!